ERC REJECTS MYANMAR’S SHAM COMMISSION REPORT ON
HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES AGAINST ROHINGYA
Aug 7, 2017
The European Rohingya Council (ERC) unequivocally rejects
the findings of “Maungdaw Investigation Commission” on the well-documented
human rights abuses committed during Myanmar’s armed forces “clearance
operations” against Rohingya civilians in northern Maungdaw Township, Rakhine
State.
“There is no possibility of crimes against humanity, no
evidence of ethnic cleansing [of Rohingya],” claimed Myint Swe as he read a
statement in front of mostly-local reporters in Yangon on Sunday, 6 August.
The 13-member commission established by President Htin
Kyaw in December 2016, concluded its eight-month probe on “the background
situations that led to violent attacks” on three Border Guard Police outposts
on 9 October 2016.
Presiding as the chair of the commission is vice-President
Myint Swe, a former military regime’s Chief of Military Security Affairs, who
is known for to be “fiercely loyal” to former dictator Senior General Than
Shwe, and for the infamous crackdown of 2007 Saffron Revolution and the
overseeing of now-defunct notorious Border Security Force [NaSaKa] in northern
Rakhine State.
The press conference attended by all 13 members of
commission, came up with the whitewash mechanism, and absurdly exculpated the
armed forces’ atrocious crimes against humanity.
A propaganda-styled photo exhibition highlighting the
investigative field trips’ key findings was on display at the perimeter of the
conference room. The commission’s juvenile visual display included textboxes
with cross marks and no’s– “The Commission found no evidence of ethnic
cleansing”; “The Commission found no evidence of crimes against humanity”; “The
Commission found no evidence of Genocide”.
When the formation of commission was announced, the ERC
strongly objected it for its lack of openness and credibility to establish the
facts about the allegations of severe human rights abuses that Myint Swe’s
military institution committed during the clearance operations. ERC has also
warned against the likelihood of whitewashing
by the commission, distorting the well-documented evidence of crimes against
humanity, and ethnic cleansing of Rohingya, perpetrated by the armed forces.
Moreover, a number of human rights activists and
organizations have raised serious concerns on the commission as the U.N.
Special advisor on Genocide Prevention Adama Dieng described, “the commission
is not a credible option to undertake the new investigation” due to the lack
impartiality and independent or “international observers”, while Consultant and
Coordinator of Arakan Project Chris Lewa claimed “the methodology [of the
commission] is not credible, it’s totally unprofessional.. [and] there is no
corroboration from the [Rohingya] villagers they are meant to have talked to.”
“Myanmar [Burma]’s own investigation would be like wolves
figuring out who ate the chickens,” compared Human Rights activist and Burmese
scholar Dr. Maung Zarni.
New York-based Human Rights Watch’s deputy Asia Director
Phil Robertson, feared the commission was “looking more and more like the
Myanmar government whitewash mechanism that we feared it would be [as it is
chaired by former general Myint Swe].”
Myint Swe maintained that accusation of crimes against
humanity were “simply not there”, and they were “fabricated” although U.N.
Special Rapporteur on Myanmar Ms Yanghee Lee, has claimed “I would say crimes
against humanity. Definite crimes against humanity… by the Burmese, Burmese
military, the border guards or the police or the security forces”.
The commission also said that “no gang rape happened” to
Rohingya women and some of them were “paid or intimidated” into reporting as
well as slammed the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights (OHCHR)’s report of crimes against humanity such as rape, extra-judicial
killing, as “fabricated” and “had little evidence”.
The U.N.’s report based on 204 interviews with Rohingya
refugees fled to Bangladesh during the clearance operations, found
“extrajudicial executions or other killings, including by random shooting;
enforced disappearance and arbitrary detention; rape, including gang rape, and
other forms of sexual violence; physical assault including beatings; torture,
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; looting and occupation of
property; destruction of property; and ethnic and religious discrimination and
persecution”.
“The devastating cruelty to which these Rohingya children
have been subjected is unbearable – what kind of hatred could make a man stab a
baby crying out for his mother’s milk. And for the mother to witness this
murder while she is being gang-raped by the very security forces who should be
protecting her,” said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al
Hussein
“It’s shocking. I’ve never encountered a situation like
this, where you do 204 interviews and every single person you speak with has a
traumatic story, whether their house was burnt, they’ve been raped or relative
was killed or taken away.
The testimonies we gathered pointed at two intents as the
motivation of this persecution: the collective punishment following humiliation
over the attacks against police officers in October, and the ethnic and racial
element – the distain for this minority. You don’t slaughter eight-month-old
babies because a police officer was attacked. It’s because you just don’t consider
the child as human.
It’s very rare for
there to be such a high prevalence of violence. And when you think we spoke to
just 204 people of a total of 88,000 who have fled the area, it’s really scary
to think of the total numbers,” said Linnea Arvidsson who was one of the UN
workers interviewed Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
The commission has submitted the report to President Htin
Kyaw with “long-term solutions” such as increase security, salary raise for
armed personnel, citizenship verification [forcedly levelling of Rohingya as
‘Bengali’].
Meanwhile Aung San Suu Kyi has ordered to refuse visa to
the independent international U.N. fact-finding investigators on the alleged
human rights abuses against Rohingya.
“We will order Myanmar embassies not to grant any visa to
U.N. fact-finding mission members. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi said we would not
coordinate with U.N. fact-finding mission, as we have disassociated ourselves
from the resolution because we do not think that the resolution is in keeping
with what is actually happening on the ground,” said her deputy Foreign Affairs
Minister Kyaw Tin.
The ERC strongly objects the findings of the
vice-President Myint Swe led sham-commission for its bias, impartiality and
lack of openness and credibility, and reaffirms the endorsement of the
independent U.N. fact-finding mission to probe the grave human rights
violations against Rohingya civilians in northern Maungdaw.
The European Rohingya Council also urges Aung San Suu
Kyi’s government to allow the fact-finding mission to impartially investigate
the violations, and bring the perpetrators into accountability to prevent
further crimes against humanity, and build on long-term solutions for peace and
stability in the region.
For more information, please contact:
Dr. Hla Kyaw
Chairman, The European Rohingya Council
+31 652358202
Dr. Anita Schug
Spokesperson, The European Rohingya Council
+49 15750685496