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By Sena Güler | Published by Anadolu Agency on December 1, 2018

Maung Zarni says he will boycott Beijing-sponsored events until the country reverses its 'troubling path'

ANKARA -- A human rights activist and intellectual said he withdrew from a Beijing-sponsored forum in London to protest the detention of a million Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang.

“As a human rights activist, a Buddhist educator and a politically engaged scholar of genocide, racism and violence, I cannot, in clear conscience, participate in the three-day forum which is officially endorsed by the Government of China,” wrote Maung Zarni in his withdrawal letter on Friday.

Zarni was scheduled to deliver a speech on his country Myanmar’s genocide on Dec. 7 at the 5th Global China Dialogue on Governance for Global Justice.

“[…] the ruling Communist Party of China today stands credibly accused of commissioning a systematic and racially motivated persecution of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang Province,” he went onto say.

Recalling an event, he attended in Geneva in September, Zarni said a Muslim Uyghur man delivered a speech which said his mother had died two weeks ago in one of the concentration camps and the man had not seen his mother for the last 20 years.

“I was moved by this Uyghur exile – born and raised in what he and his fellow people call East Turkistan vis-à-vis China’s official name for his homeland, Xinjiang,” he said, sympathizing with the man as he also saw his mother for very brief times in the last 30 years before her death in February, “as a Burmese exile from military-controlled Burma, or Myanmar”.

He also said he saw at the same event some evidence of “a vast complex of concentration camps” – as a German investigative journalist put it.

“I saw photographic evidence of one complex encircled by a tall concrete wall, with watch towers, CCTV surveillance cameras and machine-gun-holding guards,” he noted.

Zarni recalled a statement of Gay McDougall, a member of the UN Committee, saying she was concerned about a UN report, which said China had "turned the Uighur autonomous region into something that resembles a massive internment camp".

He also called on “China’s intellectuals and China-friendly global academics” to work towards reversing the “deeply troubling path” of the country.

“Until then I have decided to boycott any public or private educational or cultural event that is officially backed by the Government of China.”

Xinjiang region is home to around 10 million Uyghurs. The Turkic Muslims have long accused China’s authorities of cultural, religious and economic discrimination.

China stepped up its restrictions on the region in the past two years, banning men from growing beards and women from wearing veils, and introducing what many experts regard as the world’s most extensive electronic surveillance program, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Up to 1 million people, or about 7 percent of the Muslim population in China’s Xinjiang region, have now been incarcerated in an expanding network of “political re-education” camps, according to U.S. officials and United Nations experts.

Aung San Suu Kyi, State Counsellor of Myanmar, has been a guest at the Capitol, including in Sept. 2016. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)

By Niels Lesniewski | Published by Roll Call on July 31, 2018

Signs point to McConnell not allowing language targeting country also known as Burma

A legislative effort to punish officials responsible for atrocities committed against the Rohingya minority in Myanmar appears to have stalled thanks to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Minority Whip Richard J. Durbingave a speech ahead of floor consideration of the fiscal 2019 defense authorization conference report in which he decried, “the irresponsible removal of provisions related to Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.”

“The House bill contained five provisions restricting security engagement with Burma, imposing sanctions on Burmese officials responsible for human rights abuses and requiring the State Department to make a determination on whether the atrocities committed against the Rohingya people, a minority, constituted ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity or genocide,” the Illinois Democrat said.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has advanced similar legislation, authored by Armed Services Chairman John McCainof Arizona and Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md.

“It looked like these provisions were destined to be in the final work product,” Durbin said.

Under normal circumstances, language backed by McCain would not be dropped from a defense policy bill, especially one that now bears his name. But, when it comes to Myanmar, perhaps there should be no surprise.

Durbin attributed the rejection of the House language to a Senate leader, which was more than likely McConnell. The Kentucky Republican has had a long interest in Myanmar, and he has longsupported and defendedState Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, even as she has come under a barrage of criticism in recent years.

“The Senate Majority Leader insisted that there be no Burma sanctions in the NDAA,” a House aide confirmed to Roll Call after the Durbin speech.

McConnell’s office did not offer an immediate reaction.

Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor included a direct message to Suu Kyi, who was long viewed as a champion of democracy, earning a Congressional Gold Medalback in 2012.

“In Burma, the government authorities to continue to deny that any of this took place,” Durbin said. “I’m particularly disappointed in Aung San Suu Kyi. Her silence on these problems is hard to explain.”

The Senate is expected to vote on the defense conference report on Thursday, according to Sen. James M. Inhofe. The Oklahoma Republican has been filling the duties of McCain while the Armed Services chairman has been battling cancer at home in Arizona.

Patrick Kelley contributed to this report.

UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferre
High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein.

Published by UN News on July 4, 2018

Myanmar should “have some shame” after attempting to convince the world that it is willing to take back hundreds of thousands of refugees who fled an “ethnic cleansing campaign” last year, given that “not a single” one has returned officially, the United Nations human rights chief warned on Wednesday.

Addressing the Human Rights Council after giving an update on the refugee crisis that has seen more than 700,000 Rohingya people flee to Bangladesh to escape a security clampdown in Myanmar, Zeid urged the UN Security Council to refer the Member State to the International Criminal Court (ICC) immediately.

“We are not fools,” he said.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights also responded to the Myanmar Government representative’s comments that it was a “body committed to the defence of human rights”.

This, Mr. Zeid said, “almost creates a new category of absurdity” – a first during his mandate as the UN’s top human rights official.

“In the four years that I have been High Commissioner I have heard many preposterous claims,” he said. “This claim, that I have just stated now, almost creates a new category of absurdity. Have some shame sir. Have some shame. We are not fools.”

