Genocide
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Description:
"Genocide is intentional action to destroy a people (usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group) in whole or in part. The hybrid word "genocide" is a combination of the Greek word génos ("race, people") and the Latin suffix -cide ("act of killing"). The United Nations Genocide Convention, which was established in 1948, defines genocide as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group".
The term genocide was coined by Raphael Lemkin in his 1944 book Axis Rule in Occupied Europe; it has been applied to the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide and many other mass killings including the genocide of indigenous peoples in the Americas, the Greek genocide, the Indonesian killings of 1965-66, the Assyrian genocide, the Serbian genocide, the Holodomor, the 1971 Bangladesh genocide, the Cambodian genocide, the Guatemalan genocide, and, more recently, the Bosnian genocide, the Kurdish genocide, and the Rwandan genocide.
According to one estimate, from 1956 to 2016, a total of forty-three genocides have taken place which caused the death of about 50 million people, while an additional 50 million were resettled or displaced by such conflicts..."
Source/publisher:
Wikipedia
Date of entry/update:
2017-10-18
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Genocide
Language:
English
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Description:
"The Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect supports two Special Advisers who report directly to the United Nations Secretary-General:
The Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, who acts as a catalyst to raise awareness of the causes and dynamics of genocide, to alert relevant actors where there is a risk of genocide, and to advocate and mobilize for appropriate action.
The Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect, who leads the conceptual, political, institutional and operational development of the Responsibility to Protect.
The mandates of the two Special Advisers are distinct but complementary. In order to maximise efficiency and resources, the Secretary-General decided to institutionalize the collaboration between the Special Advisers through the establishment of a joint office. As far as possible, the two Advisers share a common methodology for early warning, assessment, convening, learning, and advocacy, as well as a common office and staff based in New York.
They work together to advance national and international efforts to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity (atrocity crimes), as well as their incitement. In support of their mandates, the Office collects information, conducts assessments of situations worldwide and alerts the Secretary-General and relevant actors to the risk of atrocity crimes, as well as their incitement. The Office also undertakes training and technical assistance to promote greater understanding of the causes and dynamics of atrocity crimes and of the measures that could be taken to prevent them; to raise awareness among States and other actors about their responsibility to protect; and to enhance the capacity of the United Nations, Member States, regional and sub-regional organisations and civil society to prevent atrocity crimes and to develop more effective means of response when they occur..."
Source/publisher:
Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-15
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Genocide
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Individual Documents
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"The Infliction of Mental Harm as Genocide Against Rohingya
Read the Report
အစီရင်ခံစာ ဖတ်ရန်
The popular imagination associates genocide with mass killing. But the Genocide Convention lists four other prohibited genocidal acts, including “causing serious bodily or mental harm.” International tribunals prosecuting genocide have focused more on serious bodily harm and have found serious mental harm difficult to define precisely. This study, “My Tears Could Make a Sea”: The Infliction of Mental Harm as Genocide Against Rohingya by Fortify Rights and the Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School, draws on quantitative data, eyewitness and survivor testimonies, and tools of social science to assess how inflicting mental harm can destroy a group of people in whole or in part. More specifically, by applying the law of genocide to this account of mental harm, it addresses an urgent question: Is the Myanmar military responsible for inflicting serious mental harm on the Rohingya people as an act of genocide to destroy them as a group?
“My Tears Could Make a Sea” will help governments, prosecutors, investigators, scholars, human rights groups, and aid workers better understand, and act against, mental harm as genocide generally and against Rohingya people. It includes more than 35 recommendations to relevant parties, including the Myanmar military junta, the National Unity Government of Myanmar, U.N. member states, the International Criminal Court, and humanitarian organizations providing aid to Rohingya genocide survivors..."
Source/publisher:
"Fortify Rights"
Date of publication:
2024-04-24
Date of entry/update:
2024-04-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide
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pdf pdf
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18.9 MB 17.91 MB
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"LAW’s multidisciplinary research seeks to understand if there is any continuing impact(s) of the sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) that was committed by the Myanmar military against Rohingya survivors to determine whether such SGBV can constitute genocide.
Context: Several international efforts since the 2017 ‘clearance operations’ have documented the perpetration of SGBV against the Rohingya. Separately, studies have analysed a broad range of mental health outcomes among the Rohingya population in the aftermath of the ‘clearance operations’ and during the accompanying humanitarian response. This research breaks new ground by exploring the connection between the SGBV experienced by Rohingya in Myanmar and their current psychological state. In essence, there is a lack of clinical evidence that delves into the enduring impact of the systematic SGBV committed against Rohingya in Myanmar, particularly in terms of its consequences for not only survivors’ mental health but also their reproductive capacity and its impact on the community as a whole.
To shed light on these aspects, this research focused on three questions:
What is the physical and psychological impact of the SGBV during 2017 ‘clearance operations’ on Rohingya victims and survivors?
What is the impact of such SGBV on the individual survivors’ familial relations, and is there any impact on the Rohingya society?
Can SGBV against Rohingya – through its perpetration and long-term physical and psychosocial consequences – constitute a crime of genocide under the international law?
Between August 2022 and March 2023, a multi-disciplinary team comprising psychologists, a medical doctor, and lawyers undertook the research and analysed the medical and psychosocial data collected from survivors and examined the findings within the applicable legal framework. The research focuses on the experiences of female, male, and hijra survivors of SGBV who were forcibly displaced from Myanmar over six years ago and currently reside in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
Key Findings:
The research found that the scale of physical injuries from SGBV committed during the 2017 ‘clearance operations’ resulted in long-term consequences, including permanent damage to survivors’ genitalia, which has impacted their ability to procreate.
All survivors described severe psychological injuries which has left them in a state of extreme emotional distress.
The SGBV also damaged individual survivors’ intrafamilial relationships including their ability to be intimate with their partner, their relationship with extended family networks, and with the broader community. In particular, the use of sexual violence negatively impacted survivors’ parent-child relationships and their psychological capacity to procreate.
The research also found that the systematic nature of the SGBV was destructive to the social fabric of the community in at least three ways:
– Firstly, severe ostracisation of the female survivors from family and kinship resulted in the loss of their cultural identity.
– Secondly, the real and symbolic emasculation of men by instilling powerlessness and diminishing their social role.
– Thirdly, the forced reorganisation of the Rohingya family unit and lineage, and erosion of future social alliances such as marriage within the community.
Recommendations are as follows:
Efforts to hold Myanmar accountable for the serious international crimes against the Rohingya including SGBV, must be advanced on an urgent basis.
Improved protection measures are necessary to ensure Rohingya SGBV survivors’ continuous engagement in international justice proceedings.
Fund and establish quality and long-term specialised support for Rohingya SGBV survivors across genders.
LAW dedicates this research to the Rohingya victims and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence perpetrated in Myanmar. LAW is grateful to those who participated in this research, confided in us, and shared the harrowing experiences they suffered and continue to suffer. Their courage to speak out and pursue justice is deeply moving – we must have the courage to seek justice with them..."
Source/publisher:
Legal Action Worldwide (Genève)
Date of publication:
2023-12-06
Date of entry/update:
2023-12-06
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Public Health, Human Rights and international relations, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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pdf
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5.48 MB
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"25 August 2023: Today, we commemorate the victims and survivors of the genocidal ‘clearance operations’ carried out against the Rohingya in Rakhine State by the Myanmar military on 25 August 2017. We also acknowledge the international community’s failure to fulfil its obligation to hold the Myanmar military accountable for the most serious crimes under international law and to protect the Rohingya from further harm, says the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M).
Decades of state oppression against Rohingya in Myanmar came to a head when the Myanmar military launched a campaign of mass atrocities against the Rohingya in northern Rakhine State six years ago today. Thousands of Rohingya men, women, boys and girls were killed in the ensuing mass murder, rape and gang rape, torture, burning and arson carried out by the Myanmar military. Three quarters of a million Rohingya were forced to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh where they joined a quarter of a million Rohingya who had previously fled military persecution.
“Today serves as a sad reminder of the appalling abrogation of responsibility by the international community to hold Myanmar military leaders accountable for the crimes committed against the Rohingya,” said Yanghee Lee of SAC-M. “The consequences of the genocide are still being lived by the Rohingya today. The international community failed to protect the Rohingya then and it is utterly failing to protect the Rohingya now.”
Rohingya communities in Myanmar, Bangladesh and around the world show resilience and courage in their unwavering pursuit of justice and the full restoration of their rights despite the extreme hardship many continue to face. Almost one million Rohingya refugees live in overcrowded and unsafe camps in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh where they are denied their basic rights to freedom of movement, employment and education.
Extreme restrictions on the rights of some 600,000 Rohingya who remain in Myanmar, including 140,000 Rohingya who have been confined to squalid camps in Rakhine State for more than a decade, have become more severe since the Myanmar military junta launched an illegal coup in February 2021. A relentless campaign of mass atrocities against Myanmar civilians by junta forces and the subsequent denial of urgently needed humanitarian aid to vulnerable communities, including the Rohingya, by the junta has created both human rights and humanitarian emergencies in Myanmar. As such, the safe, voluntary, dignified and durable return of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar is impossible.
“The Rohingya have made it clear they will only return home when it is safe for them to do so, and when they can be guaranteed their full rights and representation under a new federal democratic system in Myanmar,” said Marzuki Darusman of SAC-M. “Any effort to engineer the return of the Rohingya people under the current adverse circumstances that would also directly implicate the United Nations (UN) is seen through immediately as a deliberate act to grossly mislead the Rohingya and the international community. The Rohingya must be heard and their calls for justice reflected in the actions of the international community.”
“A glaring lack of political will on the part of the international community is now what stands between the continuation of absolute military impunity in Myanmar and justice and accountability for the Rohingya,” added Darusman.
Proceedings are underway at the International Court of Justice, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Myanmar military leaders for alleged crimes committed against Rohingya outside Myanmar while in Argentina a criminal case is being heard under universal jurisdiction. Criminal cases have also been filed in Germany and Turkey under universal jurisdiction. These are all important avenues for accountability but such efforts are slow moving and need increased international support.
On this Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day, SAC-M calls on the international community, including the UN and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to support these efforts and urgently pursue accountability for grave human rights violations committed by the Myanmar military against the Rohingya and all peoples in Myanmar going back decades. Furthermore, SAC-M calls on the ICC to accept the legitimate National Unity Government of Myanmar’s Article 12(3) declaration granting the Court jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute atrocity crimes committed in Myanmar dating back to 2002.
“The culture of Myanmar military impunity that paved the way for the Rohingya genocide is devastatingly apparent in Myanmar today,” said Chris Sidoti of SAC-M. “The complete failure of the international system to deliver justice for the Rohingya and hold Myanmar military leaders accountable has to end. The UN Security Council must finally take action in accordance with the UN Charter to refer the situation in Myanmar to the ICC and initiate punitive actions against the Myanmar military to cut off its access to funds and weapons.”..."
Source/publisher:
Special Advisory Council for Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-08-25
Date of entry/update:
2023-08-25
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Individual Documents
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pdf
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140.73 KB
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"The National Unity Government of Myanmar (NUG) strongly condemns, in the strongest terms, the horrific Yinmabin massacre in Sagaing, Myanmar. The world must unite against the horrors unfolding in Sagaing, Myanmar. In the early hours of July 21st, 2023, around 2 am, evil forces, acting under the orders of the genocidal military junta's generals, carried out a heinous and tragic massacre in the village of Sone Chaung, in Yinmabin township. Under the cover of darkness, these malevolent forces infiltrated the village, armed with heavy battlefield weapons, and unleashed terror upon innocent villagers. Three individuals were arrested and brutally beheaded, while more villagers fell victim to their merciless brutality. As of now, the confirmed death toll stands at 14 lives lost due to this despicable act perpetrated by the genocidal military junta forces.
Every passing day, we find it increasingly unbearable to hear about the brutal massacres, crimes against humanity, heinous human rights violations, and unthinkable genocide committed by the genocidal military junta with absolute impunity against the entire population of Myanmar.
Over the last 27 months alone, the genocidal military junta in Myanmar has callously killed more than 4000 innocent civilians, including several hundreds of children, and unjustly arrested nearly 24,000 civilians, including the democratically elected President of Myanmar, U Win Myint, and Myanmar's State Counsellor, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Moreover, 800 plus children have been among those arrested, and some 100 children were held as hostages to target their parents. Tragically, more than 800 children have lost their lives, and over 70,000 homes, including schools, hospitals, and places of worship, have been destroyed. The junta's actions of terrorism have forced nearly 2 million people into homelessness as refugees, and an astonishing 18 million people in Myanmar are in dire need of lifesaving aid, while 48 million people have been pushed below the poverty line. Additionally, several millions of children in Myanmar are on the edge of becoming lost generations, which will significantly affect generations to come.
Moreover, the genocidal military junta has implemented their evil "four cuts" policies against the entire population of Myanmar, effectively using hunger, disease, starvation, death, and destruction as weapons of oppression. Despite the high cost that the people of Myanmar are paying, despite these crimes against humanity, the freedom, and federal democracy-loving people of Myanmar refuse to surrender or give up. They are fighting for freedom and federal democracy, which can only be implemented once the genocidal military junta is defeated and removed from Myanmar politics. The people of Myanmar have made it clear and loud that they no longer desire any form of brutal and genocidal dictatorship imposed by the military; what they yearn for is a truly inclusive federal democracy, for which they are sacrificing their lives every day in the face of these terrors of the genocidal junta.
Regrettably, this Yinmabin Massacre atrocity marks just one of 144 similar massacres committed by the murderous junta over the last 27 months. The genocidal military junta skillfully hides behind a veil of secrecy, evading international scrutiny. It is imperative that the international community and Myanmar's neighbors should no longer keep silent about these heinous crimes happening next door within the global community of humanity. It is no longer just about international borders; it's about humanity collectively and internationally. We must take decisive action now!
Reports from the United Nations reveal that the genocidal junta in Myanmar has engaged in a deadly trade of weapons, amounting to a staggering 1 billion US dollars, with five countries over the past 27 months alone. These weapons fuel their reign of terror and enable them to commit unspeakable crimes against humanity with complete disregard for human life. The international community must act decisively! We call for concrete measures to cut off the flow of money, weapons, and legitimacy to the genocidal military junta in Myanmar. The sooner the international community and Myanmar's neighbors respect and rally with the democratic will of the people of Myanmar by officially recognizing NUG and supporting the pro-democracy movement, the earlier we can end this reign of terror and establish federal democracy for peace and prosperity in Myanmar, the region, and indeed make this world a better place for ALL.
Accountability is paramount! The NUG is resolute in holding all perpetrators accountable for their crimes against humanity and heinous human rights violations. We will pursue justice through international and national mechanisms, such as the International Criminal Court (ICC), International Court of Justice (ICJ), and universal jurisdiction laws. Domestically, we will seek justice through all available means. The genocidal military junta must face the consequences of their acts of crime against humanity.
It is critical that the ASEAN leadership reviews and evaluates ASEAN Special Envoy roles and the ASEAN five points consensus on Myanmar. It is urgent that ASEAN coordinates an international coalition on the Myanmar crisis with like-minded countries and ASEAN partners. Additionally, it is crucial for ASEAN to implement its five points on Myanmar (2021) together with UN Security Council Resolution No. 2669 (2022) on Myanmar, comprising 10 points, and USA NDAA Burma Acts (2023), comprising 8 strategic points. These 23 points from ASEAN, the USA, and the UN Security Council on Myanmar must be implemented on the ground without further delays.
Despite the heinous crimes committed by the genocidal military junta in Myanmar, the brave people of Myanmar remain unwaveringly committed to fighting for freedom, human rights, and federal democracy. Their resolute determination will undoubtedly lead to victory! Justice, Freedom, and Federal Democracy will ultimately prevail in Myanmar, making the region and the world a better place for ALL.
Let us stand in unwavering solidarity with the loved ones, families, and villagers of Sone Chaung village, Yinmabin township during this heart-wrenching time, deliberately created by the genocidal junta and supported by their partners in crimes. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. We, the National Unity Government of Myanmar, pledge to tirelessly work until justice is served, and peace and democracy are fully restored in our beloved nation and the region. As we stand together, united in purpose, we are confident that light will overcome darkness, and the dreams of a free, just, and federal democratic Myanmar will soon become a reality..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of International Cooperation Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-07-22
Date of entry/update:
2023-07-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Genocide, Human Rights and international relations
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pdf
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67.63 KB
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"The National Unity Government of Myanmar (NUG) welcomes the European Union's (EU) seventh round of sanctions against the genocidal military junta in Myanmar known as the State Administrative Council (SAC). All the current EU sanctions, which apply to a total of 99 individuals and 19 entities, send strong messages to the terrorist military junta in Myanmar, but unfortunately, they are not enough. The strategic, greater, and concrete actions of the international community are absolutely required to end the crimes against humanity and to restore peace and democracy in Myanmar and the region. It is imperative that the sanctions list expands to thousands, targeting not only high ranks but also local and regional commanders of the military junta, Tatmadaw, and their cronies and supporters who are responsible for executing crimes against humanity and heinous human rights violations on the ground against the innocent civilians of Myanmar.
Therefore, we call on all nations of the free world to show solidarity with the people of Myanmar by joining hands and taking decisive actions for the cause of freedom, democracy, peace, justice, stability and security in the region. This can be achieved by cutting off the genocidal military junta's access to finance, weapons, and legitimacy through international channels and supporting Myanmar to establish federal democratic governances. By targeting the junta's resources and strengths, we can effectively cripple their ability to continue their reign of terror and perpetrate crimes against humanity against the entire population of Myanmar.
The Council of the European Union stated that:
Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, and in particular Article 29 thereof, having regard to the proposal from the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy,
(1) On 22 April 2013, the Council adopted Decision 2013/184/CFSP (1).
(2) On 31 January 2023, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy issued a declaration on behalf of the Union, strongly condemning the overthrow of Myanmar's democratically elected government by the Myanmar armed forces in blatant violation of the will of the people, as expressed in the general election of 8 November 2020. This illegitimate act reversed the country's democratic transition and led to disastrous humanitarian, social, security, economic, and human rights consequences.
(3) The Union remains deeply concerned by the continuing escalation of violence and the evolution towards a protracted conflict with regional implications. The Union condemns the continuing grave human rights violations by the Myanmar armed forces, including torture, sexual and gender-based violence, the persecution of civil society actors, human rights defenders, and journalists, and attacks on the civilian population, including ethnic and religious minorities.
(4) In the absence of swift progress in the situation in Myanmar/Burma, the Union has expressed several times its readiness to adopt further restrictive measures against those responsible for undermining democracy and the rule of law and for the serious human rights violations taking place in that country.
(5) In view of the continuing grave situation in Myanmar/Burma, six persons and one entity should be added to the list of natural and legal persons, entities, and bodies subject to restrictive measures in the Annex to Decision 2013/184/CFSP.
EU HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:
Article 1: The Annex to Decision 2013/184/CFSP is amended as set out in the Annex to this Decision.
Article 2: This Decision shall enter into force on the date of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Council Decision 2013/184/CFSP of 22 April 2013 concerning restrictive measures in view of the situation in Myanmar/Burma (OJ L 111, 23.4.2013, p. 75).
The following entries are added to the list headed ‘A. Natural persons referred to in Articles 5(1) and 6(1)’:
Aung Kyaw Min Nationality: Myanmar/Burma; Date of birth: circa 1958; Place of birth: Myanmar/Burma; Gender: male; Function: Member of State Administration Council
Aung Kyaw Min has been a member of the State Administration Council (SAC) since 1 February 2023. He is also the former Chief-Minister of Rakhine State. SAC is led by Commander in Chief Min Aung Hlaing, who took over the legislative, executive, and judicial powers of the State as of 1 February 2021, preventing the democratically elected government from fulfilling its mandate. As a member of the SAC, Aung Kyaw Min has been directly involved in and responsible for decision-making concerning state functions and is, therefore, responsible for undermining democracy and the rule of law in Myanmar/Burma. Additionally, the SAC has adopted decisions restricting the rights of freedom of expression, including access to information, and peaceful assembly. The military forces and authorities operating under the control of the SAC have committed serious human rights violations since 1 February 2021, killing civilian and unarmed protestors, and have restricted freedom of assembly and expression. As a member of the SAC, Aung Kyaw Min is directly responsible for those repressive decisions and for serious human rights violations.
Kyaw Swar Lin a.k.a Kyaw Swar Linn, Nationality: Myanmar/Burma; Place of birth: Myanmar/Burma; Gender: male; Function: Quartermaster General of the Myanmar armed forces. Lieutenant General Kyaw Swar Lin was appointed as Quartermaster General in May 2020. It is the sixth-highest position in the military of Myanmar/Burma. The Office of the Quartermaster General is a department under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense and is involved in arms and military equipment procurement for the Myanmar Armed Forces. In addition, Kyaw Swar Lin runs the Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), which is one of the two major conglomerates and holding companies operated by the military, generating revenue for the Myanmar armed forces (Tatmadaw). As Quartermaster General, he forms part of the military regime that has seized power in a military coup and overthrown the legitimately elected leaders of Myanmar/Burma. Kyaw Swar Lin is, therefore, a natural person whose policies and activities undermine democracy and the rule of law in Myanmar/Burma and who provides support for actions that threaten the peace, security, and stability of Myanmar/Burma.
Myint Kyaing a.k.a. U Myint Kyaing Nationality: Myanmar/Burma; Date of birth: 17.4.1957 Place of birth: Myanmar/Burma; Gender: male; Function: Union Minister of Immigration and Population.Myint Kyaing has been the Union Minister for Immigration and Population since 19 August 2021. Before that, he was Union Minister of Labour following the coup of 1 February 2021. He is a member of the State Administration Council (SAC), led by Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, which took over the legislative, executive, and judicial powers of the State in a military coup on 1 February 2021. As a government Minister, he forms part of the military regime that has seized power in a military coup and overthrown the legitimately elected leaders of Myanmar/Burma. In his capacity as Union Minister, he carries out duties in support of the military regime's repressive immigration and population policy, such as restrictions for citizens to travel within the country, as well as the policy of the regime towards the minority of the Rohingya in violation of human rights. As Minister for Immigration and Population, he also participates in preparations for the elections announced by the military to legitimize the illegal coup of February 2021. Myint Kyaing is, therefore, responsible for undermining democracy and the rule of law in Myanmar/Burma and for providing support for actions that threaten the peace, security, and stability of Myanmar/Burma.
Porel Aung Thein Nationality: Myanmar/Burma; Date of birth: 1960s-1970s (approx. 50 years old) Place of birth: Myanmar/Burma; Gender: male; Function: Member of State Administration Council. Porel Aung Thein has been a member of the State Administration Council (SAC) since 1 February 2023. He is also a member of a military-proxy party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). SAC is led by Commander in Chief Min Aung Hlaing and took over the legislative, executive, and judicial powers of the State as of 1 February 2021, preventing the democratically elected government from fulfilling its mandate. As a member of the SAC, Porel Aung Thein has been directly involved in and responsible for decision-making concerning state functions and is, therefore, responsible for undermining democracy and the rule of law in Myanmar/Burma. Additionally, the SAC adopted decisions restricting the rights of freedom of expression, including access to information, and peaceful assembly. The military forces and authorities operating under the control of the SAC have committed serious human rights violations since 1 February 2021, killing civilian and unarmed protestors, and restricted freedom of assembly and expression. As a member of the SAC, Porel Aung Thein is directly responsible for those repressive decisions and for serious human rights violations.
Pwint San Nationality: Myanmar/Burma; Date of birth: 13.7.1961 Place of birth: Myanmar/Burma; Gender: male; Function: Union Minister of Labour.
Pwint San has been Union Minister of Labour since 19 August 2022. He was appointed by the State Administration Council (SAC), led by Commander in Chief Min Aung Hlaing, which took over the legislative, executive, and judicial powers of the State as of 2 February 2021. His position as the Union Minister for Labour was confirmed again on 1 February 2023. He was previously appointed as Union Minister of Commerce from the period of 3 February 2021 to 19 August 2022. As a government Minister, he forms part of the military regime that has seized power in a military coup and overthrown the legitimately elected leaders of Myanmar/Burma. Under his authority, workers' rights, especially the rights of workers affiliated with the opposition movement, are being systematically violated. As Minister of Commerce, Pwint San facilitated the importation of goods necessary to sustain the regime's power (e.g., fuel oil importation). Furthermore, through his national activities and international contacts, he contributes to further stabilizing the illegitimate power of the military regime. At the same time, the ministry under his authority aggravates supply disruptions within the country by imposing import controls and restricting the transfer of remittances. Pwint San is, therefore, a natural person whose actions, policies, and activities undermine democracy and the rule of law in Myanmar/Burma and who is engaged in actions that threaten the peace, security, and stability of Myanmar/Burma.
Thet Khaing Win Nationality: Myanmar/Burma Date of birth: 13.7.1961 Place of birth: Myanmar/Burma; Gender: male; Function: Union Minister of Health.
Dr. Thet Khaing Win has been the Minister for Health and Sport since 1 February 2021. He was appointed by the State Administration Council (SAC), led by Commander in Chief Min Aung Hlaing, which took over the legislative, executive, and judicial powers of the State as of 2 February 2021. His position as the Union Minister for Health was confirmed on 1 February 2023. Before the coup, he was the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Health and Sport. As a government Minister, he forms part of the military regime that has seized power in a military coup and overthrown the legitimately elected leaders of Myanmar/Burma. Under his authority, hundreds of doctors have been fired for political reasons and had their licenses revoked. He also rebuffed UN-OCHA's requests for expanded aid access amid the pandemic. Under his authority, private hospitals were urged not to hire doctors who refused to work in public hospitals under the military regime. Dr. Thet Khaing Win is, therefore, a natural person whose actions, policies, and activities undermine democracy and the rule of law in Myanmar/Burma and who is engaged in actions that threaten the peace, security, and stability of Myanmar/Burma.
The following entry is added to the list headed 'B. Legal persons, entities, and bodies referred to in Article 6(1)':
No. 2 Mining Enterprise (ME 2) Address: Ywargout Quarter, Pyinmana Township, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar/Burma; Type of entity: State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) Place of registration: Myanmar/Burma; Principal place of business: Myanmar/Burma; No. 2 Mining Enterprise (ME 2) is a state-owned enterprise (SOE) under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation (MONREC) that also acts as the regulator for the sector of non-ferrous metals production and marketing. As such, the SOE is endowed with the power to grant permits and collect part of the tax on profits made by private companies that are either in so-called 'production-sharing contracts' or in joint ventures with ME. The Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, U Khin Maung Yi, has been appointed by the State Administration Council (SAC), which took over the legislative, executive, and judicial powers of the State as of 2 February 2021. Since the military coup, the military regime has acquired control over and benefits from SOEs, including No. 2 Mining Enterprise. No. 2 Mining Enterprise is thus controlled by and generates revenue for the Myanmar armed forces (Tatmadaw), thereby contributing to its capabilities to carry out activities that undermine democracy and the rule of law. Moreover, No. 2 Mining Enterprise has taken part in and overseen various projects linked to violence by the Myanmar armed forces against civilian populations and the violation of their most basic rights, including through land confiscation and forced relocation.
We strongly commend the EU's commitment to justice, human rights, and federal democracy, and highly appreciate their efforts. However, it is crucial for the international community and the free and democratic world to step up efforts for stronger, tougher, more coordinated, and targeted actions. The situation in Myanmar is dire, with the genocidal military junta perpetrating unspeakable crimes against humanity, violating the will of the people, and suppressing all forms of dissent.
The brave people of Myanmar and Ukraine have been fighting and sacrificing their lives for the cause of freedom, justice, and democracy. It is imperative that the international community as a whole stands in solidarity with the people of Myanmar and Ukraine, who have been giving their lives for the cause of freedom from evil and striving for peace and prosperity to create a better world for all and future generations..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of International Cooperation Myanmar
Date of publication:
2023-07-21
Date of entry/update:
2023-07-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Genocide, Human Rights and international relations
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109.46 KB
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"Burma Campaign UK is writing to 40 of the biggest and highest profile jewellery retailers in the UK asking them to demonstrate that the gems they sell are not sourced from Burma/Myanmar in ways which help fund the Burmese military.
Following the attempted military coup, which began in February 2021, the Burmese military now dominates Burma’s gems industry, which is potentially worth $2bn per year. Through its own private companies, control of the state-owned enterprises and government ministries, control of trade routes into areas not under its control, legal and illegal trade, and the business interests of military family members, the Burmese military extracts revenue from the gems industry in numerous ways.
This revenue can be used by the Burmese military to buy arms and equipment and so funds the human rights violations they commit.
Research by Burma Campaign UK shows that most retailers do not specify the origin country of gems, such as rubies, which they sell.
“Some retailers may not be aware of the risks of funding the Burmese military when they sell gems from Burma. We want to draw these risks to their attention and give them the opportunity to do the right thing,” said Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK.
In the United States, a ‘Genocide Gems’ campaign run by the International Campaign for the Rohingya has persuaded Cartier, Harry Winston and Tiffany to stop sourcing gems from Burma.
The Burmese military stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice and is being investigated for crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court. Numerous United Nations and human rights organisations have documented war crimes by the Burmese military.
The Burmese military is currently unleashing an unprecedented wave of atrocities and repression across the entire country as it desperately seeks to consolidate the coup.
Weapons designed for fighting armies have been unleashed against the civilian population. Airstrikes and long-range artillery are used on a daily basis, creating a human rights and humanitarian crisis. Schools, hospitals and religious buildings are deliberately targeted, forcing more than 2 million people to flee their homes.
More than 22,000 people have been arrested, with political prisoners subjected to torture and sexual violence after arrest. Executions are taking place again for the first time in decades. There is no freedom of speech, media organisations are banned or heavily censored, and internet access restricted or completely blocked.
Burma’s democracy movement is calling on the international community to do everything it can to help cut the economic lifeline of the Burmese military. Gems are a major potential source of revenue.
Any international company engaging in the trade or retail sale of gems from Burma needs to be able to provide evidence that the gems it is selling have not helped to fund the Burmese military and the human rights violations they commit. If they cannot do so, they must commit to ending sales.
We will be publishing a report based on the responses we receive from companies. Companies which are selling gems from Burma and cannot demonstrate that the gems they sell do not fund the Burmese military will be named and shamed in the report and face public campaigns, including boycotts.
We will then consider high profile campaigns against these companies, including placing them on our ‘Dirty List’ of companies helping to fund the Burmese military, and consumer boycott campaigns.
“People don’t want to wear jewellery which has helped pay for soldiers who rape children and bomb schools,” said Mark Farmaner. “Companies have a responsibility to ensure they are not funding human rights violations and those which don’t act responsibly face significant reputational damage.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Burma Campaign UK" (London)
Date of publication:
2023-05-30
Date of entry/update:
2023-05-30
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Human Rights and international relations, Genocide
Language:
more
Description:
"Media Release from Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) today published its latest report ‘Preventable deaths in Cyclone Mocha and the Rohingya genocide’, on the Burmese junta’s continued defiance of the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Gambia’s genocide case against Myanmar. The order is aimed at protecting the Rohingya, who the ICJ described as ‘extremely vulnerable’. Until the case concludes, Myanmar is obliged to report on its compliance with the ICJ’s order every six months, with its latest report due on 23 May 2023.
On 14 May, Cyclone Mocha struck Myanmar’s Rakhine State, leaving a trail of destruction. BROUK’s new report examines the circumstances which led to the preventable deaths of hundreds of Rohingya in Cyclone Mocha, in the context of the ongoing Rohingya genocide. Hundreds of Rohingya have been killed and injured after Rohingya were left behind in internment camps in Rakhine State. To date, the junta continues to block vital humanitarian aid from reaching impacted Rohingya communities.
“In the context of the regime’s policies of persecution towards the Rohingya, what the United Nations describes as ‘waiting for access’ is genocide right in front of our eyes,” said Tun Khin, President of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK.
The report focuses on the regime’s ongoing commission of the genocidal act of ‘deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of a group in whole or in part’, in this case the Rohingya. The authorities instigated and participated in the 2012 violence which forcibly displaced more than 140,000 Rohingya, then detained them in overcrowded, flood-prone internment camps surrounded by barbed wire where they have remained for over a decade. The junta’s response to Cyclone Mocha was willfully negligent. The regime failed to evacuate all the Rohingya who were in danger from the cyclone and has blocked humanitarian aid.
BROUK points out that the regime’s obstruction of humanitarian aid may cause additional preventable deaths among extremely vulnerable Rohingya survivors. The Rohingya community in Thet Kay Pyin camp in Sittwe are already reporting an outbreak of diarrhoea among children in the camp due to unclean water sources, which can quickly spread and prove fatal if left untreated.
BROUK’s report finds that the Burmese military are continuing to violate the provisional measures ordered by the ICJ amid an ongoing genocide. The British government, penholder on Myanmar at the United Nations Security Council, has not yet convened a meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the violation of the provisional measures.
“The International Court of Justice and the UN Security Council are fully aware that the Burmese military are violating the provisional measures but are not even talking about it, let alone taking action,” said Tun Khin. “What was the point of imposing provisional measures to prevent genocide if there are no consequences if they are ignored? This sets a dangerous precedent that will be watched by authoritarian regimes worldwide. We don’t just have ongoing genocide of the Rohingya, we also have ongoing failure of the United Nations Security Council and the rest of the international community to do anything about it.”
BROUK urged the British government and the wider international community to secure public hearings at the UN Security Council on the junta’s breaches of the ICJ’s order and to coordinate concrete follow-up actions. BROUK also renewed its calls to the ICJ to amend or issue further provisional measures to order Myanmar to allow all humanitarian actors immediate, unrestricted, and sustained access to Rakhine State and the rest of the country. This would benefit not only Rohingya survivors of Cyclone Mocha, but all the people of Myanmar who are suffering due to the regime’s obstruction of humanitarian aid.
The Burmese military are violating the provisional measures in many other ways, including through denial of the Rohingya identity and citizenship, restrictions on travel and access to essential services, and deliberate blocking of humanitarian assistance, leading to mental and bodily harm and preventable deaths. The junta criminalises and imprisons Rohingya who attempt to flee these appalling conditions of life, including children. The report concludes that the proactive attempts by the junta to prevent the Rohingya from escaping the conditions of life inflicted on them demonstrate its ongoing genocidal intent..."
Source/publisher:
Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
Date of publication:
2023-05-25
Date of entry/update:
2023-05-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
1.27 MB (30 pages) - Original version
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Sub-title:
In 2018, Bob Rae, special envoy to Myanmar, recommended Canada welcome Rohingya refugees. Yet, Ukraine has become more of a priority.
Description:
"In 2017, an estimated 770,000 Rohingya were driven from their homeland, escaping from the Myanmar military campaign of mass killing, rape and systematic arson. People fled across the border to Bangladesh and now inhabit the world’s largest refugee camp, enduring militancy, poverty, and intolerable and dangerous conditions. While these refugees have been allowed to remain, their Bangladeshi hosts increasingly view them as “a big burden.”
Yet Rohingya genocide survivors have little chance of returning to Myanmar, where the military that slaughtered their people consolidated its power with a coup in February 2021. Almost six years after their exodus from their homeland, Rohingya refugees exist in a “suspended state” between global indifference and local hostility. In such dire circumstances, Canada should do more to assist one million Rohingya genocide survivors trapped in a cruel limbo.
This is not just geopolitics; this is my life. I remember vividly the day I was resettled from a camp in Bangladesh to Canada in August 2021. Landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport, I felt welcomed in a country for the first time. A woman at the immigration desk greeted me with a soothing smile and a genuine “Welcome to Canada.” In my country of birth, there were no such pleasantries. As a Rohingya, officials deemed me an “illegal immigrant” from the outset, despite the centuries of Rohingya existence in Myanmar.
Rohingya refugees are an untapped source for Canada’s workforce
A key moment to help the Rohingya for the long term
In Canada, I quickly connected with a community of around 1,000 Rohingya who have made this country their new home since 2016. I met men and women who are making valuable contributions to Canada by working in factories and volunteering for civic organizations. Their children are attending local schools and universities.
These people, and now my family and I, are living the dream of one million Rohingya still confined against their will either in the ongoing genocide in Myanmar or who have escaped to the harsh life in Bangladesh’s refugee camps. Perhaps the phrase “breathing the air of freedom” may sound like a cliché, but it rings true for a genocide survivor like me.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Canada opened the door for more than 132,000 Ukrainian nationals without hesitation, creating new pathways for those fleeing an uncertain future. While this humanitarian act is laudable, it’s difficult to not worry about those genocide survivors in Bangladesh who are still suffering. Canada needs to embrace a similar open-door policy for them.
I cannot shake what I endured and witnessed during the four years I was a refugee in Bangladesh. There are Rohingya families living in cramped tarpaulin shelters trying to survive on World Food Program rations, which a funding shortfall has recently reduced further.
Human Rights Watch has documented extortion, detention and other human rights violations against Rohingya refugees by Bangladeshi police in those camps, and the Bangladeshi government coercively relocated tens of thousands of them to a flood-prone island in the Bay of Bengal. A massive fire on March 5, 2023, burnt thousands of Rohingya shelters, making thousands of them homeless within a refugee camp in Bangladesh.
The camps are simply not safe, leading thousands to escape Bangladesh by boat. Hundreds have now died or are missing at the Andaman Sea. Given such a situation, the refugees’ best hope lies in resettlement in countries where brute force, exploitation and hopelessness are not the norm.
Canada has acknowledged Myanmar’s genocide of Rohingya people. In April 2018, Bob Rae, who served as special envoy to Myanmar, recommended in his final report that “a fundamental principle of Canada’s approach to the Rohingya crisis should be that we listen to the voice of the Rohingya themselves. This principle should guide our actions and inform our advocacy.”
The Rohingya community in Canada is hoping that the federal government will open the country’s arms and doors to the survivors of genocide, both those living in Myanmar and those currently enduring deplorable conditions in refugee camps elsewhere.
Canada’s response to Rohingya crisis falls short
Canada can help with the Rohingyas’ legal needs
The incredible response to the war in Ukraine shows how wide Canada can open its doors to refugees. But it is hard not to think of the Rohingya genocide survivors who have not received the same human rights protections. This is not to take away from the generosity shown to Ukrainians, but rather to assert the importance of those who continue to face harrowing conditions elsewhere.
There are concrete steps that Canada can take for those one million Rohingya genocide survivors including establishing a Rohingya Working Group within the Government of Canada as recommended in Rae’s final report and immediately extending a commitment to resettle up to 10,000 of them from Bangladesh. Adversity is indiscriminate; it does not distinguish between Ukrainians or Rohingya. Neither should Canada..."
Source/publisher:
Policy Options
Date of publication:
2023-03-31
Date of entry/update:
2023-03-31
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
Language:
more
Description:
"Myanmar’s junta says it is working to bring back Rohingya refugees who fled Rakhine State for Bangladesh following the military’s supposed counter-insurgency operations in 2017.
Junta leaders, including International Cooperation Minister U Ko Ko Hlaing, Border Affairs Minister Lieutenant General Tun Tun Naung, Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Minister Dr. Thet Thet Khaing and Immigration and Population Minister U Myint Kyaing, visited Maungdaw on the Bangladesh border on Sunday and instructed the authorities to prepare transit camps for repatriation.
One Maungdaw resident said: “I heard they asked departments to make transit camps ready, that they would take back refugees from Bangladesh, that they would make preparations whether [Rohingya] come back or not.”
Some Muslim and Hindu leaders from Maungdaw were summoned to Sittwe to meet junta ministers.
Ko Khin Maung from a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh said whether the Rohingya will return to Maungdaw depends on the junta’s honesty and the refugees have little trust in the repatriation program.
“We do want to return. We are experiencing hardships, after staying for a long time in refugee camps. But the question is if we will be allowed to go back to our homes. It is not OK for us if we will just be held at the Hla Poe Kaung transit camp. The repatriation program will not be successful if the regime is dishonest,” he said.
Rohingya rights activist U Nay San Lwin, co-founder of the Germany-based Free Rohingya Coalition, said the Rohingya would not return unless their rights are guaranteed.
“The news of junta ministers making inspection tours at the border to take back refugees is no longer news to us. We are used to hearing such news. And refugees are not excited anymore. The military moves slightly when there are growing pressures from the international community and China. Nothing more than that,” U Nay San Lwin said.
Recently, the regime sent back over 900 Rohingya detained in Yangon and elsewhere in Myanmar to Maungdaw. They will reportedly be accommodated at transit camps but The Irrawaddy could not independently verify this.
The regime’s repatriation moves, according to some Rohingya activists, are an attempt to salvage its international reputation and help its case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), where Myanmar faces genocide charges.
A brutal military crackdown in the wake of Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army attacks on police outposts in Rakhine in 2017 forced more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee across the Bangladesh border. In response The Gambia in November 2019 brought a case at the ICJ, accusing Myanmar of committing genocide against the Rohingya.
On November 23, 2017, Bangladesh and the now-ousted National League for Democracy government signed a repatriation agreement but there has been no progress.
Rohingya refugees have been widely referred to as “Bengalis” by Myanmar’s authorities, implying they are interlopers from Bangladesh..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2023-02-09
Date of entry/update:
2023-02-09
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rakhine, Genocide, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
more
Description:
"Atrocity Alert is a weekly publication by the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect highlighting situations where populations are at risk of, or are enduring, mass atrocity crimes.
MYANMAR MILITARY CONTINUES ASSAULT ON SAGAING, DISPLACING THOUSANDS OF CIVILIANS
In recent days Myanmar’s (Burma) military has continued to launch airstrikes and raids throughout the resistance stronghold of Sagaing Region in northern Myanmar, perpetrating likely war crimes and crimes against humanity. Following three days of intense clashes with local resistance groups and airstrikes on civilian targets, between 22-23 January junta forces burned houses in Moetar village, Katha Township. More than 15,000 residents from 10 villages across Katha Township fled their homes as a result of the attacks. Over 7,000 civilians were also forced to flee on 23-24 January after military soldiers raided and torched villages along the border of Depayin and Ye-U townships in Sagaing Region.
Myanmar’s military – the Tatmadaw – has consistently perpetrated airstrikes and raids in the nearly two years since the coup in order to invoke terror, maintain control and quell dissent. In December 2022 junta soldiers conducted arson attacks on 30 villages in Depayin Township alone, destroying over 3,000 houses and five monasteries. According to the independent rights group Data for Myanmar, junta forces had burned an estimated 36,500 houses in Sagaing Region as of December. In a statement during December, Tom Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, said, “The systematic gross human rights violations — amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity — being perpetrated daily on the people of Myanmar by an illegal military junta requires strong, coordinated action… and accountability for crimes the military has committed to date.”
As the airstrikes and raids against Sagaing continue, civil society has recently taken an important step to advance justice and accountability for the military’s past and current atrocities. On 24 January human rights group Fortify Rights and 16 people from Myanmar filed a criminal complaint in Germany under the principle of universal jurisdiction against Myanmar’s military generals and others. The complaint accuses the Tatmadaw of committing genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity during its so-called “clearance operations” against the Rohingya in 2017 and since the coup.
August 2022 marked the five-year anniversary of the clearance operations against the Rohingya, and 1 February will mark the second anniversary of the deadly coup. Liam Scott, Myanmar expert at the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, said, “Although there are a series of ongoing accountability initiatives and mechanisms, the military has enjoyed impunity for its atrocities for too long. This lack of accountability has emboldened the military to continue perpetrating abuses throughout Myanmar, such as the scorched earth campaign and airstrikes in Sagaing. It is time to ensure that the victims and survivors receive the justice they deserve.” German authorities should take up the complaint and open an investigation to help ensure that those responsible for these grave crimes are held to account.
INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY
On Friday, 27 January, the international community will commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day, honoring the millions of victims of the Holocaust, and the 78th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. The systematic persecution and extermination of more than six million Jews, including more than a million murdered within the confines of Auschwitz, remains one of the darkest chapters in human history.
In addition to commemorating victims, International Holocaust Remembrance Day also recognizes the role of educational programs in teaching about the Holocaust in order to educate future generations on the tools to prevent genocides. This year’s theme, “Home and Belonging,” highlights the humanity of Holocaust victims and survivors, as well as the dangers of hate speech, antisemitism, Holocaust distortion and denial and prejudice. In recent years the hatred and antisemitism that begat the Holocaust is experiencing a resurgence around the world, with a worrying rise in neo-Nazism, hate speech and Holocaust denial. Despite the Holocaust being one of the most well documented mass atrocities in history, Holocaust denial and distortion has been amplified on social media platforms with ease.
By systematically negating the facts of history, genocide deniers manufacture doubt, seed discord and mistrust, strengthen contested narratives about the past, present and future, and create conditions that may lead to the recurrence of atrocities. Genocide denial is not only an attempt to minimize or redefine the scale and severity of the crimes committed, but it also often contributes to the dehumanization of survivors and victims.
Savita Pawnday, Executive Director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, said, “On this International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Global Centre stands with and honors all of the victims of the Holocaust and of Nazism. Auschwitz-Birkenau is a warning from history of the consequences of indifference and inaction in the face of mass atrocities. If we do not resist those who deny the humanity of others, we risk repeating the horrors of the past.”
As history has taught us, genocide does not happen overnight. Genocide is preventable if warning signs – such as hate speech and systemic discrimination and marginalization – are taken seriously and followed by early action. Member states should institute education curriculums that inculcate values and behaviors that counter hate and prejudice. States should also incorporate modules on preventing and responding to atrocity crimes in their education system, including modules on how to prevent and to resist incitement.
VENEZUELAN HUMAN RIGHTS CHAMPION FELICIANO REYNA NAMED MARTIN ENNALS LAUREATE
On 19 January Venezuelan human rights activist Feliciano Reyna Ganteaume was selected as Laureate for the prestigious Martin Ennals Award, which honors individuals and organizations who have shown exceptional commitment to defending and promoting human rights. Laureates are selected by a jury of 10 of the world’s leading human rights organizations. The jury also selected Delphine Djiraibé from Chad and Khurram Parvez from Kashmir for the 2023 Award, emphasizing that each Laureate has “dedicated over 30 years of their lives to building movements which brought about justice for victims or delivered medicines to the marginalized.”
