Persecution of Muslims continues in Myanmar: Amnesty International

“It is the duty of security forces to defend the rights of everyone - without exception or discrimination - from abuses by others, while abiding by human rights standards themselves,” said Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty International’s Myanmar Researcher.

    He added that the declaration of a state of emergency in the country does not allow the Myanmar government to “commit human rights violations,”

The group accused both security forces and ethnic Rakhine Buddists of increasing attacks on the Rohingya Muslims, killing, rape, arbitrary detention of Muslims and destroying their properties, urging the Myanmarese authorities to put an end to the violent actions.

“While the restoration of order, security, and the protection of human rights is necessary, most arrests appear to have been arbitrary and discriminatory, violating the rights to liberty and to freedom from discrimination on grounds of religion,” Amnesty said.

A Myanmar government spokesman, however, claimed what the rights group said was "totally opposite of what is happening on the ground" and the area is calm.

Reports say 650 Rohingya Muslims were killed as of June 28 alone during clashes in the western region of Rakhine. This is while 1,200 others are missing and 80,000 more have been displaced.

The UN says decades of discrimination have left the Rohingyas stateless, with Myanmar implementing restrictions on their movement and withholding land rights, education and public services.

Myanmar government does not recognize Rohingyas Muslims and has denied citizenship to them, claiming that they are illegal migrants.

Large groups of Rohingyas have already sailed to neighboring Bangladesh, many of whom have died during the journey. The Bangladeshi government, however, deports Rohingyas calling them illegal migrants and the UN refugee center says it will not accept Rohingya Muslims as it is not interested in more refugees.

On Friday, Dhaka said Myanmar must adopt measures to take back some 500,000 Rohingya Muslims who have sought refuge in Bangladesh to avoid being persecuted.