Earlier at the Human Rights Council, Mr. Zeid said that Myanmar had “expended considerable energy” challenging allegations that its security forces carried out ethnic cleansing against the mainly Muslim Rohingya.

In January, he continued, the Government of Myanmar had signed a repatriation deal with Bangladesh, which continues to host the communities who fled their homes last August.

Despite this agreement, “not a single Rohingya refugee has returned under the formal framework agreed with Bangladesh”, he said, while “many – if not all – of those who have returned … have been detained”.

Citing one example, the High Commissioner said that between January and April this year, 58 Rohingya who returned were arrested and convicted on unspecified charges.

“They then received a Presidential pardon, but have simply been transferred from Buthidaung prison (in northern Rakhine province) to a so-called ‘reception centre’,” he explained.

All the while more Rohingya continue to seek shelter in Bangladesh, he continued, noting that as of mid-June, there have been 11,432 new arrivals there.

On the issue of ICC involvement in the issue, as he had urged, Mr. Zeid noted that the results of its fact-finding mission to Myanmar were due to be submitted “in a matter of weeks”.

UN rights chief calls for access to northern Rakhine

The UN official also repeated a call for access to northern Rakhine state on behalf of the Human Rights Council and his own office, OHCHR.

Myanmar should do this “instead of coming out with one bogus national commission after another”, the High Commissioner said – a reference to the country’s recent announcement that it intended to set up an “Independent Commission of Enquiry” to investigate alleged rights violations by Rohingya militants known as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) last year.

While the Government claimed these attacks the cause of the current crisis, the UN rights chief explained that this was not possible since “cycles of violence” against the Rohingya “long pre-date ARSA, which was reportedly established in 2013”.

Barring any special meetings called by the Council after this 38th scheduled session, Mr. Zeid’s address was his last in his official capacity as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights before he steps down.

Noting this, he cautioned that “if a Member State of this organization can force out 700,000 people in almost three weeks, with practically minimal response by the International Community, then how many others in this Chamber are beginning to entertain something similar?”

Myanmar, speaking as a concerned country, said that many of the allegations in the address by the High Commissioner were flawed, incorrect and misleading. ARSA had committed heinous and shocking atrocities, its delegatation said, adding that the root cause of the tragedy was terrorism. On the subject of repatriation, Myanmar was doing its utmost to repatriate the displaced persons as soon as possible, the delegation insisted.

UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferre
Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar Yanghee Lee.

Published by UN News on June 27, 2018

The United Nations rights expert on Myanmar is “strongly” recommending that the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigate and prosecute those allegedly responsible for “decades of crimes” in the form a grave violations of international human rights and humanitarian law inside the country.

In an oral briefing to the Human Rights Council on Wednesday, Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee underscored that accountability for crimes committed in Myanmar “is the only way” to end the long-term cycle of violence.

“I strongly recommend the persons allegedly responsible for the violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law be investigated and prosecuted by the ICC or a credible mechanism,” she said.

Since late August 2017, widespread and systematic violence against Myanmar’s mainly-Muslim minority Rohinyas, has forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes in Rakhine state and seek refuge across the country’s border, in Bangladesh.

Even though the number of new arrivals has tapered off and an agreement reached on establishing conditions in Myanmar to allow the refugees to return voluntarily and in safety, UN agencies on the ground have reported that such conditions are yet not present.

In her briefing, Ms. Lee also drew attention to the possible war crimes and crimes against humanity by security forces in other regions of Myanmar, including in Kachin and Shan states, where other minorities have endured protracted conflicts since shortly after the country gained independence in 1948, she said.

“Far too many crimes have been committed, and have been documented and reported with scant consequences faced by those who perpetrated them,” said the Special Rapporteur.

The UN human rights expert also voiced “deep concern” over the “apparent inability” of the UN Security Council to unite to refer the situation to the ICC, and urged the Human Rights Council, “as a matter of urgency”, to back her proposal to establish an international accountability mechanism.

She explained that the mechanism should have three components: first, to interview victims, investigate and document alleged violations and abuses, and consolidate investigations already undertaken; second, the mechanism should have legal and judicial experts to examine patterns and trends of violations; and third, the development of a framework for victim support in their pursuit of “justice, reconciliation and reintegration”.

“To prepare for credible investigation and prosecution, and in order to finally put an end to decades of such crimes and to take effective measures to bring justice, I recommend that the [Human Rights] Council establishes an accountability mechanism under the auspices of the UN without delay,” she said.

Special Rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the Geneva-based Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.

The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar was first established in 1992. Since then, it has been extended annually, and broadened on two occasions –in 2014, in relation to the electoral process and in 2016, concerning priority areas for technical assistance.

In December last year, the Government of Myanmar denied all access to Ms. Lee and withdrew cooperation for the duration of her tenure.

Myanmar's military has forced some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims out of Rakhine state and across the border to Bangladesh since August 2017

By AFP
June 25, 2018

Canada on Monday announced sanctions in coordination with the European Union against seven senior Myanmar officials over the Rohingya crisis, accusing them of human rights violations including killings and sexual violence.

"Today, the European Union and Canada have announced sanctions against some of the key military leaders who were involved in atrocities and human rights violations in Rakhine State, including sexual and gender-based violence," Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a statement.

"Canada and the international community cannot be silent. This is ethnic cleansing. These are crimes against humanity," she said.

The Myanmar officials -- five army generals, a border guard commander and a police commander -- face travel bans and asset freezes for their role in the crisis.

Myanmar's military has forced some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims out of Rakhine and across the border to Bangladesh since August 2017, in a brutal crackdown which UN officials say amounts to ethnic cleansing of the minority.

