Crimes committed against Rohingyas in Bangladesh should also be taken into cognizance, say lawyers for 86 victims in a 32-page submission to the ICC
A total 86 Rohingya victims of the Tula Toli massacre
carried out by Myanmar military at the end of August, 2017, have asked judges
of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to allow Fatou Bensouda, the ICC
prosecutor, to launch an investigation into the atrocities against them.
The Tula Toli massacre was a mass-killing of
Rohingya people that occurred during a Myanmar army clearance operation in the
village of Tula Toli (also known as Min Gyi) in Maungdaw township of Rakhine
state, near the Bangladesh–Myanmar border. According to eyewitnesses, Myanmar
soldiers carried out the massacre with the support of Rakhine locals, killing
at least 200 women and 300 children.
On July 4, the ICC prosecutor requested
authorization from a pre-trial court comprising three judges, to initiate an
investigation into crimes against the civilian Rohingya population in Myanmar
since at least October 9, 2016.
Accounts of rape, burning children &
murder
How a #Rohingya massacre unfolded at
#TulaToli http://cnn.it/2htD3s3
In accordance with the ICC's legal framework,
the victims of the crimes committed against the Rohingya population in Myanmar
have the right to submit their views, concerns and expectations, to the judges,
who are considering the prosecutor's request.
Of the 86 Tula Toli victims, 45 are women, 32
are men, and 9 are children (6 girls and 3 boys).
“The scope of the investigation must
encompass all potential perpetrators. The Tatmadaw must be the primary focus,
but others facilitating their crimes must also be subject to scrutiny. So too
must officials of Bangladesh, and the agencies supporting them, whose conduct
increasingly resembles ill-treatment designed to effect unsafe repatriation,”
said the document obtained by Dhaka Tribune.
“The Court should seek to deter these
potential crimes by confirming that they are within the scope of the investigation,”
it said.
Gravity is assessed by reference not only to
qualitative and quantitative aspects of the acts and their impacts, but also
the level of responsibility of likely suspects. Evidence collected by the
United Nations fact-finding mission suggests that responsibility rests at the
highest levels of the Myanmar military. The crimes were qualitatively and
quantitatively horrific. Rohingyas were killed, subjected to extreme physical
and sexual violence, and arbitrarily detained based on their ethnicity.
Hundreds of thousands were severely harmed, communities were destroyed, and
thousands remain in Bangladesh on Tuesday.
History has shown that the cycle of
persecution and atrocities against the Rohingyas in Myanmar will not end
without accountability. The Tula Toli victims strongly support the opening of
an investigation, even if cooperation challenges cause significant delays in
the issue of warrants and/or arrest of suspects. An investigation is important
because it creates the possibility of accountability; if there is no ICC
investigation, individual criminal responsibility will remain impossible.
Similarly, the issue of arrest warrants is of
value even if arrests are delayed or never occur, because it provides
recognition that there are “reasonable grounds to believe” that an individual
has committed a crime within the court’s jurisdiction.
The interests of justice require the scope of
the investigation to be broad. The Tula Toli victims emphasise that while
criminal accountability is vital, it is not the only form of “justice”. Justice
also entails acknowledgment of the extent of the crimes, and proactive
deterrence of future ones, so as to ensure that the victims can live now and
into the future in safe and humane conditions, free from persecution.
The submission of the victims also mentioned
restrictions Rohingyas are facing in the camps in Bangladesh, including on
freedom of movement. Deprivation of education and other rights, lack of access
to telecommunication, and relocation to Bhasan Char were also mentioned.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
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conducive conditions in Rakhine: https://mirsdq.blogspot.com/2019/10/rohingya-issue-by-nam.html
Letter From America: The peculiar case of
Japan vis-à-vis the Rohingya tragedy https://mirsdq.blogspot.com/2019/10/tragedy.html
Rights body throws doubt on Dhaka’s plan to
relocate Rohingya to Remote Island https://mirsdq.blogspot.com/2019/10/rights-body.html
Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi scolds world for
lacking focus on Rakhine 'terrorists' https://str.sg/JUho
French film exposes “Roots of Crimes” against
Myanmar’s Rohingya: https://mirsdq.blogspot.com/2019/10/roots-of-rohingya-genocide.html
Bangladesh to move Rohingya to flood-prone
island next month: https://mirsdq.blogspot.com/2019/10/bangladesh-to-move-rohingya-to-flood.html
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Don’t forget to reach here: https://t.co/yY28vR35fZ to know about
inhumane of Myanmar against Rohingya.
@mir_sidiquee is a Human Rights Activist, DG
of R4R (Rohingya Human Rights Initiative) and researcher of Rohingya Crisis