By Katie Arnold 

Al Jazeera

December 3, 2016

Military uses indiscriminate violence in pursuit of Al Yaqeen fighters who demand equal rights for Rohingya Muslims.

When Faizul* fled the smouldering remains of his village in Myanmar's Northern Rakhine state, he barely noticed the shards of wood that punctured every extremity of his body. He just wanted to escape the bullets raining down from a helicopter above. But by the time he reached Bangladesh, a shrapnel wound on his right leg had grown to the size of a golf ball, and its yellow flesh was festering with signs of an infection.

Two weeks later and the bacteria still threatens to invade deeper into his weakened body. He may have reached a refugee camp, but Faizul still cannot access professional healthcare.

"I am moving house to house every day, as it is illegal for me to be here," he says while beads of perspiration crawl down his face.

The attack on Yay Khaw Chaung Khwa Sone village, where Faizul lived with his pregnant wife and two-year-old child, came in retaliation for the death of a column commander in an ambush by Rohingya fighters a day earlier, as reported by the Center for Diversity and National Harmony (CDNH), an independent non-governmental organisation in Myanmar that has been monitoring and recording such incidents in regular reports. 

"The military came into the village and whoever was in front of them, they started killing. Four people were shot while running away with me. I saw it with my own eyes," says Faizul, who also claims to have seen a number of other atrocities.

"I saw two men hide inside some straw bales. They were burned alive in there … Two girls were also thrown into the fire," he says. 

Government spokesman Zaw Htay questioned the veracity of these claims in a conversation with Al Jazeera.

"Our government is not denying all of the allegations made by the international community … but [it is] very difficult to believe the Muslims in Maungdaw [a city in Rakhine state], as they are setting fire to their own villages, according to our information from ground troops and security forces," he said.

Rohingya refuge in Bangladesh

The latest outbreak of violence comes nearly two months after Rohingya fighters launched their first attack on a Myanmar border guard post. That ambush left nine officers dead and unleashed a brutal counterinsurgency operation which, according to official numbers, has killed more than 100 Muslims from the Rohingya minority. 

Local sources say the death toll is much higher and accuse the military of a litany of human rights abuses including extrajudicial killing, arbitrary arrest, arson and rape. Meanwhile, a UN official has accused the government of pursuing the 'ethnic cleansing' of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar.

The attack on Yay Khaw Chaung Khwa Sone village was the first to see artillery and airborne ordinance since the counterinsurgency began. Graphic images of bloodied children and charred remains have emerged from the attack. This was the final straw for thousands of Rohingya Muslims, who have fled northern Rakhine state and sought refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is already a reluctant host to more than 300,000 Rohingya Muslims, who have been arriving in the country intermittently for nearly 40 years.

The government has permitted only 30,000 to register as refugees with the UNHCR. The others survive in the shadows, beside the official camps, relying on the registered refugees for food and clean water, and under the constant threat of deportation. 

Like those that preceded them, recent Rohingya arrivals have received a cold welcome in Bangladesh.

According to Amnesty International, the authorities have cracked down on the flow of refugees from Myanmar and, over the past two weeks, the border guards have detained and forcibly returned hundreds of Rohingya. 

The move is a violation of the principle of non-refoulement [PDF] - a prohibition under international law from forcibly returning people to a country or place where they would be at risk of serious human rights violations.

"The Rohingya are being squeezed by the callous actions of both the Myanmar and Bangladesh authorities. Fleeing collective punishment in Myanmar, they are being pushed back by the Bangladeshi authorities. Trapped between these cruel fates, their desperate need for food, water and medical care is not being addressed," said Champa Patel, Amnesty International's South Asia director. 

Torn community 

Faizul travelled to Bangladesh under the cover of night, hoping to evade the border police, who heavily patrol the Naf river which separates the country from its troublesome neighbour. He travelled with seven male companions, leaving his pregnant wife and two-year-old child in a nearby village.

"It would be too dangerous with a small child, as he would cry and draw attention to us," he says, trying to ease his feelings of guilt at leaving them behind.

