Genocide
Websites/Multiple Documents
Description:
"Genocide is intentional action to destroy a people (usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group) in whole or in part. The hybrid word "genocide" is a combination of the Greek word génos ("race, people") and the Latin suffix -cide ("act of killing"). The United Nations Genocide Convention, which was established in 1948, defines genocide as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group".
The term genocide was coined by Raphael Lemkin in his 1944 book Axis Rule in Occupied Europe; it has been applied to the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide and many other mass killings including the genocide of indigenous peoples in the Americas, the Greek genocide, the Indonesian killings of 1965-66, the Assyrian genocide, the Serbian genocide, the Holodomor, the 1971 Bangladesh genocide, the Cambodian genocide, the Guatemalan genocide, and, more recently, the Bosnian genocide, the Kurdish genocide, and the Rwandan genocide.
According to one estimate, from 1956 to 2016, a total of forty-three genocides have taken place which caused the death of about 50 million people, while an additional 50 million were resettled or displaced by such conflicts..."
Source/publisher:
Wikipedia
Date of entry/update:
2017-10-18
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Genocide
Language:
English
more
Description:
"The Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect supports two Special Advisers who report directly to the United Nations Secretary-General:
The Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, who acts as a catalyst to raise awareness of the causes and dynamics of genocide, to alert relevant actors where there is a risk of genocide, and to advocate and mobilize for appropriate action.
The Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect, who leads the conceptual, political, institutional and operational development of the Responsibility to Protect.
The mandates of the two Special Advisers are distinct but complementary. In order to maximise efficiency and resources, the Secretary-General decided to institutionalize the collaboration between the Special Advisers through the establishment of a joint office. As far as possible, the two Advisers share a common methodology for early warning, assessment, convening, learning, and advocacy, as well as a common office and staff based in New York.
They work together to advance national and international efforts to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity (atrocity crimes), as well as their incitement. In support of their mandates, the Office collects information, conducts assessments of situations worldwide and alerts the Secretary-General and relevant actors to the risk of atrocity crimes, as well as their incitement. The Office also undertakes training and technical assistance to promote greater understanding of the causes and dynamics of atrocity crimes and of the measures that could be taken to prevent them; to raise awareness among States and other actors about their responsibility to protect; and to enhance the capacity of the United Nations, Member States, regional and sub-regional organisations and civil society to prevent atrocity crimes and to develop more effective means of response when they occur..."
Source/publisher:
Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect
Date of entry/update:
2018-03-15
Grouping:
Websites/Multiple Documents
Category:
Genocide
more
Individual Documents
Sub-title:
Filing, made two weeks before military staged a coup and detained the country’s civilian leaders, is likely to delay proceedings by at least a year.
Description:
"Myanmar is being accused of attempting to delay court proceedings after it emerged the country last month filed preliminary objections to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over genocide charges for its treatment of the mostly Muslim Rohingya.
The case was brought by The Gambia in 2019 after a brutal military crackdown in the western state of Rakhine in 2017 forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee across the border to neighbouring Bangladesh. “On 20 January 2021, the Republic of the Union of Myanmar filed preliminary objections to the jurisdiction of the Court and the admissibility of the Application,” the ICJ said in a filing signed by Court President Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf and dated January 28.
The filing did not elaborate on the nature of the objections, but legal experts say they are likely to include whether the court has jurisdiction to hear the case and whether The Gambia has the appropriate standing to bring the suit.
Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s former civilian leader raised similar issues during preliminary hearings in December 2019 when she travelled to The Hague to defend her country’s treatment of a minority group that has been described as among the world’s most persecuted.
The Gambia has until May 20 to respond and the court will then consider the points raised.
“These objections will fail and are nothing more than delaying tactics,” Mark Farmaner, the director of the Burma Campaign UK wrote on Twitter, urging the British government to intervene..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2021-02-04
Date of entry/update:
2021-02-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar
Language:
more
Description:
"When the Myanmar Army attacked and massacred ethnic Rohingya civilians in 2017, more than 700,000 men, women, and children fled to Bangladesh, some riddled with bullets, burns, and gaping wounds. Hundreds of villages were in ashes, razed by soldiers and their civilian proxies.
But long after the physical wounds scarred over, Rohingya continue to suffer mental harm on a massive scale. President-elect Biden can and should do something about it.
There are upwards of one million Rohingya refugees now languishing in Bangladesh. They are experiencing trauma, depression, and anxiety at staggering rates. The World Health Organization estimates that approximately 15 to 20 percent of adults will experience some type of moderate or mild mental health disorder one year after an emergency, and in theory, those figures should decrease over time. By contrast, a new report published by Fortify Rights finds that 89 percent of Rohingya refugees in sprawling camps in Bangladesh are experiencing serious depression. Eighty-four percent are experiencing severe emotional distress. And a staggering 62 percent are experiencing symptoms equivalent to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder—a debilitating condition that can prevent its victims from leading normal and constructive lives. What drives these extreme levels of distress?
