Myanmar set to dodge full UN probe on Rohingya abuse
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GENEVAMar 10, 2017 - 12:00 am GMT+3
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Mar 10, 2017 12:00 am
Myanmar looks set to escape an international investigation into alleged atrocities against its Rohingya minority, after the European Union decided not to seek one at the U.N. Human Rights Council, a draft resolution seen by Reuters showed on Wednesday.
The United Nations said in a report last month that the army and police had committed mass killings and gang rapes of Rohingya Muslims in northern Rakhine state and burned villages in a campaign that may amount to crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.
Setting up a full international commission of inquiry into the findings - similar to those for Syria and North Korea - has been seen as a test of international resolve at the main annual session of the Council that ends on March 24.
The draft resolution from the EU suggests it may fail that test. The European Union, which has historically taken the lead on issues relating to Myanmar on the Council, takes note of "the very serious nature of the allegations" and "current investigations conducted at the domestic level". But it stops short of the probe sought by U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein.
Zeid, in a renewed appeal on Wednesday, told the Council that the severe violations follow "longstanding persecution" of the stateless Rohingya minority in majority-Buddhist Myanmar and warranted a review by the International Criminal Court.
"I therefore urge the Council, at minimum, to establish a Commission of Inquiry into the violence against the Rohingya, particularly during security operations since 9 October 2016," he said.
Some 70,000 people have fled Rakhine state to Bangladesh since Myanmar's military began a security operation last October in response to what it says was an attack by Rohingya insurgents on border posts in which nine police officers were killed.
The EU draft calls for the U.N. special rapporteur on Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, backed by Zeid's office, to investigate "allegations of gross human rights violations by military and security forces" and try to "ensure full accountability for perpetrators".
EU diplomats told a meeting on Tuesday that they preferred using an existing mechanism that had received good cooperation and access from Myanmar's government, rather than a new approach, and to give more time to the domestic process. But human rights monitors have voiced serious doubts that several investigative commissions set up by the Aung San Suu Kyi government and its security forces had the tools and independence needed for an impartial probe.
Activists said that security forces continued to carry out serious crimes demanding an international probe. "Our research indicates that it (the abuse) is systematic, and the idea that the government could or would be able to participate in a proper investigation of what is going on simply isn't realistic," said Louis Charbonneau of Human Rights Watch. "An investigation needs to be independent, credible and international."
The Rohingyas are a Muslim ethnic group living mainly in Myanmar. Rohingyas are thought to be descended from Muslim traders who settled there more than 1,000 years ago. As of 2016, approximately 1.3 million Rohingyas live in Myanmar, and about 300,000 to 500,000 live in Bangladesh.
Reports of rapes and killings of the Rohingya minority in Myanmar has increased, although the government was insultingly dismissing the claims and making the situation worse, the U.N. human rights office said.
Security has deteriorated sharply in Myanmar's northwestern Rakhine State, home to many Rohingyas, since attacks on security posts near the border with Bangladesh last October in which nine police officers were killed.
The government of predominantly Buddhist Myanmar has blamed militants overseas for the attacks and poured troops into the region. Rights groups and residents say widespread abuses have occurred during the Myanmar military operation over the weeks since then. Myanmar has denied the accusations, saying many of the reports of abuses are fabricated, and it insists the strife in Rakhine State is an internal matter.
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Research Associate at Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA) at Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University
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