The Buddhist-majority country has branded the Rohingya as illegal immigrants.

After a period of thawing relations with Myanmar after the country's military junta ceded power in 2011, the Rohingya crisis has seen the EU and Canada take a harder line -- with blacklisting the officials the toughest step taken so far by Brussels and Ottawa.

A Rohingya refugee is seen in Balukhali refugee camp at dawn near Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh, March 28, 2018. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

By Robin Emmott, Antoni Slodkowski
June 25, 2018

LUXEMBOURG/YANGON -- The European Union imposed sanctions on seven senior military officials from Myanmar on Monday, including the general in charge of an operation accused of driving more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh.

Within hours of the EU announcement, the Myanmar military announced that one of the sanctioned generals had been fired on Monday and another had left the army last month after being removed from his post. 

The seven face asset freezes and are banned from travelling to the EU, after the bloc extended an arms embargo and prohibited any training of, or cooperation with, Myanmar’s armed forces. 

The sanctions, first reported by Reuters in April, also mark a shift in diplomacy by the EU, which suspended its restrictive measures on Myanmar in 2012 to support its partial shift to democratic governance in recent years. 

The crackdown on the Rohingya in northwestern Rakhine State, which the United Nations denounced as “ethnic cleansing” by the military, has soured relations. 

Myanmar rejects almost all accusations of wrongdoing and says it launched a legitimate counter-insurgency operation after coming under attack by Rohingya militants last August. 

One of the officers sanctioned by the EU, Major General Maung Maung Soe, had already been sanctioned by the United States last December. He was transferred late last year from his post as the head of Western Command in Rakhine, where Myanmar’s military launched its ferocious counter-offensive. 

“He is responsible for the atrocities and serious human rights violations committed against (the) Rohingya population in Rakhine State by the Western Command during that period,” the EU said in a statement.

Hours later, the Myanmar army said in a statement that Muang Maung Soe had been fired on Monday from the military for underperformance when responding to Rohingya militant attacks. 

It also said that another sanctioned commander — Deputy Major General Aung Kyaw Zaw, whose Bureau of Special Operations No. 3 oversaw the Western Command — was “given permission to resign” in May. He had also been earlier moved from his original post. The army said it found “some flaws” in his performance. 

It did not refer to the EU sanctions in its statement. 

Thant Zin Oo, the commander of the Eighth Security Police Battalion, was also sanctioned. The EU accused him of “serious human rights violations (that) include unlawful killings and systematic burning of Rohingya houses and buildings.” Four other senior military staff were named, all generals. 

Canada also sanctioned senior military officials in February, when Reuters reported on events in the village of Inn Din where 10 Rohingya men were killed by Rakhine Buddhists and security force members. Reuters named and detailed Thant Zin Oo’s role in Rakhine in that story for the first time. 

Two Reuters journalists were jailed while reporting the story and remain in prison in Yangon, where they face up to 14 years behind bars for violating Myanmar’s Official Secrets Act. 

Reporting by Robin Emmott; Editing by John Stonestreet, David Stamp and Peter Graff

A Rohingya refugee is seen in Balukhali refugee camp at dawn near Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh, March 28, 2018. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyn

By Reuters 
June 21, 2018

About 700,000 mostly Muslim Rohingya have fled largely Buddhist Myanmar to Bangladesh after a military crackdown in August 2017 that the United Nations has called ethnic cleansing

AMSTERDAM -- Judges at the International Criminal Court have given Myanmar a deadline to respond to a prosecution request that they consider hearing a case on the alleged deportation of Rohingya minorities to Bangladesh.

In a decision published on Thursday, the judges asked Myanmar to reply by July 27 to the request made in April that the ICC should exercise jurisdiction over the alleged crimes.

About 700,000 mostly Muslim Rohingya have fled largely Buddhist Myanmar to Bangladesh after a military crackdown in August 2017 that the United Nations has called ethnic cleansing.

"Considering that the crime of deportation is alleged to have commenced on the territory of Myanmar, the chamber deems it appropriate to seek observations from the competent authorities of Myanmar on the prosecutor's request," the decision said.

The world's first permanent war crimes court does not have automatic jurisdiction in Myanmar because it is not a member state. However, the prosecutor asked the court to look into the Rohingya crisis and a possible prosecution through Bangladesh, which is a member.

Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has argued that, given the cross-border nature of the crime of deportation, a ruling in favour of ICC jurisdiction would be in line with established legal principles. However, she acknowledged uncertainty around the definition of the crime of deportation and limits of the court's jurisdiction.

The judges asked Myanmar to respond to the matter of jurisdiction and circumstances surrounding the crossing of the border by members of the Rohingya minority. 

(Reporting by Anthony Deutsch; editing by David Stamp)

Photo via dailypost.in


By Edith M. Lederer
Associated Press
June 6, 2018

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council is urging Myanmar’s government to allow international investigators help probe allegations of human rights violations committed against Rohingya Muslims, saying it remains “gravely concerned” at their current plight.

In a letter to Myanmar’s leaders obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, the council noted the government’s commitment to investigate all allegations of violence but made clear it wants more than words. It said independent and transparent investigations with the involvement of the international community “would turn this commitment into concrete action and ensure that all perpetrators of human rights violations and abuses are held to account.”

The Security Council, which visited Myanmar on April 30 and May 1, also urged the government “to take steps beyond such investigations” to demonstrate its willingness to protect and promote human rights, including cooperating with all U.N. bodies, especially the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Rohingya have long been treated as outsiders in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, even though their families have lived in the country for generations. Nearly all Rohingya have been denied citizenship since 1982, effectively rendering them stateless, and they are denied freedom of movement and other basic rights.