In 1995 Reyna founded Acción Solidaria – an organization pioneering the provision of medication and treatment to Venezuelans living with HIV/AIDS. Since then, he has worked tirelessly as a highly respected human rights activist and has been at the forefront of efforts to respond to the ongoing multidimensional crisis in Venezuela, which has led more than 7 million people to leave the country since 2014. Reyna, together with a large coalition of Venezuelan human rights defenders, has been instrumental in mobilizing the UN Human Rights Council to establish an independent investigative mechanism into alleged crimes against humanity in Venezuela. Elisabeth Pramendorfer, Venezuela expert and Geneva Representative of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, emphasized that, “The overwhelming celebration to this announcement is a testament to Feliciano’s legacy, integrity and his impact on vulnerable communities in Venezuela. The jury’s decision also honors civil society organizations across Venezuela that have emerged as the primary actors in providing humanitarian assistance and supporting victims of state-led violence.”
The announcement comes at a time when human rights defenders in Venezuela continue to face systematic repression by the government. In February 2021 the Global Centre joined 11 international organizations in condemning the targeted harassment, reprisals and restrictions against Venezuelan civil society partners. Since then, the government has continued its crackdown on civic space. In a preliminary discussion on 24 January, the Venezuelan National Assembly provisionally approved draft legislation aimed at restricting international support – and essentially criminalizing – the work of civil society organizations. At the time of writing, Javier Tarazona, Director of the Venezuelan human rights group FundaRedes, has spent 573 days in arbitrary detention for documenting egregious abuses along Venezuela’s border areas.
The Global Centre honors the three Martin Ennals Laureates, whose recognition highlights the tireless work of human rights defenders around the world who fight for the rights of victims often at immense personal risk. We call on all states and UN bodies and agencies to actively support and protect human rights defenders and civil society organizations, as well as promote safe and open civic space..."
Source/publisher:
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Date of publication:
2023-01-25
Date of entry/update:
2023-01-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Fortify Rights and 16 individual complainants seek accountability for Rohingya genocide and coup-related atrocities
Description:
"Fortify Rights and 16 individual complainants from Myanmar filed a criminal complaint with the Federal Public Prosecutor General of Germany under the principle of universal jurisdiction against senior Myanmar military generals and others for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, Fortify Rights announced today.
The 215-page complaint and more than 1,000 pages of annexes provide evidence to assist the Office of the Federal Prosecutor to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the Rohingya genocide as well as atrocity crimes related to the military junta’s coup d’état launched on February 1, 2021.
February 1, 2023 marks the second anniversary of the deadly coup and crackdown in Myanmar, and August 2022 marked five years since the Myanmar military’s most egregious attacks on the Rohingya people. However, the individuals responsible for crimes related to both have yet to be held accountable.
“An ethnically diverse and united front of survivors from throughout Myanmar are bringing this case to seek justice and accountability,” said Matthew Smith, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder at Fortify Rights. “Despite international attention and several ongoing accountability initiatives, the Myanmar military still enjoys complete impunity, and that must end. These crimes cannot go unpunished. Germany’s universal jurisdiction law is a global model for combatting impunity for the worst crimes and providing access to justice for survivors of atrocities no matter where the crimes occur or where the survivors are located.”
Universal jurisdiction is a legal principle enabling a state to prosecute individuals responsible for mass atrocity crimes—genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes—regardless of where the crimes occurred or the nationality of the perpetrator or victims. Universal jurisdiction is typically reserved for “international crimes,” which are so severe that they represent offenses against the entire international community.
The criminal complaint was filed on January 20, 2023. Fortify Rights is represented by Covington & Burling LLP, which has offices in Germany.
Approximately half of the 16 individual complainants survived the Rohingya genocide and Myanmar military-led “clearance operations” in Rakhine State in 2016 and 2017, and approximately half survived post-coup atrocities in states and regions throughout the country in 2021 and 2022.
The complainants include six women and ten men who represent several ethnicities in Myanmar, including Arakanese (Rakhine), Burman, Chin, Karen, Karenni, Mon, and Rohingya. They include students, scholars, farmers, human rights defenders, businesspersons, former village heads, and homemakers. All the complainants survived or witnessed crimes in Myanmar, and many have since fled the country. At the time of writing, the complainants are located in several countries, including Myanmar, Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Germany, and the U.S.
Two of the complainants—“M.K.” (not their real initials) and Nickey Diamond—are presently situated in Germany and have retained German legal counsel for matters related to the complaint announced today. They both experienced and witnessed crimes in Myanmar in 2017 and 2021, respectively.
“We trust in Germany to open an investigation and seek justice for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes committed by the military and its leaders in Myanmar,” said Nickey Diamond, who is also a member of the Board of Directors at Fortify Rights. “This is the time to end impunity and ensure the military perpetrators and others no longer get away with their crimes.”
“F.K.” (not her real initials) is a 51-year-old Rohingya woman complainant who survived genocidal attacks in Rakhine State in 2017. In August 2017, soldiers and non-Rohingya residents of Rakhine State entered her village in northern Rakhine State, burned houses, and prevented residents of the village from fleeing. Individuals under the military’s control raped F.K.’s daughter-in-law while F.K. was in earshot and as soldiers beat her in an adjacent room. The Myanmar military killed seven members of her family in the attack on her village and, in a separate incident, cut her with a knife, leaving permanent scars. F.K. witnessed piles of dead bodies of Rohingya civilians in her village and military soldiers stabbing, beating, and killing numerous Rohingya men and children. Soldiers killed one child as he begged them for drinking water.
F.K. told Fortify Rights: “The Myanmar government and military have been trying to vanish our Rohingya community for 50 years. . . As a Rohingya woman, I want justice for the genocide so that it does not happen again. As a Rohingya complainant, I am ready to file the UJ [universal jurisdiction] case.”
The complaint announced today alleges that the Myanmar military systematically killed, raped, tortured, imprisoned, disappeared, persecuted, and committed other acts that amount to genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in violation of the German Code of Crimes Against International Law. The complaint includes substantial evidence showing that senior military junta officials exercised superior responsibility over subordinates who committed crimes, knew about their subordinates’ crimes, and failed to take any action to prevent the crimes from happening and to punish the perpetrators.
The complaint is on file with the German authorities and is not publicly available.
In the complaint, Fortify Rights and the complainants request that the German Prosecutor open an investigation into specific military officials and others who, according to evidence, are liable for mass atrocity crimes. The complaint also requests that the German authorities open a “structural investigation” into the situation in Myanmar, which would uncover numerous other crimes in various locations and affecting other ethnic groups not otherwise covered by the complaint.
Thi Da, one of the complainants, is a 35-year-old ethnic-Chin woman and mother of three. In September 2021, the Myanmar military arbitrarily arrested and tortured her husband, Ngai Kung, 35. Following his arrest, Thi Da received no official information about her husband’s whereabouts and well-being, rendering it an enforced disappearance. Myanmar junta soldiers reportedly informed a group of pastors that her husband was killed. At the time of writing, Thi Da does not know what happened to him.
“I’m still angry with the [Myanmar junta] soldiers,” said Thi Da to Fortify Rights. “They don’t think of us as people and treat us like animals or objects.”
In addition to the complainants’ testimonies to the Prosecutor General, the complaint draws on more than 1,000 interviews with survivors of international crimes in Myanmar conducted by Fortify Rights since 2013 as well as leaked documents and information provided by Myanmar military and police deserters and others that shed light on the military’s operations, crimes, and command structures.
More than 1,000 pages of annexes accompany the complaint and include additional documentation of atrocity crimes in Myanmar that may be of service to the German authorities, including revelatory reports by Fortify Rights, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Tom Andrews, the U.N. Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, and others.
An investigation and subsequent prosecution of these crimes under German law would serve to punish those who have committed the gravest of crimes, prevent future crimes by perpetrators in Myanmar, and signal to other would-be perpetrators in Myanmar and elsewhere that accountability for atrocity crimes cannot be avoided, said Fortify Rights.
As part of this complaint, several Myanmar civil society organizations agreed to cooperate with the German authorities, including the Chin Human Rights Organization, the Karen Human Rights Group, the Karenni Human Rights Group, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland, the Burmese Rohingya Organization U.K, and an organized network of Myanmar lawyers working throughout the country.
Similarly, as part of this complaint, prominent human rights defenders from Myanmar and several senior U.N. officials, diplomats, and others have agreed to be resource persons for the German prosecutor in this case. They include U.N. Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews; former U.N. special rapporteurs Tomas Quintana and Yanghee Lee; former Dutch Ambassador Laetitia van den Assum; former Thai Ambassador Kobsak Chutikul; members of the U.N. Fact-Finding Mission Marzuki Darusman and Chris Sidoti; President of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Kerry Kennedy; and others.
An investigation and subsequent prosecutions in Germany of the atrocity crimes detailed in the complaint would not duplicate other international accountability efforts underway but would only add to the mounting evidence about the Myanmar military’s crimes, said Fortify Rights. Other efforts include an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC), a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and a universal jurisdiction case in Argentina for crimes related to the Rohingya genocide.
Specifically, in 2019, the ICC authorized an investigation into crimes perpetrated by Myanmar authorities against Rohingya where at least part of the crime was committed on the territory of Bangladesh or another State under ICC jurisdiction. At present, the ICC cannot investigate and prosecute any international crime completed entirely in Myanmar, and thus the investigation would not encompass the vast majority of the crimes against Rohingya alleged in the complaint. The ICC is also not investigating crimes against humanity or war crimes that occurred in the aftermath of the February 2021 coup d’état.
In 2019, the Republic of The Gambia brought a case against Myanmar at the ICJ in The Hague, alleging Myanmar is responsible for genocide against the Rohingya people. While it is a critically important case, the ICJ proceeding concerns only State responsibility for Myanmar’s violation of its obligations under the Genocide Convention. The ICJ does not hold individuals criminally accountable, and no individuals will face repercussions through that court for crimes uncovered in that proceeding.
Also in 2019, Rohingya human rights defender Maung Tun Khin of the Burmese Rohingya Organization U.K. (BROUK) and six Rohingya women survivors filed a petition urging an Argentinian court to investigate, under universal jurisdiction, crimes committed with impunity against Rohingya in Myanmar. That judicial investigation is ongoing; however, while critically important, the case in the Argentinian courts currently focuses only on a specific region and does not address war crimes or the conduct surrounding the attacks against Rohingya in 2016 and 2017 or crimes against humanity in connection with the coup d’état. Moreover, unlike German law, Argentine law does not prescribe a punishment for the crime of genocide, so there is no applicable penalty for the offense. Rather, a perpetrator can be convicted in Argentina in the context of genocide but would be punished for “ordinary” crimes committed, such as homicide, rape, or unlawful detention. Maung Tun Khin and BROUK have agreed to cooperate with German authorities on the complaint submitted by Fortify Rights and others.
The German authorities are well-placed to fill present gaps left by the currently pending accountability mechanisms, said Fortify Rights.
In 2019, Fortify Rights began exploring international legal options for survivors in Myanmar to pursue criminal prosecutions under universal jurisdiction. The organization researched and analyzed the feasibility of 16 jurisdictions in Europe, Africa, and South America that provide access to justice for atrocity crimes committed outside their national borders, ultimately deciding to file the complaint in Germany.
Under German law, the Prosecutor has the ultimate discretion to bring a case under universal jurisdiction. The Prosecutor should do so in particular when important witnesses to atrocities are present in Germany, which is the case regarding the complaint announced today.
German prosecutors are currently conducting more than 100 investigations into international crimes related to other countries and contexts. The Prosecutor General has also undertaken numerous structural investigations into atrocity crimes, which have led to several trials. German courts have heard cases dealing with torture in Syrian prisons as well as crimes by members of Da’esh, including against the Yazidi community.
In March 2022, the German Prosecutor opened a structural investigation into Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
In a statement to the United Nations on October 22, 2022, the Permanent Mission of Germany to the U.N. stated:
While we would prefer to have the most serious crimes under international law tried by international tribunals, in particular the ICC if the applicable complementarity criteria are met, the Code of Crimes against International Law allows us to work towards accountability for these crimes on a national level . . . The message is clear: those who commit atrocities cannot feel safe. They will eventually be held accountable. There is no safe haven for perpetrators of international crimes against criminal prosecution in Germany. Justice will be served for the victims and survivors.
Investigations by German authorities into international crimes can also potentially be used in prosecutions in venues and jurisdictions outside Germany.
“Germany is in a unique position to help thwart impunity in Myanmar,” said Matthew Smith. “Fortify Rights and the individual complainants are poised and ready to assist German prosecutors. An investigation now will help ensure that those responsible for these heinous crimes are held to account and punished, whether in Germany or elsewhere.”
Excerpts from select complainants’ statements to the German authorities:
[T]he military found where we were hiding and started firing at us. My mother told me to run away to save my life, so I jumped into the river . . . I saw bullets coming like drops of rain . . . When I realized I lost my family, I felt totally broken inside. My village was burned before my eyes. There is not a single home left. I lost everything.
—Statement of Rohingya Complainant “J.H.” (not actual initials)
[The military] surrounded the village . . . [and] began tying people up. At one point, I recall that the military entered the downstairs of the house [where we were hiding] and shot a seven- or eight-year-old boy in the kitchen. His brain spread across the floor . . . The soldiers then tried grabbing me . . . I fell and became unconscious. After I became unconscious, I did not know where my baby had been taken . . . I kept screaming for my baby child.
—Statement of Rohingya Complainant “S.B.” (not actual initials)
After the coup occurred, . . . I was told [by my contacts in the Ministry of Home Affairs] that if I was captured, I would most likely be tortured and/or killed. Around March 10, 2021, I and my family escaped . . . We often were forced to dig our own bomb shelters to avoid the threat of airstrikes of our entirely civilian encampments, as other such civilian areas were constantly being targeted by the Tatmadaw.
—Statement of Myanmar coup Complainant Nickey Diamond
In the days following the military coup, the police arrested people who helped the protestors. My friend was arrested for giving water to the protesters. Because I gave them [the protestors] shelter, I knew that I would be arrested. When Muslims are arrested, they are often killed or disappeared. I am a huge target for the military because of my human rights work, identity as a Rohingya Muslim, and my political views. I believed that I would be killed if I was arrested . . . I have feared for my life since the coup..."
Source/publisher:
"Fortify Rights"
Date of publication:
2023-01-24
Date of entry/update:
2023-01-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Human Rights and international relations, Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, Ethnic Cleansing
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290.8 KB 179.1 KB
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"Media Release from the Global Justice Center and Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
The Global Justice Center and the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) today submitted recommendations to the Argentinian judiciary in a case brought against Myanmar military leaders for the genocide of the Rohingya.
The case was filed by BROUK and launched by the Second Chamber of the Federal Criminal Court in 2021 under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows any court to prosecute certain human rights abuses, regardless of where they were committed.
Today’s submission seeks to prepare the court for testimony from victims of sexual violence. It presents internationally-recognized principles for interviewing and engaging with victims. The submission also sets out standards for how the court should asses evidence of sexual violence.
Tun Khin, BROUK President, issued the following statement:
“More than five years after the genocide of the Rohingya, this case represents a crucial path to justice for crimes committed in Myanmar, particularly for victims of sexual violence. The Argentinian courts have an opportunity to be on the right side of history and provide justice that, until now, has seemed illusive.”
Angela Mudukuti, Senior Legal Advisor with the Global Justice Center, issued the following statement:
“Supporting victims of sexual violence, and our partners BROUK in their quest for justice, is of the utmost importance to the Global Justice Center. We submitted these recommendations because, historically, courts all over the world have failed to engage with victims and survivors of sexual violence in a way that avoids retraumatization and gives their testimony the weight it deserves. We remain hopeful that our submission will support the Argentinian judiciary in treating survivors and victims with dignity.”..."
Source/publisher:
Global Justice Center and Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
Date of publication:
2023-01-03
Date of entry/update:
2023-01-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
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Description:
"Burma Campaign UK today accused Apple CEO of hypocrisy for announcing a partnership on racial equality and justice with the Southbank Centre, London, at the same time as hosting Apps controlled by the Burmese military which use racist language against the Rohingya minority, and which deny genocide.
The Burmese military is facing charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice and is being investigated for crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.
Apple hosts apps for Burmese state-owned media, which are now under the control of the Burmese military, including MRTV.
Apple also hosts Apps for the Burmese military-owned Mytel mobile phone network, which helps to fund the Burmese military and the violations of international law which they commit. The Apps are a crucial part of the marketing strategy for Mytel, Apple host 8 of their Apps.
Apple also hosts a new social media App, OKPar, created by the military as part of its attempt to limit access to information from independent social media sources such as Facebook.
“Apple helps the Burmese military make money and helps the Burmese military spread lies and propaganda,” said Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK. “For Tim Cook to come to the UK and claim to be supporting equality and justice while his company provides services to a military which committed genocide and rapes children shows staggering hypocrisy.”
Apple are on the Burma Campaign UK ‘Dirty List’ because of their provision of service to the Burmese military. https://burmacampaign.org.uk/take-action/apple/
Apple removed Russian state media Apps after the invasion of Ukraine but has kept on hosting Burmese military Apps. https://burmacampaign.org.uk/apple-removes-rt-and-sputnik-apps-but-keeps-myanmar-military-apps/
More information on Apple hosting the OKPar App is available here:
https://www.accessnow.org/myanmar-facebook-youtube-ban/ ..."
Source/publisher:
"Burma Campaign UK" (London)
Date of publication:
2022-09-26
Date of entry/update:
2022-09-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
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Description:
"Burma Campaign UK today welcomed the British government’s announcement of its support in principle for a referral of Burma to the International Criminal Court, ICC. The announcement comes just weeks after the US made a similar announcement. Burma Campaign UK has been calling on the British government to support an ICC referral for almost 20 years.
In an answer to a written Parliamentary question from Rushanara Ali MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Democracy in Burma, Foreign Office Minister Jesse Norman MP stated:
“The UK is clear that there must be accountability for the atrocities committed in Myanmar. We condemn the continuing grave human rights violations by the Myanmar Armed Forces, as well as historic atrocities against the Rohingya. The UK is supportive, in principle, of any attempts to bring these issues before the International Criminal Court (ICC) where they can be scrutinised.”
This language is a significant change from their previous position. For years the British government refused to say that it supported in principle a referral of Burma to the ICC. They hid behind a likely veto by Russia and China at the UN Security Council as an excuse to not declare their position at all, helping to extend the sense of impunity enjoyed by the Burmese military.
“This is a significant and welcome step by the British government, building on their recent announcement that they would join the Rohingya genocide case at the International Court of Justice,” said Karin Valtersson, Campaigns Officer at Burma Campaign UK.
The Parliamentary answer goes on to state:
“However, with regards to a referral by the UN Security Council, our assessment remains that there is insufficient support amongst Security Council members for a referral at this time. It will not advance the cause of accountability for an ICC referral to fail to win Security Council support or to be vetoed; such a result would only give comfort to the Myanmar Armed Forces and reduce the pressure they currently face.”
The current membership of the UN Security Council includes Russia, China and India, which are still arming the Burmese military, and Brazil, which is also unlikely to support an ICC referral.
This is the second declaration by the British government on justice and accountability on Burma in the past month. On Thursday 25 August the government declared its intention to join the Rohingya genocide case at the International Court of Justice. The British government has also led the way internationally on sanctioning sources of revenue and arms to the Burmese military since the attempted coup began in February 2021.
“For decades the Burmese military have been allowed to get away with violating international law”, said Karin Valtersson. “Action to end impunity sooner could have helped prevent atrocities happening today.”
The Parliamentary question is on the Parliament website here...."
Source/publisher:
"Burma Campaign UK" (London)
Date of publication:
2022-09-26
Date of entry/update:
2022-09-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description:
"Media Release from Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK)
The Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) has again petitioned Facebook to share information relevant to the genocide case it is pursuing in an Argentinian court. A federal court in Buenos Aires has, through the US State Department, asked the social media giant to submit any evidence as soon as possible.
The move is part of the universal jurisdiction case on the Rohingya genocide that was opened in Argentina last year after a petition from BROUK.
“Facebook continues to put profits and its own ‘brand value’ before the lives of Rohingya people. The platform has been used to spread hatred and misinformation against the Rohingya for years, including when the military killed thousands in Rakhine State in 2016 and 2017,” said Tun Khin, President of BROUK.
“We urge Facebook to respond as soon as possible with any relevant information. This is crucial not just to our case, but to expose the deeply harmful effects of misinformation and online hate speech everywhere.”
In 2016 and 2017, Myanmar military launched vicious operations in Rakhine State which killed thousands of Rohingya women, men and children, and drove close to 800,000 to flee into Bangladesh.
There is much evidence that Facebook, the overwhelmingly most popular social media platform in Myanmar, was used to vilify the Rohingya before, during and after the campaigns. The UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar in 2019 concluded that “Facebook is the leading platform for hate speech in Myanmar” and that the company has a responsibility to tackle its spread.
While Facebook has since taken some positive steps – including strengthening monitoring in Myanmar language and banning military-linked accounts – activists and human rights groups have consistently said that the company’s efforts fall short of what is required.
In February this year, the Argentinian judiciary first petitioned Meta, Facebook’s parent company, to share information relevant to BROUK’s universal jurisdiction case. In its new request issued on 17 August 2022, however, the Federal Court in Buenos Aires has approached the US State Department Directly to ensure the compliance of Facebook. While there is no formal deadline attached to the request, Facebook is legally required to respond as soon as possible.
The request has been made through the Inter-American Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, a treaty adopted by Members of the Organization of American States in 1996 to facilitate cooperation in criminal cases.
Facebook is being asked to;
Identify and block all pages promoting hate or violence towards the Rohingya, and provide information on its users;
Provide information on accounts or pages linked to Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the Myanmar Commander in Chief, and other senior military figures; and
Provide information on how its own algorithms might have facilitated the spread of hatred against the Rohingya, and what steps the company has taken to prevent the dissemination of hate speech in the future.
“The genocide against the Rohingya is still ongoing to this day. International justice is crucial to ensure that those responsible are held to account, and are never in a position to commit the same crimes again,” said Tun Khin.
“Since the military’s attempted coup, our case in Argentina is now even more relevant. This is a fight for justice not just for the Rohingya, but for repressed people all over Myanmar.”
In a separate communication, the Federal Court has also requested that the US State Department provide information relevant to the US’s determination that the Rohingya are facing a genocide, announced in May this year.
Background: Universal jurisdiction case
On 13 November 2019, BROUK petitioned Argentinean Courts to open an investigation into the role of Myanmar’s civilian and military leaders in committing genocide and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya. Under the principle of universal jurisdiction, such crimes can be investigated anywhere in the world regardless of where they were committed.
On 28 November 2021, the Argentinian judiciary took the historic decision to accept the case and begin the first-ever universal jurisdiction trial anywhere in the world regarding the Rohingya. Since then, BROUK President Tun Khin has testified in court in Argentina, and later this year BROUK hopes to bring genocide survivors to share their stories in person in the Federal Court in Buenos Aires..."
Source/publisher:
Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
Date of publication:
2022-09-22
Date of entry/update:
2022-09-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
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Description:
"Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) welcomes the decision by the UK government to support the genocide case against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). On 25 August, Minister for Asia Amanda Milling confirmed the UK’s intention to intervene in the case of The Gambia v. Myanmar before the International Court of Justice. The case will determine whether Myanmar has violated its obligations under the Genocide Convention in relation to the military’s acts against the Rohingya in 2016 and 2017.
“The U.K. Government decision to intervene in the case of The Gambia vs. Myanmar before the International Court of Justice sends a strong message of solidarity to the Rohingya people five years since the genocidal attacks in Rakhine State,” said Burma Human Rights Network Executive Director, Kyaw Win. “International justice can have a preventative affect and stop future atrocities by the brutal junta in Burma.” The Gambia filed the case against Burma before the ICJ in November 2019, alleging that the Myanmar military’s campaign against the Rohingya people violated various provisions of the Genocide Convention. 60 countries supported the case which included Canada, the Netherlands, the UK and all 57 members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). In January 2020, the ICJ unanimously indicated legally binding provisional measures of protection for the Rohingya people, requiring Burma to ensure that the military and other security forces do not commit acts of genocide,
Despite the provisional measures, BHRN has continued to document abuses against the Rohingya remaining in Burma. In Rakhine State, nearly 600,000 Rohingya remain trapped under a system of discriminatory laws and policies that amount to crimes against humanity and ongoing genocide. Since the attempted military coup on 1 February 2021, the human rights situation of the Rohingya has further deteriorated with Rohingya facing tightened restrictions on their fundamental freedoms and are increasingly at risk of being subjected to further atrocity crimes.
The Gambia’s laudable step towards ending impunity for those committing atrocities in Myanmar should be fully supported by the international community. Recalling that the Genocide Convention requires all States parties to prevent the crime of genocide and hold those responsible to account, BHRN calls on all States Parties to the Genocide Convention to support efforts addressing these violations. BHRN calls on the British government, as penholder on Burma at the United Nations Security Council, to convene a meeting of the Security Council to discuss progress in implementing the provisional measures. BHRN also continues to call on the United Nations Security Council to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court to enable further scrutiny.
Organisation’s Background
BHRN is based in London and operates across Burma/Myanmar working for human rights, minority rights and religious freedom in the country. BHRN has played a crucial role in advocating for human rights and religious freedom with politicians and world leaders..."
Source/publisher:
Burma Human Rights Network
Date of publication:
2022-08-26
Date of entry/update:
2022-08-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
more
Description:
"Burma Campaign UK is delighted that the British government has finally announced its intention to join the Rohingya genocide case at the International Court of Justice. Burma Campaign UK launched our campaign for the British government to join the case almost three years ago.
“For decades the Burmese military have been allowed to violate international law without consequences, encouraging them to commit genocide and attempt another coup,” said Anna Roberts, Executive Director of Burma Campaign UK. “We are delighted that the British government has finally joined the Rohingya genocide case. They will bring vital additional resources and expertise, as well as sending an important political message.”
The British government has faced sustained pressure to join the case, including from Rohingya civil society organisations, Rushanara Ali MP, Co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on democracy in Burma, the Foreign Affairs Committee, opposition political parties, more than 100 MPs, former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, and international human rights groups.
The Burmese military has enjoyed impunity for decades, despite widespread documentation of numerous violations of international law, mainly against ethnic and religious minority groups.
The sense of impunity encourages further violations of international law. The failure to act to prevent Rohingya genocide and then the failure to hold the military to account for Rohingya genocide would have encouraged the military to believe they could get away with the coup and subsequent violations of international law without facing serious consequences.
The Rohingya genocide is not over. The laws and policies which are an integral part of the genocide continue, and the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice to prevent ongoing genocide are being ignored by the military.
Burma Campaign UK also welcomed the imposition of new sanctions on three businesses working with the military that are helping them to earn money and buy arms. The companies are Star Sapphire Group of Companies, International Gateways Group of Companies Limited (IGG), and Sky One Construction Company Ltd.
Burma Campaign UK calls on the British government, as penholder on Burma at the United Nations Security Council, to convene a meeting of the Security Council to discuss progress in implementing the provisional measures, as the ICJ is a UN court, and its ruling is being ignored. The British government must also reverse cuts in funding to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
“This move by the UK is the result of years of advocacy by Rohingya communities, British MPs, members of the public and international human rights and humanitarian organisations,” said Anna Roberts..."
Source/publisher:
"Burma Campaign UK" (London)
Date of publication:
2022-08-25
Date of entry/update:
2022-08-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Description:
"The European Rohingya Council (ERC) echoes the voices of Rohingyas all over the world and remembers today as one of the darkest days in the history of mankind. On 25th August, 2017 the Burmese military brutally cracked down of our people and drove away hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas from their lands culminating in a brutal genocide in the Arakan State of Myanmar.
We support the international community in calling out Myanmar’s maltreatment of the Rohingya community as genocide. The United States on March 21, 2022 officially declared that the violence in 2017 amounted to genocide, saying there was clear evidence of an attempt to “destroy” the Rohingya population. Additionally, we support the ICJ in its ruling on July 22 2022 that the case against Myanmar government’s alleged genocide of Rohingyas filed by The Gambia can proceed.
We support the statements of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet that return of Rohingya refugees is not possible currently due to concerns about their safety in Myanmar. We additionally urge regional countries including India, Bangladesh, Indonesia and China to respect the principle of non-refoulement and support the cause of the persecuted Rohingya minority.
We urge the international community to curb the Burmese military power. This can be done by blocking the sources of revenue that Myanmar’s military is receiving. We also recommend a UN-sponsored investigation for the prosecution of Myanmar’s top military commanders on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for violence against the Rohingya population and support the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber I in its decision regarding Myanmar’s crimes against humanity in the form of systematic forced migration of 800,000 Rohingya women, men, children and elderly people to neighbouring Bangladesh.
We declare 25 August as the Rohingya Remembrance Day. It was on this unfortunate day in 2017 that the combined Myanmar Armed Forces – Navy, Air Force and Army – launched a large scale premeditated attack against the substantial segment of the Rohingya population in Northern Rakhine State of Myanmar, using the invented pretext that the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), a 1 year old, small, unorganised group of largely illiterate, barefooted young Rohingya village men had launched (coordinated) “attacks on 30 police outposts” in N. Rakhine. Myanmar government’s official story has never been independently verified by any credible research, media or UN agency.
Finally, we support the several million Rohingyas who were violently deported by the Burmese government in periodic waves of exodus since 1978. We urge for their secure, protected and dignified return to their ancestral homeland in Northern Rakhine. We urge the international community to offer them refuge and protection, until Myanmar is ready to accept them as equal citizens and human rights guarantees which the Rohingya population had enjoyed upon independence from Britain well until late 1962.
The European Rohingya Council (ERC) calls upon the international community, including the regional powers of South Asia to pressure the military junta to stop persecuting the Rohingyas and all other peaceful people of Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
The European Rohingya Council
Date of publication:
2022-08-25
Date of entry/update:
2022-08-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf
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543.36 KB
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Description:
"Today marks five years since the Myanmar military launched a campaign of killings, mass rape and arson against the Rohingya in northern Rakhine State, killing thousands and forcing over 730,000 to flee to Bangladesh under NLD government. In the five years since the military’s atrocities, the situation for Rohingya in Myanmar and abroad offers a dismal reflection of justice delayed.
“The world must act decisively if they want to end the suffering of the Rohingya and the rest of Burma’s people. For decades the international community has discussed ways to improve the humanitarian situation in Burma, and the obstacle has always been the military government. There is no point in pretending otherwise. Every political and economic tool that can be used to dislodge the military from power must be utilised. If the world continues to drag its feet, we will only witness new refugee crises and humanitarian disasters at the hands of an illegitimate military junta for decades to come”, said BHRN’s Executive Director Kyaw Win.
Nearly 600,000 Rohingya remain trapped in Rakhine state under discriminatory laws and policies that amount to crimes against humanity and ongoing genocide. Since the attempted military coup on 1 February 2021, Rohingya have been subjected to tightened restrictions on their fundamental freedoms and are increasingly at risk of being subjected to further atrocity crimes.
Rohingya who have fled Myanmar and managed to reach Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, or India live under the constant threat of arrest, detention, and forced return to military-controlled Myanmar. In Bangladesh, one million Rohingya refugees who were forcibly displaced by the Myanmar military, remain in sprawling refugee camps in southern Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar, where they have been subjected to discrimination and denied basic rights and adequate access to services, including education and healthcare.
The coup has made clear that the ongoing atrocities in Myanmar are a direct consequence of a military that for decades has faced no consequences for its crimes. Despite the longstanding evidence of widespread and systematic human rights violations, impunity remains nearly absolute. Impunity has been particularly enabled by the UN Security Council’s inaction on Myanmar, with Russia and China resisting any substantive action. Even in the face of serious violations of international law, the political dynamics of the Council have shielded Myanmar from any real consequences. ASEAN has also remained paralysed. Under its principle of noninterference, ASEAN has chosen to reject thousands of civilians seeking refuge from the military’s brutality and continues to engage with the military. This is the same approach it took in 2017, when it refused to condemn the military’s genocidal campaign against the Rohingya despite Malaysia and Indonesia raised strong voice.
The Government of Bangladesh has done a great service by openings its borders to refugees, and they deserve acknowledgment for the countless lives they’ve saved. Yet, it is critical that conditions for those living in the refugee camps improve without interference by Bangladesh authorities. Most vital is access to education. The Rohingya children in these camps have extremely limited access to education, and authorities have shut down the makeshift and informal schools throughout the camps without offering any alternative. Those living in the camps are also largely prohibited from seeking any form of education outside of the camps, other than in rare cases where refugees can get special permission. Without access to education and vocational services, an entire generation will have had their futures robbed. Undoubtedly, Bangladesh government saved hundreds of thousands Rohingya lives but denying education is killing their soul. Bangladesh must cooperate with domestic CSOs and human rights organisations in the camps to provide reliable education, including the Burmese curriculum, and to host courses for trauma, which the vast majority of refugees suffer with. The international community must support these efforts and help create a situation where Bangladeshis may also find employment opportunities.
So long as the Myanmar military enjoys complete impunity for their actions, unyielding oppression of the Rohingya and other minorities will continue unabated. The time to close this impunity gap is now. The Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) calls on UN member states to take all possible measures to hold General Min Aung Hlaing and other senior military leaders who bear responsibility for atrocity crimes accountable for their crimes and to cut off the military from all revenue and weapons allowing it to continue its genocidal operations. BHRN calls on the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) and National Unity Government (NUG) to abolish 1982 Nazi law, recognise Rohingya as ethnic of Burma which is a long due, recognise the Rohingya are victim of genocide and continue to support and cooperate with ongoing accountability mechanisms, including the International Criminal Court and the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar.
Organisation’s Background
BHRN is based in London and operates across Burma/Myanmar working for human rights, minority rights and religious freedom in the country. BHRN has played a crucial role in advocating for human rights and religious freedom with politicians and world leaders..."
Source/publisher:
Burma Human Rights Network
Date of publication:
2022-08-25
Date of entry/update:
2022-08-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
183.04 KB
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Sub-title:
Thousands adopt the slogan “Hope is Home,” during demonstrations in Bangladesh camps
Description:
"Rohingya refugees staged mass demonstrations at camps in southeastern Bangladesh on Thursday to demand the world help repatriate them to Myanmar, as they marked the fifth anniversary of a brutal Burmese military offensive that spurred an unprecedented exodus.
Officials from the United Nations, the United States and other members of the international community also commemorated the occasion by expressing their support for Rohingya, who refer to Aug. 25 as “Genocide Remembrance Day.”
At about two dozen camps in Cox’s Bazar, the district where the refugees are sheltering along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, thousands took part in rallies with the slogan “Hope is Home.”
“We no longer want to be refugees. We want to go back to our homeland,” Mohammed Jubair, secretary general of the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights (ARSPH), said during a rally at the Kutupalong camp in Ukhia, a sub-district in Cox’s Bazar.
“I am requesting the international community to exert more pressure on Myanmar for a safe repatriation.
Rohingya also demanded that those responsible for the bloody crackdown by the Burmese military that started on Aug. 25, 2017, be brought to justice and that those who were expelled be repatriated to Myanmar’s Rakhine state with full dignity and civil rights.
“The world already knows how the Myanmar army killed the Rohingya people. That’s why we cannot forget this day,” said Khin Maung, director of the Rohingya Youth Association, who lives in Cox’s Bazar.
“Now we live in camps. Food, living conditions, nothing is good. We’ve been here for a long time. That’s why we want to return to our villages, to our country, as soon as possible.”
But the prospect of the stateless Rohingya Muslim refugees returning safely to their villages and townships in their home state of Rakhine has become dimmer because of post-coup bloodshed across Myanmar after Burmese generals seized power last year.
A Rohingya youth who attended the Kutupalong rally said he and others worried about what might await them if they return to their Myanmar homes.
“We want an end to such a refugee life. But the present situation in Myanmar is not safe enough, we want help from the world community,” Abdur Razzak said.
According to one Rohingya human rights activist based in Rakhine, some 600,000 Rohingya who did not flee to Bangladesh in 2017 have been subjected to stricter repression since the 2021 coup and their movements within the state are even more limited.
“Currently, they are facing many hardships. They are barred from visiting other villages and subjected to religious and ethnic discrimination all the time,” said activist Zarni Soe.
“Now that the AA [Arakan Army] and the Burmese army are fighting again in northern Rakhine state, we might even see worse things coming.”..."
Source/publisher:
"RFA" (USA)
Date of publication:
2022-08-25
Date of entry/update:
2022-08-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
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"25 August 2022: Five years ago, the Myanmar military launched genocidal security operations against Rohingya in Rakhine State in a horrific culmination of decades of state-based persecution of Rohingya inside Myanmar. Today, the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M) remembers the Rohingya victims and survivors of the genocide perpetrated by the Myanmar military and all of those struggling for justice, human rights, and the right to live dignified lives free from military oppression.
On 25 August, 2017, the launch of security operations by the Myanmar military against Rohingya in northern Rakhine State heralded the beginning of a widespread and systemic campaign of rape, arson, torture, murder and forced displacement that would claim the lives of thousands of boys, girls, men and women and drive 750,000 people across the border into Bangladesh. Those that fled joined a quarter of a million Rohingya already seeking refuge inside Bangladesh. Today, nearly one million people live in squalid conditions inside the world’s largest refugee camp in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh.
“The stories and accounts we have heard from the Rohingya survivors of Myanmar military atrocities have had a profound effect on us all. They will never leave us,” said Yanghee Lee of SAC-M. “Today we remember the Rohingya survivors and victims of these grave crimes and are reminded once more of our moral duty to the Rohingya people and to humanity that the perpetrators of such atrocities are held to account wherever they occur.”
Life is a daily struggle for the some 900,000 people confined to refugee camps in Bangladesh. Hemmed in on all sides by barbed wire, there is no escape from the frequent fires, floods and landslides caused by the torrential monsoon rains or criminal gangs that threaten and murder camp inhabitants with impunity. Last September, much-loved Rohingya community leader and activist Mohib Ullah was assassinated after threats were made against his life.
The situation is similarly dire for the 600,000 Rohingya that remain inside Myanmar where the military has been committing widespread daily atrocities against the entire population of the country since attempting a military coup in February 2021. Rohingya in Rakhine State face increased restrictions on movement and threats of violence and persecution from security forces. As such, the safe, voluntary, dignified and durable return of Rohingya in Bangladesh to Myanmar is currently impossible.
“The strength, spirit and determination of the Rohingya and their fight for justice in the face of such horrific circumstances is a source of great inspiration for us and oppressed peoples around the world,” said Marzuki Darusman of SAC-M. “The entire country of Myanmar is now engaged in a struggle against their military oppressors as they fight for a new Myanmar built on human rights, justice, and democracy. The Rohingya are an integral part of this future. Securing justice for the Rohingya is essential to seeing these dreams of a new Myanmar become reality.”
Today, as SAC-M remembers the Rohingya victims and survivors of genocide, we call on the international community to spare no effort in assisting and strengthening ongoing accountability measures and to explore every avenue in pursuit of justice for the Rohingya and accountability for the Myanmar military’s genocidal atrocities.
“Myanmar military impunity is the root cause of the Rohingya genocide,” said Chris Sidoti of SAC-M. “Only when Myanmar military leadership are held to account for their grave crimes can the horrific, decades-long cycle of military violence that has brought untold suffering to the Rohingya people finally be brought to a close.”..."
Source/publisher:
Special Advisory Council for Myanmar
Date of publication:
2022-08-25
Date of entry/update:
2022-08-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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"Five years after the military’s “clearance operations” against Rohingya, we, Women's
Peace Network, recommit our support to the Rohingya community; as well as urge the
international community to pursue comprehensive and concerted measures to bring justice and
accountability for such victims and survivors of genocide.
We remain alarmed by Rohingya’s worsening conditions across South and Southeast
Asia, to where hundreds of thousands of them were forced to flee from the 2017 attacks. In its
deteriorating conditions, trauma continues to shape the community’s path to survival: Rohingya
are increasingly deprived of access to healthcare, education, and other basic needs and
livelihoods; and their women and girls, survivors of a harrowing escape, remain at heightened
risk of being subjected to sexual and domestic violence without access to any form of protection
or recourse to justice. Barbed-wire fences confine their movement to isolated camps, and any
attempt to find their long-awaited freedom is threatened by human trafficking, detention, arrest,
and forced deportation to Myanmar.
Yet the Myanmar that awaits Rohingya is now farther from the home that they envision.
The military that perpetrated their genocide overthrew an elected government last year, and is
now wielding brutal tactics – many of which were used to strategically destroy the community
for decades – across the entire country. The over 600,000 Rohingya in Myanmar are at
increasing risk of being subjected to further atrocities: The junta is now issuing past,
discriminatory and apartheid-like policies aimed at further confining what it still calls “Bengali”
in camps and prisons. Since the attempted coup, the junta has detained and arrested over 1475
Rohingya, including 617 women.
Therefore, this Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day, we urge the international
community to expedite its efforts to bring accountability to Myanmar by fully addressing the
needs and concerns of its most vulnerable and marginalized population. Countries must now
join the International Court of Justice's The Gambia v. Myanmar, which will now proceed as a
case, against the Rohingya genocide; support universal jurisdiction to prosecute the military for
its international crimes; and impose more targeted economic sanctions and financial penalties
on the military and its related businesses, particularly the Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise. The
United Nations Security Council should immediately uphold its mandate – as well as the
Responsibility to Protect and Women, Peace, and Security agendas – and adopt a resolution
referring the situation of Myanmar to the International Criminal Court and imposing a global
arms embargo on the country. And as was demonstrated by the United States government this
year, governments must begin to officially recognize the entirety of the mass atrocities that have
been committed against ethnic and religious minorities in Myanmar for decades, including
genocide against Rohingya; countries that do so must also pursue rigorous and robust measures
to bring justice to the many affected communities.
Holding the military accountable is fundamental to ensuring that such justice will be
served, and that its victims and survivors of genocide will be there to receive it. For the latter, we
call upon the international community to provide sustainable forms of material and financial
assistance to the over one million Rohingya seeking rehabilitation and recovery as refugees
across South and Southeast Asia. This form of assistance must be directed to the community and
members of its civil society, especially women’s groups, in a way which respects their autonomy,
agency, and dignity – and with the goal of securing their safe and dignified voluntary return
home..."
Source/publisher:
Women’s Peace Network
Date of publication:
2022-08-25
Date of entry/update:
2022-08-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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"Five years ago, Burma’s military launched a brutal campaign against Rohingya – razing villages, raping, torturing, and perpetrating large-scale violence that killed thousands of Rohingya men, women, and children. More than 740,000 Rohingya were forced to flee their homes and seek refuge in Bangladesh. In March of this year, I spoke at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and attested that the atrocities committed by the Burmese military against Rohingya amounted to crimes against humanity and constitute genocide.
Since the February 2021 military coup d’état, many of the same military forces continue to repress, torture, and kill the people of Burma in a blatant attempt to extinguish Burma’s democratic future. The regime’s recent executions of pro-democracy and opposition leaders is only the latest example of the military’s abject disregard for the lives of the Burmese people. Its escalation of violence has exacerbated the worsening humanitarian situation, particularly for ethnic and religious minority communities, including Rohingya, who continue to remain among the most vulnerable and marginalized populations in the country.
The United States remains committed to advancing justice and accountability for Rohingya and all the people of Burma in solidarity with the victims and survivors. We continue to support the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, the case under the Genocide Convention that The Gambia has brought against Burma before the International Court of Justice, and credible courts around the world that have jurisdiction in cases involving Burmese military’s atrocity crimes. The United States also supports measures by the UN Security Council to promote justice and accountability for the military’s actions in line with its mandate to promote international peace and security. In this vein, the United States would support a UN Security Council referral of the situation in Burma to the International Criminal Court.
Since 2017, the United States has sought pathways to continue to support Rohingya, recognizing that they cannot safely return to their homeland of Burma under current conditions. We have provided more than $1.7 billion to assist those affected by the crisis in Burma, Bangladesh, and elsewhere in the region, remaining the leading single donor of life-saving humanitarian assistance to those whose lives have been upended by the violence in Rakhine State. The United States stands in solidarity with the Government of Bangladesh and other Rohingya-hosting governments in the region. As an essential component of an international, comprehensive humanitarian response, we are working to significantly increase resettlement of Rohingya refugees from the region, including from Bangladesh, so that they can rebuild their lives in the United States.
The United States will continue to support Rohingya and the people of Burma in their pursuit of freedom and inclusive democracy by advancing justice and accountability, increasing economic and diplomatic pressure, and safeguarding the human rights and human dignity of all individuals in Burma..."
Source/publisher:
United States Department of State
Date of publication:
2022-08-24
Date of entry/update:
2022-08-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
Language:
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Description:
"23 July 2022: The Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M) welcomes the judgement delivered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) but calls on the Court to immediately rectify Myanmar’s representation before the Court and on United Nations (UN) Member States to meet their obligations under the Genocide Convention and intervene in the case.
The ICJ delivered its judgement on Friday on the preliminary objections raised by Myanmar in January 2021 in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (The Gambia v. Myanmar). All preliminary objections were rejected by the judges.
“Rohingya are waiting for justice,” said Yanghee Lee of SAC-M. “It is so important that this case, seeking to determine Myanmar’s responsibility for genocide against the Rohingya, goes ahead. We welcome the Court’s decision in finding both that it has jurisdiction in the case and that the application itself is admissible.”
The hearings on the preliminary objections took place in February this year, despite the National Unity Government of Myanmar (NUG) having already withdrawn them. The Court permitted the illegal Myanmar military junta to represent Myanmar during the hearings and argue for the preliminary objections. Representatives of the junta were present at the Court on Friday to hear delivery of the Judgement.
The Court provided no explanation for its decision to allow the junta to represent Myanmar either during the hearings in February or as part of Friday’s Judgement. Ad hoc judge Claus Kress, appointed to the case by Myanmar, expressed the view that the Judgement’s failure to state the reasons leading the Court to act upon the junta’s efforts to change Myanmar’s representation in the case as less than satisfactory.
“The judges are right to reject the preliminary objections, but they were wrong to have chosen to engage with military junta,” said Chris Sidoti of SAC-M. “The junta is not the legitimate representative of Myanmar, it has not been recognised by the UN and it does not have effective control on the ground in Myanmar. The Court must rectify Myanmar’s representation as it proceeds now to the merits of the case.”
The military junta tried and failed to seize power over Myanmar in a coup eighteen months ago. It has been losing what territorial and administrative control it did have since then to the democratic resistance. In an attempt to crush the resistance, the military is committing mass atrocities against civilians and employing many of the tactics it used in the genocidal attacks on the Rohingya, including indiscriminate killing, summary execution, rape, torture and arson. Rohingya refugees that were forced into Bangladesh by the military cannot begin to return to Myanmar under such conditions.
