File Photo of Mazuki |
Geneva
12 March 2018
Mr. President, Special Rapporteur, distinguished
delegates, ladies and gentlemen,
The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on
Myanmar is pleased to provide this oral update on its work, as required by
Council decision 36/115. We are focusing on establishing the facts and
circumstances of alleged human rights violations and abuses in Myanmar, in
particular in Rakhine, Kachin and northern Shan States, since 2011.
The Fact-Finding Mission has made significant progress in
fulfilling its mandate. Other international mechanisms and officials,
non-governmental organizations, and the media have been reporting on events as
they occurred. We have been able to proceed more deeply and broadly. We
ourselves have undertaken missions to Bangladesh, Malaysia, Thailand and the
United Kingdom and our teams have spent a significant amount of time gathering
information in these and other locations. We and our teams have made many
visits to the region, each of several weeks. We have now conducted over 600
in-depth interviews with victims and witnesses of alleged human rights
violations and abuses. Additionally, we have held numerous consultations with
experts, activists, civil society actors and diplomats. We are in contact with
people and organizations who are keen to share their information, including the
raw data for their research, and we have received a number of formal
submissions. We have also received and analysed satellite imagery, photographs
and video footage of events. We are proceeding thoroughly, meticulously, to
gather information, analyse it and draw conclusions.
The Myanmar Government has rejected the need for and
blocked every attempt of an independent and impartial investigation, including
by ourselves. From the beginning, we reached out to the Government of Myanmar
to seek dialogue and to be able to visit to conduct inquiries on the ground. We
proposed a mission to the country for specific dates in February. This was
denied on our proposed starting date.
Nonetheless, even though Myanmar has denied us access,
the Fact-Finding Mission has no shortage of credible and reliable information.
We take this opportunity to express our gratitude to those, and in particular
victims and survivors, who have shared their stories, data and insights.
Our team is in the process of further verifying,
authenticating, corroborating and analysing this wealth of information, with a
view to presenting solid and comprehensive findings on the human rights
situation in Myanmar from 2011 onwards in our final report to this Council in
September. Conscious of the polarised context in which we operate, with starkly
competing narratives circulating, we attach great importance to our
methodology. We operate independently, impartially and rigorously. Our final
report will give a detailed account of our methodology so that there can be no
question about the rigour of our fact-finding.
Mr President,
While much of our work to date has been focused on events
in Rakhine since August 2017, we are also looking closely at allegations of human
rights violations and abuses in other parts of the country. These suggest
certain patterns of violations that are experienced by different groups across
the country. While the intensity, scale and impact of the recent events in
Rakhine were of a different order, the manner in which operations are conducted
demonstrates marked similarities.
The long-standing conflicts in Kachin and Shan states
have recently intensified, leading to more reports of serious violations of
international human rights and humanitarian law committed in these areas by the
security forces. These include reports of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary
deprivation of liberty, enforced disappearances, destruction of property and
pillage, torture and inhuman treatment, rape and other forms of sexual
violence, forced labour, recruitment of children into armed forces, and
indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks. We are also looking into reports of
human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law committed
by ethnic armed organizations, including the recruitment of children and the
failure to take feasible precautions in attacks. In many of these cases,
civilians have been at the receiving end of the violence.
For example, civilians have reported to the Fact-Finding
Mission how they were forced to work for the Myanmar military. Many stated that
they had been used as porters, carrying heavy material for days by foot, or as
guides in the jungle and as human shields for the military on patrol. Many
reported that they were severely beaten, had their identity cards confiscated,
were insulted with derogatory racist language or were sexually assaulted. Many
fled the country immediately after, for fear of being further targeted by the
military. The Mission has also heard testimony of men arbitrarily arrested and
detained by the Myanmar military, often subjected to torture or ill-treatment
because they were suspected of being affiliated to or supportive of an ethnic
armed organization. Women and girls have reported many instances of sexual
violence. They were targeted during military operations or because their ethnic
group or community was suspected of supporting a particular armed group. The
Fact-Finding Mission has also collected information from victims from Kachin
and northern Shan who were forcibly recruited by ethnic armed organizations
before the age of 18 years.
