Genocide in Rakhine State
Rohingya Crisis Could destabilise the Entire
Region – says United Nations Secretary General
Dr. Mozammel Haque
Rohingya crisis could
destabilise the entire region – says United Nations Secretary General on the
basis of the reports, information received from the different agencies of the
United Nations. Though the situation in Myanmar and the condition of the
Rohingyas deserve to be taken attention but the UN Security Council has failed
to speak out. It is reported that two human rights groups are accusing the UN
Security Council of ignoring the “ethnic cleansing” taking place on a large
scale against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty
International representatives said at a joint press conference at UN
headquarters that the UN’s most powerful body has failed to speak out and
immediately demand an end to the violence. About 370,000 Rohingyas have fled to
Bangladesh since Aug. 25 and thousands are arriving every day. Louis
Charbonneau, the UN director for Human Rights Watch, said, “This is an
international peace and security crisis” and there is no excuse for the
Security Council “sitting on its hands.”
The United Nations Secretary
General, António Guterres, said the government clearance operations in
Rakhine “risked” ethnic cleansing. A Change.org petition to revoke Aung
San Suu Kyi’s Nobel peace prize had reached 390,000 signatures by Friday.
Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing
The
attacks on Rohingya villages on 25 August, 2017 appear to many to have been a
systematic effort to drive them out. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has
described it as ethnic cleansing. The UN human rights chief has described the
systematic attacks against the Rohingya minority by the security forces of
Myanmar as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.” Amnesty International
regional Director James Gomez accused Suu Kyi of “a mix of untruths and
victim-blaming.” “There is overwhelming evidence that security forces are
engaged in a campaign of ethnic cleansing,” Gomez said. The top UN human rights official, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, said.
"The situation seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing."
Heads
of States of different countries also said there is genocide in Rakhine state.
French President Emmanuel Macron said attacks on Myanmar’s Rohingya minority
amounted to “genocide.” Macron said in an interview with the French TV channel
TMC. Macron’s use of the word “genocide” marks his strongest verbal attack yet
on the military drive against the Rohingya. France will work with other members
of the UN Security Council for a condemnation of “this genocide which is
unfolding, this ethnic cleansing,” The Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
said in a statement: “You watched the situation that Myanmar and Muslims are
in. You saw how villages have been burned … Humanity remained silent to the
massacre in Myanmar.” Turkish President Erdoğan has accused Myanmar of
“genocide” against the Rohingya Muslim minority, who have fled in the tens of
thousands across the border into Bangladesh to escape ethnic cleansing. There
is a genocide there,” Erdoğan said in a speech in Istanbul during the Islamic
Eid al-Adha feast. “Those who close their eyes to this genocide perpetuated
under the cover of democracy are its collaborators.”
His Holiness Pope Francis said
that he is following the “sad news of the religious persecution of Rohingya
community… he asked that the members of the ethnic group be given full rights.”
Bangladesh's Foreign Minister
said “genocide" is being waged in the country's violence-hit Rakhine
state. "The international community is saying it is genocide. We also say
it is a genocide," AH Mahmood Ali told reporters. “The international
community is saying it is a genocide. We also say it is a genocide," AH
Mahmood Ali told reporters.
UN Secretary General
The
UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, is pushing hard for concerted action
and warns of the risk of ethnic cleansing (several Nobel peace prize laureates
say that point) has already been reached. But Myanmar has said openly that it
is working with China and Russia to prevent a Security Council rebuke. The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, warned that the
violence in the country verged on ethnic cleansing and could destabilise the
wider region.
United Nations Report
United
Nations Report released this year detailed what happened to those that stayed. The report described mass killings and gang
rapes by the armed forces in actions that “very likely” amounted to crimes
against humanity. A security crackdown launched last October in Maungdaw led to
the U.N. report on human rights violations by security forces that indicated
crimes against humanity. Al-Jazeera reported, “The U.N. documented mass
gang-rape, killings -- including infants and young children -- brutal beatings,
and disappearances. Rohingya representatives have said approximately 400 people
have been slain during the crackdown.”
