International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar
Individual Documents
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
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Sub-title:
The UK announces new sanctions and legal action in support of Myanmar’s Rohingya community.
Description:
"UK takes fresh action against the Myanmar Armed Forces on 5th anniversary of the military’s campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya
new sanctions against military-linked companies to target the military’s access to arms and revenue
UK confirms its intention to intervene in The Gambia v. Myanmar International Court of Justice Case to support international justice efforts
The UK has announced a further round of sanctions to target military-linked businesses in Myanmar. Those being sanctioned include Star Sapphire Group of Companies, International Gateways Group of Companies Limited (IGG) and Sky One Construction Company Ltd. They are being sanctioned in an effort to limit the military’s access to arms and revenue.
Minister for Asia Amanda Milling has also 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 Myanmar Armed Forces launched a devastating attack on the Rohingya communities living in Rakhine State, Myanmar on 25 August 2017. A UN Fact Finding Mission report stated that over 10,000 Rohingya were killed and 740,000 displaced into neighbouring Bangladesh.
The report also claimed Myanmar Armed Forces engaged in a campaign of sexual violence, grave violations against children, torture and village burnings. These are the hallmarks of a military acting with impunity, and the UK notes its grave concern that they are employing these tactics in their current operations against pro-democracy groups in Myanmar.
The UK has been clear that what happened to the Rohingya was ethnic cleansing and remains committed to taking action to stop the brutality of the Myanmar Armed Forces and hold them to account.
Minister for Asia Amanda Milling said:
The UK will always face down those who seek to undermine and destroy our values of freedom and democracy. Five years on, we continue to stand in solidarity with the Rohingya people and condemn the Myanmar Armed Forces’ horrific campaign of ethnic cleansing.
Our decision to intervene in The Gambia v. Myanmar case and a further round of sanctions sends a strong signal of our continued support to seek accountability for the atrocities in 2017 and also restrict the military junta’s access to finance and the supply of arms.
The violence in 2017 was the result of an attempt, over generations, to destroy the Rohingya identity. The 600,000 Rohingya remaining in Rakhine State have been stripped of their citizenship and face systemic discrimination restricting the freedom of movement and access to healthcare. The UK now reiterates the call for the abolition of the 1982 Citizenship Law and the restoration of Rohingya citizenship.
Since 2017 the UK has provided £330 million in aid to the camps, supporting food needs, shelter, sanitation, education, medical and protection services..."
Source/publisher:
Govt. UK (London)
Date of publication:
2022-08-25
Date of entry/update:
2022-08-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), Sanctions
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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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"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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pdf
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211.64 KB
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Description:
"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.)
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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:
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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:
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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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Sub-title:
ICJ Decision Advances Justice for Rohingya
Description:
"(The Hague) – The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on July 22, 2022, rejected Myanmar’s preliminary objections to the case brought by Gambia under the international Genocide Convention, Human Rights Watch said today. The case concerns Myanmar’s alleged genocide against the ethnic Rohingya population in Rakhine State, with a focus on military operations launched in October 2016 and August 2017.
Gambia filed the case before the ICJ in November 2019 alleging that the Myanmar military committed the genocidal acts of “killing, causing serious bodily and mental harm, inflicting conditions that are calculated to bring about physical destruction, imposing measures to prevent births, and forcible transfers … intended to destroy the Rohingya group in whole or in part.”
“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.”
In February 2022, the ICJ heard Myanmar’s four objections challenging the court’s jurisdiction and Gambia’s legal standing to file the case, as well as Gambia’s response.
In its ruling, the court unanimously rejected three of Myanmar’s objections, and rejected one by a vote of 15 to 1. The judgment affirmed that “the applicant in this case is the Gambia”; that “a dispute relating to the interpretation, application and fulfilment of the Genocide Convention existed between the parties at the time of the filing of the application by the Gambia”; and that “the Gambia, as a state party to the Genocide Convention, has standing to invoke the responsibility of Myanmar for the alleged breaches of its obligations under Articles I, III, IV and V of the Convention.”
In response to Myanmar’s argument that Gambia has no standing to bring the case due to its lack of ties to Myanmar or the Rohingya, the court concluded, “All the States parties to the Genocide Convention thus have a common interest to ensure the prevention, suppression and punishment of genocide, by committing themselves to fulfilling the obligations contained in the Convention.”
By rejecting the preliminary objections, the ICJ is allowing the case to proceed on the merits to examine Gambia’s genocide allegations against Myanmar. Myanmar will now have to submit its response to Gambia’s main arguments filed in October 2020 detailing its case.
The ICJ case is not a criminal case against individual suspects, but a legal action brought by Gambia against Myanmar alleging that Myanmar bears responsibility for genocide as a state.
In December 2019, the court held hearings on Gambia’s request for provisional measures to protect the Rohingya remaining in Myanmar from genocide, which it unanimously adopted in January 2020. The 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. The court also ordered Myanmar to report on its compliance with the provisional measures every six months.
Myanmar is legally bound to comply with the order. However, Human Rights Watch and other groups have continued to document grave abuses against the 600,000 Rohingya remaining in Myanmar, contravening the provisional measures. The severe restrictions imposed on the Rohingya by the Myanmar authorities amount to the crimes against humanity of persecution, apartheid, and severe deprivation of liberty. Since the February 2021 coup, the military junta has placed even greater movement restrictions and harsher punishments on Rohingya for attempting to leave Rakhine State.
State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi led the Myanmar delegation at the December 2019 opening hearings of the ICJ. Since her arrest during the 2021 coup, Suu Kyi has been sentenced to 11 years in prison, while facing over 180 years total on various fabricated charges.
In the preliminary objections hearings, Myanmar was represented by the junta’s Minister for International Cooperation Ko Ko Hlaing and Union Attorney General Thida Oo, whom the United States and other governments have sanctioned for their roles in the military regime. Since the 2021 coup, the junta has imposed a brutal nationwide crackdown, killing over 2,000 people and arbitrarily arresting over 14,000.
While the opposition National Unity Government (NUG) and others raised concerns regarding the junta’s representation of Myanmar at the February hearings, the junta’s participation has no bearing on its recognition at the United Nations as Myanmar’s legitimate representative, Human Rights Watch said.
The court’s decision on Myanmar’s preliminary objections should encourage the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Canada, and other concerned governments to support Gambia’s case through formal interventions to bolster the legal analysis on specific aspects of the Genocide Convention as it relates to the Rohingya, Human Rights Watch said.
Under article 41(2) of the ICJ Statute, the court’s order for provisional measures is automatically sent to the UN Security Council. As the fifth anniversary of the military’s atrocities against the Rohingya approaches, Security Council members should take steps to address the failure to secure justice and security for the Rohingya. Council members should work to adopt a resolution that gives the International Criminal Court (ICC) a mandate over the situation in Myanmar and severs the junta’s supply of arms and revenue, even if the resolution would be vetoed by Russia or China.
As the Myanmar armed forces continue to carry out atrocities against civilians and ethnic minorities, the ICJ remains one of the few available paths for holding the military to account. Ethnic groups and human rights defenders have aligned in Myanmar to push for the establishment of democratic rule, efforts that are amplified by the pursuit of justice at the ICJ.
“Concerned governments seeking to be leaders for accountability in Myanmar should formally intervene in the Genocide Convention case,” Pearson said. “The case provides an important opportunity to scrutinize the Myanmar military’s abusive policies and practices that have preserved its power over decades.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Human Rights Watch" (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, Human Rights and international relations, 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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"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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1.3 MB (Original version) - 51 pages
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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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269.77 KB 236.97 KB
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"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
Language:
Format :
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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:
more
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:
"1. We, the Committee Representing Py idaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), welcome the
remarks of US Secretary o f State Antony Blinken made at the Holocaust
Memorial Museum on 21st March. We welcome the determination of the US
government about the crimes committed by the Myanmar’s army on Rohingya
over the past decades as genocide and crimes against humanity based on
evidences, witnesses and reports of independent international human rights
organizations.
2. We believe such determination would be of much assistance for the attempts
o f international judicial institution including International Court of Justice -
ICJ and International Criminal Court - ICC in seeking justice and
accountability for the Rohingya people.
3. At present, Myanmar’s brutal military is continuing violence, brutal crimes
including war crimes and human rights violations against all ethnic
nationalities and ethnic and religious minorities at every corner o f the country
and thousands o f displaced people have fled from their home to quite secure
places. The junta’s security forces have unlawfully killed more than 1,690 and
has illegally arrested more than 12,850 citizens since the coup in Myanmar.
4. We would like to highlight the fact that today’s violations by the military is the
same with the military has committed such heinous crimes against Rohingya
in recent years. We seriously request the international community to help us
prevent such crimes from being committed continuously by the military at the
same time when we arc seeking the justice and accountability for the victims
o f the inhumane crimes.
5. The unprovoked aggression of the Russian Federation to the Ukraine proves
that regional an d international stability has been severely damaged due to the
dangerous acts of the authoritarian regime across the globe. We strongly
request the international community to continue the efforts of taking actions
regarding the crimes committed by the Myanmar military junta like a foreign
occupier against its own people in the same way and manner the international
community has been protesting against the actions of aggressors on Ukraine
and its people..."
Source/publisher:
Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw
Date of publication:
2022-03-22
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, International Criminal Court (Myanmar), Human Rights and international relations
Language:
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66.85 KB 160.53 KB
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Description:
"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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Format :
pdf
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306.54 KB
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"လူ့အခွင့်အရေးဆိုင်ရာ သတင်းလွှာ အတွဲ(၁)၊ အမှတ် (၈)
ထုတ်ပြန်ခြင်း ( ၈ မတ် ၂၀၂၂)
"လူ့အခွင့်အရေးဆိုင်ရာ သတင်းလွှာအား နှစ်ပတ်တစ်ကြိမ်ထုတ်ပြန်ပါမည်။"
- နယ်သာလန် သည်ဟ်ဂ်မြို့က ရိုဟင်ဂျာအရေး သတင်းစာ ရှင်းလင်းပွဲ
- နိုင်ငံတဝန်းရှိ ဖမ်းဆီး၊သတ်ဖြတ်၊ ဖိနှိပ်နေမှုများ
- စစ်ကိုင်းတိုင်းအတွင်း ဖမ်းဆီး သတ်ဖြတ်ခံရမှုများ
- နယ်မြေရှင်းလင်းရေး၊ အကြမ်းဖက်မှုတိုက်ဖျက်ရေးများစသည့် စကားလုံးများ သုံးနေစေကာမူ လူ့အခွင့်အရေး ချိုးဖောက်မှု့များကို မည်သို့မျှ ဖုံးကွယ်၍ မရနိုင် Op-Ed
- Code of Conduct..."
Source/publisher:
Ministry of Human Rights
Date of publication:
2022-03-11
Date of entry/update:
2022-03-12
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Human Rights and international relations, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Discrimination against the Rohingya, National Unity Government (NUG), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"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)
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"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
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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
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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
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"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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Description:
"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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Sub-title:
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)
Language:
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227.31 KB 724.36 KB
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Description:
"The National Unity Government (NUG) takes seriously its duty to the victims of violence, and is committed to pursuing justice for all those who have been the victims of military aggression.
The case currently before the International Court of Justice concerning military operations against the Rohingya in 2016 and 2017 is therefore of the highest importance to the NUG and to all the people of Myanmar.
We have already announced the appointment of United Nations Ambassador U Kyaw Moe Tun as acting alternate agent, the only person authorised to engage with the Court on behalf of Myanmar.
The National Unity Government has also informed the Court of its decision to withdraw the preliminary objections, so as to proceed to consider the merits of the case.
We are today announcing new legal team to work with Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun and the National Unity Government to take forward Myanmar’s case. This team consists of: Professor Jean-Marc Thouvenin: Professor Thouvenin is Secretary-General of The Hague Academy of International Law, Associate Member of the Institut de Droit International, and Professor at the University Paris Nanterre. He is Member of the Board of the French Society for International Law and of the Editorial Board of the Annuaire Français de Droit International. He is a Partner of the Paris Law Firm Sygna Partners, and since 1992 has acted and acts as counsel and advocate before the International Court of Justice, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, and the European Court of Justice.
Steven Powles QC: Mr Powles is a specialist criminal lawyer in international courts with particular expertise in human rights, false imprisonment and war crimes. He has appeared before the European Court of Human Rights and other international tribunals, and is the author of a leading practitioner text on international law.
The NUG will work closely with its legal team to advance its case at the International Court of Justice.
