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5 years ago

Justice for the Rohingyas, the most persecuted minority in the world

Will Suu Kyi and her generals face ICC trial for genocidal crimes?

(From left) Christopher Sidoti, Marzuki Darusman, and Radhika Coomaraswamy, members of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, speak at a news conference at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, on August 27, 2018 (Reuters photo);  on August 28, Aung San Suu Kyi  discusses literary fiction with students at the Yangon University Convocation Hall on August 28, the day UN report was published   (Asia News Network photo;  Rohingya refugees walk towards a refugee camp after crossing the border in Anjuman Para near Cox's Bazar, on November 19, 2017 (Reuters photo).
(From left) Christopher Sidoti, Marzuki Darusman, and Radhika Coomaraswamy, members of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, speak at a news conference at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, on August 27, 2018 (Reuters photo); on August 28, Aung San Suu Kyi discusses literary fiction with students at the Yangon University Convocation Hall on August 28, the day UN report was published (Asia News Network photo; Rohingya refugees walk towards a refugee camp after crossing the border in Anjuman Para near Cox's Bazar, on November 19, 2017 (Reuters photo).

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The United Nations (UN) has released a 440-page damning report detailing Myanmar's state-sponsored violence against the Rohingyas. The report identifies six generals as responsible for perpetrating genocide against the Rohingyas. The report has recommended that these senior Myanmar military officials "be investigated and prosecuted'' for genocide and human rights violations  against the Rohingyas and other minority groups in Myanmar. The report comes a year after the genocidal attack against the Rohingyas. The UN has described the Rohingyas as the most persecuted minority in the world.

The independent fact-finding panel sponsored by the UN has interviewed hundreds of Rohingya refugees who fled the country since August 2017. About 700, 000 Rohingyas, including infants, children, adults and elderly,  were forced to leave the country and these refugees  now live  in squalid refugee camps in Cox's Bazar district of Bangladesh, bordering Myanmar. The death toll from the attacks is estimated in the tens of thousands. The report documents mass killing in a number of villages, where "hundreds of people died.'' It cited one example of a village where boys and men were separated and   killed while women were taken to nearby houses and gang raped and then killed.  In many instances houses were locked with inmates inside and set on fire. In numerous other villages where casualties were very high, dead bodies were transported in military vehicles and burned or buried in mass graves. Speaking in Geneva, Marzuki Darusman,  the mission's chairman, said victims' accounts were "amongst the most shocking human rights violations'' he had come across and would "leave a mark on all of us for the rest of our lives''.

The Rohingyas, an ethnic minority group, have lived in Rakhine state of Myanmar for centuries. They have been marginalised by the government for a very long time, culminating in stripping of their citizenship in 1982. Since then Rohingyas have faced waves of violent attacks in the past decades. The 1961 Census of Burma described the Rohingyas  as Rohingyas but things started to change with assumption of power by the military junta in 1962. Starting with the constitution of 1974 and leading to the 1982 Burmese Citizenship Law, Rohingyas  were steadily stripped of their ethnic identity and citizenship of the country.

Despite the very long history of the Rohingyas living what is now called Rakhine state but historically known as Arakan, the Myanmar government refuses to grant citizenship to the Rohingyas, effectively making them stateless. This denial of citizenship also goes hand in hand with denial of movement, eviction, violence both physical and sexual, forced labour, expulsion from their home, land and property.

While the Rohingyas have been persecuted by the Myanmar army and reviled by the Buddhist nationalists in their home state Rakhine for a very long time, the speed and ferocity of their persecution accelerated to a point of genocide ever since Aung San Suu Kyi (ASSK) came to power. Outright mass murder, gang rape and mass burning of villages forced the completely defenceless Rohingyas to flee for life across the border to Bangladesh.

