“Int'l community has no excuse to allow the genocide of Rohingya Muslims continue in front of our eyes. We must act now before it's too late,” Zarif said in a post on his official Twitter account on Thursday.
On August 30, the Iranian minister posted a similar message, saying, “Global silence on continuing violence against #Rohingya Muslims. Int’l action crucial to prevent further ethnic cleansing—UN must rally”.
The Rohingya have long faced severe discrimination and were the targets of violence in 2012 that killed hundreds and drove about 140,000 people from their homes to camps for the internally displaced.
Over the past days, intensifying clashes between security forces and insurgents in western Myanmar have sent terrified civilians scrambling toward the Bangladesh border in a desperate search for refuge.
Bangladesh has detained and forcibly returned at least 90 Muslim Rohingya refugees back to Myanmar, as thousands of civilians from the ethnic minority area, on the other side of the border, attempt to escape from continuing violence that has killed scores of people.
A United Nations report in February said the military crackdown on the Rohingya had led to gang rape, the killing of hundreds of civilians and the forced displacement of as many as 90,000 people.