Victims and witnesses told us about their suffering and
how their lives are forever broken as a result of violence in this part of the
country. They spoke about their displacement as a consequence of the years of
armed conflict in Kachin and northern Shan, where they are unable to return to
their home villages. They told us about the effect of living in dire conditions
in IDP camps, with inadequate food and without protection.
Mr President,
At this very moment, we are deeply concerned about the
clashes between the Myanmar military and the Kachin Independence Army since
January 2018, including through airstrikes in areas around the town of Tanai in
Kachin, displacing thousands of civilians, as reported by the Special
Rapporteur. Large numbers of civilians were trapped and displaced for several
days without adequate humanitarian assistance. We have received credible
reports of a number of civilians killed or injured in Tanai Township.
Since the beginning of the year, the escalation of
violence has resulted in another wave of internal displacement in Kachin and
northern Shan and has magnified the longstanding humanitarian crisis in those
areas. We are very concerned that humanitarian actors, including the United
Nations, have not been granted access to conflict affected areas, including
Tanai and Sumprabum Townships, while local aid agencies continue to face severe
restrictions on the delivery of life-saving humanitarian aid to the civilians
most affected by the fighting.
International humanitarian law requires that the Myanmar
military and all ethnic armed groups in Kachin and Shan states taking part in
hostilities take all feasible precautions to protect civilians and civilian
objects under their control against the effects of attacks, and ensure safe
access to humanitarian assistance for all those affected by the conflict. We
urge the authorities of Myanmar to lift all movement restrictions and ensure
that humanitarian actors can carry out their work in safety.
Mr President,
My previous presentations to this Council reflected the
fact that the work of the Fact-Finding Mission had been overtaken by the
unfolding events in Rakhine. Today, we report on what we have learned
concerning those events, all the while stressing that this is work in progress.
The Council has been briefed many times, by the High Commissioner for Human
Rights and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar,
among others, on the horrifying accounts of the Rohingya who have crossed into
Bangladesh since October 2016. They fled a crisis in Rakhine State that has
longstanding roots and deepened significantly in 2012. It radically intensified
following the attacks in 2016 and 2017 by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army,
or ARSA, and the Myanmar security forces’ so-called “clearance operations”. The
violence has been extreme, the humanitarian consequences disastrous and the
impact on people’s lives devastating.
Earlier during this Human Rights Council session, the
representative of Myanmar stated that the Government will not condone impunity
for human rights violations and that action will be taken against any
perpetrators where there is concrete evidence. We welcome that, for the body of
information and materials we are collecting is concrete and overwhelming. It
points at human rights violations of the most serious kind, in all likelihood
amounting to crimes under international law.
It should spur action. In fact, action should have been taken long ago,
since Myanmar’s human rights obligations are not limited to acting when it is
presented with concrete evidence. Its duty is to ensure that all allegations of
human rights violations and abuses are promptly, thoroughly, independently and
impartially investigated in the first place.
This is not happening. The response of the Myanmar
Government and military to the events and allegations has been totally
inadequate and is of grave concern. In November 2017, the military announced
the results of an internal investigation concluding that there had been no
excessive use of force; that all security forces personnel had strictly abided
by the orders, directives and rules of engagement; and that all Rohingya (or
“Bengali” as they call them) who were arrested had been systematically handed
over to the local police stations. It begs the question what those orders,
directives and rules of engagement were. Just two months later, when Reuters
was about to break its story, the military admitted to the involvement of the
security forces in the killing of 10 Rohingya men in Inn Din village in
Maungdaw Township, reportedly because these individuals could not be
transported to a police station. The bodies were dumped in a mass grave and the
journalists who were investigating some of the allegations were arrested. Those
journalists are still in detention and could face lengthy prison sentences.