Ongoing genocide in Myanmar is partly to blame, but the new quantitative data reveals that long-term systematic human rights violations in Myanmar and ongoing impunity are also key factors that continue to impact Rohingya mental health..."
Source/publisher:
"Time"
Date of publication:
2020-01-06
Date of entry/update:
2021-01-07
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, Atrocities against Groups - documents, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Mental health
Language:
more
Description:
"The lawyers prosecuting Myanmar for the alleged genocide against the Rohingya are once again breaking new legal ground. The International Court of Justice action by the Gambia was unprecedented, and long overdue, when initiated last year. But the received wisdom is that genocide accountability is particularly difficult because the plaintiff has to prove genocidal intent. And proving intent is taken to be one of the hardest standards to clear in legal proceedings.
But in a logical, if unprecedented, move, the Gambian legal team, led by the formidable Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou, have asked a US court to force Facebook to hand over the data they have relating to the leading Myanmar army officials who ordered the “clearance operations” against the Rohingya, chief among them Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the commander-in-chief of Myanmar’s armed forces.
If there is anywhere the prosecution might find records of the thinking that went into the actions by the Myanmar military before and during the operations against the Rohingya, Facebook is going to be the place. In 2017, I wrote about the ways in which Facebook was the principal medium through which anti-Rohingya hatred and propaganda was being stoked up for years, leading to the “clearing operations.” And, while at that time I was referring mainly to the crazed rants of extremist nationalists and Buddhist fundamentalists from Myanmar’s civil society, many senior officials, including the military leadership of the country, also weighed in on the issue on Facebook.
Without wanting to pre-judge the proceedings, those statements by leading government and military officials were never to condemn the worst excesses of hate-baiting against the Rohingya, but instead had the general intent and purpose of moderating and rationalizing antagonism toward the minority group. On those grounds alone, it may be possible to make inferences about intent. But perhaps a bigger prize is possible: It would be of genuine public interest to see what the communications between leading military officials looked like at the time, and to what extent their hostility to the Rohingya might have been expressed in genocidal language in private..."
Source/publisher:
"Arab News" (Saudi Arabia)
Date of publication:
2020-06-16
Date of entry/update:
2020-06-17
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Human rights lawyers: Facebook posts of officials 'may constitute evidence of genocidal intent' against Muslim minority.
Description:
"Lawyers bringing a case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Myanmar of genocide against its Rohingya Muslim minority have asked a United States district court to order Facebook to release posts and communications from the country's military and police.
The ICJ, based in the Hague, has agreed to hear a case accusing Myanmar of genocide against the Rohingya in violation of a 1948 convention.
More:
UN's Guterres asks Bangladesh to move Rohingya to refugee camps
First coronavirus case found in Bangladesh Rohingya refugee camps
Bangladesh quarantines hundreds of Rohingya rescued from sea
The ICJ, a United Nations court commonly known as the World Court, accepts cases between states, and the case against Myanmar was brought by the Gambia with the backing of a group of Muslim countries.
Hundreds of thousands of Muslims have fled a crackdown in mainly Buddhist Myanmar, which considers members of its Rohingya minority to be foreigners. Rights groups have documented killings of civilians and burning of villages. Myanmar authorities say they have been battling an insurgency and deny carrying out systematic atrocities.
In 2018 UN human rights investigators said that Facebook had played a key role in spreading hate speech that fuelled violence in Myanmar. Facebook has said it is working to block hate speech.
A request, filed on behalf of the Gambia on June 8 with the US District Court for the District of Columbia, calls on Facebook to release "all documents and communications produced, drafted, posted or published on the Facebook page" of Myanmar military officials and police forces..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2020-06-11
Date of entry/update:
2020-06-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide
Language:
more
Description:
"Myanmar has sidelined an international court order to improve conditions for its long-embattled Rohingya minority, despite fears that the Southeast Asian government is trying to commit genocide against the group, observers say.
The U.N.’s International Court of Justice in January ordered Myanmar to "take all measures within its power" to prevent any acts of genocide against ethnic Rohingya Muslims, who fled the country amid a bloody military crackdown in 2017. The ICJ ordered Myanmar to submit a report within four months on what actions it is taking to comply with the court's decision, and to submit follow-up reports every six months after that.
The court last month accepted the first of the required reports, but its contents have not been released.
Nevertheless, observers contacted say there has been little change.
“The situation to me seems like it’s more of the same,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, political science professor at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. “There has not been any major deterioration, but also no major new measures.”
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted Myanmar to control people’s movement in Rakhine state in western Myanmar where about 400,000 Rohingya live, Thitinan said. Legislative elections set for November will embolden the government to stiffen its stance toward the Rohingya, he added. Voters of other groups see the Muslim minority as uninvited people allowed in during British colonial rule over Myanmar. “The Rohingya is a very paradoxical issue,” Thitinan said. “To the outside world, there’s a lot of sympathy and outcry. Within Myanmar, it’s the opposite.”
