Growing
hostility toward Myanmar’s heavily persecuted Rohingya population has created a
pressing need for international intervention.
By
Sally Kantar
International
actors this week have upped the ante of investigating potential crimes against
humanity in Myanmar, also known as Burma. And they, in turn, have triggered
questions about what role the United States might play in pursuing justice.
On
Monday, Keith Harper, who served as the U.S. ambassador to the Human Rights
Council in Barack Obama’s administration, called for the establishment of a
“full inquiry” into abuses against the Rohingya, Myanmar’s heavily persecuted
Muslim group. He also described the Nobel Peace Prize once awarded to the country’s
de-facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, as “a most awful kind of shield from proper
scrutiny.”
Harper’s
criticism follows a February report from the United Nations that similarly
heightened the push for an independent investigation into human rights abuses
in Myanmar. The “flash report,” published by the U.N.’s Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights on February 3rd, shone a light on abuses based on
testimony from more than 200 Rohingya refugees. They belong to an estimated
69,000 who have fled to Bangladesh due to security forces’ “clearance
operations” carried out in western Myanmar’s Rakhine State for nearly five
months: a state response to coordinated attacks by militants on border police
outposts in October of last year. The campaign reportedly left some 1,000 dead,
according to two U.N. agencies, and has elicited allegations of atrocities
ranging from rape to summary executions to the destruction of homes.
One
international response that has been floated as a result of allegations is a
U.N. Commission of Inquiry—an investigative body typically established by the
HRC. Recommendations for the formation of a CoI are put forward in the form of
a resolution by an HRC member state, which then requires the affirmative votes
of more than half of the other 46 members in order to proceed.
Matthew
Smith, co-founder and chief executive officer of Southeast Asia-based human
rights organization Fortify Rights, said that the European Union currently has
a resolution to extend the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in
Myanmar — a position held by Yanghee Lee — and that it “could include language
… calling for the establishment of a CoI.”
Yanghee
Lee presented her End of Mission Statement on February 24th, saying that, in
the report, she will present to the HRC on March 13th, she will highlight “how
the Government of Myanmar appears to have taken, and continues to take, actions
which discriminate against the Rohingya and make their lives even more
difficult.”
She
acknowledged the Muslim minority’s long and fraught history of “systematic and
institutionalized discrimination” in Myanmar. The Rohingya — of whom there are
an estimated 1.1 million — have largely been made stateless as the result of a
1982 law that defines citizenship along ethnic lines and excludes them from
recognition as one of the country’s 135 “national races.” They also face severe
restrictions on freedom of movement and access to education and health care.
In
the past, Yanghee Lee has also confirmed that she will “certainly be pushing
for an inquiry, definitely, on the Rohingya situation.” In response to the
OHCHR report, the U.N.’s High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al
Hussein has also said that “the gravity and scale of these allegations begs the
robust reaction of the international community.”
“If
member states ignore the recommendations of the High Commissioner and the
Special Rapporteur, it will be an ugly reflection of how the international
community continues to abandon the Rohingya,” Matthew Smith said. The U.S., he
added, “should immediately state that it would support the establishment of an
inquiry.”
When
contacted by the New America Weekly, a state department spokesperson said that
the U.S. remains “concerned” by the findings of the February 3rd OHCHR report
and that they “are in close consultation with the E.U. as they present a
resolution on the human rights situation in Burma.”
U.S.
Ambassador to Myanmar Scot Marciel repeatedly stated in a recent interview the
importance of a “serious, credible investigation” into allegations of human
rights violations in Rakhine State.
“We
are not in a position to verify or rebut specific allegations, but the number
of allegations, the interviews, the reports, are very concerning,” Marciel said
when asked about the OHCHR flash report. Yet the U.S., he clarified, is not
carrying out any kind of investigation to “come up with an independent
finding,” adding, “that’s not our role.”
Particularly
damning to this narrative is the fact that Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League
for Democracy government in Burma — elected and in power for nearly a
year — has repeatedly denied claims of military atrocities committed against
the Rohingya during the clearance campaign.
Myanmar’s
president’s office formed its own investigative commission — led by the
country’s military-appointed vice president — to look into allegations of abuse
in Rakhine State. After three visits to the region, including one after the
release of the OHCHR report, it said it found no evidence of the crimes
outlined by the U.N. agency’s research — despite a flurry of reports to the
contrary. In the week following the release of the flash report, the police and
military also announced the formation of their own commissions to investigate
the findings of the OHCHR. Yet, because of their lack of independence, all
three commissions have been widely discredited by critics.
Many
members of Congress hold Aung San Suu Kyi in particularly high regard,
explained Myra Dahgaypaw, a policy adviser for the Washington-based U.S.
Campaign for Burma. She said that she has seen this perception discourage U.S.
politicians from taking political stances that question or challenge Suu Kyi’s
leadership. In that regard, Fortify Rights’ Matthew Smith said, “Congress needs
to assert itself,” and clarify its position on the reports of persecution in
Myanmar.
Not
to be lost in a discussion of a CoI, Dahgaypaw added, is a continued emphasis
on the importance of the role of the Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in
Myanmar.
“The
world is watching Burma very closely, and they have continued to do what they
have done. What if no one was watching — what would they do? That’s why it’s
important to have a watchdog,” she said in reference to Yanghee Lee.
In
a phone interview, one veteran Rohingya journalist, long exiled to Bangladesh,
described the situation in northern Rakhine State as so dire that many are simply
calling for “any” investigation which can be deemed “international and
independent,” saying that the establishment of one specifically by the U.N. was
not a requirement in his opinion.
“Now
the situation is worse than before,” he explained, emphasizing the urgency for
action. “Before, we never saw military operations. Now, we see them. For the
Rohingya people in Myanmar, it’s like living in an open prison.”