At the same time, the National Unity Government continues to gather and submit evidence of human rights abuses. It has granted jurisdiction to the International Criminal Court for all crimes covered by the Rome Statute since 2002, and it seeks the support of all those who care about human rights and justice to work with it for the good of the people of Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
President Office, National Unity Government
Date of publication:
2022-02-15
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-15
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Human Rights and international relations
Language:
Format :
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Size:
75.09 KB 207.71 KB
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Sub-title:
အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာတရားရုံးတွင် ရင်ဆိုင်နေရသော ဂမ်းဘီးယား-မြန်မာအမှုအတွက် ဥပဒေပညာရှင်အဖွဲ့ကြေငြာခြင်း
Description:
"အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရသည် စစ်တပ်၏ အကြမ်းဖက်မှုကြောင့် မြေစာပင်ဖြစ်ရသည့် ဒုက္ခသည်များအတွက် တရားမျှတမှု ရရှိရေးသည် မိမိ၏ တာဝန်ဝတ္တရားအဖြစ် အလေးအနက်ခံယူသည်။ ထို့ကြောင့် ၂၀၁၆ ခုနှစ်နှင့် ၂၀၁၇ ခုနှစ်များအတွင်းက ရိုဟင်ဂျာများအပေါ် ထိုးနှက်ခဲ့သည့် စစ်တပ်၏ စစ်ဆင်ရေးများနှင့် စပ်လျဥ်း၍ ယခုအပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာတရားရုံး (ICJ) ရှေ့မှောက်တွင် ရင်ဆိုင်နေရသော အမှုသည် အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရနှင့် မြန်မာပြည်သူ တစ်ရပ်လုံးအတွက် အလွန်အရေးကြီး အလေးထားရမည့်ကိစ္စအဖြစ် ခံယူထားပါသည်။
မြန်မာနိုင်ငံက အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာတရားရုံး (ICJ) တွင် ရင်ဆိုင်နေရသော ယင်းအမှုနှင့် စပ်လျဥ်း၍ ကမ္ဘာ့ကုလသမဂ္ဂဆိုင်ရာ မြန်မာသံအမတ်ကြီး ဦးကျော်မိုးထွန်းအား မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ တစ်ဦးတည်းသော ကိုယ်စားလှယ်အဖြစ် ခန့်အပ်ကြောင်း အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ၏ ၏လမ်းညွှန်မှုဖြင့် ကြေငြာထားပြီးဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ယင်းအမှုကို ချောမွေ့စွာ ဆက်လက်ဆောင်ရွက်နိုင်ရန် အမျိုးသား ညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရသည် ပဏာမကန့်ကွက်မှုများကို ရုပ်သိမ်းကြောင်း ၎င်း၏ ဆုံးဖြတ်ချက်အား တရားရုံးကို အသိပေးထားပြီး ဖြစ်ပါသည်။
သံအမတ်ကြီး ဦးကျော်မိုးထွန်း နှင့် အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ တို့နှင့် လက်တွဲဆောင်ရွက်မည့် အောက်ပါပုဂ္ဂိုလ် (၂) ဦး ပါဝင်သော ဥပဒေအဖွဲ့သစ်ကို ယနေ့ ထုတ်ပြန် ကြေငြာအပ်ပါသည်။ ၎င်းပုဂ္ဂိုလ်(၂) ဦးမှာ -
ပါမောက္ခ မစ္စတာ ဂျွန်မာ့စ်သူဗီနင် (Professor Jean-Marc Thouvenin) သည်
• ဟိဂ် (Hague) မြို့ရှိ အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ ဉပဒေတက္ကသိုလ်၊ (The Hague Academy of International Law) အထွေထွေအတွင်းရေးမှူးချုပ်
• Institute de droit International အဖွဲ့ဝင်
• ပဲရစ်နောင်တဲတက္ကသိုလ် (University Paris Nanterre) ပါမောက္ခ
• ပြင်သစ်လူ့အဖွဲ့အစည်း၏ နိုင်ငံတကာရေးရာ ဉပဒေဘုတ်အဖွဲ့ဝင် (Board Member of the French Society for International Law)
• Annuaire Francais de Droit International စာစောင်၏ အယ်ဒီတာဘုတ်အဖွဲ့ဝင်
• Paris Sygna Partners ဉပဒေအဖွဲ့၊ ပိုင်ရှင်အဖွဲ့ဝင်
• ၁၉၉၂ ခုနှစ်မှ စတင်၍ (ICJ) အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာတရားရုံး၊ အမြဲတမ်း အနုညာတ ခုံသမာဓိရုံး၊ ပင်လယ်ပြင်ဆိုင်ရာ နိုင်ငံတကာခုံရုံး၊ ဉပဒေဆိုင်ရာ တရားရုံး (European Court of Justice) များတွင် ဉပဒေအကြံပေးနှင့် ရှေ့နေအဖြစ်လည်းကောင်း၊ အတိုင်ပင်ခံရှေ့နေအဖြစ်လည်းကောင်း ဆောင်ရွက်နေပါသည်။
Steven Powles QC သည်
• နိုင်ငံတကာတရားရုံးများတွင် လူ့အခွင့်အရေး၊ မဟုတ်မမှန် အကျဉ်းချခြင်းနှင့် စစ်ရာဇ၀တ်မှုများတွင် အထူးကျွမ်းကျင်သည့် ရှေ့နေတစ်ဦးဖြစ်သည်။ ဥရောပလူ့အခွင့်အရေး တရားရုံးနှင့် အခြားသော နိုင်ငံတကာခုံရုံးများရှေ့တွင် ထင်ရှားခဲ့ပြီး နိုင်ငံတကာဥပဒေဆိုင်ရာ ထိပ်တန်းလက်တွေ့ကျမ်းတစ်စောင်ကို ရေးသားခဲ့သူဖြစ်သည်။
အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရသည် အထက်ပါဉပဒေရေးရာအဖွဲ့နှင့် နီးကပ်စွာ ပူးပေါင်းဆောင်ရွက်၍ အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာတရားရုံး (ICJ) တွင် ရင်ဆိုင်လျက်ရှိသည့် အမှုကို ဖြေရှင်းဆောင်ရွက်သွားမည်ဖြစ်ပါသည်။
တချိန်တည်းတွင် အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရသည် စစ်တပ်၏ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးချိုးဖောက်နေသည့် အထောက်အထားများကို ဆက်လက် ရှာဖွေစုဆောင်းပြီး တင်ပြသွားပါမည်။ International Criminal Court (ICC) ၏ စီရင်ပိုင်ခွင့်အာဏာကို ၂၀၀၂ ခုနှစ် နောက်ပိုင်း ကျူးလွန်သော Rome Statute တွင် အကျုံးဝင်သည့် ရာဇ၀တ်မှုအားလုံးအတွက် အပ်နှင်းပေးထားပြီး မြန်မာနိုင်ငံနှင့် ပြည်သူများ၏ ကောင်းကျိုးကို ရည်မျှော်၍ လူ့အခွင့်အရေးနှင့် တရားမျှတမှုကို အလေးထားသူအားလုံး၏ ပံ့ပိုးကူညီမှုအားလုံးကို ရယူကာ လက်တွဲ ကြိုးပမ်းဆောင်ရွက်လျက်ရှိပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher:
President Office, National Unity Government
Date of publication:
2022-02-15
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-15
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Human Rights and international relations
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"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
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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:
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Description:
"SUMMARY
The ICJ is part of the United Nations (UN), and its role is to consider the obligations of UN Members States under international law. The ICJ is not an investigation body or a criminal court and does not consider whether individuals have committed international crimes. The Genocide Convention is an international treaty. UN Member States that join the Genocide Convention confirm that genocide is a crime under international law which they commit to prevent and to punish.
The Gambia considers Myanmar to be in breach of its obligations under the Genocide Convention, which, so far, Myanmar denies. This represents a dispute between the two UN Member States upon which the ICJ must adjudicate, and this is the basis of the proceedings before the Court. The Gambia says that genocidal acts were committed against the Rohingya by the Myanmar military and security forces during the 2016 and 2017 “clearance operations” in northern Rakhine state.
The case is still in the procedural stages, meaning that the Court has not yet begun to consider the substance of the dispute between The Gambia and Myanmar. The Court first had to consider The Gambia’s request for provisional measures and must now consider the preliminary objections that were made by Myanmar in January 2021, before the illegal military coup began.
Preliminary objections are procedural issues that States can raise and ask the Court to adjudicate on before it can consider the actual dispute. Myanmar’s preliminary objections have not been made public, but they relate to whether the Court has jurisdiction in the case
and whether The Gambia’s application is admissible (acceptable). The Court has announced that public hearings on the preliminary objections will be held from 21 to 28 February 2022.
However, the National Unity Government of Myanmar (NUG) announced on 2 February 2022 that it has told the ICJ that Myanmar withdraws all preliminary objections, as it no longer views them as appropriate. If the Court accepts this notification, the hearings from 21 February 2022 may not proceed as they will be unnecessary.
Only States can be parties to a case before the ICJ and States are represented by their governments. Following the Myanmar military’s attempted coup on 1 February 2021, both the NUG and the illegal junta have communicated to the Court that they will now be representing Myanmar in the proceedings. The junta is not the government of Myanmar and should not represent Myanmar before the Court. The NUG should be recognised internationally as the legitimate government of Myanmar and is the only entity with the authority to represent Myanmar in the ICJ.
Justice for the Rohingya and an end to acts of genocide committed against them are the most important outcomes to be gained from the proceedings. The most straightforward option would be for Myanmar to accept The Gambia’s submissions and take meaningful steps to prevent further genocide against the Rohingya and punish the perpetrators. The NUG has expressed its commitment to this..."
Source/publisher:
Special Advisory Council for Myanmar
Date of publication:
2022-02-07
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-07
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Human Rights and international relations, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), National Unity Government (NUG)
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Size:
1.65 MB 434.23 KB
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Description:
"This article is the latest in a Just Security series on the Feb. 1, 2021 coup in Myanmar, which brought together expert local and international voices on the coup and its broader context. The series is a collaboration between Just Security and the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School).
Today, Feb. 1, 2022, marks the one-year anniversary of the Myanmar military’s attempt to wrest political control of the country away from its elected officials. Not every military attempt to impose its will on a country is a generational moment, but this one was. The actions of the military (known as the Tatmadaw) last year sparked an unprecedented series of events that are still rippling across the nation. The resistance to the military’s attempt[1] to take control started with the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), a mass movement led by youth and joined by workers who stayed home and consumers who boycotted military-owned businesses to protest the takeover. A movement on this scale has not been seen in a generation. Other developments over the past year are entirely unprecedented in Myanmar. This past year thus marks the end of one era and the beginning of a new one. The shape of that new era is still being determined by the people of Burma, who are writing their next chapter with each passing day.
To understand the importance of Feb. 1, 2021 (“1221” or “2121,” depending on which date convention is used), we first must look back. For Burma followers, the start of the era proceeding 2021 can be traced to the 8888 Uprising (named for another significant date, Aug. 8, 1988, when that mobilization began), which saw a military crackdown against mass street protests across the country. The 8888 Uprising was the beginning of the end of the Ne Win era, a period of military rule which began decades earlier. Yet in the wake of 1988, the military dictatorship continued — first as the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), a name which aptly captured the mass human rights abuses perpetrated by this military junta, and then, with a 1997 rebrand, as the State Peace and Development Council. Despite these cosmetic tweaks, little else changed. The consolidation of power by Than Shwe as the main military strongman in the early 2000s only demonstrated the continued military dominance. Even after the 2008 constitution and three subsequent national elections, including 2010 which featured a boycott by the National League for Democracy (NLD), the military was ever present, and the hopes of a full transition to democracy and peace failed to materialize. (For a fuller discussion of the history of democracy movements in Myanmar, see here).
Yet this post-1988 era was never really defined by the military leader as it had been during Ne Win’s time. Instead, the 1988 to 2021 period was defined by its opposition leader. When history is written in the years to come, it will be known as the era of Aung San Suu Kyi. From her “non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights” while under house arrest and her leadership of the NLD as it earned landslide national victories in 1991, 2015, and 2020, to her silence on the ongoing persecution and coordinated campaigns of violence against the Muslim Rohingya minority, Aung San Suu Kyi shaped this era of Burma in a way no other figure did.
The lead up to the military’s attempted takeover on Feb. 1, 2021 did not presage how seminal a moment it would become for Myanmar. After the NLD won an overwhelming majority of the parliamentary seats in the November 2020 general election (396 out of 476 seats, a margin of victory even greater than in 2015 and reminiscent of a 1990 landslide victory for the party), the Tatmadaw laid the foundation to dispute the results. Just like after the 1990 election, which it never recognized, the military was intent on preventing the duly elected officials from taking their seats as representatives of the people. Throughout late 2020 and early 2021, the Tatmadaw alleged irregularities and poll fraud. Several nations, including the United States, warned that the Tatmadaw might attempt to seize power in the days leading up to Feb. 1. Despite these warnings, the military was able to successfully detain Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint, and other NLD leadership on the morning of Feb. 1 (many of whom have since been criminally charged and sentenced in thinly veiled political persecutions). The Tatmadaw ordered an unconstitutional one-year state of emergency, and state television broadcasts announced that political authority had been transferred to Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and the State Administration Council.
Looking back on the past year, it has been filled with familiar hallmarks of the Tatmadaw’s oppression: horrendous loss of life (conservatively at least 1,400 killed), countless arrests (estimates now run at nearly 8,800), and mass displacement. And as in eras past, the Tatmadaw has adopted these practices to retain power by whatever means necessary — including suppressing freedoms, curtailing rights, and terrorizing the population — and to fend off a burgeoning non-violent movement comprised of a new generation of leaders who have glimpsed the potential of democracy in Myanmar over the past decade.
But the past year has also been different – and remarkably so – for it has signaled not only the end of an era but the emergence of a new one.
A New Era
The CDM
The story of 2021 must start with the CDM — and the sea change that this movement represents among a generation that had not been born in 1988. Led by youth and women, the movement has used civil disruptions, work stoppages, and boycotts to hamper the Tatmadaw’s attempts to consolidate their power. In the process, the movement has signified not only a generational shift but a change in the representation and make up of political activity in Myanmar.
For many Burmans (the major ethnic group), participating in the movement has also prompted a sort of revelation, causing them, for instance, to question the misinformation espoused for years by the military that historically marginalized ethnic nationality groups were a threat to Burma. For so long, the country has been defined by its divisions — but the CDM has represented something new and distinctive as it has embraced and celebrated Burma’s diversity as a strength instead of a weakness.
The National Unity Government
The National Unity Government (NUG), which was announced in April 2021 as a “shadow” or interim government, represents the country’s first unity Comprised of members of the NLD, ethnic nationality groups, and other minority parties, the creation of the NUG parallels, in governmental structures, the bridge created between Burman communities and ethnic nationalities by the grassroots organizing of the CDM. What stands out about the NUG is that it is not a government comprised wholly of the Burman-led NLD but one that at least symbolically bridges ethnic divides in new ways.
Yes, there are legitimate questions on the depth of the unity, but this development nevertheless marks a first in Burma, and if it holds, it will define the new era in profoundly different terms from the previous one. During the 1990s through the first two decades of this century, there were calls for tripartite dialogue between the military, the NLD, and the ethnic nationalities, but never did the NLD unite with the ethnic groups in a government or other formal alliance.
The NLD’s treatment of the Rohingya crisis — ignoring or exacerbating severe human rights violations — has left deep distrust. Even here, however, there have been signs of change over the past year. One of the NUG’s interim cabinet ministers issued a public apology to the Rohingya for the government’s role in oppressing the group, and the NUG announced a new policy in June promising to end human rights abuses against the Rohingya and grant them citizenship. Given past experience, caution is still warranted as to whether there will be follow through on these pronouncements, but this much is clear: the NUG represents a potentially new political era.