The latest crisis began with attacks by an underground Rohingya insurgent group on Myanmar security personnel last August in northern Rakhine State. Myanmar’s military responded with counterinsurgency sweeps and has been accused of widespread rights violations, including rape, murder, torture and the burning of Rohingya homes and villages. The U.N. and U.S. officials have called the military campaign ethnic cleansing.

Thousands of Rohingya are believed to have died and some 700,000 have fled to neighboring Bangladesh but hundreds of thousands remain in Rakhine.

The Security Council urged Myanmar’s government to grant U.N. agencies and humanitarian organizations “immediate, safe, and unhindered access to Rakhine State.”

It welcomed the government’s commitment on May 1 to work with the U.N. and urged full implementation of a memorandum of understanding with the U.N. refugee agency and U.N. Development Program. The council stressed that “only the U.N. has the capacity and expertise to assist and support” the government in dealing “with a crisis of such scale” in Rakhine.

It urged full implementation of recommendations of a commission led by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan before the August attacks that called for Myanmar to grant citizenship and ensure other rights to the Rohingya. It also urged the government to promote investment and community-directed growth to alleviate poverty in Rakhine.

The Security Council letter, dated May 31, was addressed to Myanmar’s U.N. ambassador, Hau Do Suan. It asked him to transmit the letter to State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing as well as other officials with whom the council during its visit.

“We would be grateful for a reply to this letter within 30 days,” the letter said.

The Security Council sent a separate letter to Bangladesh’s government praising its “humanity, compassion and support” for the Rohingya refugees, which it said has “saved many thousands of lives.”

Council members also expressed gratitude to Bangladesh for its commitment to continue “providing protection and assistance to these refugees ... until conditions in Rakhine State allow for their safe, voluntary and dignified return” to their homes.

In a third letter, the council asked Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “to remain personally engaged on this crisis.” It also asked the U.N. to continuing assisting Bangladesh to help the refugees, “especially during the forthcoming monsoon and cyclone seasons,” and to offer assistance to Myanmar.



By Antoni Slodkowski
May 18, 2018

YANGON -- The U.S. government’s aid chief said on Friday he believes in American aid engagement and development work in Myanmar, and the Rohingya crisis is an “impediment” to that work, not a reason to scale back assistance. 

Mark Green, administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is in Myanmar for a three-day visit that follows a trip to the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, and Rohingya refugee camps in southeast Bangladesh. 

Some Asian leaders have been wary about U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” policy and his commitment to the region, especially after he walked away from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact in 2016 in the name of protecting U.S. jobs. 

“When challenges are there, I don’t believe they get better by America pulling back ... I very much believe in what we do,” Green said in Myanmar’s main city of Yangon after meeting government leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the capital, Naypyitaw. 

Green said he believed in American engagement in Myanmar and the importance of “development tools” and “humanitarian assistance”. 

“We want to do more. We want to do good things, we want to do big things,” said Green.

On Thursday, Green told reporters in Dhaka the United States would provide $44 million in additional aid for the Rohingya and vulnerable populations in Myanmar and Bangladesh. 

According to U.N. estimates, nearly 700,000 Rohingya have fled into Bangladesh from Buddhist-majority Myanmar’s Rakhine State to escape a military crackdown since August, launched in response to Rohingya insurgent attacks. 

Refugees have told of numerous incidents of murder, rape and arson by Myanmar troops and Buddhist vigilantes, which the United States and United Nations have called “ethnic cleansing”. 

Myanmar has denied nearly all of the allegations, saying its security forces have been waging a legitimate counter-insurgency operation against Rohingya “terrorists”. 


“This is a country that I think has tremendous potential. There’s an impediment to that work - and that is the crisis that we’re talking about - but we believe that in the long-term future we can address this impediment,” said Green, referring to the Rohingya crisis. 

He has called on Myanmar to end violence against the Rohingya and to provide humanitarian workers and media unhindered access in the country. 

Green and other American officials on the trip also said the return of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar should be dignified, voluntary and safe and that their rights and security in Myanmar must be guaranteed. 

Reporting by Antoni Slodkowski

UNICEF/Brown
Rohingya refugees walk across the Balukhali settlement in Bangladesh's Cox Bazar district. Since August 2017, over 600,000 Rohingya refugees have arrived in Bangladesh, joining over 200,000 already displaced over the past decades.

April 14, 2018

The United Nations refugee agency and the Government of Bangladesh on Friday signed a cooperation agreement on the safe, dignified return of Rohingya refugees to their homes in Myanmar, “once conditions there are conducive.”

Noting that such conditions are not present at the moment, the UN refugee agency urged Myanmar authorities to create them as well as to take concrete measures to address the root causes of displacement.

“The responsibility for creating such conditions remains with the Myanmar authorities, and these must go beyond the preparation of physical infrastructure to facilitate logistical arrangements,” the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) stressed.

The agency also noted that in the absence of a UNHCR-Myanmar-Bangladesh agreement, it has continued to engage with both Governments in negotiations on two separate memoranda of understanding (MOUs), meant to ensure that any future returns are conducted in line with the international standards.

More than 670,000 members of the Muslim minority Rohingya community fled violence in Myanmar since August 2017, joining an estimated 200,000 Rohingya who have sought shelter in Bangladesh, arriving in waves over the past decades.

UNHCR/Susan Hopper
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Filippo Grandi (centre right) and Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Mohammad Shahidul Haque (centre left) sign a MoU relating to voluntary returns of Rohingya refugees.

According to UNHCR, the refugees have said that before considering return to Myanmar, they would need to see concrete progress in relation to their legal status and citizenship, security, and their ability to enjoy basic rights at home in Rakhine state.