"When the situation is calm, I will bring over my wife and child," he says. "But I am worried all the time for my wife … the baby is due in two months."

Despite international condemnation, the government campaign continues against the group responsible for the deaths of the military and security personnel in the border attack. 

Faizul explains that he felt he had no option but to leave, as members of that group live in Yay Khaw Chaung Khwa Sone village and he feared he would be mistaken for one if he stayed in Myanmar. 

The group has reportedly identified itself as Al Yaqeen, the movement of faith or hope. Their demands are not religiously motivated. In videos posted to their YouTube website, group members, filmed holding machineguns in a jungle setting, demand that their citizenship - revoked by the military government in 1982 - be reinstated and that they be given equal rights within Myanmar.

In their most recent video, uploaded to YouTube two weeks ago, the group calls on the international community to provide medical support and argues against the labelling of their community as "terrorists". 

According to Faizul, the fighters used Yay Khaw Chaung Khwa Sone to launch an ambush on the Myanmar military. Only four members had guns, he says. The rest were armed with homemade swords.

Faizul admits that his entire village cooperated with the fighters when they launched their attack on the military. "The village is supporting them because some of them are from our village and because they are fighting for our rights," he says. "The military keeps killing people, so we have to defend ourselves."

The UN estimates that up to 30,000 people have been displaced from their homes in northern Rakhine state since the fighting began last month, while 70,000 are in immediate need of food aid. Half of the 3,000 children already diagnosed with severe malnutrition are now considered to be in their final throes of life, as reported by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs office in Myanmar, at a news conference in mid-November.

But humanitarian assistance to northern Rakhine state has been prohibited by the military. For many of those Rohingya who are vulnerable, isolated and trapped between the Bangladesh and Myanmar governments, Al Yaqeen offers the only alternative.

"There are over 30,000 IDPs [internally displaced persons]. A thousand people who ran away to Bangladesh are now being pushed back; of course, there is the possibility that group membership will now grow," Kyaw Win, director of the Burma Human Rights Network, told Al Jazeera.

"This group is the product of oppression," says Kyaw Win, whose organisation has been researching the fighting groups in Rakhine. "They are people from that area and that location; we do not think they are supported, trained or have any connections to the outside. If they were supported or funded, why don't they have boots to wear in the jungle, why don't they have enough food, or any medicine?"

To counter the alleged threat from Rohingya fighters, the Myanmar government has begun arming and training a "regional police force" comprising non-Muslim residents from the troubled townships in northern Rakhine.

Aung San Suu Kyi

As the crisis deepens, many international observers are turning to State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi to condemn the human rights allegations levelled against the military. 

But she has been silent on the matter. This silence is indicative of the limitations of Myanmar's first democratically elected government in more than half a century. Despite winning last year's landmark election with an overwhelming majority, Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, does not have constitutional authority over the military or security forces.

"If you look at the way the military operates," David Mathieson from Human Rights Watch told Al Jazeera, "she has no role and no way of directing them on the ground or governing their behaviour." Mathieson's organisation has been tracking the destruction of Rohingya villages using satellite technology.

"Aung San Suu Kyi has already said that she is no longer a human rights activist or a humanitarian, but a politician ...," says Mathieson.

It is a bitter lesson for the persecuted minority.

"I was ready to give my life for Aung San Suu Kyi, but now she will not speak up for us," says Faizul, as he drags his wounded body in search of another bed. "The world needs to intervene, if they don't help us, then there will be no future for the Rohingya."

*Faizul asked not to use his real name for fear of persecution

For Immediate Release

Date:- 3rd December 2016,

UN led Independent Inquiry Needed to Investigate Rakhine Atrocities 

Rohingya Advocacy Network in Japan (RANJ) vehemently reject the newly established commission led by an ex-general to investigate recent violence in Rakhine State on 1st December 2016 by the Government of Myanmar.

The Commission is neither credible nor impartial as all the commission members are either former military officers who committed several crimes or government officials who have been pre-occupied with false propaganda against victims. We believe this is a new scheme of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi led government to cover up the crimes the Myanmar military forces committed against vulnerable Rohingya Community and to fool again International community as there was nothing happen.