Besides the ICJ, no other UN body has accepted the junta as representing Myanmar. Last year, the General Assembly rejected the military junta’s attempts to gain recognition there. However, UN Member States have been slow to grant formal recognition to the NUG, reflecting a broader, ongoing failure of the people of Myanmar on the part of the international community.
“In the words of the Court, the higher purpose of the Genocide Convention is the protection of a people against the blatant and shameful breach of the Convention by another State party. So why have more States not intervened in the case at the ICJ?” Marzuki Darusman of SAC-M asked. “Rohingya are being gravely let down by the inertia of those Member States that fail to act. What is more, that failure directly emboldens the junta to continue repeating its crimes across the country, as it is now. It is a shameful dereliction of duty of the highest order.”
SAC-M calls on all UN Member States to formally recognise the NUG, for those that are party to the Genocide Convention to intervene in The Gambia’s case at the ICJ and, for those that are members of either the Security Council or party to the Rome Statute, refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court..."
Source/publisher:
Special Advisory Council for Myanmar
Date of publication:
2022-07-23
Date of entry/update:
2022-07-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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192.71 KB
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"THE HAGUE, 22 July 2022. The International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, has today delivered its Judgment on the preliminary objections raised by the Republic of the Union of Myanmar in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (The Gambia v. Myanmar).
Myanmar raised four preliminary objections to the jurisdiction of the Court and the admissibility of the Application.
In its first preliminary objection, Myanmar argued that the Court lacked jurisdiction, or alternatively that the Application was inadmissible, on the ground that, according to Myanmar, the “real applicant” in the proceedings was the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
According to the second preliminary objection, the Application was inadmissible because The Gambia lacked standing to bring the case.
Myanmar asserted in its third preliminary objection that the Court lacked jurisdiction, or that the Application was inadmissible, since The Gambia could not validly seise the Court in light of Myanmar’s reservation to Article VIII of the Genocide Convention.
In its fourth preliminary objection, Myanmar contended that the Court lacked jurisdiction, or alternatively that the Application was inadmissible, because there was no dispute between the Parties under the Genocide Convention on the date on which the Application was filed.
In its Judgment, which is final, without appeal and binding on the Parties, the Court:
(1) Unanimously,
Rejects the first preliminary objection raised by the Republic of the Union of Myanmar;
(2) Unanimously,
Rejects the fourth preliminary objection raised by the Republic of the Union of Myanmar;
(3) Unanimously,
Rejects the third preliminary objection raised by the Republic of the Union of Myanmar;
(4) By fifteen votes to one,
Rejects the second preliminary objection raised by the Republic of the Union of Myanmar;
IN FAVOUR: President Donoghue; Vice-President Gevorgian; Judges Tomka, Abraham, Bennouna, Yusuf, Sebutinde, Bhandari, Robinson, Salam, Iwasawa, Nolte, Charlesworth; Judges ad hoc Pillay, Kress;
AGAINST: Judge Xue;
(5) By fifteen votes to one,
Finds that it has jurisdiction, on the basis of Article IX of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, to entertain the Application filed by the Republic of The Gambia on 11 November 2019, and that the said Application is admissible.
IN FAVOUR: President Donoghue; Vice-President Gevorgian; Judges Tomka, Abraham, Bennouna, Yusuf, Sebutinde, Bhandari, Robinson, Salam, Iwasawa, Nolte, Charlesworth; Judges ad hoc Pillay, Kress;
AGAINST: Judge Xue.
Judge Xue appends a dissenting opinion to the Judgment of the Court; Judge ad hoc Kress appends a declaration to the Judgment of the Court..."
Source/publisher:
International Court of Justice ( The Hague, Netherlands)
Date of publication:
2022-07-22
Date of entry/update:
2022-07-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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"Media Release from Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
The Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) today welcomed the decision by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to reject all preliminary objections by Burma to the case brought by the Gambia that Burma broke the genocide convention. This means that the case can finally continue.
“This decision is a great moment for justice for Rohingya, and for all people of Burma. This ruling shows that there is a possibility to challenge to the military’s impunity”, said Tun Khin, President of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK). “The objections raised by Burma were nothing but a blatant delaying tactic, and we are pleased that this landmark genocide trial can now finally begin in earnest.”
BROUK also called on the British government to join the case. The British government has used the objections as an excuse not to make a decision on whether to join. This was the latest in a series of flimsy excuses made by the Foreign Office, while at the same time claiming it supported justice and accountability.
“For too long, the British government has dragged its feet over justice for the Rohingya, and all the people of Burma. Now, they must join the Rohingya genocide case at the ICJ,” said Tun Khin.
Both Canada and the Netherlands together formally declared their intention to intervene in September 2020.
The case at the ICJ is the first time ever that Burma has had to defend their record in front of an international court of law. It is not only important for the Rohingya, but all people of Burma who are suffering under the military’s abuses and attacks. Ethnic organisations and civil society organisations from Burma have expressed their support for the case. Moreover, over 100 MPs in the British Parliament have called on the government to join the case.
“We are now looking to Foreign Secretary Liz Truss to show that she is serous in tackling gross human rights violations and breaches of international law, including genocide, and announce her intention to join the case,” said Tun Khin..."
Source/publisher:
Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
Date of publication:
2022-07-22
Date of entry/update:
2022-07-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
Language:
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Description:
"Today, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague is expected to rule on a case that could bring a small measure of justice within reach for my people, the Rohingya. The case, The Gambia v. Myanmar, alleges what we Rohingya know to be true: that military leaders committed acts of genocide in a systematic attempt to destroy us.
The Myanmar government has challenged the ICJ’s right to hear the case, saying it has no jurisdiction. If the Court finds that it has jurisdiction, my people will get the opportunity to hold accountable those who authorized and carried out unspeakable atrocities for decades. If, however, the Court agrees it has no jurisdiction, it will be another blow for the Rohingya people who have already suffered so much.
More than 900,000 Rohingya refugees are languishing in camps in Bangladesh including in Cox’s Bazar and on Bhasan Char, a remote island in Bengal Bay prone to extreme flooding and cyclones. Many fled Myanmar after the military junta escalated their violent campaign against us in August 2017. These refugees joined more than 300,000 others who have fled persecution since the 1990s.
The same Burmese military that killed Rohingya indiscriminately, burnt villages, and raped women without consequence is now using these same tactics against civilians throughout the country. After years of international outcry and advocacy, last March the U.S. government finally determined these atrocities amounted to genocide – a welcome, if long overdue, step in our fight for justice and accountability. That was followed by fresh sanctions by the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom against senior officials and entities connected to the military regime. However, little has been done in practical terms to help those suffering daily humiliations. It is past time for concrete actions. Just as the international community has rallied to help Ukraine, the United States and world leaders must take meaningful steps to help the Rohingya, targeted religious and ethnic communities, and all those suffering under the yoke of the military in Burma.
Bangladesh opened its borders to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people fleeing for their lives after the military crackdown in 2017. However, over time, conditions in the refugee camps there have deteriorated – and grow worse with each passing day. Overcrowding and underfunding has led to squalid conditions including inadequate food, water, and shelter. Fencing in the camps restricts movement, leaving refugees especially vulnerable to flooding, landslides, and fire. There is a lack of proper medical care and promises to educate children (around half of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh under age 18) have gone unfulfilled. I have visited these camps, heard their stories. A whole generation of Rohingya children are growing up in hopeless conditions. There is no security, no opportunity, and no dignity in these places.
The international community must respond to these hopeless conditions by immediately increasing funding for the refugee camps in Bangladesh. According to the United Nations (U.N.), humanitarian groups need more than $880 million to support refugees in Cox’s Bazar and Bhasan Char. As of May 2022 however, the Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis is only about 14 percent funded. Bangladesh should also allow the refugees to run schools, markets, and civil society organizations, as Rohingya are able to meet some of their own needs if given the opportunity to do so.
But providing resources for refugees in Bangladesh will not sustainably protect the Rohingya. As the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi noted while visiting these camps this past May, “[T]he Rohingya refugees I met reiterated their desire to return home when conditions allow. The world must work to address the root causes of their flight and to translate those dreams into reality.”
The United States and international community can help “address the root causes” by joining or supporting the three pending international investigations and cases against the military regime. They include the aforementioned case brought by The Gambia and an ongoing investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into crimes against humanity targeting the Rohingya people. That investigation however is limited to violations committed on Bangladesh territory, since Myanmar has not ratified the Rome Statute. The third is a petition filed in November 2021, after the Argentinian judiciary agreed to launch a universal jurisdiction case against senior Myanmar officials brought by my organization, Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK). It marked the first time that another country’s domestic courts have agreed to investigate these allegations. BROUK and our legal team are supporting six women who have accused the military of gross human rights violations. In the coming months, the court will hear directly from these women, another first on the long road to justice.
Beyond driving accountability for past wrongs, we Rohingya also want to have a voice in shaping the future of our country. The United States and other allies should make it clear that there can be no normalized relations with Burma without the full and equal participation of the nation’s many minorities, including the Rohingya. First, we need the restoration of our full citizenship rights, which were stripped away with the Burma Citizenship Law of 1982. This measure rendered us stateless and triggered policies that restricted access to health care, education, and jobs (I left my homeland in the 1990s for the United Kingdom after being blocked from going to university simply because I am Rohingya.) Encouragingly, Burma’s government in exile has made commitments to reverse these discriminatory practices should the war against the junta be successful.
I am hopeful for the day when the Rohingya can return home peacefully. Until it is safe to do so, we also need international support to increase resettlement opportunities. Sadly, many Rohingya who have fled Burma for other countries face tremendous difficulties beyond the poor conditions noted above. Just recently, India started deporting Rohingya genocide survivors back to Burma, where they face continued persecution and violence – a policy which may violate international refugee law. We will be forever grateful to Bangladesh for hosting us in our time of need, but we need lasting sustainable support to find homes in other nations – like what the international community did for the more than 100,000 Lhotshampas who fled Bhutan in the 1990s after the government moved to strip Nepali-speakers of their citizenship and civil rights. And we have all read about the many States that have committed to help Ukrainian refugees in recent months. Similar steps can and should be taken to resettle Rohingya refugees who have waited for decades to find a permanent home.
While the path forward for Rohingya refugees is complicated, it is not impossible. There has been meaningful progress along the way, including the genocide determination by the United States, sanctions against the military leadership, and the adoption this month of a resolution by the U.N. Human Rights Council that underscored the need for transparent investigations and called on Burma to allow us to return home safely. Indeed, the world has seen what can be achieved when the international community purposefully rallies to support a community in crisis. The Rohingya people need similar support from the United States and allied leaders, now more than ever..."
Source/publisher:
Justice Security
Date of publication:
2022-07-22
Date of entry/update:
2022-07-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya
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Description:
"22 July 2022 – Today’s decision by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to reject Myanmar’s preliminary objections in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (The Gambia v. Myanmar) is of great importance – not just to the people of Myanmar, but also to the development of international law and to defining the obligation of States that have signed the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Today’s ruling means the ICJ will next consider the parties arguments concerning the merits of the case – that is, The Gambia’s allegations that Myanmar has failed to fulfill its obligations to prevent and punish acts of genocide committed against the Rohingya people in Myanmar as required under the Convention.
The Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar is mandated to assist in efforts to bring about justice for serious international crimes committed in Myanmar, with the Human Rights Council explicitly calling for our cooperation with the ICJ in its resolution 43/26. We will continue to share materials relevant to these proceedings with both Myanmar and The Gambia, provided that we have the consent of those that provided the information and that we are confident that disclosure will not endanger the security or privacy of any individual.
We believe it is critical that the judges who will decide this very important case have the best evidence available to enable them to determine the true facts about what has happened and the current situation in Rakhine state. Now, almost five years after the mass exodus of Rohingya from Rakhine state in 2017, hundreds of thousands remain living as refugees, and many place great hope in these ICJ proceedings.
The Mechanism collects, preserves and analyses evidence of violations of international law committed in Myanmar since 2011 regardless of the race, religion, ethnicity or citizenship of the perpetrators or of the victims. Should anyone have information relevant to these proceedings, you can contact us confidentially via secure channels, as described on our contact page..."
Source/publisher:
Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar
Date of publication:
2022-07-22
Date of entry/update:
2022-07-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Human Rights and international relations
Language:
more
Description:
"The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect welcomes the judgment delivered today, 22 July, by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the preliminary objections raised by Myanmar (Burma) in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (The Gambia v. Myanmar). In rejecting Myanmar’s preliminary objections, the ICJ can proceed with the merits of the case and is one step closer to achieving justice for the Rohingya.
The preliminary objections raised by Myanmar were an overt attempt to block and delay justice and reconciliation for the Rohingya, as well as to escape accountability for genocide and crimes against humanity. The objections were also made in an effort to maintain the culture of impunity that has persisted in Myanmar for decades. The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect appreciates that the ICJ agrees that Myanmar’s preliminary objections lacked any weight or merit.
Savita Pawnday, Executive Director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, said, “impunity for perpetrators like General Min Aung Hlaing and other military leaders not only facilitated the perpetration of mass atrocity crimes against the Rohingya and other minorities but also enabled the 2021 coup and created a permissive environment for the ensuing violence and atrocities across Myanmar. The Global Centre looks forward to the next stages of the case.”
Justice and accountability are important to upholding the Responsibility to Protect populations from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. Still, accountability processes on their own are not enough. It is important to note that Myanmar has failed to uphold the provisional measures ordered by the ICJ in January 2020 to protect the Rohingya from further violence, and the international community has never put sufficient pressure on Myanmar – both the former civilian-led government and the current junta – to ensure compliance with these measures. The estimated 600,000 Rohingya remaining in Myanmar continue to face systematic discrimination and are at high risk of atrocity crimes, as the military commits widespread and systematic human rights violations against civilians, particularly those from ethnic minority populations.
While the ICJ’s decision is a positive development, the road to much needed justice and reconciliation for the Rohingya remains a long one. Ms. Pawnday said, “As the case goes forward, it is essential that the ICJ centers the voices and perspectives of the Rohingya in its proceedings. States should urge compliance with the provisional measures. States can also aid in ensuring accountability by formally intervening in the case — particularly Canada and the Netherlands, who announced their intention to do so in 2020.”..."
Source/publisher:
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Date of publication:
2022-07-22
Date of entry/update:
2022-07-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide
Language:
more
Sub-title:
The International Court of Justice clears way for the Gambian case to move to evidence against Myanmar.
Description:
"The International Court of Justice (ICJ) rejected on Friday all of Myanmar’s objections to a case brought against it by Gambia that accuses the Southeast Asian country of genocide against the mainly Muslim Rohingya minority.
Myanmar’s military regime had lodged four preliminary objections claiming the Hague-based court does not have jurisdiction and that the West African country of Gambia did not have the standing to bring the case over mass killing and forced expulsions of Rohingya in 2016 and 2017.
The ruling delivered at the Peace Palace in the Dutch city of The Hague by ICJ President, Judge Joan E. Donoghue, clears the way for the court to move on to the merits phase of the process and consider the factual evidence against Myanmar, a process that could take years.
Donoghue said the court found that all members of the 1948 Genocide Convention can and are obliged act to prevent genocide, and that through its statements before the U.N. General Assembly in 2018 and 2019, Gambia had made clear to Myanmar its intention to bring a case to the ICJ based on the conclusion of a UN fact-finding mission into the allegations of genocide.
“Myanmar could not have been unaware of the fact that The Gambia had expressed the view that it would champion an accountability mechanism for the alleged crimes against the Rohingya,” the judge said.
The military junta that overthrew Myanmar’s elected government in February 2021 is now embroiled in fighting with prodemocracy paramilitaries across wide swathes of the country, and multiple reports have emerged of troops torturing, raping and killing civilians.
In the initial hearing of the case in 2019, Gambia said that “from around October 2016 the Myanmar military and other Myanmar security forces began widespread and systematic ‘clearance operations’ … against the Rohingya group.”
“The genocidal acts committed during these operations were intended to destroy the Rohingya as a group, in whole or in part, by the use of mass murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence, as well as the systematic destruction by fire of their villages, often with inhabitants locked inside burning houses. From August 2017 onwards, such genocidal acts continued with Myanmar’s resumption of ‘clearance operations’ on a more massive and wider geographical scale.”
Thousands died in the raids in August 2017, when the military cleared and burned Rohingya communities in western Myanmar, killing, torturing and raping locals. The violent campaign forced more than 740,000 people to flee to squalid refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh. That exodus followed a 2016 crackdown that drove out more than 90,000 Rohingya from Rakhine.
Gambia has called on Myanmar to stop persecuting the Rohingya, punish those responsible for the genocide, offer reparations to the victims and provide guarantees that there would be no repeat of the crimes against the Rohingya.
The Myanmar junta’s delegation protested at a hearing on Feb. 25 this year, saying the ICJ has no right to hear the case. It lodged four objections, all of which were rejected by the ICJ on Friday.
Reactions to ruling
Tun Khin, president of the U.K.-based Burma Rohingya Organization, who attended Friday's court proceeding, called the ICJ ruling "good news for all citizens of Myanmar."
“The ICJ court proceeding will continue and justice will be served for all Rohingya, who have been victims of a genocide," he said.
"I believe the forthcoming court hearings will verify that the military has intentionally committed crimes against the Rohingya population, with genocidal intent.”
In a post on Twitter, Gambia's Ministry of Justice welcomed the ruling, calling it "a major win for The Gambia in its fight for Justice for the Rohyinga."
In Bangladesh, the decision was greeted with joy by the displaced Rohingya community.
Khin Mong, founder of the Rohingya Youth Association and a resident of the Unchiprang refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, told the RFA-affiliated BenarNews that the ICJ's ruling would benefit "all oppressed ethnic groups in Myanmar, not just the Rohingya."
"Insha'Allah, the Rohingyas will one day receive justice. I believe the international court's final decision will also be in our favor," he said.
BenarNews also spoke to Abul Kalam, a Rohinyga refugee living at Camp Majhi in Jadimura, Teknaf.
"Until death, every Rohingya will seek justice for this genocide," he said. "The Gambia has prepared the path for a fair trial for us. We are now more optimistic about it."
Attempts by RFA Burmese to reach junta Deputy Minister of Information Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment on the ruling went unanswered Friday.
When asked earlier this month about the case, he told RFA that he hoped the ICJ would make a fair decision in its ruling.
"Myanmar will maintain its legal stance," he said at the time. "As the ICJ is an organization that mainly deals with international law and legal procedures, Myanmar hopes that justice will be done in accordance with international laws."
Friday's ruling was also welcomed by the international human rights community.
“The ICJ decision opens the door toward an overdue reckoning with the Myanmar military’s murderous campaign against the Rohingya population," said Elaine Pearson, acting Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
"By holding the military to account for its atrocities against the Rohingya, the World Court could provide the impetus for greater international action toward justice for all victims of the Myanmar security forces’ crimes.”
Matthew Smith, chief executive officer at Fortify Rights, called the ruling "momentous."
“Jurisdiction in this case is settled," he said. "The international community should immediately get behind The Gambia in this case and support other efforts across mechanisms to hold the Myanmar military to account for its horrific crimes against the people of Myanmar.”
Ongoing oppression
The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations and was established in 1945 to settle disputes in accordance with international law through binding judgments with no right of appeal.
The U.S. has also accused Myanmar of genocide against the Rohingya. Secretary of State Antony Blinken ruled in March this year that “Burma’s military committed genocide and crimes against humanity with the intent to destroy predominantly Muslim Rohingya in 2017.”
The State Department said the military junta continues to oppress the Rohingya, putting 144,000 in internal displacement camps in Rakhine state by the end of last year. A State Department report last month noted that Rohingya also face travel restrictions within the country and the junta has made no effort to bring refugees back from Bangladesh.
Myanmar, a country of 54 million people about the size of France, recognizes 135 official ethnic groups, with Burmans accounting for about 68 percent of the population.
The Rohingya, whose ethnicity is not recognized by the government, have faced decades of discrimination in Myanmar and are effectively stateless, denied citizenship. Myanmar administrations have refused to call them “Rohingya” and instead use the term “Bengali.”
The atrocities against the Rohingya were committed during the tenure of the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi, who in December 2019 defended the military against allegations of genocide at the ICJ. The Nobel Peace Prize winner and one-time democracy icon now languishes in prison — toppled by the same military in last year’s coup.
In February, the National Unity Government (NUG), formed by former Myanmar lawmakers who operate as a shadow government in opposition to the military junta, said they accept the authority of the ICJ to decide if the 2016-17 campaign against Rohingya constituted a genocide, and would withdraw all preliminary objections in the case.
NUG Human Rights Minister Aung Myo Min called Friday's ruling "in line" with the shadow government's approach to the Rohingya issue.
“Today’s ruling will bring up more hearings, credible evidence and testimonies. It will bring an effective ruling in the end, and we welcome all of that,” he said.
Aung Htoo, a Myanmar human rights lawyer and the principal at the country’s Federal Legal Academy, said that while the decision marks a significant step forward in the case, it remains unclear how long it could take for the court to reach a final verdict.
“Most likely it could take several years, even a decade,” he said..."
Source/publisher:
"RFA" (USA)
Date of publication:
2022-07-22
Date of entry/update:
2022-07-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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Description:
"THE HAGUE, 11 July 2022. On Friday 22 July 2022, the International Court of Justice (ICJ),
the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, will deliver its Judgment on the preliminary
objections raised by Myanmar in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (The Gambia v. Myanmar).
A public sitting of the Court will take place at 3 p.m. at the Peace Palace in The Hague, during
which the President of the Court, Judge Joan E. Donoghue, will read out the Court’s decision.
Hearings and other Court sessions held in the ICJ’s courtroom at the Peace Palace remain
closed to the public for the time being as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Only Members of the
Court and representatives of the States Parties to the case will be present in the Great Hall of Justice.
Members of the diplomatic corps and the public will be able to follow the reading through a live
webcast on the Court’s website, as well as on UN Web TV, the United Nations online television
channel. Limited access to the Peace Palace will be granted to media representatives, as indicated in
the instructions below..."
Source/publisher:
International Court of Justice ( The Hague, Netherlands)
Date of publication:
2022-07-11
Date of entry/update:
2022-07-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General, Human Rights and international relations
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pdf
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225.22 KB
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"The Asia Justice Coalition is a network of organizations whose purpose is to promote justice and accountability for gross violations of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law in Asia, and to contribute to the fulfillment of the rights of victims and their families.
1 July 2022 marks the 20th anniversary of the entry into force of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (“ICC/the Court”). The Rome Statute established the Court with jurisdiction over the most serious international crimes, namely genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and aggression.
The Court in its twenty years of operation has cemented the relevance and importance of the fight against impunity across the globe. The Court has centered accountability within the international legal sphere. Now, more than ever, there is a need to hold perpetrators of international crimes to account and to ensure justice.
While the Court has done much to expand its reach, there are only a handful of ratifications to the Rome Statute from the Asia-Pacific region. The geographical disparity in the membership of the Court remains a concern and genuine efforts must be made to bridge the accountability gap through engagement with nonstate parties and civil society. The Office of the Prosecutor (“OTP”) is currently investigating four situations in the Asia-Pacific region, namely Myanmar/Bangladesh, Israel/Palestine, Afghanistan, and the Philippines. The Coalition calls for independent and thorough investigations as well as comprehensive casebuilding strategies in all these situations. In particular, it draws the attention of the Court to the crisis in Myanmar, which has worsened significantly due to the February 2021 coup. It is imperative that the investigation move forward, in keeping with the urgency of the situation.
While the wheels of international criminal justice move slowly, concerted efforts must be made to ensure that any delays within the system are significantly reduced and that there are sufficient resources brought to bear for successful investigations and prosecutions. The Assembly of States Parties, the ICC Registry, and Presidency must ensure that the budget of the Court and its resources are distributed fairly amongst the situations before the Court. While the OTP has the discretion to prioritise investigations, the Asia Justice Coalition strongly urges the Prosecutor to investigate all parties to a situation without distinction. Further, there is a need for greater engagement with States in situations under examination and investigation, while respecting the principle of complementarity.
The Asia Justice Coalition welcomes the Court’s renewed engagement with civil society, emphasizing the need for greater cooperation in order to further the cause of justice and accountability. It also welcomes the measures to be implemented pursuant to the International Expert Review of the International Criminal Court and the Rome Statute System, relating to issues such as ensuring geographic diversity, gender equality, open and transparent recruitment processes, and an inclusive and safe working culture.
On this twentieth anniversary, as the world witnesses multiple conflicts and the commission of mass atrocities, the urgency of the task ahead of the ICC cannot be overstated. An effective international criminal court is the need of the hour and must be supported in achieving its goals..."
Source/publisher:
Asia Justice Coalition via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of publication:
2022-07-05
Date of entry/update:
2022-07-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
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pdf
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109.98 KB
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"The Myanmar military junta is using identity documents to facilitate the Rohingya genocide, mirroring tactics used in the Holocaust and Rwandan genocides, according to a new report released today by Fortify Rights. U.N. member states should deny the Myanmar junta access to weapons, finances, and political legitimacy, and the U.N. Security Council should immediately refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“Perpetrators have long used identification documents in the commission of genocide,” said Dr. Ken MacLean, co-author of the report, Senior Advisor to Fortify Rights and Clark University Professor at the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. “Evidence from the Holocaust and Rwandan genocides show striking similarities with the ongoing erasure of the Rohingya identity in Myanmar by the junta.”
The 63-page report, Genocide by Attrition: The Role of Identity Documents in the Holocaust and the Genocides of Rwanda and Myanmar, reveals how the Myanmar junta is continuing to force Rohingya to obtain National Verification Cards (NVCs) that effectively strip Rohingya of access to full citizenship rights and protections. The report provides new information about the junta’s ongoing targeting of Rohingya and includes case studies from the Holocaust and Rwandan genocides to illustrate how authoritarian regimes instrumentalized identification documents to systematically identify, persecute, and kill targeted populations on a widespread and massive scale.
As demonstrated by the Holocaust and Rwandan contexts, the new report finds that identification cards contributed to “genocide by attrition” or the gradual destruction of a protected group by reducing their strength through sustained, indirect methods of destruction.
In Myanmar, a genocide by attrition has long been underway and it continues today, said Fortify Rights.
Drawing on historical research from past genocides, interviews with more than 20 Rohingya-genocide survivors, leaked Myanmar junta documents, and a post-coup media analysis of junta-backed news outlets, the new report finds that, like other genocides, the pernicious use of identity documentation plays a role in the ongoing genocide of the Rohingya in Myanmar and must be addressed.
Since the Myanmar military launched its coup d’état on February 1, 2021, soldiers led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing have murdered and imprisoned thousands of people throughout the country while intensifying attacks on ethnic armed organizations and the People’s Defence Force—civilian-led militias organized to defend against the military’s attacks.
Amid these attacks, Rohingya in Myanmar’s Rakhine State told Fortify Rights how the junta continues using NVCs to prevent them from identifying as “Rohingya,” restrict their movement, and block livelihoods, creating conditions of life designed to be destructive.
“[The junta officials at immigration] insisted that I write ‘Bengali’ in an NVC application,” said a 26-year-old Rohingya woman who lost her husband, her home, and all her family identification documents during the 2016 military-led attacks on Rohingya in Rakhine State, leading her to apply for an NVC in October 2021. “So, I wrote ‘Bengali.’ They know I am a Rohingya, but they said we just know Bengali, no Rohingya.”
“They want to make us illegal immigrants and Bengali people as a strategy to exclude us from citizenship and ethnicity [in Myanmar],” a 19-year-old Rohingya man from Minbya Township in Rakhine State told Fortify Rights. “Accepting [an] NVC means you identify yourself as a ‘Bengali immigrant.’ We [Rohingya] don’t have any options. We need documents to travel to other cities, like Sittwe or other cities specifically for medical emergencies or business.”
Fortify Rights also documented the junta’s continued restrictions on freedom of movement for Rohingya, including through “Form-4”—a temporary travel permit, which is required for Rohingya in Rakhine State to travel between townships or, in rare cases, outside of Rakhine State. Rohingya must apply for Form-4 approvals, which are not always granted. For example, an internal administrative order issued by the junta-run General Administration Department of Buthidaung Township in Rakhine State on November 25, 2021, states, “Bengali people can only travel after obtaining legal permission (Form-4)” and breaching the order will result in “strong action being taken as per the existing law.”
The junta, like other genocidal regimes, claims such restrictions are necessary to protect “security and the rule of law.”
The United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention found that “increased politicization of identity” and discriminatory “measures or legislation” targeting protected groups serve as indicators in creating “an environment conducive to the commission of atrocity crimes.” Genocidal states often use legal and administrative tools to facilitate the destruction of a targeted group. This was the case during the Holocaust of the Jewish population and the Rwandan genocide of the Tutsi population.
For example, the Holocaust would not have been logistically feasible on such a rapid and massive scale without the initial definition and registration of Jews. The Nazis’ process of using official identification processes and documents enabled them to successively strip Jews of citizenship, expropriate their property, spatially restrict them to ghettos and camps, and then commit mass murder.
Similarly, identity documentation and verification also contributed to the Rwandan genocide. In some cases, Hutu perpetrators relied on the Rwandan national identification card that included the holder’s ethnic identity to target Tutsis and carry out their killings. For example, Hutu militias constructed barricades in urban areas and demanded travelers show their national identification cards, massacring Tutsi-identified cardholders as well as all those without documents.
The continuing use of the NVC in Myanmar poses a similar threat to Rohingya.
“Rohingya continue to face existential threats under the military junta, an illegitimate regime responsible for far-reaching atrocities,” said John Quinley, Senior Human Rights Specialist at Fortify Rights and co-author of the report. “The ongoing denial of Rohingya ethnicity and citizenship are indicators of genocide. The National Unity Government has committed to ensuring Rohingya citizenship and inclusion. The junta, however, is still using coercive measures to force Rohingya to identify as foreigners, erasing records of their existence.”
Over several years, the connection between identification documents and international crimes has been well-recognized. Yet, even amid genocidal attacks against Rohingya, some U.N. officials, embassies, and others in Myanmar not only failed to condemn the use of NVCs in targeting Rohingya but, in some cases, explicitly endorsed NVCs as a pragmatic solution to Rohingya “statelessness.”
Tolerance for discriminatory laws, policies, and practices affecting Rohingya, including the NVC process, is waning, however. Notably, on June 3, 2021, the National Unity Government (NUG)—the government established in April 2021 by elected parliamentarians who evaded arrest following the coup—announced its commitment to “abolishing” the NVC process, describing the NVC as “a process that the military has used against the Rohingya and other ethnic groups coercively and with human rights violations.”
The violations documented in Genocide by Attrition demonstrate links between the NVC process and genocidal acts and should be a focus of ongoing investigations and legal proceedings, said Fortify Rights.
Genocide is defined as an act or acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group. Under Article 2 of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, three of the five qualifying “acts” of genocide are directly relevant to “genocide by attrition” and are especially relevant in the context of the ongoing genocide of Rohingya in Myanmar. These enumerated crimes include: “(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; [and] (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.”
Dating back to 2015, Fortify Rights has comprehensively documented the military-led genocide against the Rohingya.
A 2015 report by Fortify Rights and the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School found sufficient evidence to establish the elements of the crime of genocide against Rohingya in Myanmar.
Following the 2016 and 2017 Myanmar military-led attacks on Rohingya civilians, Fortify Rights and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum published a joint report documenting how Myanmar state security forces and civilian perpetrators committed mass killings in dozens of villages in Maungdaw Township in the first wave of violence in 2016 and in villages throughout all three townships of northern Rakhine State after August 25, 2017.
In a 160-page report in 2018, Fortify Rights exposed how the Myanmar military and civilian perpetrators made extensive and systematic preparations for genocidal attacks against Rohingya civilians in 2017, providing new details on massacres of Rohingya, systematic rape of women and girls, and the razing of hundreds of Rohingya villages in northern Rakhine State in the span of weeks.
A 102-page report by Fortify Rights in 2019 exposed how Myanmar authorities, including the military, forced or coerced Rohingya to accept NVCs as part of a systematic campaign to erase the Rohingya identity.
“The Myanmar military junta poses an undeniable threat to international peace and security,” said John Quinley. “U.N. member states must wake up and act now to deny the junta the resources it craves and to hold it accountable for all of its crimes including genocide.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Fortify Rights"
Date of publication:
2022-06-08
Date of entry/update:
2022-06-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf pdf pdf
Size:
15.59 MB 163.55 KB 15.58 MB 156.93 KB
Local URL:
2022-06-08-Genocide-by-Attrition-Fortify-Rights-Report-en.pdf- 2022-06-08-UN-Member-States-Hold-Myanmar-Military-Accountable-for-Ongoing-Crimes-bu.pdf
- 2022-06-08-Genocide-by-Attrition-Fortify-Rights-Summary-Report-bu.pdf
- 2022-06-08-UN-Member-States-Hold-Myanmar-Military-Accountable-for-Ongoing-Crimes-Thai.pdf
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Description:
"This is the US Campaign for Burma’s fifteenth monthly On-The-Ground in Burma briefer! This month’s briefer will review the recent U.S. genocide determination and the necessary steps to turn the Rohingya genocide recognition into action, as well as share a response from leaders from the Rohingya Women’s Development Network (RWDN), Karenni National Women’s Organization (KNWO), and the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG).
This month’s briefer includes:
April highlights
An in-depth analysis on the U.S. genocide determination and the necessary steps moving forward
Four major policy recommendations
Responses to the genocide determination from the RWDN, KNWO, and the KHRG
An overview of IDP issues and rights abuses in each ethnic state and central Burma
As the conflict escalates in Burma between the pro-junta militias, anti-coup forces, and the military, so has the violence and rights deprivations in ethnic regions and central Burma. Without strong tangible action, the Burmese junta will continue to commit crimes against humanity with impunity..."
Source/publisher:
U.S. Campaign for Burma
Date of publication:
2022-05-06
Date of entry/update:
2022-05-06
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Human Rights and international relations, Genocide, International Criminal Court (Myanmar)
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Format :
pdf
Size:
1.77 MB
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"Washington, DC – Today, Representative Gregory W. Meeks, Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, issued the following statement regarding the passage of his legislation, the “Burma Unified Through Rigorous Military Accountability Act of 2021”, or BURMA Act, by the U.S. House of Representatives.
“Today’s passage of my BURMA Act sends a clear message to the Burmese military that there will be accountability for their brutal and illegal February 1st 2021 coup, and for its subsequent crimes against humanity and human rights atrocities that have cost over 1,700 lives and displaced nearly half a million people. Together with last month’s formal determination by the Biden Administration that the Burmese military committed a genocide against Rohingya, the passage of the BURMA Act reaffirms the United States’ leadership to protect human rights and democratic values and ensure accountability and justice. I am proud to stand with the Burmese people who are fighting for their freedom.”
A PDF of the BURMA Act can be found here, and key provisions include:
Authorization to impose sanctions on individuals and entities who helped stage the February 1, 2021 coup d’état and are responsible for the subsequent repression of fundamental freedoms, human rights abuses, use of indiscriminate violence towards civilians, and other gross atrocities.
Authorization for a new position at the State Department, a Special Coordinator for Burmese Democracy, to promote an international effort to impose and enforce multilateral sanctions on Burma and coordinate United States Government interagency efforts on Burma.
Authorization for support to civil society and for humanitarian assistance in Burma, Bangladesh, Thailand, and the surrounding region.
Call for the United States to pressure the United Nations to take more decisive action with regards to Burma.
A report on the military’s genocide, crimes against humanity, and other atrocities against Rohingya and other ethnic minorities in Burma..."
Source/publisher:
House Foreign Affairs Committee
Date of publication:
2022-04-06
Date of entry/update:
2022-04-06
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, The discussion on humanitarian assistance to Burma, Genocide, Human Rights and international relations
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157.44 KB (Original version) - 56 pages
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"To: Members of the U.S. Congress :
Subject: Pass the B.U.R.M.A. Act, Open Letter Signed by the Diaspora of Burma in America and Endorsed by the CSOs and CBOs inside Burma and Global Solidarity Organization to the United State Congress to Pass the Burma Unified through Rigorous Military Accountability (BURMA) Act of 2021
Dear United States Representatives and Senators,
We, the diaspora with our roots from all various regions of Burma residing in the United States, with the endorsement by civil society organizations and community-based organizations inside Burma and global solidarity organizations, write to express our support for the BURMA Act and request its expedited passage into law. Since October 6th, 2021, when 242 Burmese diaspora, local CSOs inside Burma, community-based organizations, and civil society organizations signed an open letter to the United States Congress to support the BURMA Act of 2021, the situation on the ground has only worsened.
As of March 26th, 2022, the military junta had killed 1,707 civilians and arbitrarily arrested 12,970 people according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners AAPP (Burma). Moreover, the military-perpetrated ongoing airstrikes and heavy artillery launches in ethnic areas had resulted in 1.2 million persons of concern, including 810,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) and 600,000 stateless Rohingyas being forced to flee homes for their lives according to the latest UNHCR report.
We welcome the latest set of actions by the United States to reaffirm its ongoing support for Burma’s democracy in particular through Senator McConnell-led amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2022, additional treasury sanctions on March 25, 2022, a letter of support for Burmese democracy signed by 14 Senators and Members of Congress urging Secretary Blinken and State Department to take actions, the passage of S. Res 35 in the Senate, and US Government’s Rohingya Genocide Determination. We thank Representative Meeks, Representative Bera, and Representative Chabot for their joint statement on the one-year anniversary, and their continued demonstration of support for the democracy and freedom of the people in Burma. We also recognize the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s show of bipartisan support for the BURMA Act on October 21, 2021, and 102 cosponsors from both the House and Senate.
The humanitarian and democracy aid authorized in the BURMA Act are sorely needed, as is the investigation into the oil and gas industry, the accountability for the military’s ongoing war crimes, Rohingya genocide and atrocity crimes against ethnic minorities, and a special coordinator position to make sure it all gets done. The sanction language of the Burma Act targets the junta’s finances in ways that can hurt the regime while sparing the people from additional suffering.
We, the undersigned, urgently request the United States Congress to pass the BURMA Act of 2021 in consideration of the countless lives taken away by the murderous military junta and the dangers that the authoritarian regime imposes on human rights and democracy. We acknowledge the bipartisan support we have received from the House of Representatives and we call for the same unified support by our Senators. As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”, we look forward to our democratically-elected Congress taking swift, concrete actions in holding the junta accountable for their crimes and supporting the civilian’s efforts in building Burma’s path to democracy..."
Source/publisher:
58 diaspora organizations in the United States and endorsed by 87 Civil Societies inside Burma and across the globe
Date of publication:
2022-03-27
Date of entry/update:
2022-04-06
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Anti-coup protesters, Human Rights and international relations, Human Rights Defenders, Genocide, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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"Introduction
In 2005, the United Nations member states unanimously made a commitment to protect populations from the most serious crimes, namely genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity.1 Known as the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ principle, or R2P, this commitment emphasises the primary responsibility by states to protect their own populations from these crimes, and the responsibility of the international community to support one another in their prevention.2 Recognising that atrocities are not random events but develop in a dynamic process and require the existence of an environment conducive to their occurrence, the United Nations Special Advisers on the Prevention of Genocide and the Responsibility to Protect developed a methodological framework in 2014 that enables the identification of warning signs indicating the existence of such circumstances. The Framework of Analysis for Atrocity Crimes (hereinafter ‘the framework’) sets out a series of Risk Factors and corresponding Indicators that enable stakeholders to identify high-risk developments in situations of serious human rights violations, domestic instability and crisis, pinpoint gaps in existing prevention capacities and promote necessary responses. The framework serves as a working tool for the monitoring and assessment of atrocity risks and as an early warning mechanism to support the prevention of their commission.3
The following atrocity crimes risk assessment applies the framework to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (hereinafter ‘Myanmar’). It identifies the most pressing risk factors and provides recommendation on future steps that can be taken by relevant stakeholders to address risks of atrocities being committed.
Since the last atrocity risk assessment of the situation in Myanmar conducted in 2019, there have been significant domestic developments that have reshaped the climate for the commission of atrocity crimes in Myanmar. The risk of atrocity crimes, specifically crimes against humanity and war crimes, is very high and the risk of genocide remains high. The military coup d’état on 1 February 2021 has resulted in a large movement of civil disobedience, the establishment of a shadow government under the leadership of former NLD politicians and its formation of an armed resistance force. The brutal crackdown by the military in response to nationwide anti-junta protests has led many civilians to take up arms and join armed resistance forces. Renewed conflict between long-standing ethnic armed groups and the military, the emergence of new local armed militias, as well as violent clashes between the military and resistance forces have dragged the country into another civil war. The means and methods deployed by the Tatmadaw against political dissidents, civilians and members of the armed resistance already meet the threshold of crimes against humanity and war crimes but indicate the risk of further escalations of the situation.
These developments occur amidst a multi-dimensional economic and humanitarian crisis that has reached new records in unemployment rates and in the number of internally displaced people in dire need of humanitarian assistance. The global COVID-19 pandemic had severe impacts not only on an already buckling health sector, but has seen many people forced out of employment and into a state of severe food insecurity. The political unrest following the military coup, which resulted in an international response of targeted sanctions, withdrawal of foreign aid and foreign investment and an increase of unemployment across the entire country’s labour force, has caused a stagnation of Myanmar’s economy and pushed the country to the brink of an economic collapse. The large-scale disobedience movements in response to the coup, disruptions in supply chains as well as the junta’s regular shutdowns of telecommunication services, internet and power outages have paralysed essential sectors and much of the country’s infrastructure. In addition, atrocities committed against the Rohingya community during the military’s ‘clearance operations’ in Rakhine State in 2017 and 2018 remain unaddressed and have further nourished a climate of prevailing impunity and injustice. Hundreds of thousands of displaced Rohingya remain in detainment camps with restricted access of humanitarian aid delivery, while being denied freedoms of movement, access to basic goods, such as food and health care, and the right to a safe, dignified and voluntary return.
While the international community has stepped up its efforts to provide humanitarian aid to Myanmar, the UN and its member States remain divided over the political disputes over power. While the majority of States condemned the military coup and refuse to recognise the military junta as the legitimate government, international response to the military use of force has been limited to targeted sanctions against senior military leaders and the exclusion of its representatives from regional summits. A stronger engagement by key regional actors, such as ASEAN member States and their newly appointed Special Envoy, and a concerted response by international actors including the UN Security Council is required to put a halt to the excessive use of force by the military against the population, to delegitimise the military junta’s claim to power and assist the country in returning to its path towards a peaceful democratic transition that is capable of addressing past injustices and building a resilient and independent national State apparatus in conformity with international human rights standards..."
Source/publisher:
The University of Queensland
Date of publication:
2022-03-31
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-31
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Anti-coup protesters, Human Rights and international relations, Genocide, International Criminal Court (Myanmar), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar
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Format :
pdf
Size:
1.3 MB (Original version) - 51 pages
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"At the launch of the 2022 Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis in Bangladesh, U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh Peter Haas announced more than $152 million in additional humanitarian assistance for those in Bangladesh, Burma, and elsewhere in the region affected by the Burmese military’s genocide, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing against Rohingya. With this new funding, our total assistance for this response reaches more than $1.7 billion since August 2017, when over 740,000 Rohingya were forced to flee to safety in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. This announcement demonstrates our solidarity with Rohingya and the generous communities hosting them as well as our ongoing commitment to strengthening the international response to the Rohingya crisis and the escalating violence in Burma.
The humanitarian assistance includes nearly $51 million from the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) and more than $101 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). With more than $125 million for programs specifically in Bangladesh, this funding will enable our humanitarian partners to provide life-saving assistance to the over 920,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. It also provides support to more than 540,000 affected members of the local host community in Bangladesh. This assistance helps ensure children and young adults have access to education and vocational training, provides families with food, healthcare, access to clean water and sanitation to prevent the spread of disease, supports the protection of Rohingya refugees’ human rights and well-being, strengthens disaster preparedness, and helps combat the effects of climate change. We commend our humanitarian partners for a strong and well-coordinated response as this crisis approaches its fifth year.
The United States recognizes that Bangladesh and its people have taken on an enormous responsibility in hosting refugees. We are working with the Government of Bangladesh, Rohingya, and people within Burma toward finding solutions to this crisis, including the safe, voluntary, dignified, and sustainable return and reintegration of Rohingya refugees and internally displaced persons when conditions in Burma allow. Secretary Blinken has determined that members of the Burmese military committed genocide and crimes against humanity against Rohingya, and that many of those responsible for these atrocities are the same people who led the military coup in 2021 and ongoing violence across Burma. We are relentlessly pressuring Burma’s military regime to stop its violence and return to the path of democracy. At the same time, we also must expand education and livelihood opportunities, including cash-for-work programs and access to local markets, for Rohingya refugees in the region. Education and income-generating activities are among the most effective methods to create safer refugee camps in Bangladesh.
The United States remains committed to delivering aid to Rohingya, and we welcome the generous pledges made by other donors at today’s event. However, more support is desperately needed. We urge other donors to come forward now with additional funds to sustain and increase support for the Rakhine State/Rohingya refugee crisis and those suffering from the escalating violence perpetrated by the genocidal military in Burma today..."
Source/publisher:
United States Department of State
Date of publication:
2022-03-29
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-30
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Racial or ethnic discrimination: ethical and legal standards, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Genocide
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"Though it comes far too late, the decision of the US government to finally formally determine that the violence perpetrated by the Myanmar military against the Rohingya in 2017 in Rakhine State amounts to genocide and crimes against humanity is welcomed by 357 Myanmar CSOs and regional and international partners.
This announcement comes after over four years of tireless repeated efforts by Rohingya, supported by human rights groups within Myanmar and across the world in solidarity with their cause. They have continued to seek justice and accountability, the recognition of their rights, including the restoration of their citizenship, equal rights, freedom of movement, and for safe, voluntary and dignified return of Rohingya to their homes in Rakhine State.
As the long-awaited recognition of the atrocity crimes being determined by the US government is here, urgent actions must be taken towards criminal prosecution for these crimes and to ensure the protection of the remaining Rohingya in Rakhine State whose situation continues to be dire. Otherwise, this determination will languish as rhetoric and only serve to further embolden the Myanmar military that not only continues to implement its policies of genocide and persecute the remaining 600,000 Rohingya in Rakhine State, but is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity against the people across the country.
The same military that committed genocide against the Rohingya are committing massacres, airstrikes, extrajudicial killings, arbitrary mass arrests, sexual and gender-based violence, violence against children and mass displacement following its attempted coup – an attempt that failed, largely due to courageous and united resistance from the people of Myanmar in defense of their democracy.
