“As a responsible Government, you don’t just go
around hollering ‘genocide.’ You say that acts of genocide may have occurred
and they need to be investigated”.
David Rawson, US Ambassador to Rwanda 1
The Rohingya in Myanmar have by all accounts – save for
those of the Myanmar government and military – been on the receiving end since
at least 2012 of consistent, widespread, presumably organized, and arguably
sanctioned acts of violence amounting to crimes against humanity. Take your
pick of alleged crimes: persecution, rape, murder, forcible transfer,
deportation, extermination, arbitrary detention and imprisonment, and arguably,
apartheid. The full treatment.
Ethnic cleansing with tinges of genocidal acts seems to be
the obvious goal, or more ominously put, the desired solution: to expel and, if
necessary, eradicate the Rohingya Muslims from the Rakhine state of Myanmar.
Meanwhile, the international community and those most expected to speak loudly
and repeatedly contently wait, naively or apathetically, for the criminal acts
against the Rohingya to dissipate, for their plight to be resolved. Wishful
thinking based in part on willful blindness.
Current events show that the Myanmar government and military
not only lack the political and moral will to act responsibly, but that they
are also comfortable with accepting the commission of purported “acts of
genocide” against the Rohingya. Appallingly, the storm of intolerance and
indifference that has already stripped the Rohingya of their human dignity, the
enjoyment of their inalienable rights, their property, their places of worship,
their freedom, and, in far too unacceptable numbers, their lives, is brewing
and picking up steam. Time is against the Rohingya. Time to face the ugly and inconvenient facts.
Before I discuss the ongoing events, a few words about the
Rohingya in Myanmar.
Northern Rakhine state (the name commonly given to the
townships of Maungdaw and Buthidaung) is located in the west of Myanmar,
bordering Bangladesh. It is populated mainly by the Rohingya, but also by other
ethnic minorities such as the Rakhine Buddhist. The Rohingya have faced decades
of repression and discrimination. The Myanmar government does not recognize
them as one of the ethnic groups of the country. Instead, the Rohingya are
regarded as mere refugees from Bangladesh.2
The 1982 Citizenship Law effectively denies the Rohingya the possibility of
acquiring Myanmar nationality.3 Being
stateless, they lack legal protection by the government, which results in
severe restrictions on their movement, impacting their ability to access
healthcare, education, and livelihood opportunities.4
In 2012, religious and ethnic tensions between the Rohingya
Muslims and the Rakhine Buddhists escalated into widespread rioting. Since
then, ongoing conflicts have forced the Rohingya to flee, though they are often
rejected (equally unwanted) by neighboring Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, and
Thailand.5
The situation in northern Rakhine state has deteriorated
significantly since 9 October 2016 when unknown assailants attacked three
police outposts in northern Rakhine state, killing nine Border Guard police
officers and seizing weapons and ammunition. The authorities responded by
initiating a major security operation, conducting sweeps of the area to find
the perpetrators.6
The United Nations (“UN”) Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs estimates that since early November 2016 almost 27,000
people have fled across the border from northern Rakhine state into Bangladesh.7 Government officials in Myanmar have repeatedly
denied reports of human rights violations by security forces. Conversely,
journalists and NGOs describe the actions of the state forces in the region as
ethnic cleansing and genocide, and have reported murders, mass rape and
beatings, burning villages, and other human rights violations amounting to
crimes against humanity.8
“Shockingly, our Buddhist brothers and sisters in Burma have
lost the virtue of Buddhism”.9
Most recently, a video
surfaced showing officers beating members of the Muslim Rohingya during a
security operation. This appears to have gotten the attention of the
international community. The
selfie-style video showed the brutality of officers kicking and beating
civilians and the impunity they feel. And as the saying goes, the evidence
never lies. Finally, the government had to confront what it has known and
neglected, if not outright encouraged. The government’s past failures to
acknowledge, condemn, and act against this cycle of violence has nurtured a
culture of impunity.
In the recent Interim Report of
the Investigation Commission on Maungtaw, the Investigation Commission
established by the government to investigate the attacks on 9 October 2016
dismissed the allegations of genocide: “[T]he increasing population of Mawlawi,
mosques and religious edifices are proof that there were no cases of genocide
and religious persecution in the region.”10
Characterizing crimes as genocide is often over the top,
hyperbolic. Whenever there are large-scale atrocities, the knee-jerk reaction
is to claim that genocide is occurring.
And then there is the reverse action by some governments: best not to
come out and claim that genocide is occurring – even when rather obvious – for
fear that action (boots on the ground) may need to be taken to halt it. We saw
this in the case of Rwanda. Better to punt and claim that only “acts of
genocide” are taking place, a policy articulated by the Bill Clinton
administration.11 Message to those who were perishing or about
to: help will be on its way if the situation intensifies to genocide.