Since 10th October 2016, the Myanmar military and Police forces have killed more than 400 innocent Rohingyas including children and elderly, 250 Rohingya Women have been raped at gun-point ,more than 500 Rohingyas detained, several villages, Religious facilities, Shops and Markets have been burnt down, more than 30,000 Rohingya forced to feel from their homes. The entire community was terrorized by the government forces.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UNHCR officials and UN Genocide experts are alarming the atrocities against the Rohingya community is “Crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing or total genocide.” There are several verifiable and credible documents to prove the inhume acts of Myanmar arm forces against Rohingya. But surprisingly the government of Myanmar and state councilor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is publicly denying all the facts and genuine reports from the ground.

We strongly reject the commission and urgently demand a UN led Independent Commission of inquiry to thoroughly investigate crimes against Rohingya community perpetrated by Myanmar arm forces in Arakan. The International Community including Japan, US, UK, UN,EU and ASEAN have to take immediate step to urge Daw Aung San Suu Kyi led Myanmar government establish credible and impartial UN expert led Independent Commission of Inquiry. 

We also demand the Myanmar government to let the International Humanitarian Organizations unhindered access to the Rohingyas.

For more information, please contact:-

Zaw Min Htut 

Executive Director, Rohingya Advocacy Network in Japan (RANJ)

Tel:- +818030835327

Email:- zawminhtut827@gmail.com

By Intan Baha

New Straits Times Online

December 3, 2016

IPOH: Majlis Perundingan Pertubuhan Islam Malaysia (Mapim) is gathering proof of Myanmar cruelty towards the Rohingya community to bring Myanmar to the International Crime Court (ICC) soonest possible. 

Its president Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid said this is an effort with the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) in London, to file the Rohingya case to the ICC. 

“We are gathering proof of murder, rape and genocide and will work together with the IHRC to file the case to the ICC as soon as possible. 

“We are collecting testimonies of killings; proof is being compiled and we have documents fingering the responsible party. 

“IHRC is waiting for Mapim to send reports with Rohingya representatives to fulfil the report standard,” he told a press conference after the launch of the Solidarity Rohingya Fund and 'Solidariti Rohingya dan Kepedulian Ummah' at Sultan Azlan Shah Mosque here today. 

Mapim would file the case under the crime towards humanity committed by Myanmar troops and it has not been done by any party before, Mohd Azmi added. 

He said Mapim also has agreed with several international non-governmental organisations to urge Asean, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and United Nations to pressure the Myanmar government to stop its oppression against the Rohingya. 

Meanwhile, Mohd Azmi said Mapim has warned Myanmar to stop the massacre within seven days before Mapim begins an international boycott of the country. 

“Any activity such as trade and sporting events will be boycotted if the killing are not halted. 

“Myanmar still has four days and if the killings still continue, we will launch the boycott in Kuala Lumpur and expose the atrocities to the world so that economic sanctions would be re-imposed on Myanmar,” he said.

By Dina Murad

The Star Online

December 3, 2016

KUALA LUMPUR: Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak (pic) says he will attend Sunday’s Rohingya solidarity rally despite protests from the Myanmar government.

In his winding up speech at the Umno General Assembly at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) on Saturday, Najib said that he would not heed the call of Myanmar's deputy director general of the President’s Office, U Zaw Htay, for Malaysia to keep out of the Rohingya issue. 

"This is not an issue of meddling in Myanmar's matters. This is us defending humanitarian and universal values," said Najib to a standing ovation and chants of Allahu Akhbar (God is Great). 

"I would like to ask you, what should I do? Attend? Insyallah, tomorrow Umno president Najib Razak will attend," he said to chants of "hadir!" (attend).

"How can we say, this is an internal matter? Because if Myanmar does not solve the problem, they (the Rohingya) will be refugees in Malaysia. And based on our records, Malaysia has 56,000 Rohingya and Myanmar nationals who hold UNHCR cards which we know of," he added.

Najib said there was no way Malaysia could keep quiet when there were people being burned alive and women being raped.

"This is not an Asean community that we can accept," he said. 