UNHCR also urged the Myanmar Government to immediately provide full and unhindered access to refugees’ places of origin in Rakhine, which would enable it to assess the situation and provide information to refugees about conditions in the places of origin, as well as to monitor any possible future return and reintegration of refugees.

“Another practical measure would be to ease restrictions on movement for the internally displaced persons encamped in the central townships of Rakhine state, which would also help to build confidence among refugees in Bangladesh,” it added.

“Such concrete measures would help demonstrate to refugees that the Government of Myanmar is committed to a sustainable solution.”

António Guterres, right, Secretary-General of the United Nations, speaks during a Security Council meeting, Friday, April 13, 2018, at United Nations headquarters. (Julie Jacobson/Associated Press)

By Edith M. Lederer 
April 14, 2018

UNITED NATIONS — A new U.N. report puts Myanmar’s armed forces on a U.N. blacklist of government and rebel groups “credibly suspected” of carrying out rapes and other acts of sexual violence in conflict for the first time.

An advance copy of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ report to the Security Council, obtained Friday by The Associated Press, says international medical staff and others in Bangladesh have documented that many of the almost 700,000 Rohingya Muslims who fled from Myanmar “bear the physical and psychological scars of brutal sexual assault.”

The U.N. chief said the assaults were allegedly perpetrated by the Myanmar Armed Forces, known as the Tatmadaw, “at times acting in concert with local militias, in the course of military ‘clearance’ operations in October 2016 and August 2017.”

“The widespread threat and use of sexual violence was integral to this strategy, serving to humiliate, terrorize and collectively punish the Rohingya community, as a calculated tool to force them to flee their homelands and prevent their return,” Guterres said.

Buddhist-majority Myanmar doesn’t recognize the Rohingya as an ethnic group, insisting they are Bengali migrants from Bangladesh living illegally in the country. It has denied them citizenship, leaving them stateless.

The recent spasm of violence began when Rohingya insurgents launched a series of attacks last Aug. 25 on about 30 security outposts and other targets. Myanmar security forces then began a scorched-earth campaign against Rohingya villages that the U.N. and human rights groups have called a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

“Violence was visited upon women, including pregnant women, who are seen as custodians and propagators of ethnic identity, as well as on young children, who represent the future of the group,” Guterres said. “This can be linked to an inflammatory narrative alleging that high fertility rates among the Rohingya represent an existential threat to the majority population.”

The report, which will be a focus of a U.N. Security Council meeting Monday on preventing sexual violence in conflict, puts 51 government, rebel and extremist groups on the list.

They include 17 from Congo including the armed forces and national police, seven from Syria including the armed forces and intelligence services, six each from Central African Republic and South Sudan, five from Mali, four from Somalia, three from Sudan, one each from Iraq and Myanmar, and Boko Haram which operates in several countries.

“As a general trend,” Guterres said, “the rise or resurgence of conflict and violent extremism, with its ensuing proliferation of arms, mass displacement, and collapsed rule of law, triggers patterns of sexual violence.”

This was evident in many places in 2017 as insecurity spread to new regions in Central African Republic, violence surged in eastern and central Congo, conflict engulfed South Sudan, violence wracked Syria and Yemen, and “’ethnic cleansing’ in the guise of clearance operations unfolded in Northern Rakhine State, Myanmar,” he said.

Guterres said most victims are “politically and economically marginalized women and girls” concentrated in remote, rural areas with the least access to services that can help them, and in refugee camps and areas for the displaced.

The year 2017 “also saw sexual violence continue to be employed as a tactic of war, terrorism, torture and repression,” he said, citing conflicts in CAR, Congo, Iraq, Mali, Myanmar, Nigeria, Somalia and South Sudan as examples of “this alarming trend.”

Guterres said sexual violence continues to serve as a “push factor” for forced displacement in places such as Colombia, Iraq, the Horn of Africa and Syria. And he said it remained “a heightened risk in transit, refugee and displacement settings.”

The secretary-general said the effects of sexual violence can impact generations as a result of trauma, stigma, poverty, poor health and unwanted pregnancy.

In South Sudan, for instance, Guterres said sexual violence is so prevalent that a Commission of Inquiry described women and girls as “collectively traumatized.” He said children born of this violence have been labeled “bad blood” or “children of the enemy” and warned that this vulnerability “may leave them susceptible to recruitment, radicalization and trafficking.”

Guterres said many women, including Rohingya refugees, are reluctant to return to locations they fled where forces including alleged perpetrators remain in control.

“Colombia is the only country in which children conceived through wartime rape are legally recognized as victims, though it has been difficult for them to access redress without being stigmatized,” he said.

The secretary-general lamented that “most incidents of mass rape continue to be met with mass impunity.”

For example, Guterres said, not a single member of the Islamic State extremist group or Boko Haram “has been prosecuted for sexual violence offenses to date.”




April 13, 2018

YANGON -- The government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi expressed “serious concern” on Friday over a move by the International Criminal Court prosecutor seeking jurisdiction over alleged deportations of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar to Bangladesh. 

Since August, nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled a brutal military crackdown in Myanmar, the United Nations and aid agencies have said. 

The refugees have reported killings, rape and arson on a large scale. The United States and the United Nations have described the situation as ethnic cleansing. 

Myanmar has denied nearly all allegations, saying it waged a legitimate counter-insurgency operation. The government has said the army crackdown was provoked by the attacks of Rohingya militants on more than two dozen police posts and an army base last August. 

In a filing made public on Monday, Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda asked the court to rule whether it has jurisdiction over the alleged deportations. 