The End of an Era
The emergence of the CDM and the NUG as well as the simultaneous generational shift has also signaled the beginning of the end of the era of Aung San Suu Kyi and others from her generation. From a towering symbol for human rights and democracy as a Nobel Peace Prize winner to a defender, at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), of the military’s genocidal actions and now returning to house detention once again, feelings towards Aung San Suu Kyi have grown more complicated over the past few years to say the least. And while she and the NLD remain beloved by many in Burma, this last year has brought into stark relief the aging leadership of the party. While criminal sentences against the Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior NLD leaders still make the news, the base of power has begun to move beyond these elders. Transitions take time, but this one is underway.
The End of the 2008 Constitution
The 2008 Constitution enshrined military impunity and placed the Tatmadaw permanently beyond the reach of either civilian political control or judicial oversight. The February 2021 actions of the military ironically have caused a break with the Constitution that it wrote. Though the military allegedly attempted to force NLD President Win Myint to step down so they could take power under the veneer of legitimacy, his refusal and their subsequent attempt to seize power through force undermined the 2008 Constitution.In April, the predecessor to the NUG announced that the 2008 Constitution was no longer valid and promised a system with equal protections for all. A proposed replacement constitution, called the Federal Democracy Charter, was published with the announcement. Recently, a revised draft of the Charter was approved in a People’s Assembly held by a broad coalition (the National Unity Consultative Council or NUCC), confirming that the diverse membership of the NUCC considers the Charter to be the country’s interim constitutional document. While some have expressed skepticism, fearing that the lofty promises of equal protection are rhetoric without substantive, feasible strategies for improving the lives of ethnic and religious minorities, it is almost impossible to imagine a return to the 2008 Constitution.
The End of a Failed Peace Process
For the past decade, the Tatmadaw (and the NLD) consistently suggested to the world that efforts were ongoing to achieve lasting peace to conflicts in various border areas where ethnic nationalities tend to comprise the majority of the population and which have been in conflict with the Tatmadaw for decades. For example, in 2016 the Tatmadaw announced a “national” “ceasefire” agreement, a misnomer both because it did not involve all the major armed groups and because fighting has persisted and even intensified over the past decade. This past year has refuted the existence of any credible peace process, paving the way going forward for either ongoing conflict or, more hopefully, some entirely new peace initiative.
ASEAN Slights Min Aung Hlaing
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been rightly criticized for failing to adequately respond to the military’s actions in Myanmar; none of the points in its five-point consensus plan from April 2021 to address the situation have seen significant progress. Yet during its October summit, ASEAN boldly excluded the Tatmadaw, and several countries at the summit directly criticized the military leadership. The issue of attendance remains unresolved, and expecting much more from ASEAN may be unrealistic with Cambodia — itself an autocracy — as the chair during the next year. Yet the fact that the group directly confronted the Tatmadaw in the way it did in October 2021 is unprecedented. It signals that ASEAN is keeping its options open as to where to place its allegiance in the new era and no longer blindly supporting the military.
International Recognition
In September of last year, the United States and China reached an informal agreement barring the Tatmadaw from being seated at the United Nations, undermining its attempts to gain international legitimacy. The General Assembly recently agreed to defer action on who would represent Myanmar at the United Nations, meaning that the current ambassador, Kyaw Moe Tun, who is loyal to the NUG and has in fact been “fired” by the Tatmadaw, will remain in place until the issue is resolved. While not a definitive win for either the NUG or the military, as with ASEAN keeping its options open, the recognition stalemate means that the military can no longer assume that its power grabs will lead to a place at the table internationally.
Businesses Exit
The old era included an opening up of the country to foreign direct investment, including to vast natural gas deposits in the early 1990s. The Tatmadaw benefited immensely from international investments, enjoying both material profits from partnering with international corporations to extract natural resources and gains in legitimacy that came with these partnerships. But in response to the deteriorating political and human rights situation over the past few months, Chevron (which bought Unocal, the original investor in Burma) and TotalEnergies (Total) announced earlier this year that they were withdrawing from Myanmar after 30 years. Woodside Petroleum followed Chevron and Total shortly thereafter, and other companies have pulled out as well. While this is not the only time businesses have exited the country, it is a dramatic reversal from the last ten years. Moreover, the inclusion of giants Chevron and Total in the exodus is a telling indication that even the most stalwart of holdouts from the previous era have broken with the military.
The International Criminal Court and International Accountability
While there has been significant progress around international accountability in Myanmar in recent years — from the Gambia’s case at the ICJ, to the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) investigation, to the creation of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), to the acceptance by an Argentinian court of jurisdiction over crimes committed against the Rohingya — the NUG’s deposit of a letter with the ICC accepting jurisdiction by the Court for international crimes dating back to 2002 anywhere in the country is a major development. This letter signals the NUG’s commitment to join the international community, adhere to the rule of law, and address grave crimes throughout the country. The ICC should recognize the letter and authorize additional investigations beyond the Rohingya into international crimes, both historical and ongoing.
Prospects for Conflict or Peace
Despite these major developments and potential promise of this new era, many see a grim immediate prognosis defined by an escalation in violence as the conflict expands geographically and intensifies militarily. Predictably, civilians are likely to pay the largest price. The dominant view is also that for the foreseeable future, neither the military nor the NUG and Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs) can achieve outright military victory, raising the specter of a protracted and messy conflict.
Nonetheless, as Myanmar enters this new era, a crucial question remains: what is the recipe that will change the balance of power to permanently end the Tatmadaw’s continuous destabilizing effects? After all, the destabilizing force in Burmese politics over the last 75 years has been the Burmese military. Despite three elections over the past decade, never have civilians been given genuine power to guide the country forward and never has there been a concerted effort to achieve a lasting peace across ethnic lines. With this in mind, possible paths toward such peace and stability will require the following elements.
First, the CDM has the capacity to transform into a durable generational political movement that can continue to learn from its membership, evolve, and persist. The momentum behind this grassroots movement is reminiscent of the long-term political impacts of the civil rights movement in the United States and the struggle to end Apartheid in South Africa. In order to move Myanmar further forward (and away from military hegemony), the CDM’s core values of civilian power and celebration of the diversity of Burma must also persist, heralded by the youth leaders who see the opportunity for fundamental change.
Second, as the NUG continues to gain legitimacy and implement initiatives like the National Unity Consultative Council, a body designed to expand the alliance against the junta and establish a roadmap for a federal democratic system, there is an open question about whether this new governing body will live up to its name. In one possible version of the future, the NUG’s eventual composition would reflect the leadership of the CDM, developing a new generation of political leaders who are committed to the “Unity” element of the NUG. The NUG has already taken certain steps in this direction, making an unprecedented public statement acknowledging the injustices suffered by Rohingya Muslims and promising that it will seek “justice and accountability” for the military’s crimes against the Rohingya and other ethnic groups. This move toward cross-ethnic solidarity in the highest levels of government will be key to establishing a new kind of durable peace in Myanmar. However, many NUG members come straight from the NLD, and traditional fissures of distrust between the NLD and ethnic nationality leadership could easily reemerge if the NUG does not commit seriously to the equality and unity of all peoples in Myanmar.
The third critical factor in this equation is whether and how long the Tatmadaw can sustain its campaign of terror without cracking under the pressure. Desertions are reported by some as being at an all-time high, including both rank-and-file soldiers and officers. The Tatmadaw’s strategy to maintain nationwide control in the decades preceding the coup included a cycle of temporary ceasefires with certain ethnic groups, allowing the military to rotate its resources from suppression of one group to another. But because the military alienated nearly every group over the past year, ending many already tentative ceasefires, the Tatmadaw is now stretched thin trying to gain control in areas where it faces combined opposition from EAOs and representatives of the NUG’s Peoples Defense Force. With soldiers leaving the Tatmadaw to join the opposition and with additional collaboration between opposition forces, an increasingly desperate but still well-armed military has the potential to do enormous damage. The fighting is likely to get worse before it gets better, especially for civilians. However, this trend toward desertion combined with a unified civilian population sheds light on the cracks in the military’s grip.
Finally, China, ASEAN, the West, and the international community writ large must align against the destabilizing force that is the Tatmadaw. China may speak more in terms of avoiding civil war (given its interest in stability). ASEAN may speak more in terms of political solutions and dialogue amongst all the parties (given its practice of non-interference). The West may speak more in terms of rights and sanctions. But the common interest of these players should be a permanent and durable solution with civilian rule in Burma. Such a solution would meet the interests of the key regional and international players to end the conflict, find a politically satisfying outcome, and uphold human rights and the rule of law.
Like 8888, February 1, 2021, will be a date for the history books. Whether this next chapter of Myanmar’s history will bring an end to continued military rule and violent conflict and lead to a transition to democracy and peace is yet to be determined. As we mark the first anniversary of “1221” (or “2121”), however, one thing is clear: the events of the past year have reshaped Burma in fundamental ways, ushering in a new era with flickers of hope for true national unity at last..."
Source/publisher:
Just Security (New York)
Date of publication:
2022-02-01
Date of entry/update:
2022-02-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Anti-coup protesters, International Criminal Court (Myanmar), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Political History, Military History
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"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
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"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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"The Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M) hosted a press conference yesterday, Thursday 27 January 2022. The scale and gravity of the crisis in Myanmar cannot be overstated, yet the members of SAC-M said there are reasons for optimism, even as the crisis caused by Min Aung Hlaing’s failed coup enters its second year.
“Min Aung Hlaing tried to seize power over Myanmar on 1st of February last year. One year later, he has not succeeded. Why has he not succeeded? Why has he failed? Because the people of Myanmar resisted,” said Yanghee Lee, SAC-M founding member and former UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar.
Yanghee Lee told the press conference that the resistance movement which manifested within days of the attempted coup has since become a democratic revolution. Lee highlighted the achievements of the revolution, including the announcement of a Federal Democratic Charter, appointment of the National Unity Government and formation of People’s Administration Committees.
These achievements have come at a heavy cost, with Min Aung Hlaing’s troops becoming more and more barbaric as his desperation grows. The intensity of violence in Myanmar has escalated in the last four months to outpace that of other global flashpoints Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen and Iraq.
Marzuki Darusman, SAC-M founding member and former chair of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, echoed Lee’s sentiment, however. “This is a nation that is in a historic process of re-envisioning itself towards a federal democracy. Historically, when a nation comes onto that track nothing can stop it, not even the junta,” he said.
Darusman said that among the reasons for optimism are the total de-legitimation of the junta, the pull-out of major corporations, and the growing recognition of the National Unity Government in the international community.
The international system itself meanwhile was criticised for failing to act. Chris Sidoti, SAC-M founding member and former member of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission, said that inaction has been the characteristic of the international response, but that there is an opportunity for change.
Sidoti told the press conference that the UN Security Council needs to accept its responsibility under the UN Charter for international peace and security and pass a resolution on Myanmar that would see the three cuts – cut the weapons, cut the cash, cut the impunity – imposed on the military junta. He also called on the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice to welcome the National Unity Government as the representatives of the people of Myanmar and cooperate with them in their investigations, prosecutions and litigations.
“We in the international system have the opportunity of being on the side of the people of Myanmar,” said Sidoti. “The victory of the people is clear, it will occur, but how will the international system be judged when the history of these years is written?”..."
Source/publisher:
Special Advisory Council for Myanmar
Date of publication:
2022-01-28
Date of entry/update:
2022-01-28
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Human Rights and international relations, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar
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126.02 KB
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Sub-title:
The Court to hold public hearings on the preliminary objections raised by Myanmar from Monday 21 to Monday 28 February 2022
Description:
"THE HAGUE, 19 January 2022. The International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ
of the United Nations, will hold public hearings in the case concerning Application of the Convention
on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (The Gambia v. Myanmar) from
Monday 21 February to Monday 28 February 2022, at the Peace Palace in The Hague, the seat of the
Court.
The hearings will be devoted to the preliminary objections raised by Myanmar.
In view of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the hearings will be held in a hybrid format. Some
Members of the Court will attend the oral proceedings in person in the Great Hall of Justice while
others will participate remotely by video link. Representatives of the Parties to the case will
participate either in person or by video link.
Guidelines for the Parties on the organization of hearings by video link can be found on the
Court’s website.
Members of the diplomatic corps, the media and the public will be able to follow the hearings
through a live webcast on the Court’s website, as well as on UN Web TV, the United Nations online
television channel..."
Source/publisher:
International Court of Justice ( The Hague, Netherlands)
Date of publication:
2022-01-19
Date of entry/update:
2022-01-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Human Rights and international relations
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211.44 KB
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"The Myanmar military regime has organized a new legal team led by its foreign minister, U Wunna Maung Lwin, to present the defense in the Rohingya genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.
The regime’s order restructuring the committee, which was previously led by detained State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, was announced in a bulletin published by the Myanmar Gazette on Thursday.
The panel has eight members. Among them are two former military officers—U Wunna Maung Lwin, who will serve as chairman; and the regime’s planning, finance and industry minister, U Win Shein—and two serving lieutenant generals: Yar Pyae and Adjutant General Myo Zaw Thein.
The other members of the panel are the junta’s minister for international cooperation, U Ko Ko Hlaing, as vice chairman; its new union attorney general, Daw Thida Oo; its deputy foreign minister, U Kyaw Myo Htut; and Daw Khin Oo Hlaing, who is said to be an international criminal law expert and also a member of a seven-member advisory board to the regime.
After a brutal military crackdown in the western state of Rakhine in 2017 that forced more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee across the border to neighboring Bangladesh, the African nation of Gambia in November 2019 brought a case at the ICJ—which is an organ of the UN and is also known as the World Court—accusing Myanmar of committing genocide against the Rohingya. State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi defended the country against the charge in December 2019.
Gambia’s legal team submitted a list of the Myanmar military’s atrocities against the minority Muslim group in northern Rakhine state. These included mass rapes, the burning of families in their homes and the killing of dozens of Rohingya children. As the case could take years, Gambia asked the ICJ to order Myanmar to take “provisional measures” to prevent more violations.
