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Myanmar Embassy Press Release in response to U.S Treasury Department’s sanctions on Commanders and Units of Myanmar security forces: 17 August 2018

See below for U.S Treasury Department Press Release (17 August 2018) partial text:

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned four Burmese military and Border Guard Police (BGP) commanders and two Burmese military units for their involvement in ethnic cleansing in Burma’s Rakhine State and other widespread human rights abuses in Burma’s Kachin and Shan States. Burmese military commanders Aung Kyaw Zaw, Khin Maung Soe, Khin Hlaing, and BGP commander Thura San Lwin, along with the 33rd Light Infantry Division (LID) and the 99th LID, were designated pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13818, which builds upon the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act of 2016 to target perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption. “Burmese security forces have engaged in violent campaigns against ethnic minority communities across Burma, including ethnic cleansing, massacres, sexual assault, extrajudicial killings, and other serious human rights abuses. Treasury is sanctioning units and leaders overseeing this horrific behavior as part of a broader U.S. government strategy to hold accountable those responsible for such wide scale human suffering,” said Sigal Mandelker, Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. “There must be justice for the victims and those who work to uncover these atrocities, with those responsible held to account for these abhorrent crimes. The U.S. government is committed to ensuring that Burmese military units and leaders reckon with and put a stop to these brutal acts. We will continue to systematically expose and bring accountability to human rights abusers in this region and many others and greatly appreciate the efforts of civil society who are doing the same.”