While writing petitions to stop
the genocide by Hussein Mohamed and Najma Maxamed of London UK, said, “Upon the
documentations of the crime against humanity being conducted in Myanmar by the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in a
‘flash report’ which was released on 3 February 2017, no serious action
seems to have been taken to end this genocide since then. This is
regardless of the fact that another recent report made on the 30th August 2017
seems to have found that indeed the violence being shown towards the Rohingya
population in Rakhine State throughout this protracted crackdown could “very
likely” amount to crimes against humanity.”
“According
to OHCHR more than half of the women its human rights team interviewed reported
having suffered rape or other forms of sexual violence. Many other interviewees
reported witnessing killings, including of family members and having family who
were missing.”
United Nations Human Rights
The top UN human rights
official has urged Myanmar to end "brutal security operation"
against Rohingyas in Rakhine state, calling it "a textbook
example of ethnic cleansing". Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, addressing the United
Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva said, "I call on the government to
end its current cruel military operation, with accountability for all
violations that have occurred, and to reverse the pattern of severe and
widespread discrimination against the Rohingya population." Zeid also said.
"The situation seems a textbook example of ethnic cleansing."
UNHCR
“A spokeswoman for the UN high
commissioner for refugees, Vivian Tan, told Agence France-Presse, “The numbers
are so alarming. It really means we have to step up our response and that the
situation in Myanmar has to be addressed urgently.”
It
is clear by now that there have been serious human rights laws both local and
international that have been violated by the Myanmar government through its
security forces. It is also clear that these violations which have resulted in
approximately more than tens of thousands of people murdered from a specific
community alongside the displacement of even more people certainly amounts to
genocide as opposed to just being termed as being “very likely” to amount to
crimes against humanity.
OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation)
The
world’s largest Muslim body, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC),
condemns abuses of Rohingya in Myanmar. It was urging
Myanmar to allow in UN monitors so they can investigate what it alleges is
systematic brutality against the Rohingya ethnic minority. “The Organization of
Islamic Cooperation issued its statement Tuesday after an emergency meeting on
the sidelines of a technology conference in Astana, Kazakhstan.”
Heads of States
Besides the United Nations and
its different organs and agencies, the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation
(OIC) and the heads of states of different countries such as the United States,
France, Iran and Saudi Arabia, were concerned and wanted the United Nations to
take immediate action.
United States of America
US
President Donald Trump wants the United Nations Security Council to take
“strong and swift action” to end the violence, Vice President Mike Pence said.
Diplomats say the Security Council could consider adopting a formal statement
if the situation does not improve, but China and Russia are unlikely to agree
to stronger action that would require the adoption of a resolution they could
veto, it is reported in Arab News.
The
US has dispatched an envoy to Myanmar to express its “grave concern” with the violence
in Rakhine. Patrick Murphy, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Southeast Asia, will
meet with government leaders and travel to the state capital of Rakhine but not
the conflict zone further north, the official said.
France
French
President Emmanuel Macron said
attacks on Myanmar’s Rohingya minority amounted to “genocide.” France will work
with other members of the UN Security Council for a condemnation of “this
genocide which is unfolding, this ethnic cleansing,” Macron said in an
interview with the French TV channel TMC. Macron’s use of the word “genocide”
marks his strongest verbal attack yet on the military drive against the
Rohingya. “We must condemn the ethnic purification which is under way and act,”
Macron said. “Asking for the violence to end, asking for humanitarian access...
progressively enables an escalation” under UN auspices, Macron said. “When the
UN issues a condemnation, there are consequences which can provide a framework
for intervention under the UN,” Macron said.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi
Arabia said the issue of the Muslim minority in Myanmar is a top concern for
the Kingdom and calls on the international community to intensify its efforts
to stop the apparently systematic ethnic cleaning campaign against the Rohingya
Muslims.