The Rohingya crisis has tarnished the international reputation of Myanmar’s de facto head of state, former opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Myanmar has targeted the Rohingya in a “systematic” way, a court news release said. “Genocidal acts” including mass murder, rape and setting fires were intended to wipe out the group, the release said. It pointed to an increase in those acts starting from August 2017..."
Source/publisher:
"VOA" (Washington, D.C)
Date of publication:
2020-06-06
Date of entry/update:
2020-06-07
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide
Language:
more
Description:
"An Argentine court has moved one step closer to opening a historic investigation against Myanmar's military and civilian leadership over genocide against the Rohingya people, the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) said today.
The court in Buenos Aires on Friday overturned a previous decision not to pursue a case against State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and senior officers in the Myanmar military. Instead, it has requested more information from the International Criminal Court (ICC) to ensure that a case in Argentina would not duplicate other justice efforts, BROUK said in a statement. The Argentine court's progress comes in addition to the ICC investigation and the Gambia's case filed in November, 2019 against Myanmar for violating the Genocide Convention with the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
On November 13, last year, BROUK filed a petition with the Argentinian court to open an investigation into the role of Myanmar's civilian and military leaders in committing genocide and crimes against humanity against the Rohingyas. Under the principle of universal jurisdiction, such crimes can be investigated anywhere in the world regardless of where they were committed.
"For decades, Myanmar authorities have tried to wipe the Rohingya out as a people. Today, the Argentinean judiciary has sent a clear signal that it is taking seriously the pursuit of justice for some of the worst crimes of our time, and we are grateful for this display of leadership and respect for international law," said Tun Khin, President of BROUK. "Today's ruling brings us closer to what victims most want to see -- that the architects of the genocide against the Rohingya face a court of law. We are convinced that a universal jurisdiction case in Argentina will only complement and strengthen other international justice efforts, not undermine them," he said..."
Source/publisher:
"The Daily Star" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication:
2020-06-02
Date of entry/update:
2020-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Topic:
Civil War, International Court Of Justice (ICJ), Rohingya
Topic:
Civil War, International Court Of Justice (ICJ), Rohingya
Description:
"Myanmar recently sent its first report to the International Criminal Court on the steps it’s taking to protect the Rohingya. The report isn’t public, but Rohingya activists and rights advocates say ongoing violence and human rights abuses show Myanmar hasn’t complied with the court’s orders.
Editorial
Rights advocates and ethnic Rohingya activists say Myanmar is failing to comply with orders from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to take steps to protect the Muslim minority from ongoing genocide.
On May 23, Myanmar submitted its first report to the ICJ outlining how the government and military are complying with the court’s orders to prevent genocide and preserve evidence. The court issued the orders in January after the first hearings in the case brought by The Gambia charging Myanmar with genocide, as the case could take years to resolve.
Though the report is not yet public, ALTSEAN Burma (the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma) and other groups claim Myanmar has done little to end violence against ethnic minorities, prevent discrimination or stop hate speech and violence.
Following the ICJ hearing, there have been at least five cases in which Rohingya civilians were killed by the Myanmar military or in fighting between the military and ethnic armed group the Arakan Army (AA).
In an op-ed in Frontier Myanmar, three Rohingya youth leaders—Zahidullah, Shohid and Abdullah Zubair—say Myanmar hasn’t changed its course since the ICJ hearing in January.
“If we had an opportunity to respond to Myanmar’s report, the following is what we would say.
In the four months since the ICJ issued the provisional measures ruling, our lives in Bangladesh and Myanmar have become worse,” the three wrote. They say that Rohingya groups have documented at least 54 cases of rights abuses against Rohingya in Rakhine between January and May..."
Source/publisher:
"ASEAN Today" (Singapore)
Date of publication:
2020-05-30
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-30
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Expectations about international justice are unrealistically high among Rohingya in the camps in Bangladesh, and the case before the ICJ is likely to end in disappointment.
Description:
"On May 23, Myanmar had to submit its first report to the International Court of Justice in The Hague about the measures it has taken to prevent the genocide of the Rohingya people. The report was not made public so we can only guess what Myanmar is telling the court about the situation in Rakhine State.
There have been many times during the past three years when discussions about the Rohingya have taken place in other countries without our involvement. If we had an opportunity to respond to Myanmar’s report, the following is what we would say.
In the four months since the ICJ issued the provisional measures ruling, our lives in Bangladesh and Myanmar have become worse. There is no justice for us in the camps, where we have no education, no livelihoods, no movement, no internet and no hope for the future.
There is no justice for the Rohingya who are forced to flee on boats and are abused and extorted by people smugglers.
Support independent journalism in Myanmar. Sign up to be a Frontier member.