At the same time, the Myanmar authorities continue to
accuse the international media of spreading fake news. They continue to block
unmonitored access to the affected areas. We would like to make clear that the
quality of our work is not affected by this. We have eyewitness accounts that
allow us to distil the fake news. We have seen unsettling photographs and
satellite images of Rohingya villages flattened to the ground by bulldozers,
erasing all remaining traces of the life and community that once was - not to
mention destroying possible crime scenes, evidence, and landmarks. The way to
counter fake news is to respect freedom of information, expression and
association.
Mr President,
We note the Government’s stated intent to implement the
recommendations of the Rakhine Advisory Commission led by Kofi Annan, including
through the creation of an Implementation Committee and an Advisory Board. We
note that the Union Enterprise for Humanitarian Assistance, Resettlement, and
Development in Rakhine is endeavouring to revive private investment in that
state. We also note with interest the Government’s recent first Report to the
People on the Progress of Implementation of the Recommendations on Rakhine
State. We encourage the Government to communicate in a transparent manner
details about these and other efforts, particularly their human rights
objectives and how they plan to fulfil them. Based on the public accounts
released so far, the glaring absence of human rights is most notable. We
further call for the release of the full reports of all internal investigations
into allegations of human rights violations and abuses.
The Myanmar authorities have announced willingness to
receive refugees back. While professing this, they are bulldozing land such
that the delineation of the boundaries of the homes and lands of those who fled
are becoming untraceable. It is difficult to see how those who returned can rebuild
their past lives. Meanwhile, the military have deployed heavily armed troops to
the border area, threatening the Rohingya caught in “no man’s land” and causing
many of those there to make the journey into Bangladesh. Abuses continue to be
reported and people continue to flee. The root causes of the exodus remain
unaddressed. Beyond the violence itself, we noted highly discriminatory
policies and practices, including heavy restrictions on freedom of movement and
their adverse consequences on a host of economic, social and cultural rights;
widespread extortion; and the lack of citizenship of the majority of Rohingya,
which increases their vulnerability.
People continue to flee, reporting oppression in their
villages, restrictions on movements, lack of access to food and livelihoods,
and a very real fear of a new wave of violence. The numbers of new arrivals in
camps in Bangladesh are continuing at a pace of up to 1,000 persons per week.
At no point have the Myanmar authorities held any genuine
consultation with the people concerned to understand their needs and dispel
their fears. Nor are the authorities allowing the international community to
play a role in ensuring that the return is voluntary, safe and dignified – with
respect for human rights. We welcome the discussions on the possibility of
UNHCR playing a role. This is crucial to ensure that any return of the Rohingya
to Myanmar is in line with international humanitarian standards.
However, in light of the significant human rights issues
that lie at the heart of this crisis, it is critically important for the
displaced people not to be returned without adequate guarantees for human
rights protection in place. Otherwise, we could be laying the groundwork, not
for solutions, but for another repeat experience. This is amply shown in
Myanmar’s history. One Rohingya interviewee told us how three generations of
his family had been victimized by violence, fled abroad, returned under pledges
of safety, only to have to flee again. We call on Myanmar, Bangladesh and the
international community to ensure that independent human rights monitors are
involved in the process and are based on the ground in Rakhine state until
proper mechanisms for protection are established and proved effective.
Importantly, many Rohingya individuals with whom the
Fact-Finding Mission has spoken in recent weeks expressed a genuine fear of
being returned to Myanmar at this time and are extremely concerned about their
future. They have lost everything. They wonder what is left for them in
Myanmar. These people cannot be sent back without significant changes in
Rakhine, including a clear path towards truth, justice, reparation, and
reconciliation. A key element of a lasting solution is citizenship.
Regrettably, the signs are not positive. The Myanmar
authorities, both military and civilian, have effectively labeled the whole
Rohingya population as Bengali “illegal immigrants” and “extremist terrorists”.
