26 February 2018
At the Berlin Conference on Myanmar Genocide held at the
Jewish Museum today the participating scholars, activists and concerned
citizens issue the following call:
We are gravely concerned about Myanmar’s still unfolding
atrocity crimes, with signs of genocide mounting, against the Rohingya people,
including undeniable ethnic cleansing on a massive scale with destruction of
hundreds of Rohingya villages as the government bulldozes charred villages,
burns abandoned Rohingya houses, threatens the Rohingya who are still inside
the country and asks Bangladesh authorities to cut off the flow of essential
food supplies to over 6,000 Rohingyas who have fled to No Man’s Land between
the two countries’ borders.
We thank the people and Government of Bangladesh for
their exemplary acts of compassion and humanity in opening their borders to the
terror-stricken Rohingyas fleeing the killing fields of Western Myanmar state
of Rakhine or Arakan.
In the immediate terms, we call on governments and
non-governmental humanitarians to significantly increase the volume of
humanitarian assistance for the Rohingya in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazaar in
order to ease the burden on the Government of Bangladesh and enable UN agencies
to carry out their humanitarian responsibilities.
We believe that the protected return of Rohingya refugees
– estimated at nearly 1 million – into the protected homeland is the only
viable long-term solution in a situation where Myanmar – the military, the
Buddhist Order, the lay public and the civilian political parties including the
ruling NLD – have categorically maintained the country’s long-standing refusal
to recognize the presence, identity and history of the Rohingya in Myanmar and
disregard their group right to self-identify.
We are profoundly disappointed that the Security Council
has failed to agree to take a common stance, after 2 public meetings, in the
face of what is increasingly recognized as crimes against humanity and even
genocide, and been unable to issue even a single non-binding resolution on
Myanmar’s resultant worsening humanitarian crisis six months after 688,000
Rohingya – mainly women and children – fled the country. If ever there was a
time for prevention of genocide and for activation of the Responsibility to
Protect principle it is now.
Therefore, we call on the governments of the USA, UK,
France, Germany, Sweden and Canada, as well as other national governments such
as Turkey and regional associations to hold a Special Conference to explore
viable long-term solutions so that the Rohingya people can have a piece of
earth they can call their home.
Contact:
Professor Maria do Mar Castro at castrovarela@posteo.de
Tun Khin at tunkhin80@gmail.com;
+44 788 871 4866
Dr Maung Zarni at fanon2005@gmail.com;
+44 771 047 3322