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Rohingya rights groups accused the social media platform, Facebook, that it had a role in the violence in Myanmar that forced the minority Muslims to move to Bangladesh.
Some four rohingya right groups in a phone call with social media platform Facebook brought the allegations, and emphasised playing a new role for the displaced people to get justice.
“In our call, we told her that we were forced to flee from Myanmar to Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh after the violence in Myanmar, which Facebook played a role in. Now, it is Facebook’s responsibility to help us get justice, and to improve our lives in the camps,” they said in a joint statement.
The rights groups--Voice of Rohingya (VOR), Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights (ARSPH), Rohingya Youth for Legal Action (RYLA), and Rohingya Women for Justice and Peace said in the statement Thursday that it had a call with Facebook Director for Human Rights Miranda Sissons, and her colleague Alex Waraofka.
“We asked her [Sissons] to share the information Facebook has with international justice mechanisms, because we had read that they had not done so.
Facebook, however, assured them saying that Facebook is working with the independent investigative mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) to identify the information that can be used in legal cases.
“The mechanism will then share it with the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, and the lawyers taking the case in Argentina.We are happy to hear this and request that we are informed when it has been shared,” it continued.
Facebook is doing a lot of work to counter violent hate speech in Myanmar, especially in the lead up to elections, it quoted as reply from Facebook.
Seeking support from Facebook, the rights groups also said that Rohingya people do not have internet access in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, do not have enough food, and children cannot go to school.
They sought cooperation from Facebook for proper education and training programmes for the youth and aged people in the camps.