There is no justice for the hundreds of young men who are forced to join criminal gangs in the camps, or the women and girls who are harassed and abused by gang leaders. There is no justice for our brothers and sisters in Rakhine who are caught in the middle of a war that is not their own.
Rohingya civil society groups that help refugees have been documenting abuses in Rakhine since the ICJ handed down its ruling in January. Between January and May they have recorded 54 cases of human rights abuses against Rohingya, including deaths and injuries by landmines and shelling. Because the internet has been blocked on both sides of the border, we think the number of cases is likely much higher..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2020-05-28
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-30
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Description:
"Myanmar, on Saturday, confirmed that it had submitted a report to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), or sometimes called the World Court, on preventing further acts of genocide against the country's Muslim Rohingya minority as well as preserving evidence of the genocidal campaign seen in recent years.
In January, the top UN court issued a provisional order asking Myanmar to take certain preventive measures against the genocide of the Rohingya community in the western Rakhine state of Myanmar, reports Turkey’s Anadolu Agency.
About its compliance report, a Foreign Ministry official of Myanmar, on Saturday said: “We submitted it to the ICJ today.”
As he was not authorized to speak to the media, he sought anonymity, and informed the report was based on three directives issued by the president’s office this April in response to the ICJ order.
He said Myanmar’s President Win Myint ordered the regional government and military not to remove or destroy evidence of a genocide, and prevent anyone and all groups from committing genocidal acts as well as prevent incitement and hate speech against the Rohingya population.
“What I know is that the report was based on what we have done and what we are doing regarding these three directives,” commented the official.
It is unclear if the court will make the report public..."
Source/publisher:
"Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication:
2020-05-24
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Myanmar leaders said to order prevention of genocidal acts and hate speech against Rohingya Muslims
Description:
"Myanmar confirmed on Saturday that it had submitted a report to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on preventing further acts of genocide against the country's Muslim Rohingya minority as well as preserving evidence of the genocidal campaign seen in recent years.
In January, the top UN court issued a provisional order asking Myanmar to implement certain preventive measures against the genocide of the Rohingya community in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state.
About Myanmar’s compliance report, a Foreign Ministry official on Saturday told Anadolu Agency over the phone: “We submitted it to the ICJ today.”
On condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to media, the official said the report was based on three directives issued by the president’s office this April in response to the ICJ order.
He said Win Myint, Myanmar’s president, ordered the regional government and military not to remove or destroy evidence of a genocide while it must prevent anyone and all groups from committing genocidal acts as well as prevent incitement and hate speech against the Rohingya.
‘What I know is that the report was based on what we done and what we are doing regarding these three directives,” said the official..."
Source/publisher:
"Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of publication:
2020-05-23
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
4 months after UN court orders Myanmar to prevent Rohingya genocide, Yangon scheduled to submit first report on May 23
Description:
"Myanmar on Saturday will submit its first compliance report to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on a previous order to prevent and not commit genocide against the Muslim Rohingya minority in the country.
Early in January, the top UN court issued a provisional order asking Myanmar to implement certain preventive measures against the genocide of the persecuted community.
The ICJ may rule against making the report public. However, Myanmar was ordered to share a copy of the report with Gambia for the West African country to submit its comments.
The ICJ is set to hear Myanmar on its implementation of "all measures taken to give effect" to its order, seeking to ensure Yangon prevents genocidal acts -- including by its own security forces -- and preserve all potential evidence of genocidal acts.
The ICJ had given to Myanmar four months, ending on May 23, 2020. Subsequent reports will be filed every six months.
However, the UN's former Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, said Myanmar had not taken any steps since the order.
"Sadly, no progress at all," Lee said in a webinar organized by the Global Justice Center.
The ICJ delivered its verdict on a case filed last December by Gambia.
The Maldives has also hired prominent human rights lawyer Amal Clooney to represent the persecuted Rohingya at the UN court alongside Gambia..."
Source/publisher:
"Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of publication:
2020-05-22
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
As the deadline approaches to answer to the UN’s top court about abuses against the Rohingya, the government and the military are using the same old tricks
Description:
"Myanmar has until tomorrow to submit a report to the United Nation’s highest court detailing what it is doing to protect the mostly Muslim Rohingya minority from genocide.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered the report, the first of many, as part of “provisional measures” at the start of a trial that is expected to take years.
It made the ruling after The Gambia accused Myanmar of genocide following mass rapes and killings against the Rohingya that forced over 730,000 to flee to Bangladesh in 2017.
In response to this case, the government and the military are taking slightly different, but equally flawed, approaches.
The government has tried to feed people inside Myanmar a nationlist narrative about the need to fight “terrorists” while presenting itself abroad as diplomatic and reasonable.
The military, meanwhile, is brazenly continuing its attacks in Rakhine but pursuing sham accountability against soldiers who have been caught red-handed abusing civilians.