Myanmar had warned Malaysia to respect the principle of non-interference after Najib agreed to attend a protest condemning the ongoing military operations in the Rakhine State.

Violence in the past few weeks against the Rohingya has resulted in at least 86 people being killed and with more than 30,000 displaced. Many have tried fleeing to neighbouring Bangladesh.

Myanmar troops poured into the western state of Rakhine in response to coordinated attacks on three border posts on Oct 9 that killed nine police officers.

Human rights groups have accused the military and border guard forces of raping Rohinya women, torching houses and killing civilians, although this has been denied by the Myanmar government and military.

Considered to be stateless and often subjected to arbitrary violence and forced labour in Myanmar, the Rohingya are considered by the United Nations as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.

By Matthew Pennington 

Associated Press

December 3, 2016

WASHINGTON — It’s a scene straight out of Myanmar’s dark past: a military offensive waged beyond world view that forces ethnic minority villagers from the smoldering ruins of their homes.

The U.S. government, a key sponsor of Myanmar’s democratic transition, says a security crackdown that has displaced tens of thousands Rohingya Muslims and left an unknown number dead risks radicalizing a downtrodden people and stoking religious tensions in Southeast Asia.

The military moved in after armed attacks by unknown assailants on police posts along the border with Bangladesh in October. The attacks in Rakhine State were a possible sign that a small number of Rohingya were starting to fight back against persecution by majority Buddhists who view them as illegal immigrants although many have lived in Myanmar for generations.

The top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, Daniel Russel, is critical of the military’s heavy-handed approach and says the escalation of violence risks inciting jihadist extremism in the country also known as Burma. He is also calling on neighboring countries, such as Muslim-majority Malaysia and Indonesia, to resist the urge to stage protests that could further stir religious passions.

Assistant Secretary of State Russel told The Associated Press that, “if mishandled, Rakhine State could be infected and infested by jihadism which already plagues neighboring Bangladesh and other countries.”

The plight of the Rohingya, once characterized by the U.N. as the world’s most friendless people, has attracted the attention of Muslim extremists since a spike in intercommunal violence in Rakhine in 2012 that left hundreds dead and forced more than 100,000 into squalid camps.

The Somali-born student who launched a car-and-knife attack at Ohio State University this week reportedly protested on his Facebook page about the killing of minority Muslims in Myanmar. And last weekend, Indonesian authorities arrested two militants who were allegedly planning to attack the Myanmar Embassy in Jakarta.

It has also raised hackles in the political mainstream. Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak, facing domestic pressure over an investment fund scandal, is reportedly planning to attend a protest in his religiously moderate country this weekend condemning the military operation in Myanmar.

Daniel Sullivan at the advocacy group Refugees International said increasing numbers of Rohingya are fleeing across the land border to Bangladesh, and the spike in violence could set off another exodus by sea.

Tens of thousands of Rohingya have fled by rickety boats in recent years to countries like Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, but those routes have been blocked since a crisis in 2015 when thousands were stranded at sea.

The U.S. and other nations have called for an independent investigation into the latest violence in Rakhine. Estimates of the death toll range between dozens and several hundred. Human Rights Watch said Nov. 21 that satellite imagery showed at least 1,250 buildings have been destroyed.

With journalists barred from the affected area, it’s been near-impossible to substantiate reports of rapes and killings by Myanmar soldiers — the kind of conduct that has long blighted the military’s reputation in ethnic conflicts.

Adama Dieng, U.N. special adviser on the prevention of genocide, said this week that if reports of excessive use of force in Rakhine were true, “the lives of thousands of people are at risk.”

Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan was appointed by Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in August to find ways to help resolve the communal tensions. On a fact-finding visit Friday, he said that security operations must not impede humanitarian access.

That’s been a repeated demand from the international community, including the United States, but it’s made little impact.

The U.N. World Food Program said Friday that since Oct. 9 it has been able to deliver food or cash to only 20,000 of the 152,000 people who usually receive assistance, and to about 7,000 newly-displaced people.

The Obama administration has diminished leverage. It was instrumental in ending the former pariah state’s diplomatic isolation as it shifted from five decades of military rule but the last U.S. sanctions were lifted in October.

