More than a dozen Nobel laureates have criticised Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi for failing to uphold the human rights of Rohingya Muslims in the country's Rakhine State, urging for immediate action to avoid "ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity".
In an open letter to the United Nations Security Council late Thursday, 23 global icons, including 13 laureates and 10 global leaders, expressed their disappointment at what they see as state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi's failure to ensure Rohingya rights.
"Despite repeated appeals to Aung San Suu Kyi, we are frustrated that she has not taken any initiative to ensure full and equal citizenship rights of the Rohingya," the letter, with signatories including Desmond Tutu and Shirin Ebadi, stated.
"Ms Suu Kyi is the leader and is the one with the primary responsibility to lead, and lead with courage, humanity and compassion," it stated.
Azeem Ibrahim, of the Center for Global Policya US-based think tank, told Al Jazeera that it was first time a Nobel laureate has been denounced by such a high number of fellow laureates.
"This is an unprecedented letter, never have we seen one Nobel laureate being condemned by so many other laureates," he stated.
"I think this letter was born out of complete frustration from many activists around the world of Aung San Suu Kyi simply unable to get a handle on the situation despite the many opportunities afforded to her.
"We must also be aware that this is not the first time such a letter has been issued. In May of last year we had seven Nobel laureates accusing Aung San Suu of actually presiding over a genocide."
In recent weeks, more than 27,000 people belonging to the persecuted Muslim minority, a group loathed by many of Myanmar's Buddhist majority, have fled a Burmese military operation in Rakhine state launched in response to the attack of border posts by armed groups.
At least 86 people have been killed in the crackdown launched after attacks on police posts near the border with Bangladesh on October 9.
Rohingya survivors say they suffered rape, murder and arson at the hands of soldiers, accounts that have raised global alarm and galvanised protests around Southeast Asia.
"The Rohingyas are among the world's most persecuted minorities, who, for decades, have been subjected to a campaign of marginalisation and dehumanisation," stated the authors.
"If we fail to take action, people may starve to death, if they are not killed with bullets, and we may end up being the passive observers of crimes against humanity which will lead us once again to wring our hands belatedly and say 'never again' all over again."
The violence had the hallmarks of Rwanda's 1994 genocide, as well as ethnic cleansing in Sudan's western Darfur region, Bosnia and Kosovo, stated the letter.
The group asked the 15-member Security Council to add the "crisis" to its agenda "as a matter of urgency, and to call upon the secretary-general to visit Myanmar in the coming weeks"either current UN chief Ban Ki-moon or his successor Antonio Guterres, who will take over the post next month.
Ibrahim accused Suu Kyi failing to acknowledge the Rohingya's persecution and even helping fuel the problem.
"On repeated occasions, in interviews with the foreign media, whether it was the Washington Post or BBC, she actually refuses to even use the term Rohingya," he stated.
"She refers to them as either Muslims, Rakhine, or Bengalis, which is essentially the narrative hardened in the public spheres that the Rohingya are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh."
The Rohingya have languished under years of dire poverty and discrimination from a government that denies them citizenship.
The UN and other rights groups have repeatedly called on Myanmar to grant them full rights.
Bangladesh's government has been under pressure to open its border to the fleeing refugees, but it has reinforced its border posts and deployed coastguard ships to prevent fresh arrivals.
Aljazeera