Both are attempts to appease the international community by giving the appearance of cooperation, and neither is a genuine effort to take this opportunity to right the injustices done to the Rohingya and other minority groups..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2020-05-22
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
The country has until May 23 to provide evidence to the International Court of Justice that genocide has stopped
Description:
"The clock is ticking down to a May 23 deadline for Myanmar’s government to provide demonstrable evidence that it has taken substantive action in the first four months of 2020 to protect its Rohingya minority from genocide.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) imposed that deadline in January in response to The Gambia’s petition for “provisional measures” to protect the Rohingya from “real and imminent risk” of genocide by Myanmar authorities.
Those provisional measures are the ICJ’s first response to The Gambia’s official complaint of Myanmar’s violations of the United Nations’ Genocide Convention. The complaint cited the extreme violence that the Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw, along with Border Security Guard units and armed Buddhist Rakhine civilians, unleashed against Muslim Rohingya civilians in late 2017. The ICJ decision imposed a series of obligations on the Myanmar government linked to a specific timetable for detailing its efforts to meet those benchmarks. The obligations include “taking all measures within its power to prevent” actions that meet the legal definition of acts of genocide and to ensure that the Myanmar military “do not commit acts of genocide, or of conspiracy to commit genocide, of direct and public incitement to commit genocide, of attempt to commit genocide, or of complicity in genocide.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of publication:
2020-05-21
Date of entry/update:
2020-05-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Description:
"Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, foreign minister of Myanmar, went to The Hague last December to defend her country against charges of genocide. By going, she also acknowledged that the international community has a legitimate interest in holding countries accountable for genocide and crimes against humanity. Obviously, this includes Myanmar, but as importantly it also includes every other country. By responding as she did, Myanmar’s foreign minister actually raised the bar for other countries accused of committing war crimes.
Myanmar is perhaps the first country to acknowledge the legitimacy of the international court, and the requirement that such serious accusations must be responded to. Indeed, such genocide charges are typically leveled only at already-defeated countries and deposed dictators. Or, as commonly, such crimes are not prosecuted at all. This has been the general policy for most of the other genocides that took place since the international genocide law was promulgated after World War II. By responding, Myanmar is in fact helping to establish new levels of accountability for not just its own army, but the larger community of nations..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2020-04-25
Date of entry/update:
2020-04-27
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description:
"As recently as two weeks ago, some of the few Rohingya remaining in Myanmar were still trying to make their way across the border to the relative safety of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh. This comes 16 months after the governments of Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed Rohingya who had previously fled Myanmar would be helped to return to the country of their birth, and over two months since the International Court of Justice ruled that Myanmar must take a number of steps to protect the Rohingya, who it judged as “at risk of genocide.”
It therefore seems that fears for the safety of the Rohingya remaining in Myanmar were, unfortunately, well founded. And those who made it to the border were some of the luckier ones. The situation is probably even more precarious for the majority of those still in the country, who find themselves in internally displaced people’s camps in Myanmar under the direct supervision and “protection” of the Myanmar military, who orchestrated the “clearance operations” against them in the first place.
As if the background situation of the ethnic cleansing, plus the intrusion the COVID-19 pandemic, were not enough, the Myanmar military has once again ramped up attacks against insurgent groups, and any civilian who belongs to the same ethnic group as the insurgents. Presumably the calculation was that the pandemic might make the insurgent groups less organized and more vulnerable to attack. If that was the case, then it would appear that calculation was wrong..."
Source/publisher:
Arab News (Saudi Arabia)
Date of publication:
2020-04-25
Date of entry/update:
2020-04-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar
Language:
more
Description:
"...Considerable historical evidence affirms that the Rohingya Muslims are indigenous inhabitants and rightful citizens of Myanmar, who have been living in Rakhine State not for decades, but for centuries. The Myanmar government has been systematically eradicating the Rohingya people due to their Islamic religious identity. This analysis finds that the ongoing persecution on Rohingya Muslims is a manifestation of a classical model of ethnic cleansing. The disasters experienced in Rakhine State present a complete evidence of systematic, widespread and prolific human rights violations, including heinous crimes against humanity. This article presents an academic perspective on repeated incidents, based on authentic proofs to international community of ethnic cleansing committed by the Myanmar army. This research has been carried out through various types of sources, such as recent and previously published books, articles, local and international newspapers, TV channels, magazines, documentaries, human rights organizations’ reports, and eye-witness accounts of the victims. Finally, it provides suggestions to resolve the rising problems, which may bring a permanent solution to the long-lasting humanitarian crisis in Rakhine State..."
