The lower house of the US Congress, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a resolution Thursday declaring that the crimes committed by Myanmar's security forces against Rohingya Muslims constitute genocide. In the draft, the Myanmar army was charged with committing crimes against humanity.

The house demanded those who commit crimes against humanity were asked to be arrested, tried and sanctioned in the framework of international laws by identifying the genocides.

"The United States has a moral obligation to call these crimes genocide. Failing to do so gives the perpetrators cover and hinders efforts to bring those accountable to justice. With this resolution, the House fulfills its part of that duty," said Congressman Ed Royce, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

"The measure also accomplishes a number of other important goals: It provides a thorough accounting of the crisis, calls out the complicit Burmese government, urges the Secretary of State to join us in formally declaring genocide and promotes multilateral agreement on that declaration," Royce said.

The Burma Task Force welcomed the House resolution. “The House of Representatives has now officially adopted the position that the ongoing policies of mass violence and displacement against the Rohingya by the Myanmar government constitute genocide, bringing the US closer to the emerging international consensus on the issue,” it said.

The United Nations recognized thousands of Rohingya Muslims as forced to leave their homes as "genocide."

More than 700,000 Muslims living in the Arakan region had to flee their homes due to atrocities in Myanmar in 2017 after the campaign launched by the army.

ILKHA