The military’s crackdown in Rakhine has also exposed the limits of Suu Kyi’s power. The Nobel laureate’s party won elections a year ago, but the military still controls key levers of government power, including access to sensitive border regions.

Human rights activists who once lionized Suu Kyi now criticize her for failing to defend the stateless Rohingya, but Russel defended her.

“We all should have confidence in her judgment and not fall prey to the idea that she does not get it and she does not care. She does get it, and she does care,” he said.

____

Associated Press writer Michael Astor at the United Nations contributed to this report.

RB News

December 2, 2016

JOINT PRESS STATEMENT: URGENT ACTION NEEDED TO END GENOCIDE OF ROHINGYA

(Demonstration at British Foreign Office and Burmese Embassy)

For Immediate Release 

Friday 2nd December 2016

Demonstration held jointly by Restless Beings and Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK

Hundreds of members of public congregated in front of the British Foreign Office and the Burmese Embassy in London calling for an immediate cessation of violence that the Rohingya are facing by the Burmese military in Northern Rakine State. 

The Burmese Military have flooded the Maungdaw region of Rakhine state since early October following the death of some 9 military officials. As a result, more than 2,000 homes have been burned to the ground, with reports of 450+ extrajudicial killings, countless arbitrary arrests and over 200 women raped by Burmese military. 

The Directors of Restless Beings, Mabrur Ahmed and Rahima Begum alongside Tun Khin, President of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK handed a petition to the British Foreign Office and the Burmese Embassy with almost 2,000 signatures calling for a cessation of the aggression by the military and also calling on the UK to add international pressure to the Suu Kyi Government of Burma to restore peace and order.

Restless Beings co-Director Mabrur Ahmed urged the demonstrators to ”Use your voices to condemn the Burmese military for the inhumane treatment the Rohingya. To date the Foreign Office has not released any statement regarding the unfolding human tragedy. It is high time for a complete condemnation and stronger political will.” 

Rahima Begum, addressing the audience said “More than 3,000 children will die this week until and unless the blockade against humanitarian assistance is lifted. The Burmese Government needs to allow immediate aid to the region and to allow unfettered access to NGO’s and media to report freely of the crimes against humanity taking place”

Tun Khin, President of Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK said "It has been 7 weeks since the Myanmar military locked down Northern Arakan with mass killings, mass raping, mass arrest taking place. 160,000 Rohingyas are starving to death. How many Rohingya have to be killed and raped to force British government to take action? British Government has to pressure NLD government to stop mass atrocities and we also call on UN for an independent investigation, a UN commission of inquiry into what has been happening in Arakan State.”

Members of the public and the Rohingya expat community in the UK gathered outside the British Foreign Office this afternoon at 330pm and demanded action from the UK Government before marching across to the Burmese Embassy arriving at 445pm and remonstrating the Burmese Government for on-going ethnically charged violence against the Rohingya until 6pm.

The Together We Are Stronger campaign organised by Restless Beings has been supported by Burmese Organisation UK, The London Green Party, Rohingya Minority Crisis Group, Muslim Voices, Nour DV, British Bangladeshi Women’s Forum, Refugee Biryani and Bananas and International Campaign For the Rohingya. 

By Katherine Southwick

Policy Forum

December 2, 2016

The urgent need to prevent and protect

Interethnic divisions in a young democracy cannot be downplayed or wished away, and it’s time Myanmar’s government and the international community acknowledge strong evidence that genocide is being perpetrated against the Rohingya and act to end it, Katherine Southwick writes.

Violence in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State escalated after a 9 October attack on border guard posts, leaving nine officers dead. Humanitarian assistance and media access to the area have been cut off for weeks while the Myanmar authorities conduct a counterinsurgency operation against allegedly Rohingya assailants. Responsibility for the initial attack remains unclear, however. More than a hundred people are thought to have died already, with 30,000 internally displaced adding to the 160,000 people who have been subsisting in squalid displacement camps since previous outbreaks of violence in 2012 and 2013. Human Rights Watch has released satellite imagery showing that over 1,200 buildings in Rohingya villages have been razed in the past month. Government soldiers have reportedly gang-raped Rohingya women and girls.