Going further than the measures requested by Gambia, the ICJ ordered Myanmar on Jan. 23 to report on its compliance with the provisional measures in four months and then every six months thereafter. The Daw Aung San Suu Kyi-led civilian government submitted two reports prior to its ouster by the military in a coup on Feb. 1.
The deputy foreign minister for Myanmar’s parallel National Unity Government (NUG), U Moe Zaw Oo, said during an online press conference on June 4 that the civilian government would no longer offer a defense in the case. It vowed to work with the ICJ and said it would accept the court’s decision in the case.
The NUG also said it is considering accepting the exercise of jurisdiction by a separate international court, the International Criminal Court, over the killings, torture and other crimes against civilians committed by the Myanmar junta since the coup on Feb. 1. The Myanmar military seized power from the democratically elected National League for Democracy government, detained civilian leaders and abolished the new Parliament on the day it was scheduled to convene.
Since the coup, the Myanmar regime has killed at least 877 people and arrested more than 6,200, of whom 5,088 remain in detention, according to advocacy group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
At least 25 civilians have been tortured to death after being arrested by regime forces since the military takeover..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2021-06-24
Date of entry/update:
2021-06-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Sub-title:
Returned Refugees Face Risks to Life, Liberty Under Oppressive Junta
Description:
"The Indian government should halt any plans to deport ethnic Rohingya and others to Myanmar, where they would be at risk from its oppressive military junta, Human Rights Watch said today. On March 6, 2021, the authorities in Jammu and Kashmir detained nearly 170 Rohingya, sent them to a holding center as part of a verification process, and said they plan to deport them. Myanmar authorities have also asked the Indian government to return eight police officers who with their families sought refuge in India after the military coup.
Since the February 1 coup, when the Myanmar military overthrew the democratically elected government, the security forces have used excessive and lethal force against peaceful protesters throughout the country. They have killed at least 55 people and carried out hundreds of arbitrary arrests and detentions including enforced disappearances. The junta has amended laws to strip away basic rights, brought politically motivated prosecutions, and intermittently blocked internet access.
“Any plan to forcibly return Rohingya and others to Myanmar will put them back in the grip of the oppressive military junta that they fled,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director. “Myanmar’s long-abusive military is even more lawless now that it is back in power, and the Indian government should uphold its international law obligations and protect those in need of refuge within its borders.”
The recent detention of Rohingya in Jammu and Kashmir follows the Indian government’s announcement in 2017 that it would deport all Rohingya, whom they consider to be “illegal immigrants.” Since October 2018, the Indian government has deported 12 Rohingya to Myanmar, claiming that they left voluntarily.
Many Rohingya in Jammu and Kashmir say that they hold identity documents issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and that they feared for their safety in Myanmar. Over a million Rohingya have fled Myanmar, primarily to Bangladesh, most of them since the military’s campaign of ethnic cleansing that began in August 2017. The 600,000 Rohingya remaining in Myanmar’s Rakhine State face severe repression and violence, with no freedom of movement, no access to citizenship, or other basic rights. Abuses against the Rohingya in Rakhine State amount to the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution, Human Rights Watch said.
“We are not ready to go back, until the situation improves in Myanmar,” said Mohammad Saleem, 42, a Rohingya refugee in Jammu and Kashmir. “It is extremely distressing for us to be sent back to Myanmar against our wishes.”
Indian authorities nonetheless say that they will deport Rohingya irregular immigrants not holding valid travel documents required under the Foreigners Act. But any forcible returns to Myanmar will violate the international legal principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits countries from returning anyone to a country where they may face persecution, torture, or other serious harm, Human Rights Watch said. Although India is not a party to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol, non-refoulement is recognized as customary international law and is binding on all countries.
Human Rights Watch has extensively documented rampant and systemic human rights violations against the Rohingya in Myanmar. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in January 2020 imposed provisional measures on Myanmar to prevent genocide while it adjudicates alleged violations of the Genocide Convention. The International Criminal Court (ICC) in November 2019 began an investigation into Myanmar’s forced deportation of Rohingya and related crimes against humanity..."
Source/publisher:
"Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of publication:
2021-03-10
Date of entry/update:
2021-03-10
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, The Military's political role, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, International Criminal Court (Myanmar)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Filing, made two weeks before military staged a coup and detained the country’s civilian leaders, is likely to delay proceedings by at least a year.
Description:
"Myanmar is being accused of attempting to delay court proceedings after it emerged the country last month filed preliminary objections to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over genocide charges for its treatment of the mostly Muslim Rohingya.
The case was brought by The Gambia in 2019 after a brutal military crackdown in the western state of Rakhine in 2017 forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee across the border to neighbouring Bangladesh. “On 20 January 2021, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar filed preliminary objections to the jurisdiction of the Court and the admissibility of the Application,” the ICJ said in a filing signed by Court President Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf and dated January 28.
The filing did not elaborate on the nature of the objections, but legal experts say they are likely to include whether the court has jurisdiction to hear the case and whether The Gambia has the appropriate standing to bring the suit.
Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s former civilian leader raised similar issues during preliminary hearings in December 2019 when she travelled to The Hague to defend her country’s treatment of a minority group that has been described as among the world’s most persecuted.
The Gambia has until May 20 to respond and the court will then consider the points raised.
“These objections will fail and are nothing more than delaying tactics,” Mark Farmaner, the director of the Burma Campaign UK wrote on Twitter, urging the British government to intervene..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2021-02-04
Date of entry/update:
2021-02-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Amnesty says Myanmar military carried out 'indiscriminate' air strikes in Rakhine, calls for war crimes investigation.
Description:
"Myanmar's military has killed civilians, including children, in indiscriminate air attacks amid worsening conflict in the country's western Rakhine and Chin states, a prominent rights group has said, urging the United Nations Security Council to launch a war crimes investigation.
In a new report on Wednesday, Amnesty International said it collected new evidence showing Myanmar's military - also known as the Tatmadaw - bombed several villages in Chin state in March and April, killing more than a dozen people.
One witness who was interviewed remotely told the group that an air raid in Paletwa Township on March 14 and 15 killed his uncle, his brother and his brother's 16-year-old friend.
Two people from another family in the same village cluster said nine people, including a seven-year-old boy, were also killed in the bombardment.
"Our family is destroyed," the boy's father told Amnesty. In another round of aerial raids in Paletwa on April 7, seven people were killed and eight wounded, the report said, citing testimony from a farmer.
The indiscriminate attacks, which Amnesty said amounted to war crimes due to civilian deaths, came amid a surge in fighting between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army (AA), an armed group seeking greater autonomy for the Buddhist Rakhine people who make up most of the state's population. Rakhine is also home to the mostly Muslim Rohingya, and borders Chin state, whose people are mostly Christian.
The conflict escalated in January last year following an AA attack on police posts and worsened in March after Myanmar's government officially labelled the group a terrorist organisation. The AA posed "a danger to law and order, peace and stability of the country and public peace," it said..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2020-07-08
Date of entry/update:
2020-07-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Armed conflict in Rakhine (Arakan) State
Language:
more
Description:
"The United Nations' court, based in The Hague in the Netherlands, ordered Myanmar to take urgent measures to protect Rohingyas from persecution and atrocities.
Rohingya Muslims remain "at serious risk of genocide" in Myanmar, the International Court of Justice has ruled..."
Source/publisher:
"Sky News"
Date of publication:
2020-01-24
Date of entry/update:
2020-07-04
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar
Language:
more
Sub-title:
The nationwide vote is seen as a test for Aung San Suu Kyi and her party National League for Democracy.
Description:
"Myanmar will hold its next general election on November 8, the election commission has announced, in a vote seen as a test for the country's fledgeling democratic government led by Aung San Suu Kyi.
In a statement on Wednesday, Hla Thein, chairman of the union election commission, said a "multi-party general election for the parliament" would be held on that day.
The Myanmar Times said a total of 1,171 national, state and regional seats would be up for grabs in the election, with polling set to take place in all townships, including areas considered conflict zones and self-administered regions. Analysts see the polls as an important test of Myanmar's transition away from direct military rule.
Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate, won power in a landslide in 2015 that ended decades of military rule. But her administration has come under pressure internationally over a military crackdown that drove hundreds of thousands of Rohingya into Bangladesh in 2017.
She personally appeared at an international tribunal in The Hague to defend the army against the allegations of rape, arson and mass killing in the campaign, which rights groups have said was tantamount to genocide..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2020-07-02
Date of entry/update:
2020-07-02
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
The 2020 General Elections in Burma/Myanmar, Burma/Myanmar's political parties, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Abubakarr Tambadou, known for human rights efforts at home, abroad steps down from government post
Description:
"The Gambian justice minister who led efforts to protect human rights in his own country, as well as an international case in defense of the persecuted Rohingya minority in Myanmar, has stepped down from his government post.
Abubakarr Tambadou, who will leave office on June 30, will be replaced by lawyer Dawda Jallow, President Adama Barrow announced Thursday.
At a press conference in Gambia's capital Banjul on Friday, Tambadou said: "I led efforts to rebuild a hitherto weakened judiciary and I'm glad that we now have a respectable, robust and independent organ of state."
Tambadou is hailed inside and outside Gambia for advocating rule of law and human rights, as well as for establishing the transitional justice process to deal with human rights violations of former president Yahya Jammeh who ruled the West African country for 22 years.
Tambadou also established an inquiry to recover Jammeh's allegedly ill-gotten assets and a draft constitution more protective of human rights.
During his tenure, Tambadou pushed for Jammeh to be held accountable for past crimes. He helped the US arrest one of Jammeh's alleged henchmen, Michael Sang Correa, and made clear that if Jammeh tried to return to Gambia, he would be arrested on charges of committing atrocities.
Tambadou told journalists that his resignation was for personal reasons, but would not comment on reports that he would be appointed as UN registrar of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals.
The international court was established by the UN Security Council in 2010 to perform the remaining functions of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
"What happened in this country on 1 December 2016 was a revolution by any standards, a political revolution to match any other in world history. We removed a dictator by democratic means, through the ballot box, and peacefully," said Tambadou, referring to the country's landmark elections that voted Jammeh out of office.
"Since then, a lot has happened over the past three and a half years. On my part, I have initiated and delivered on the key pillars of our transitional justice process which has now achieved global recognition by experts as being among the best models in the world, particularly for its inclusiveness and originality."
At ICJ for Rohingya
In January this year, Tambadou led a historic court case of genocide against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice on the country's Muslim Rohingya. The case was filed by Gambia with the backing of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation..."
Source/publisher:
"Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of publication:
2020-06-26
Date of entry/update:
2020-06-28
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Rights groups say keeping reports confidential 'will undermine their effectiveness, allow Myanmar to skirt obligation'
Description:
"Over two dozen rights groups from various countries are urging the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to make Myanmar’s report on the Rohingya genocide available to the public.
Myanmar submitted the report to the ICJ late last month, stating what the government had done to prevent further acts of genocide against the country’s persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority.
In the joint letter sent to the ICJ on June 17 and made available to Anadolu Agency, 30 Rohingya rights groups expressed fears of misinformation if the report remains confidential.
“We fear that keeping the reports confidential will undermine their effectiveness and allow Myanmar to skirt its obligation to comply with the Court’s Order, and its continuing obligations under the [UN’s] 1948 Genocide Convention,” it states.
“We would like to respectfully urge the Court to make the 23 May 2020 report and all future reports (including any responses from The Gambia) available to the public on the Court’s website.”
According to a January 23 ruling by the ICJ, Myanmar is obliged to take all measures to protect the Rohingya community from mental and physical harm, as well as from the deliberate infliction of life conditions that cause their “physical destruction” and measures “intended to prevent births within the group.”
Stressing the need to ensure public confidence in the trial process, the rights groups said “the non-public nature of the reports will prevent Rohingya communities and other observers who may have relevant information and expertise from being able to scrutinize Myanmar’s reports.”
“The reporting requirement may not fulfil its intended purpose, especially given that United Nations investigators are not able to operate within Myanmar,” the letter said.
It warned that “misinterpretation may arise even among the Rohingya people” if the report was not made public..."
Source/publisher:
"Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of publication:
2020-06-19
Date of entry/update:
2020-06-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Human rights lawyers: Facebook posts of officials 'may constitute evidence of genocidal intent' against Muslim minority.
Description:
"Lawyers bringing a case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Myanmar of genocide against its Rohingya Muslim minority have asked a United States district court to order Facebook to release posts and communications from the country's military and police.
The ICJ, based in the Hague, has agreed to hear a case accusing Myanmar of genocide against the Rohingya in violation of a 1948 convention.
More:
UN's Guterres asks Bangladesh to move Rohingya to refugee camps
First coronavirus case found in Bangladesh Rohingya refugee camps
Bangladesh quarantines hundreds of Rohingya rescued from sea
The ICJ, a United Nations court commonly known as the World Court, accepts cases between states, and the case against Myanmar was brought by the Gambia with the backing of a group of Muslim countries.
Hundreds of thousands of Muslims have fled a crackdown in mainly Buddhist Myanmar, which considers members of its Rohingya minority to be foreigners. Rights groups have documented killings of civilians and burning of villages. Myanmar authorities say they have been battling an insurgency and deny carrying out systematic atrocities.
In 2018 UN human rights investigators said that Facebook had played a key role in spreading hate speech that fuelled violence in Myanmar. Facebook has said it is working to block hate speech.
A request, filed on behalf of the Gambia on June 8 with the US District Court for the District of Columbia, calls on Facebook to release "all documents and communications produced, drafted, posted or published on the Facebook page" of Myanmar military officials and police forces..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2020-06-11
Date of entry/update:
2020-06-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide
Language:
more
Description:
"Myanmar has sidelined an international court order to improve conditions for its long-embattled Rohingya minority, despite fears that the Southeast Asian government is trying to commit genocide against the group, observers say.
The U.N.’s International Court of Justice in January ordered Myanmar to "take all measures within its power" to prevent any acts of genocide against ethnic Rohingya Muslims, who fled the country amid a bloody military crackdown in 2017. The ICJ ordered Myanmar to submit a report within four months on what actions it is taking to comply with the court's decision, and to submit follow-up reports every six months after that.