An affirmative decision could pave the way for her to investigate the alleged deportations as a possible crime against humanity. One reason for the question over jurisdiction is that, while Bangladesh is a member of the court, Myanmar is not. 

“The Government of Myanmar expresses serious concern on the news regarding the application by the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor to claim jurisdiction over the alleged deportation of the Muslims from Rakhine to Bangladesh,” the administration said in a statement. 

In her application, Bensouda argued that, given the cross-border nature of the crime of deportation, a ruling in favour of ICC jurisdiction would be in line with established legal principles. 

“Nowhere in the ICC charter does it say the court has jurisdiction over states which have not accepted that jurisdiction. Furthermore, the 1969 UN Vienna Convention on International Treaties states that no treaty can be imposed on a country that has not ratified it,” the Myanmar government said in its statement. 

Bensouda was trying “to override the principle of national sovereignty and non-interference in the internal affairs of other states, in contrary to the principle enshrined in the UN charter and recalled in the ICC charter’s preamble,” it said. 

The ICC prosecutor’s office did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request on Friday seeking comment on the Myanmar government’s statement. 

The government also said in its statement it was working on repatriation of the Rohingya with Bangladesh and its minister had just visited refugee camps in Bangladesh. 

Bensouda’s request is the first of its kind filed at the court. She asked the ICC to call a hearing to hear her arguments, as well as those of other interested parties. 

The magistrate assigned to consider the request, Congolese judge Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua, will determine how to proceed. 

Reporting by Antoni Slodkowski; Editing by Clarence Fernandez

Myanmar’s Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Minister Win Myat Aye arrives at Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, Wednesday, April 11, 2018. About 700,000 Rohingya who face severe discrimination in Myanmar have fled to neighboring Bangladesh to escape a brutal army counterinsurgency campaign. Efforts are underway to arrange their return. (Suzauddin Rubel/Associated Press)

April 11, 2018

DHAKA, Bangladesh — A Myanmar Cabinet minister on Wednesday visited a sprawling refugee camp in Bangladesh for Rohingya Muslims, who described the violence that forced them to flee Myanmar and presented a list of demands for their repatriation.

Social Welfare Minister Win Myat Aye met with about 40 Rohingya refugees at the Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar for more than an hour, sometimes exchanging heated words.

A Rohingya leader, Abdur Rahim, said at least eight rape victims were among those who met with Win Myat Aye. Rahim said the group presented 13 demands for the government to meet for their return to Myanmar.

About 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled army-led violence in Buddhist-majority Myanmar since last August and are living in crowded refugee camps in Bangladesh. The two countries agreed in December to begin repatriating them in January, but they were delayed by concerns among aid workers and Rohingya that they would be forced to return and face unsafe conditions in Myanmar.

Hundreds of Rohingya were reportedly killed in the recent violence, and many houses and villages were burned to the ground. The United Nations and the U.S. have described the army crackdown as “ethnic cleansing.”

Bangladesh has given Myanmar a list of more than 8,000 refugees to begin the repatriation, but it has been further delayed by a complicated verification process.

Win Myat Aye did not specify a timeframe for the repatriation but said it should begin as soon as possible.

Rahim said the group became angry when Win Myat Aye said the Rohingya refugees must accept national verification cards to be provided by Myanmar in which they state they are migrants from Bangladesh.

“We protested,” he said. “We have told him it is not acceptable, we belong to Burma (Myanmar),” he told The Associated Press by phone.

Rohingya Muslims have long been treated as outsiders in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, even though their families have lived in the country for generations. Nearly all have been denied citizenship since 1982, effectively rendering them stateless. They are denied freedom of movement and other basic rights.

Rahim said they demanded to be recognized as citizens of Myanmar before the repatriation starts and that their security arrangements be supervised by the United Nations.

“We told him clearly we want to go back and we want our home, our land and everything back,” he said.

Rohingya who have been repatriated in the past after previous refugee exoduses have been forced to live in camps in Myanmar.

Rahim said the rape victims described their experiences to Win Myat Aye.

“He listened to them patiently and said they will punish those responsible,” Rahim said.

He said the minister mentioned that authorities have already investigated some cases and that 10 soldiers have been sentenced to 10 years in jail for rape.

“He promised that once we are back, they will continue their investigation and punish those responsible,” he said.

“After initial hiccups, we discussed our points in a friendly manner,” Rahim said.

Bangladesh’s refugee commissioner, Abul Kalam, said the minister listened to the refugees and replied to their questions.

“He has come here to talk to their people. They talked, we just provided them that support,” Kalam said by phone from Cox’s Bazar.

Police superintendent A.K.M. Iqbal Hossain said the minister praised Bangladesh’s government and international agencies for their work in supporting the Rohingya people.

“He seemed to be serious about his words,” Hossain said.

The recent violence erupted after an insurgent group, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, attacked security outposts in Rakhine in late August. The military and Buddhist mobs launched retaliatory attacks on Rohingya that were termed “clearance operations.”

Win Myat Aye, who arrived on Wednesday for a three-day visit, also is to meet with Bangladeshi officials including the home minister and foreign minister.

Associated Press reporter in Cox’s Bazar Tofayel Ahmad contributed to the story.

A Rohingya refugee man with child walks on a bamboo bridge to cross a water stream in Balukhali refugee camp, in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, March 21, 2018. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain

By Antoni Slodkowski
April 8, 2018

YANGON -- Myanmar is not ready for the repatriation of Rohingya refugees, said the most senior United Nations official to visit the country this year, after Myanmar was accused of instigating ethnic cleansing and driving nearly 700,000 Muslims to Bangladesh.

“From what I’ve seen and heard from people – no access to health services, concerns about protection, continued displacements – conditions are not conducive to return,” Ursula Mueller, U.N.’s Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said after a six-day visit to Myanmar. 