At the 49th Session of the UN Human Rights Council, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, stated that systematic abuses by the military junta may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, including deliberately targeting civilians with airstrikes and burning people alive. The impunity enjoyed by the Myanmar military must end and this can only be achieved through swift and rigorous justice and accountability.
We call on the United States Government to:
Recommend the UN Security Council adopt a resolution referring the situation in Myanmar to the ICC;
Recommend the International Criminal Court to accept the declaration lodged by the Myanmar government, the National Unity Government, under Article 12(3) of the Rome Statute accepting the Court’s jurisdiction with respect to international crimes committed in Myanmar territory since 1 July 2002;
Formally support the ongoing case against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice brought forward by The Gambia, including financial and legal assistance;
Call on the Congress to Pass the Burma Unified through Rigorous Military Accountability Act of 2021 (BURMA Act 2021);
Impose further targeted sanctions against the military and its leadership, military businesses including specifically targeting Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), military-linked business partners and network of arms dealers;
Increase aid to Rohingya genocide survivors in Bangladesh and other countries, and advocate for Bangladesh to adopt sustainable policies for hosting Rohingya refugees, including immediate access to education for all Rohingya children.
Direct USAID to coordinate emergency humanitarian aid provision efforts, including through cross-border channels, for the aid to reach to most vulnerable populations of more than 889,000 IDPs resulted from the military violence and airstrikes, and combat COVID-19, by providing resources and working in equal and meaningful partnership and collaboration with ethnic and community-based humanitarian and civil society organizations;
Coordinate to impose a global arms embargo on the Myanmar military; and,
Sanction the supply of jet fuel to the Myanmar military to end airstrikes..."
Source/publisher:
357 Civil Society Organizations
Date of publication:
2022-03-29
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-29
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing, International Criminal Court (Myanmar), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Human Rights and international relations
Language:
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Description:
"မြန်မာစစ်တပ်ခေါင်းဆောင်များကို တရားစွဲဆိုရမည်
နောက်ကျပြီးမှဖြစ်သော်လည်း ၂၀၁၇ ခုနှစ် ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်တွင် ရိုဟင်ဂျာလူမျိုးများအပေါ် မြန်မာစစ်တပ်မှ ကျူးလွန်ခဲ့သည့် အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများက လူမျိုးတုံးသတ်ဖြတ်မှုနှင့် လူသားမျိုးနွယ်အပေါ် ဆန့်ကျင်သော ရာဇဝတ်မှုများ မြောက်ကြောင်း တရားဝင်အသိအမှတ်ပြုသည့် အမေရိကန်အစိုးရ၏ ဆုံးဖြတ်ချက်ကို မြန်မာအရပ်ဘက်လူထုအဖွဲ့အစည်းများ၊ နှင့် ဒေသတွင်းနှင့် နိုင်ငံတကာ မိတ်ဖက်အဖွဲ့အစည်း ပေါင်း ၃၅၇ ဖွဲ့တို့က ကြိုဆိုလိုက်သည်။
ဤဆုံးဖြတ်ချက်သည် ရိုဟင်ဂျာများ၏ လေးနှစ်ကျော်ကြာအောင် မလျှော့သော ဇွဲလုံ့လ ကြိုးပမ်းအားထုတ်မှုနှင့်အတူ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံနှင့် ကမ္ဘာတစ်ဝှမ်းရှိ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးအဖွဲ့များ၏ သွေးစည်းညီညွတ်သော ပံ့ပိုးကူညီမှုတို့ကြောင့် ဖြစ်ပေါ်လာခြင်း ဖြစ်သည်။ ရိုဟင်ဂျာများသည် ၎င်းတို့အတွက် တရားမျှတမှုနှင့် တာဝန်ယူမှု တာဝန်ခံမှု ရှိလာစေရေး၊ နှင့် ၎င်းတို့၏ နိုင်ငံသားဖြစ်မှု ပြန်လည်ရရှိရေး၊ လွတ်လပ်စွာသွားလာလှုပ်ရှားခွင့်နှင့် ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်တွင်ရှိသော ၎င်းတို့၏ နေအိမ်များသို့ ဘေးကင်းလုံခြုံစွာဖြင့် ၎င်းတို့သဘောဆန္ဒအလျောက် ဂုဏ်သိက္ခာရှိစွာ နေရပ်ပြန်နိုင်ရေး တို့အပါအဝင် ၎င်းတို့၏ အခွင့်အရေး ပြန်လည်အသိအမှတ်ပြုခံရရေးအတွက် ဆက်လက်ကြိုးစားလုပ်ဆောင်နေကြသည်။
ထိုရက်စက်ကြမ်းကြုတ်သော ရာဇဝတ်မှုများအပေါ် ကာလရှည်ကြာစောင့်စားနေခဲ့ရသည့် အမေရိကန်အစိုးရ၏ ဆုံးဖြတ်ချက်နောက်တွင် ထိုရာဇဝတ်မှုများအတွက် ရာဇဝတ်ဆိုင်ရာတရားစွဲဆိုမှုများ ပြုလုပ်ရေး ဦးတည်သော အရေးယူဆောင်ရွက်မှုများ အရေးတကြီးလုပ်ဆောင်ရန် လိုအပ်သည်။ သို့မဟုတ်ပါက ဤဆုံးဖြတ်ချက်သည် စကားလုံးသက်သက်အဖြစ် အရာမရောက်ဘဲ ရှိနေမည့်အပြင် ၎င်း၏ လူမျိုးတုံးသတ်ဖြတ်မှုဆိုင်ရာ မူဝါဒများ ဆက်လက် အကောင်အထည်ဖော်ဆောင်နေခြင်းနှင့် ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်တွင် ကျန်ရှိနေသေးသော ရိုဟင်ဂျာလူဦးရေ ၆၀၀,၀၀၀ အပေါ် ဖိနှိပ်ခြင်း လုပ်ဆောင်နေရုံသာမက နိုင်ငံတစ်ဝှမ်းရှိ ပြည်သူများအပေါ်တွင်လည်း စစ်ရာဇ၀တ်မှုများနှင့် လူသားမျိုးနွယ်အပေါ် ဆန့်ကျင်သော ရာဇ၀တ်မှုများ ကျူးလွန်နေသာ မြန်မာစစ်တပ်ကို ပိုမို၍ပင် အတင့်ရဲလာစေမည် ဖြစ်သည်။
ရိုဟင်ဂျာများအပေါ် လူမျိုးတုံးသတ်ဖြတ်မှု ကျူးလွန်ခဲ့သည့် ယင်းစစ်တပ်ကပင် ဒီမိုကရေစီကာကွယ်ရာတွင် ရဲရင့်ပြတ်သား စည်းလုံးညီညွတ်သော မြန်မာပြည်သူများ၏ စုပေါင်းခုခံဆန့်ကျင် မှုကြောင့် ကျရှုံးနေသော ၎င်းတို့၏ အာဏာသိမ်းရေး ကြိုးပမ်းမှုနောက်ပိုင်းတွင် အရပ်သားပြည်သူများအပေါ် အစုလိုက်အပြုံလိုက် သတ်ဖြတ်မှုများ၊ လေကြောင်းတိုက်ခိုက်မှုများ၊ ဥပဒေမဲ့သတ်ဖြတ်မှုများ၊ မတရား အစုလိုက်အပြုံလိုက် ဖမ်းဆီးမှုများ၊ လိင်ပိုင်းဆိုင်ရာနှင့် ကျား-မ ကွဲပြားမှုအပေါ်အခြေခံသည့် အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများ၊ ကလေးသူငယ်များအပေါ် အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများနှင့် အစုလိုက် အပြုံလိုက် နေရပ်စွန့်ခွာထွက်ပြေးတိမ်းရှောင်ရ စေမှုများကို ကျူးလွန်နေသည်။
ကုလသမဂ္ဂလူ့အခွင့်အရေးကောင်စီ၏ ၄၉ ကြိမ်မြောက် ပုံမှန်အစည်းအဝေးတွင် အရပ်သားပြည်သူ များအပေါ် လေကြောင်းတိုက်ခိုက်မှုများနှင့် အရှင်လတ်လတ် မီးရှို့သတ်ဖြတ်မှုများကို ရည်ရွယ်ချက်ရှိရှိ ပစ်မှတ်ထားလုပ်ဆောင်မှုများ အပါအဝင် မြန်မာစစ်အုပ်စု၏ စနစ်တကျ ချိုးဖောက်မှုများသည် စစ်ရာဇဝတ်မှုများနှင့် လူသားမျိုးနွယ်အပေါ် ဆန့်ကျင်သော ရာဇဝတ်မှုများ မြောက်နိုင်ဖွယ်ရှိသည်ဟု ကုလသမဂ္ဂလူ့အခွင့်အရေးမဟာမင်းကြီးက ထုတ်ဖော်ပြောဆိုခဲ့သည်။ မြန်မာစစ်တပ်မှ ရရှိနေသော ပြစ်ဒဏ်ကင်းလွတ်ခွင့်ကို အဆုံးသတ်ရမည်ဖြစ်ပြီး ယင်းကို မြန်ဆန်တင်းကျပ်သော တရားမျှတမှုနှင့် တာဝန်ယူမှု တာဝန်ခံမှု ဖော်ဆောင်ခြင်းတို့မှတစ်ဆင့်သာ ရရှိနိုင်မည် ဖြစ်သည်။
အမေရိကန်အစိုးရမှ အောက်ပါအချက်များကို လုပ်ဆောင်ရန် မိမိတို့မှ တောင်းဆိုလိုက်သည် –
မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ အခြေအနေကို နိုင်ငံတကာရာဇဝတ်ခုံရုံး (ICC) သို့ လွှဲပြောင်းပေးရန်အတွက် ကုလသမဂ္ဂလုံခြုံရေး ကောင်စီမှ ဆုံးဖြတ်ချက်တစ်ခု ချမှတ်ရေး အကြံပြုတိုက်တွန်းရန်၊
၂၀၀၂ ခုနှစ် ဇူလိုင်လ ၁ ရက်နေ့မှစတင်၍ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံပိုင်နက်အတွင်း ကျုးလွန်ခဲ့သော နိုင်ငံတကာရာဇ၀တ်မှုများနှင့် စပ်လျဉ်း၍ ရောမသဘောတူစာချုပ် အပိုဒ် ၁၂(၃)အရ ICC တရားရုံး၏ တရားစီရင်ပိုင်ခွင့်ကို လက်ခံကြောင်း တင်သွင်းသော မြန်မာအစိုးရဖြစ်သည့် အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ (NUG) ၏ ကြေညာစာတမ်းကို လက်ခံရေး ICC တရားရုံးအား တိုက်တွန်းရန်၊
ဂမ်ဘီယာနိုင်ငံမှ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအပေါ် နိုင်ငံတကာတရားရုံး (ICJ) တွင် လက်ရှိစွဲဆိုထားသည့် အမှုအား ငွေကြေးနှင့် ဥပဒေဆိုင်ရာ ပံ့ပိုးကူညီမှုများ အပါအဝင် တရားဝင် ထောက်ခံအားပေးရန်၊
စစ်တပ်အား တင်းကျပ်သော တာဝန်ယူမှု တာဝန်ခံမှု ရှိလာစေခြင်းမှတစ်ဆင့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ စုပေါင်းညီညွတ်ရေးဆိုင်ရာဥပဒေ ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် (BURMA Act 2021) ကို အတည်ပြုပြဌာန်းနိုင်ရန်အတွက် ကွန်ဂရက်အား တောင်းဆိုရန်၊
မြန်မာ့ရေနံနှင့် သဘာဝဓာတ်ငွေ့လုပ်ငန်း (MOGE)၊ စစ်တပ်နှင့် ဆက်နွယ်နေသော စီးပွားရေးမိတ်ဖက် များနှင့် လက်နက်ရောင်းဝယ်သူ ကွန်ရက်များအပေါ် ပစ်မှတ်ထား အရေးယူပိတ်ဆို့မှုများ အပါအဝင် မြန်မာစစ်တပ်နှင့် ၎င်း၏ ခေါင်းဆောင်များအပေါ် ပစ်မှတ်ထား အရေးယူပိတ်ဆို့မှုများ ပိုမိုလုပ်ဆောင်ရန်၊
လူမျိုးတုံးသတ်ဖြတ်မှုမှ အသက်ရှင်ကျန်ရစ်သည့် ဘင်္ဂလားဒေ့ရှ်နိုင်ငံနှင့် အခြားနိုင်ငံများရှိ ရိုဟင်ဂျာများအတွက် အကူအညီအထောက်အပံ့များ တိုးမြှင့်ပေးရေး၊ နှင့် ရိုဟင်ဂျာ ကလေးသူငယ်များအတွက် ပညာရေး လက်လှမ်းမီစေရေး အပါအဝင် ရိုဟင်ဂျာဒုက္ခသည်များ လက်ခံထားရေးနှင့်ပတ်သက်၍ ဘင်္ဂလားဒေ့ရှ်နိုင်ငံအနေဖြင့် ရေရှည်တည်တံ့သော မူဝါဒများ ချမှတ်လာစေရေး စည်းရုံးလှုံ့ဆော်ရန်၊
စစ်တပ်၏ အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများနှင့် လေကြောင်းတိုက်ခိုက်မှုများကြောင့် ထိခိုက်အလွယ်ဆုံးသော ပြည်တွင်း နေရပ်စွန့်ခွာထွက်ပြေးတိမ်းရှောင်ရသူ (IDP) ၈၈၉,၀၀၀ ကျော်ထံသို့ အကူအညီများ ရောက်ရှိစေရန်အတွက် နယ်စပ်ဖြတ်ကျော် လမ်းကြောင်းများတစ်ဆင့် အပါအဝင် လူသားချင်းစာနာ ထောက်ထားမှုဆိုင်ရာ အရေးပေါ်အကူအညီ ပံ့ပိုးနိုင်ရေး ကြိုးပမ်းမှုများ ညှိနှိုင်းဆောင်ရွက်ရန်အပြင် COVID-19 တိုက်ဖျက်ရေးအတွက် တိုင်းရင်းသားနှင့် လူထုအခြေပြု လူသားချင်းစာနာထောက်ထားမှု ဆိုင်ရာ အဖွဲ့အစည်းများနှင့် အရပ်ဘက်လူထုအဖွဲ့အစည်းများကို အရင်းအမြစ်များ ထောက်ပံ့ပေးခြင်းနှင့် အဓိပ္ပါယ်ပြည့်ဝစွာဖြင့် တန်းတူသောမိတ်ဖက်များအဖြစ် ပူးပေါင်းဆောင်ရွက်ရန် USAID အား ညွှန်ကြားရန်၊
မြန်မာစစ်တပ်အပေါ် ကမ္ဘာလုံးဆိုင်ရာ လက်နက်ခဲယမ်းရောင်းချမှု ပိတ်ဆို့ရေး ချမှတ်နိုင်ရန်အတွက် ညှိနှိုင်းဆောင်ရွက်ရန်၊ နှင့်
မြန်မာစစ်တပ်၏ လေကြောင်းတိုက်ခိုက်မှုကို ရပ်တန့်စေရန်အတွက် လေယာဥ်ဆီတင်ပို့ရောင်းချမှုကို ပိတ်ဆို့ရန်။..."
Source/publisher:
357 Civil Society Organizations
Date of publication:
2022-03-29
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-29
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing, Human Rights and international relations, Discrimination against the Rohingya, International Criminal Court (Myanmar), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar
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236.97 KB 269.77 KB
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"Last week, the Biden administration formally announced its determination that violence committed against the Rohingya by Myanmar’s military (the Tatmadaw) amounts to genocide and crimes against humanity. In response, the following statement is attributable to Lindsey Green, MA, program officer, Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones, at Physicians for Human Rights (PHR):
“PHR welcomes the Biden administration’s formal determination that violence perpetrated by the Tatmadaw against Myanmar’s Rohingya minority constitutes genocide and crimes against humanity. The U.S. government’s acknowledgement of and future action on this issue are important steps toward justice for the Rohingya and a commitment to ensure meaningful accountability for crimes committed in Myanmar.
“It is past time the international community acknowledge the systematic violence perpetrated against the Rohingya as a coordinated effort to expel them from their homeland, and that the Rohingya see justice and accountability for those most responsible. For 15 years, PHR has used science and medicine to document and call attention to human rights abuses in Myanmar. Through medical evaluations and first-hand accounts from Rohingya survivors, we have corroborated evidence of widespread and systematic violence, including sexual and gender-based violence, burning of villages, shootings, and beatings, targeting the Rohingya in northern Rakhine state since August 2017. Thousands have been killed and more than 740,000 people have been forced to flee their homes due to years of persecution, abuse, and ethnic violence.
“The need for intervention by the international community to stop the ongoing military coup and end violence against all people in Myanmar, including the Rohingya, is paramount. This determination is a major step, not only in further validating the crimes committed against the Rohingya, but also because it initiates a number of more severe consequences and policy actions that the United States is obligated to pursue. PHR urges the U.S. government to hold Myanmar’s security forces accountable for their brutal crimes by passing the BURMA Act, continue to issue robust political and economic sanctions against military leaders and their affiliated entities, and supporting international efforts for justice and accountability for genocide.
“Most critically, the Rohingya community must lead in the process of determining what remedies, including repatriations, rehabilitation, and mental health and trauma-related support are owed to them for the violations they have endured. No one government or intergovernmental organization can accurately assess the severe trauma, life-changing disabilities, and immeasurable losses the Rohingya have experienced. It is imperative their voices be centered in this process now and in the future.”..."
Source/publisher:
Physicians for Human Rights (New York)
Date of publication:
2022-03-28
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-28
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, Human Rights and international relations, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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Description:
"Media release from Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
The Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) today welcomed a fresh round of sanctions against Myanmar military leaders, military-affiliated cronies and businesses, as well as a military unit, by the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. The announcement came ahead of Myanmar’s Armed Forces Day, on March 27.
The United States announced sanctions against five individuals and five entities connected to the military regime, including the 66th Light Infantry Division, one of the junta’s notorious shock troops, while the United Kingdom sanctioned two individuals and three companies “responsible for supplying the Myanmar military regime with weapons and equipment”, and also designated the military’s new Head of Air Force. Canada sanctioned four individuals and two business entities.
“Cutting sources of revenue and arms to the military is essential, so these new sanctions are very welcome,” said Tun Khin, President of BROUK. “The USA, UK and Canada have the right strategy in sanctioning the military and its allies but the sanctions are coming too slowly. They need to increase the pace of sanctions and expand the scope to include gas revenue and aviation fuel.”
The sanctions announcements come days after the United States designated the military’s campaign of violence against the Rohingya a genocide, an announcement made at the US Holocaust Museum in Washington DC.
“Targeted economic sanctions are just one tool, and we need to see other tools used such as support for international justice mechanisms like referring Burma to the International Criminal Court, and joining or financing the genocide case at the International Court of Justice,” said Tun Khin. “The United States’ genocide declaration this week was welcome recognition for the suffering us Rohingya have endured, but it must amount to more than words, and be turned into concrete actions that ultimately remove this junta from power.”
Those who had their assets frozen by the US, UK and Canada include Aung Moe Myint, director of Dynasty International Company, Aung Hlaing Oo, managing director of Myanmar Chemical Machinery Co Ltd, as well as General Htun Aung, the newly-appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar Air Force.
“The military have not been able to establish control since the attempted coup and are vulnerable to pressure if it can be applied fast enough. We need to cut arms, cut revenue, deny legitimacy, ensure accountability and increase humanitarian and political support to the people of Burma,” said Tun Khin. “The USA, UK and Canada are moving in the right direction but crawling instead of racing.”..."
Source/publisher:
Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
Date of publication:
2022-03-25
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, Sanctions, Genocide, International Criminal Court (Myanmar), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar
Language:
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Description:
"24 March 2022: The international community must ensure that leaders of the Myanmar military are prosecuted for genocide in international courts without further delay, following the United States (US) government determination that genocide was committed against the Rohingya, says the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M).
SAC-M welcomes the important US government determination that genocide and crimes against humanity were committed against the Rohingya in Myanmar. The determination could not be more urgent, having been delayed for three and a half years after the State Department’s own report documenting the atrocity crimes was first released, and as the military continues to commit massive violations against peoples across Myanmar.
“It is now incumbent on the US and the wider international community to ensure that leaders of the Myanmar military are held to account through criminal prosecutions in international courts,” said Marzuki Darusman of SAC-M. “Accountability for the Myanmar military’s crimes against the Rohingya is urgently needed in addition to the proceedings seeking to determine Myanmar’s State responsibility for genocide before the International Court of Justice.”
One million Rohingya refugees continue to live in restricted camps in Bangladesh, with thousands more living precariously in other countries neighbouring Myanmar. Rohingya that remain in Myanmar are confined either to internment camps or remote villages and face ongoing violence and persecution from the military and security forces.
“Ensuring accountability for the grave crimes committed against the Rohingya is not only an obligation of the international community and an issue of justice for the victims. Without justice and accountability, there is no chance of ending the massive oppression and horrific violence still faced by the Rohingya and other peoples across Myanmar,” said Chris Sidoti of SAC-M. “The military will continue to commit atrocities unless and until its leaders are made accountable.”
SAC-M also welcomes the US government’s commitment of funding to the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), which is tasked with collecting evidence of the most serious international crimes and violations of international law in Myanmar, and with preparing files for criminal proceedings. However, at present, there remains no court willing and able to take such proceedings. Without a court able to act, the work of the IIMM is in vain.
The National Unity Government of Myanmar has accepted the full jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in Myanmar dating back to 2002, as well as that of the International Court of Justice in the case brought by The Gambia under the Genocide Convention, but these efforts have so far been ignored by the courts.
“If the international community will not engage with Myanmar’s democratically elected representatives in their efforts to secure justice and accountability, then the obligation falls to the international community itself to ensure – without further delay – that there is a tribunal with necessary jurisdiction where leaders of the Myanmar military can be prosecuted for genocide. If the International Criminal Court fails to undertake prosecution of Myanmar military leaders, this may require the establishment of an ad hoc tribunal,” said Yanghee Lee of SAC-M. “The US Genocide determination is another important step towards justice for the Rohingya, but we cannot stop there.”..."
Source/publisher:
Special Advisory Council for Myanmar
Date of publication:
2022-03-24
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, International Criminal Court (Myanmar), Human Rights and international relations, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
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pdf
Size:
91.16 KB
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"London, 24 March, 2022: The Myanmar Accountability Project, MAP, will lodge a criminal file for torture against members of the Myanmar junta at the Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul on 29 March 2022.
“This is the first case to be initiated in a national court outside Myanmar into crimes that have been committed inside the country since the coup in February last year,” said MAP Director, Chris Gunness. “ The case relates to torture which took place in the notorious, Ye Kyi Ain interrogation centre in northern Yangon. We will be sending the names of specific torturers to the Turkish authorities and requesting that Interpol arrest them. Criminal responsibility also rests with members of the illegal military regime, including the leader of the failed coup, Min Aung Hlaing.”
Since the coup, the use of torture has become widespread and systematic, raising it to the level of international crimes. A report by the UN Human Rights Council found that since the coup, 325 people including 26 children had been tortured to death. The report concluded that “hundreds, if not thousands, have been subjected to torture.”
Chief legal Counsel for MAP, Gülden Sönmez, said the prospects for this “universal jurisdiction case in Turkey are good. The legal basis for a prosecution is sound. The evidence is very solid and with so much sympathy in Turkey for the people of Myanmar, dating back to the geocide against Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslims in 2017, the political environment is also sympathetic to a conviction,” she said.
“The message from this case in Turkey to the leaders of Myanmar’s failed coup is that you will be held accountable for your crimes and that you will face justice,” said Gunness. “You should take steps to get on the right side of the law. Stop the torture. Stop the crimes against humanity. And to the lower ranking members of the security forces, I say that your actions are being monitored. You too will be held to account.”
Later in the year, MAP will be initiating cases against the Myanmar junta in France and in the East Asia region..."
Source/publisher:
Myanmar Accountability Project
Date of publication:
2022-03-24
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Human Rights Defenders, Genocide
Language:
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Description:
"In historic determination, U.S. Government acknowledges Rohingya genocide
(WASHINGTON, D.C., March 21, 2022)—United Nations Member States should publicly acknowledge the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar and ensure the U.N. Security Council refers the situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC), said Fortify Rights today. In a historic determination, the Government of the United States today announced that the Myanmar military is responsible for committing genocide against the Rohingya people.
“It is a signaling and remarkable milestone for Rohingya victims and survivors that the U.S. has formally determined that the violence committed against Rohingya by the Myanmar military amounts to genocide and crimes against humanity,” said Zaw Win, Human Rights Specialist at Fortify Rights. “It has been a long-term expectation for the Rohingya community. Declaring that what happened to the Rohingya is in fact genocide should spur international accountability efforts and make it more difficult for the Myanmar military to continue its atrocity crimes.”
Speaking at a briefing organized by the U.S. Department of State at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the determination, saying: “Beyond the Holocaust, the United States has concluded that genocide was committed seven times. Today marks the eighth, as I’ve determined that members of the Burmese military committed genocide and crimes against humanity against Rohingya.”
Fortify Rights is in Washington D.C. attending the briefing.
In November 2019, The Gambia filed a case against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the U.N.’s highest court, for failing to prevent or punish genocide against Rohingya Muslims. The case is ongoing.
In September 2018, the ICC granted the Chief Prosecutor jurisdiction to investigate and possibly prosecute the crime against humanity of forced deportation of Rohingya to Bangladesh, as well as persecution and other inhumane acts. Last month, the Chief Prosecutor, Karim Khan, concluded his first visit to Bangladesh as part of the ongoing investigation.
While the ICC is investigating forced deportation, it is not yet investigating the crime of genocide against Rohingya, and the ICC has not yet accepted the National Unity Government of Myanmar’s declaration delegating jurisdiction of the court.
Fortify Rights documented the Rohingya genocide for several years, including in detailed reports dating back to 2015. In 2017, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and Fortify Rights published a joint report documenting mounting evidence of genocide against Rohingya in northern Rakhine State, which Secretary Blinken cited today.
In a 160-page report in 2018, Fortify Rights also exposed how the Myanmar military and civilian perpetrators prepared for and carried out genocide against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State. The report details how the Myanmar Army massacred Rohingya people, systematically raped women and girls, and razed hundreds of villages in northern Rakhine State. The attacks continued for several weeks, forcing more than 700,000 Rohingya to escape to Bangladesh.
Fortify Rights previously identified 22 senior military and police officials responsible for the 2016 and 2017 attacks. Myanmar Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who also launched a bloody coup d’état on February 1, 2021, is at the top of the list.
The Myanmar authorities have also attempted to erase Rohingya identity and survivors have experienced an enduring mental health crisis.
“While today’s determination of genocide and crimes against humanity are focused on Rohingya, it’s also important to recognize that for decades the Burmese military has committed killings, rape and other atrocities against members of other ethnic and religious minority groups,” Secretary Blinken said during his remarks, recognizing the military’s longstanding and ongoing perpetration of atrocities in Myanmar. “Reports of these abuses are widespread. They are well-documented. They’ve occurred in states across Burma [Myanmar]. That history and the determination that we’re making today are fundamental to understanding Burma’s current crisis.”
Later this week, on March 24, Fortify Rights will publish a new 193-page report detailing the first six months of the Myanmar military’s post-coup attacks on the people of Myanmar.
U.N. Security Council members should immediately put forward a resolution to refer the situation in Myanmar to the ICC, said Fortify Rights. U.N. Member States should also acknowledge the legitimacy of the National Unity Government of Myanmar and get fully behind its efforts to delegate jurisdiction to the Court.
“Secretary Blinken’s announcement is historic for the Rohingya and all people of Myanmar and also for wider efforts to prevent and remedy genocide,” said Matthew Smith, Chief Executive Officer at Fortify Rights. “We’re grateful for all those who worked to make this happen. To prevent genocide, governments must at least acknowledge it when it happens, which is precisely what the U.S. government did today.”..."
Source/publisher:
Fortify Rights
Date of publication:
2022-03-21
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, International Criminal Court (Myanmar), Human Rights and international relations
Language:
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Description:
"Following the US determination that genocide has been committed against the Rohingya, Burma Campaign UK today renewed calls to American companies to cut all ties to the Burmese military.
The determination of genocide is an important acknowledgment of the crimes being committed against the Rohingya, and must act as a catalyst for action to cut the supply of money, arms and aviation fuel to the Burmese military.
Burma Campaign UK publishes a ‘Dirty List’ of companies linked to the Burmese military or human rights violations in Burma.
Nine American companies are on the ‘Dirty List’. They are:
Alphabet/Google: The Google Play app store hosts around ten apps for the Burmese military joint venture mobile phone network Mytel. The apps are a critical part of Mytel marketing and customer recruitment strategy.
Apple: The Apple App Store hosts around seven apps for the Burmese military joint venture mobile phone network Mytel. The apps are a critical part of Mytel marketing and customer recruitment strategy.
Cloudflare: Provide website security services for several Burmese military websites, including the Myanmar Police Force, which rapes and kills political activists, the military-owned Innwa Bank, owned by the sanctioned Myanmar Economic Corporation, and the Myanmar War Veterans Organisation, also sanctioned by the US, EU and UK.
Facebook: Have now removed Burmese military pages but still fail to take effective action on hate speech and incitement against minorities in Burma, have allowed the military to take over Burmese government pages and use them for propaganda and lies, and refuse to acknowledge and take action regarding their role in facilitating genocide of the Rohingya.
Hilton: Operates a hotel in Rakhine State on land seized by the military without the farmers who owned it receiving proper compensation. Money from the development went to the military via the Office of the Quartermaster General. The hotel is not currently open but Hilton refuse to end their relationship with this hotel despite it being on Burmese military-owned land.
Honeywell: Has a longstanding business relationship with Indian aerospace company Hindustan Aeronautic Ltd (HAL), including a contract with them that enables HAL to manufacture Honeywell engines. HAL in turn is planning to sell aircraft with Honeywell engines to the Burmese military.
OnlineNIC: Provides web hosting services for the military-owned Myawaddy Bank, which has been sanctioned by the USA, UK and EU. It also hosts the website of the military-owned Central Hotel Yangon.
Sectigo/Sitelock: Provides services for the military-controlled Ministry of Home Affairs website.
TPG Capital: Is the majority owner of Tower Holdings, which operates telecoms towers companies in Burma which work for the military joint venture mobile phone network company Mytel.
“American companies need to cut all ties with Burma’s genocide generals,” said Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK. “Facilitating the operations of military-owned companies means helping those companies make profits which help pay for genocide. American companies have been quick to act in response to the invasion of Ukraine but five years on from genocide of the Rohingya, there are still American companies willing to work for the genocidal generals in Burma...”
Source/publisher:
"Burma Campaign UK" (London)
Date of publication:
2022-03-21
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Business and the Military, Sanctions, Genocide
Language:
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Description:
"The Arakan Rohingya National Organisation welcomes the US decision to recognise the Rohingya genocide. ARNO has been advocating in its discussions with the US Government for the genocide declaration since 2014 given the significant actions that have been taken since the 1960’s against the Rohingya. The 2017 genocidal purge in the Arakan was the latest in a long line of events that finally caught the international community’s attention in a manner that propelled many different processes into action.
The US decision to recognize the Rohingya genocide comes at an important time not only as the Rohingya people continue to languish in Burma, but also for all our brothers and sisters in the Karen, Kachin, Chin, and Shan communities which are daily targets of violence at the hands of the Burmese military (Tatmadaw).
Given the US position on the Rohingya genocide, ARNO welcomes the following actions by the US:
First, the US should push the United Nations or similar actors to create a Burma/Myanmar Truth and Clarification Commission, as ARNO has repeatedly requested over the last few years, in order to document and clarify the historical and current record of the depth and nature of the Rohingya genocide.
Since the February 2021 coup, it has become clear that the Truth and Clarification Commission should be broadened so that all ethnic minority groups in Burma can participate and work on the same challenges that they are facing at the hands of the Tatmadaw.
ARNO encourages the United States to support a Truth Commission as it did for the Guatemala Historical Clarification Commission in the 1990s.
Second, ARNO encourages the US to pursue a complete and total arms embargo on the Tatmadaw and known associates and allies which are also selling arms to the Tatmadaw.
Finally, ARNO encourages the US to exercise Universal Jurisdiction through all possible avenues to prosecute the Tatmadaw and all known entities which have allowed for racism, corruption, and all avenues to exist which have and continue to enable the genocide.
ARNO is grateful for continued US aid to the Rohingya in camps in Bangladesh, for its advocacy of Rohingya people throughout the world, and is grateful for its commitment to granting Rohingya people status in the United States to live a life that has enabled them and people within ARNO to continue advocating for their people..."
Source/publisher:
Arakan Rohingya National Organisatioo
Date of publication:
2022-03-22
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
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Description:
"Today, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken announced that the United States has determined that the Burmese military committed genocide and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya people.
All of us are grateful for the committed and forceful advocacy of Rohingya survivors of this genocide---survivors who have already demonstrated unimaginable resilience and bravery in the face of horror---as well as a range of organizations who have worked to document the Burmese military's crimes. Genocide is the intentional attempt to destroy a group of people, and the evidence that the Burmese military sought to eradicate the Rohingya is extensive and searing. As a result of the military's atrocities, women were forced to gather their families and flee under cover of darkness. Young children witnessed their families slaughtered, and their parents assaulted. From Burma to Bangladesh, hundreds of thousands of survivors have left behind the lives they knew, forced to choose the uncertainty of escape over the certain death of staying behind.
Today's genocide determination is an important step in bringing accountability on behalf of Rohingya survivors and victims. As Secretary Blinken noted, the United States is supporting the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar and sharing information with The Gambia to support the case it is pursuing against Burma under the Genocide Convention at the International Court of Justice. The United States is also the world's leading donor in providing the survivors of this genocide with life-saving assistance. We provide urgent humanitarian assistance to nearly one million Rohingya refugees who currently live in Bangladesh---in the world's largest refugee settlement in Cox's Bazar district---as well as the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya and millions of other conflicted-affected people who remain in Burma.
Working alongside our partners, USAID and the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration will continue to provide food, livelihoods, nutrition, and protection services, among other assistance, to millions of refugees, IDPs and host community members throughout Burma and across the Cox's Bazar district. And we will continue to do everything possible to support the 620,000 ethnic Rohingya who remain in Rakhine State in Burma where their lives continue to be severely restricted.
In recognizing these atrocities as genocide, we acknowledge not just the horrific nature of the violence perpetrated by the Burmese military, but our obligation to support the Rohingya in their pursuit of justice..."
Source/publisher:
US Agency for International Development (Washington, D.C.) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of publication:
2022-03-21
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
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Description:
"The Biden administration has declared that Myanmar's military has committed genocide against the Rohingya minority.
The US has seen evidence pointing to a clear intent to destroy the Rohingya, with reports of killings, mass rape and arson, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar since the military crackdown that began in 2017.
More than 6,000 people were killed in the first month of the onslaught.
Speaking at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC, Mr Blinken called the attacks against Rohingya "widespread and systematic".
He said said the administration's determination was based on a review by the US state department that included documents gathered by organisations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as well as independent research by the US.
Mr Blinken announced the US would provide $1m (£758,000) in new funding for the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, which continues to examine atrocities.
A case against Myanmar, also called Burma, was opened at the International Court of Justice in 2019.
"The day will come when those responsible for these appalling acts will have to answer for them," Mr Blinken said.
Myanmar: What has been happening since the coup?
A civilian government was in charge when the military launched its campaign, but in 2021 the military took power in a coup. Mr Blinken said that since the coup, the military continues to use the same tactics.
"For those who did not realise it before the coup, the brutal violence unleashed by the military since February 2021 has made clear that no one in Burma will be safe from atrocities so long as it is in power," he said.
The Rohingya, who numbered about one million in Myanmar before the attacks on them, are one of the many ethnic minorities in the country.
Rohingya Muslims represent the largest percentage of Muslims in Myanmar, with the majority living in Rakhine state.
But the government of Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist country, denies the Rohingya citizenship and even excluded them from the 2014 census, refusing to recognise them as a people.
When US President Joe Biden took office 14 months ago, Mr Blinken pledged to conduct a fresh review of the issue.
Two previous US investigations failed to reach a conclusion.
A ruling of genocide does not automatically lead to punitive action by the US, but it is hoped it will put pressure on the Myanmar military.
"It's going to make it harder for them to commit further abuses," a senior State Department official told Reuters.
There has so far been no comment from the military authorities in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
BBC News (London)
Date of publication:
2022-03-22
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
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Sub-title:
Need for Global Action to Investigate, Prosecute Military Leadership
Description:
"The United States government has formally determined that the Myanmar military committed the crime of genocide and crimes against humanity against ethnic Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State, Human Rights Watch said today. The US government should coordinate long overdue action with other countries to pursue justice, both for mass crimes committed against the Rohingya and for those committed against other ethnic minorities and prodemocracy protesters since the military coup in February 2021.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a speech at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, on March 21, 2022, announced, “I have determined that members of the Burmese military committed genocide and crimes against humanity against Rohingya” The US became a party to the Genocide Convention in 1988.
“The US government should couple its condemnations of Myanmar’s military with action,” said John Sifton, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “For too long, the US and other countries have allowed Myanmar’s generals to commit atrocities with few real consequences.”
The same military leaders responsible for crimes against the Rohingya carried out the February 1, 2021 coup against the country’s elected civilian government. The junta then systematically attacked those who protested against the coup, subjecting them to mass killings, torture, and arbitrary detention, amounting to crimes against humanity. Escalating attacks on other ethnic minority groups have resulted in additional abuses and atrocities, including war crimes.
Since the coup, security forces have killed at least 1,600 people and detained more than 12,000. Over 500,000 people have been internally displaced and the junta is deliberately blocking aid to populations in need, as a form of collective punishment. Rohingya remaining in the country have faced even greater movement restrictions and harsher treatment, abuses that amount to the crimes against humanity of persecution, apartheid, and severe deprivation of liberty.
The US and other governments should seek justice for the military’s crimes against the Rohingya as well as abuses against protesters and ethnic groups, and impose stronger economic measures against the military leadership, Human Rights Watch said.
The United Nations Security Council – largely because of concerns of a Chinese or Russian veto – has not taken substantive action in response to the Myanmar military’s atrocities. The US should nevertheless press for a council resolution that would refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court (ICC). At the same time, the US should press for council action to impose an arms embargo on the Myanmar military.
The ICC prosecutor is presently investigating crimes against humanity related to the forced deportation in 2017 of more than 740,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh, an ICC member state. Myanmar is not a member of the Rome Statute, the court’s founding treaty, so only the UN Security Council can refer all grave international crimes in Myanmar to the ICC for investigation. An ICC referral remains critical to address the full scope of criminality within Myanmar, including for alleged genocidal acts. An ICC referral would also give the court jurisdiction to address other alleged abuses, including by ethnic armed groups in Myanmar.
If the Security Council fails to act, the US should assemble a group of like-minded countries in the General Assembly to pass a resolution calling on countries to impose bilateral arms embargoes on Myanmar and urging them to use their domestic legal systems wherever possible to investigate alleged crimes by Myanmar military personnel.
Many countries have laws that allow their judicial authorities to investigate and prosecute certain serious crimes under international law no matter where they were committed or the nationality of the suspects or the victims. In 2019 Argentine judicial authorities commenced an investigation into Myanmar’s top military and civilian leaders for crimes committed in Rakhine State, including for war crimes and genocide. US officials should consider possible domestic investigations under its own statutes criminalizing genocide committed abroad.
To deter future abuses, the US government should also impose tougher sanctions on the extensive foreign currency revenues the Myanmar military makes from oil and gas revenues, and ramp up enforcement of existing sanctions on military-controlled enterprises in the mining, gemstones, and timber sectors, Human Rights Watch said. The military utilizes the bulk of these revenues to support its expenditures, which include extensive purchases of arms and attack aircraft from Russia, China, and other countries.
In addition to supporting action at the UN Security Council, the US should also support a strong resolution at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, mirroring the above steps and ensuring that the UN special rapporteur and the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar continue gathering and analyzing evidence of serious crimes committed in Myanmar since 2011.
The US should formally support the ongoing case brought by Gambia at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), alleging that Myanmar’s atrocities against the Rohingya violate the Genocide Convention. The case before the ICJ is not a criminal case against individual alleged perpetrators, but a legal determination of state responsibility for genocide. The case could lead to orders that are enforceable under a UN Security Council resolution.
“The Myanmar military will continue to commit atrocities so long as other governments fail to impose measures to hold them accountable,” Sifton said..."
Source/publisher:
"Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of publication:
2022-03-21
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Human Rights Watch Reports on Burma/Myanmar, Genocide, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, International Criminal Court (Myanmar)
Language:
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Description:
"The National Unity Government (NUG) welcomes the determination by the United States Government that the Myanmar military’s 2017 attacks against the Rohingya in Rakhine State amounted to genocide and crimes against humanity.
This finding follows calls, including by the Rohingya community and the United Nations (UN) Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar for the military leadership to be investigated and prosecuted for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Rohingya.
The NUG acknowledges that discriminatory practices and rhetoric against the Rohingya also laid the ground for these atrocities. The impunity enjoyed by the military’s leadership has since enabled their direction of countrywide crimes at the helm of an illegal military junta. Those crimes against the Myanmar people continue until today by the military.
The determination by the US is timely as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Special Rapporteur on Myanmar address the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The UN HRC will next week adopt a new resolution on Myanmar.
The NUG stands by its ‘Policy Position on the Rohingya in Rakhine State’ issued in June 2021. The Policy commits to the safe, voluntary, dignified, and sustainable return of Rohingya refugees and internally displaced persons, and to comprehensive legislative and policy reform in support of citizenship, equality in rights and opportunity, and justice and reparations.
The NUG encourages the United States to support the United Nations Security Council to refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court (ICC). In July 2021, the NUG lodged an Article 12(3) Declaration with the Registrar of the ICC on behalf of Myanmar, accepting the Court’s jurisdiction with respect to international crimes committed in the country since 1 July 2002.
Justice and accountability must follow this determination..."
Source/publisher:
President Office, National Unity Government
Date of publication:
2022-03-22
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), International Criminal Court (Myanmar), Genocide, Human Rights and international relations
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"၁။ ပြည်ထောင်စုလွှတ်တော်ကိုယ်စားပြုကော်မတီသည် အမေရိကန်နိုင်ငံခြားရေးဝန်ကြီး အန်ထော်နီ ဘလင်ကင်၏ Holocaust Memorial Museum တွင် ၂၀၂၂ ခုနှစ်၊ မတ်လ (၂၁) ရက် နေ့က ပြောကြားသွားခဲ့သော မှတ်ချက်စကားကို ကြိုဆိုပါသည်။ လွန်ခဲ့သည့် ဆယ်စုနှစ်များ အတွင်း မြန်မာစစ်တပ်၏ ရိုဟင်ဂျာများအပေါ် ကျူးလွန်ခဲ့သည့် ရာဇဝတ်မှုများသည် လူမျိုးတုံး သတ်ဖြတ်မှု၊ လူသားမျိုးနွယ်အပေါ် ကျူးလွန်သော ရာဇဝတ်မှုများ ဖြစ်ကြောင်း သက်သေများ၊ အထောက်အထားများနှင့် နိုင်ငံတကာ လွတ်လပ်သော လူ့အခွင့်အရေး အဖွဲ့အစည်းများ၏ အစီရင်ခံစာများအပေါ် အခြေခံ၍ အမေရိကန်အစိုးရ၏ ဆုံးဖြတ် သတ်မှတ်မှုအပေါ် ကြိုဆိုပါသည်။
၂။ အဆိုပါ သတ်မှတ်ဆုံးဖြတ်ချက်သည် အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ တရားရုံး (International Court of Justice) နှင့် အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ ရာဇဝတ်တရားရုံး (International Criminal Court) အပါအဝင် နိုင်ငံတကာတရားရေးအဖွဲ့အစည်းများက ရိုဟင်ဂျာများနှင့် ပတ်သက်၍ တရားမျှတမှု၊ တာဝန်ခံမှုတို့ကို ရှာဖွေဖေါ်ထုတ်ရန် ကြိုးစားဆောင်ရွက်နေမှုများအား များစွာ အထောက်အပံ့ ဖြစ်စေမည်ဟု ယုံကြည်ပါသည်။
၃။ ယခုလက်ရှိအချိန်၌ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင် အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများ၊ စစ်ရာဇဝတ်မှုအပါအဝင် ရက်စက်ကြမ်းကြုတ်သော ရာဇဝတ်မှုများ၊ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးချိုးဖောက်မှုများကို နိုင်ငံတစ်ဝှမ်းရှိ တိုင်းရင်းသားပြည်သူများ၊ လူမျိုးရေးနှင့် ဘာသာရေး လူနည်းစုများအားလုံးအပေါ် ချိုးဖောက် ကျူးလွန်လျက်ရှိပြီး မြန်မာပြည်သူထောင်ပေါင်းများစွာသည် အိုးမဲ့အိမ်မဲ့ဖြစ်ကာ ထွက်ပြေး တိမ်းရှောင်နေရလျက်ရှိပါသည်။ အကြမ်းဖက် မြန်မာစစ်တပ်သည် အာဏာသိမ်းခဲ့သည့် အချိန်မှ စ၍ အပြစ်မဲ့ ပြည်သူ (၁,၆၉၀) ကျော်အား ဥပဒေမဲ့ သတ်ဖြတ်ခဲ့ပြီး ပြည်သူ (၁၂,၈၅၀) ကျော်အား မတရား ဖမ်းဆီးထိန်းသိမ်းထားလျက်ရှိပါသည်။
၄။ ယနေ့ မြန်မာစစ်တပ်မှ ကျူးလွန်လျက်ရှိသည့် အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများသည် အဆိုပါ ရိုဟင်ဂျာများအပေါ် အလားတူရာဇဝတ်မှုများကို ကျူးလွန်ခဲ့သော၊ ကျူးလွန်နေဆဲဖြစ်သော စစ်တပ်ပင်ဖြစ်သည်ကို ထပ်မံ၍ မီးမောင်းထိုးပြလိုက်ခြင်းပင် ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ မြန်မာစစ်တပ်၏ ရက်စက်ကြမ်းကြုတ်သော ရာဇဝတ်မှုများကို ခံစားခဲ့ရသူများအတွက် တရားမျှတမှုကို ရှာဖွေရန် ကြိုးစားဆောင်ရွက်သည့် တစ်ချိန်တည်းတွင် မြန်မာစစ်တပ်က အဆိုပါရာဇဝတ်မှုများ ဆက်လက် ကျူးလွန်နိုင်ခြင်းမရှိစေရန် တားဆီးနိုင်ရေးအတွက် ဝိုင်းဝန်းကူညီကြိုးစားပေးကြပါရန် အလေး အနက် တောင်းဆိုအပ်ပါသည်။
၅။ ယနေ့ကမ္ဘာကြီးတွင် အာဏာရှင်များ၏ ဘေးအန္တရာယ်ကြောင့် ဒေသတွင်း တည်ငြိမ်မှု နှင့် ကမ္ဘာကြီးတစ်ခုလုံး၏ တည်ငြိမ်မှုကို ထိခိုက်လျှက်ရှိကြောင်း ရုရှားဖက်ဒရေးရှင်း၏ ယူကရိန်းနိုင်ငံအပေါ် ကျူးကျော်စစ်က သက်သေပြလျှက်ရှိသည်။ ကမ္ဘာ့နိုင်ငံများအနေဖြင့် ယူကရိန်းနိုင်ငံနှင့် နိုင်ငံသားများအပေါ် ကျူးလွန်လျှက်ရှိသော ကျူးကျော်သူများ၏ ရာဇဝတ်မှု များကို ဝိုင်းဝန်းဆန့်ကျင်ဟန့်တားနေကြသည့်နည်းတူ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိ အာဏာရှင်များ၏ မြန်မာ ပြည်သူများအပေါ်၌ ပြည်ပကျူးကျော်သူများနှင့်မခြား လူမဆန်သော ရာဇဝတ်မှုများ ကျူးလွန်လျက်ရှိခြင်းကိုလည်း မေ့လျော့ပစ်ပယ်ထားခြင်းမရှိဘဲ ဆက်လက်အရေးယူ ဆောင်ရွက်သွားရန် လေးနက်စွာ တိုက်တွန်းတောင်းဆိုအပ်ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw
Date of publication:
2022-03-22
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), Genocide, International Criminal Court (Myanmar), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar
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"The Biden administration has formally determined that Myanmar's military committed genocide and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya, a US official told CNN on Sunday.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will publicly announce the determination, which human rights groups have been advocating for years, at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, on Monday.