It also stressed the need to intervene to find a humanitarian solution to
protect the Rohingya minority from acts of violence and collective punishment
they experience.
This came in the Kingdom’s speech before the 36th Session of the UN Human
Rights Council (UNHRC) during the interactive dialogue with the independent
internationally mandated fact-finding mission on Myanmar.
The Kingdom’s speech was delivered by
Saudi Ambassador at the UN in Geneva Abdul Aziz bin Mohammed Al-Wasel. Al-Wasel
strongly condemned the recent violence against the Rohingya Muslim minority. He
stressed the Kingdom’s position that the UNHRC should address these violations
and alleviate the suffering of the Rohingya Muslims and compel Myanmar to
respect its international obligations to promote and protect human rights
without discrimination based on race, sex or religion. “Myanmar is asked to
cooperate fully with the fact-finding mission to look at human rights
violations there and to promote tolerance and peaceful coexistence in all
sectors of the state,” Al-Wasel said.
Iran
Iran’s Supreme Leader has
strongly condemned the killing of Muslims in Myanmar by the government. It is
reported in Arab News, “Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the killing of
Rohingya Muslims is a political disaster for Myanmar because it is being
carried out by a government led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi,
whom he called a “brutal woman.” He urged Muslim countries to take practical
steps to stop the violence and said they should “increase political, economic and
commercial pressures on the government of Myanmar.”
Human
Rights Groups
The Human Rights Groups are
very much critical of the Myanmar’s brutalities on Rohingyas. “The government
has to stop this offensive,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director for
Human Rights Watch. “It has to allow humanitarian assistance and let
journalists into this area. We have to actually see what’s happened because
quite clearly human rights violations have taken place.”
An
Amnesty International report this month, based on extensive
interviews with Rohingya as well as analysis of satellite imagery, claimed that
actions by Myanmar’s military may constitute crimes against humanity.
Nobel Prize Laureate
More
than a dozen fellow Nobel laureates have criticised Aung San Suu Kyi,
Myanmar’s de facto leader, for a bloody military crackdown on minority Rohingya
people, warning of a tragedy “amounting to ethnic cleansing and crimes against
humanity”. It is reported in The Guardian,
“The open letter to the UN Security Council from a group of 23 activists,
including Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Malala Yousafzai, warned that the army
offensive had killed of hundreds of people, including children, and left women
raped, houses burned and many civilians arbitrarily arrested. It was delivered
as Bangladesh announced around 50,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled the
violence across its border.”
“Access
for humanitarian aid organisations has been almost completely denied, creating
an appalling humanitarian crisis in an area already extremely poor,” reads the
letter, whose signatories include current and former political and business
leaders and campaigners such as Yousafzai, the youngest winner of the
Nobel Peace Prize. “Some international experts have warned of the potential for
genocide. It has all the hallmarks of recent past tragedies – Rwanda, Darfur,
Bosnia, Kosovo,” the letter reads. “If we fail to take action, people may
starve to death if they are not killed with bullets.”
But
the signatories to the letter said the army’s response had been “grossly
disproportionate”. “It would be one thing to round up suspects, interrogate
them and put them on trial,” the letter said. “It is quite another to unleash
helicopter gunships on thousands of ordinary civilians and to rape women and
throw babies into a fire.”
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
The Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu
joined the growing list of voices calling on Aung San Suu Kyi to do more to
protect Myanmar’s persecuted Muslim minority. He issued heartfelt letter to
fellow peace prize winner calling for her to speak up for Rohingya in Myanmar.
He has called on Aung San Suu Kyi to end military-led operations against
Myanmar’s Rohingya minority. It is reported in The Guardian, “The
85-year old archbishop said the “unfolding horror” and “ethnic cleansing” in
the country’s Rahkine region had forced him to speak out against the woman he
admired and considered “a dearly beloved sister”. “I am now elderly,
decrepit and formally retired, but breaking my vow to remain silent on public
affairs out of profound sadness,” he wrote in a letter posted on social media.