A Myanmar government spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Mueller’s remarks. 

The Myanmar government has previously pledged to do its best to make sure repatriation under an agreement signed with Bangladesh in November would be “fair, dignified and safe”. 

Myanmar has so far verified several hundred Rohingya Muslim refugees for possible repatriation. The group would be “the first batch” of refugees and could come back to Myanmar “when it was convenient for them,” a Myanmar official said last month. 

Mueller was granted rare access in Myanmar, allowed to visit the most affected areas in Rakhine state, and met army-controlled ministers of defence and border affairs, as well as de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian officials. 

The exodus of Rohingya Muslims followed an Aug. 25 crackdown by the military in the northwestern Rakhine state. Rohingya refugees reported killings, burnings, looting and rape, in response to militant attacks on security forces. 

“I asked (Myanmar officials) to end the violence … and that the return of the refugees from (Bangladeshi refugee camps in) Cox’s Bazar is to be on a voluntary, dignified way, when solutions are durable,” Mueller told Reuters in an interview in Myanmar’s largest city Yangon. 

Myanmar says its forces have been engaged in a legitimate campaign against Muslim “terrorists”. 

Bangladesh officials have previously expressed doubts about Myanmar’s willingness to take back Rohingya refugees. 

Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed in January to complete a voluntary repatriation of the refugees in two years. Myanmar set up two reception centres and what it says is a temporary camp near the border in Rakhine to receive the first arrivals. 

“We are right now at the border ready to receive, if the Bangladeshis bring them to our side,” Kyaw Tin, Myanmar minister of international cooperation, told reporters in January. 

Many in the Buddhist-majority Myanmar regard the Rohingya as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The U.N. has described Myanmar’s counteroffensive as ethnic cleansing, which Myanmar denies. 

Asked whether she believed in government assurances the Rohingya would be allowed to return to their homes after a temporary stay in camps, Mueller said: “I’m really concerned about the situation.” 

Part of the problem is that, according to New York-based Human Rights Watch, Myanmar has bulldozed at least 55 villages that were emptied during the violence. 

“I witnessed areas where villages were burned down and bulldozed...I’ve not seen or heard that there are any preparations for people to go to their places of origin,” Mueller said.

Myanmar officials have said the villages were bulldozed to make way for refugee resettlement. 

Mueller said she has also raised the issue with Myanmar officials of limited humanitarian aid access to the vulnerable people in the country and added, referring to the authorities, that she would “push them on granting access” for aid agencies. 

Reporting by Antoni Slodkowski. Editing by Lincoln Feast.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has criticized Myanmar's army chief for comments about the country's Muslim Rohingya minority

By AFP
March 27, 2018

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday criticized Myanmar's army chief after he declared that the Muslim Rohingya had nothing in common with the country's other ethnic groups.

Guterres said he was "shocked" at reports of General U Min Aung Hlaing's remarks at a military gathering and urged Myanmar's leaders to "take a unified stance against incitement to hatred and to promote cultural harmony."

At the gathering in northern Kachin state on Monday, Hlaing referred to the Rohingya as "Bengalis," a term meant to describe them as foreigners, and said they "do not have the characteristics or culture in common with the ethnicities of Myanmar."

"The tensions were fuelled because the 'Bengalis' demanded citizenship," said the general who was quoted in the Dhaka Tribune.

Some 700,000 Rohingya have been driven into neighbouring Bangladesh since last August by a major army crackdown that the United Nations has likened to ethnic cleansing.

Myanmar authorities say the operation is aimed at rooting out extremists.

Myanmar's de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace prize laureate, has lost her democratic credentials on the world stage for failing to speak out in favour of the Rohingya.

Guterres said it was "critical that conditions are put in place to ensure that the Rohingya are able to return home voluntarily, in safety and in dignity."

The UN Security Council is hoping to travel to Myanmar to get a first-hand look at the refugee crisis, but has not yet been given the green light for the trip by Myanmar authorities.

Guterres has for months been weighing the appointment of a special envoy for Myanmar that would keep the plight of the Rohingya in the international spotlight.

By Thu Thu Aung, Antoni Slodkowski 
March 21, 2018

YANGON - Myanmar’s civilian president Htin Kyaw resigned due to ill health on Wednesday and is expected to be replaced by a close ally of de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a move unlikely to affect power in a country where the army remains influential.

Win Myint, speaker of Lower House of Parliament, leaves after attending a parliament meeting at Naypyitaw, Myanmar March 11, 2016. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

Htin Kyaw’s office said he was retiring “in order to take rest from the current duties and responsibilities”. Win Myint, a Suu Kyi loyalist who has served as the speaker of the lower house, was likely to replace him, said NLD spokesman Aung Shin. 

Win Myint has had a tight grip on the parliament and his critics accuse him of stifling democratic debate, including from within the caucus of Suu Kyi’s ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) party. He resigned from that post on Wednesday. 

“He is loyal and has been a member of the NLD since the party was founded,” said Aung Shin, who lauded Win Myint’s performance as the lower house speaker and said he has “worked very well with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi during the whole period”. 

Suu Kyi is known for keeping her cards close to her chest and operating only with a very narrow group of trusted acolytes. Local media, citing confidential sources, have also reported Win Myint has been tipped to become the next president. 

Analysts said the move was forced by the 71-year-old Htin Kyaw’s deteriorating health, and was unrelated to the crisis sparked by the brutal military crackdown that has pushed out hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims to neighboring Bangladesh. 

Speculation over Htin Kyaw’s ill health mounted in recent months over his rapid and visible loss of weight.