Date of publication:
2018-00-00
Date of entry/update:
2020-04-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide
Language:
Format :
PDF
Size:
1.8 MB
Local URL:
more
Description:
"...Following independence in 1948, successive Burmese regimes have fought continuous wars against ethno-religious minorities living on the periphery. The following article analyzes these conflicts through the lens of prospect theory. According to this perspective, regimes are highly sensitive to relative losses and may employ genocidal policies as a means of state-preservation. Our framework applies this theory to three sub-national cases of genocide perpetrated against the Karen, Kachin, and Rohingya ethno-religious groups. Through qualitative case analysis, we unpack multifaceted processes of violence perpetrated against civilians and non-combatants in Burma. Based on our findings, we argue that the Tatmadaw (Burmese military) engaged in genocidal policies, including forced displacement and labor, slash-and-burn tactics, ethno-religious co-optation, and political killings as an instrumental means of preserving the state. Notably, while the military engaged in extreme violence against all three groups, their interest in state preservation varied. Genocidal violence employed against Karen and Kachin, long recognized by the military as “legitimate” groups, was perpetrated to assimilate “hill tribes” into the state. Conversely, violence against the Rohingya evolved with the goal of pushing a perceived “foreign” group out. This study contributes to the growing body of literature within Genocide Studies, linking macro-level theory to sub-national case studies..."
Date of publication:
2018-11-08
Date of entry/update:
2020-04-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups, Genocide
Language:
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The award was granted to the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi three years ago.
Description:
"The City of London Corporation (CLC) on Thursday revoked an honour granted to Aung San Suu Kyi over the treatment of minority Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
Elected representatives on the body that runs London's historic centre and financial district voted to revoke the freedom of the city granted to Suu Kyi three years ago.
More:
ICJ orders Myanmar to protect Rohingya
Myanmar finds war crimes but no genocide in Rohingya crackdown
'Justice served': Rohingya in Bangladesh hail ICJ order
This move in the United Kingdom followed Suu Kyi's appearance, as Myanmar's civilian leader, at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague in December to personally defend her country against allegations of rape, arson and mass killings against Rohingya victims..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2020-03-06
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-06
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), About Aung San Suu Kyi, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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Sub-title:
Myanmar is restricting media access to the far western state of Rakhine where the military is fighting Arakan Army rebels.
Description:
""I think I might have told you too much already. Someone will probably tell the government I've been speaking to journalists," the shopkeeper told me.
We were in Maungdaw, a once-bustling town in the northern part of Rakhine state, Myanmar.
We looked around.
There wasn't anyone who stood out as secret police.
After all, it's usually not difficult to pick them out. They are normally better dressed than villagers. A close-cropped haircut means they are most likely to be military intelligence. Sometimes there's a tell-tale sign- a walkie talkie. But the shopkeeper was still worried. He wouldn't tell us his name or give us his phone number. We were on a government-arranged media trip to northern Rakhine. This was where the Myanmar military had launched a brutal crackdown on 25 August 2017, targetting the mainly Muslim Rohingya, an ethnic minority in Myanmar.
Soldiers and Buddhist mobs were accused of killing, torturing and raping Rohingya men and women. Homes were ransacked and set ablaze. The fires raged for days and could be seen from across the border in Bangladesh..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2020-03-06
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-06
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
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Sub-title:
The list of countries planning economic and legal measures against Myanmar is growing
Description:
"Last week, the government of Myanmar started paying a real price for its failure to provide meaningful accountability for its security forces’ widespread and systematic violence against the country’s Muslim Rohingya minority in northern Rakhine state in late 2017.
Literally.
On February 26, Germany’s development minister, Gerd Müller, announced that Berlin was suspending development cooperation with Myanmar because of its “ethnic cleansing” of its Rohingya minority. Müller said the suspension would remain in place until Myanmar delivered on its commitment to “guaranteeing the safe return of the more than 700,000 Rohingya who fled for their lives to Bangladesh in late 2017 and protecting the Rohingya who still live in the country.”
Although Müller didn’t specify the financial cost of that suspension, he simultaneously announced an additional German government contribution of €15 million (US$16.5 million) to support Bangladesh’s Rohingya refugee population..."
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of publication:
2020-03-02
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide
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Description:
"Al Jazeera cameras have been allowed on a tightly-controlled, government-organised trip to Rakhine state in northern Myanmar, where the army has denied carrying out a genocidal campaign against the Rohingya..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2020-03-02
Date of entry/update:
2020-03-02
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar
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Topic:
Genocide and hypocrisy
Topic:
Genocide and hypocrisy
Description:
"In 1948, Myanmar, then called Burma, gained independence from Britain, although the promised autonomy to the Rohingya people (who are mainly Muslim), as well as other ethnic groups like the Shan and Kachin people was never granted. Instead, military-government led persecution and theft of land have been their lot. The Rohingya people were stripped of their nationality in 1982, and subsequently labelled as ‘Bangladeshis’.
Since 2012, especially in 2015 and 2017, there were several outbreaks of vicious attacks on the Rohingya people by the Tatmadaw, the Myanmar military forces, which forced over 700,000 to flee from Rakhine province into refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh. More than a million Rohingyas live in the squalor, disease, and poverty of the refugee camps in southern Bangladesh, having fled from appalling violence and rape or sexual abuse.