“For years I had a photograph of you on my desk to remind me of the injustice
and sacrifice you endured out of your love and commitment for Myanmar’s people.
You symbolised righteousness.”
“Your emergence into public
life allayed our concerns about violence being perpetrated against members of
the Rohingya. But what some have called ‘ethnic cleansing’ and others ‘a slow
genocide’ has persisted – and recently accelerated. “It is incongruous for a symbol
of righteousness to lead such a country,” said the anti-apartheid activist. “If
the political price of your ascension to the highest office in Myanmar is your
silence, the price is surely too steep,” reported by Naaman Zhou and Michael
Safi in The Guardian.
Tutu used his open letter to
urge Aung San Suu Kyi to “As we witness the unfolding horror we pray for you to
be courageous and resilient again,” he said. “We pray for you to speak out for
justice, human rights and the unity of your people. We pray for you to
intervene in the escalating crisis and guide your people back towards the path
of righteousness again.
Malala
“Every time I see the news, my
heart breaks at the suffering of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar,” Yousafzai,
who survived being shot in the head by the Taliban, said on Twitter. “Over the
last several years I have repeatedly condemned this tragic and shameful
treatment. I am still waiting for my fellow Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to
do the same.” The Malaysian foreign minister, Anifah Aman, said: “Very frankly,
I am dissatisfied with Aung San Suu Kyi,” he told Agence France-Presse. “She
stood up for the principles of human rights. Now it seems she is doing
nothing.”
Peaceful protest and demonstration
Besides
the reaction of the UN agencies, Human Rights groups and the Presidents of USA,
France, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey against the Myanmar’s brutalities towards
the Rohingya Muslims; there were peaceful demonstrations, protests and
petitions in different countries.
In
Oxford, Oxford Information Centre organized a peaceful demonstration in support
of Myanmar Rohingya people. Sheikh Ramzy said: "We calling on our
government to save the Burma's Rohingya community from further persecution,
ethnic cleansing and genocide, and exodus. UN described Rohingya Muslim as the
most 'persecuted minority on earth', Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim community have
been victims of mass murder - including of women and children - rape and
torcher. Burma's de facto political leader, the Nobel laureate Aung Sun Suu
Kyi, who herself was feted in our Parliament for upholding human rights, now
dehumanizes the community by denying them their right to be citizens of their
own land.
In South Asia, Massive protests are reported in many countries, Bangladesh,
Pakistan, India among others against the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in
Myanmar (September 2017). There were protesters in Kolkata, India, burning an
image of Aung San Suu Kyi. This time around violence seems to have been
triggered due to the attack by militants (Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) on
police and military posts. United Nations has said that the extent of violence
indicates that it is crime against humanity.
Tens of thousands of people
rallied in the capital of Russia’s mainly Muslim republic of Chechnya in support of the Rohingya. The
Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, told the crowd in Grozny that the world was
watching in silence while the Rohinghya were “torn to pieces, burnt on fires
and drowned”.
UN Aid Agencies
In spite of all these protests,
petitions and reactions to the Myanmar’s brutalities towards Rohingya Muslims,
Myanmar government has not stopped its ethnic cleansing. Rather Myanmar has
blocked all United Nations aid agencies from delivering vital
supplies of food, water and medicine to thousands of desperate civilians at the
centre of a bloody military campaign against the country’s Muslim Rohingya
minority, the Guardian has learned.
The office of the UN resident coordinator in Myanmar said deliveries
had been suspended “because the security situation and government field-visit
restrictions rendered us unable to distribute assistance”. “The UN is in close
contact with authorities to ensure that humanitarian operations can resume as
soon as possible,” the office said.
It is also reported, “The UN
World Food Programme said it also had to suspend distributions to other
parts of the state, leaving 250,000 people without regular access to food.