“The discussion about the replacement has been around for a while so this was well expected,” said Liu Yun, political analyst from China-based Han Yue Consultancy. “It should have a fairly limited impact on the political equation in Myanmar.” 

He said the role of the president “isn’t that influential as Suu Kyi makes the final call, so the impact will be limited.”

Htin Kyaw, the National League for Democracy (NLD) nominated presidential candidate for the lower house of parliament, arrives at Parliament in Naypyitaw February 1, 2016. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun Tun

INTERREGNUM 

According to the country’s constitution, the more senior of two vice presidents will stand in as president until a new leader is elected by parliament within seven working days. 

“There’s no doubt as to what the outcome of this will be,” said Richard Horsey, a former United Nations official and Yangon-based analyst. 

“The NLD has a strong bloc and a supermajority so whoever is selected as the lower-house candidate will become the next president,” Horsey said. 

In the meantime, Myint Swe, who was the military’s appointment for vice-president, will stand in as the acting president.

The president is the head of state and government in Myanmar, and under the constitution has far-reaching powers. However, Htin Kyaw’s role was more ceremonial because Suu Kyi has been Myanmar’s de facto leader since April 2016. 

A constitution drafted by the former junta bars Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi from the top office and so she hand-picked Htin Kyaw, a close ally of hers, to become president following a historic landslide victory in 2015. 

The charter also reserves for the army one quarter of the seats in parliament and several major cabinet posts, including defense, interior and border affairs, giving it an effective veto over constitutional change and control of security affairs. 

One of the key questions facing Myanmar now, according to Horsey, is, “what will the acting president Myint Swe do during the interregnum because he has the power to do many things.” 

Horsey said that while Myint Swe will be the top executive for no more than a week, “it may worry some in the NLD that you have the military vice-president in charge of the country.” 

Yangon-based diplomats say the relationship between Suu Kyi and the military chief, Min Aung Hlaing, is marked by mistrust and lack of frequent, open communication, highlighting a risk even in the smallest changes to the leadership structure. 

Myint Swe is a retired general who headed the feared military intelligence agency under former junta leader Than Shwe. When Than Shwe ordered a crackdown on anti-junta protests led by Buddhist monks in 2007, known as the Saffron Revolution, Myint Swe was the head of special operations in Yangon. 

Reporting by Thu Thu Aung and Antoni Slodkowski; Additional reporting by Yimou Lee and Simon Lewis; Writing by John Chalmers; Editing by Bill Tarrant

Posters referring to Myanmar's State Counsellor Augn San Suu Kyi are displayed at a protest during the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)-Australia Special Summit in Sydney on March 17, 2018 (Photo: AFP)

March 19, 2018

Criticism of the United Nations and aid groups is particularly pronounced in Rakhine state, where ethnic Rakhine Buddhists have long accused them of favoritism toward the Rohingya

Myanmar government, struggling to handle accusations of ethnic cleansing over its treatment of Rohingyas, is contemplating new legislation that would seek greater oversight of the work of international non-governmental organizations, including the United Nations, prompting concerns of a crackdown on their activities, The Washington Post reports.

The Draft Law on International Non-Governmental Organizations, a copy of which was recently obtained by The Washington Post, contains a vague definition of the groups it would regulate, proposes monitoring of aid groups’ work by Myanmar staff and provides the affected organizations with few safeguards against the government suspending their work. This has led some groups to fear it could be used to restrict their work in Burma.

The proposed law comes at a time of a wider crackdown on democratic freedoms under Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her government, as they struggle to deal with the fallout of military operations that have sent nearly 700,000 Rohingya fleeing over the border to Bangladesh since August.

“The stated purpose of the law allows government to suppress activities they do not favour and undermines the efforts in advancing democracy and human rights,” according to a February presentation reviewed by The Washington Post from the INGO Forum, a coalition of dozens of aid groups operating in Myanmar.

Representatives from international aid groups and diplomats are lobbying members of the parliamentary committee reviewing the draft to change the wording or to have it withdrawn. It was unclear whether the law would move past the commission or what provisions the final version would include, according to The Washington Post.

It was also unclear who wrote the draft or if it was done at direction of the president or state counsellor’s office. Zaw Htay, a spokesperson for the government, directed questions on the draft law to the Ministry of Planning and Finance.

Tin Maung Oo, a member of the commission that is working on the legislation, said the group was consulting with ministries, representatives from non-governmental groups and experts. He said that international aid groups were doing important work and that the government would like them to “flourish” but that a law was needed to oversee their work.

Critics warn that such laws are part of a disturbing trend in the region.

According to Tin Maung Oo, the draft law would apply to the work of the United Nations in Myanmar. The government has blocked a UN fact-finding mission from entering Myanmar, barred its human rights investigator and denounced the United Nations’ statements on Myanmar’s treatment of Rohingyas, which it has labelled a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”

Criticism of the United Nations and aid groups is particularly pronounced in Rakhine state, where ethnic Rakhine Buddhists have long accused them of favoritism toward the Rohingya.

It is unclear whether the government would be able to apply the law to the United Nations and its work in Myanmar. Stanislav Saling, spokesman for the Office of the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar, said the country is already a signatory to “international conventions and agreements” that govern the United Nations’ work in the country.

But UN agencies implement many of their programs through nongovernmental groups, which could be affected by the law.

“The UN and other development cooperation partners have expressed concern that some of the provisions in the current draft of the law are arbitrary and excessive, and could restrict the ability of INGOs to play their important humanitarian and development role,” Saling said.

“We believe it will neither help government to regulate and manage INGOs, nor help INGOs to operate effectively, efficiently, transparently or accountably,” he added.


    • Rohingya Exodus