Myanmar: Civil Society Calls for International
Investigation in Rakhine State
More than 40 Diverse Groups Call for a “Truly Independent”
Commission of Inquiry
(YANGON, January 18, 2017)—More than 40 Myanmar-based civil
society organizations today called for a “truly independent” international
investigation into the situation in Rakhine State, where state-sponsored
attacks against Rohingya Muslim civilians have escalated in recent months.
Muslim and Buddhist communities in Rakhine State have faced human rights
violations with impunity for decades.
Today’s statement recommends the establishment of a
“commission of inquiry to fully assess the totality of the situation in Rakhine
State and provide clear recommendations for the current government to
effectively address and prevent further problems.”
“This initiative is important for the entire country,"
said Matthew Smith, chief executive officer at Fortify Rights. “It’s time for
the government to get on board and support the establishment of an impartial
and independent inquiry.”
The statement comes a day before Foreign Ministers of the
Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC)—an intergovernmental body of 57
member states—will meet in Kuala Lumpur to discuss the situation of Rohingya in
Rakhine State.
The diverse signatories to the statement include women-led
organizations, human rights groups, academic institutions, and development
organizations working throughout the country and with various ethnic
communities.
Today’s statement follows an open letter to the United
Nations Security Council on December 28 by a group of Nobel Laureates and
global leaders—including Kerry Kennedy, President of Robert F. Kennedy Human
Rights and member of the international advisory board of Fortify Rights—calling
for “an independent, international inquiry to establish the truth about the
current situation” in Rakhine State. A Burmese language version of the
statement was circulated widely in Myanmar.
The call for an international commission of inquiry also
gained momentum in the country following the recent publication of the
preliminary findings of an investigation led by Vice President Myint Swe—a
former military general and known “hardliner”—into the situation in northern
Rakhine State. The government established the commission after militants
attacked three police outposts, killing nine and prompting the Myanmar military
to initiate an indiscriminate “clearance operation.”
Tens of thousands of civilians have since fled attacks by
the Myanmar military in Maungdaw Township. In an ongoing investigation, Fortify
Rights documented how the Myanmar military razed villages, killed unarmed
civilians, and raped Rohingya women, among other abuses in several villages in
Maungdaw Township.
On January 3, state-run media published the interim findings
of the government-appointed, 13-member commission led by Myint Swe, which
reported no human rights violations and denied allegations of the crime of
genocide. The commission cited the presence of “the Bengali population” as well
as religious leaders and mosques as “proof that there were no cases of genocide
and religious persecution in the region.”
Myint Swe’s commission also denied allegations of malnutrition
among the local Rohingya population, apparently based on visual observations of
“the area’s favorable fishing and farming conditions.” The commission failed to
note available empirical data and internal U.N. reports that suggest
malnutrition rates in Maungdaw Township have long been at crisis level and are
worsening.
Since October, Myanmar authorities have blocked access to
affected areas in Maungdaw Township, denying life-saving humanitarian aid to
tens of thousands of Rohingya while also restricting access for human rights
monitors and journalists. Despite Myanmar authorities’ repeated promises to
diplomats and others to open humanitarian access to the area, aid operations
remain extremely limited.
More than 65,000 Rohingya men, women, and children have fled
to Bangladesh since October, joining a longstanding Rohingya refugee population
of an estimated half a million people.
In August 2016, before the most recent violence in Rakhine
State, State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi appointed a nine-member “advisory
commission” chaired by former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to provide
recommendations to the government on “challenges identified jointly by the
Commission and the Government of Myanmar” with regard to Rakhine State. The
commission comprises six Myanmar nationals and three foreigners.
In September 2016, Mr. Annan publicly clarified that his
commission would not conduct a “human rights investigation” in Rakhine State.
Fortify Rights confirmed the Annan Commission is not collecting evidence of
human rights violations in Rakhine State.
In late October 2016, the Rakhine State Parliament also
appointed its own “investigative commission,” comprising 11 state-level legislators
who purported to look into the situation in Maungdaw Township with a view to
“help the indigenous people who fled from the clashes”—a reference to
ethnic-Rakhine Buddhists affected by the situation. On December 27, it issued
its findings, reporting no abuses by state security forces.
“In three months, we’ve seen the formation of an advisory
commission, a whitewash commission, and a discriminatory commission,” said
Matthew Smith. “None of these bodies are conducting a serious, impartial
investigation into ongoing human rights violations. The international community
needs to wake up to the fact that domestic remedies have been exhausted and the
situation of the Rohingya is worsening by the day.”
In October, state-run media in Myanmar alluded to Rohingya
as “thorns,” and in November as “detestable human fleas.” The office of State
Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi has also waged a propaganda campaign, denying
wrongdoing by the state and explicitly denying rape and other human rights
violations against Rohingya, despite mounting evidence.
The Government of Myanmar revoked Rohingya citizenship in
1982 and now denies them the rights to self-identify, instead labeling the
population of approximately one million as “Bengali” interlopers from
Bangladesh.
Fortify Rights called on Yanghee Lee, the U.N. Special
Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar, OIC member states, and
members of the U.N. Human Rights Council to support the establishment of a
U.N.-mandated independent investigation when the Human Rights Council convenes
in March.
In October 2015, Fortify Rights and the Allard K. Lowenstein
International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School called on the U.N. Human
Rights Council to adopt a resolution mandating an international commission of
inquiry to assess the totality of the situation in Rakhine State, including
human rights violations against Rohingya Muslims and Rakhine Buddhists. The
clinic at Yale Law School found “strong evidence” to establish the elements of
the crime of genocide in Rakhine State.
The U.N. Human Rights Council, Security Council, General
Assembly, Secretary General, and Office of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights all have authority to establish independent international
investigations, also known as commissions of inquiry.
The U.N. has established inquiries into serious human rights
violations in Libya, the occupied Palestinian territory, Syria, North Korea,
Sri Lanka, and the Central African Republic, among others.
A U.N.-mandated investigation in Rakhine State could
objectively evaluate the facts, identify perpetrators, and provide clear
recommendations for action. Potential commissioners could include professional
investigators, legal practitioners, forensics experts, and gender specialists
from Asian countries and internationally. Fortify Rights recommends that such a
commission also conduct fact-finding outside Myanmar, in countries such as
Bangladesh and Malaysia, to ensure a complete and comprehensive investigation
into abuses that took place in Rakhine State.
“If there were ever a situation in which an independent
investigation is needed, it's now in Rakhine State,” said Matthew Smith. “The
international community has an opportunity to take up the call of Myanmar civil
society, and it should act without delay.”
For more information, please contact:
Matthew Smith, Fortify Rights, Chief Executive Officer, +66
(0) 87.795.5454,
matthew.smith@fortifyrights.org; Twitter: @matthewfsmith,
@fortifyrights