Reuters first reported on the administration's recognition of genocide.
Until now, the US had stopped short of declaring the atrocities -- including mass killings and rape -- committed in 2017 against the Muslim minority Rohingya population a genocide. The violence forced nearly a million people to flee, and the United Nations recommended that top military officials face genocide charges.
"I applaud the Biden administration for finally recognizing the atrocities committed against the Rohingya as genocide. While this determination is long overdue, it is nevertheless a powerful and critically important step in holding this brutal regime to account," Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement Sunday.
America, the Oregon Democrat said, "must lead the world to make it clear that atrocities like these will never be allowed to be buried unnoticed, no matter where they occur."
A US State Department report released quietly in 2018 found that violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar's northern Rakhine State was "extreme, large-scale, widespread, and seemingly geared toward both terrorizing the population and driving out the Rohingya residents."
The State Department has sanctioned a number of Myanmar military officials, including commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing, for their role in committing those human rights abuses.
This story has been updated with comments from Sen. Jeff Merkley..."
Source/publisher:
CNN Politics
Date of publication:
2022-03-21
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description:
"The Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) welcomes today’s determination by the United States’ Department of State that genocide has been committed against the Rohingya people.
“The US determination of the crime of genocide against us is a momentous moment and must lead to concrete action to hold the Burmese military accountable for their crimes,” said Tun Khin, President of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK.
In 2018, United States investigators produced a 15,000 page investigation documenting atrocities committed in 2017 against the Rohingya, which included more than 13,000 instances of “grave human rights violations”, including gang rapes, crucifixions, mutilations, and of children being burned or drowned, and of families being locked inside homes that had been set alight.
Also in 2018 the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar published the results of its investigation, finding that the human rights violations committed against the Rohingya amounted to genocide. In 2019 the Fact-Finding Mission stated that the genocide was ongoing.
“This designation lets Rohingya know that their voices have been heard amid the cruel suffering they continue to endure,” said Tun Khin. “In Burma the Rohingya face denial of our identity, our rights and denial of the human rights violations committed against us. Rohingya faced genocide, one of the most terrible crimes imaginable, and then faced the international community not even acknowledging it had happened. Today the US has gone a long way to correcting that.”
Since the attempted military coup on 1st February 2021, the Burmese military has used deadly force across the country. Half a million people have been displaced and around 12,000 people arrested. 600,000 Rohingya remain in Burma and there are concerns that the military may once again whip up nationalist prejudice against the Rohingya in an attempt to deflect people from resistance to military rule.
“There is no doubt that being allowed to get away with genocide of the Rohingya encouraged the military to think it could get away with holding a coup as well,” said Tun Khin. “Accountability for Rohingya genocide will not just help protect the Rohingya, it will help protect all the people of Burma.”
The Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK calls for the US and other countries to follow this determination with concrete action against the military. This should include:
Sanction Myanmar Oil & Gas Enterprise (MOGE), Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank and other entities facilitating the flow of gas revenue to the military.
Join the Rohingya genocide case at the International Court of Justice.
Systematically sanction military, state-owned and private Burmese companies helping to finance the Burmese military.
Sanction Burmese companies involved in the supply and manufacture of arms for the military.
Sanction the supply of aviation fuel to Burma to help stop airstrikes against civilians.
Apply pressure on countries supplying arms to the Burmese military to persuade them to stop.
Support in principle for the referral of Burma to the International Criminal Court.
Significantly increased aid to genocide survivors in Bangladesh and other countries, and advocate for Bangladesh to adopt long-term policies for hosting Rohingya refugees, including immediate access to education for all Rohingya children..."
Source/publisher:
Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
Date of publication:
2022-03-21
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Ethnic Cleansing, Human Rights and international relations
Language:
more
Description:
"Responding to reports that the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to announce that Myanmar’s military has committed genocide and crimes against humanity during its violent campaign against the Rohingya minority, Erwin van der Borght, Amnesty International’s Interim Regional Director, said:
“Nearly five years after 740,000 people were driven from their homes at gunpoint in 2017, Rohingya families and survivors have yet to receive justice for the unimaginable horrors inflicted upon them. Momentum for international justice must be accelerated to end the rampant culture of impunity in Myanmar, where no senior figures have ever faced the consequences of their appalling campaign against the Rohingya people.
“Without accountability, Myanmar’s military will continue to believe it has a blank check to murder innocent people, bomb their homes, and destroy their families. Amnesty International supports the call for the investigation and prosecution of senior military officials for crimes under international law in Myanmar, which include crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide.
“The same generals who implemented the authorities’ brazen campaign of bloodshed against the Rohingya seized power in a 2021 coup. In response to a nationwide protest movement, they then turned their weapons on youth protesters in Myanmar’s biggest cities, deploying violent tactics previously used to target ethnic minorities for decades.”
Background:
The administration of US President Joe Biden is set to formally declare on 21 March that the Myanmar military’s 2017 campaign against the Rohingya amounted to genocide and crimes against humanity. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to make the announcement at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Myanmar’s military drove out more than 740,000 Rohingya from Rakhine State into Bangladesh in a brutal campaign of extrajudicial killings, arson and sexual assault. An estimated one million Rohingya refugees now live in Bangladesh, and many of their homes back in Rakhine State have been wiped from the map.
The UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar previously called for Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and other senior officials to be investigated and prosecuted for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Min Aung Hlaing seized power in a coup in the early hours of 1 Feb. 2021.
There are multiple international efforts to provide justice to the Rohingya people, including a genocide case brought by The Gambia against Myanmar in the International Court of Justice (ICJ). A separate case is ongoing in Argentina under the concept of universal jurisdiction.
Amnesty International has called on the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court.
In 2017, Amnesty International’s research in Rakhine State detailed a vicious system of institutionalized discrimination and segregation that severely restricted the human rights of the minority Rohingya Muslims. This system – amounting to apartheid – threatens and undermines freedom of movement, ability to access adequate food and healthcare, and right to an education..."
Source/publisher:
Amnesty International (UK)
Date of publication:
2022-03-21
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Amnesty International reports on Burma/Myanmar
Language:
more
Description:
" Violent repression of the largely Muslim Rohingya population in Myanmar amounts to genocide, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday, a declaration intended to both generate international pressure and lay the groundwork for potential legal action.
Watch the briefing in the player above.
Authorities made the determination based on confirmed accounts of mass atrocities on civilians by Myanmar’s military in a widespread and systematic campaign against the ethnic minority, Blinken said in a speech at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
It is the eighth time since the Holocaust that the U.S. has concluded a genocide has occurred. The secretary of state noted the importance of calling attention to inhumanity even as horrific attacks occur elsewhere in the world, including Ukraine.
“Yes, we stand with the people of Ukraine,” he said. “And we must also stand with people who are suffering atrocities in other places.”
The government of Myanmar, also known as Burma, is already under multiple layers of U.S. sanctions since a military coup ousted the democratically elected government in February 2021. Thousands of civilians throughout the country have been killed and imprisoned as part of ongoing repression of anyone opposed to the ruling junta.
The determination that a genocide has occurred could lead other nations to increase pressure on the government, which is already facing accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
“As we lay the foundation for future accountability, we’re also working to stop the military’s ongoing atrocities, and support the people of Burma as they strive to put the country back on the path to democracy,” Blinken said.
Rohingya, from Muslim Myanmar’s western Rakhine state, faced systematic persecution at the hands of the Buddhist majority for decades under both the military junta that ruled the nation for decades as well as the democratically elected government.
WATCH: Meet the new generation driving Myanmar’s resistance
More than 700,000 Rohingya have fled from Buddhist-majority Myanmar to refugee camps in Bangladesh since August 2017, when the military launched an operation aimed at clearing them from the country following attacks by a rebel group.
The status of the plight of the Rohingya had been under extended review by U.S. government legal experts since the Trump administration, given potential legal ramifications of such a finding. The delay in the determination had drawn criticism from both inside and outside the government.
“While this determination is long overdue, it is nevertheless a powerful and critically important step in holding this brutal regime to account,” said Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley.
Human rights groups also welcomed the determination, which is similar to findings already made by other countries, including Canada, France and Turkey.
“The U.S. determination of the crime of genocide against us is a momentous moment and must lead to concrete action to hold the Burmese military accountable for their crimes,” said Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK.
Human Rights Watch said the U.S. and other governments should seek justice for crimes carried out by the military and impose stronger sanctions against its leadership.
“The U.S. government should couple its condemnations of Myanmar’s military with action,” said John Sifton, the group’s Asia advocacy director. “For too long, the U.S. and other countries have allowed Myanmar’s generals to commit atrocities with few real consequences.”
A 2018 State Department report documented instances of Myanmar’s military razing villages and carrying out rapes, tortures and mass killings of civilians since at least 2016. Blinken said evidence showed the violence wasn’t isolated, but part of a systematic program that amounts to crimes against humanity.
“The evidence also points to a clear intent behind these mass atrocities, the intent to destroy Rohingya, in whole or in part, through killings, rape, and torture,” he said.
Previous determinations of genocide by the U.S. include campaigns against Uyghurs and other largely Muslim minorities in China as well as in Bosnia, Rwanda, Iraq and Darfur..."
Source/publisher:
PBS News Hour
Date of publication:
2022-03-21
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description:
"Please see below statement from Refugees International Deputy Director for Africa, Asia, and the Middle East Daniel P. Sullivan:
“The United States will finally recognize the crimes committed against the Rohingya people for what they are: genocide and crimes against humanity. The U.S. genocide declaration is a welcome and profoundly meaningful step. It is also a solid sign of commitment to justice for all the people who continue to face abuses by the military junta to this very today.
Rohingya refugees and diaspora have long called for this recognition, with the support of Members of Congress, legal experts, and advocacy groups like Refugees International alike. This is a day to celebrate a significant victory. But it is also time to redouble efforts to hold the perpetrators of that genocide accountable and to prevent future atrocities.
The United States must now use the momentum of this genocide determination to spur concrete actions. While several steps have been taken to increase pressure on the Burmese junta since its coup in February 2021, effective global coordination is lacking. The United States must use the gravity of the genocide determination to lead a new diplomatic push, including with Myanmar’s neighbors in Southeast Asia, for further targeted sanctions, an arms embargo, and support for evidence collection and accountability efforts before the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice.
The United States can also show solidarity with Rohingya survivors by maintaining humanitarian assistance for the million Rohingya who have sought refuge in Bangladesh and by working with Bangladesh to offer resettlement to Rohingya refugees in the United States.”
Refugees International has urged U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to make a Rohingya genocide determination, including through a joint letter from 95 organizations. The letter builds on Refugees International’s efforts with the previous U.S. administration as part of the #CallitGenocide campaign, which included a nearly 9,000-signature petition and a legal and human rights experts letter (signed by two senior officials in the Biden administration). Refugees International’s analysis on why the attacks on the Rohingya constitute genocide can be found here..."
Source/publisher:
Refugees International via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of publication:
2022-03-20
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Human Rights and international relations, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
more
Description:
"On Feb. 21, the Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ) held a fresh round of hearings into the genocide case brought by Gambia against Myanmar in 2019 concerning the military operations against the Rohingya in 2017.
The ICJ allowed the junta to represent Myanmar despite objections from international organizations and Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG), which said the move risked legitimizing the junta’s unlawful seizure of power in a coup on Feb. 1, 2021.
Ahead of the planned court hearings, the NUG government released a statement saying it “accepts the jurisdiction of the court and withdraws all preliminary objections in the genocide case” and unsuccessfully urged the international body to cancel the planned hearings.
Junta-appointed representatives led by its international cooperation minister U Ko Ko Hlaing and advocate general Daw Thidar Oo presented four points at the hearings insisting that the case was inadmissible because the court lacks jurisdiction.
Human rights lawyer and Legal Aid Network founder U Aung Htoo recently talked to The Irrawaddy about the latest developments in the case.
Both Myanmar and Gambia have presented arguments at the ICJ. What is your overall assessment of the case? Do you think the junta-appointed defense team has made a better or worse defense than the team of the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD) government led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi?
Overall, the regime’s lawyers were not able to present new facts. Most of the facts they presented were old ones [presented by the NLD government’s team]. So I assume Gambia’s rebuttals are more legally plausible. I don’t know how the court will decide. But in my opinion, the court will decide that it has jurisdiction over the case.
The ICJ accepted the regime as the representative of Myanmar at the hearings in February. Many raised objections to that. Is it fair to say that the regime has an advantage due to the court’s acceptance of it as representing Myanmar?
The regime might have calculated so. It is possible that the court’s acceptance [of the regime’s representatives] could have a political impact on the NUG’s bid for legitimacy on the international stage. The NUG might be concerned about that. But there are many legal problems on the side of the ICJ, I think.
Firstly, the ICJ is a part of the United Nations [UN], so it must comply with the principles and norms of the UN. The ICJ needs to acknowledge that the UN retains U Kyaw Moe Tun [who has declared his support for the NUG] as Myanmar’s representative to [the UN]. What the NUG has pointed out is correct. The ICJ is responsible for seeing that fact.
Secondly, international law states that there must be a fair and public trial. The ICJ is well aware that the defense team was led by [civilian leader] Daw Aung San Suu Kyi when Myanmar offered its defense before the coup, that the Myanmar military has since seized power in a coup, and that the new representatives of Myanmar are appointed by the junta. The NUG has proposed sending its own representative to the court hearings. The ICJ however did not make enquiries in response to the NUG’s request, and allowed the junta-appointed representatives to speak at the court hearings on Feb. 21. This is contrary to a fair and public hearing, which is the established norm of international law.
Section 31 of the ICJ’s Rules of Court state that “the President shall ascertain the views of the parties with regard to questions of procedure, and for this purpose he shall summon the agents of the parties to meet him as soon as possible after their appointment.” But in the case of its latest hearings on Myanmar, the president did not apply that procedure. He made the decision on his own [to accept the junta as representing Myanmar].
The ICJ has violated the norm of a fair and public trial. At the same time, the prosecution, Gambia, did not point that out. It unquestioningly accepted the junta as representing Myanmar at the Court. This has prompted us to examine its intention in accepting it. Gambia knows that the military seized power in a coup, and Myanmar’s legal defense team has changed. But, it did not complain, and did not even bother to mention it.
The NUG has asked the ICJ to allow it to represent Myanmar at the court. But it did not explain why the jurisdiction of the court should be accepted. Perhaps Gambia is worried that the way the NUG is approaching the case might not move in its desired direction.
To what extent will the regime’s post-coup atrocities impact the case at the ICJ?
The nature of the court is to seek justice. In so doing, a court has to take into consideration the events that happened before, during and after said crime. The ICJ will however not consider the events that happened after the coup in Myanmar, which is sad for Myanmar. It does not view [post-coup atrocities] as evidence [of the Myanmar military’s previous crimes]. Moreover, it unquestioningly accepted junta representatives without following standard court procedures. This clearly shows that post-coup events will not influence the court in its decision.
To what extent can Rohingya refugees expect justice in this case?
This concerns the entire Myanmar people. Firstly, the whole [population] need to change their mindset and stance. There are two views: One is to uphold the principle of national interests, and another is justice based on humanity. Before the military coup, many viewed the case from the perspective of national interests. It was about defending Myanmar and its national interests—Myanmar must win and Gambia must lose. Frankly speaking, that stance is not correct.
Today, we need to reconsider that stance. We need to change our stance in favor of justice based on humanity for the Rohingya people. If we do so, there will be real hope for Rohingya people to get justice.
Considering the delays and inconsistencies that are typical of international courts, are Myanmar people wrong to hope that international mechanisms can achieve justice in regards to oppression in the country?
It is a good question. In short, it is not a false hope. It can in no way be a false hope. Mostly it depends on how you approach the international judicial mechanism.
Since the end of the pro-democracy uprising in 1988, [opposition forces in Myanmar] have approached every issue from the perspective of national reconciliation, instead of punishing the military, which has committed serious crimes. Political leaders have never tried to take action against Myanmar’s military. The perpetrators were never punished. Even if the perpetrators of serious crimes could not be punished for the sake of national reconciliation, something should have been done. Reforms should have been undertaken of the judicial and security organizations to prevent military leaders from committing similar crimes in the future. I mean institutional reforms should have been carried out within the military, military intelligence, police and so on. But, it has not been possible to do those things for reasons of national reconciliation.
Secondly, restorative justice has not been done for victims of serious crimes. As a result, successive military leaders have become more daring in committing national crimes, believing they can do anything with impunity.
I mean we have failed to effectively stop the military from enjoying impunity, and we support it indirectly by covering up its crimes. So, military leaders have continued to commit crimes flagrantly. This ultimately resulted in the exodus of more than 700,000, or perhaps 1 million, Rohingya people. [Political leaders] continued to defend the Myanmar military even after it committed such serious crimes.
Before the coup on Feb. 1, 2021, Myanmar people, major political parties and political leaders did not rely on or effectively cooperate with international judicial mechanisms.
At the same time, the military elites led by Min Aung Hlaing—who is as evil as can be—do not deserve the loving-kindness of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. She wants to see peaceful change in the country. She paved the way for military leaders and defended them. But the traitors are ungrateful. They don’t want to see peaceful change in the country. What they care about is maintaining their grip on power. Even a dog does not bite the hand that feeds it, but they don’t just bite, they actually harm the person [who protects them] as well as the entire country.
The junta’s lawyers claimed during the ICJ court hearings that Gambia is too reliant on the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission (UNFFM) report, and that they failed to assess the correctness of the report. In fact, the UNFFM report contains sufficient evidence to build a case. But the regime’s lawyers argued that the report alone is not enough to charge Myanmar. Such cases are quite unpredictable. [The case] may be dropped if the prosecution side can’t provide sufficient evidence to convince the court that the defendant had genocidal intent in committing those crimes.
So, we have to look for the reverse of what we had expected before. If Myanmar wins the case [at the ICJ], it amounts to putting a lethal weapon in the hands of a fool. So, we need to help Gambia win the case. Who will support that?
The military regime will never follow provisional measures adopted by the ICJ. So, the NUG, which has sought to represent Myanmar at the ICJ, can follow the provisional measures. At the federal level, there is the NUG. In Rakhine State, there is the United League of Arakan/Arakan Army (ULA/AA). There is the [parallel] government formed by the ULA/AA in Rakhine. It is very good. So if the federal-level NUG and state-level ULA/AA governments work together and follow provisional measures, the truth will emerge, which is good for the international judicial mechanism and the Rohingya, as well as Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2022-03-10
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-10
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, National Unity Government (NUG)
Language:
more
Description:
"Media release from Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
The Argentinian judiciary has asked the social media giant Facebook to clarify its role in fuelling the ongoing genocide against the Rohingya people and to share evidence crucial to holding the Myanmar military to account, the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) said today.
In an order issued on 24 February, but only recently shared with BROUK, the Federal Court in Buenos Aires requested Facebook to share evidence of anti-Rohingya hate speech on its platform, including from accounts linked to senior Myanmar military officials.
The move is part of the universal jurisdiction case on the Rohingya genocide that was opened in Argentina last year after a petition from BROUK.
“For years, Facebook has put profit before the lives of the Rohingya people. When military forces rampaged through Rakhine State in 2016 and 2017, Facebook turned a blind eye to the hatred that was being spewed on its own platform,” said Tun Khin, President of BROUK.
“This order by the Argentinian judiciary is a crucial step towards accountability for a genocide that is still going on today. Facebook must come clean about what evidence it has gathered and what steps it has taken to ensure that its platform will never again be used to facilitate some of the worst crimes known to humanity.”
In 2016 and 2017, the Tatmadaw (Myanmar military) launched vicious operations in Rakhine State which killed thousands of Rohingya women, men and children, and drove close to 800,000 to flee into Bangladesh.
There is much evidence that Facebook, the overwhelmingly most popular social media platform in Myanmar, was used to vilify the Rohingya before, during and after the campaigns. The UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar in 2019 concluded that “Facebook is the leading platform for hate speech in Myanmar” and that the company has a responsibility to tackle its spread.
While Facebook has since taken some positive steps – including strengthening monitoring in Myanmar language and banning military-linked accounts – activists and human rights groups have consistently said that the company’s efforts fall short of what is required.
The Argentinian judiciary now plans to reach out to Facebook to ask for evidence of which accounts and pages have been blocked or deleted since 2016 for spreading anti-Rohingya propaganda. The order further asks which pages belong to specific senior military and civilian officials, including Min Aung Hlaing, the Tatmadaw Commander in Chief and architect of the military coup in Myanmar in February 2021.
Facebook will also be asked to spell out how its own algorithms might have facilitated the spread of hatred against the Rohingya, and what steps the company has taken to prevent the dissemination of hate speech in the future.
The request from the court order will proceed under the treaty signed by the Governments of Argentina and the USA on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters in 1990.
“This order by the Argentinian judiciary is crucial in demonstrating that Facebook must do much more to stem the flow of hatred, not only against Rohingya but against repressed people all over the world,” said Tun Khin.
“Facebook must also be transparent and share what information it has collected about anti-Rohingya propaganda on its platform. Such evidence will be key in holding the Myanmar military to account for its crimes against the people of Myanmar. Only justice can break the cycle of violence in Myanmar, and Facebook must play its part in making this a reality.”
Background
On 13 November 2019, BROUK petitioned Argentinean Courts to open an investigation into the role of Myanmar’s civilian and military leaders in committing genocide and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya. Under the principle of universal jurisdiction, such crimes can be investigated anywhere in the world regardless of where they were committed.
On 28 November 2021, the Argentinian judiciary took the historic decision to accept the case and begin the first-ever universal jurisdiction trial anywhere in the world regarding the Rohingya..."
Source/publisher:
Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
Date of publication:
2022-03-07
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-07
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Human Rights and international relations, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Description:
"Over a year since the attempted coup on February 1, 2021, the Myanmar military junta,
which is led by the perpetrators of the decades-long genocide against Rohingya, is
continuing to act with the intent of destroying this ethnic minority and indigenous group as
well as commit widespread and systematic attacks of violence against the country’s entire
population. As was reported by the United Nations (UN) Independent International FactFinding Mission in 2018, the Myanmar military and security forces had perpetrated war
crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity for decades, including by using sexual
violence as a “hallmark” of their operations; in 2017, these forces launched strategic attacks
of genocide against Rohingya, forcing hundreds of thousands to be displaced and seek
refuge in neighboring countries. Despite the International Court of Justice’s provisional
measures in 2019, today, Rohingya as a group, including the millions of refugees, have no
chance of finding peace and security, returning to their homes across Myanmar, and having
their fundamental rights restored indefinitely.
This briefer provides a brief, on-the-ground situation update of Rohingya and demonstrates
the way in which the Myanmar military and security forces are committing arbitrary
arrest and detention, including by issuing restrictions to the group's movement, to continue
their strategic persecution of Rohingya..."
Source/publisher:
Women’s Peace Network
Date of publication:
2022-03-02
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
2.52 MB
more
Description:
"THE HAGUE, 28 February 2022. The public hearings on the preliminary objections raised by
Myanmar in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment
of the Crime of Genocide (The Gambia v. Myanmar) were concluded today. The Court will now
begin its deliberation.
During the hearings, which opened on Monday 21 February 2022 at the Peace Palace, the seat
of the Court, the delegation of Myanmar was led by H.E. Mr. Ko Ko Hlaing, Union Minister for
International Cooperation of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, as Agent. The delegation of
The Gambia was led by H.E. Mr. Dawda Jallow, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, as Agent.
The Court’s decision on the preliminary objections will be delivered at a public sitting, the
date of which will be announced in due course.
___________
Submissions of the Parties
At the end of the hearings, the Agents of the Parties presented the following submissions to
the Court:
For Myanmar:
“For the reasons given in Myanmar’s written preliminary objections and in its
oral arguments at the hearing of the preliminary objections, and for any other reasons
the Court might deem appropriate, Myanmar respectfully requests the Court to adjudge
and declare:
1. that the Court lacks jurisdiction to hear the case brought by The Gambia against
Myanmar; and/or
2. that The Gambia’s Application is inadmissible.”
For The Gambia:
“In accordance with Article 60 of the Rules of Court, for the reasons explained
in our Written Observations of 20 April 2021 and during these hearings, the Republic
of The Gambia respectfully asks the Court to:
(a) Reject the Preliminary Objections presented by the Republic of the Union of
Myanmar;
(b) Hold that it has jurisdiction to hear the claims presented by The Gambia as set out
in its Application and Memorial, and that those claims are admissible; and
(c) Proceed to hear those claims on the merits.”
History of the proceedings
The history of the proceedings can be found in press releases Nos. 2019/47, 2019/49, 2019/54,
2020/3, 2020/4, 2020/14 and 2022/1, available on the Court’s website (www.icj-cij.org).
Note: The Court’s press releases are prepared by its Registry for information purposes only
and do not constitute official documents. The complete verbatim records of the hearings held from
21 to 28 February will be published on the Court’s website.
___________
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.
It was established by the United Nations Charter in June 1945 and began its activities in April 1946.
The Court is composed of 15 judges elected for a nine-year term by the General Assembly and the
Security Council of the United Nations. The seat of the Court is at the Peace Palace in The Hague
(Netherlands). The Court has a twofold role: first, to settle, in accordance with international law,
through judgments which have binding force and are without appeal for the parties concerned, legal
disputes submitted to it by States; and, second, to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred
to it by duly authorized United Nations organs and agencies of the system..."
Source/publisher:
International Court of Justice ( The Hague, Netherlands)
Date of publication:
2022-02-28
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Human Rights and international relations
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
209.11 KB 207.32 KB
more
Sub-title:
Hearings End on Myanmar’s Preliminary Objections to Genocide Case
Description:
"A week of legal proceedings at the International Court of Justice in the Hague ended with Gambia making a plea for the judges to move swiftly and ensure that justice for the Rohingya is delayed no longer.
On February 28, the hearings on Myanmar’s preliminary objections to Gambia’s case on the alleged genocide against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar came to a close. Yet the court could take a year before it decides on whether the case can proceed. In the meantime, the court’s 2020 order to protect the 600,000 Rohingya remaining in Myanmar is still in place, providing a measure of protection. If the case proceeds, it would take several years before the court reaches a judgment.
While the representation of Myanmar at the court by junta officials has raised concerns, some Rohingya activists have welcomed hearing directly from those considered responsible for the atrocities in northern Rakhine State.
Rohingya activist Yasmin Ullah says watching the perpetrators of mass violence face the court has even been cathartic. “We have not heard once from the military in a legal court as they have always acted by proxy,” she said in a recent discussion.
The momentum to hold Myanmar’s military accountable is building, with a universal jurisdiction case underway in Argentina and an investigation at the International Criminal Court into crimes against humanity connected to the forced deportation of Rohingya to neighboring Bangladesh.
Achieving justice for the Rohingya has far-reaching consequences for all those who have suffered at the hands of Myanmar’s military. Abuses against the Rohingya have now echoed throughout Myanmar, as the commanders who oversaw the atrocities against the Rohingya and led a military coup more than a year ago are now carrying out apparent crimes against humanity against other groups across Myanmar.
In its closing statements, Gambia argued that Myanmar’s objections to the genocide case were merely a delaying tactic, and that any further delay in the proceedings may risk further atrocities against the Rohingya. If the case proceeds, Myanmar will need to respond to Gambia’s factual allegations that its security forces took part in a genocidal campaign against the Rohingya, an opportunity that many victims and their families have long been waiting for..."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch (USA)
Date of publication:
2022-03-01
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide
Language:
more
Description:
"Please see below statement from Refugees International Deputy Director for Africa, Asia, and the Middle East Daniel P. Sullivan:
“The continuation of the Rohingya genocide trial at the International Court of Justice is an important signal of accountability. The case against the state of Myanmar for its crimes against the Rohingya people comes even as the Myanmar military continues to commit atrocities against other ethnic minorities and anyone who protests their illegal seizure of power.
The failure to properly address the crimes committed against the Rohingya has undoubtedly emboldened the military junta’s sense of impunity—leading up to the coup that is now wreaking havoc across the country. The ICJ trial exposes these crimes and sets the stage for a more inclusive and peaceful future Myanmar by demonstrating to the perpetrators and victims alike that such violence will not be tolerated.
The trial is also a reminder of the fact that the United States is yet to recognize, itself, the extent of the crimes against the Rohingya. It is long past time for the United States to take that important step and make an official determination that the crimes committed against the Rohingya people are crimes against humanity and genocide.”
Refugees International has urged U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to make a Rohingya genocide determination, including through a joint letter from 95 organizations. The letter builds on Refugees International’s efforts with the previous U.S. administration as part of the #CallitGenocide campaign, which included a nearly 9,000-signature petition and a legal and human rights experts letter (signed by two senior officials in the Biden administration). Refugees International’s analysis on why the attacks on the Rohingya constitute genocide can be found here..."
Source/publisher:
Refugees International
Date of publication:
2022-02-28
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
more
Description:
"Following the military-led "clearance operation" that forced 750,000 Rohingya to flee neighbouring Bangladesh, the West African nation of Gambia brought a case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in November 2019 accusing Myanmar of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention.
In response to the court's unanimously indicated and legally binding provisional measures to protect the Rohingya from further atrocities, Myanmar's then-civilian government filed a preliminary objection to the jurisdiction of the court and the admissibility of the application in January 2021.
On Monday, the ICJ started a fresh round of hearings in the Great Hall of Justice. In the hearing, which will wrap up at the end of this month, the regime's leaders are contesting the Rohingya case. This has sparked speculation that the court is implicitly taking a position in the ongoing civil war and legitimising the unrecognised military regime. It is worth noting that the junta-formed State Administrative Council (SAC) and the National Unity Government (NUG) have been struggling for recognition from the international community since the coup d'état in February 2021.
On the first day of the hearing, Myanmar's junta was set to replace Aung San Suu Kyi, who had previously represented Myanmar's arguments at the ICJ since the case was first handled in December 2019. It is reported by Myanmar state's media that the junta has appointed new delegation led by Ko Ko Hlaing, the international cooperation minister, and Thida Oo, its attorney general, who would attend the hearing virtually. Both have faced US sanctions in relation to the coup.
When UN investigators concluded the military's crimes against Rohingya Muslims in 2017 had "genocidal intent", both the civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi and the military denied the accusation. In 2019, Ms Suu Kyi personally attended hearings to defend the military against genocide and crimes against humanity charges. However, the army's takeover has put an end to Myanmar's "quasi-democratic process", preventing her from representing the country at the ICJ, the UN's top judicial body. Meanwhile, the military administration has organised a new legal team led by its foreign minister, U Wunna Maung Lwin, to handle the genocide case.
Yet, acknowledging such representation by the illegitimate military regime under the United Nations (UN) system would contradict the mandate of the UN. The General Assembly's stance taken in December 2021 firmly rejected the junta's credentials, leaving U Kyaw Moe Tun (aligned with the NUG) as Myanmar's incumbent permanent representative to the international body. This is because it would imply the ICJ has acknowledged the Tatmadaw as the rightful representatives of Myanmar, despite the fact that no UN member state, UN agency, or other international organisation has formally recognised the junta government. Though the ICJ has no jurisdiction to decide who lawfully represents Myanmar, UN General Assembly Resolution 396 (V) (1950) specifies that the decision of the Credentials Committee should be taken into consideration by other UN bodies when deciding on member state representation.
Again, the court cannot disregard the UN resolution passed in June 2021 that condemned the coup in the "strongest terms" and demanded a fully inclusive civilian government.
Whoever represents Myanmar must represent its people. However, following the junta's atrocities in the ethnic states of Rakhine, Chin, Kachin, Shan and Kayin since the coup, the people of Myanmar have clearly rejected the regime, which could be charged with "crimes against humanity" by the International Criminal Court (ICC). So, allowing the Tatmadaw, which is responsible for overthrowing civilian governments, would thus undermine the UN charter and call the court's role in promoting the rule of law into question. According to a recent statement issued by the NUG, the court risks setting a "dangerous precedent" that would be detrimental to Myanmar and its people, including the Rohingya.
It is understandable that the junta will leverage the hearings to gain substantial de jure recognition as the legitimate government of Myanmar within other UN bodies and beyond. As a result, the moral and strategic positions of international state actors to deny the junta's recognition-seeking will be weakened to some extent. Similarly, it would send a terrible message to the civil society groups that are demanding the restoration of democracy and human rights in Myanmar. In a joint letter to the ICJ's president, Legal Action Worldwide (LAW), along with Fortify Rights and the Myanmar Accountability Project (MAP), argued that the court's acceptance of the junta to represent the country "would risk legitimising the junta's unlawful seizure of power". Importantly, in a letter, 807 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar camp urged the president of the ICJ to reconsider any act that could give legitimacy to the junta and move forward with substantive hearings on the case.
The junta's representation in the legal proceedings could further complicate the implementation of the ICJ ruling. The regime, however, lacks effective control over the administration of the Arakan state's key functions like taxation, revenue collection, and territorial stability. The Arakan Army (an anti-junta ethnic armed organisation based in Arakan) claims to control 60% of the Rakhine state administration and collects household revenue from both the Rohingya and the rest of the population.
The ICJ should also note the junta's failure to uphold the "provisional measures of protection". In a flagrant violation of the ICJ's decisions, new evidence revealed in an order issued by the junta-run General Administration Department of Buthidaung Township in Rakhine State demonstrates the draconian denials of freedom of movement, preventing the Rohingya from accessing jobs, health care, and other aspects of basic survival. The NUG, on the other hand, has proposed two sustainable solutions. The first is agreeing to grant full citizenship rights to all Rohingya, and the second is formally withdrawing all preliminary objections in the case by admitting past atrocities committed against them.
However, it is unlikely that the NUG's or junta's representation in the ICJ has any direct practical ramifications in the court proceedings. Because defining the legal authority of Myanmar is not the subject of the Gambia vs Myanmar case. So, whoever represents Myanmar, the ICJ should proceed on substantive grounds that war crimes, crimes against humanity, and/or genocide have occurred in Rakhine..."
Source/publisher:
Bangkok Post (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2022-02-23
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Human Rights and international relations
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"၁။ နိုင်ငံတကာပြစ်မှုဆိုင်ရာ တရားရုံး (International Criminal Court - ICC) နှင့် မတူဘဲ ICJ သည်
ကုလသမဂ္ဂ၏ အဓိက တရားစီရင်ရေး ယန္တရားဖြစ်သည်။1 နိုင်ငံတကာဥပဒေ၏ ပင်မဖြစ်သော ကုလသမဂ္ဂ
၏ ပဋိညာဉ်2 ကို လေးစားလိုက်နာဖော်ဆောင်ရန်တာဝန်ရှိသည်။ ယနေ့ကြားနာစစ်ဆေးမှုတွင်ICJ သည်
ကုလသမဂ္ဂ၏ အထွေထွေညီလာခံ၊ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးကောင်စီ၊ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးဆိုင်ရာမဟာမင်းကြီးရုံး အစ
ရှိသည့် အခြားယန္တရားများနှင့် ဆန့်ကျင်ရပ်တည်သွားခဲ့သည်။ တရားရုံးတိုင်း၏ အရင်းခံတာဝန်သည်
အမှန်တရားကို ဖော်ထုတ်ပြီးတရားမျှတမှု ကို ရှာဖွေရန်ဖြစ်သည်။ ယနေ့စစ်ဆေးမှုတွင် ICJ သည်
နိုင်ငံတကာဥပဒေ၏ စံချိန်စံညွန်း3 ကို မျက်ကွယ်ပြုရာရောက်သည်။ နိုင်ငံတကာဥပဒေအပေါ် အများ
ယုံကြည်နိုင်မှု4 ကိုထိခိုက်စေသည်။ ယင်းကိုကန့်ကွက်ပါသည်။
၂။ ယခင်ကြားနာမှုတွင်မြန်မာနိုင်ငံကိုကိုယ်စားပြု၍ နိုင်ငံတော်အတိုင်ပင်ခံပုဂ္ဂိုလ်ဒေါ်အောင်ဆန်းစုကြည်
တက်ရောက်ရင်ဆိုင်ဖြေရှင်းခဲ့ကြောင်း နှင့်သူမသည်ယခု မတရားချုပ်နှောင်တရားစွဲဆိုခံနေရကြောင်း ICJ
အသိဖြစ်သည်။ ဒေါ်အောင်ဆန်းစုကြည် ဦးဆောင်ခဲ့သည့် NLD အစိုးရနေရာတွင် တာဝန်ယူလာသည့်
အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေး အစိုးရကလည်း မြန်မာနိုင်ငံကို ကိုယ်စားပြုကာ မှုခင်းကို ရင်ဆိုင်ဖြေရှင်းသွားရန်
အသင့်ရှိကြောင်း တရားရုံးကို ဆက်သွယ်အကြောင်းကြားခဲ့ပြီးဖြစ်သည်။ ယင်းအခြေအနေနှစ်ရပ်အကြား
မှပင် ICJ သည်စစ်ကောင်စီကို လျို့ဝှက်ဆက်သွယ်ကာ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံကိုယ်စားအမှုကို ရင်ဆိုင်ဖြေရှင်းရန်
ခွင့်ပြုခဲ့သည်။ စင်စစ်အားဖြင့်ယနေ့မှုခင်းစစခြင်းမှာပင်အထက်ပါအခြေအနေနှစ်ရပ်အား အဘယ်ကြောင့်
မျက်ကွယ်ပြုခဲ့ခြင်းဖြစ်ကြောင်းလည်း တရားရုံးသည် နည်းလမ်းတကျ ဆုံးဖြတ်ချက်ချပေးရန် တာဝန်ရှိ
သည်။ ယင်းသို့မဆောင်ရွက်ဘဲ ဘာမှ မဖြစ်သကဲ့သို့ပုံမှန်သဘောမျိုးဖြင့် မှုခင်းကို ကြားနာသွားခြင်းမှာ
တရားရုံး၏ လုပ်ထုံးလုပ်နည်းနှင့်လည်း ဆန့်ကျင်သည်။5
1 The principal judicial organ of the UN 2 The Charter of the UN 3 The peremptory norms of general international law or Jus Cogens and Erga Omnes obligations 4 The credibility of international law
5 Rules of the Court 1978
Article 31: In every case submitted to the Court, the President shall ascertain the views of the parties with regard
to questions of procedure. For this purpose he shall summon the agents of the parties to meet him as soon as
possible after their appointment, and whenever necessary thereafter.
Article 61(2): The Court may, during the hearing, put questions to the agents, counsel and advocates, and may
ask them for explanations.
၃။ ယနေ့ကြားနာမှုတခုလုံးတွင်စစ်ကောင်စီကိုကိုယ်စားပြုကာ Mr. Christopher Staker ဦးဆောင်သည့်
ရှေ့နေအဖွဲ့က ဂမ်ဘီယာသည် OIC ၏ ကိုယ်စားလှယ်အဖြစ်6 သာစွဲဆိုခြင်းဖြစ်ကြောင်း၊
ထိခိုက်နစ်နာသည့်နိုင်ငံ7 မဟုတ်ကြောင်း၊ လူမျိုးတုံးသတ်ဖြတ်မှုကိုဆန့်ကျင်ခြင်းဆိုင်ရာ နိုင်ငံတကာစာချုပ်
အပိုဒ် ၈ ကို မြန်မာနိုင်ငံကချွင်းချက်ပြုထားကြောင်း၊ ဂမ်ဘီယာက မြန်မာနိုင်ငံကို တရားမစွဲခင်ပေးပို့
သောစာမှာလည်း လိုအပ်ချက်များရှိနေကြောင်း အစရှိသည်တို့ဖြင့် လုပ်ထုံးလုပ်နည်းအရ ချို့
ယွင်းချက်များ8 ရှိနေကြောင်းဖြင့် ထောက်ပြကာ ICJ တွင်စီရင်ပိုင်ခွင့်မရှိကြောင်း တင်သွင်းသွားခဲ့သည်။
ICJ က အဆိုပါတင်သွင်းမှုများကိုလက်ခံကာ ဂမ်ဘီယာ၏ စွဲဆိုမှုကိုပယ်ချလိုက်လျင်မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဘက်က
နိုင်သွားမည်ဖြစ်သည်။ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဘက်က နိုင်သွားခြင်းမှာ စစ်ကောင်စီက နိုင်ခြင်းသာ ဖြစ်ပါမည်။ စင်စစ်
အားဖြင့်စစ်ကောင်စီရှေ့နေများ၏ ကန့်ကွက်ချက်အများစုအပေါ် ICJ က ဆုံးဖြတ်ချက်ချပေးပြီးဖြစ်သည်။9
၄။ တရားစီရင်မှုတိုင်းတွင်နှစ်ပိုင်းရှိပါသည်။ လုပ်ထုံးလုပ်နည်းအရ တရားမျှတမှုကို ရှာဖွေခြင်း10 နှင့်
အနှစ်သာရအရ တရားမျှတမှုရှာဖွေခြင်း11 တို့ဖြစ်သည်။ လုပ်ထုံးလုပ်နည်းအရ တရားမျှတမှုကို ရှာဖွေခြင်း
သည်အနှစ်သာရအရတရားမျှတမှုရှာဖွေခြင်း ကို ပံ့ပိုးရန်ဖြစ်သည်။ ဖျက်ဆီးရန်မဟုတ်။ လုပ်ထုံးလုပ်နည်း
အားနည်းချက်များကို ထောက်ကါ စီရင်ပိုင်ခွင့်မရှိဟု ICJ က ဆုံးဖြတ်ပြီး မှုခင်းကို ပယ်ချလိုက်ပါက
အနှစ်သာရအရ တရားမျှတမှုရှာဖွေခြင်းကို ဖျက်ဆီးလိုက်ခြင်းဖြစ်ပါမည်။ တိုင်းပြည်၏ကိုယ်စားလှယ်
ဖြစ်သော ဒေါ်အောင်ဆန်းစုကြည် ဖမ်းဆီးခံနေရမှုကို လျစ်လျူရှုခြင်း၊ NUG ၏ ကိုယ်စားပြုခွင့်ကို
ငြင်းဆိုလိုက်ခြင်းတို့မှာ တရားရုံးသည်စစ်ကောင်စီဘက်က လုပ်ထုံးလုပ်နည်း ချိုးဖောက်မှုများအား အား
ပေးသည့် သဘောသက်ရောက်နေသည်။ ယင်းကို ဂမ်ဘီယာဘက်က ပြန်လည်ထောက်ပြကန့်ကွက်ပါမူ
တရားရုံးဘက်က ပြင်ဆင်ကောင်းပြင်ဆင်နိုင်ဘွယ်ရှိသည်။ ၂၃ ရက်နေ့တွင်စောင့်ကြည့်ရပါမည်။..."
Source/publisher:
Legal Aid Network
Date of publication:
2022-02-22
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Human Rights and international relations
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"21 February 2022: The hearings concerning The Gambia’s case against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) are a dangerous and unnecessary delay to justice that could worsen the situation in Myanmar, says the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M).
The ICJ is hosting public hearings from today in the case brought against Myanmar by The Gambia for alleged breaches of the Genocide Convention. The hearings are taking place with the illegal military junta representing Myanmar before the Court, despite the junta having no legal or democratic legitimacy, and no claim to effective control over the people or territory of Myanmar. No other United Nations (UN) body has accepted the junta as representing Myanmar.
“It is outrageous for the ICJ to proceed with these hearings on the basis of junta representation. The junta is not the government of Myanmar, it does not represent the State of Myanmar, and it is dangerous for the Court to allow it to present itself as such,” said Chris Sidoti of SAC-M. “The junta leaders orchestrated the genocidal atrocities against the Rohingya – the subject of this case – and are the cause of the current violence and suffering in the country. They are trying to entrench themselves as leaders of Myanmar, including by claiming international recognition. If they succeed, the chances of the Rohingya and all peoples of Myanmar achieving justice where it matters – on the ground in Myanmar – will be severely diminished.”
The hearings are on the preliminary objections filed by Myanmar in January 2021. Preliminary objections are procedural issues that the Court must adjudicate on before it can proceed to the merits of the case. The National Unity Government of Myanmar (NUG) has communicated to the Court that, as the legitimate government appointed by Myanmar’s elected parliamentarians, it is the proper representative of Myanmar in the case. The NUG has also advised the Court that it withdraws all preliminary objections.
“These hearings, with the junta claiming to represent Myanmar, are a disgrace,” said Yanghee Lee of SAC-M. “They are also an unnecessary delay in the case. The NUG is the only entity with the authority to represent Myanmar before the Court and it has withdrawn the preliminary objections. Those objections are the focus of these hearings and will require several months of deliberation by the judges. The Court should instead recognise the NUG’s authority, formally dismiss the objections and move swiftly to dealing with the actual substance of the case, the atrocities against the Rohingya people.”