The court last month accepted the first of the required reports, but its contents have not been released.
Nevertheless, observers contacted say there has been little change.
“The situation to me seems like it’s more of the same,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, political science professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. “There has not been any major deterioration, but also no major new measures.”
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted Myanmar to control people’s movement in Rakhine state in western Myanmar where about 400,000 Rohingya live, Thitinan said. Legislative elections set for November will embolden the government to stiffen its stance toward the Rohingya, he added. Voters of other groups see the Muslim minority as uninvited people allowed in during British colonial rule over Myanmar. “The Rohingya is a very paradoxical issue,” Thitinan said. “To the outside world, there’s a lot of sympathy and outcry. Within Myanmar, it’s the opposite.”
The Rohingya crisis has tarnished the international reputation of Myanmar’s de facto head of state, former opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Myanmar has targeted the Rohingya in a “systematic” way, a court news release said. “Genocidal acts” including mass murder, rape and setting fires were intended to wipe out the group, the release said. It pointed to an increase in those acts starting from August 2017..."
Source/publisher:
"VOA" (Washington, D.C)
Date of publication:
2020-06-06
Date of entry/update:
2020-06-07
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide
Language:
more
Sub-title:
In a significant development, Buenos Aires court admits petition to probe Myanmar leaders’ role in Rohingya genocide
Description:
"A court in South American country of Argentina has decided to pursue a case against Myanmar's leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi and senior officers in the military over the genocide and persecution against Rohingya community.
In a statement issued on Monday, Burmese Rohingya Organization UK (BROUK) said that Argentina’s Federal Criminal Chamber No. 1 has accepted its petition and asked to collect more information on the Rohingya genocide.
The court, in its decision on May 29, overturned a previous order when it had rejected to admit a similar petition seeking to probe the role of Myanmar leadership in the acts of genocide.
“A court in Buenos Aires on Friday overturned a previous order of not to pursue a case against [Myanmar’s] State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and senior officers in the Tatmadaw [the Myanmar military],” the statement said.
“The court has now requested more information from the International Criminal Court (ICC), to ensure that the case in Argentina would not duplicate other efforts of justice,” the statement added.
An Argentinian court on Dec. 9, 2019, had rejected the lawsuit filed by BROUK seeking to open an investigation into the role of Myanmar’s civilian and military leaders in committing genocide and crimes against the Rohingya.
Citing the principle of “universal jurisdiction”, the BROUK pleaded that the cases of genocide and extreme crimes against humanity can be tried in any court across the globe.
Earlier the court had pointed out that admission of the petition would amount duplicating the investigation launched by the ICC.
The ICC on Nov. 14, 2019, approved a full investigation into Myanmar's alleged crimes against the minority Rohingya Muslims..."
Source/publisher:
"Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of publication:
2020-06-02
Date of entry/update:
2020-06-02
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
more
Topic:
Civil War, International Court Of Justice (ICJ), Rohingya
Topic:
Civil War, International Court Of Justice (ICJ), Rohingya
Description:
"Myanmar recently sent its first report to the International Criminal Court on the steps it’s taking to protect the Rohingya. The report isn’t public, but Rohingya activists and rights advocates say ongoing violence and human rights abuses show Myanmar hasn’t complied with the court’s orders.
Editorial
Rights advocates and ethnic Rohingya activists say Myanmar is failing to comply with orders from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to take steps to protect the Muslim minority from ongoing genocide.
On May 23, Myanmar submitted its first report to the ICJ outlining how the government and military are complying with the court’s orders to prevent genocide and preserve evidence. The court issued the orders in January after the first hearings in the case brought by The Gambia charging Myanmar with genocide, as the case could take years to resolve.
Though the report is not yet public, ALTSEAN Burma (the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma) and other groups claim Myanmar has done little to end violence against ethnic minorities, prevent discrimination or stop hate speech and violence.
Following the ICJ hearing, there have been at least five cases in which Rohingya civilians were killed by the Myanmar military or in fighting between the military and ethnic armed group the Arakan Army (AA).
In an op-ed in Frontier Myanmar, three Rohingya youth leaders—Zahidullah, Shohid and Abdullah Zubair—say Myanmar hasn’t changed its course since the ICJ hearing in January.
“If we had an opportunity to respond to Myanmar’s report, the following is what we would say.
In the four months since the ICJ issued the provisional measures ruling, our lives in Bangladesh and Myanmar have become worse,” the three wrote. They say that Rohingya groups have documented at least 54 cases of rights abuses against Rohingya in Rakhine between January and May..."
Source/publisher:
"ASEAN Today" (Singapore)
Date of publication:
2020-05-30
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-30
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Expectations about international justice are unrealistically high among Rohingya in the camps in Bangladesh, and the case before the ICJ is likely to end in disappointment.
Description:
"On May 23, Myanmar had to submit its first report to the International Court of Justice in The Hague about the measures it has taken to prevent the genocide of the Rohingya people. The report was not made public so we can only guess what Myanmar is telling the court about the situation in Rakhine State.
There have been many times during the past three years when discussions about the Rohingya have taken place in other countries without our involvement. If we had an opportunity to respond to Myanmar’s report, the following is what we would say.
In the four months since the ICJ issued the provisional measures ruling, our lives in Bangladesh and Myanmar have become worse. There is no justice for us in the camps, where we have no education, no livelihoods, no movement, no internet and no hope for the future.
There is no justice for the Rohingya who are forced to flee on boats and are abused and extorted by people smugglers.
Support independent journalism in Myanmar. Sign up to be a Frontier member.
There is no justice for the hundreds of young men who are forced to join criminal gangs in the camps, or the women and girls who are harassed and abused by gang leaders. There is no justice for our brothers and sisters in Rakhine who are caught in the middle of a war that is not their own.
Rohingya civil society groups that help refugees have been documenting abuses in Rakhine since the ICJ handed down its ruling in January. Between January and May they have recorded 54 cases of human rights abuses against Rohingya, including deaths and injuries by landmines and shelling. Because the internet has been blocked on both sides of the border, we think the number of cases is likely much higher..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2020-05-28
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-30
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Description:
"Last Sunday, Myanmar submitted its first report to the International Court of Justice, elaborating on the measures it has taken to protect the Rohingya ethnic minority from genocide. The ICJ had issued a provisional order on Myanmar in January following a call to action made by The Gambia, urging Myanmar to take all necessary means to prevent genocide acts and incitement from happening.
In 2017, Myanmar’s military launched a clearance operation in the Rakhine state in response to an offensive attack by an armed Rohingya group. The violent aftermath that followed this crackdown has forced more than 750,000 Rohingya minority to flee to Bangladesh, languishing in squalid conditions in the world’s largest refugee camp. Another 600,000 Rohingya citizens still reside in the Southern area of Myanmar.
The ongoing crackdown of Myanmar’s security forces had led to mass killing, rape, torture, forced displacement, and other human rights violations, which the ICJ has cited as war crimes or crimes against humanity. Rohingya’s villager homes were ransacked and set on fire, which could be seen from the border in Bangladesh. Discrimination against the Rohingya, however, is not a new phenomenon. According to Aljazeera, “nearly all Rohingya have been denied citizenship since 1982, effectively rendering them stateless. They are denied freedom of movement and other basic rights.” The Rohingya have been described by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as one of the most discriminated and persecuted populations in the world..."
Source/publisher:
"The Organization for World Peace"
Date of publication:
2020-05-28
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-29
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Description:
"The Myanmar Parliament has approved a budget of 680 million kyats (US$484,000) for the country’s defense at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against genocide charges filed by The Gambia.
Union Minister for International Cooperation U Kyaw Tin defended the government’s budget before a vote on Wednesday, responding to criticism from a military-appointed lawmaker by saying that the budget was made in line with laws and procedures.
As lawmakers discussed proposed additions to budgets for the 2019-20 fiscal year last week, military lawmaker Major Naing Lin Aung asked if the proposed budget of 680 million kyats was in line with laws and procedures.
“We will have to face the lawsuit for years. So, I’d like to say that the proposed addition to the budget is in line with financial procedures and laws,” said U Kyaw Tin.
The budget for the defense at the ICJ falls under the budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). The joint public accounts committee suggested slashing 626.7 million kyats (US$446,000) from the 4.4 billion kyat-budget proposed by MOFA.
The Union Parliament accepted the cut and approved the adjusted MOFA budget on Wednesday. The budget covers hiring of legal experts and advisors, travel to the ICJ and meetings inside and outside the country, said U Kyaw Tin.
He said that in November of last year, MOFA explained its plan to defend against the lawsuit at the ICJ to President U Win Myint, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, vice-presidents, parliamentary speakers, military chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and region and state chief ministers.
“The ministry was able to satisfactorily explain how its expenditures are in line with regulations. As our country is being sued and we face a lawsuit at the international level, there must be sufficient budget. This must be accepted,” said lawmaker Daw Pyone Cathy Naing, who is also a member of the Lower House International Relations Committee..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2020-05-28
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-28
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Description:
"Myanmar, on Saturday, confirmed that it had submitted a report to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), or sometimes called the World Court, on preventing further acts of genocide against the country's Muslim Rohingya minority as well as preserving evidence of the genocidal campaign seen in recent years.
In January, the top UN court issued a provisional order asking Myanmar to take certain preventive measures against the genocide of the Rohingya community in the western Rakhine state of Myanmar, reports Turkey’s Anadolu Agency.
About its compliance report, a Foreign Ministry official of Myanmar, on Saturday said: “We submitted it to the ICJ today.”
As he was not authorized to speak to the media, he sought anonymity, and informed the report was based on three directives issued by the president’s office this April in response to the ICJ order.
He said Myanmar’s President Win Myint ordered the regional government and military not to remove or destroy evidence of a genocide, and prevent anyone and all groups from committing genocidal acts as well as prevent incitement and hate speech against the Rohingya population.
“What I know is that the report was based on what we have done and what we are doing regarding these three directives,” commented the official.
It is unclear if the court will make the report public..."
Source/publisher:
"Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication:
2020-05-24
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Document about steps Myanmar took for protecting Rohingya from genocide is with ICJ, official says as critics cry foul.
Description:
"Myanmar has submitted its first report to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), detailing what it has done to protect the minority Rohingya from genocide.
The Hague-based court issued a provisional order in January, asking Myanmar to safeguard the mostly Muslim group in western Rakhine state as part of "provisional measures" at the start of a trial expected to take years.
More:
UN envoy calls for investigation into 'possible war crimes' in Myanmar
Eight killed in Myanmar's troubled western state of Rakhine
Myanmar to release 25,000 prisoners to mark New Year festival
The top UN court agreed last year to consider a case brought by The Gambia alleging that Myanmar committed genocide against the Rohingya, an accusation vigorously denied by the government.
Myanmar's military in August 2017 launched what it called a "clearance operation" in Rakhine state in response to an attack by a Rohingya armed group. The crackdown forced more than 730,000 Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh and led to widespread accusations that security forces committed mass murder, gang rape, torture and arson.
A foreign ministry official told Turkey's Anadolu news agency the report submitted on Saturday was based on three directives issued by President Win Myint's office in April.
It is unclear if the court will make the report public.
Speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media, the official said the president ordered the regional government and military not to remove or destroy evidence of a genocide.
He also instructed them to prevent genocidal acts as well as incitement and hate speech against the Rohingya.
"What I know is that the report was based on what we have done and what we are doing regarding these three directives," said the official..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2020-05-25
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Myanmar leaders said to order prevention of genocidal acts and hate speech against Rohingya Muslims
Description:
"Myanmar confirmed on Saturday that it had submitted a report to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on preventing further acts of genocide against the country's Muslim Rohingya minority as well as preserving evidence of the genocidal campaign seen in recent years.
In January, the top UN court issued a provisional order asking Myanmar to implement certain preventive measures against the genocide of the Rohingya community in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state.
About Myanmar’s compliance report, a Foreign Ministry official on Saturday told Anadolu Agency over the phone: “We submitted it to the ICJ today.”
On condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to media, the official said the report was based on three directives issued by the president’s office this April in response to the ICJ order.
He said Win Myint, Myanmar’s president, ordered the regional government and military not to remove or destroy evidence of a genocide while it must prevent anyone and all groups from committing genocidal acts as well as prevent incitement and hate speech against the Rohingya.
‘What I know is that the report was based on what we done and what we are doing regarding these three directives,” said the official..."
Source/publisher:
"Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of publication:
2020-05-23
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
4 months after UN court orders Myanmar to prevent Rohingya genocide, Yangon scheduled to submit first report on May 23
Description:
"Myanmar on Saturday will submit its first compliance report to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on a previous order to prevent and not commit genocide against the Muslim Rohingya minority in the country.
Early in January, the top UN court issued a provisional order asking Myanmar to implement certain preventive measures against the genocide of the persecuted community.
The ICJ may rule against making the report public. However, Myanmar was ordered to share a copy of the report with Gambia for the West African country to submit its comments.
The ICJ is set to hear Myanmar on its implementation of "all measures taken to give effect" to its order, seeking to ensure Yangon prevents genocidal acts -- including by its own security forces -- and preserve all potential evidence of genocidal acts.
The ICJ had given to Myanmar four months, ending on May 23, 2020. Subsequent reports will be filed every six months.
However, the UN's former Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, said Myanmar had not taken any steps since the order.
"Sadly, no progress at all," Lee said in a webinar organized by the Global Justice Center.
The ICJ delivered its verdict on a case filed last December by Gambia.
The Maldives has also hired prominent human rights lawyer Amal Clooney to represent the persecuted Rohingya at the UN court alongside Gambia..."
Source/publisher:
"Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of publication:
2020-05-22
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
As the deadline approaches to answer to the UN’s top court about abuses against the Rohingya, the government and the military are using the same old tricks
Description:
"Myanmar has until tomorrow to submit a report to the United Nation’s highest court detailing what it is doing to protect the mostly Muslim Rohingya minority from genocide.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered the report, the first of many, as part of “provisional measures” at the start of a trial that is expected to take years.
It made the ruling after The Gambia accused Myanmar of genocide following mass rapes and killings against the Rohingya that forced over 730,000 to flee to Bangladesh in 2017.
