Joint Press release:
16th September 2017
ICC declines to
protect Stateless Rohingya from Genocide and Crimes against Humanity
We the undersigned
organisations would like to stress that, with the initiative of the Arakan
Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO), the Rohingya Intellectual Community
Association of Australia filed through their Counsel, a communication with the
International Criminal Court (“the ICC”) in December 2015 and filed a follow up
communication in August 2017, with the support of the Rohingya Community
Worldwide.
Counsel representing
our organizations submitted that the ICC should exercise jurisdiction on the grounds
that the Rohingya are a stateless minority and no legal recourse exists for
them in Myanmar as a result of their statelessness. The ICC finally responded
in August 2017 that it does not have jurisdiction on the mass atrocity crimes
committed against the Rohingyas. The Rohingya continue to have no access to
justice and therefore do not have any redress in Myanmar if they are
persecuted.
Acts of mass
atrocity and genocide against the defenseless Rohingya and other minority
civilians can never be a purely internal matter of Myanmar. These acts have
been ongoing for over thirty-nine years. The UN and international community
have a ‘responsibility to protect’ and should intervene to save thousands of
lives and protect human security.
We, therefore, appeal
to the UN Security Council, international community, OIC, ASEAN and Myanmar’s
neighbours to intervene immediately in the matter to protect helpless Rohingya
people and similarly situated minorities in the region from Myanmar’s state
sponsored genocide and crimes against humanity. In addition, we thank and plead
to the international community to continue providing humanitarian assistance
both in Arakan and in Bangladesh on humanitarian grounds.
The Following
organizations are the signatories of this press release.
Arakan Rohingya
National Organisation,
Burmese Rohingya
Organisation UK,
Bradford Rohingya
Community UK,
Burmese Rohingys
Community Denmark,
Burmese Rohingya
Community Australia,
Burmese Rohingya
Community Japan,
Canadian Burmese
Rohingya Organisation,
Rohingya Advocacy
Network Japan,
Rohingya Arakanese
Refugee Committee,
Rohingya Blogger,
Rohingya Community
Germany,
Rohingya Community
Switzerland,
Rohingya Community
Finland,
Rohingya Community
Italy,
Rohingya Community
Sweden,
Rohingya
Organisation Norway,
Rohingya Society
Netherlands,
Rohingya Society
Malaysia,
The European
Rohingya Council
For more details,
please contact:
Dr. Hla Myint:
+61-423381904
Ronnie:
+44-7783118354
Email: info@rohingya.org