The ICJ is required to take into account the attitude adopted by the UN General Assembly concerning questions of member states’ recognition and accreditation. Last year, the General Assembly rejected the military junta’s attempts to gain recognition there. The General Assembly continues to recognise the credentials of Myanmar’s Ambassador to the UN, U Kyaw Moe Tun, who the NUG has appointed as acting alternate agent to the ICJ.
“For the ICJ to disavow Myanmar’s representation at the General Assembly and recognise the junta is to go beyond its jurisdiction and politicise the issue. It is a high point in UN dysfunctionality,” said Marzuki Darusman of SAC-M. “The decision is a total affront to the Myanmar people, including the Rohingya. The Court is simply complicit in the military junta’s violent attempt to seize power over Myanmar and shield itself from justice..."
Source/publisher:
Special Advisory Council for Myanmar
Date of publication:
2022-02-21
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya
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This week’s hearing in the Hague must serve to put the generals on notice that they will be held accountable for their crimes
Description:
"Once again, the people of Myanmar are being denied justice and accountability.
At a week-long public hearing set to begin at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague on Monday, the country’s illegal junta will attempt to block the case brought against it by The Gambia for breaching the Genocide Convention during the so-called “clearance operations” in 2017 that drove 750,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh.
The regime’s representatives at the hearing are expected to raise procedural objections to prevent the court moving to the substantive stage of the case, at which point the Rohingya people might expect some form of long-delayed justice.
As if to deliberately mock the international justice system, coup leader Min Aung Hlaing has nominated two individuals accused of committing serious human rights violations and subverting the rule of law—Win Shein, the regime’s minister for planning, finance and industry, and Thida oo, its attorney general—to his ICJ team.
Win Shein has been facing EU and US sanctions since last year, while the US, UK and Canada added Thida Oo to their sanctions lists on the anniversary of last year’s February 1 coup for fabricating charges against State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi in an attempt to bar her and other democratic leaders from politics.
Even the junta’s presence at the “principle judicial organ of the UN” is an affront to international law, as it is in violation of a UN General Assembly’s decision to reject the credentials of the military regime and leave the National Unity Government’s (NUG) pick for Myanmar’s permanent representative to the world body, Kyaw Moe Tun, in his seat. This resolution was unanimously endorsed last December by all 193 members of the General Assembly.
By allowing an uncredentialed and illegal military regime to represent the country anyway, the ICJ is not only flouting the decision of the General Assembly, but also undermining the democratic will of the people of Myanmar, who in November 2020 voted overwhelmingly to reject military-backed parties and embrace their country’s transition to democracy. We therefore urge all UN and international organisations, particularly judicial bodies such as the ICJ whose mandates centre on the rule of law, to desist from any action that legitimises the military junta in international affairs.
Moreover, we demand that all UN member states and UN bodies respect the democratic will of the people of Myanmar by recognising the NUG, which the vast majority see as representing their aspirations.
The case for recognition of the NUG was comprehensively made in a landmark legal opinion signed by some of the world’s leading jurisprudential experts last September, and also in a report by the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar, an independent group of international experts.
Significantly, more than 800 Rohingya survivors of genocide represented by the Geneva-based nongovernmental organisation Legal Action Worldwide (LAW) have called on the international community, including through communications to the president of the ICJ, to recognise the NUG as the legitimate government of Myanmar. The Myanmar Accountability Project (MAP)—of which we are executive directors—has also established a petition urging recognition of the NUG.
Many of LAW's Rohingya clients, who are survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, overwhelmingly support the ICJ case and consistently state that justice, including an end to Tatmadaw impunity, is a fundamental requirement for their return to Myanmar from Bangladesh.
But these Rohingya genocide survivors, along with the rest of Myanmar’s embattled people crying out for an end to the crisis that has overwhelmed their country, are being egregiously failed by the very multilateral institutions responsible for their protection.
The UN Security Council has been neutralised by China and Russia, for whom Myanmar is a backyard for commerce and arms sales. The current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Cambodian dictator Hun Sen, was recently rebuffed by Min Aung Hlaing when he attempted to resuscitate the regional body’s five-point plan. And the UN secretary-general’s new special envoy for Myanmar, Noeleen Heyzer, rendered herself hopelessly compromised recently when she suggested that the junta participate in a power-sharing agreement with the NUG.
In the face of these abject failures, Myanmar remains a killing field. The Rohingya’s homeland, Rakhine State, has become a vast prison camp for displaced communities, where the junta continues to act with brazen impunity. In vast swathes of the rest of Myanmar, junta forces are undertaking increasingly desperate rampages against vulnerable communities in ever more futile attempts to bring the country under their control.
Mass murder, summary executions, indiscriminate aerial bombardments and widespread arson attacks are just some of the industrial-scale human rights violations being perpetrated by the leaders of Myanmar’s failed coup.
This brings us back to the ICJ hearing. In 2019, the court unanimously imposed “provisional measures” to prevent any further genocidal acts by the military and to ensure the preservation of evidence related to possible acts of genocide.
Two years on, it’s clear these measures have failed, and that as the court has dragged its bureaucratic feet, the very crimes it is considering have continued in a widespread and systematic manner.
So we urge the ICJ to move beyond procedural wranglings to the substantive hearing of genocide against the Rohingya. The Independent Investigative Mechanism on Myanmar, a massive database of junta crimes, has extensive evidence that would prove decisive in the case against Myanmar’s military leaders.
Most importantly, the Rohingya people must have their day in court, a cathartic moment of truth telling and acknowledgment, and an essential milestone on their long road to justice and accountability.
Even if the court does move to a substantive hearing, a ruling on whether the junta has committed genocide is likely to take years. And so we also urge UN member states to take unilateral and collective steps to bring perpetrators of international crimes to justice and achieve full accountability.
The application of universal jurisdiction, under which perpetrators are pursued in national courts, is one largely untried route to justice in relation to Myanmar. The ground-breaking case by the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK in Argentina and the criminal prosecutions which MAP will file in the coming weeks are good examples.
There must be more efforts like this to put Myanmar’s generals on notice that they will be held to account and that their days are numbered. Above all, the people of Myanmar must know that their courageous struggle for justice is supported by the outside world and that they are not forgotten.
Chris Gunness is the Director of the Myanmar Accountability Project, where Damian Lilly is Director of Protection..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2022-02-21
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
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Sub-title:
Military, which seized power in February 2021, seeks to throw out case alleging it committed genocide
Description:
"Myanmar’s military junta has appeared in place of the detained Aung San Suu Kyi at the UN’s top court, where it sought to throw out a case alleging it committed genocide against the country’s Rohingya minority.
The decision to allow the junta to represent the country in court, after it seized power in a coup last year, was strongly criticised by advocacy groups and a former UN special rapporteur, who warned it risked delaying justice.
The claim that Myanmar’s military carried out genocide was brought to the international court of justice (ICJ) by the Gambia after a brutal 2017 military crackdown that forced an estimated 700,000 Rohingya to flee over the border to neighbouring Bangladesh. UN investigators have since alleged the military’s operations were carried out with “genocidal intent”.
Previously, Aung San Suu Kyi travelled to the court to defend Myanmar against claims the military carried out mass murder, rape and destruction of Rohingya Muslim communities. She is now being held in detention at the behest of the military, which seized power in February 2021 and charged her with a raft of alleged offences.
Aung San Suu Kyi was replaced in court by the junta’s minister of international cooperation, Ko Ko Hlaing, and its attorney general, Thida Oo. Both are subject to US sanctions prompted by the military’s use of brutal violence to repress opposition to the coup.
The national unity government (NUG), formed by elected lawmakers, ethnic minority representatives and activists, had said it intended to represent Myanmar at the ICJ. It said it had withdrawn preliminary objections – unlike the junta, whose representatives argued on Monday the Gambia did not have the legal right to file the case.
Yanghee Lee, a former UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, called the hearings a disgrace. “The court should instead recognise the NUG’s authority, formally dismiss the objections and move swiftly to dealing with the actual substance of the case, the atrocities against the Rohingya people.”
The junta’s lawyers outlined several objections, including claims that the Gambia was acting as a “proxy” for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and therefore lacked standing because the ICJ only rules on disputes between states.
Ko Ko Hlaing told the court that the junta, which he referred to as the government of Myanmar, was determined to solve the problems in Rakhine state “through peaceful means of negotiation and reconciliation”.
Rights groups point out that the military is in the midst of a deadly campaign of violence against the public. Over the past year alone, in the aftermath of the coup, its has torched villages, massacred civilians and carried out airstrikes across the country to silence opposition.
Tun Khin, the president of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, said the military had totally failed to comply a previous order issued by the court, which said Myanmar must prevent genocidal violence against Rohingya and preserve any evidence of past crimes.
“The Rohingya in Myanmar today are subjected to daily harassment and intimidation by authorities, while there are also state-enforced restrictions on their movement, as well as their access to healthcare, education and livelihoods,” Tun Khin said.
The junta was also blocking humanitarian assistance, leaving many Rohingya on the brink of starvation, he added.
A representative of the Rohingya Student Network, who spoke from Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, told the Guardian the ICJ case represented not only the prospect of justice for Rohingya people but also the “hope to bring a federal democracy in Myanmar for all those who are fighting [for an end to military rule] in Myanmar right now”.
The military’s seizure of power has prompted a shift in attitudes towards minorities. Previously there was little solidarity with Rohingya, but since the coup some protesters have apologised for not standing by Rohingya or believing their claims of persecution.
“They joined our fight from 1 February,” said the Rohingya activist, who asked not to be named due to security concerns, referring to the date of last year’s coup. “They just joined our fight, that we [have been] fighting for decades.”
Akila Radhakrishnan, the president of the Global Justice Centre, said she did not believe the junta’s appearance before the court would lend legitimacy to the military. It was likely to simply reflect a continuation of the status quo in court procedures, she said.
Radhakrishnan added: “There is such a strong link between impunity and the coup occurring, and the fact that the military has very rarely faced any direct consequences, that I think there is import to the fact that they are learning that they will be hauled into court – and this time around, unlike 2019, they can’t hide behind Aung San Suu Kyi and the civilian government...”
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of publication:
2022-02-21
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Discrimination against the Rohingya, About Aung San Suu Kyi
Language:
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Description:
"Today, I want to address the issues that the judges of the International Court of Justice will have
to consider in regard to proper representation of Myanmar in the case of The Gambia v. Myanmar.
First of all, I would like to thank the organisers of this conference for inviting me to join this event
today. I am glad to have this opportunity to explain our position on that case and why we assert
our responsibility to represent Myanmar in this proceeding. Our fundamental point is simple - Our
goal is to bring justice.
At stake in this decision is justice for the Rohingya victims of the military violence. This violence
caused uncounted thousands of deaths, vast dispossession and exile. The suffering of the
Rohingyas continues to this day.
As the Government of Myanmar, we are acutely conscious of this suffering. As we wrote on 7
September 2021, “the entire world knows that the military is constantly committing inhumane war
crimes."
Now, the judges of the International Court must determine who has the duty to speak for Myanmar
in this case. They face a choice - between the people’s government and the same military who
inflicted so much suffering on our Rohingya sisters and brothers. Who in this choice will bring
justice to the Rohingya?
The National Unity Government that I represent is the true government of Myanmar, deriving its
legitimacy from elected representatives. Ethnic and national political parties have come together
in the face of evil and after an illegal coup to form this government, with the duty to confront the
military and to build a new, inclusive federal democracy in place of rule by hate.
This new Myanmar will include a special place for Rohingya communities. The National Unity
Government is deeply saddened by the violence inflicted on them in 2017, and is committed, as
we have made clear, “to bring the perpetrators to justice, not only for the realisation of justice but
also for the deterrence against future atrocities.
It is in the interests of justice for the sake of our Rohingya brothers and sisters that we have engaged
with the International Court over these last months.
• We have submitted periodic reports as required by the Court in its Provisional Measures of
23 January 2020. We have named our Ambassador to the United Nations, HE U Kyaw Moe
Tun, as Agent for the Court, in place of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who remains unjustly
detained by the military.
• We have withdrawn the preliminary objections that were submitted before the coup. They
are no longer relevant. The need for justice requires this. And, as we have withdrawn these
amendments, the Court should now discontinue the current hearing and proceed to the
merits.
The Court can play a powerful role for Myanmar. As a government, it is our stated aim " to bring
an end to the conflicts and problematic root causes in the Union, to ensure all ethnic
nationalities and populations can... build a Federal Democracy Union." We believe that the
Court, inspired and guided by the principles of the United Nations, will share this goal with us.
The Court has also been approached by representatives of the illegitimate military junta that
currently occupies Nay Pyi Taw. They have received communications from some ambassadors
and from military Attorney General, who has been sanctioned by the United States of America for
her part in the unlawful coup and the violence that has flowed from it.
For representing Myanmar, a person should be empowered to do so by the people of Myanmar.
They are not the government of Myanmar. They are not empowered by the people.
The military act only by the power of the gun. Yes, they have the guns, but they cannot thereby
stand here for law and justice. Are we saying, in this place, that force is law?
And even force is failing them - as the people of Myanmar resist this junta. The people do not
accept their authority and never will.
Regrettably, we now face the risk that international judicial institutions in The Hague might be
seen as inadvertently undermining democracy in Myanmar. The military have not received
credentials for the United Nations. They have been barred from ASEAN and from many other
international fora.
We have faith in international justice. The Charter of the United Nations is founded on respect for
self-determination, and the General Assembly has called for the results of our elections to be
respected.
We do not believe that the International Court of Justice will want to allow the military, to appear
before them as if they speak for the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.
It would be a most profound injustice to the Rohingya if the military were to be both their abusers
and have any voice in the Court. This is why many hundreds of Rohingyas have written to the
Court, urging the Judges not to allow the military this legitimacy.
We request the Court to hear our voice, and to allow justice to proceed.
We urge the international community to support the Rohingya victims, and not to allow their
military persecutors this platform.
We call on the military to end this illegal coup and ask all people of good will across the world to
heed the sufferings of all of the people of Myanmar. Our cause is for justice.
We understand the Court was following an administrative anomaly, which is unique and solely to
the ICJ. We believe this hearing does not give any legitimacy to the junta. So, the junta remains
fully illegal and illegitimate.
We, the National Unity Government remains dedicated to its international commitments and
focused on international accountability for all atrocity crimes. We are seeking cooperation with
relevant international mechanisms and bodies and continue to gather and submit evidence of
human rights violations. We have granted jurisdiction to the International Criminal Court (ICC)
for all crimes covered by the Rome Statute since 2002, and we are seeking the support of all those
who care about human rights and justice to work with us for the good of the people of Myanmar.
Thank you for allowing me to speak here today..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Myanmar - NUG
Date of publication:
2022-02-21
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, National Unity Government (NUG)
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227.31 KB 724.36 KB
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Description:
"In November 2019, Gambia – with the backing of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) – filed a case, The Gambia v. Myanmar, before the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The case alleged that Myanmar’s atrocities against the ethnic Rohingya in Rakhine State violated various provisions of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention). Gambia, which ratified the Genocide Convention in 1978, brought the case under Article 9 of the convention, which allows for disputes between parties “relating to the responsibility of a State for genocide” and related acts to be submitted to the ICJ.
In December 2019, the court held hearings on Gambia’s request for provisional measures to protect the Rohingya remaining in Myanmar from genocide, which the court unanimously adopted in January 2020 (see below). In January 2021, Myanmar, then under the government led by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy, filed preliminary objections challenging the court’s jurisdiction and Gambia’s standing to file the case.
On February 1, 2021, Myanmar’s military staged a coup, overthrew the democratically elected government, and replaced it with a military junta, the State Administration Council. The case continues and the ICJ will hold public hearings on Myanmar’s preliminary objections from February 21 to 28, 2022.
2. Why is the genocide case against Myanmar important?
The Gambia v. Myanmar provides an unprecedented opportunity for the ICJ to scrutinize the abuses of Myanmar’s military. While the ICJ case focuses exclusively on alleged crimes against the Rohingya, the military has inflicted grave abuses across Myanmar. At the beginning of the case, ethnic groups both inside and outside the country issued statements backing the ICJ proceedings, noting similarities in the military’s brutal tactics against the Rohingya and other minority communities.
The Myanmar military’s well-documented abuses against the Rohingya and other ethnic minority groups in Myanmar span decades, but until Gambia brought a case before the ICJ, the government’s atrocities within Myanmar had been almost completely beyond the reach of justice. The impunity that the military has enjoyed since first taking power in 1962 enabled ongoing abuses and may have paved the way for the February 1, 2021 coup and the new military junta.
The United Nations-backed Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (“Fact-Finding Mission”) called for the investigation and prosecution of Myanmar’s military commanders, including Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes related to the abuses in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan States since 2011. As leader of the military junta, Min Aung Hlaing has also overseen a brutal crackdown over the past year against millions of anti-junta protesters. Since the coup, junta security forces have carried out mass killings, torture, sexual violence, arbitrary arrests, and other abuses that Human Rights Watch believes amount to crimes against humanity. Security forces have killed over 1,500 people since the coup, including at least 100 children, and arbitrarily detained over 11,000 activists, politicians, journalists, and others..."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch (USA)
Date of publication:
2022-02-14
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-14
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
272.3 KB
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Description:
"Burma Campaign UK is calling on Imran Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan, to stop arming the Burmese military.
Pakistan has a long-term defence co-operation agreement with the Burmese military and has been supplying them with arms and equipment, most notably the JF-17 fighter jet aircraft.
Now there are new media reports that Pakistan is about to sell mortars, grenade launchers and heavy machine guns to the Burmese military, as well as selling more jets and missiles.
A Burmese military delegation is reportedly visiting Pakistan soon to inspect the weapons before shipment.
These fighter jets, guns, mortars and missiles will be used against civilians, bringing even more death and destruction.
Before he became Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan condemned the genocide of the Rohingya, stating on Twitter:
“Disturbing silence from Muslim World, including Pakistan on the genocide & exodus of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar.”
“It is hard to think of a clearer example of hypocrisy than for Imran Khan to condemn inaction on the Rohingya genocide and then arm the military which committed that genocide,” said Anna Roberts, Executive Director of Burma Campaign UK.
In 2017, Imran Khan also wrote to the Secretary General of the United Nations, condemning inaction by the United Nations, stating:
“Today, again, on behalf of myself and my party (PTI), I wish to state that we find this continuing silence and complete inaction by the UN on the continuing plight and persecution of the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar a shameful testament to UN failure to follow its basic principles of upholding human rights and protecting a people from genocide.”
In June 2021, the United Nations General Assembly passed a Resolution calling on UN members to stop the flow of arms to the Burmese military. Having previously condemned the UN for inaction, Imran Khan is now refusing to take the action which the United Nations has called for.
Burma Campaign UK has written to Imran Khan warning him: “The weapons you are selling to the Myanmar military today may soon be turned against the Rohingya people whose rights you once supported.”
The Burmese military are indiscriminately bombing civilians and using heavy artillery against civilian villages and towns. This has forced more than 400,000 people to flee their homes and has created a humanitarian crisis.
As the Myanmar military desperately try to impose their rule, more than 1,500 people have been killed, and more than 11,000 arrested.
“Imran Khan should side with the people of Burma, not the military which is oppressing and killing them,” said Anna Roberts. “Imran Khan must stop profiting from the suffering of the people of Burma. By arming the Burmese military, Imran Khan is complicit in the human rights violations they commit.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Burma Campaign UK" (London)
Date of publication:
2022-02-14
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-14
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Q&A Explores World Court Scrutiny of Military Atrocities
Description:
"(The Hague) – International Court of Justice (ICJ) hearings beginning February 21, 2022 underline the critical importance of bringing justice for the Myanmar military’s abuses against ethnic Rohingya, Human Rights Watch and the Global Justice Center said today. The groups released a question-and-answer document outlining recent developments in the case, including the impact of the February 1, 2021 military coup in Myanmar, on the ICJ proceedings.
The hearings at the court from February 21 to 28 are for the case brought by Gambia against Myanmar alleging that the military’s atrocities in Rakhine State against Rohingya Muslims violate the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention).
“The International Court of Justice hearings are the next step in the landmark case to break the cycle of violence and impunity in Myanmar,” said Nushin Sarkarati, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch. “The case could build a pathway to justice, not only for the Rohingya, but for everyone in the country.”
In November 2019, Gambia filed a case before the ICJ alleging that Myanmar’s atrocities against the Rohingya in Rakhine State violate various provisions of the Genocide Convention. The case before the ICJ is not a criminal case against individual alleged perpetrators, but a legal determination of state responsibility for genocide.
The ICJ held hearings in December 2019, on Gambia’s request, for provisional measures to protect the Rohingya remaining in Myanmar from genocide, which the court unanimously adopted in January 2020. The new hearings will cover Myanmar’s preliminary objections to the case, which challenge the court’s jurisdiction and Gambia’s legal standing to file the case.
The court’s provisional measures require Myanmar to prevent all genocidal acts against the Rohingya, to ensure that security forces do not commit acts of genocide, and to take steps to preserve evidence related to the case. Myanmar is legally bound to comply with this order. However, Human Rights Watch and others have documented ongoing grave abuses against the 600,000 Rohingya remaining in Myanmar, contravening the provisional measures ordered by the court.
Since the February 2021 coup, junta security forces have carried out mass killings, torture, sexual violence, arbitrary arrests, and other abuses that Human Rights Watch believes amount to crimes against humanity. Security forces have killed over 1,500 people since the coup, including at least 100 children, and arbitrarily detained over 11,000 activists, politicians, journalists, and others. Rohingya have also faced even greater movement restrictions and harsher punishments for attempting to leave Rakhine State, which amount to the crimes against humanity of persecution, apartheid, and severe deprivation of liberty.
In 2019, Myanmar’s government appointed State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi to lead its delegation to the ICJ. During the 2021 coup, the military arrested Aung San Suu Kyi and a junta-controlled court sentenced her to six years in prison. She still faces over 150 years in prison combined on various additional fabricated charges. On June 24, 2021, the junta announced that it appointed a panel of eight senior junta officials to represent Myanmar’s delegation before the court.
During the February hearings, representatives of Myanmar and Gambia will present arguments as to whether the ICJ has jurisdiction to examine the genocide claims against Myanmar. The hearings will take place in a hybrid format, including both in-person and virtual participants. Live streaming of the hearings will be available in English and French on the court’s website and on UN Web TV.
While the ICJ case focuses exclusively on alleged crimes against the Rohingya, the military has committed brutal abuses across Myanmar. In the wake of the coup, ethnic groups have sought greater solidarity in the pursuit of justice, as the military’s atrocities against the Rohingya have been echoed in attacks on civilians around the country. The ICJ case could set the stage to scrutinize the Myanmar military’s longstanding international crimes more widely, Human Rights Watch and the Global Justice Center said.
“As the Myanmar military continues to commit atrocities against anti-coup protesters and ethnic minorities, it should be put on notice there will be consequences for these actions – past, present, and future,” said Akila Radhakrishnan, president of the Global Justice Center. “The ICJ’s proceedings are laying the groundwork for accountability in Myanmar – not only for the Rohingya, but for all others who have suffered at the hands of the military.”..."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch (USA)
Date of publication:
2022-02-14
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-14
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description:
"International Court of Justice (ICJ) hearings beginning February 21, 2022 underline the critical importance of bringing justice for the Myanmar military’s abuses against ethnic Rohingya, Human Rights Watch and the Global Justice Center said today. The groups released a question-and-answer document outlining recent developments in the case, including the impact of the February 1, 2021 military coup in Myanmar, on the ICJ proceedings.
The hearings at the court from February 21 to 28 are for the case brought by Gambia against Myanmar alleging that the military’s atrocities in Rakhine State against Rohingya Muslims violate the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention).
“The International Court of Justice hearings are the next step in the landmark case to break the cycle of violence and impunity in Myanmar,” said Nushin Sarkarati, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch. “The case could build a pathway to justice, not only for the Rohingya, but for everyone in the country.”
In November 2019, Gambia filed a case before the ICJ alleging that Myanmar’s atrocities against the Rohingya in Rakhine State violate various provisions of the Genocide Convention. The case before the ICJ is not a criminal case against individual alleged perpetrators, but a legal determination of state responsibility for genocide.
The ICJ held hearings in December 2019, on Gambia’s request, for provisional measures to protect the Rohingya remaining in Myanmar from genocide, which the court unanimously adopted in January 2020. The new hearings will cover Myanmar’s preliminary objections to the case, which challenge the court’s jurisdiction and Gambia’s legal standing to file the case.
The court’s provisional measures require Myanmar to prevent all genocidal acts against the Rohingya, to ensure that security forces do not commit acts of genocide, and to take steps to preserve evidence related to the case. Myanmar is legally bound to comply with this order. However, Human Rights Watch and others have documented ongoing grave abuses against the 600,000 Rohingya remaining in Myanmar, contravening the provisional measures ordered by the court.
Since the February 2021 coup, junta security forces have carried out mass killings, torture, sexual violence, arbitrary arrests, and other abuses that Human Rights Watch believes amount to crimes against humanity. Security forces have killed over 1,500 people since the coup, including at least 100 children, and arbitrarily detained over 11,000 activists, politicians, journalists, and others. Rohingya have also faced even greater movement restrictions and harsher punishments for attempting to leave Rakhine State, which amount to the crimes against humanity of persecution, apartheid, and severe deprivation of liberty.
In 2019, Myanmar’s government appointed State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi to lead its delegation to the ICJ. During the 2021 coup, the military arrested Aung San Suu Kyi and a junta-controlled court sentenced her to six years in prison. She still faces over 150 years in prison combined on various additional fabricated charges. On June 24, 2021, the junta announced that it appointed a panel of eight senior junta officials to represent Myanmar’s delegation before the court.
During the February hearings, representatives of Myanmar and Gambia will present arguments as to whether the ICJ has jurisdiction to examine the genocide claims against Myanmar. The hearings will take place in a hybrid format, including both in-person and virtual participants. Live streaming of the hearings will be available in English and French on the court’s website and on UN Web TV.
While the ICJ case focuses exclusively on alleged crimes against the Rohingya, the military has committed brutal abuses across Myanmar. In the wake of the coup, ethnic groups have sought greater solidarity in the pursuit of justice, as the military’s atrocities against the Rohingya have been echoed in attacks on civilians around the country. The ICJ case could set the stage to scrutinize the Myanmar military’s longstanding international crimes more widely, Human Rights Watch and the Global Justice Center said.
“As the Myanmar military continues to commit atrocities against anti-coup protesters and ethnic minorities, it should be put on notice there will be consequences for these actions – past, present, and future,” said Akila Radhakrishnan, president of the Global Justice Center. “The ICJ’s proceedings are laying the groundwork for accountability in Myanmar – not only for the Rohingya, but for all others who have suffered at the hands of the military.”..."
Source/publisher:
Global Justice Center
Date of publication:
2022-02-14
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-14
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
more
Description:
"Representatives of Myanmar's junta are expected to challenge the jurisdiction of the World Court to hear allegations the country committed genocide against its Rohingya minority in a fresh round of hearings from Feb. 21, the attorney general of Gambia, which brought the case, told Reuters on Friday.
"A hybrid hearing (is) set to commence on the 21st of February, 2022," Gambian Attorney General Dawda Jallow said. He added that Aung San Suu Kyi, who led Myanmar's defence at the first public hearings in 2019 but has since been deposed by the military, had been formally replaced as its top representative in the case.
A hybrid hearing is a procedure where some of the participants are present in person and others participate online due to COVID-19 measures.
More than 730,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar after a military-led crackdown in 2017, and were forced into squalid camps across the border in Bangladesh. U.N. investigators concluded that the military campaign had been executed with "genocidal intent".
An ICJ spokesperson declined to confirm dates for a new hearing had been scheduled.
In December 2019 Nobel peace prize laureate Suu Kyi, then Myanmar's civilian leader, personally attended hearings at The Hague to ask judges to dismiss the case.
She was deposed in a 2021 coup and has since been sentenced to six years in detention and faces a slew of further charges. The army takeover of the democratically elected government led to widespread protests. L1N2TQ09N
The military government has been fighting for international recognition and could be eager for the opportunity to show themselves as Myanmar's legitimate representatives at the U.N.'s top court.
Sources close to the case say the junta has been engaging with the court to submit court-ordered reports every six months on the situation with the Rohingya. The reports are not public.
The next step in ICJ proceedings is Myanmar's challenge to the jurisdiction of the court. The question if genocide was committed in Myanmar will be dealt with in later hearings..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of publication:
2022-01-14
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-02
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar
Language:
more
Description:
"Myanmar's shadow government, set up after last year's military coup, said it accepts the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to hear allegations that the country committed genocide against its Rohingya minority.
Before the military seized power last year, Myanmar's government led by the now-ousted Aung San Suu Kyi had filed preliminary objections to the ICJ over the case brought by Gambia in a move seen as likely to delay proceedings.
The National Unity Government (NUG), a parallel administration including deposed lawmakers in exile, said in a statement issued on Tuesday that it had withdrawn all preliminary objections to the case.
Still, it is not clear whether this would affect the legal process since the NUG said that through a "bureaucratic idiosyncrasy" the ICJ has been communicating with Myanmar diplomats in Brussels who were under the control of the junta.
"Should the ICJ recognise the military, it would embolden the junta to continue and escalate its daily atrocity crimes," the NUG said in a statement.
It urged the ICJ to deal with Myanmar's permanent representative to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun.
The ICJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment and a spokesman for Myanmar's junta did not answer a telephone call seeking comment.
More than 730,000 Rohingya Muslims fled Myanmar's Rakhine State in 2017 after a military crackdown.
Rights groups documented killings of civilians and burning of villages and U.N. investigators concluded that the military campaign, launched after attacks on the security forces by Rohingya insurgents, had been executed with "genocidal intent".
In December 2019, Suu Kyi, then Myanmar's civilian leader, attended hearings at The Hague to ask judges to dismiss the case.
Suu Kyi has been put on trial by the junta and faces years in jail, though the removal of her government has sparked mass protests and a bloody crackdown on dissent by the army.
With Myanmar's military government fighting for international recognition, sources close to the case have previously said the junta has been engaging with the ICJ to submit court-ordered reports every six months on the situation with the Rohingya. The reports are not public..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of publication:
2022-02-02
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-02
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
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"Myanmar withdraws all preliminary objections to the International Court of Justice hearing on the genocide case
The NUG has advised the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Myanmar accepts the jurisdiction of the Court and withdraws all preliminary objections in the case of The Gambia v. Myanmar concerning the military operations against the Rohingya in 2016 and 2017. The ICJ and The Gambia have announced that a hearing on preliminary objections to jurisdiction will be held from 21 February 2022.
The NUG wishes to make clear to all the people of Myanmar and the international community that it is the proper representative of Myanmar at the ICJ in the case. Given that the illegal military junta itself has unlawfully detained Myanmar’s agent and deputy agent to the Court, Myanmar’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun has communicated to the Court that he is the acting alternate agent under the direction of the NUG and is the only person now authorized to engage with the Court on behalf of Myanmar.
With guidance from the NUG, Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun has advised the ICJ that Myanmar withdraws its preliminary objections and accepts the Court’s jurisdiction. Those objections were procedural matters that do not address the substance of the case. Myanmar no longer views them as appropriate. Indeed, the NUG expects that this enables the Court to cancel the upcoming hearings and proceed quickly with the timetable for the hearing of the substantive case under the Genocide Convention.
It would set a dangerous precedent and be inconsistent with the position of the UN General Assembly for the ICJ to accept the military junta as the representative of Myanmar. The NUG strongly believes that it would also be detrimental to the interests of Myanmar and the people of Myanmar and to the cause of justice for the Rohingya people.
It appears that, through a bureaucratic idiosyncrasy, the ICJ has been communicating with former Myanmar diplomats in Brussels who are now under junta control. This may reflect past practice, but it does not accord with the present reality, the legal obligations in respect of communications with parties to cases or to the decisions of the General Assembly.
Should the ICJ recognize the military, it would embolden the junta to continue and escalate its daily atrocity crimes. We also fear this may derail efforts towards international criminal accountability for the junta leaders and other perpetrators of atrocity crimes. These outcomes would be an injustice for the Rohingya people and harmful to all the people of Myanmar and the interests of all parties to the current proceedings.
The NUG has repeatedly emphasized the importance of accountability for the military’s violations of international law. In the meantime, we continue to work towards international criminal accountability, including by gathering and submitting evidence to the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) and granting jurisdiction to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for all crimes within Myanmar covered by the Rome Statute since July 2002.
Our vision is for a peaceful, democratic, and inclusive Myanmar where the Rohingya and all other Myanmar peoples will be able to thrive and enjoy their rights as citizens, and all human rights under international law.
We expect the ICJ to accept Myanmar’s Permanent Representative to the UN as Myanmar’s agent..."
Source/publisher:
President Office, National Unity Government
Date of publication:
2022-02-01
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Genocide, International Criminal Court (Myanmar), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar
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"ဂမ်ဘီယာနိုင်ငံနှင့် အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာတရားရုံးသည် ဖေဖေါ်ဝါရီလ ၂၁ ရက်နေ့တွင် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအား တရားစွဲဆိုထားသည့် အမှုနှင့်ပတ်သက်၍ ကြားနာမှုတစ်ခုပြုလုပ်ရန် စီစဉ်ထားကြောင်း ထုတ်ပြန်ကြေညာခဲ့သည်။ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ အနေဖြင့် ဂမ်ဘီယာနှင့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအမှုတွင် အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ တရားရုံး၌ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအား ကိုယ်စားပြုမှုဆိုင်ရာ မိမိတို့၏ အခွင့်အရေးကို အတည်ပြုနိုင်ရန် ကြိုးစားဆောင်ရွက်လျှက် ရှိကြောင်း မြန်မာပြည်သူတရပ်လုံးနှင့် နိုင်ငံတကာအသိုင်းအဝိုင်းအား ရှင်းလင်းစွာ သိစေအပ် ပါသည်။
စစ်တပ်အား မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ ကိုယ်စားလှယ်အနေဖြင့် အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာတရားရုံးတွင် လက်ခံမည်ဆိုပါက ကုလသမဂ္ဂ အထွေထွေညီလာခံ၏ ရပ်တည်ချက်သဘောထားများနှင့် ညီညွတ်မှုမရှိပဲ အန္တရာယ်ရှိသော အစဉ်အလာ တစ်ရပ်ကို ချမှတ်ပေးသကဲ့သို့ ဖြစ်နိုင်ပါသည်။ ဗျူရိုကရေစီယန္တရား၏ မဖြစ်သင့်သော လွဲမှားဆောင်ရွက်မှုကြောင့် အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ တရားရုံးသည် စစ်တပ်က ထိန်းချုပ်ထားသော တရားမဝင်သည့် ဘရပ်ဆယ်လ်မြို့ရှိ သံရုံးနှင့် ဆက်သွယ်ဆောင်ရွက်လျှက်ရှိကြောင်း ထင်ရှားလျှက်ရှိသည်။
ဤအချက်သည် ဥပဒေ၏ အနှစ်သာရနှင့် မကိုက်ညီသကဲ့သို့ နိုင်ငံတကာအသိုင်းအဝိုင်း၏ နိုင်ငံရေးအရ ဆုံးဖြတ် သတ်မှတ်ချက်ကိုလည်း ထင်ဟပ်ခြင်းမရှိပါ။မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ တရားရုံးဆိုင်ရာ ကိုယ်စားလှယ် (agent) နှင့် ကိုယ်ခွဲကိုယ်စားလှယ် (Alternate agent) တို့ကို စစ်တပ်က တရားဥပဒေနှင့် အညီမဟုတ်ပဲ ဖမ်းဆီးထိန်းသိမ်းထားချိန်တွင် အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရက မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ ကုလသမဂ္ဂဆိုင်ရာ အမြဲတမ်းကိုယ်စားလှယ် သံအမတ်ကြီး ဦးကျော်မိုးထွန်းသာလျှင် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံကိုယ်စား တရားရုံးနှင့် ဆက်သွယ်ဆောင်ရွက်မည့် တစ်ဦးတည်းသော တာဝန်ရှိသူ ဖြစ်ပြီး ကိုယ်စားပြု ဆောင်ရွက်နိုင်သည့် ကိုယ်စားလှယ် (acting alternate agent) ဖြစ်ကြောင်း သံအမတ်ကြီးမှတဆင့် တရားရုံးသို့ ဆက်သွယ်အသိပေးပြီးဖြစ်သည်။
အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရအနေဖြင့် သံအမတ်ကြီး ဦးကျော်မိုးထွန်းမှတဆင့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ အနေဖြင့် ကနဦးကန့်ကွက်ချက် (preliminary objection) အား ပြန်လည်ရုတ်သိမ်းပြီး တရားရုံး၏ တရားစီရင်မှု အခွင့်အာဏာကို လက်ခံကြောင်း တရားရုံးသို့ အကြောင်းပြန်ခဲ့ပြီး ဖြစ်သည်။ အဆိုပါ ကန့်ကွက်ချက်များသည် လုပ်ထုံးလုပ်နည်းဆိုင်ရာ ကိစ္စရပ်များသာ ဖြစ်ပြီး အမှု၏ အကြောင်းအရာနှင့် သက်ဆိုင်မှုရှိသည်ဟု မဆိုနိုင်ပါ။ မြန်မာအစိုးရအနေဖြင့် အဆိုပါကိစ္စများကို လိုအပ်ချက်များအဖြစ် မယူဆတော့ပါ။ ဤသို့သဘောထားမှုကြောင့် တရားရုံးအနေဖြင့် လာမည့်ကြားနာစစ်ဆေးမှုကို ဖျက်သိမ်းပြီး ကုလသမဂ္ဂအထွေထွေ ညီလာခံ၏ ဆုံးဖြတ်ချက်များကို ချိုးဖောက်နေသော စစ်တပ်အား တဖက်သတ် အသိအမှတ် ပြုရာရောက်သည့် အန္တရာယ်ရှိသော အစဉ်အလာတစ်ရပ် ချမှတ်မိခြင်းကိုလည်း ရှောင်ရှားနိုင် သည့် အခွင့်အလမ်းကို ရရှိထားပြီး ဖြစ်သည်ဟု ယူဆပါသည်။
အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ တရားရုံးက စစ်တပ်ကို အသိအမှတ်ပြုလိုက်မည်ဆိုလျှင် ၎င်းနေ့စဉ် ကျူးလွန်လျှက်ရှိသည့် ရက်စက်ကြမ်းကြုတ်သော ရာဇဝတ်မှုများကို ဆက်လက်တိုးမြှင့် ကျူးလွန်ရန် အားပေးသကဲ့သို့ ဖြစ်ပါလိမ့်မည်။ ဤသို့ပြုမှုခြင်းကြောင့် နိုင်ငံတကာရာဇဝတ်မှု ဆိုင်ရာ တာဝန်ခံမှုအတွက် ကြိုးပမ်းအားထုတ်မှုများကိုလည်း နှောင့်နှေးကြန့်ကြာစေမည်ကို စိုးရိမ်မိပါသည်။ ဤသို့ဖြစ်လာမည်ဆိုပါက မြန်မာပြည်သူအားလုံးနှင့် လက်ရှိ တရားစီရင်မှုနှင့် သက်ဆိုင်သူအားလုံး၏ အကျိုးစီးပွားကို ထိခိုက်စေမည်ဖြစ်သည်။
အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရအနေဖြင့် စစ်တပ်၏ နိုင်ငံတကာဥပဒေကို ချိုးဖောက်မှုများ အပေါ် တာဝန်ယူ၊ တာဝန်ခံမှု၏ အရေးကြီးပုံကို ထပ်ခါတလဲလဲ အလေးထားဖေါ်ပြခဲ့ပြီး ဖြစ်သည်။ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဆိုင်ရာ လွတ်လပ်သော စုံစမ်းစစ်ဆေးမှု ယန္တရား (IIMM) အား အချက်အလက်များ စုဆောင်း ကောက်ယူ ပေးပို့ခြင်းနှင့် ၂၀၀၂ ခုနှစ် ဇူလိုင်လမှ စတင်ကာ ရောမစာချုပ် (Rome Statute) အရ အကြုံးဝင်သော မြန်မာပြည်အတွင်း ကျူးလွန်ခဲ့သည့် ရာဇဝတ်မှုများအားလုံးအတွက် အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ ရာဇဝတ်ခုံရုံး (ICC) ၏ တရားစီရင်မှု အခွင့်အာဏာကို လက်ခံခွင့်ပြုခြင်း အပါအဝင် နိုင်ငံတကာ ရာဇဝတ်မှု ဆိုင်ရာ တာဝန်ယူ၊ တာဝန်ခံမှုတို့အတွက် အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရက ဆက်လက်ဆောင်ရွက်လျှက်ရှိသည်။
ကျွန်ုပ်တို့၏ မျှော်မှန်းချက်သည် ငြိမ်းချမ်းသော၊ ဒီမိုကရေစီနည်းကျပြီး ရိုဟင်ဂျာပြည်သူများ အပါအဝင် ပြည်သူတစ်ရပ်လုံးပါဝင်နိုင်သော ပြည်ထောင်စုမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်ကြီး ဆက်လက် ရှင်သန်ဖွံ့ဖြိုးလျှက် အခွင့်အရေး အားလုံး ခံစားရရှိနိုင်ရန်ဖြစ်သည်။
မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ ကုလသမဂ္ဂဆိုင်ရာ အမြဲတမ်းကိုယ်စားလှယ်အား တရားရုံးအတွက် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဆိုင်ရာ ကိုယ်စားပြု ကိုယ်စားလှယ်အဖြစ် လက်ခံကြောင်း ရှင်းလင်းပြောကြား ပေးပါရန် အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ တရားရုံးအား တောင်းဆိုအပ်ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
President Office, National Unity Government
Date of publication:
2022-02-01
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), International Criminal Court (Myanmar), Genocide, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar
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"Media Release from Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
The opening testimony in the first-ever universal jurisdiction case on the Rohingya genocide highlighted vicious abuses by the Tatmadaw (the Myanmar military), including widespread sexual violence, the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) said.
Tun Khin, President of BROUK, today took the stand at the Federal Court in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This marked the opening of the case that the Argentinian judiciary decided to open in November under the legal principle of universal jurisdiction, which holds that some crimes are so horrific that they can be tried anywhere.
“Today was a landmark day for Rohingya people everywhere and our long struggle to end the genocide. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to testify in a court of law about the plight of our people. This case will not finish over night, but I am confident that justice will prevail in the end,” said Tun Khin.
In his testimony, Tun Khin highlighted his own personal history and the decades-long repression Rohingya has faced in Myanmar. He also brought the court’s attention to a range of crimes committed by the Tatmadaw and its proxies during the violence against Rohingya in Rakhine State from August 2017.
One example is the Chut Pyin massacre, when soldiers killed hundreds of people and engaged in sexual violence in a brutal attack on a Rohingya village in Rakhine State on 27 August 2017. Six women who were victims of or witnessed sexual violence during the massacre are witnesses in BROUK’s case.
The court also heard the names of those ultimately responsible for the violence, including Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and other senior Tatmadaw officials who have been identified by the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar.
Tun Khin also underlined the harmful role of Facebook during the violence in 2017, when hate speech against the Rohingya was spread unchecked on the platform. Earlier in December, Rohingya victims sued the social media company for more than £150 billion due to its failure to contain hate speech and misinformation.
“This is the start of a court case that we ultimately hope will end with the architects of the Rohingya genocide behind bars. We will focus on identifying perpetrators of these crimes, right up to Myanmar’s senior military leadership,” said Tun Khin.
“The evidence against Min Aung Hlaing and the Myanmar military is overwhelming and irrefutable. They must answer for their crimes. It is important to remember that this is not just about the Rohingya people’s quest for justice, but for all people of Myanmar who have suffered at the hands of the military, not least since the coup this year.”..."
Source/publisher:
Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
Date of publication:
2021-12-17
Date of entry/update:
2021-12-17
Grouping:
Individual Documents
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Sub-title:
Justice, Solidarity Crucial to Confront Abuses Past and Present
Description:
"On December 10, 2019, Abubacarr Tambadou, then Gambia’s justice minister, posed a question to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. “Why is the world standing by and allowing such horrors again in our lifetime?”
It was the first day of hearings in Gambia’s case alleging Myanmar violated the Genocide Convention in its atrocities against ethnic Rohingya in Rakhine State. It was also the first time the abuses of the Myanmar military had been laid out before an international court.
Over three days, Gambia’s legal team described the Myanmar military’s mass killings, rape, and torture that spurred more than 730,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh. The team painted a picture of an armed force unrepentant in its brutality, maintaining power by terrorizing civilians for decades, unchecked. In January 2020, the ICJ unanimously ordered Myanmar to protect the 600,000 Rohingya remaining in Rakhine State from genocide.
On February 1, 2021, the same generals that orchestrated the atrocities against the Rohingya staged a coup. Since then, the junta has carried out a bloody crackdown on the pro-democracy movement with the same callous disregard for life that has long driven their scorched-earth operations in ethnic minority regions.
Police and soldiers have killed more than 1,300 people and arrested more than 10,000 protesters, journalists, and others. The methodical and systematic post-coup abuses, like those inflicted on the Rohingya, amount to crimes against humanity. The roots of the coup and the bloodshed that’s followed lie plainly in the impunity that the military has enjoyed since first taking power in 1962.
Two years ago, people rallied across Myanmar in support of the government and then de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who unreservedly defended the military at The Hague. This week, Suu Kyi was sentenced to prison by the generals she backed.
Since the coup, many protesters have sought to atone for the long history of anti-Rohingya hostility in Myanmar. The opposition National Unity Government committed to ending the Rohingya’s statelessness and other abuses. With solidarity campaigns, activists are reimagining Myanmar as a state strengthened by its multiethnic, multireligious makeup.
Against this shifting backdrop, the ICJ case moves forward. The court will next hold hearings on the preliminary objections Myanmar filed 10 days before the coup.
There is no quick route to justice in Myanmar, but never has the call for it been louder..."
Source/publisher:
"Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of publication:
2021-12-07
Date of entry/update:
2021-12-07
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description:
"Media Release from Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
The Argentinian judiciary has taken the historic step to open a court case against the Myanmar military – including Min Aung Hlaing and much of the current junta’s senior leadership – over the ongoing genocide against the Rohingya, the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) said today.
