Ethnic groups deliver UN Commission of Inquiry petition to British Foreign office
By Tin Soe
Chittagong, Bangladesh: Ethnic groups living in the UK delivered a petition with 5,323 signatures calling for a UN Commission of Inquiry into crimes against humanity in Burma to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) on May 6, according to Tun Khin (a.k.a.) Ziaul Gaffar, President of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation in the UK (BROUK).
Chittagong, Bangladesh: Ethnic groups living in the UK delivered a petition with 5,323 signatures calling for a UN Commission of Inquiry into crimes against humanity in Burma to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) on May 6, according to Tun Khin (a.k.a.) Ziaul Gaffar, President of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation in the UK (BROUK).
Ethnic groups living in the UK delivered a petition with 5,323 signatures calling for a UN Commission of Inquiry into crimes against humanity in Burma to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)
“The Head of the South-East Asia and Pacific Department at the FCO received the petition from a delegation including representatives from Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), Burma’s National League for Democracy-Liberated Area (NLD-LA), and ethnic nationalities, including Bwa Bwa Phan of the Karen Community Association UK, Van Biak Thang of the Chin Human Rights Organisation, Ring Du Lachyung of the Kachin National Organisation UK, and Tun Khin of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK.”
“The petition handing-over event was organized by Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) and Partners Relief and Development.”
In a letter accompanying the petition to Foreign Secretary William Hague, CSW and Partners Relief and Development “warmly welcome the support the UK government has already given” for the recommendation made by the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Burma, Mr. Tomas Ojea Quintana, for the establishment of a UN Commission of Inquiry to investigate crimes against humanity and war crimes, according to the CSW Press Release dated May 6, 2011.
“The Special Rapporteur has made this recommendation in his reports to the UN in March 2011, October 2010, and March 2010.”
CSW and Partners Relief and Development urge the UK, as a member of the Security Council, “to provide increased, proactive leadership in support of these recommendations”.
Benedict Rogers, CSW’s East Asia Team Leader, said: “We are grateful to the UK for the support it has given to Burma’s movement for democracy and human rights, and for its support for the Special Rapporteur’s recommendation for an inquiry into crimes against humanity. The purpose of this petition is to encourage the UK to increase its efforts, to build an international coalition of support that could lead to the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry by the UN. The time for action is long overdue, particularly as the regime continues to attack civilians in ethnic states and jail and torture more than 2,000 prisoners of conscience. The crisis in Shan State and continuing offensives in Karen State make it even more imperative to take action. We hope that the UK and other countries already supportive of the idea will work together to ensure an end to the culture of impunity in which the regime has been allowed to violate international law.”
“In April 1993 ( 1994 ), Than Shwe, who is also the Commander in Chief of the Burmese Army, ordered Gen. Win Myint, the commander of the Western Regional Command (and later the regime's Secretary 3 and adjutant general) to kill over 400 ethnic Rohingyas in Arakan State's Buthidaung Maungdaw Township in retaliation for attacks by Rohingya rebels who detonated 18 mines in one day in an assault on the Burmese Army. The army rounded up more than 400 people, including civilians, and as soon as they received their orders from the GHQ office, they killed them all,” according to Aung Linn Htut in an article published by The Irrawaddy online, dated May 5.
Artistic view of the killing of innocent Rohingyas in 1994 by Major-Gen. Win Myint Commander of the Western Regional Command on the order of Senior Gen. Than Shwe.
Tun Khin and CSW East Asia Team leader Benedict Rogers met High Commissioner of the Republic of Maldives Dr. Farahanaz Faizal. Tun Khin discussed the situation of the Rohingya community in Burma and urged the government to raise the plight of Rohingya on May 6, according to BROUK’s information secretary.
Tun Khin and CSW East Asia Team leader Benedict Rogers met High Commissioner of the Republic of Maldives Dr. Farahanaz Faizal
“It was a great honour to speak to the Maldives High Commissioner to highlight the plight of the Rohingya people of Burma. The High Commissioner is much concerned about the forgotten Rohingya people’s situation, and she expressed her intent to encourage Muslim countries and the international community to put pressure on the Burmese regime. As a representative of a Muslim country, Dr. Faizal also expressed her solidarity with the Rohingya of Burma and expressed horror at the way the Rohingya are being treated by the Burmese regime,” according to Tun Khin, the President of BROUK.
“The United Kingdom Government officials are deeply concerned about the situation facing the Rohingya people. Foreign and Commonwealth officials in London often meet with the Burmese Rohingya Organisation and the Arakan Rohingya National Organisation - most recently on 10 March 2011. Our embassy in Rangoon meets on a regular basis with a wide range of ethnic groups. The Government remain committed to advocating fundamental freedoms and greater respect for human rights for all ethnic groups in Burma including the Rohingya,” said Lord Howell of Guildford while Baroness Mary Goudie, the member of All Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy in Burma (APPG Burma) asked about ethnic Rohingya on April 5, 2011 at UK Parliamentary questions event.
“It was a great honour to speak to the Maldives High Commissioner to highlight the plight of the Rohingya people of Burma. The High Commissioner is much concerned about the forgotten Rohingya people’s situation, and she expressed her intent to encourage Muslim countries and the international community to put pressure on the Burmese regime. As a representative of a Muslim country, Dr. Faizal also expressed her solidarity with the Rohingya of Burma and expressed horror at the way the Rohingya are being treated by the Burmese regime,” according to Tun Khin, the President of BROUK.
“The United Kingdom Government officials are deeply concerned about the situation facing the Rohingya people. Foreign and Commonwealth officials in London often meet with the Burmese Rohingya Organisation and the Arakan Rohingya National Organisation - most recently on 10 March 2011. Our embassy in Rangoon meets on a regular basis with a wide range of ethnic groups. The Government remain committed to advocating fundamental freedoms and greater respect for human rights for all ethnic groups in Burma including the Rohingya,” said Lord Howell of Guildford while Baroness Mary Goudie, the member of All Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy in Burma (APPG Burma) asked about ethnic Rohingya on April 5, 2011 at UK Parliamentary questions event.