They published the names and photographs of approximately 1,300 so-called “ARSA
terrorists” without any form of due process. The list includes children. It
puts the lives of those individuals and their families at risk. The Parliament
recently entertained the question of how best “to make the international
community understand that there is no group called ’Rohingya’ in Myanmar”,
further fuelling tension. Hate speech and incitement to violence on social
media is rampant, particularly on Facebook. To a large extent, it goes
unchecked. Reports that Rohingya are being forced to accept the National
Verification Cards (which contravenes one of the recommendations of the Rakhine
Advisory Commission) have reached the Fact-Finding Mission, too.
It is difficult to see how such actions reflect a genuine
attempt to address a large-scale crisis that according to official UN data has
uprooted some 671,000 people since last August, in one of the fastest
concentrated movements of people in recent history, and joining up to 500,000
Rohingya who have fled in previous years. A crisis that is the consequence of
and has further exacerbated complex and long-standing fears and grievances in
all communities; a crisis resulting from deep-rooted and systemic
discrimination, in law and in practice; a crisis that seriously calls into
question the conduct of the security forces.
A first step in addressing such a crisis must surely be a
recognition of the humanity of those who have had to flee and, consequently, of
their human rights. From that comes respect for their identity. Indeed, from a
human rights perspective, it is not relevant how long a person or a group has
or has not resided in the country, how far back they can trace their ancestry,
whether they belong to a declared “national race” or not, or what they call
themselves. The Government carries the responsibility to respect, protect and fulfill
the human rights of everyone.
Mr President,
The Fact-Finding Mission has made some preliminary
findings on the 2017 violence from Rakhine State, without pre-empting our
eventual conclusions. We take the opportunity of this interim report to state
clearly that any denial of the seriousness of the situation in Rakhine state is
untenable. The facts speak for themselves.
In our work on Rakhine state, we have a dual focus: we
seek to understand the overall patterns of human rights violations and abuses,
and we are collecting information regarding a number of specific incidents
since August 2017 of a particularly egregious nature.
Information collected from across Maungdaw, Buthidaung and
Rathedaung Townships indicates that the “clearance operations” of the Myanmar
security forces in response to the ARSA attacks of 25 August 2017 followed
similar patterns. They resulted in the emptying and destruction of entire
villages. Analysis of satellite imagery so far reveals that at least 319
villages across the three townships were partially or totally destroyed by fire
after 25 August. The destruction encompassed tens of thousands of structures,
predominantly Rohingya homes and other buildings in those villages, including
Mosques.
These operations further resulted in significant numbers
of casualties among villagers. People died from gunshot wounds - often due to
indiscriminate shooting at fleeing villagers, sometimes shot point blank. Some
were burned alive in their homes, often the elderly, disabled or young
children, unable to escape from attacks launched without warning. Many others
were hacked to death by knives and swords. The Fact-Finding Mission has
interviewed many people with wounds from gunfire, knives, and burning of a
severe nature.
One Rohingya woman we met in the refugee camps in
Bangladesh could hardly contain her tears as she told us: “If I start to tell
you what happened, your heart will break”. She spoke of how her village was attacked
by security forces at the end of August 2017 and houses were set on fire. She
described how loud the sound of the gunfire was, and how villagers were hiding
in the latrines and a pond to save their lives. She recalled how women were
holding their babies tightly in despair, and how men and women were brought to
a paddy field and separated. The group was shot at and her husband was one of
many killed by gunfire. She felt powerless because she was unable to save him.
In the midst of all of that, she was trying to find her children. I stress that
this is not among the most dramatic testimonies we have taken but, incredibly,
a rather typical one.
Overall, the widespread and systematic nature of the
violence in all three townships suggests considerable prior military planning
and organisation, which the Fact-Finding Mission is examining in detail. The
military took steps to build up its presence in Rakhine state in the weeks
prior to the ARSA attacks, and there are strong indications that military activities
increased across the three townships through August 2017. In multiple areas,
the military launched its “clearance operations” within hours of the first
attacks on 25 August. Furthermore, in relation to the threat faced, information
collected to date suggests that the ARSA attacks were undertaken by poorly
armed and largely untrained villagers. Although there are many details still to
be pieced together, this much is becoming clearer. We continue to seek
information on ARSA’s conduct before and after the events of August 2017.