According to “Physicians for Human Rights”, Rohingyas in the camps had been subject to being beaten or injured with weapons, hit by grenades or mortars, or raped or sexually assaulted. For example, in 2017, 6-year-old Abdul Wahid was shot in the head and left leg; despite surviving the attack after surgery in Bangladesh, walking is now an extreme difficulty for him. 21-year-old Rabia Basri lost five relatives when fired at by military forces, and is now unable to walk or even carry loads without the use of crutches.These examples are but the tip of the iceberg.
There are currently around ten refugee camps in Bangladesh, each housing anywhere between 9,000 and 600,000 Rohingyas. The largest camp, Kutupalong, has the highest number and contains an expansion site of makeshift camps.
International hypocrisy
The government of Bangladesh is, of course, not a benevolent force intervening in the crisis; it previously provided the Myanmar government with tens of thousands of names of Rohingyas marked for repatriation, following a joint agreement signed in 2018.
Voluntary repatriation has been refused by many Rohingya refugees over fears of further violence or sexual assault when back in Rakhine province. The government of Myanmar has also steadfastly refused to grant full citizenship to the Rohingya people, instead offering only the concession of ‘part-citizenship’..."
Source/publisher:
"The Socialist" (UK)
Date of publication:
2020-02-28
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-28
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
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Sub-title:
Human rights lawyer will represent Maldives, which is joining the Gambia in taking Myanmar to court for alleged genocide
Description:
"Amal Clooney will represent the Maldives in seeking justice for Rohingya Muslims at the UN’s highest court, where Myanmar faces accusations of genocide.
The Maldivian government has said it will join the Gambia in challenging Myanmar’s treatment of Rohingya people during an army crackdown in Rakhine state in 2017 that forced more than 700,000 people to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh.
In a unanimous decision in January, the international court of justice (ICJ) in The Hague imposed emergency “provisional measures” on Myanmar, instructing it to prevent genocidal violence against its Rohingya minority and preserve any evidence of past crimes.
The ruling was an outright rejection of the defence put forward by Aung San Suu Kyi, who attended court in person to defend the military’s actions. In evidence to the court she urged ICJ judges to dismiss allegations of genocide and instead allow the country’s court martial system to deal with any human rights abuses. A final judgement is expected to take years. In a statement, Clooney, the human rights lawyer and barrister at Doughty Street Chambers in London, said: “Accountability for genocide in Myanmar is long overdue and I look forward to working on this important effort to seek judicial remedies for Rohingya survivors.”
Clooney successfully represented former the Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed and secured a UN decision that his 2015 jailing for 13 years was illegal.
She also represented Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who spent more than 500 days in prison in Myanmar convicted of breaking the colonial-era Official Secrets Act. The journalists had been working on a Reuters investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men in Rakhine state. They were freed in May 2019..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of publication:
2020-02-27
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-27
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
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Sub-title:
British-Lebanese lawyer said she is delighted to represent the Rohingya before the International Court of Justice.
Description:
"The Maldives has hired the services of prominent human rights lawyer Amal Clooney to represent the persecuted Rohingya at the United Nations court.
"I am delighted to have been asked to represent the Maldives before the International Court of Justice [ICJ]. Accountability for genocide in Myanmar is long overdue and I look forward to working on this important effort to seek judicial remedies for Rohingya survivors," the British-Lebanese lawyer said. More:
Will the ICJ order Myanmar to stop alleged Rohingya genocide?
'Great news': Bangladesh allows education for Rohingya children
'Justice served': Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh hail ICJ ruling
Clooney is married to Hollywood actor George Clooney.
The Maldives said it will file a written declaration of intervention at the ICJ supporting the Rohingya, a persecuted Muslim minority in Myanmar.
"In line with the decision taken at the 14th Islamic Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation [OIC], the Republic of Maldives intends to extend its support for the efforts to seek accountability for the acts of genocide committed against the Rohingya people," Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid said..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2020-02-27
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-27
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide
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Sub-title:
The minister made the declaration while addressing the 43rd Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva on Tuesday
Description:
"Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid has announced the Maldivian administration's decision to file a written declaration of intervention at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague, in support of the persecuted Rohingya people.
The minister made the declaration while addressing the 43rd Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva on Tuesday.
In his statement, Minister Shahid noted that the government welcomed ICJ's ruling last month, which ordered Myanmar to "take all measures within its power” to protect the Rohingya from genocide.
"The Maldives intends to support the ongoing efforts to secure accountability for the perpetrators of genocide against the Rohingya people, in line with the decision taken by the OIC during the Summit held in Makkah last year," said Minister Shahid, referring to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation's calls on the ad hoc ministerial committee to launch a case over Myanmar's human rights violations against the Rohingya Muslims at the ICJ..."
