There seems to be no end to the ordeal of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims.

Those who survived last year’s brutal military campaign in that Buddhist-majority country are enduring “ongoing genocide”, according to Marzuki Darusman, the head of a UN fact-finding mission. The estimated 250,000 to 400,000 who have stayed “continue to suffer the most severe” restrictions and repression, he told a news conference at the United Nations on Wednesday.

Yanghee Lee, the UN special investigator on human rights in Myanmar, said Aung San Suu Kyi, the former political prisoner who now leads Myanmar’s civilian government, “is in total denial” of what is going on in her country. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who spent years under house arrest for her pro-democracy activism, continues to reject all accusations that the Myanmar military raped, murdered and tortured Rohingya and burned their villages. Her government has also rejected independent international investigations into the abuses of Rohingya. This is what prolongs their misery.

This is also what prevents more than 700,000 Rohingya who fled into Bangladesh last year from returning to their homes in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. On paper, at least, the governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh have agreed to a repatriation program. But in practice, the Rohingya have little or nothing to return to. Many burnt-out villages have since been bulldozed and surviving buildings demolished. The Myanmar authorities seem intent on erasing any trace of Rohingya villages.

Most of those who fled last year and before eke out a meager existence in the world’s largest and most densely populated refugee camp, Kutupalong, near Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. The camp houses nearly one million refugees. They live in dismal conditions. The monsoon rains that have reduced Kutupalong to a muddy mess have only worsened their plight, as makeshift shacks have been swept away by floods. Kutupalong is already one of the poorest parts of a very poor country.

If the Rohingya cannot return to Myanmar in safety, what then? It would be unfair to ask Bangladeshi authorities to accept a permanent refugee presence, even if it is on an island in the Bay of Bengal or by establishing a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) around Kutupalong, as some have suggested.

To ask Bangladesh to solve a problem created by Myanmar would be grossly unfair. This would also create a dangerous precedent and would only encourage more countries to perpetrate acts of ethnic cleansing against their minorities.

So the responsibility to solve this problem lies with Myanmar. The root cause of the problem is that Rohingya are still denied citizenship and are currently one of the largest stateless populations in the world.

This means that Myanmar should do two things. First, it should create conditions in which refugees feel confident enough to return without any fear of threat to their lives. Second, all Rohingya people should be granted citizenship so that they can enjoy freedom of movement and have access to health care, education and other facilities granted to Buddhists.

The next question is: What if the Myanmar authorities continue to refuse to accept the reasonable demands of the international community? Suu Kyi has come in for a good deal of criticism for what is going on in a country of which she is the civilian leader. The recent developments have tarnished her image. However, let us assume that she has no control over the military that perpetrates all of the atrocities against a helpless minority. Should not these military authorities suffer as well? China and Russia may object to prosecuting some top military leaders for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against the Rohingya. But the West, especially the US, should consider the reimposition of economic sanctions or other punitive measures against Myanmar authorities.