All the information collected by the Fact-Finding Mission
so far further points to violence of an extremely cruel nature, including
against women. We have collected credible information on brutal rapes,
including gang rapes, and other forms of sexual violence, often targeting girls
and young women. These rapes were often accompanied with severe physical
injuries, including the mutilation of parts of the victims’ bodies. The
Fact-Finding Mission has strong indications that many women and girls who were
raped died from the injuries they sustained or were killed. Information also
indicates that some women and girls were abducted, detained and raped in the
security forces’ camps. The Fact-Finding Mission has met with women who showed
fresh and deep bite marks on their faces and bodies sustained during acts of
sexual violence. Information received from medical experts and counsellors
overwhelmingly corroborates the accounts of rape survivors. We are convinced
that what these women tell us is true.
Children were not spared in the “clearance operations”,
and were sometimes targeted. We have numerous accounts of children and babies
who were killed, boys arrested, and girls raped. The Fact-Finding Mission has
seen children with machete, burn and gunshot wounds, visibly traumatised. The
official estimate of unaccompanied and separated children in the camps in
Bangladesh exceeds 5,000. Children saw family members and neighbours killed,
maimed or abused.
One mother described how she had to choose which children
to save. The security forces had entered her house and grabbed her young
daughter. Her son tried to save his sister and was attacked by the security
forces. The mother watched from the other end of the house and made the split
second decision that these two children would not live, but that she could
perhaps still save her two younger children. They fled. Her husband returned
the next morning to the village and dug through pits of bodies until he found
the corpse of their son. They never found the body of their daughter. The
mother told the Fact-Finding Mission with haunted eyes: “How can I continue
with my life having made this choice?”
These horrific experiences have often been compounded by
the arduous nature of peoples’ journeys to Bangladesh. The Fact-Finding Mission
has received harrowing accounts of families’ long journeys across difficult
terrain, without food, sometimes resulting in the death of injured, weakened or
separated family members. Information we received also suggests that Myanmar
security forces attacked groups of Rohingya during their journey. Numerous
people drowned when crossing the dangerous Naf River between Myanmar and
Bangladesh or in the Bay of Bengal.
Official attempts to attribute the flight of the Rohingya
to unfounded mass hysteria or self-inflicted destruction contradict the mounds
of information, materials and credible accounts collected. We have no
hesitation in rejecting those assertions. Another argument presented is that
fear of ARSA motivated many to flee. We are collecting information on ARSA
operations, including the reported threats and executions of informants in the
Rohingya community prior to August 2017, and alleged violence against other
communities in Rakhine State. I can state now, however, that fear of ARSA has
not emerged from our in-depth interviews so far as a factor for fleeing. Those
that are in possession of concrete information to this effect are invited to
share it with the Fact-Finding Mission.
On the contrary, the greater fear among the Rohingya
expressed to us was of the Myanmar military. As for the purported threat to
which the Myanmar security forces reacted, the information received about ARSA
activity in the region so far strongly suggests that the security forces’
response, particularly its use of force, was far in excess of the actual threat
and in violation of international norms and standards.
Virtually all interviews conducted by the Fact-Finding
Mission concerning Rakhine State point to the Myanmar military as having been
in charge of the “clearance operations” and as the main – although not always
sole – alleged perpetrator of violations. We are satisfied that other state
security forces and groups of non-Rohingya civilians were also involved in acts
of violence. The Mission is in the process of analysing the respective roles
and command structures of the security forces and the involvement of other
actors. We will attribute responsibility where it is due.
We are also attentive to the omissions, which will affect
the attribution of responsibility. Most importantly, we have no indications of
the security forces taking actions to halt the violence. We have no accounts of
them trying to protect Rohingya villagers. We know of only a small number of
soldiers, police and others reportedly investigated for improper conduct and
crimes, primarily linked to one particular massacre at Inn Din. We know very
little about any attempts to combat hate speech.