ASSK  has become the chief defender of the army's genocidal attacks on the helpless and defenceless Rohingyas. She has mocked the mass murder and arson as  a "huge iceberg of misinformation''  and rejected reports of gang rape as "fake news''. Her government is directly culpable of atrocities committed against the Rohingyas. Now that the UN report has pointed the finger at the Myanmar Government, it claims that it is fighting extremism and terrorism. It also describes the Rohingyas as illegal immigrants and "fostered a climate in which hate speech thrives, human right violations are legitimised and incitement to discrimination and violence facilitated.''. Even Facebook has become a major vehicle for promoting hate speech and propaganda against the Rohingyas.

But it is surprising that the UN report commented on the role of ASSK by merely saying that she has failed in her responsibility as Head of Government and  also failed to exert her moral (sic) authority to stem or prevent the massacre. The fact of the matter is her civilian government is completely complicit and also a facilitator of the genocide committed against the  Rohingyas by promoting false narratives and  preventing all efforts by the international community to undertake any robust investigation. Her complete complicity is clearly demonstrated when after publication of the UN report she went to the University of Yangon to discuss poetry and literature and spent the afternoon talking to students on the difference between fiction and non-fiction and remained completely silent on the contents and conclusions of the report. But a state-run newspaper quoted a senior spokesperson of her government who rejected the UN report on mass killing and mass rapes of the Rohingyas calling for Myanmar generals to face genocide charges.

But prosecutions for human right violations are very rare because the International Criminal Court (ICC) has been rendered ineffective, in large part because major global powers such as the USA, China and Russia reject its jurisdiction. That does not, however, stop the USA from supporting the ICC when it suits its purpose for chastising or punishing other countries. As in this instance, the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo twitted  "The US will continue to hold those responsible accountable''. There are instances where even member countries refused to enforce ICC's statute. Myanmar is a human rights disaster for a very long time not only for the Rohingyas but also for many other ethnic and religious minorities living in  Shan and Kachin states.

Now the UN report  has provided graphic details of mass murder of the Rohingyas carried by the authorities with "Genocidal intent". It has recommended that top Myanmar military officials "be investigated and prosecuted'' for genocide and human rights atrocities against Rohingyas and other minority groups such as Shan and Kachin. But ASSK is not charged with direct responsibility for committing genocide. The UN panel has named names of generals involved in this genocide and also intends to provide a longer - but not exhaustive - list of people in crime against Rohingyas and other ethnic minorities in Myanmar to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Those responsible for atrocities committed against the Rohingyas must be held accountable and that clearly means ASSK included. She  and her generals should be held directly responsible for crimes against humanity. She and her generals have shown no remorse for the horrible crimes committed against the Rohingyas, instead she is trying to whitewash it all. Former US cabinet member and veteran diplomat Bill Richardson exposed her initiatives to do so earlier this year.

In view of a dysfunctional international system to bring criminals like ASSK and her generals to face trial, it now remains to be seen how the international community will respond. The Human Rights Council is continuing its efforts to collect and consolidate evidence to facilitate any future prosecution by the ICC. But Myanmar is not a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the ICC but Bangladesh is. Also any prosecution to take place requires a referral from the Security Council but scrutiny of Myanmar's genocidal attacks on the Rohingyas has so far been  blocked by China and Russia in the Security Council. Therefore, it is unlikely to happen as China and Russia will definitely veto any action against Myanmar making the ICC's  job of prosecuting the generals nearly impossible.

But such an action by China and Russia  must not prevent the international community continuing to explore all the legal and procedural avenues to bring ASSK (who has not yet been charged but all evidence indicates her as the most effective complicit apologist of the Myanmar army) and her generals to face trial before the ICC. This will also work as a warning to other likely mass murders around the world about the consequences of undertaking such a venture. 

It now appears that as the crisis has spilled over into Bangladesh, which is a signatory to the Rome Statute, this will enable the ICC to take legal action. ICC Chief  Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has begun a preliminary investigation before applying for a full-blown investigation into Myanmar for deportation and other crimes against humanity. But justice for the poor, weak, dispossessed and powerless remains elusive in our present-day world.

Muhammad Mahmood is an independent economic and political analyst.

[email protected]

 

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