Bangladesh, which for 30 years has permitted more than 230,000 registered and unregistered Rohingya refugees to shelter in its territory, has been turning people back who seek refuge across the border. Thousands have already crossed and continue to gather at the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.

These events mark a dramatic deterioration in what has long been a desperate situation for a minority that many have identified as among the most persecuted in the world. Most of them are stateless, with the government designating them as “Bengalis” or “illegal immigrants,” despite many having had citizenship in the past and having lived in the region for generations. They have been subjected to forced labour and confined to displacement camps where they do not receive adequate food and medical care, leaving pregnant women and children particularly at risk of agonising illness and death.

Rohingya are subject to harsh restrictions on marriage, family size and movement. Their religious buildings have been destroyed, and those who flee on rickety boats to other countries such as Malaysia or Thailand have, in the past, been turned back to the open seas to die or suffer at the hands of traffickers or languish in indefinite detention.

A question that haunts Myanmar’s government, and the international community, is whether what is happening to the Rohingya constitutes genocide. By now a credible claim can be raised that the internationally recognised crime of genocide is taking place in Myanmar. Accordingly, based on international legal obligations, the Myanmar government and other nation states should be taking all necessary actions to stop and avert the gravest kind of humanitarian catastrophe.

Under Article II of the 1948 Genocide Convention, which Myanmar has ratified, “genocide” is defined as “…any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”

The Yugoslav tribunal has elaborated further on Article II (c) that deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to bring about a group’s destruction can include “subjecting the group to a subsistence diet, systematic expulsion from homes and denial of the right to medical services. Also included is the creation of circumstances that would lead to a slow death, such as lack of proper housing, clothing, and hygiene or excessive work or physical exertion.”

There is little doubt that for years the Rohingya population has suffered the acts listed in Article II (a) – (d) of the Genocide Convention.

On the intent requirement of the crime – that the acts are committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, an ethnic or religious group – courts have taken a highly contextualised, case-by-case approach, to determining whether intent can be inferred from factual circumstances. Such an inference must be “the only reasonable one available on the evidence.” Additionally, as the Rwandan tribunal has stated: “The offender is culpable because he knew or should have known that the act committed would destroy, in whole or in part, a group.”

This case-by-case approach to intent, along with the high burden of proof requiring the evidence to be “fully conclusive,” renders genocide determinations unavoidably contestable. Other analyses could suggest that the overall intent of perpetrators in Myanmar is better understood as “ethnic cleansing,” which reflects the idea that the actual intent is to forcibly transfer or expel the Rohingya rather than physically destroy them.

In the 2015 case of Croatia v. Serbia, which also included evidence of killings, sexual violence, forced labour, and displacement, the International Court of Justice did not find genocidal intent on the part of the Serbs against the Croats in the context of the Yugoslav war. Key considerations were that the conflict was seen as territorial and the Serbs had organised transportation for Croats to evacuate the territories that Serb forces had occupied.

The difference in the Rohingya case is that there is no clear escape from the abject misery and high risk of death or extreme abuse at the hands of traffickers or by other countries’ immigration authorities. There are no systematic measures to officially deport the population, either through providing transportation or agreeing to formal arrangements with receiving countries. Moreover, Rohingya are deterred from departing through restrictions on movement and punishments for leaving, such as by the removal from household lists, the extortion of family members left behind and imprisonment for “illegal” re-entry.

Hundreds, possibly thousands of babies born in squalid camps have suffered preventable deaths due to lack of food and medical care. The overall conditions are such that those persons imposing them over a prolonged period either know or ought to know, that the eventual outcome will be the physical destruction of the group, in whole or in part.

The complexity of proving genocide is ill-matched to the urgency of preventing and responding to genocidal situations when they arise. We could be waiting years for an international tribunal or a panel of experts to conclude authoritatively that genocide is or is not taking place. This scenario would come as too little too late for the many victims and their families, not to mention the domestic political fallout and economic disaster which would ensue after the fact. At the same time, the moral and political costs – the enduring stigma and potential criminal liability – of not acting to stop genocide are severe.