Comforting. Years later Clinton would get teary-eyed as he admitted his failure
to act in the face of overwhelming evidence of what was happening in Rwanda.12
What are acts of genocide? It is like saying that a woman is
a little pregnant. It may make for clever diplomatic speak, but it is just a
vacuous phrase. Look beyond the phrase. Where a group (Rohingya Muslims) is
being targeted as such, and the intent – as deduced from the actions taken – is
at a minimum to maim, permanently expel from Myanmar, and kill them, because of
who they are as members of that group (Rohingya Muslims), are there not
sufficient hallmarks of genocide (or at the very least traces of extermination)
present to merit immediate condemnation and action at the national and
international level?13
The Lady speaketh not
What of the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and State Counsellor,
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi?14 Silence.
 |
| Aung San Suu Kyi |
Should not the residents of Myanmar, the Rohingya, and the
international community, expect more than her purposeful silence, her
occasional drab demur, or her belated request for an international
commission? As the de facto head of
state,15 and having promoted herself as
the doyenne of human rights activists in Myanmar,16
one would think that she would be front and center in condemning these cruel,
inhumane, and, yes, genocidal acts.
Is Aung San Suu Kyi’s position so tenuous that she would
suffer politically were she to speak out against this systematic violence
against the Rohingya? Is she afraid of
any backlash from the military, the police, and those who support, incite, and
carry out the physical acts of violence?
Is she just being pragmatic – as any politician of her position should
be?
Aung San Suu Kyi’s deafening silence and lame
rationalizations give aid and comfort to the perpetrators. Some argue that she needs a bit more time and
space. Take, for instance, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s most recent
statement. Selected to the Advisory
Commission on Rakhine State, he made the following remarks: “I think there are
tensions, there has been fighting, but I wouldn’t put it the way some have
done…. [The international community should give Aung San Suu Kyi’s government]
a bit of time, space and patience.”17 Tensions? Is Annan serious?
How much more time and how much more space does Aung San Suu
Kyi need? If she can use the bully
pulpit to garner votes for her party to win the elections, she can certainly
use the bully pulpit to condemn these ongoing acts of crimes against humanity
and genocide against the Rohingya.
But is it really a matter of having more time and space, or
is it about clinging to and coveting more power? Aung San Suu Kyi may wish to
recall and reflect upon her own thoughts on power and the fear of losing it –
which seems to be the case with The Lady.
“It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of
losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power
corrupts those who are subject to it”.18
Footnotes
[ + ]
Author: Michael G. Karnavas
Michael G. Karnavas is an American trained lawyer. He is
licensed in Alaska and Massachusetts and is qualified to appear before the
various International tribunals, including the International Criminal Court
(ICC). Residing and practicing primarily in The Hague, he is recognized as an
expert in international criminal defence, including, pre-trial, trial, and
appellate advocacy.
View all posts by Michael G. Karnavas
Comments
Maung Zarni
This is such a refreshing and truthful analysis, hitting all
the key points surrounding the name of the crime, particularly coming from
someone who knows what he is talking about. So, hat’s off to the author. I am
sure he knows that Bill Clinton’s State Department issued an internal directive
to all US Missions to only admit that “acts of genocide” may be happening in
Rwanda, while 800,000 were killed in an genocidal act of violence. The only
problem is no genocide has ever been recognized by states by its name when it
is being committed. All genocides are inconvenient to those in power –
anywhere. UN-based global justice mechanisms have failed We the People of this
Planet. But it is still important and powerful that lawyers speak out in the
face of such inhumanity in my native Burma, or anywhere in the world. Two other
good lawyers who use their talents for humans, rather than States.
http://www.policyforum.net/confronting-genocide-myanmar/ http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/11/30/a-genocide-in-the-making-burma-myanmar-rohingya/
Law should be of, for and by the People, not the Powerful and the Rich. That’s
wishful thinking, for sure. But we must wish and work for what serves humans,
not Frankensteinian, immoral states with monopoly over Violence. Thank you to you
all.
Zaw Win
Thank you very much for your precious time and writing on
Rohingya people topic. Indeed these people are now in the worst suffering
situation in the hands of Burmese Military. Actually Burmese Govt. has long
plan to eradicate these Rohingya people from their land ” Rakhine State”. Now
they got excuse to punish and expel them from Rakhine State. UN and other
important observers are still observing whether the ” Genocide ” word should be
used. They know very well that the current condition for Rohingyas in Rakhine
state is worse than Genocide.