US State Department To Hold A Hearing On Human Rights in South Asia

The US State Department said its South Asia subcommittee will hold a hearing on "Human Rights in South Asia" next month.

"Consultation with Congress is essential. Today I had the opportunity to brief Members of @HouseForeign and the India Caucus on #USIndia relations & look forward to an open hearing on human rights in South Asia in October," Acting Assistant Secretary Alice Wells, who oversees State Department policy towards South Asia, wrote on Twitter.

The subcommittee had reportedly held a hearing on human rights in Southeast Asia in July.

The subcommittee is expected to hold a hearing next month on human rights in China, which will focus in large part on events in Hong Kong and the internment of the Uighur minority.

"The hearing on 'Human Rights in South Asia' will focus on a number of subjects. The Subcommittee will review the treatment of the Rohingya by the government of Burma (Myanmar) and credible accusations that this minority is subject to ethnic cleansing and genocide. The Subcommittee had the opportunity to review this situation in July as the plight of the Rohingya affects both the South and Southeast Asia regions," Congressman Brad Sherman said in a statement posted on his personal blog.

Officials in the meeting will also focus on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka and Pakistan.