Top UN official has toughened stance over Myanmar's actions.
POLITICS | 6-minute read | 23-12-2017
United Nations human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, speaking to the BBC
from the UN headquarters in Geneva, recently said he was not ruling out the
possibility of genocide charges levied against Myanmar’s de facto leader and
democratic icon Aung San Suu Kyi or the army chief Min Aung Hlaing.
He
said: “Given the scale of the military operation, clearly these would have
to be decisions taken at a high level [as the thresholds for proof were
high]." He would not be surprised if Myanmar leaders were one day held
accountable at an international court.
The
UN rights chief added that even before the August-end resurgence of
violence, he had personally called on Aung San Suu Kyi to intervene to bring
these military operations to an end. “I appealed to her emotional standing… to
do whatever she could to bring this to a close, and to my great regret it did
not seem to happen.”
United Nations human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, speaking to the BBC
from the UN headquarters in Geneva, recently said he was not ruling out the
possibility of genocide charges levied against Myanmar’s de facto leader and
democratic icon Aung San Suu Kyi or the army chief Min Aung Hlaing.
He
said: “Given the scale of the military operation, clearly these would have
to be decisions taken at a high level [as the thresholds for proof were
high]." He would not be surprised if Myanmar leaders were one day held
accountable at an international court.
The
UN rights chief added that even before the August-end resurgence of
violence, he had personally called on Aung San Suu Kyi to intervene to bring
these military operations to an end. “I appealed to her emotional standing… to
do whatever she could to bring this to a close, and to my great regret it did
not seem to happen.”
According to
international medical aid group, Doctors
Without Borders, its field survey has revealed that 6,700 Rohingyas were
killed in the military crackdown from August to September 2017.
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in
Dhaka has reported in the first week of December that Rohingyas have continued
to flee Myanmar, even after Naypyidaw and Dhaka last month agreed upon a
timetable for their return home in Rakhine state. International rights watchdog Human Rights Watch has reported that as late
as December 2, there was evidence that Rohingya villages were still being
damaged, contradicting Myanmar government’s assurances that violence had ceased
before it signed the agreement with Bangladesh to start the repatriation
process from January 2018.
This
has caused concern to international observers since continued violence could
lead to radicalisation of the Rohingya refugee population in Bangladesh and
their counter-attacks on the Myanmar military could worsen the situation.
However, Myanmar leaders do
not appear to be serious in responding to international concerns over the
future of over six-and-a-half lakh Rohingya refugees which is causing heavy
social and economic burden on Bangladesh.
This was evident in Naypyidaw’s refusal to issue a visa to UN
special rapporteur Yanghee Lee, who was to visit Myanmar in January 2018 to
find out procedures in place for the return of refugees and investigate
increased fighting in Myanmar’s Kachin and Northern Shan areas.
Commenting
on Myanmar’s refusal, Lee said, “They have said that they have nothing to hide,
but their lack of cooperation with my mandate and the fact-finding mission
suggests otherwise.” She added that she was disappointed, as Myanmar’s
representative at Geneva Htin Lynn had told the UN Human Rights Council that
they would cooperate.
The Convention on
the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG) was adopted by
the UN General Assembly (Resolution 260) in December 1948 and came into force
on January 12, 1951. Till December 2017, 149 states have ratified or acceded to
the treaty. Myanmar (then Burma) acceded to the genocide convention treaty on
December 30, 1949 and ratified on March 14, 1956. So, Myanmar is obliged
to take action in letter and spirit against genocide both in times of war and
peace in accordance with the Genocide Convention.
The
convention defines genocide as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in
the whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group". It
was based on internationally recognised definition of genocide incorporated in the criminal
legislation of many countries and also adopted by the Rome Statute of
International Criminal Court that established the International Criminal Court
(ICC).
According to the definition, acts such
as killing members of the group, causing serious bodily harm or harm to mental
health to members of the group, deliberately inflicting acts calculated to
bring about physical destruction of the whole group or in part, imposing
measures intended to prevent births within the group and forcibly transferring
children of the group to another group would constitute genocide.
However, the military junta, which came
to power in 1962, never bothered about international treaty obligations. Its
operations against Communist and over a dozen non-Bamar ethnic insurgent groups
were notorious for gross human rights violations bordering on genocide.
In fact, the military junta, which
ruled Myanmar till the 2008 constitution was enforced, had systematically
worked to curtail the rights of indigenous population and Burmanise them.
The seven judges of the
Rome-based International Peoples Tribunal, after holding hearings on
the Rohingya issue in London and Kuala Lumpur in September 2017, have held that
Myanmar was fully responsible for genocide against the Rohingya people. The
tribunal judgment was based on witness testimonials both in person and
over videos, as well as a long list of well
documented atrocities including systematic rape, murder and eradication of
identity and culture, presented by a team of prosecution lawyers.
But the moot question is, can Aung San
Suu Kyi and the Myanmar Army chief be charged for genocide as suggested by the
UN Human Rights Chief?
Aung San Suu Kyi, the de-facto head of
state, is holding the extra constitutional appointment of state counsellor
specially created for her. Officially, only the foreign ministry is under her
direct control. So, her status as head of state exists only as long as the army
accepts it. As only the army controls the ministries of defence,
border affairs and internal security as per the 2008 Constitution, it is
doubtful whether she can be successfully prosecuted for genocide by the
international tribunal.
This was not the first time
Rohingya issue had drawn the attention of the world body; in the past
collective UN action was decided more on considerations of real-politick than
on humanitarian needs. So, UN’s punitive action against Myanmar over
its conduct on the Rohingya issue will continue to be inconclusive and lukewarm
because Myanmar is seen as critical to China’s growing influence in South and
Southeast Asia.
The
plight of Rohingyas is closely tied to the lack of full-fledged democracy in
Myanmar. Unless the country’s 2008 Constitution is amended to abolish the
reservation of one fourth of the seats in the legislatures for the army, its
stranglehold on governance will continue. Under the circumstances, the plight
of Rohingyas is likely to continue despite the loud global rhetoric on the
issue.
Col R Hariharan, a retired Military
Intelligence specialist on South Asia, has rich experience in terrorism and
insurgency operations.
Courtesy: India Today opinion portal Daily O
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