On the 26 November 2021 the Second Chamber of the Federal Criminal Court in Buenos Aires confirmed that it would launch a case against senior Myanmar officials under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which holds that some crimes are so horrific that they can be tried anywhere. BROUK first petitioned the Argentinian judiciary to open such a case in November 2019.
“This is a day of hope not just for us Rohingya but for oppressed people everywhere. The decision in Argentina shows that there is nowhere to hide for those who commit genocide – the world stands firmly united against these abhorrent crimes,” said Tun Khin, President of BROUK.
The Second Chamber of the Appeal Court reaffirmed in its resolution that “the gravity of the facts and the violation of ius cogens norms permit that those facts are investigated in our country”.
“We applaud the Argentinian judiciary for showing the courage and moral leadership to take up this case. Justice for decades of dehumanising and killings of Rohingya in Myanmar is now within reach,” Tun Khin said, and continued:
“This is not just about accountability for Rohingya, however, but for everyone who has suffered under the Myanmar military’s brutal reign. This includes the thousands killed, injured, tortured or disappeared since the coup in February this year.”
An ongoing genocide
The case relates to crimes perpetrated against the Rohingya by Myanmar authorities in Rakhine State for decades. In 2017, the Myanmar military and its proxies launched a vicious campaign in the region, committing the worst atrocities and driving close to 800,000 Rohingya to flee across the border into Bangladesh. The case includes the particular situation of six women who were raped, tortured and in many cases their husbands and children killed during that genocidal campaign in Rakhine State.
The Rohingya who remain in Rakhine State continue to live under a dehumanising system of oppression where all aspects of their lives are controlled. Harsh restrictions on freedom of movement means that accessing education, health care and other basic services is difficult in the extreme.
In February 2021, the military seized power by force in Myanmar in a coup. Since then, close to 1,300 people have been killed and thousands have been jailed amid massive, nation-wide resistance to the junta. Although, for the moment, these events are not covered under BROUK’s case, the case does implicate much of the junta’s senior leadership, including Min Aung Hlaing, the Commander-in-Chief and self-proclaimed Prime Minister.
First universal jurisdiction case on the Rohingya
On 13 November 2019, BROUK petitioned Argentinean Courts to open an investigation into the role of Myanmar’s civilian and military leaders in committing genocide and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya. Under the principle of universal jurisdiction, such crimes can be investigated anywhere in the world regardless of where they were committed.
Since November 2019, the Argentinian judiciary has maintained a dialogue with the International Criminal Court (ICC) to ensure that a universal jurisdiction case would complement – and not duplicate – the ICC case against Myanmar launched in November 2019.
The case in Argentina will cover the full range of crimes committed against the Rohingya in Myanmar, unlike the ICC case which is limited to only crimes which have at least partially been committed on Bangladeshi territory.
Having received such assurances, the judiciary yesterday confirmed it would take up the case. This will be the first universal jurisdiction case related to the situation of the Rohingya anywhere in the world.
“For decades, Myanmar officials have with impunity tried to wipe the Rohingya out as a people. Justice is the only way to break the cycle of violence, and with Myanmar both unwilling and unable to investigate itself, the international community must step in,” said Tun Khin. “This universal jurisdiction case in Argentina shows that accountability is possible. We urge other countries to immediately explore opening similar cases to show those responsible for the genocide that there are no safe havens anywhere.”
“This is a real chance to hold the Myanmar military and its supporters to account for their murderous actions, including Min Aung Hlaing, who is the chief architect of both the Rohingya genocide and the coup that has brought so much suffering to Myanmar. The military is the common enemy of all people of our country”, Tun Khin said.
BROUK is supported in Argentina by the human rights NGOs Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo and Foundation for Peace and Justice, founded by the Nobel Peace Prize Winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel. BROUK is legally represented by Tomás Ojea Quintana, a prominent human rights lawyer and the former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar (2008-2014).
Moving forward
Investigations by BROUK’s legal team will begin immediately, which will focus on identifying perpetrators of abuses, both those who committed the actual crimes and those with command responsibility. If those responsible refuse to heed summons to attend Court hearings in Argentina, BROUK will reach out to international criminal justice bodies such as Interpol with a view to issue arrest warrants.
A key part of the process will be to ensure that Rohingya victims themselves are able to testify in Argentina, in particular the six women who are part of the case. Not only is this important to demonstrate the scale of abuses by the Myanmar military, but it also speaks to the rights of victims to be heard and to tell their stories in a Court of Law.
BROUK will furthermore ask that the Court requests information from social media companies, in particular Facebook, regarding hate speech spread on their platforms that could have contributed to a hostile environment against the Rohingya.
In addition, the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar – established by the UN in 2018 to gather evidence of gross human rights violations – has offered to the Court its formal support for BROUK’s case, including through the sharing of relevant evidence.
International justice efforts
The case in Argentina is the first universal jurisdiction case concerning the Rohingya genocide anywhere in the world, but not the only international legal process against the Myanmar authorities.
As mentioned above, the ICC in November 2019 approved an investigation into Myanmar for crimes against humanity against the Rohingya.
The Gambia in November 2019 launched a case against Myanmar for violating the Genocide Convention with the International Court of Justice (ICJ). In January 2020, the ICJ imposed “provisional measures” on Myanmar as part of the case, essentially a legal injunction ordering the end to genocidal practices against the Rohingya.
“There is no question that the Myanmar authorities are feeling the pressure of the many international justice efforts that are under way. The architects of the genocide against the Rohingya can and should soon face a Court of Law. We urge the international community to redouble efforts to bring about justice and ensure that this momentum is not lost,” said Tun Khin.
About universal jurisdiction
Universal jurisdiction is based on the principle that some crimes are so horrific that they concern humanity as a whole, and can be tried anywhere regardless of where they have been committed. All states are permitted to exercise universal jurisdiction over crimes under international law, such as crimes against humanity or genocide.
This allows for the ability to investigate and prosecute individuals suspected of responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity, torture, genocide, and enforced disappearances, regardless of where the crime was committed or the nationality of the suspect or victim.
The principle of universal jurisdiction is also enshrined in the Argentinean national legal framework, including in article 118 of the Constitution.
In the particular case of the Rohingya, UN bodies, including the Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, have recommended that states pursue universal jurisdiction cases..."
Source/publisher:
Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
Date of publication:
2021-11-28
Date of entry/update:
2021-11-28
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, Human Rights and international relations, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Deputy ambassador to UN draws comparison to 2017 genocide, as UN aid chief says more than 3 million people need life-saving aid
Description:
"Britain’s deputy UN ambassador has voiced concerns a military build-up in Myanmar’s north-west bears similarities to the Rohingya genocide of 2017.
James Kariuki told reporters before heading into a closed-doors meeting with the UN security council on Monday: “We are concerned that this rather mirrors the activity we saw four years ago ahead of the atrocities that were committed in Rakhine against the Rohingya [Muslim minority]”
The remarks came as UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said the humanitarian situation in Myanmar was deteriorating, with more than 3 million people in need of life-saving aid, adding that “without an end to violence and a peaceful resolution of Myanmar’s crisis, this number will only rise”.
The security council meeting coincides with the first anniversary of the re-election of Aung San Suu Kyi’s government, which was then ousted by the military in a 1 February coup.
Myanmar is facing charges of genocide at the international court of justice over a 2017 military crackdown on the Rohingya that forced more than 730,000 people to flee into neighbouring Bangladesh. Myanmar denies genocide and says its armed forces were legitimately targeting militants who attacked police posts.
About 223,000 Burmese remain internally displaced, including 165,000 in the country’s southeast – adding to those already displaced in Rakhine, Chin, Shan and Kachin states prior to the takeover, the UN emergency relief coordinator said.
Griffiths also said in a statement that the situation in the northwest of the Myanmar had become “extremely concerning” in recent weeks as fighting escalated between the Myanmar military and the Chinland Defence Force in Chin state and the Myanmar military and the People’s Defence Forces in Magway and Sagaing regions.
“More than 37,000 people, including women and children, have been newly displaced, and more than 160 homes have been burned, including churches and the offices of a humanitarian organisation,” Griffiths said.
The UN chief said attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, including humanitarian workers and facilities are banned under international humanitarian law and “must stop immediately”.
Griffiths called on the Myanmar armed forces to “facilitate safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access” and the international community to “fund the response”.
“I’m hoping we will speak together today and with one voice and a statement on Myanmar,” Ireland’s UN ambassador Geraldine Byrne Nason told reporters ahead of the council meeting..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of publication:
2021-11-09
Date of entry/update:
2021-11-09
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Genocide, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
more
Description:
"On Wednesday, United States Magistrate judge Zia M. Faruqui issued an order in the highly important case of The Republic of Gambia v. Facebook, Inc. The Gambia seeks content from Facebook that relates to the genocide in Myanmar in order to assess “responsibility for genocide” against the Rohingya before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Facebook’s role in propagating hate speech against the Rohingya and facilitating the genocide is well documented.
As the judge points out in his opinion, Facebook argued that The Gambia’s request “(1) violates the Stored Communications Act (SCA), and 2 is unduly burdensome.” But Faruqui ruled in favor of The Gambia. Stating that while Facebook did the right thing in deleting content targeting the Rohingya, he criticized the company for failing to provide the evidence needed to hold those responsible for the genocide to account. “Failing to do so here would compound the tragedy that has befallen the Rohingya,” he wrote.
The decision has important implications for what access investigators will have to content deleted from social media platforms going forward. For a better understanding, we posed a set of questions to Dr. Alexa Koenig, Executive Director of the Human Rights Center, a lecturer at UC Berkeley School of Law, and founder of the Human Rights Investigations Lab, asking her to discuss the judge’s decision and its broader consequences.
1. How might this ruling potentially empower international tribunals to access certain kinds of evidence?
This ruling potentially empowers international tribunals to obtain information that has been removed from social media sites for violation of terms of service but that social media companies can still access internally. The judge made a number of interesting findings: the most significant is his determination that content that has been taken down for violation of Facebook’s terms of service falls outside the ambit of the Stored Communications Act (SCA). This was the basis for the court’s ordering Facebook to share the requested content with The Gambia, including posts from Myanmar officials and Facebook’s internal investigation documents (pp. 28-29 of the opinion) related to those posts.
The SCA bars social media companies from knowingly sharing their users’ content with others with only a few exceptions, and it does so for several important reasons, namely the protection of users’ privacy and to protect “fourth amendment-like” concerns (order p. 9), including the prevention of unreasonable searches and seizures. In this case, the court determined that the SCA does not stand in the way of Facebook disclosing the requested data.
In addition, the court’s ruling underscores the ability of foreign governments to use a federal statute (28 USC § 1782) as a mechanism to request help from U.S. courts to obtain social media content that has been removed for terms of service violations and is no longer publicly available online. Typically, foreign governments like The Gambia would make a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) request for information. That process has been repeatedly criticized for being unwieldy and slow. Another mechanism is for foreign governments to use the CLOUD Act to request information. The CLOUD Act provides for a more streamlined process than the traditional MLAT process, but it requires the United States to have first entered into a bilateral agreement with the foreign country after assessing that the country has sufficient due process protections in place to support permitting a fast tracked process. Most countries do not yet have such an arrangement with the United States, and so this isn’t an option for most foreign government requests. Section 1782 is yet another mechanism that foreign governments can use; they can ask US courts for help in compelling the production of data. Courts have significant discretion about whether to issue an order based on a §1782 request. That was the mechanism used here.
2. The decision applies to content that was previously public, including self-declared “private” groups that include large numbers of people. What do you think of where the court drew the line here?
The court in The Gambia decision sweeps information that many might consider “private” into the “public” exception to the SCA. The Court spends quite a bit of time establishing that private Facebook groups might be considered public in situations where, for example, administrators automatically grant access to a private group such that it functions like a public page. They also emphasize that the Myanmar officials whose posts are at issue “clearly” intended their posts to reach the public, given their desire to spread hate, which–to be widely effectuated–depends on having a relatively broad reach.
I think the court was trying to find a way to ensure that critical information that could be helpful for evidentiary purposes could be made available. The fact that this is a case involving allegations of a particularly horrific crime like genocide–with widespread and shocking examples of the ways in which social media was used to incite physical violence against the Rohingya–likely played a role in its analysis. The court seems to recognize how critical the content could be for helping The Gambia better understand who may have been involved in inciting genocide, how the process played out, and the relative impact the posts might have had with regard to what transpired on the ground in Myanmar.
While it makes sense that purportedly private posts that reach millions of people may be functionally public and thus operate within a grey zone–and that people who are trying to disseminate dangerous hateful content shouldn’t be able to hide behind a private account that has broader reach than most public ones–this is a potentially slippery slope that could become dangerous if not carefully guarded.
Ultimately, the court attempts to narrow the applicability of its finding (and any future damage) by stating that “it is the rare case here that the authors nakedly displayed their intent to reach the public and such intent was independently confirmed”–emphasizing that this is a relatively circumscribed set of circumstances in which private groups might be considered functionally public.
3. Does this decision disincentivize Facebook from permanently deplatforming bad actors? Because if they permanently deplatform the decision applies, but does not necessarily apply if they do not permanently deplatform.
There are a lot of moves that Facebook could make in response to this, including not permanently deplatforming bad actors but also not holding onto the information that’s taken down as part of that de-platforming process. However, allowing bad actors to continue to act out on its site is a potentially onerous and dangerous path for Facebook, as it will have to repeatedly and continually assess the behavior of deeply problematic accounts — not to mention the outrage if the company allows dangerous communications and other behavior to continue to proliferate on its sites even after that’s been flagged internally or by external watchdogs. However, this decision also creates a potential incentive for Facebook to expand its participation in ongoing conversations about how to handle social media content at risk of removal that has significant potential evidentiary value. One option, should it not want to hold onto the content, is to share that information with an external repository, such as a digital evidence locker designed to hold content related to social media content relevant to international crimes like genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The creation of such an evidence locker is something that several human rights organizations and academics have called for, including Human Rights Watch, the Human Rights Center at UC Berkeley, and affiliates of Harvard, among others. Of course, any system that is created will need to have significant due process protections to safeguard and balance the competing human rights and civil rights issues at stake. But we’ve seen several potential precedents for such a system, ranging from the evidence collection mechanisms that have been created to aggregate evidence of atrocities in Syria and Myanmar, including social media evidence; to hash repositories for terrorism-related content; to information sharing mechanisms for European law enforcement.
4. What unanticipated negative consequences could emerge from this ruling for human rights activists and others? For example, the decision places emphasis on the fact that these were inauthentic accounts. What might it mean for anonymous accounts in repressive countries?
The opinion is relatively narrow in ways that limit the risk of significant downstream harms with respect to this set of concerns. However, all decisions raise the potential for unanticipated negative consequences–and there’s a long line of examples where a case apparently supports civil or human rights, but eventually becomes a problem for the very people it originally seemed to help. One significant concern, of course, is that governments will try to use this decision to secure information about human rights activists and other disfavored individuals and groups by arguing that their accounts are inauthentic or that they are part of a network engaged in coordinated inauthentic behavior. We’ve seen so many instances of human rights activists posting videos, photos and text to social media of violent or graphic incidents to bring global attention to those atrocities, and having that content removed and their accounts shut down–sometimes temporarily, but also permanently. These are individuals and networks that are already vulnerable, and might become more so if governments successfully use this court order — or the reasoning of the judge’s opinion — to increase their access to removed content.
Of course, other unintended negative consequences could include Facebook and other social media companies becoming even less aggressive about removing harmful content, as already discussed above, or being less clear about whether the deplatforming of particular accounts is permanent. This is likely to be a focus of future litigation in situations where the permanence of the removal is ambiguous.
5. What do you make of Facebook’s arguments?
I think Facebook is right to argue in support of privacy and to defend the privacy interests of its users, and its lawyers raise an important policy consideration with their argument that this holding could make a large number of deactivated accounts subject to disclosure along with content removed by other social media companies. However, legitimate legal processes, with significant due process protections, can minimize the potential harm to privacy. In addition, the court stresses that this fact pattern concerns coordinated, inauthentic behavior–not “genuine communications from real users”–suggesting that the risk is far less than Facebook suggests.
Ultimately, none of the values that are implicated by removal processes–including privacy–can be considered in a vacuum. From a rights perspective, this case also implicates freedom of expression, access to information, and accountability interests. It’s important for courts to try to strike a balance between those other competing human rights interests, or at least determine in which direction the balance of justice should tilt based on the relevant law and the specific facts of a case. In this decision, the court is struggling to apply a highly outdated law to a contemporary fact pattern; in many ways, the tool they are forced to apply isn’t fit for purpose. I think this case puts additional pressure on Congress to update the SCA and bring it more squarely into the 21st century.
As for Facebook’s argument that the removed information is a backup and thus is subject to SCA protections because it is stored adjacent to active content: that seems like a stretch. In addition, the Court raises an important point about the legislative intent underlying passage of the SCA. As stated in the order, “the SCA was created to allow platforms to flourish for users not to protect records for a provider” (opinion at p. 17). It’s unlikely that Facebook is suddenly going to struggle to keep users or gain new ones as a result of this decision, as the judge notes as well.
Facebook also argued that providing the requested information would be “unduly burdensome,” the standard for whether a court should exercise its discretion as to whether to allow discovery under §1782, and that The Gambia’s request is overly broad. However, the court rejected these arguments, pointing out that The Gambia asked for a specific set of records, namely those that Facebook had identified and deleted from its platform due to terms of service violations specific to hate speech and related to genocide in Myanmar. Given the scale at which Facebook operates, and the many variables involved (removed content, content removed for a specific reason, within a given date range, and specific to a particular geographic region), it seems Facebook could make a good faith attempt to comply with the order.
Finally, with regard to Facebook’s argument that the SCA makes the disclosure of exempted content discretionary to Facebook since the SCA states that when there is an exception, the provider “may” share content: that’s a difficult argument to sustain. As expressed in the judge’s opinion, it’s more logical that the word “may” signifies permission, but not discretion, to share content in the face of a lawful request. As stated in the order, “the Court cannot logically conclude that Congress gave Facebook greater power over discovery than the judiciary” (order at 21), which would be the case if Facebook had the authority to decide whether to turn the content over or not.
6. The opinion turns on the fact that the content was not in “backup storage” because the original version was now permanently deleted (hence no longer a “backup”). Do those parts of the opinion introduce any significant change into the SCA’s protections for other (private) communications in cases where there is only one copy, or where a service provider has deleted the messages but retains one copy?
This will be interesting to watch play out. Of course, any case is specific to the facts of that case. Thus, what is and is not considered permanent removal of content versus backup storage in other contexts will probably be getting some attention in courts.
As you noted earlier, the court emphasizes that “much of the content The Gambia seeks was posted publicly” before it was removed. This suggests that there is also future work to be done to hammer out the nature of content that falls into a grey zone between public and private information (see fn. 14). Where exactly information falls along that spectrum will ultimately dictate which exceptions apply to the SCA’s ban on sharing content.
7. Could this decision incentivize companies not to hold permanent records or else to use novel encryption technologies or other mechanisms to avoid ever possessing or retaining records of communications?
Absolutely. That’s probably why the court is so laudatory of Facebook’s efforts to store and analyze the content it removed for the potential role that content played in furthering atrocities in Myanmar–the opinion recognizes the potential disincentivizes this decision may have on doing the “responsible thing” before or after violence breaks out, including removing inflammatory content and the accounts of those who foment violence, and analyzing how activities on the Facebook may have triggered or exacerbated that violence. It’s critical that social media companies also analyze the role of algorithmic prioritization and deprioritization of content, and that they are engaged in preventing and accounting for human rights violations and international crimes like genocide that are facilitated by their platforms in order to comply with corporate social responsibility norms. No one will ever have as much relevant data as the companies themselves and therefore it is in the public’s interest that the companies play a major role in the detection of and response to how their platforms are being used to commit atrocities.
8. If you were an investigator on the January 6 committee, what opportunities would this ruling open in terms of obtaining information that one might otherwise think is protected by the Stored Communications Act?
There are a lot of ways to limit the applicability of this case to the January 6 inquiry based on both the underlying facts and law. First, this decision centers on a request by a foreign government, not a domestic entity. Second, investigations by members of our executive branch have a different purpose than and are subject to different rules than investigative processes triggered by Congress, as Elizabeth Goitein spells out in her recent Just Security article on preservation requests made by Congress to telecommunications and media companies related to the events of January 6. According to her analysis, there are quite a few grey areas with regard to the scope of congressional authority to access the records that are the target of its preservation request, including the scope of the applicability of the SCA to such requests. Much of her analysis concerns congressional authority to obtain private communications content (rather than logs etc that do not involve content). The court’s reasoning in The Gambia case could be persuasive with regard to how to define the boundaries between private and public communications and whether the SCA would protect information in permanently deleted accounts.
In addition, as discussed earlier, the Court swept quite a bit of information that some might consider “private” into the “public” exception to the SCA. However, a significant swath of the content at issue in the January 6 context–such as instant messages–would likely fall outside the consent exception. Even content shared in private groups may be regarded quite differently, if clearly intended to be private because strict admission rules were in place, for example, or posts were seen by a relatively small percentage of Facebook’s users.
Further, what is being asked for in each situation is quite different. There is an important distinction between authority to make a preservation request and the authority to obtain the information. The human and civil rights interests implicated by requests to preserve content for potential later acquisition (as in the January 6 context) are less extreme than those implicated by requests to access that content (as with The Gambia). One of the arguments we’ve made in the international context is that there should potentially be a wider array of actors empowered to make preservation requests of social media companies–given the acute risk of removal if the content is particularly graphic (the very content that might have the greatest value for later accountability), government actors’ relatively frequent complicity in human rights violations and international crimes, and the sometimes quite lengthy delays before international legal investigators are authorized to commence an investigation–while access should likely be limited to law enforcement and other legal investigative bodies given the more acute privacy, security and other human and civil rights risks.
Finally, what The Gambia case and the January 6 situation have in common is that they shine a spotlight on how critical such digital open source information–and digital communications more generally–have become to the investigation of both domestic and international crimes. The court’s emphasis in its decision on the 1000 posts used by reporter Steven Stecklow to illustrate how Facebook was used by Myanmar officials to advance genocide in Myanmar (posts that our Investigations Lab team helped identify) underscores the importance of advancing the jurisprudence related to the use of such content.
9. How might this decision affect the way other governments design their technology and communications policies, that is, in the way they decide to protect online communications? What’s the potential influence beyond the United States?
The United States has an important role to play in setting thoughtful precedent for the handling of digital content. Although U.S. decisions aren’t binding on other jurisdictions, they can be persuasive and can help to set global norms and expectations. Right now, a significant percentage of the major social media companies are based in the United States and subject to U.S. law. But of course there are an ever-increasing number of social media companies that reside outside of the United States, and U.S. control over social media content will likely become proportionately less with time. We really need to be thinking about the precedent the United States is setting for other countries and making sure that we continue to support and foster strong privacy laws and norms domestically, with clear due process protections when exceptions are made. Data localization laws are another player in this space, of course. The trend toward localization may be further exacerbated by decisions that compel disclosure of social media content in ways that run counter to foreign governments’ interests–as here, where Myanmar officials will probably dislike the disclosure of any content that reveals complicity in genocide..."
Source/publisher:
Just Security (New York)
Date of publication:
2021-09-24
Date of entry/update:
2021-09-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General, Human Rights and international relations
Language:
more
Description:
"1. Fascist Myanmar military (Tatmadaw) forcefully robbed the sovereign power of Myanmar
since the coup on February 1. Many strong evidences show that they have been
committing hideous crimes against humanity since then.
2. Fascist Myanmar military has intensified raids in cities and villages and arrested
unlawfully, tortured and killed many innocent local people with no restraints. Moreover,
evidences show that the military has increased their terrifying crimes and even set a
whole village on fire time and again.
3. Fascist Myanmar military recently cuts off telephone lines and internet in many townships
and areas around the country and also plans to cut off more areas; they are clearly
violating the right to information. The unlawful arrests, tortures and killings of villagers
under the "Area cleaning" program imply that the military regard the local people as
enemy and the cities and villages as battle fields.
4. Fascist Myanmar military has launched offensive attacks in ethic regions, committed
crimes against humanity under the program of "Area cleaning", and committed planned
genocide on minority ethnic groups for decades. Reflection on the recent incidents
happened around the country including Chin State, Sagaing Region and Yaw area indicate
that the military is planning to commit similar crimes again across the country.
5. When the fascist military committed the hideous crimes against Rohingya and destroyed
villages by setting them on fire, which caused hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to
abandoned their homes and ran for their lives, and when the fascist military launched
offensive attacks with disproportioned forces in ethnic regions, they had cut off the
internet and telephone lines in those areas to cause news blackout on their crimes of
setting villages on fire, arresting and torturing of villagers and killings the masses.
6. Fascist Myanmar military launched airstrikes on defenseless villages, set many villages on
fire, killed mass number of villagers, and looted local people's properties across the
country especially in Chin State, Chindwin river delta area and Northwest plain region in
Sagaing Region, and Yaw area in Magway Region under the "Area cleaning" program.
Cutting off internet and telephone lines to create news blackout in these areas are the
first step of their future plans on committing more crimes.
7. Fascist Myanmar military uses disproportionate forces in their offensive attacks in ethic
regions, Sagaing Region, Chindwin river delta region and Yaw region; these attacks will
lead to major humanitarian crisis as millions of people will be forced to abandon their
homes and villages and become Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
8. If we cannot prevent further crimes against humanity such as offensive attacks of the
Myanmar military led by Min Aung Hlaing using disproportionate forces and brazen
violations of international laws and human rights, the appalling stories like the recent
Rohingya genocide incidents and violent repressions in ethnic regions will repeat across
the country.
9. Thus, we urge all the stakeholders including National Unity Government (NUG),
revolution forces, and Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs) to formulate necessary plans
and implement these effectively and promptly to help protect the lives of civilians.
10. Myanmar will be ungovernable by the military council led by Min Aung Hlaing and the
military's violent repressions will spread instability to the neighboring countries and
threaten the regional peace. Thus, to prevent the potential humanitarian crisis spreading
to the regional countries as many civilians will flee to the neighboring countries to escape
the unlawful repression of the fascist military, we earnestly request the international
community including the United Nations, neighboring countries, and ASEAN to stop the
fascist military's offensive attacks, to stop the military council administration and return
to democracy, to be accountable for their crimes by pressuring the military council in all
possible ways and by increasing the contact with the NUG, who represent the Myanmar
people, and providing more effective support to the NUG.
11. Myanmar people will never accept the military council's governance and the people will
keep on fighting against the military until we can put a stop to all the inhumane terrorism
of fascist Myanmar military and end the military dictatorship. We will use all measures
tomake the fascist Myanmar military accountable for their crimes and to develop and
instill federal democracy in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
98 Organizations from Sagaing Region
Date of publication:
2021-09-19
Date of entry/update:
2021-09-19
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Genocide, Human Rights and international relations, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders
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"Statement regarding the internet cutoff in many townships in Sagaing Region and others areas, and recent events happening throughout the country..."
Source/publisher:
98 Organizations from Sagaing Region
Date of publication:
2021-09-19
Date of entry/update:
2021-09-19
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Human Rights Defenders, Genocide
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"In August 2017 and in October-November 2016, Myanmar security forces advanced upon numerous
Rohingya villages in Rakhine state. The 100-300 assailants, comprised of the Myanmar military,
Border Guard Police (BGP), police, and mmobilized Rakhine civilians, besieged the villages from
their deployment stations, which typically included BGP camps, military camps, Rakhine villages,
schools, and temples.
Security forces killed and injured Rohingya villagers with indiscriminate gunfire; raped Rohingya
women, and unlawfully arrested Rohingya men. Security forces burned down Rohingya homes
and looted Rohingya property. In the terror after such mass-scale violence and killing, Rohingya
villagers escaped to Bangladesh, where they now live in temporary tents within precarious refugee
camps.
Premeditation and intent to commit genocide is apparent from security forces’ advance planning and
deployment. They commonly began intimidation tactics in the dark hours before dawn, by firing
guns, and then attacked the villages in the early hours of the morning. Security forces consistently
surrounded Rohingya villages, completely blocking escape or leaving only one of four sides open
for egress. They shot indiscriminate gunfire to incite panic and fired at Rohingya people as the
civilians fled.
Yet the systematic destruction of the Rohingya people began far earlier than August 2017. Starting
from decades earlier, the government confiscated land from Rohingya villagers.
And during the time period of 2012-2016, Rohingya experienced multiple and successive forms of
religious discrimination and persecution. This included prohibitions on giving religious sermons, on
holding religious events, on practicing Qurban (ceremonial sacrifice of livestock animals), and on
performing azan (making calls to prayer). They were forbidden to gather in groups of five or more
people, which abrogated religious fellowship. Nor could they freely use their mosque for prayer or
provide Islamic education to their children at the madrasa. Security forces physically beat, arrested,
jailed, and extorted money from those found in prayer or religious practice.
Marriage required payment of high fees, of up to 500,000 kyat, in order to obtain permission from
the authorities. As the permission was issued, the authorities directed the Rohingya to have no more
than two or three children, under threat of punishment.
The Rohingya had no freedom of movement but were forced to obtain a series of travel permits,
even to travel to a neighboring village. And despite obtaining such permission by paying large
amounts of money, security forces extorted money at checkpoints. Security forces beat, fined,
arrested, and jailed those who did not obtain travel permission. Later, the Rohingya were forbidden
to even leave their own homes between 6:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.
The Rohingya faced discrimination in schooling, thereby foreclosing their education. The
government barred them from obtaining public employment. The military regularly conscripted
Rohingya men into forced labor. The Rohingya also faced discrimination in obtaining medical
treatment and healthcare.
Although the Rohingya voted before, this too was foreclosed after 2015. Finally, no Rohingya
person held Myanmar citizenship. Indeed, the authorities tried to force them to accept NVC, a card
which would register them as foreigners. In summation, Rohingya people were deprived of basic
rights in essentially every aspect of daily life.
With this history of discrimination and persecution of the Rohingya as the backdrop, we recommend
first that the international community provide affirmative support to having the entire matter of
genocide referred to the International Criminal Court or to a newly established special or ad-hoc
court for investigation and trial. The truth-seeking investigation must proceed without any grants
of immunity, for the wrongdoers occupy all levels of society. The bad actors include the Myanmar
military, BGP, and officials of the Myanmar government, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu
Kyi and other Cabinet Members, as well as civilians who were mobilized into paramilitary forces.
We also recommend that the Myanmar government provide remedy and relief to the victims and
survivors, founded first on restoration of previously-held rights, as well as financial recompense to
those for whom such restoration is insufficient, such as victims who have suffered psychological
harm. In such situations, it is critical to respect and decide the specific substance and form of
remedy and relief according to the wishes of the victims and the Rohingya community.
Further action includes the introduction of legislation and administrative measures to abolish
systems and practices that discriminate against the Rohingya, including those involving hate speech
and other forms of prejudiced information. Education is necessary to improve awareness of hatred,
bias, and discrimination.
The Myanmar government must cease registering the Rohingya with NVC identification cards
and must ensure restoration of their citizenship rights. Finally, the Myanmar government and the
international community must actively guarantee and ensure participation of Rohingya people in
discussions about possible repatriation..."
Source/publisher:
Asian Dignity Initiative
Date of publication:
2021-09-01
Date of entry/update:
2021-09-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, International Criminal Court, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General, Human Rights and international relations
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44.36 MB (Original version) - 112 pages, 4.87 MB (Reduce version) - 122 pages
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Sub-title:
The United Nations is set to consider whether to recognise the military regime or National Unity Government, and its decision could have major implications for a genocide case before the International Court of Justice.
Description:
"With the United Nations expected to soon decide whether Myanmar is represented in the General Assembly by the military regime or the National Unity Government, another important question may hang in the balance: who will represent Myanmar at the International Court of Justice?
The Gambia brought a case against Myanmar at the ICJ in 2019, accusing it of committing genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority. The allegations stem from the Tatmadaw’s brutal campaign of violence in 2017, which monitoring groups say killed thousands of Rohingya and forced more than 700,000 to flee across the border to refugee camps in Bangladesh. Nobel Peace Prize laureate State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi controversially defended the military’s actions before the ICJ in December 2019. Her administration was overthrown by the generals in February this year, and she is now being imprisoned by the very people she went to the Hague to defend
The NUG was formed in April by lawmakers elected in November’s polls, which the military later annulled, and consists of members from the National League for Democracy as well as representatives from ethnic minority groups and civil society.
With the military back in nominal control of the country but still largely unrecognised on the international stage, the case has become embroiled in the struggle between the regime and the NUG. Unlike the International Criminal Court, which hears cases against individuals, the ICJ is a United Nations body that settles disputes between states, and both the junta and the NUG are apparently eager to take the ICJ case to bolster their legitimacy.
Dr Sasa, the NUG’s Minister for International Cooperation, confirmed that the civilian government is seeking control of the case. “If the ICJ will allow us to represent Myanmar by appointing an agent at the case, then that is what we also will do,” he said in a recent interview with Frontier. Sasa made clear that the legitimacy issue is weighing heavily on the NUG’s decision to try and take the ICJ case. “It’s also very much to do with who will represent Myanmar as a state right now,” he said.
The UN Credentials Committee recommends to the UN General Assembly which government to recognise in the event of a dispute. The nine-member body currently includes Russia and China, who have shielded the junta from consequences at the UN Security Council, as well as the United States, which has already declared the events in Rakhine State ethnic cleansing and imposed sanctions against military-linked entities and individuals.
The issue could come to a head when the General Assembly meets on September 14. Myanmar’s seat at the UN is occupied by U Kyaw Moe Tun, who has remained loyal to the overthrown government; the junta has not only sought to replace him, it has charged him with high treason and demanded his extradition. Last month, America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation announced details of an alleged assassination plot targeting Kyaw Moe Tun involving Myanmar nationals based in the US. The military regime has denied any involvement in the scheme.
Despite being the target of most of The Gambia’s allegations, the military regime also appears keen to continue engaging with the ICJ; it recently announced a reshuffle of the team overseeing the case, appointing eight junta officials. Mr William Schabas and Ms Phoebe Okowa, foreign lawyers who previously served on Myanmar’s legal team under Aung San Suu Kyi, both confirmed that they are no longer working on the case but declined to comment further. “I resigned from the legal team soon after the military coup and have absolutely no insights into the case except what is publicly available,” Okowa said to Frontier in an email.
The military’s new legal team is led by the junta’s foreign minister, U Wunna Maung Lwin, and also includes Lieutenant-General Yar Pyae, a close ally of commander-in-chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing who was recently named as minister of the Union Government Office.
But the NUG remains hopeful that the ICJ will not engage with the military’s legal team.
“I don’t think that the ICJ will accept those people that claim to be representing the state of Myanmar or the people of Myanmar,” Sasa said.
A tough spot
Taking charge of the case would put the NUG in a tricky position, however. Aung San Suu Kyi’s decision to defend Myanmar before the ICJ was wildly popular inside the country, where many people consider the Rohingya to be illegal immigrants, but she was condemned by human rights groups and other Nobel Peace Prize winners. Canada and the Netherlands joined the case against Myanmar, and other Western countries like the United Kingdom expressed support for it.
How then would the NUG, which has Aung San Suu Kyi still nominally as its state counsellor, fight the case, if it were accepted as Myanmar’s representative? Continuing to deny allegations of genocide would harm its efforts to secure international support for its cause, but conceding that genocide occurred is unlikely to go over well domestically, where anti-Rohingya sentiment is widespread even among pro-democracy supporters. This could be ameliorated to some extent by heaping the blame onto the Tatmadaw, and saying that it misled the NLD government about events on the ground in Rakhine State back in 2017, but accepting that genocide occurred could still cost the NUG some support.
Political analyst Mr David Mathieson said the NUG would be “deplored internationally if they argued against genocide and pilloried domestically if they agreed it was a genocide”.
There are some signs that attitudes towards the Rohingya are changing. The NUG has pledged to grant the Rohingya equal rights and replace the 1982 Citizenship Law, and some activists and protesters have apologised for their treatment or advocated for their rights – public displays of sympathy and support were rarely seen before the coup. Even the use of the word “Rohingya” in such a public manner would have been unthinkable before the coup.
But Mathieson said he didn’t think attitudes had changed that much. “I can’t imagine any deep-seated anti-Rohingya sentiments would have completely evaporated since the coup. They may well have altered, but I seriously doubt there has been a nation-wide epiphany of compassion. More likely there has been a nationwide awakening as to the brutality, oppression and greed of the Tatmadaw.”
But Rohingya activist U Tun Khin, president of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, said he believes perceptions have genuinely shifted. “There’s no question that we have seen a real change in public opinion since the coup. I and many other Rohingya have been flooded with messages on social media from people apologising for spreading hatred against us in the past,” he told Frontier.
Although some members of the NUG had denied atrocities were perpetrated against the Rohingya when the NLD was in power, Tun Khin said he believes the parallel government’s recent statements were a “step in the right direction”.
“We welcome the fact that the NUG is seeking to engage with the ICJ, and there is no question that it is a better choice to [represent Myanmar] than the Tatmadaw,” Tun Khin said.
The NUG’s position is made more difficult by the fact that the case has been brought under the Genocide Convention. This means the ICJ can only rule on whether genocide occurred, and cannot, for instance, dismiss the genocide accusation but confirm a charge of crimes against humanity – a middle ground that might have been acceptable to most of the NUG’s international and domestic supporters.
When Aung San Suu Kyi defended the case, she did not even acknowledge crimes against humanity, however, saying instead that any alleged war crimes were committed by individual soldiers who would be held accountable domestically. The Tatmadaw has tried some soldiers accused of atrocities at military tribunals, but these trials were widely seen as attempts to deflect responsibility from more senior officers. They were also not open to the public and some of those convicted were soon amnestied and freed from prison.
One of Myanmar’s former lawyers, Schabas, was more explicit, acknowledging during the ICJ hearing that the UN Fact-Finding Mission “concluded without equivocation that crimes against humanity and war crimes had been committed” but was “more circumspect” on the allegations of genocide. He noted at the time that the ICJ lacks jurisdiction to address those crimes.
Frontier asked Sasa several times whether the NUG would accept the allegations of genocide or argue against them in court, but he evaded the question each time.
“It is for the court to decide based on the evidence and proof if genocide happened or not. It’s not for the government or an organisation to decide. If it is found that there is evidence of genocide, who are we to say no?” he said.
When the NUG released a statement on the fourth anniversary of the crackdown on the Rohingya, it condemned “atrocity crimes” but did not explicitly call it a genocide. But even within the NUG there are divisions. The Ministry of Women’s Affairs released a statement calling the crackdown a genocide and highlighted acts of sexual violence, which the NUG did not mention and which Aung San Suu Kyi’s Facebook page previously referred to as “fake rape”.
Mathieson said the NUG could look foolish if it argued that genocide did occur, and then the court determined the crackdown did not qualify as genocide, an outcome he said “is not unlikely”.
Tun Khin argues it is crucial that the NUG publicly recognises the treatment of the Rohingya as a genocide. “Only by accepting the realities of the past will we be able to build a common future, and to take effective and genuine steps to end the ongoing genocide,” he said.
Sasa said the NUG is also working with its law firm, Volterra Fietta, to build a case against military leaders at the ICC. “We have received thousands of videos of atrocities” committed by the military since the coup, he said, pledging that the NUG will also “bring justice to our Rohingya brothers and sisters” either through the ICC or domestic legal mechanisms.
Although Myanmar is not yet a state party to the ICC because it has not ratified the Rome Statute, soon after his interview with Frontier Sasa the NUG announced that it lodged a formal declaration in July to accept the ICC’s jurisdiction as a non-state party for crimes committed since 2002.
Legitimacy not necessarily at stake
While the question of who represents Myanmar at the ICJ is symbolically important, the court adjudicates disputes between states, not governments. Legal experts say that if the junta were allowed to represent Myanmar, it would not imply legal recognition.
Mr Arsalan Suleman, a lawyer on The Gambia’s legal team, said they would continue to pursue the case even if the military regime is representing Myanmar.
“The Gambia sued the State of Myanmar in the ICJ. Since then, The Gambia has followed the procedures established by the Court, and it will continue to do so until a final judgment has been issued by the Court. This does not imply The Gambia’s diplomatic recognition of Myanmar’s current de facto government,” he said in an email.
Ms Emma Palmer, a senior lecturer at Australia’s Griffith Law School and an expert on international law, said the ICJ’s decision over who represents Myanmar could be “persuasive” in terms of popular perception of legitimacy, but is not legally binding.
“It would be the ‘state’ that the ICJ has jurisdiction over, rather than a particular government, so I agree that a change in government does not affect the ICJ case’s ability to proceed,” she said. Allowing the military to take the case “would not amount to any kind of formal change to the status of the military”.
Palmer said she would expect the ICJ to “avoid the issue” by delaying proceedings or waiting for the UN to make a decision.
This may already be happening. The last update on the ICJ website is from January 28, days before the coup, setting a deadline of May 20 for The Gambia to respond to Myanmar’s preliminary objections, which challenged the court’s jurisdiction over the case. These objections mean the case will not move forward until the court makes a decision on whether it has the authority to proceed.
Suleman confirmed that The Gambia countered Myanmar’s objections, and said he expects the court to set a date soon for oral arguments on the preliminary objections. But more than three months after the deadline for The Gambia’s response, the court is still yet to make any public statement on the case, let alone schedule oral hearings. In contrast, the January update came just eight days after Myanmar filed its preliminary objections on January 20.
The ICJ did not respond to Frontier’s request for comment.
No decision
A further complication for the court would be if the UN General Assembly does not make a definitive decision later this month on who should represent Myanmar.
Ms Sarah Williams, a professor in the Faculty of Law & Justice at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, said the UN could theoretically leave Myanmar’s seat at the UN empty as it did with the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in 1997 and Taliban in Afghanistan in 1996. She said it could also maintain the status quo, allowing the incumbent ambassador, Kyaw Moe Tun, to retain his seat – at least for now – without deciding between the military regime and the NUG.
Williams said that if this happens, she would expect the ICJ to “say that it is unable to determine which person/entity is entitled to represent Myanmar and will not accept instructions from anyone” – a scenario that is likely to further stall the case. Even though the ICC is not a UN body and therefore “in theory has more flexibility”, it would still most likely take its cues from the UN and be reluctant to make its own determination.
Palmer said there is another scenario where the military takes the ICJ case, but then refuses to cooperate with the proceedings, given its history of rejecting the authority of international legal mechanisms. “If the military does notappear in Court, which seems potentially likely, then the Court will most likely just proceed with the case without ‘Myanmar’,” she said, adding that this has happened before, in a case between Nicaragua and the United States.
On August 24, the military regime filed a legal amendment criminalising genocide in Myanmar’s domestic law, and defining it by the recognised international standard. It has said little about the reasons behind the amendment, but observers say it could be an attempt by the military to undermine international legal mechanisms, as it can now try to argue that the crime of genocide can be investigated and prosecuted domestically and international action is therefore not needed.
But Tun Khin said only international mechanisms will suffice.
“The military has committed genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes with impunity in Myanmar for decades,” he said. “They must be held to account, and only the international community is in a position to provide justice.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2021-09-02
Date of entry/update:
2021-09-02
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Human Rights and international relations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, National Unity Government (NUG), Genocide, International Criminal Court, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General
Language:
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Sub-title:
Investigations in international courts will only give a partial picture of what happened in 2017, the rest must not be lost to history
Description:
"More than four years after Myanmar military soldiers committed mass murder, rape and arson against the Rohingya in Rakhine State, several efforts aimed at achieving the distant-seeming goal of bringing Min Aung Hlaing and other perpetrators to justice are underway.
Cases have been accepted at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC), while Rohingya advocates in Argentina are pushing for courts there to accept a third case that specifically names both civilian and military officials implicated in the genocide, including detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Justice is by no means guaranteed for the Rohingya, or others across the country who have been suffering under the military both before and after the February 1 coup. Regardless of the legal outcomes of these cases, the reality is that the military will continue to enjoy impunity as long as it clings to power.
Even so, the one thing that these cases can do for the Rohingya is to act as truth-seeking exercises, putting down on the official record exactly what happened. But even the courts of The Hague do not have the capacity to comprehensively document what happened in the weeks and months after the killing started on August 25, 2017.
During the bloodbath, some 300 villages across Rakhine were subjected to atrocities. Nearly 24,000 Rohingya civilians were killed in numerous massacres, while 18,000 women and girls were raped, according to a report from the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).
The ICC, the ICJ and others will not and cannot do a full truth-seeking investigation covering every affected village. These international legal proceedings will focus on several villages that were heavily affected, inviting a couple of dozen witnesses to the stand.
That means a huge amount will be left out of the proceedings, information that ought to be brought to light for historical, legal, and moral reasons. We must not allow the details about what happened in the majority of Rohingya villages in 2017 to be lost to history.
In Asian Dignity Initiative's latest report on the massacre, seven Rohingya researchers interviewed 845 civilians from 30 villages in Rakhine State in a bid to ensure as many details about what happened are put on the record as possible.
We want to continue these efforts in the future so that no village is left out. When the Covid-19 situation allows again, grassroots efforts to build a comprehensive picture of what happened must resume..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2021-09-02
Date of entry/update:
2021-09-02
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, International Criminal Court, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
Language:
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Description:
"Today, 25 August, marks four years since our people fled genocidal attacks by Myanmar
security forces in Arakan State also known as Rakhine State, Myanmar in 2017. Today, 25
August, is the fourth Anniversary of the Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day.
We mark this day so that all future generations of Rohingya will know what happened to our
people. We the undersigned organizations, remember, mourn, and call for accountability
for the atrocity crimes committed by the Myanmar security forces including genocide and
crimes against humanity.
The Myanmar security forces killed, raped, and burned our villages trying to destroy us.
The attacks led to the exodus of nearly one million Rohingya to Bangladesh, where we now
live in sprawling and overcrowded refugee camps.
On 1 February 2021, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and the Myanmar military overthrew
the elected Government of Myanmar in a coup. The military and police have since
killed more than 1,000 men, women, and children- p rimarily peaceful protesters- a nd
imprisoned several thousand others for opposing the junta's rule.
The junta that controls the country is the same military junta that led genocidal attacks against
our people and now are committing human rights violations against the whole country.
Rohingya are still at grave risk in Rakhine State where the junta commits crimes with impunity.
The military continues to confine thousands of Rohingya to internment camps and Rohingya
are still denied citizenship, freedom of movement, and other basic human rights.
We are citizens of Myanmar and support the resistance movement against the junta
including the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) the National Unity Government (NUG),
and all people working for democracy and human rights.