In response to this case, the government and the military are taking slightly different, but equally flawed, approaches.
The government has tried to feed people inside Myanmar a nationlist narrative about the need to fight “terrorists” while presenting itself abroad as diplomatic and reasonable.
The military, meanwhile, is brazenly continuing its attacks in Rakhine but pursuing sham accountability against soldiers who have been caught red-handed abusing civilians.
Both are attempts to appease the international community by giving the appearance of cooperation, and neither is a genuine effort to take this opportunity to right the injustices done to the Rohingya and other minority groups..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2020-05-22
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
The country has until May 23 to provide evidence to the International Court of Justice that genocide has stopped
Description:
"The clock is ticking down to a May 23 deadline for Myanmar’s government to provide demonstrable evidence that it has taken substantive action in the first four months of 2020 to protect its Rohingya minority from genocide.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) imposed that deadline in January in response to The Gambia’s petition for “provisional measures” to protect the Rohingya from “real and imminent risk” of genocide by Myanmar authorities.
Those provisional measures are the ICJ’s first response to The Gambia’s official complaint of Myanmar’s violations of the United Nations’ Genocide Convention. The complaint cited the extreme violence that the Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw, along with Border Security Guard units and armed Buddhist Rakhine civilians, unleashed against Muslim Rohingya civilians in late 2017. The ICJ decision imposed a series of obligations on the Myanmar government linked to a specific timetable for detailing its efforts to meet those benchmarks. The obligations include “taking all measures within its power to prevent” actions that meet the legal definition of acts of genocide and to ensure that the Myanmar military “do not commit acts of genocide, or of conspiracy to commit genocide, of direct and public incitement to commit genocide, of attempt to commit genocide, or of complicity in genocide.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of publication:
2020-05-21
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Description:
"“The NLD government still has time to make this right by taking the following actions without delay: Immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners and drop charges against those who are being persecuted for their fundamental right to freedom of expression; stop harassing the media and reporters for doing their legitimate work; repeal repressive legislation and enact laws that enshrine press freedom and freedom of expression.”
Myanmar has announced that it will indeed go ahead with the 2020 general election as planned, most likely in November. However, as noted by civil society organizations in light of World Press Freedom Day on 3 May, freedom of expression is in decline in the country. It is essential that this fundamental freedom is guaranteed to hold the government accountable, to monitor the fairness of the elections and ensure transparency and fairness in its organization, and to scrutinize the platforms of the political parties that will contest it.
One of the most pressing concerns in regard to freedom of expression and restrictions on the press, is the ongoing internet shutdown in Rakhine and Chin States. While one township in Rakhine State, Maungdaw, was recently taken off this list, this is probably a tactical PR move from the government given the upcoming reporting deadline to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on progress on implementation of measures as ordered by the Court. The remaining eight townships, however, are black holes of information. This is particularly galling in the context of both the coronavirus pandemic – where information dissemination is key for public health – and the ongoing armed conflict, in which 157,000 people have been displaced and the Myanmar military continues to commit egregious human rights violations. It has now been ten months without internet access in this part of Myanmar. Furthermore, on the same day that the Myanmar government officially announced its first coronavirus cases, they also announced that over 230 websites would be blocked. While the government gave the reason that such sites either contain adult content or spread ‘fake news,’ the reality is that some of these websites are essential ethnic media outlets such as Karen News and the Rakhine-based Development Media Group. These media outlets are not purveyors of ‘fake news’ but trusted local agencies that provide valuable information regarding the ground situation in their respective areas, areas where mainstream domestic or international media do not have access to. This valuable information pertains not just to the coronavirus pandemic, but also on the human rights violations and atrocities committed by the Myanmar military..."
Source/publisher:
Progressive Voice (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2020-05-10
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-18
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar
Language:
more
Description:
"Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, foreign minister of Myanmar, went to The Hague last December to defend her country against charges of genocide. By going, she also acknowledged that the international community has a legitimate interest in holding countries accountable for genocide and crimes against humanity. Obviously, this includes Myanmar, but as importantly it also includes every other country. By responding as she did, Myanmar’s foreign minister actually raised the bar for other countries accused of committing war crimes.
Myanmar is perhaps the first country to acknowledge the legitimacy of the international court, and the requirement that such serious accusations must be responded to. Indeed, such genocide charges are typically leveled only at already-defeated countries and deposed dictators. Or, as commonly, such crimes are not prosecuted at all. This has been the general policy for most of the other genocides that took place since the international genocide law was promulgated after World War II. By responding, Myanmar is in fact helping to establish new levels of accountability for not just its own army, but the larger community of nations..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2020-04-25
Date of entry/update:
2020-04-27
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description:
"As recently as two weeks ago, some of the few Rohingya remaining in Myanmar were still trying to make their way across the border to the relative safety of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. This comes 16 months after the governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed Rohingya who had previously fled Myanmar would be helped to return to the country of their birth, and over two months since the International Court of Justice ruled that Myanmar must take a number of steps to protect the Rohingya, who it judged as “at risk of genocide.”
It therefore seems that fears for the safety of the Rohingya remaining in Myanmar were, unfortunately, well founded. And those who made it to the border were some of the luckier ones. The situation is probably even more precarious for the majority of those still in the country, who find themselves in internally displaced people’s camps in Myanmar under the direct supervision and “protection” of the Myanmar military, who orchestrated the “clearance operations” against them in the first place.
As if the background situation of the ethnic cleansing, plus the intrusion the COVID-19 pandemic, were not enough, the Myanmar military has once again ramped up attacks against insurgent groups, and any civilian who belongs to the same ethnic group as the insurgents. Presumably the calculation was that the pandemic might make the insurgent groups less organized and more vulnerable to attack. If that was the case, then it would appear that calculation was wrong..."
Source/publisher:
Arab News (Saudi Arabia)
Date of publication:
2020-04-25
Date of entry/update:
2020-04-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar
Language:
more
Sub-title:
The list of countries planning economic and legal measures against Myanmar is growing
Description:
"Last week, the government of Myanmar started paying a real price for its failure to provide meaningful accountability for its security forces’ widespread and systematic violence against the country’s Muslim Rohingya minority in northern Rakhine state in late 2017.
Literally.
On February 26, Germany’s development minister, Gerd Müller, announced that Berlin was suspending development cooperation with Myanmar because of its “ethnic cleansing” of its Rohingya minority. Müller said the suspension would remain in place until Myanmar delivered on its commitment to “guaranteeing the safe return of the more than 700,000 Rohingya who fled for their lives to Bangladesh in late 2017 and protecting the Rohingya who still live in the country.”
Although Müller didn’t specify the financial cost of that suspension, he simultaneously announced an additional German government contribution of €15 million (US$16.5 million) to support Bangladesh’s Rohingya refugee population..."
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of publication:
2020-03-02
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide
Language:
more
Description:
"Al Jazeera cameras have been allowed on a tightly-controlled, government-organised trip to Rakhine state in northern Myanmar, where the army has denied carrying out a genocidal campaign against the Rohingya..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2020-03-02
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-02
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Afraid to return home, Myanmar's Rohingya refugees are stuck in camps in Bangladesh, three years on from a military crackdown.
Description:
"Rohingya who fled a campaign of violence against them in Myanmar remain fearful of returning home, despite the government saying it is now ready to receive them.
More than 700,000 Rohingya fled to neighbouring Bangladesh in 2017.
A recent United Nations court ruling ordered Myanmar to protect them.
Al Jazeera's Tanvir Chowdhury reports from Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2020-03-02
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-02
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar
Language:
more
Description:
": The contact group of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), led by Saudi Arabia, met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at his office at the UN’s New York headquarters to discuss the latest developments related to the Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority community in Myanmar.
The group included representatives from Turkey, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia and the OIC Observer Mission to the UN.
The Kingdom’s permanent representative to the UN, Abdallah Al-Mouallimi, lauded the efforts of Guterres to support the legitimate rights of the Rohingya, highlighting the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) decision demanding the government of Myanmar honor its obligations to provide protection to the group.
“The ICJ decision was the result of the efforts exerted by the OIC members states in New York and the Contact Group on Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar headed by the Kingdom,” he said..."
Source/publisher:
"Arab News" (Saudi Arabia)
Date of publication:
2020-03-01
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
more
Topic:
Genocide and hypocrisy
Topic:
Genocide and hypocrisy
Description:
"In 1948, Myanmar, then called Burma, gained independence from Britain, although the promised autonomy to the Rohingya people (who are mainly Muslim), as well as other ethnic groups like the Shan and Kachin people was never granted. Instead, military-government led persecution and theft of land have been their lot. The Rohingya people were stripped of their nationality in 1982, and subsequently labelled as ‘Bangladeshis’.
Since 2012, especially in 2015 and 2017, there were several outbreaks of vicious attacks on the Rohingya people by the Tatmadaw, the Myanmar military forces, which forced over 700,000 to flee from Rakhine province into refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh. More than a million Rohingyas live in the squalor, disease, and poverty of the refugee camps in southern Bangladesh, having fled from appalling violence and rape or sexual abuse.
According to “Physicians for Human Rights”, Rohingyas in the camps had been subject to being beaten or injured with weapons, hit by grenades or mortars, or raped or sexually assaulted. For example, in 2017, 6-year-old Abdul Wahid was shot in the head and left leg; despite surviving the attack after surgery in Bangladesh, walking is now an extreme difficulty for him. 21-year-old Rabia Basri lost five relatives when fired at by military forces, and is now unable to walk or even carry loads without the use of crutches.These examples are but the tip of the iceberg.
There are currently around ten refugee camps in Bangladesh, each housing anywhere between 9,000 and 600,000 Rohingyas. The largest camp, Kutupalong, has the highest number and contains an expansion site of makeshift camps.
International hypocrisy
The government of Bangladesh is, of course, not a benevolent force intervening in the crisis; it previously provided the Myanmar government with tens of thousands of names of Rohingyas marked for repatriation, following a joint agreement signed in 2018.
Voluntary repatriation has been refused by many Rohingya refugees over fears of further violence or sexual assault when back in Rakhine province. The government of Myanmar has also steadfastly refused to grant full citizenship to the Rohingya people, instead offering only the concession of ‘part-citizenship’..."
Source/publisher:
"The Socialist" (UK)
Date of publication:
2020-02-28
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-28
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
The Human Rights Council on Thursday held an interactive dialogue with UN rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, on the root causes of violations and abuses suffered by the Rohingya mainly-Muslim minority and other minorities in Myanmar. She said the Government now has a historic opportunity to counteract systematic violations, "by bringing its people together, as one".
Description:
"The High Commissioner also presented her oral update, as well as country reports of the Secretary-General and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), followed by a general debate.
Ms. Bachelet said she welcomed the engagement and constructive input of the Government of Myanmar in the compilation of the report.
She reminded Member States that for over half a century, the policies of Myanmar had discriminated against religious and ethnic minorities. Women and girls heavily impacted
Democratic deficits, entrenched impunity, weak rule of law and the lack of civilian oversight had all contributed to human rights abuses in Myanmar, Ms. Bachelet noted, adding that women and girls were especially impacted as a result of sexual and gender-based violence. Government policies “have contributed to and perpetuated violence, extreme poverty, exploitation and dispossession. Notably, the 1982 Citizenship Law rendered stateless a significant proportion of the Rohingya and other Muslims, compounding their vulnerability”, she said. She added that the “root causes of these violations are complex, multi-dimensional and long-standing. Unpacking and untangling this multi-faceted human rights challenge requires understanding the historical, political, economic and social dimensions as a prerequisite to identifying solutions.”..."
Source/publisher:
UN News
Date of publication:
2020-02-27
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-28
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Human rights lawyer will represent Maldives, which is joining the Gambia in taking Myanmar to court for alleged genocide
Description:
"Amal Clooney will represent the Maldives in seeking justice for Rohingya Muslims at the UN’s highest court, where Myanmar faces accusations of genocide.
The Maldivian government has said it will join the Gambia in challenging Myanmar’s treatment of Rohingya people during an army crackdown in Rakhine state in 2017 that forced more than 700,000 people to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh.
In a unanimous decision in January, the international court of justice (ICJ) in The Hague imposed emergency “provisional measures” on Myanmar, instructing it to prevent genocidal violence against its Rohingya minority and preserve any evidence of past crimes.
The ruling was an outright rejection of the defence put forward by Aung San Suu Kyi, who attended court in person to defend the military’s actions. In evidence to the court she urged ICJ judges to dismiss allegations of genocide and instead allow the country’s court martial system to deal with any human rights abuses. A final judgement is expected to take years. In a statement, Clooney, the human rights lawyer and barrister at Doughty Street Chambers in London, said: “Accountability for genocide in Myanmar is long overdue and I look forward to working on this important effort to seek judicial remedies for Rohingya survivors.”
Clooney successfully represented former the Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed and secured a UN decision that his 2015 jailing for 13 years was illegal.
She also represented Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who spent more than 500 days in prison in Myanmar convicted of breaking the colonial-era Official Secrets Act. The journalists had been working on a Reuters investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men in Rakhine state. They were freed in May 2019..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of publication:
2020-02-27
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-27
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
British-Lebanese lawyer said she is delighted to represent the Rohingya before the International Court of Justice.
Description:
"The Maldives has hired the services of prominent human rights lawyer Amal Clooney to represent the persecuted Rohingya at the United Nations court.
"I am delighted to have been asked to represent the Maldives before the International Court of Justice [ICJ]. Accountability for genocide in Myanmar is long overdue and I look forward to working on this important effort to seek judicial remedies for Rohingya survivors," the British-Lebanese lawyer said. More:
Will the ICJ order Myanmar to stop alleged Rohingya genocide?
'Great news': Bangladesh allows education for Rohingya children
'Justice served': Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh hail ICJ ruling
Clooney is married to Hollywood actor George Clooney.
The Maldives said it will file a written declaration of intervention at the ICJ supporting the Rohingya, a persecuted Muslim minority in Myanmar.
"In line with the decision taken at the 14th Islamic Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation [OIC], the Republic of Maldives intends to extend its support for the efforts to seek accountability for the acts of genocide committed against the Rohingya people," Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid said..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2020-02-27
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-27
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide
Language:
more
Sub-title:
The minister made the declaration while addressing the 43rd Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva on Tuesday
Description:
"Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid has announced the Maldivian administration's decision to file a written declaration of intervention at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague, in support of the persecuted Rohingya people.
