Washington, D.C. – House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) issued the following statement on the latest reports from Burma:

“The depravity in Burma today is absolutely gut-wrenching. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo are known by many as brave and decent reporters. They remain in jail on absurd charges for one reason only: they were doing their jobs. And just this morning, we learned that at least five new mass graves have been uncovered near a former Rohingya village in Rakhine State. The village itself appears to have been totally destroyed. This is just one of countless atrocities that have been carried out by Burma’s military and security services against the Rohingya Muslims in recent months. The ethnic cleansing must stop. The U.S. House has called for action against those responsible and is looking for the administration to follow through.”

NOTE: Last December, the House of Representatives passed a resolution that condemns the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya and calls for sanctions on members of Burma’s military and security services who are responsible for human rights abuses.

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