By Mizan Rahman / Dhaka
Gulf Times
June 01, 2017
Bangladesh has welcomed the formation of a three-member
fact-finding mission by the United Nations Human Rights Commission to look into
allegations of atrocities recently committed by the Myanmar security forces
against the Rohingya populace in Rakhine state.
Foreign ministry officials said in Dhaka, “There is doubt
whether the mission will be allowed into Myanmar to carry out its activities as
per its mandate because the government of Myanmar has already all but rejected
it”.
“Despite this, we welcome the move. We hope that good
sense will prevail and Myanmar will co-operate with the mission formed by the
global body,” he said.
Echoing the sentiment of his superior, another official
said, “It’s a positive step. Let’s hope Myanmar will co-operate with the UN
mission to find out the truth.”
President of the UN Human Rights Council, ambassador
Joaquin Alexander Maza Martelli, announced the appointment of Indira Jaising
(India), Radhika Coomaraswamy (Sri Lanka) and Christopher Dominic Sidoti
(Australia) to serve as three members of the fact-finding mission on Myanmar.
Jaising will serve as the chair of the three-member
mission, said a press release issued by the global human rights body.
On March 24, 2017, at its 34th session, the council
decided to urgently dispatch an independent international fact-finding mission,
to be appointed by the president of the council, to “establish facts and
circumstances of the alleged recent human rights violations by military and
security forces, and abuses, in Myanmar, in particular in Rakhine State”, it
said.
Through human rights council resolution 34/22, the
47-member body mandated the members of the mission to look into, allegations of
arbitrary detention, torture and inhuman treatment, rape and other forms of
sexual violence, extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary killings, enforced
disappearances, forced displacement and unlawful destruction of property, said
the release.
The mission members, who will serve in their personal
capacities, are also mandated to carry out their work with a view to ensuring
full accountability of the perpetrators of these acts and justice for the
victims.
India and China had disassociated from the resolution
when it was passed.
The council also encouraged the government of Myanmar to
fully co-operate with the fact-finding mission by making available the findings
of their domestic investigations and by granting full, unrestricted and
unmonitored access to all areas and interlocutors, said the release.
The council also stressed the need for the mission to be
provided with all necessary resources and expertise necessary to carry out its
mandate.
The fact-finding mission is scheduled to present an oral
update to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-sixth session in September
this year and a full report at its 37th session in March, 2018, it said.
The members of the mission are expected to meet in Geneva
in the coming weeks to plan their agenda and work for the months ahead, the
release said.
Any official reaction from the Myanmar side is not yet
available, said the officials of the foreign ministry in Dhaka.
But, they said that right after the passage of the
resolution moved by the European Union to constitute such a mission, Aung San
Suu Kyi, state councillor and de-facto leader of Myanmar, rejected such a
mission.
On May 2, at a joint press conference in Brussels with
Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate, EU high representative for foreign affairs and
security policy Federica Mogherini said the fact-finding mission is focusing on
establishing the truth about the past and that she believes this can contribute
to establishing the facts.
Asked about the move, Suu Kyi, said: “We are
disassociating ourselves from the resolution because we don’t think the
resolution is in keeping with what is actually happening on the ground.”
The remarks of the state councillor clearly indicate
reluctance on the part of Myanmar to allow the fact-finding mission into
Myanmar, said the officials.
In the past, the Myanmar government has refused to allow
UN teams into the country, they said.
The officials hinted that eventually if Myanmar does not
allow the fact- finding mission, then the mission may be dispatched to
Bangladesh to find the truth by interviewing those Rohingyas who had to flee to
Cox’s Bazaar to escape the brutality of the Myanmar security forces and local
Buddhist population in the Rakhine state.
Bangladesh will be happy to facilitate such a trip as it
did in case of UN special rapporteur on Myanmar Yanghee Lee, the foreign
ministry officials said.
The UN team that visited Bangladesh after being refused
entry into Myanmar in its report prepared based on interviewing Rohingyas in
Cox’s Bazar said that Myanmar’s security forces committed mass killings, gang
rapes and other atrocities against Rohingyas that might amount to crimes
against humanity and ethnic cleansing. Special rapporteur Lee also voiced
similar views after her visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Since October, 2016, more than 70,000 Rohingyas have
crossed into Bangladesh adding to the 3,00,000 Rohingyas already living in the
country for decades.