Sixteen major non-governmental organisations including Oxfam and Save the
Children have also complained that the government has restricted access to
the conflict area. Humanitarian organisations are “deeply concerned about the
fate of thousands of people affected by the ongoing violence” in northern
Rakhine, said Pierre Peron, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs in Myanmar.”
Humanitarian Aid.
However,
on the other hand, Muslim countries have taken decision to send humanitarian
aid to the worst affected Rohingyas in Rakhine state. Saudi Arabia’s King
Salman has ordered the payment of $15 million aid for the Rohingya refugees
fleeing from Myanmar as a result of genocide and torture. The announcement came
in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) following a meeting of the Saudi
Cabinet, which was briefed by Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabiah, general
supervisor of Riyadh-based King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Aid
on the situation in Myanmar with the Muslim minority Rohingya refugees that
have been forced to flee.
Indonesia has despatched from
Jakarta two Hercules aircraft carrying
humanitarian aid for the Rohingya community in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. “The
two planes carry tents, water tanks, blankets, family kits, five tons of
instant food and nearly a ton of medicines,” said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a
spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency. The aid will be handed
to Myanmar’s government in Yangon for distribution. Nugroho said Indonesia
previously sent eight sortie missions to help the relief effort in Bangladesh.
Former Indonesian Foreign
Minister Marty Natalegawa told Arab News: “The developments in Myanmar,
the plight of the Rohingya, have moved the conscience of nations and people
throughout the world.” The crisis constitutes a litmus test for the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to present itself as part of the solution,
said Natalegawa, who dealt with the issue during his 2009-2014 tenure, and
visited Rakhine in 2013.
Turkey has called upon the
Bangladesh government to open its doors to Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in
Myanmar’s western Rakhine state. In terms of humanitarian aid in the world,
Turkey ranks 2nd after the United States with $6 billion and $6.3 billion respectively, Cavusoglu
added. Dr. Altay Atli, a research associate
specializing on the Asia-Pacific region at Sabanci University's Istanbul Policy
Center, said, Turkey’s leading role in the Rohingya issue has two components:
Humanitarian aid, including an open check offered to Bangladesh to cover the
costs of the refugees, and diplomatic initiatives, such as taking the issue to
the UN and mobilizing the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). “These two
components, implemented together, can be effective,” he said.
Britain’s International
Development Secretary, Priti Patel in a statement released on 8 September said,
“The appalling violence in Rakhine must stop now. Britain urgently calls upon
the security forces to de-escalate the situation in Rakhine and the Government
of Burma to allow immediate and full humanitarian access and support for the
people and communities affected.”
Britain is immediately
releasing a further £5 million from existing funds to provide additional
critical life-saving assistance such as food, shelter, water and sanitation to
those who are fleeing the violence. In addition, Britain is ready to support
the recommendations of the Kofi Annan led Rakhine Advisory Commission to assist
the long-term development of all people in Rakhine state, but right now the
immediate action is for the security forces to end the violence and the
Government of Burma to allow humanitarian access.
Conclusion
The
Rohingyas are a minority of about a million people who, despite living in the
country for generations, are treated as illegal immigrants and denied
citizenship. They have been persecuted for years by the government and
nationalist Buddhists.
Fact Finding
Mission
Under the present
circumstances, four immediate actions should be taken before the Myanmar
government became completely successful in ethnic cleansing of the Rohingyas.
Firstly, there is a repeated demand for a UN-mandated fact-finding mission
established this year. The Myanmar
government is also asked to allow the fact-finding mission to visit affected
areas to carry out its assigned role.
Impose sanctions
Secondly, sanctions should be
imposed immediately on Myanmar’s military. Pressure also grew on Myanmar as
rights group urged world leaders to impose sanctions on its military.
Humanitarian aid
Thirdly, Humanitarian aid
should be allowed to enter and reach the worst affected Rohingyas immediately.
Return of Refugees
to Rakhine
Fourthly, Return of Rohingya
refugees plan should be made immediately. Repatriation of the refugees who went
to Bangladesh and other neighbouring countries to their home in Rakhine state.