Another critical piece of work the Fact-Finding Mission
is undertaking is an analysis of the intention and motivation of the
perpetrators. To that effect, we are examining several indicators including the
choice of targets, the manner in which the operations were conducted, the
language used by government and security personnel prior to, during and after
the operations, and other relevant information. Our findings, including on
legal accountability, will be presented in our final report.
Mr President,
In our final report, we will present in more detail and
in a broader context our findings with respect to the October 2016 and 25
August 2017 attacks in Rakhine state and the response of the security forces.
However, let us remember that the 2016 and 2017 events did not take place in a
vacuum. We are also examining the circumstances of the 2012 violence in Rakhine
state and the serious violations that followed against various communities,
including Kaman Muslims. We are looking in detail at patterns of human rights
violations suffered by the ethnic Rakhine too. More generally, we are looking
at the various discriminatory policies and practices put in place in the state
and their consequences on the enjoyment of civil, political, economic, social
and cultural rights for all.
Similarly, we will present our findings with respect to
the human rights situation in Kachin and Shan states since 2011, within its
political, social and historical context. And most importantly, we will explore
how patterns of human rights abuse across the country are linked. For the
Fact-Finding Mission, the events we are examining in detail in Rakhine, Kachin
and Shan states are products of a longstanding, systemic pattern of human
rights violation and abuse in Myanmar.
Our work is proceeding at full speed, but it is nowhere
near complete and we are hampered by cuts in our budget, especially in relation
to staffing. The generosity of the Council in granting our extension with the
level of resources that we requested was, unfortunately, not matched by the ACABQ
in New York. While we will complete a solid final report by September, we will
most likely not have the time and capacity to leave our archives in the order
required to facilitate easy access and use by any follow-up accountability
mechanism, which we believe would be a tremendous loss.
Mr. President,
The Fact-Finding Mission is receiving a flood of
allegations of human rights violations and abuses against the Myanmar security
forces, whether in Rakhine, Kachin, Shan or elsewhere. People want to be heard
and taken seriously; they want to understand why they suffer; they want a
better future for themselves and their children; they want to live in peace
with their neighbours, and to be reassured that they will no longer fall victim
to violence and oppression.
The road to peace may be long and painful, but it is
achievable. It starts with acknowledgment - acknowledgement of people’s
existence, their identity, their suffering, and their human rights. It must be
accompanied by remedies – action to restore to the extent possible, to
compensate, and to bring justice. Both are necessary to prevent further
violations.
We invite the Government of Myanmar to start listening to
all people in the country, and work with them to address and rectify the abuse
and injustice they have experienced. Impunity will only serve to erode people’s
trust in the authorities and their capacity to ensure a secure and equitable
society in which they can prosper. We call on the Myanmar Government and
military to heed the Government’s promise and not condone impunity for serious
human rights violations and abuses, no matter how senior those who are
responsible. The available information is overwhelming.
I reiterate our invitation to the Myanmar authorities to
engage with the Fact-Finding Mission in establishing the facts, which must be
the basis of any viable solution. We took good note of the remarks of the
representative of Myanmar alluding to the perceived suppression of the Myanmar
narrative of events, and we take this occasion to respond: the Fact-Finding
Mission is more than ready to hear the Myanmar narrative and to receive any
substantiating information that the Government wishes to share. If it does not
avail itself of this opportunity, the Fact-Finding Mission can only draw its
own conclusions.
Looking to the future, when our work is finished, the
Council will have a decision to take. What will be done with our findings?
Although we have not as yet developed a firm view about its precise nature, we
join the voices that call for the establishment of a follow-up mechanism that
will ensure accountability. This is the cornerstone of a peaceful and just
society for all the people of Myanmar, who deserve nothing less.
Mr.Marzuki Darusman on 08-12-2017 in HRC-Genevahttps://youtu.be/GsPlOO28Jgs