International law and institutions extricate us from this quandary through their emphasis on genocide prevention as an obligation that is at least as equally strong as protection. The 1948 Convention obligates states to prevent and punish genocide. The widely affirmed Responsibility to Protect doctrine requires states to prevent and protect victims from war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in the absence of a meaningful government response.

We can now draw on ample scholarship and case law to identify situations that look very much like genocide and compel robust responses to live up to these obligations to prevent and protect. In 2015, the London-based International State Crime Initiative released a report based on a social scientific study and concluded that, “genocide is taking place in Myanmar” and warning of “the serious and present danger of the annihilation of the country’s Rohingya population.” Others have made a legal case for genocide, or the high risk of genocide, such as scholars Zarni and Cowley, Yale Law School’s human rights clinic, and former deputy prosecutor of the Yugoslav Tribunal, Sir Geoffrey Nice, among others.

Some might argue that the label for a crime should not matter, and in a sense they are right. These crimes too often occur along a spectrum that, without corrective action, can lead to the same calamitous result; massive loss of life and destruction.

We might think the responses would be the same, regardless of the words we choose to define the crime. However, too many international conferences and diplomatic meetings over the years have lamented the long list of persecutions and suffering this group has endured over decades, resulting in responses that are disproportionately inadequate to the gravity of the Rohingya’s plight. Tepid policies toward Myanmar and the Rohingya betray a deep-seated reluctance to label these crimes as genocide for fear of subverting the narrative so many in the world have waited for; an enlightened democratic transition. The notion of genocide in Myanmar risks turning the country back into an international pariah rather than an international darling.

But the current violence painfully illustrates that interethnic divisions in a young democracy cannot be downplayed or wished away. It is time for Myanmar, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the United Nations and others to face facts, to confront the prospect of genocide being perpetrated against the Rohingya. They must be open to judgment for their inaction, or more hopefully, take action and commit the resources needed to save lives throughout the region and preserve Myanmar’s future.

By Aradhana Aravindan and Yimou Lee 

Reuters

December 2, 2016

SINGAPORE/SITTWE, MYANMAR -- Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi accused the international community on Friday of stoking resentment between Buddhists and Muslims in the country's northwest, where an army crackdown has killed at least 86 people and sent 10,000 fleeing to Bangladesh.

Suu Kyi appealed for understanding of her nation's ethnic complexities, and said the world should not forget the military operation was launched in response to attacks on security forces that the government has blamed on Muslim insurgents.

"I would appreciate it so much if the international community would help us to maintain peace and stability, and to make progress in building better relations between the two communities, instead of always drumming up cause for bigger fires of resentment," Suu Kyi told Singapore state-owned broadcaster Channel News Asia during a visit to the city-state.

"It doesn't help if everybody is just concentrating on the negative side of the situation, in spite of the fact that there were attacks against police outposts."

The violence in the northwest poses the biggest challenge so far to Suu Kyi's eight-month-old government, and has renewed international criticism that the Nobel Peace Prize winner has done too little to help the country's Rohingya Muslim minority.

Soldiers have poured into the north of Rakhine State, close to the frontier with Bangladesh, after attacks on border posts on Oct. 9 that killed nine police officers. Humanitarian aid has been cut off to the area, which is closed to outside observers.

Myanmar's military and the government have rejected allegations by residents and human rights groups that soldiers have raped Rohingya women, burned houses and killed civilians during the operation.

Suu Kyi's remarks came as a commission led by former United Nations chief Kofi Annan arrived in the state, where ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims have lived separately since clashes in 2012 in which more than 100 people were killed.

"CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY"

Despite often having lived in Myanmar for generations, most of the country's 1.1 million Rohingya are denied citizenship, freedom of movement and access to basic services such as healthcare and education.

The U.N.'s human rights agency said this week that abuses suffered by the Rohingya may amount to a crimes against humanity, repeating a statement it first made in a June report.

The Rohingya are not among the 135 ethnic groups recognized by law in Myanmar, where many majority Buddhists refer to them as "Bengalis" to indicate they regard them as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.