The minister made the declaration while addressing the 43rd Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva on Tuesday.
In his statement, Minister Shahid noted that the government welcomed ICJ's ruling last month, which ordered Myanmar to "take all measures within its power” to protect the Rohingya from genocide.
"The Maldives intends to support the ongoing efforts to secure accountability for the perpetrators of genocide against the Rohingya people, in line with the decision taken by the OIC during the Summit held in Makkah last year," said Minister Shahid, referring to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation's calls on the ad hoc ministerial committee to launch a case over Myanmar's human rights violations against the Rohingya Muslims at the ICJ..."
Source/publisher:
"Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication:
2020-02-26
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Description:
"Professor William Schabas, who defended Myanmar at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against genocide charges in December, will deliver a lecture at Yangon University on March 5.
The Canadian-born academic is professor of international law at Middlesex University in the UK. He was among three senior members of Myanmar’s delegation at the ICJ. In December at the ICJ, Schabas denied genocide took place during the military clearance operation in Rakhine State in 2017 against the Rohingya community in which hundreds were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced.
Schabas will give a lecturer on legal affairs at Yangon University’s Convocation Hall in the morning, director-general of the Higher Education Department Dr. Thein Win told The Irrawaddy.
“The event is mainly intended for law students so that they can learn from a foreign academic to broaden their horizons,” he said..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2020-02-25
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description:
"Industry analysts claim interest will return to Myanmar’s tourism sector after some challenges including the Rakhine crisis and the downswing due to the coronavirus, according to Skift.com.
“We foresee an improvement in the next high season [October 2020 to March 2021] now that the ICJ [International Court of Justice] had concluded its findings,” said Jehan Wick, who has been in Myanmar since 1997 and now runs his company, JW Hospitality Management. “This improved sentiment was [noticed] by most operators since the World Travel Market [in London] in November.”
Changes are taking place. Khiri Travel Group, an inbound agency handling Western clients in Asia with an office in Myanmar, said bookings rebounded from countries such as the UK, Netherlands, and Scandinavia after the ICJ ruling..."
Source/publisher:
"Mizzima" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2020-02-24
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Tourism in Burma - articles and studies, Tourism - descriptive/analytical, critical - global
Language:
more
Sub-title:
How likely is Myanmar to make policy changes after the ICJ ruling?
Description:
"oes Myanmar have any obligation to take the world court -- the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague – seriously?
The second question is whether Myanmar’s quasi-military ruler has the political will to implement the landmark judgment of January 23. Myanmar has officially rejected the International Court of Justice’s historic ruling, and accused international rights groups of making exaggerated statements about the prevailing situation. It also rejected the UN fact-finding mission’s report on the basis of being “one-sided.”
It is well understood that the ICJ has no legal jurisdiction over Myanmar or any individual nation.
The ICJ ordered Myanmar to implement vital measures to protect its Rohingya population from facing any further atrocities. This ruling has been hailed as an “accomplishment of international justice.” The court further ordered Myanmar to ensure protection from destruction of any evidence of “possible” genocide.
The ruling means that a global body, for the first time, has officially recognized the threat of abuse against the Rohingya, and ordered Myanmar to protect the community..."
Source/publisher:
"Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication:
2020-02-17
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-18
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Description:
"On 23 January, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued what amounted to a “cease and desist” order against Myanmar, ordering authorities there to end genocidal practices against the Rohingya. The ruling of the so-called “World Court” has brought hope that international justice will prevail after the horrors inflicted on women, men and children in Rakhine State by Myanmar’s security forces.
But while the court’s ruling was a landmark moment, there are still many lingering questions. What happens next? What effects will the ruling have on Myanmar’s domestic scene, where an election looms later this year? Will Myanmar comply with the order — and what happens if it does not?
The ICJ’s ruling meant that a global legal body for the first time officially recognised the real threat of abuse against the Rohingya, and ordered Myanmar to do what it can to protect them. The ICJ also called on Myanmar to prevent further breaches of the Genocide Convention, rein in abuses by its security forces and preserve evidence of past abuses..."
Source/publisher:
"Euronews" (Lyon)
Date of publication:
2020-02-14
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-15
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Political will is extremely crucial since ICJ has no jurisdiction or legal apparatus over individual nations.
Description:
"In a historic judgement, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 23 January ordered Myanmar to implement vital measures to protect its Rohingya population from any further atrocities. This ruling has been hailed as an “accomplishment of international justice.” This lawsuit was brought by Gambia, a small African Muslim state backed by the 57 nation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in November at the United Nations’ highest body for disputes between states. It accused Myanmar of genocide against Rohingya in violation of a 1948 Genocide Convention.
The court witnessed the trial on 10–11 December where the State Counsellor of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi was herself present to defend her country’s honour. She emphasised that the accusations made against her government are “incomplete and misleading factual picture of the situation,” thus categorically denying the allegations of genocide and thereby requesting to dismiss the charges brought to it. Under the presiding Judge Abdulqawi Yusuf and 16 other judges present in the panel, the undisputed ruling on 23 January granted Gambia’s request for preliminary measures. According to the court, the Rohingyas face an ongoing threat that necessitates Myanmar to “take all measures within its power to prevent all acts” prohibited under the 1948 Genocide Convention, and report back to the court within four months, and then, every six months after that..."
Source/publisher:
Observer Research Foundation (ORF) via "Europe-Asia Studies"
Date of publication:
2020-02-11
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
The ICJ's order that Myanmar does all it can to prevent genocide offers the Rohingya hope for the future.
Description:
"On January 23, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague imposed emergency "provisional measures" on Myanmar regarding its actions against and treatment of the Rohingya minority - my people. To the average person this may sound like incomprehensible legalese. But for many Rohingya, who had long been waiting for the international community to take meaningful action to end their suffering, this was some of the best news they had ever received.
With this decision, the United Nations' "World Court" effectively instructed the government of Aung San Suu Kyi to respect the requirements of the 1948 genocide convention and bring an end to its military's attacks on the Rohingya. This decision marked the first time that a credible international body said "enough" to the government that for so many decades has abused and oppressed us.
My people's plight captured global headlines in August 2017, when the Tatmadaw (the Myanmar military) launched a vicious "clearance operation" in the Rakhine State, which was home to more than a million Rohingya. Over the course of a few weeks, soldiers rampaged through the region, killing thousands, committing mass rapes, burning villages to the ground, and driving more than 700,000 people to flee into neighbouring Bangladesh.
As shocking as the violence was, it was only the tip of the iceberg. For decades, the Myanmar authorities have confined the Rohingya to a virtual open-air prison in the Rakhine state. It denied us citizenship since 1982, effectively rendering us stateless. Our freedom of movement even within Myanmar is extremely limited. We are expected to acquire official permission, and often pay bribes, to leave our home villages. Healthcare and education are off-limits to most Rohingya. This is all part of a deliberate effort by Myanmar not only to dehumanise us, but also to make our lives so miserable that we have no option but to leave..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2020-02-08
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Description:
"European member states of the United Nations called for Myanmar on Tuesday to take measures to hold to account those responsible for committing human rights violations against Rohingya Muslims after the Security Council failed to support an order by the international body’s top court to protect members of the minority group.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Jan. 23 ordered Myanmar to implement emergency provisions to protect Rohingya living in the country from genocide and to preserve evidence of atrocities from a 2017 military-led crackdown targeting them.
After the Council did not reach an agreement on issuing a declaration urging Myanmar to comply with the ICJ’s order, current Council members France, Estonia, Germany, and Belgium, and former member Poland issued a statement calling on the Southeast Asian nation to take measures to prevent a Rohingya genocide.
“Myanmar must address the root causes of its conflicts” and take “credible action to bring to justice those responsible for human rights violations,” the joint statement said, according to news wire reports.
“Myanmar must also create conditions for and facilitate a voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable return of the Rohingya to Myanmar,” the statement said, referring to the yet to be realized repatriation of some of the more than 740,000 Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh during the crackdown. The Rohingya who have been officially approved for repatriation have refused to return, citing safety concerns and demands for full citizenship..."
Source/publisher:
"RFA" (USA)
Date of publication:
2020-02-05
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-07
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
more
Description:
"Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sought continued support of the European Union (EU) to ensure safe, dignified, and sustainable return of the displaced Rohingya refugees back to Myanmar, a media report said on Friday.
"The Bangladesh Prime Minister thanked the EU members, including Italy, for their support to the cause of the Rohingya," The Daily Star newspaper quoted a joint statement issued on Thursday after talks between Hasina and her Italian counterpart Giuseppe Conte in Rome, as saying.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Hasina's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim said both sides welcomed the January 23 decision of International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the Rohingya crisis.
Karim said that Conte appreciated Bangladesh's management of the Rohingya crisis, adding that he encouraged Hasina to continue with the policy of hospitality. In its January ruling, the ICJ directed Myanmar to prevent the alleged genocide against the Muslim minority community.
The court said Myanmar must "take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts" described by the convention.
Nearly 738,000 Rohingya refugees are living in camps in Bangladesh since Aug. 25, 2017, following a wave of persecution and violence in Myanmar that the UN has described as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing and possible genocide.
Myanmar does not use the Rohingya term and also doesn't recognize them as its citizens, arguing that they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh..."
Source/publisher:
Daijiworld.com
Date of publication:
2020-02-07
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-07
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
The reach of the International Court of Justice is limited in ameliorating violent conflicts within or between states, says Hurst Hannum.
Description:
"Myanmar has been ordered by the International Court of Justice to take “provisional measures” to protect the Rohingya, an ethnic Muslim minority in the Buddhist-majority country that has suffered “mass killing, mass displacement, mass fear [and] overwhelming … brutality” at the hands of the military.
Over 700,000 Rohingya fled or were forced out of the country since 2016, most to neighbouring Bangladesh. The order comes after the African state of Gambia in November 2019 filed a complaint of genocide of the Rohingya against Myanmar with the International Court of Justice, the judicial organ of the United Nations.
Under the 1948 Genocide Convention, genocide requires a specific intent to destroy a group in whole or in part. READ: Myanmar already protecting Rohingya, ruling party says after world court's order
The United Nations (UN) General Assembly and numerous human rights organisations have for years condemned Myanmar’s attacks on the Rohingya..."
Source/publisher:
"CNA" (Singapore)
Date of publication:
2020-02-01
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
The International Criminal Court has officially launched an investigation into Myanmar.
Description:
"Phakiso Mochochoko, director of the Department of Jurisdiction, Cooperation and Complementarity, made the announcement at a press conference at Pan Pacific Sonargaon hotel in Dhaka this afternoon.
“Justice will be delivered,” Mochochoko said following the announcement.
Investigations from the Office of the Prosecutor will now carefully and thoroughly seek to uncover the truth about what happened to the Rohingya people in Myanmar which brought them here to Bangladesh, the press release added. The ICC has jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression..."
Source/publisher:
"The Daily Star" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication:
2020-02-04
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Myanmar's allies China and Vietnam block vote on a joint statement forcing EU member states to make separate report.
Description:
"The UN Security Council on Tuesday discussed the International Court of Justice's order that Myanmar do all it can to prevent genocide against the Rohingya Muslims, but failed to agree on a statement.
China, an ally of Myanmar, as well as Vietnam, which is a member of the regional Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) along with Myanmar, objected, diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because it was a closed-door meeting.
More:
'As expected': People in Myanmar shrug off ICJ Rohingya ruling
After ICJ ruling, Myanmar denies genocide against Rohingya
Myanmar: Defending genocide at the CJ
Instead, the European Union members of the council urged Myanmar in a joint statement to reporters afterwards to comply with the measures ordered by the UN's top court, stressing that they were "compulsory under international law."
France, Germany, Belgium and Estonia along with former council member Poland also urged Myanmar "to take credible action to bring to justice those responsible for human rights violations."..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2020-02-05
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Description:
"In the wake of the ruling from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordering Myanmar to prevent genocide against the Rohingya going forward, the initial excitement was tempered by pragmatics—how this important court order can be enforced so that it actually protects the 600,000 Rohingya who remain in Rakhine State.
To be sure, there is no confusion that these measures are binding—as the court noted, they create international legal obligations that require Myanmar’s compliance. But how can the international community guarantee that Myanmar actually does anything? And does Myanmar’s civilian government have the capacity to do what is needed?
The answers to these questions are mixed, generally relying on exertion of geopolitical pressure, including through the United Nations Security Council, to which the order has been transmitted. As a general rule and absent a concrete enforcement mechanism, ICJ orders have a reliable compliance rate. However, looking at the Myanmar case in context, and in particular the measures requiring prevention of the commission of genocide by Myanmar’s military, compliance will require a serious and concerted effort by both the international community and the civilian government..."
Source/publisher:
"Just Security"
Date of publication:
2020-02-03
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-04
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Description:
"Rejecting arguments made by Myanmar’s civilian leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the International Court of Justice at The Hague ruled on Thursday that Myanmar must take action to protect Rohingya Muslims, who have been killed and driven from their homes in what the country’s accusers call a campaign of genocide.
The court said Myanmar must “take all measures within its power” to prevent its military or others from carrying out genocidal acts against the Rohingya, who it said faced “real and imminent risk.” It also essentially put Myanmar under court oversight, telling it to submit regular reports to the tribunal explaining what steps it had taken.
The decision is the first international court ruling against Myanmar over its military’s brutal treatment of the Rohingya. While the court has no enforcement power, any member of the United Nations can request action from the Security Council based on its rulings.
“The chances of Aung San Suu Kyi implementing this ruling will be zero unless significant international pressure is applied,” said Anna Roberts, executive director of the rights group Burma Campaign UK..."
Source/publisher:
"The New York Times" (USA)
Date of publication:
2020-01-23
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-04
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Landmark initial ruling against Myanmar also raises doubts about UN impartiality and credibility
Description:
"Given the persistent global publicity and intense lobbying on behalf of persecuted Rohingya refugees, a provisional decision handed down on January 23 against Myanmar by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague came as no surprise.