We support the international community and the NUG's commitment for international
justice including at the International Criminal Court, International Court of Justice, and
through the universal jurisdiction case in Argentina. However, we call on the NUG to
expand on its Rohingya policy and appoint a Rohingya minster and other Muslim leaders.
We call on United Nations member states to impose targeted sanctions against the
Myanmar military and work to end impunity in the country. United Nations have been slow
to show coordinated action to hold preparators accountable for crimes.
We support the International Court of Justice genocide case at the World Court. We the
undersigned organisations, call on governments around the world including the United
States, United Kingdom, and others to make a clear genocide determination about the
crimes committed against Rohingya.
We Rohingya are still living in overcrowded and sprawling refugee camps. We thank the
Bangladesh government for welcoming us to the country and providing us safety. We long
to return home to Myanmar.
Four years on, we will work to be able to return to our homeland as citizens, to build
a country that ensures justice and rights for people regardless of race, religion, or ethnicity..."
Source/publisher:
Champions of Change, Education & Wisdom Development for Rohingya Women , Rohingya Refugee Committee , Rohingya Women Education Initiative, Rohingya Youth for Legal Action, Rohingya Youth Unity Team, Voice of Rohingya, Rohingya Student Union
Date of publication:
2021-08-25
Date of entry/update:
2021-09-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Human Rights and international relations, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Anti-coup protesters, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"On 25 August, 2021, the Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day Organizing Committee
and the Women’s Peace Network held an online panel discussion to commemorate the four
years since the Myanmar military’s systematic use of sexual violence in its genocidal attacks
against Rohingya.
“The military has killed indiscriminately, slaughtered us like animals. Tens of thousands
of Rohingya women were gang-raped by the Myanmar military. It was systematic and we
consider it as part of the genocide. They were using rape as a weapon against women to force us
out of Myanmar. There still is no justice for us,” explained Win Win Maw, a poet, cultural agent
and writer at the Rohingya Cultural Memory Center in Bangladesh.
Moon Nay Li, who has worked for the Kachin Women's Association for 18 years and
currently holds the position of advocacy officer and spokesperson, highlighted that for decades,
the military used rape as a weapon of war with impunity, and the international community’s
failure to act emboldened them to continue this horrific practice to this day.
“I think the lack of impunity emboldened them, the lack of punishment and the military
immunity have made the situation worse,” she said.
Khin Omar, human rights advocate and founder of a number of civil society
organizations, including the Women's League of Burma, Burma Partnership, and Progressive
Voice, then elaborated on the question of justice for survivors, stating that survivors and victims
of sexual violence needed remedy, and that Myanmar as a country needs to hold the military
accountable so that they would “stop raping women.”
Another of our panelists, Naw K’nyaw Paw, a lifelong peace activist and General
Secretary of the Karen Women’s Organization, explained the psychosocial consequences of
sexual violence as follows: “The victims of sexual violence have suffered mental and physical
trauma, they can’t focus on work tasks, they seek isolation, they become triggered and
re-traumatized, and they face stigma. Sexual violence can also separate women from their social
communities, but they need an income and social support. We need justice, but we also need to
help victims to support their livelihoods and dignity.”
As some of our speakers pointed out, sexual violence against ethinic minorities was long
seen as something normal in Myanmar, mainly because ethnic minorities such as Rohingya were
not perceived as Burmese citizens. Dr. Tin Mar Oo, a medical doctor and Rohingya women
rights activist told us that these feelings of disunity are starting to dissipate under the current
junta rule.
“Myanmar is at war. The military is attacking everybody, in different parts of Myanmar.
They are using sexual violence as a weapon, we have to understand that. It is important that we
work together to find justice for all the victims of the Myanmar military,” she proclaimed.
The fruitful discussion, moderated by former political prisoner and founder of the
Women’s Peace Network, Wai Wai Nu, demonstrated the strong need for remedy and
accountability. Hence, together with our panelists, the Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day
Committee and the Women’s Peace Network call on the international community to provide
financial and psychological support for the victims of the Burmese Military’s wide-spread use of
sexual and gender-based violence. We also call on communities to provide social and
psychological support for traumatized survivors. Further, we demand that the National Unity
Government repeal the 2014 and 2015 Race and Protection laws, which discriminate against
ethnic, racial, and religious minorities and render women and girls who are already a target to
violence even more vulnerable.
Moreover, as former Dutch ambassador, member of the Rakhine Advisory Commission,
and author Laetitia van den Assum has put it, “without accountability, justice doesn’t stand a
chance”. If we want justice for survivors, we cannot permit the junta to continue their campaign
of terror with impunity. Thus, we call on the United Nations Security Council to refer Myanmar
to the International Criminal Court or create a Special Tribunal to hold the military accountable
for their crimes..."
Source/publisher:
Women’s Peace Network
Date of publication:
2021-08-25
Date of entry/update:
2021-08-28
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Women's rights
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
54.08 KB
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Sub-title:
Announcement on Illicit Printing of Banknotes - ငွေစက္ကူများ တရားမဝင် ရိုက်နှိပ်ထုတ်ဝေခြင်းနှင့် စပ်လျဉ်းသည့်ကြေညာချက်
Description:
"1. The Ministry of Planning, Finance, and Investment has received credible information that the
illegitimate military council has made approaches to foreign banknote and security printing firms in
order to seek assistance in printing new Myanmar kyat banknotes.
2. Issuance of currency is the sole prerogative of a nation's government. The National Unity
Government has determined the illegitimate military council to be an unlawful association under
Section 16 of the Unlawful Associations Act 1908. It shall remain so irrespective of its change of title,
composition, or dissolution under Section 18 of the said Act. As such, any issuance of currency
effected by the military council, its successor entities, and any of its subordinate or subsidiary
associations, including the so-called 'caretaker government', shall be deemed to lack legitimacy.
3. Causing inflation by printing excess banknotes is, in effect, the theft of our people's labour and
savings. As our nation faces unprecedented perils of conflict, poverty, and pestilence, all precipitated
by the military council, such a reckless and irresponsible act that will cause harm to labourers,
workers, households, businesses, and investors shall not be tolerated.
4. The National Unity Government calls upon the military council to desist from this act of economic
sabotage. Likewise, the National Unity Government implores foreign banknote and security printing
firms who have been approached, and those who may yet be approached by the illegal military
council, to refrain from the printing of Myanmar kyat banknotes and from providing any raw
materials, supplies, or system components that could be used in their production.
5. The National Unity Government calls upon all responsible firms to follow the example set by
Giesecke+Devrient GmbH in March when it took an immediate, principled, and ethical step in halting
all deliveries to the military council-controlled printer, Security Printing Works.
6. The National Unity Government shall consider any assistance provided to the illegal military
council to print illicit banknotes as an act of aiding and abetting an unlawful association responsible
for numerous and ongoing atrocities, including crimes against humanity and genocide.....၁။ တရားမဝင်အာဏာသိမ်းစစ်ကောင်စီသည် မြန်မာကျပ်ငွေစက္ကူအသစ်များ ရိုက်နှိပ်ရန်အလို့ငှာ ငွေစက္ကူပုံနှိပ်လုပ်ငန်း ဝန်ဆောင်မှုပေး သည့် ပြည်ပကုမ္ပဏီများထံ ချဉ်းကပ်လျက်ရှိကြောင်း ကျွန်ုပ်တို့ စီမံကိန်း၊ ဘဏ္ဍာရေးနှင့် ရင်းနှီးမြုပ်နှံမှု ဝန်ကြီးဌာနအနေဖြင့် ခိုင်လုံသည့် သတင်းအချက်အလက်များ လက်ခံရရှိထားပါသည်။
၂။ ငွေစက္ကူရိုက်နှိပ်ထုတ်ဝေခြင်းဆိုသည်မှာ နိုင်ငံတစ်ခု၏ တရားဝင်အစိုးရကသာ လုပ်ပိုင်ခွင့်ရှိသည့် လုပ်ငန်းစဉ်ဖြစ်သည်။ အမျိုးသား ညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရသည် ၁၉၀၈ ခုနှစ် မတရားအသင်းများအက်ဥပဒေ ပုဒ်မ ၁၆ အရ တရားမဝင်အာဏာသိမ်းစစ်ကောင်စီအား မတရားသင်းတစ်ခုအဖြစ် အတိအလင်းကြေညာပြီးဖြစ်သည်။ ယင်းအက်ဥပဒေပုဒ်မ ၁၈ အရ အိမ်စောင့်အစိုးရအမည်ခံ စစ်ကောင်စီမှဖြစ် စေ၊ ယင်းကိုဆက်ခံသည့် အဖွဲ့အစည်းတစ်ခုခုမှဖြစ်စေ၊ ယင်း၏လက်အောက်ခံ အဖွဲ့အစည်းတစ်ခုခုမှဖြစ်စေ ငွေစက္ကူရိုက်နှိပ် ထုတ်ဝေခြင်း သည် တရားဝင်မှု အလျဉ်းမရှိသည့် လုပ်ရပ်သာဖြစ်သည်။
၃။ တရားမဝင်ငွေစက္ကူများ ရိုက်နှိပ်ထုတ်ဝေခြင်းဖြင့် ငွေကြေးဖောင်းပွမှု ဖြစ်ပေါ်စေခြင်းသည် ကျွန်ုပ်တို့ပြည်သူများ၏ လုပ်အားနှင့် ချွေးနှဲ စာစုဆောင်းငွေများကို တဖက်လှည့်ခိုးယူခြင်းပင် ဖြစ်သည်။ ကျွန်ုပ်တို့နိုင်ငံသည် တရားမဝင်အာဏာသိမ်းစစ်ကောင်စီ၏ အဆင်ခြင်မဲ့ လုပ်ရပ်များကြောင့် ယခင်မကြုံဖူးသည့် ပဋိပက္ခအန္တရာယ်၊ ဆင်းရဲမွဲတေမှုနှင့် ကပ်ရောဂါတို့ကို စုပြုံခံစားနေရချိန်၌ အိမ်ထောင်စုများ၊ စီးပွား ရေးလုပ်ငန်းများ၊ ရင်းနှီးမြုပ်နှံသူများနှင့် ပြည်သူလူထုအပေါ် ထပ်မံ၍ ဒုက္ခအကျပ်အတည်း ဆိုက်ရောက်စေသည့် ငွေစက္ကူရိုက်နှိပ်ထုတ် ဝေခြင်းသည် သည်းခံခွင့်လွှတ်နိုင်ဖွယ် မရှိသော လုပ်ရပ်သာဖြစ်သည်။
၄။ ထို့ကြောင့် ငွေစက္ကူပုံနှိပ်ထုတ်ဝေခြင်းလုပ်ငန်း ဝန်ဆောင်မှုပေးနေသည့် ပြည်ပမှ ကုမ္ပဏီများအနေဖြင့် တရားမဝင်အာဏာသိမ်း စစ်ကောင်စီ၏ ငွေစက္ကူရိုက်နှိပ်ထုတ်ဝေခြင်းအား တနည်းနည်းဖြင့် ပူးပေါင်းဆောင်ရွက်ခြင်း၊ ကုန်ကြမ်းပစ္စည်းနှင့် နည်းပညာအထောက် အပံ့ ပေးခြင်းတို့ကို အထူးရှောင်ရှားကြရန် တိုက်တွန်းတောင်းဆိုအပ်ပါသည်။
၅။ ပြီးခဲ့သည့် မတ်လတွင် စစ်ကောင်စီထိန်းချုပ်ထားသည့် ငွေစက္ကူ နှင့် ငွေကြေးဆိုင်ရာ စာချုပ်၊စာတမ်းများပုံနှိပ်စက် အတွက်အဓိက လိုအပ်သည့် နည်းပညာနှင့်ကုန်ကြမ်းတင်ပို့မှုများကို မူဝါဒခိုင်မာစွာ၊ ကျင့်ဝတ်မှန်ကန်စွာ၊ ချက်ချင်းရပ်စဲခဲ့သည့် Giesecke+Devrient GmbH ကုမ္ပဏီ၏ ဂုဏ်သိက္ခာရှိသည့် တာဝန်ခံဆောင်ရွက်မှုကို စံနမူနာထား၊ အတုယူ၍ အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီနှင့် စီးပွားရေးဆက်ဆံ ဆောင်ရွက်မှုများ လုံး၀မပြုလုပ်ကြရန်လည်း တိုက်တွန်းအပ်ပါသည်။
၆။ လူမျိုးတုံး သတ်ဖြတ်မှု၊ လူသားထုအပေါ် ကျူးလွန်သော ရာဇဝတ်မှုအပါအဝင် ဆက်လက် ကျူးလွန်နေသည့် ရက်စက်ယုတ်မာမှုများ၊ မရေမတွက်နိုင်သော အကြမ်းဖက် လုပ်ဆောင်မှုများနှင့် ဆက်စပ်နေသည့် တရားမဝင်အာဏာသိမ်းစစ်ကောင်စီ၏ ဥပဒေမဲ့၊ တရားမဝင် ငွေစက္ကူရိုက်နှိပ်ထုတ်ဝေခြင်း လုပ်ငန်းစဉ်တွင် တနည်းနည်းဖြင့် ပူးပေါင်းဆောင်ရွက်သည့် စီးပွားရေးလုပ်ငန်းများ၊ ကုမ္ပဏီများအား အကြမ်းဖက်မှုကို အားပေးကူညီရာမြောက်သည့်လုပ်ငန်းများအဖြစ် အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရအဖွဲ့က မှတ်တမ်းပြုစု၊ အရေးယူ ဆောင်ရွက်သွားမည်ဖြစ်သည်။..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of Planning, Finance and Investment - NUG
Date of publication:
2021-08-27
Date of entry/update:
2021-08-27
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Human Rights and international relations, Genocide
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"Myanmar’s military regime has added a genocide law to the country’s colonial-era Penal Code, a move being seen by legal experts as an attempt to ease international pressure on the regime as it faces a genocide charge at a United Nations court for its soldiers’ atrocities against the Rohingya.
The new provisions published in junta-controlled newspapers threaten the death sentence for murders committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. The provisions were signed by coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on Tuesday.
The addition to the Penal Code also carries a life sentence for other crimes committed with genocidal purpose.
They include causing grievous hurt or serious mental harm to members of a group, deliberately inflicting on a group conditions of life calculated to bring its physical destruction in whole or in part, imposing measures, not in accordance with any existing laws, intended to prevent births within a group, and forcibly transferring children of a group to another group.
The promulgation of the new genocide law coincided with an online campaign to mark the fourth anniversary of atrocities against the Rohingya, the stateless Muslim people in Rakhine State, in 2017. A Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day was organized online on Wednesday, with many activists expressing their apologies to the Rohingya for failing to speak out while they were being persecuted by the Myanmar military.
Over 700,000 Rohingya fled to neighboring Bangladesh after the military carried out clearance operations in Rakhine in response to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army’s attacks on security outposts in August 2017. The Gambia, representing the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, filed a genocide case against Myanmar at the United Nations International Court of Justice (ICJ) in late 2019.
However, both the then National League for Democracy government and the military denied the accusations of genocide. In January 2020, the ICJ ordered Myanmar to comply with four provisional measures as requested by The Gambia.
The measures require that Myanmar take steps to prevent genocide from occurring in the future, as well as ensuring that the military and its affiliates do not commit further acts of genocide, in particular killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and preventing births. Myanmar is also required to preserve all evidence of genocide, and provide regular updates on its progress on these measures.
One legal expert, who asked for anonymity, said that the military regime has enacted the genocide law to ease international pressure on it as it faces the genocide charge at the ICJ, but the move will not give the regime any protection from crimes it has previously committed.
“The law will not have an effect on things that happened before its enactment. This law should be accepted as it presents the opportunity for citizens, ethnic groups and religious organizations to open cases regarding genocidal crimes in the future,” he added.
The junta said it had enacted the genocide law because it was liable to do so after Myanmar ratified the Genocide Convention on December 30, 1949 and then became a member of the Convention in March 1956.
“As we are a member country, we have a responsibility to enact a law. So we have enacted a law to prevent and punish genocide,” said the regime spokesperson, Major General Zaw Min Tun.
The junta has also changed the Code of Criminal Procedures, which allows authorities to arrest genocide suspects without a warrant. People accused of genocide can no longer be bailed.
“They just want to show the international community that they are against genocide and are taking action to prevent it,” said another legal expert. Meanwhile, the parallel National Unity Government (NUG) is also working to prosecute Myanmar’s military at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Myanmar is not an ICC member, but Acting President Duwa Lashi La of the NUG lodged a declaration with the ICC registrar last week, accepting the ICC’s jurisdiction with respect to international crimes committed in Myanmar since July 1, 2002, the earliest date permitted by the Rome Statute that established the ICC.
To mark Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day, the NUG Deputy Minister for Women, Youths and Children Affairs, Daw Ei Thinzar Maung, called on Myanmar people to show sympathy for the traumatic experiences Rohingya women and children and other ethnic minorities have suffered. She also urged them to protect the vulnerable and to speak out for them to prevent genocidal acts from occurring in the future..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2021-08-26
Date of entry/update:
2021-08-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, National Unity Government (NUG), International Criminal Court, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General
Language:
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Description:
"25 August 2021: Four years ago, decades of state persecution of Rohingya in Myanmar culminated in a campaign of genocidal atrocities committed against Rohingya by the Myanmar military. Today, the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M) remembers the victims, those still facing persecution in Rakhine state, and the refugees in Cox’s Bazar and around the world.
The 25th of August marks the day in 2017 when the Myanmar military and security forces descended upon Rohingya villages in northern Rakhine state and unleashed a campaign of horror against Rohingya girls, boys, women and men. Thousands were killed, thousands more were raped and tortured, and three quarters of a million people were forced to flee to Bangladesh, where they remain. Those who fled joined a quarter of a million earlier Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
“We three have all been profoundly changed by our investigations into what was done to the Rohingya in August 2017, by meeting with survivors and hearing your stories,” the members of SAC-M said to the survivors. “Today, we remember the victims, we encourage you in your struggle and we reaffirm our commitment to the continuing fight for justice, reparation and the reinstatement of your rights.”
The one million Rohingya refugees confined to camps in Bangladesh continue to endure dire conditions. Deadly fires swept through the camps earlier in the year and now serious flooding has caused further destruction.
The coup launched by the Myanmar military in February has created further uncertainty around the prospects for establishing conditions in Myanmar conducive to the voluntary, safe, dignified and durable return of Rohingya refugees.
The Rohingya who remain in northern and central Rakhine face deteriorating conditions and ongoing discrimination. Their access to COVID-19 vaccination programmes is reported to be restricted or prevented entirely. Meanwhile, the threat of more military rule – the same military responsible for the atrocities remembered today – threatens to entrench the military’s impunity for its crimes and render justice ever more remote.
“The fourth anniversary of the atrocities also serves as a moment for us all to recall the lessons of history, and what may come if racism, exclusion, persecution and impunity for human rights violations are allowed to prevail,” said SAC-M. “Those lessons must inspire the people of Myanmar as they rise up against the military and look to a future of peace, pluralism and a new democracy in which the Rohingya are full, equal participants in Myanmar society.”
Should a tragedy of such magnitude that fatefully befell the Rohingya, which is veritably a national tragedy, ever recur, that would spell the demise of the idea of the Myanmar nation.
On this day of remembrance SAC-M calls on the people of Myanmar and the international community not to forget. Not to forget what the Myanmar military has done. Not to forget what it continues to do. Not to forget what is at stake for all those striving to resist military rule. Not to forget the Rohingya..."
Source/publisher:
Special Advisory Council for Myanmar
Date of publication:
2021-08-25
Date of entry/update:
2021-08-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Human Rights and international relations
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109.62 KB 536.29 KB
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Sub-title:
August 25 is observed by Rohingya as 'Genocide Remembrance Day,' but theirs is not just the story of a single day in 2017
Description:
"Kabir, a Rohingya refugee, fled his village in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state on August 25, 2017. But this was not the first time he had been forced to flee, nor the first time Myanmar soldiers had burned down his home. Nor is Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, where he now lives, the first camp he has sought refuge in.
In August 2017, Myanmar security forces launched a campaign of killings, rape and arson against the Rohingya Muslims in northern Rakhine amounting to crimes against humanity and acts of genocide. More than 730,000 escaped to Bangladesh over the next few weeks.
August 25 has come to be observed by Rohingya as “Genocide Remembrance Day,” but their plight is not the story of a single day, or even a single mass exodus. The roots of August 25, 2017, lie in the decades of state repression and violence that preceded it, orchestrated by successive governments to erode their freedoms and enshrine their vulnerability.
Kabir, now 27, grew up in Rathedaung township. As a teenager, he worked as a day laborer on farms or construction projects.
Kabir had to carry travel permits to pass through security checkpoints to get to work. He was, like almost all Rohingya in Myanmar, denied the citizenship that would recognize his family’s roots in the country. The authorities would harass them on the job, he told us, fining Rohingya workers for missing a day or beating them for making a mistake.
“But still I was happy,” he said. “At least we could work.”
In 2012, he said, things changed. A targeted campaign of hate and discrimination against the Rohingya started across Rakhine state, led by ethnic Rakhine nationalists and Buddhist leaders, stoked by the military and police.
That July, Buddhist monks in Rathedaung issued a statement presenting a plan for the “Arakan Ethnic Cleansing Program” of Rohingya. Violent attacks flared and tensions grew. “Our Buddhist neighbors ostracized us,” said Kabir, identified in this article by only his first name for his security.
By October, Rakhine villagers, often alongside police and soldiers, were burning Muslim homes, destroying mosques, and looting property in townships across Rakhine state.
“For 15 days, they couldn’t set our houses on fire because it was raining,” Kabir said. “But one day, our neighbors along with Buddhists from other areas attacked our village. We tried to fight back but couldn’t. Finally, we fled.”
Kabir’s family ended up in a settlement with other displaced Rohingya in Koe Tan Kauk, or Dunse Para in the Rohingya language, a village tract in Rathedaung along the Bay of Bengal. Rohingya across Rakhine were living under an oppressive regimen, denied freedom of movement and other basic rights.
In October 2016, the ethnic armed group later known as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) attacked three police outposts in northern Rakhine state, including one in Koe Tan Kauk. Myanmar military and police responded with brutal “clearance operations,” killing and raping Rohingya and burning down their homes. The authorities arbitrarily rounded up young men, interrogating and torturing them.
Soldiers rounded up all the men and teenage boys from Kabir’s settlement in Koe Tan Kauk and held them at a local military camp. The soldiers separated 12 of them from the group, including Kabir, and took them to a nearby school, where they interrogated them about ARSA and beat them. Kabir said he saw one man’s nails pulled out.
“They took each of us on our own into a room for interrogation,” he said. “Waiting outside you could hear the screams. When it was my turn, they beat me with a stick and military belt at the same time. At one point, one of them kicked me in the genitals, and I fell unconscious.”
The young Rohingya men were held at a pagoda for three days. Some were then sent to the prison in Sittwe, the state capital. Kabir and others were released after paying bribes and signing a paper from their interrogators saying they weren’t tortured.
Soldiers and border-guard police kept the Rohingya camps and hamlets in Koe Tan Kauk under constant surveillance into 2017. Rohingya men and women were barred from fishing or collecting wood; schools remained closed.
The security-force presence grew. In August, naval craft arrived off the coast of Koe Tan Kauk, bringing soldiers from the notoriously abusive light infantry divisions (LIDs) to northern Rakhine state.
On August 25 at about 4am, villagers in Koe Tan Kauk awoke to the sound of gunshots. The military later reported that two of the several ARSA attacks carried out simultaneously that morning had taken place in Koe Tan Kauk. Seven members of the armed group were killed.
Security forces, including the 33rd LID, and local ethnic Rakhine arrived that same morning, shooting at Rohingya villagers who attempted to flee to the forested hills. Some, they captured and slit their throats.
Women and girls were brought to the military camp and raped. Older persons, and people with disabilities, were burned alive in their homes as the entire Rohingya areas of Koe Tan Kauk were torched.
“The whole camp was burned,” Kabir said.
Satellites first detected active fires in Koe Tan Kauk in the early afternoon of August 25. The imagery revealed 700 buildings burned, encompassing every Rohingya hamlet and camp. The extensive areas destroyed meant it was very likely the burning was deliberate.
A United Nations Fact-Finding Mission reported later that the Myanmar naval ships stationed just offshore fired weapons at the village. Hundreds were killed. Almost every person from Koe Tan Kauk whom the UN interviewed said he or she had lost at least one family member.
Again, Kabir and his family fled. First to Inn Din, then Bossara, north of Koe Tan Kauk in Maungdaw township.
“From there, we walked for nine days to reach Aley Than Kyaw,” Kabir said, to the beach in southern Maungdaw. The trek took them through the jungle mountains where every day thousands more Rohingya were fleeing, seeking refuge as the military torched their villages and homes.
Kabir paid 100,000 kyat (US$70) a head for his family to cross the Naf River by boat to reach Bangladesh. In Cox’s Bazar, they joined what would become the world’s largest refugee camp.
Four years later they live there still, entirely dependent on humanitarian assistance and his sister’s small income from her work at an aid organization. Nearly a million Rohingya live in the sprawling, overcrowded camps, facing deadly landslides and the risk of disease, fires among the bamboo and plastic shelters, and violence.
An initial welcome by the Bangladeshi government and host communities has been replaced with increasing restrictions on their rights to livelihoods, freedom of movement, and adequate education and health. Bangladeshi authorities are threatening to move an additional 80,000 Rohingya to join the 20,000 refugees already sent to Bhasan Char, a remote, low-lying island that many fear is unfit and unsafe for habitation.
The prospect of Kabir and his family returning safely to Myanmar, meanwhile, has never been more distant. In Rakhine state, 600,000 Rohingya remain trapped in squalid and oppressive conditions amounting to the crimes against humanity of persecution, apartheid, and severe deprivation of liberty.
Since the military coup on February 1 this year, they have lived under an abusive junta led by the same generals responsible for the grave crimes against them.
Those seeking to flee by boat in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea have never faced greater risks, the UN refugee agency recently reported. Rohingya who have reached Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia or India live on the margins as undocumented migrants, facing constant threat of arrest and detention, or forced return to military-controlled Myanmar.
And everywhere, Rohingya are still awaiting justice. That is what they have been asking for, not just for the past four years, but for decades. They are demanding that those responsible for these crimes against the Rohingya be held to account, and that governments claiming to be in their corner should do all that they can to make that happen.
Myanmar’s military coup has only underscored the devastation that decades of impunity can bring.
“We are losing hope here, too,” Kabir said in Cox’s Bazar. “We were very industrious people in our village. But our fate made us live this refugee life. Still, I have hope that one day we will be able to go back to our village to live with safety and security.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of publication:
2021-08-25
Date of entry/update:
2021-08-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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"Today, on the fourth anniversary of the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar, we call for justice and inclusion for the
Rohingya.
Decades of discrimination and mistreatment peaked on 25 August 2017. when the Myanmar military initiated a
brutal crackdown against the Rohingya in Rakhine State that led to mass human rights violations and caused over
725.000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh. Today, approximately 1 million Rohingya reside in the refugee camps in
Cox's Bazar. Bangladesh. The overcrowded and under-resourced camps are ill-equipped to face rising COVID-19,
dengue fever, and cholera cases and are vulnerable to floods and fires. Meanwhile, back in Myanmar, hundreds of
thousands of Rohingya remain internally displaced, many confined in detention camps, and the country as a whole,
since the 1 February 2021 coup, is in a state of crisis.
Despite the hardship the Rohingya have faced, they demonstrate, on a daily basis, their resilience and strength.
Since 2019, A]AR has worked with Rohi ngya refugees in the camps and has witnessed this determi nation first-hand.
Carrying the trauma of the past and the uncertainty of the future, the refugees persist, tirelessly seeking out new
ways to improve their circumstances while continuing to honor their culture and faith.
Several international mechanisms are working to advance justice for the Rohingya. and the pro-democracy
movement has taken steps to show its support of the Rohi ngya. However, at present, both justice and the voluntary,
safe, and dignified return of the Rohingya remain a distant goal. This must change.
On this anniversary, we therefore call on the international community to:
• Advance initiatives providing urgent and interim measures to help repair the lives of survivors and invest
in long-term empowerment programming for survivors;
• Promote accountability by joining The Gambia in its case against Myanmar before the International Court
of justice (ICJ) and by supporting and enhancing understanding of the accountability mechanisms,
including the ICJ, the International Criminal Court (ICC), and the Independent Investigative Mechanisms
for Myanmar (IIMM), and by pursuing universal jurisdiction cases in their own countries;
• Support the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar;
• Support Bangladesh in the provision of assistance and resources to the Rohingya; and
• Maintain pressure on ASEAN to give effect to the right of Rohingya survivors to an effective and
enforceable remedy..."
Source/publisher:
Asia Justice and Rights, Sisters2Sisters, Perlindungan Insani Indonesia, KontraS, KontraS Aceh, The May 18 Memorial Foundation, Cross Cultural Foundation, Kurawal Foundation, Migrant CARE, Milk Tea Alliance Indonesia, SP Kinasih Solidaritas Perempuan, YLB
Date of publication:
2021-08-25
Date of entry/update:
2021-08-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), International Criminal Court, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General
Language:
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58.63 KB 25.59 KB 251.39 KB
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"To Our Rohingya sisters,
On this day commemorating the Rohingya genocide, the Karen Women’s Organization
(KWO) wishes to express our solidarity for the pain and suffering Rohingya victims and their
families have endured under militarized campaigns waged by the Burmese Army. KWO is all
too familiar with the brutality of which the junta is capable of. Our communities have been
devastated by scorched earth campaigns and a slow genocide of the Karen people for
decades.
The struggle of ethnic people is rooted in the military’s desire to preserve Bamar history and
traditions. Their ruthless attempts to assimilate the population has come with destruction
and force waged against the Karen, and other ethnic groups in the country. Our differences
and diversity ought to be celebrated. But instead, the junta continues to attempt to
aggressively eliminate our very existence.
Women and girls in particular have been subjected to harrowing forms of gender-based
violence and sexual assault. The Burmese military has long used rape as a weapon of war
against ethnic women to intimidate, traumatize and silence their victims. These abuses
weigh heavy, but they must not deter, distract nor disengage from our efforts to hold the
Burmese military accountable. We are haunted by the junta’s unrelenting attacks which have
taken loved ones from us too soon, and forced us to carry the weight of lives lost without
justice. But we cannot let them win. We must be strong and carry on without fear.
KWO offers our solidarity in the strongest possible forms and will fight for the day when our
suffering is no longer in vain, and for long-lasting peace in Burma where we are all
recognized as equals, regardless of our ethnicity, religion or gender. Until then, we are with
you in our ongoing calls for justice..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Women's Organization
Date of publication:
2021-08-25
Date of entry/update:
2021-08-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Women's rights
Language:
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111.65 KB
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Description:
"Today is a most memorable day for us, for our children and for our generations to come. On this day of August 25, 2017, the Burma/Myanmar brute forces, army, police and state-sponsored non-state actors and Buddhist Rakhine vigilantes started pre-planned genocidal onslaughts against our innocent people carrying out mass murder, widespread rape, systematic arson attacks and wholesale destruction of homes and villages.
Today we remember something that happened to us or to our communities. Similarly, we remember something that happened before 25 August 2017, and the mass atrocity crimes between 2012 to 2016 in Arakan and across the country. Today we also remember what befell our people before we were born, specifically the killing of about100,000 of our innocent people in 1942.
Today our people, the survivors in Arakan and refugee camps, are mere ruins. We are a people without a past for it was taken away from us, and without a future. Everything is broken and our homeland is irrecoverably destroyed.
The crimes never happen overnight. The Rohingya genocide is the last step in the continuity of destruction that began decades ago, largely from 1962 military takeover in Burma. Their aim is to destroy our people in whole or in part from our ancestral homeland to which we have physical, psychological and spiritual attachment.
There are many testimonies of survivors. They were unarmed people caught off guard, chosen as victims solely because of their ethnicity and religion. In spite of our repeated forewarning of genocide looming over our defenceless people, there was no international response.
Here, we are compelled to ask ourselves: how was this genocide possible at all? The answer lies in the inactivity of the international community, which according to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crimes of Genocide (1948), was obliged to act, that is to “prevent and punish” genocide. Unfortunately, still almost all governments have avoided calling the crime by its proper name –genocide—eschew their obligation from the Convention, which, ultimately, implies intervening. Encouraged by the hesitancy of the international community, the perpetrators realized their criminal policy without punishment.
We thank the people and government of Bangladesh for sheltering and looking after our refugees on humanitarian grounds. We also appreciate the international community for their humanitarian aid.
We are grateful to The Republic of Gambia for filing a genocide case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) with the backing of Bangladesh and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Despite Court (ICJ) Order on 23 January 2020, the Rohingya who are left behind in Arakan are under constant threat of genocide facing a great humanitarian disaster. Sponsored demographic changes are progressively made in the Rohingya Homeland of North Arakan.
Under the present unsafe conditions, the return of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh and elsewhere to Burma will put them at risk of further crimes. The international community must not fail them again, and it has a responsibility to protect them. The UNSC should refer the criminals to International Criminal Court. This is the time for the United Nations to intervene in Arakan/Rakhine State, if necessary, by seeking global consensus.
The punishing of crimes must be accepted as a personal moral imperative. Without embracing the responsibility for the crimes, there is no compromise with the criminals and the enemies of humanity. All perpetrators must be brought to justice.
In conclusion, today we remember and honour all those who were killed as heroes and shaheeds (martyrs). We will remember them forever. Today we also salute our female survivors, including the rape victims, for their courageous efforts to survive, even as refugee widows and orphans. The carnage is more than a tragedy. The extent of barbarity or methods employed in Arakan/Rakhine State against our people surpassed everything else that took place on the territory of Myanmar. That will not and cannot be forgotten..."
Source/publisher:
Arakan Rohingya National Organisation
Date of publication:
2021-08-25
Date of entry/update:
2021-08-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Human Rights and international relations, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.)
Language:
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Description:
"On the 4th anniversary of the genocidal military offensive against Rohingya civilians, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is still refusing to act to hold the Burmese military accountable for their crimes.
Dominic Raab refuses to support referring Burma to the International Criminal Court, and refuses to join the genocide case at the International Court of Justice.
“Not only is Dominic Raab failing to act to support accountability for genocide of the Rohingya, he is actively resisting cross-party pressure on him to do so,” said Anna Roberts, Executive Director of Burma Campaign UK. “Dominic Raab refuses to join the genocide case at the International Court of Justice, despite cross-party support for him to do so. His failure to act makes no sense either in terms of promoting accountability, or politically for himself and his own reputation as an embattled Foreign Secretary who says he wants to support human rights.”
On 25th August 2017 the Burmese military launched a pre-planned attack against ethnic Rohingya civilians in Rakhine State, Burma. Around 800,000 Rohingya were forced to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh. Thousands of people were killed and raped. The majority of the Rohingya forced to flee were children.
UN investigators have concluded that what took place was genocide and called for Burma to be referred to the International Criminal Court, but despite Foreign Office Minister Mark Field stating in October 2017 that the UK would support a referral if the UN supported that approach, the British government is still refusing to say it supports a referral.
At the same time Dominic Raab is refusing to join the genocide case at the International Court of Justice. While claiming international leadership on addressing human rights in Burma, it was in fact Gambia which brought the genocide case to the court, with Dominic Raab watching from the sidelines and resisting cross-party pressure in the UK to join the case.
The cross-party Foreign Affairs Committee of the British Parliament published a report in July 2021 calling on the British government to join the case.
104 MPs backed a Parliamentary Motion calling on the British government to join the ICJ case and support ICC referral.
104 MPs and Lords, including former Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, wrote to Dominic Raab calling on him to join the case at the ICJ.
The Labour Party supports joining the case at the ICJ.
As does the Liberal Democrat party.
Rohingya community organisations and international human rights and humanitarian organisations have also called on the British government to join the case at the ICJ.
Burma Campaign UK has published a briefing paper detailing the hypocrisy and inconsistencies of Dominic Raab’s stated support for accountability whilst at the same time steadfastly refusing to take action to support accountability..."
Source/publisher:
"Burma Campaign UK" (London)
Date of publication:
2021-08-25
Date of entry/update:
2021-08-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
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Description:
"On this 4th anniversary of the Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day, the Women’s League of
Burma (WLB) would like to convey our message of solidarity to our Rohingya sisters and
brothers. We share your sorrows, pain and demand justice in the name of all those who
perished in the brutal crackdowns by the Burmese military and the survivors who remain.
WLB condemns in the strongest possible terms the violence committed by the Burmese
military, which forced more than 700,000 Rohingyas to flee from Rakhine State into
Bangladesh.
The WLB and its member organizations have also experienced the agony of being forced to
flee our homelands all as well. For decades, the Burmese military has terrorized ethnic
communities with their wide-spread campaigns of violence. Sexual and gender-based
violence, especially rape has been systemically utilized by the Burmese military junta.
Women and girls in ethnic areas have long suffered under the Burmese military junta's culture
of impunity. Accountability for the crimes against ethnic women and girls is long overdue.
Hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians have been forced to flee for their lives. This
humanitarian crisis has disproportionate impact on women and children. They face great risks
ranging from including malnutrition to being sexually exploited.
Since the military coup on February 1, the human rights situation in Burma is deteriorating
day by day. Civilians of every gender, religion and socio-economic background have been
killed and detained by the junta simply for demanding their basic fundamental rights and
freedoms. The Burmese military junta perhaps think it is above the law and that there are no
consequences for the atrocity crimes and human rights violations it committed in Rakhine
state and continues to do so all over Burma.
Impunity has emboldened them so the world must act to ensure that the harrowing ordeals
faced by our Rohingya sisters, brothers and other ethnic community over the decades must
never happen to others. We must put an end to sexual violence in conflict, extrajudicial
killings, arrests of peaceful protesters and inhuman treatment in detention.
WLB reinforces our repeated calls for an immediate referral of the Burmese military junta to
the International Criminal Court and domestic courts with jurisdiction to bring justice for
victims and survivors.
And to our Rohingya sisters and brothers, we hold your pain close to our hearts and vow to
work alongside you all to break free of the reins of injustice which have kept us chained for
too long.....၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် သြဂုတ်လ ၂၅ ရက်နေ့တွင် အမျိုးသမီးများအဖွဲ့ချုပ် (မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ) သည် ရိုဟင်ဂျာညီအစ်ကို ညီအစ်မများ နှင့် တသားတည်းရပ်တည်ကြောင့် သတင်းစကားပါးခြင်း ဆိုသည့် ထုတ်ပြန်ကြောညာချက်ကို ထုတ်ပြန်ခဲ့သည်။..."
Source/publisher:
Women's League of Burma
Date of publication:
2021-08-25
Date of entry/update:
2021-08-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Women's rights
Language:
Format :
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Size:
27.66 KB 529.81 KB
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Description:
"1. Today, August 25, 2021, marks a grim anniversary in the world's modern history and
that of Myanmar: the fourth anniversary of the beginning of the fascist Myanmar
military's acts of genocide committed against Rohingya and torture and oppression
committed against Hindus, Mro, Thet, Khami, Maramagyi, Daingnet, and Kaman of
Rakhine State. Today also marks the 206th day since the fascist military' unjust seizure of
power from the democratically-elected government.
2. Our Spring Revolution Interfaith Network fully supports the National Unity
Government's Policy Position on the Rohingya in Rakhine State, and we welcome the
NUG's agreement to accept the International Criminal Court's jurisdiction with respect to
international crimes committed in Myanmar.
3. We, the Spring Revolution Interfaith Network, strongly urge the international
community to take action against those who have enjoyed impunity for their
unspeakable atrocities against people of diverse ethnic and religious groups historically
and through the present, in order to provide justice to victims of genocide in Rakhine
State and victims of the current regime of terror in Myanmar.
4. We, the Spring Revolution Interfaith Network, deeply regret and apologize for our
failures to speak out or work for the justice of the Rohingya who fled genocidal acts, and
the Hindus, Mro, Thet, Khami, Maramagyi, Daingnet, and Kaman people in Rakhine State
who also suffered atrocities at the hands of the fascist military.
5. We, the Spring Revolution Interfaith Network, hereby declare our strong desire to
collaborate with revolutionary groups from all ethnic communities and religious entities
in order to build a federal democratic country based on non-discrimination, freedom,
justice, and equality for all.....နွေဦးတော်လှန်ရေး ဘာသာပေါင်းစုံကွန်ရက် သဘောထားထုတ်ပြန်ချက်
ခေတ်အဆက်ဆက်တွင် တရားမဲ့ပြုကျင့်ခံခဲ့ကြရသည့် နိုင်ငံအနှံ့မှ လူမျိုးစု ညီအစ်ကိုမောင်နှမများ အပါအဝင် ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်အတွင်းရှိ လူမျိုးတုန်းသတ်ဖြတ်ခြင်းခံခဲ့ရသည့် ရိုဟင်ဂျာလူမျိုးများ၊ ဟိန္ဒူဘာသာဝင်များ၊ မြို၊သက်၊ခမီ၊မရမာကြီး၊ ဒိုင်းနက်၊ကမန် စသည့်လူမျိုးစုငယ်များ ခံစားခဲ့ရသည့် ဘေးဒုက္ခများအား တရားမျှတမှုရရှိစေရန် ထိရောက်စွာ လုပ်ဆောင်ပေးနိုင်ခြင်းမရှိသည့်အပေါ် မိမိတို့က ဝမ်းနည်းစွာ တောင်းပန်အပ်ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
The Spring Revolution Interfaith Network
Date of publication:
2021-08-25
Date of entry/update:
2021-08-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
27.66 KB 241.56 KB
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Sub-title:
Covering up wrongdoing in the name of unity and as a strategy against the junta will only ensure that past injustices are perpetuated and that military rule will live on indefinitely.
Description:
"The formation of Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG) by elected members of parliament, ethnic and civil society leaders, and representatives of the Civil Disobedience Movement and General Strike Committees of the Spring Revolution was a historic moment. For the country’s diverse communities, it offered real hope that a genuine federal democracy—one that guarantees and protects their rights— can be established. As a moral as well as a political guide, the NUG must therefore transparently communicate to the people of Myanmar what and who it stands for.
To live up to its historic role, the NUG must now face the lack of justice and accountability that have allowed the Myanmar military to commit grave crimes against ethnic communities, including the Rohingya, for decades. For far too long, the military has acted with total impunity.
The last decade has seen the enactment and maintenance of racist, Islamophobic, and misogynistic legal frameworks that have served to enable the military’s most egregious abuses. The four “Race and Religion Protection Laws” adopted in 2015 built on the 1982 Citizenship Law to enshrine deeply discriminatory attitudes against a segment of the population; together with the empowerment of extremist Buddhist nationalists, they laid the groundwork for the incitement of anti-Muslim violence and the Myanmar military’s “clearance operations” against the Rohingya in 2017.
The genocide of that year went beyond the horrific crimes routinely committed by the military in ethnic areas for decades. More than 800,000 Rohingya were systematically murdered, raped and expelled from their homeland and a system of apartheid was created in which those who remained in Myanmar were confined to internment camps.
When it was in power, the National League for Democracy (NLD) remained silent in the face of the military’s grave crimes, particularly those committed against the Rohingya. Rather than cooperating with international mechanisms to hold the military accountable, the ruling party defended the generals at hearings held by the International Court of Justice. It even intentionally avoided using the term “Rohingya”, in line with state attempts to erase Rohingya identity. The NLD government did not repeal racist laws, despite having the capacity to do so with their parliamentary majority.
The culpability of the previous NLD government needs to be addressed head on. Covering up wrongdoing in the name of unity and as a strategy against the junta will only ensure that past injustices are perpetuated and that military rule will live on indefinitely.
We have seen some signs of hope. The NUG has adopted a policy paper on the Rohingya that is a positive start in acknowledging their rights, ending systemic efforts to oppress and exclude them, and recognizing the atrocity crimes that they have faced. It is encouraging that the NUG has moved towards achieving justice and accountability by working to become a party to the Rome Statute. However, more concrete steps must be taken.
It is precisely because the military has never faced any significant consequences for its crimes against the Rohingya and other ethnic groups that it is now able to inflict horrific atrocities against the rest of the population. Justice and equality for the Rohingya will serve not just the Rohingya alone, but also all the other peoples of Myanmar.
This is the moment for the NUG to start building the foundation for an inclusive, federal, and democratic Myanmar. The NUG’s declaration that it will grant the International Criminal Court jurisdiction to prosecute crimes dating back to 2002, made in response to calls from Myanmar civil society organizations and the international community, is a welcome move. The NUG must continue on this path towards ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and support the Court’s procedures in order to bring the perpetrators of serious crimes to account.
The NUG and the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) should use their power now to repeal racist laws such as the 1982 Citizenship Law and the four “Race and Religion Protection Laws”. These laws are not only racist and xenophobic, but also perpetuate gendered discrimination and violence and violate the rights of children, while subscribing to the misogynistic and patriarchal system fostered by decades of military rule.
The NUG must listen to the voices of all the people of Myanmar, including those of the Rohingya and other ethnic and religious minorities—and particularly those of the victims and survivors of crimes committed by the Myanmar military. More importantly, it is vital that the Rohingya are included in the NUG’s political processes as we work towards dismantling institutionalized systems of oppression and discrimination built and entrenched by the military. This will be essential as we reimagine an inclusive and transformative future for Myanmar that guarantees and respects the humanity and human rights of all.
As the Myanmar military has waged a nationwide campaign of terror against the country’s people, solidarity with the Rohingya has been displayed on protest banners, on social media, and in comments by public figures. On August 25, the anniversary of the start of the military’s 2017 campaign against the Rohingya, members of Myanmar civil society plan to release an open letter calling for the restoration of their rights and for the military to be held accountable for its crimes. In this way, we can begin to imagine a Myanmar that derives strength from its diversity, rather than from notions of ethnic supremacy.
The NUG must act as a beacon for this future Myanmar and take concrete actions to demonstrate its political will to ensure and guarantee the equal rights of the Rohingya. They must also recognize that the crime of genocide was committed by the military against the Rohingya in 2017 and fully cooperate with international accountability mechanisms to seek justice for the victims and survivors.
Only by doing so can the NUG ensure that when democracy is restored in Myanmar, it will be able to foster a just and peaceful society based on federal principles, inclusivity, human rights, and human dignity that we can all belong to and be proud of and keep nurturing for future generations to come..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2021-08-24
Date of entry/update:
2021-08-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), National Unity Government (NUG)
Language:
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