In northern Rakhine, one of the poorest parts of the country, Muslims outnumber the ethnic Rakhine population.

"In the Rakhine, it's not just the Muslims who are nervous and worried," said Suu Kyi. "The Rakhine are worried too. They are worried about the fact that they are shrinking as a Rakhine population, percentage-wise." 

U.N. officials said this week more than 10,000 people have fled the recent fighting to Bangladesh.

There are continuing reports of people fleeing across the river border in flimsy boats, bringing accounts of razed villages, uprooted communities and separated families.

Still, Suu Kyi said the government has "managed to keep the situation under control and to calm it down".

ANNAN'S TASKFORCE

Suu Kyi identified Rakhine as one of the areas that required special attention from the outset of her term, nominating Annan in August to lead a taskforce to come up with long-term solutions to the problems of the divided state.

The six Myanmar and three foreign commissioners, on their second trip to Rakhine, met community leaders, local government representatives and Muslims from camps for displaced people in the state capital of Sittwe.

"There have been security actions there, but security actions should not impede humanitarian access to those in need," Annan told reporters after the meetings, referring to the north.

"We have discussed it and I expect progress to be made. Some agencies have been able to go in, but there's a great deal of needs, and I expect to see further progress in the next few days or so."

The U.N. has said some 30,000 people have been internally displaced by the fighting and, while nearly 20,000 have had their deliveries of aid restored, around 130,000 are still not getting food and other assistance they had been receiving prior to the outbreak of violence.

Suu Kyi bowed to weeks of international pressure late on Thursday to appoint a commission to investigate the original attacks and allegations of human rights abuses in the military operation that followed.

However, she raised eyebrows with her pick for the chief of the team, vice president Myint Swe, who headed the feared military intelligence under former junta leader Than Shwe. 

Myint Swe, a close confidant of the former junta supremo, was the chief of special operations in Yangon when Than Shwe ordered a crackdown on anti-junta protests led by Buddhist monks in 2007, known as the Saffron Revolution.

New Investigation Commission Lacks Credibility – UN Investigation Needed

Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK rejects the new Commission established by the government of Burma to investigate violence in Rakhine State.

The government and military are not impartial. The military have been committing abuses and the government have been defending them and denying abuses are taking place. A government which has prejudged the situation and taken sides has established an investigation led by a former senior soldier who himself has allegations of human rights violations against him. This cannot be considered independent or credible. 

Since 2012 there have been numerous committees and commissions established by the government. None have been credible or led to any solutions, in fact the situation has got worse.

It is disturbing that the investigation committee is chaired by vice-President 1 U Myint Swe who was Chief of Military Security Affairs when the 2007 Saffron Revolution was crushed. 

Burmese government has continuously been denying all the allegations of abuses against the Rohingya, how are we now expected to believe it will conduct a genuine investigation?

This week Adama Dieng, the U.N.'s special adviser on the prevention of genocide, said the allegations "must be verified as a matter of urgency" and urged the government to allow access to the area.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein has also stated: “the government has largely failed to act on the recommendations made in a report by the UN Human Rights Office… (that) raised the possibility that the pattern of violations against the Rohingya may amount to crimes against humanity,” echoing what another UN official described the government is carrying out “ethnic cleansing” of Rohingya Muslims.

BROUK President Tun Khin said “It is very surprising that the investigation only happens now 7 weeks after the attacks and after the government and military already made statements about the attacks and launched major military operations against the Rohingya populations. The military have killed at least 400 Rohingyas 240 Women have been raped, at least 600 Rohingyas arrested 2300 houses burnt, and 35,000 forced from their homes, and only now they say they will investigate who is responsible. Who can believe that after all this they will say they got it wrong?”

Tun Khin added: “We strongly reject the commission and we urgently need a UN commission of Inquiry to investigate crimes against Rohingya perpetrated by Burmese military in Northern Arakan, The International community have to take immediate steps to pressure NLD government to implement the key recommendations points from the UN human rights office report on this year June”.

Stop The Killings Of Rohingyas

December 2, 2016