The ICJ, the United Nations’ principal judicial organ, ordered Myanmar to take measures to stop killing and harming Rohingyas and to implement “all measures within its power to prevent genocide.”
The ruling, likened in reports to a “restraining order”, said Myanmar’s government must further ensure that its military does not “attempt to commit genocide or conspire to commit genocide.” At the same time, ICJ judges underlined in dry legalese that the initial ruling would in no way prejudice the court’s dealing with the “merits of the case”, meaning it has not yet decided whether or not genocide was committed.
The court did go further than requested by Gambia, the country which has brought the case to the ICJ on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), by ordering Myanmar to report on measures taken to comply with the ruling in four months and thereafter every six months. The initial ruling will add more international pressure on Myanmar to hold those responsible for alleged crimes against humanity to account, but will also likely cause the nation’s leaders to more deeply entrench their position of denial..."
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of publication:
2020-01-24
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Description:
"The Rohingya, who have been described by the UN as the most persecuted minority in the world, experienced a glimmer of hope last week, when the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered a remarkable ruling that those members of the community remaining in Myanmar currently face a credible threat of genocide. This was the first time that a genocide case has been brought before the ICJ by a signatory county — in this case, The Gambia.
The case before the ICJ took an unexpected turn in November, when Aung San Suu Kyi, the long-time pro-democracy icon and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and currently the most powerful person in the civilian government in Myanmar, announced that she would defend Myanmar against the charges of genocide in person before the court in The Hague.
For a while, Suu Kyi’s former friends and allies in the international community sought to make sense of what was happening to the Rohingya by casting her as a prisoner of fate to the military establishment, which still controls most of the reins of power in the country. But as Suu Kyi became an increasingly prominent apologist for the army, and even adopted the language of those clamoring for the genocide by denying the very identity of the Rohingya and casting them as foreign “Bengalis,” we have increasingly run out of doubt to give her the benefit of.
All possible doubt was finally dispelled when she appeared before the ICJ, casually admitting that war crimes had taken place, but that what had happened could not be genocide because there was no genocidal intent. She made this case while still refusing to utter the word “Rohingya” and insisting that she was talking about “Bengalis” — an “other” she should not be expected to be responsible for..."
Source/publisher:
Arab News (Saudi Arabia)
Date of publication:
2020-02-02
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
The Myanmar military’s years-long campaign against the Rohingya Muslims left hundreds of villages a smoldering pile of debris.
Description:
"Myanmar has been ordered by the International Court of Justice to take “provisional measures” to protect the Rohingya, an ethnic Muslim minority in the Buddhist-majority country that has suffered “mass killing, mass displacement, mass fear [and] overwhelming…brutality” at the hands of the military.
Over 700,000 Rohingya fled or were forced out of the country since 2016, most to neighboring Bangladesh.
The order comes after the African state of The Gambia in November 2019 filed a complaint of genocide of the Rohingya against Myanmar with the International Court of Justice, the judicial organ of the United Nations. Under the 1948 Genocide Convention, genocide requires a specific intent to destroy a group in whole or in part.
The U.N. General Assembly and numerous human rights organizations have for years condemned Myanmar’s attacks on the Rohingya. The country – which was slowly emerging from the global economic and political isolation that followed its 1989 military coup by making some very modest concessions to democracy – has also been subjected to new sanctions..."
Source/publisher:
The National Interest Online (USA)
Date of publication:
2020-02-03
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
The ICJ ruling on Myanmar is a rare bright point in a woeful international response. Unfortunately its powers are limited
Description:
"On Thursday the internet in Kutupalong, a city-sized refugee camp in south-eastern Bangladesh, was switched back on for a few hours. The camp’s residents gathered around their phones as, 5,000 miles away in The Hague, the international court of justice (ICJ) delivered a ruling on Myanmar’s treatment of its Rohingya Muslim minority. They cheered as the court issued a set of legally binding obligations: that Myanmar’s military does not commit acts of genocide against some 600,000 Rohingya who still live in the country, and that evidence of past crimes remains intact. This was the first legal victory for Rohingya since 2017, when upwards of 700,000 were driven into Bangladesh in a campaign by Myanmar’s military that produced the most concentrated outflow of refugees anywhere since the Rwanda genocide in 1994. Responding to attacks by Rohingya militants on security posts in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in late August 2017, military units acted with such ferocity that, within two months, the country had been emptied of nearly half its entire Rohingya population. Those who made it to Bangladesh recounted how troops encircled villages at night and opened fire, cutting down those who fled. Satellite imagery revealed more than 380 destroyed villages, and in the year that followed, new security bases were built where Rohingya homes once stood. Yet until now, there had been little substantive international action..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of publication:
2020-01-24
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ordered measures to prevent the genocide of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar (formerly Burma).
Description:
"The decision comes despite de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi defending her country against the accusations in person last month.
Thousands of Rohingya died and more than 700,000 fled to Bangladesh during an army crackdown in 2017.
UN investigators have warned that genocidal actions could recur.
The ICJ case, lodged by the African Muslim-majority nation of The Gambia, called for emergency measures to be taken against the Myanmar military until a fuller investigation could be launched.
The man who took Aung San Suu Kyi to the world court
Myanmar Rohingya: What you need to know
The Lady who fell from grace
Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist state, has always insisted that its military campaign was waged to tackle an extremist threat in Rakhine state.
In her defence statement at the court in The Hague, Ms Suu Kyi described the violence as an "internal armed conflict" triggered by Rohingya militant attacks on government security posts..."
Source/publisher:
"BBC News" (London)
Date of publication:
2020-01-23
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
So-called Independent Commission of Enquiry whitewashes military abuses in bid to elude genocide charges
Description:
"Myanmar’s government made a stunningly rare admission of wrongdoing recently when it admitted that “war crimes” had been perpetrated against Muslims in Rakhine state during the violence of 2017. Unsurprisingly, it concluded the savagery did not constitute genocide as United Nations (UN) and other human rights investigators have suggested.
The government made the admission following the finalization of the Independent Commission of Enquiry (ICOE) report, the executive summary of which was made public just days before the United Nations’ International Court of Justice (ICJ) announced temporary provisions on Myanmar in its ongoing proceedings on genocide charges. The ICOE’s conclusions evinced two broad international receptions: one of measured acknowledgement that it admitted to serious crimes previously flatly denied by the administration of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi – and thus provides a foundation for further discussion on accountability – and another of blithe indifference. While the report should be dismissed as another exercise in cynical codswallop from an unrepentant military and civilian government, the ICOE experience nonetheless signals something more. That is, the report bids to peddle a sense of official partial closure on what happened in Rakhine state and that government business may now return to normal..."
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of publication:
2020-01-31
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Despite indifference to legal cases some ethnic minority groups are backing the Rohingya to push back against military.
Description:
" While thousands rallied in Yangon in December to support Myanmar's government as it contested allegations of genocide at the International Court of Justice, the public response to the first of the court's rulings has been decidedly more muted.
The ICJ imposed a series of provisional measures on Myanmar last week, ordering it to take certain action to prevent future acts of genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority.
The judges also rejected Myanmar's motions to dismiss the case, which means the trial will now proceed to hear arguments on the alleged genocide itself.
The decision brought criticism from officials. Than Htay, the chairman of the military-aligned opposition Union Solidarity and Development Party claimed “all 52 million people” in Myanmar would disagree with it, according to The Standard Time Daily, a local newspaper.
But on the streets of the country's biggest city, the ruling barely registered.
Two students who spoke to Al Jazeera separately both said neither they nor their friends particularly cared about the ICJ. “Yes I know about it, but I don’t really follow it,” said one.
Another woman, from Rakhine but living in Yangon, said the result was “as expected”. When asked if she agreed with the ruling, she said: “Yes. It should be.”
The ICJ case against Myanmar was brought by the Gambia accusing the country of committing genocide in its actions against the Rohingya and a brutal military crackdown in Rakhine in 2017 that sent 740,000 people fleeing across the border to Bangladesh..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2020-01-31
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-31
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Description:
"Increasing conflict between Myanmar’s ethnic armed groups and government forces during the last year has increased civilian casualties amid mounting allegations of war crimes.
With the U.N.’s International Court of Justice order that the country "take all measures within its power" to prevent any acts of genocide against ethnic Rohingya Muslims, who fled the country amid a bloody military crackdown in 2017, other ethnic minorities that have been fighting for decades over control of resource-rich territory are coming forward to voice their concerns over past documented atrocities, also carried out by the Myanmar military. The mountainside village of Pain Lone in Shan State was the site of such conflict last fall between government forces and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, an armed ethnic group based in the region, panicking students scrambling for cover as their afternoon classes were ending.
"The sound of the helicopters was very terrifying and the loud explosions falling around the village were terrible,” recalls local instructor U Maung Chone, who teaches in the remote mountain settlement.“
It doesn’t matter if they are falling in the town or just in the area. The explosions were very frightening for the kids,” the 45-year-old said, adding that he’d never seen army helicopters in more than two decades of teaching..."
Source/publisher:
"VOA" (Washington, D.C)
Date of publication:
2020-01-26
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-31
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, The Military's political role, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Burma/Myanmar's Foreign relations, general
Language:
more
Sub-title:
A weekly look at the public conversations shaping ideas beyond borders — in the Subcontinent. Curated by Asad Ali
Description:
"The editorial again pointedly ends by saying that since “What Bangladesh has been saying has found a voice at the World Court, we once again appeal to the entire world to step up its effort to assist Bangladesh in protecting the Rohingyas, and to hold Myanmar accountable for its many crimes that must not be ignored any longer.” The grim situation of the Rohingyas in Myanmar and the decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), The Hague — ordering Myanmar to urgently take “provisional” measures to protect the Rohingya from violence — is highlighted in an editorial in Daily Star. It recounts the ICJ verdict to justify “what Bangladesh has been saying at the top of its voice”. The editorial, right at the outset, says, “We hope the whole world is listening at last.” It then goes about putting into perspective the Rohingya crisis and Myanmar’s inability to deal with it in a humane manner: “Declaring there is prima facie evidence of breaches of the 1948 genocide convention, the court found that the Rohingyas remaining in Myanmar were “extremely vulnerable” to violence at the hands of Myanmar’s military. And, therefore, the panel of 17 judges, in its unanimous ruling, asked Myanmar to report back to it within four months on the actions it has taken to prevent any serious harm being done to the Rohingyas and every six months thenceforth.” The editorial goes on to say that, “We owe a debt of gratitude to Gambia for bringing this matter to the attention of the ICJ. Despite the fact that the ruling dealt only with the Gambia’s request for so-called preliminary measures, the equivalent of a restraining order for states —not the court’s final decision — it nevertheless could pave the way for Myanmar to finally be held accountable for its atrocities against the Rohingyas.”..."
Source/publisher:
"The Indian Express" (India)
Date of publication:
2020-01-27
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-31
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Description:
"The inability of international law to effectively address situations of mass human rights atrocities, in particular genocide, within States has been the source of much consternation for international lawyers. The term genocide, deriving from the Greek prefix genos meaning race or tribe and the Latin suffix cide meaning killing, was coined by Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1944, in the aftermath of the Holocaust. It was soon codified as an independent crime under the 1948 United Nations Convention, acceded to by around 152 states. However, in over 70 years of operation of the Convention, the record of establishing State responsibility for the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide has been unsatisfactory, illustrated by well-documented failures in Cambodia, Rwanda and Yugoslavia.
However, in a significant ruling on the Rohingya issue, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) took tentative steps towards remedying In its preliminary judgment, the ICJ unanimously granted provisional measures, at the request of Gambia, directing Myanmar to take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts, including by any persons subject to its direction, control or influence, which constitute genocide under the convention in relation to the Rohingya people in its territory; and take all measures to prevent the destruction and ensure the preservation of evidence related to the allegation of genocide. More strikingly, the ICJ sought to oversee the implementation of its provisional measures, directing Myanmar to submit a report to the court on all measures taken to give effect to the order, within four months from the date of the order, and thereafter every six months until the final decision.its otherwise unenviable record of adjudicating allegations of genocide..."
Source/publisher:
"Hindustan Times " (India)
Date of publication:
2020-01-27
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-30
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Why would Gambia step up for the Muslim minority Rohingya thousands of miles away?
Description:
"On Thursday, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a unanimous ruling that ordered Myanmar to “take all measures within its power” to protect its ethnic minority Rohingya population from genocide. The case — against which Myanmar’s civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, argued unsuccessfully — ended up in front of the ICJ because of a tiny African country thousands of miles away. Here’s what you need to know about this story. How the case got started
The case before the ICJ started a few weeks ago, when Gambia accused Myanmar of violating the United Nations’ 1948 Convention on Genocide. Suu Kyi flew to The Hague to defend her country, arguing that her government’s actions were legitimate counterinsurgency efforts against rebels in Rakhine state. Gambia requested immediate measures to prevent further harm to the Rohingya. Last week’s ruling was the ICJ’s response. The ICJ has not yet ruled whether genocide has been committed. The court demanded that Myanmar report back within four months on what steps it has taken and preserve any evidence relevant to the genocide case..."
Source/publisher:
"The Washington Post" (USA)
Date of publication:
2020-01-29
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-30
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Description:
"The surprisingly strong ruling against Myanmar by the United Nations’ top court this week is sure to increase international pressure on the country to protect its Muslim Rohingya minority, who critics say have been the victims of a government-sanctioned genocide.
But on Friday — a day after the International Court of Justice in The Hague ordered Myanmar to protect the Rohingya and report back regularly on the steps it has taken to do so — it was still unclear what the country’s response would be. The government has said almost nothing about the ruling, except to deny that the widely documented killing and persecution of the Rohingya by Myanmar’s military amounted to genocide.
Rights lawyers and an attorney for the African nation of Gambia, which brought the case, said the unanimous decision by the 15-judge panel had gone beyond even what Gambia had asked for. Myanmar and Gambia were each allowed to appoint a member of the panel, and even Myanmar’s choice — Claus Kress, a German law professor — sided with Gambia..."
Source/publisher:
"The New York Times" (USA)
Date of publication:
2020-01-24
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-30
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more