Source/publisher:
"Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication:
2020-02-26
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
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Description:
"Professor William Schabas, who defended Myanmar at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against genocide charges in December, will deliver a lecture at Yangon University on March 5.
The Canadian-born academic is professor of international law at Middlesex University in the UK. He was among three senior members of Myanmar’s delegation at the ICJ. In December at the ICJ, Schabas denied genocide took place during the military clearance operation in Rakhine State in 2017 against the Rohingya community in which hundreds were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced.
Schabas will give a lecturer on legal affairs at Yangon University’s Convocation Hall in the morning, director-general of the Higher Education Department Dr. Thein Win told The Irrawaddy.
“The event is mainly intended for law students so that they can learn from a foreign academic to broaden their horizons,” he said..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2020-02-25
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
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Description:
"In this episode of UpFront we challenge Aung San Suu Kyi's former spokesperson on allegations of genocide in Myanmar's Rakhine state.
And we debate the police response to protests in France against President Emmanuel Macron's government with La Republique En Marche MP Roland Lescure..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2020-02-21
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, About Aung San Suu Kyi
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Sub-title:
Aung San Suu Kyi's former spokesperson Nyo Ohn Myint dismisses atrocities carried out against the Rohingya.
Description:
"In January the International Court of Justice ordered Myanmar to prevent the genocide of Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state. Myanmar's government rejected the ruling, saying it was based on a "distorted picture of the situation".
According to the UN, at least 10,000 people have been killed and more than 700,000 have fled Rakhine state since the Myanmar military's crackdown began in 2017. Thousands of Rohingya women and girls have been raped, and around 300 villages burnt to the ground.
The former spokesman of Myanmar's de-facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is dismissing the allegations, describing them as "one-sided".
"Most of the international people live in the rumours, hearsay," Nyo Ohn Myint said.
"This is a political accusation … because you know, they just joined the bandwagon," he added.
Nyo Ohn Myint also questioned the evidence gathered by the international community - which has been denied access to Rakhine state by Myanmar's government.
"When I read the US State Department report that said the Rohingya women were raped by soldiers and surrounded by hundreds of soldiers, it looked like the very, you know ... third-class Hollywood movie," he said.
Nyo Ohn Myint suggested that some of the women who gave accounts of their rape to Amnesty International were lying.
"I don't know because if I, if I look at her eye, maybe she was true or maybe she was lying," he said.
This week's Headliner, Aung San Suu Kyi's former spokesperson, Nyo Ohn Myint..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2020-02-22
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Genocide
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Sub-title:
Exclusive: Australia accused of giving legitimacy and credibility to a military accused of mass atrocities
Description:
"The commander-in-chief of Myanmar’s defence forces – recommended by the UN for investigation and prosecution for war crimes and genocide – has met with Australia’s ambassador and says he wants to train more of his officers in Australia.
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing is the supreme commander of Myanmar’s military, known as the Tatmadaw, which has been accused of genocide in its systematic persecution of the ethnic and religious minority Rohingya.
In “clearance operations” begun in August 2017, thousands of Rohingya were murdered, women and girls were gang raped, while pregnant women were targeted for torture and murder. Other people were burned alive in their homes, and more than 700,000 Rohingya fled over the border to Bangladesh.
Australia’s ambassador, Andrea Faulkner, met Min Aung Hlaing on 29 January at the Bayintnaung Villa in the capital, Naypyidaw. The pair exchanged gifts and posed for photos. Human Rights Watch has said Australia’s decision to take the meeting risked giving legitimacy and credibility to a military accused of mass atrocities..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of publication:
2020-02-20
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Australia-Burma relations
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Sub-title:
How likely is Myanmar to make policy changes after the ICJ ruling?
Description:
"oes Myanmar have any obligation to take the world court -- the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague – seriously?
The second question is whether Myanmar’s quasi-military ruler has the political will to implement the landmark judgment of January 23. Myanmar has officially rejected the International Court of Justice’s historic ruling, and accused international rights groups of making exaggerated statements about the prevailing situation. It also rejected the UN fact-finding mission’s report on the basis of being “one-sided.”
It is well understood that the ICJ has no legal jurisdiction over Myanmar or any individual nation.
The ICJ ordered Myanmar to implement vital measures to protect its Rohingya population from facing any further atrocities. This ruling has been hailed as an “accomplishment of international justice.” The court further ordered Myanmar to ensure protection from destruction of any evidence of “possible” genocide.
The ruling means that a global body, for the first time, has officially recognized the threat of abuse against the Rohingya, and ordered Myanmar to protect the community..."
Source/publisher:
"Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication:
2020-02-17
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-18
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
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Sub-title:
Kirin has stakes in two breweries and donated directly to the military, which the UN says is ‘indefensible’
Description:
"Japanese beverages giant Kirin – parent brewer of a suite of Australian beer brands such as XXXX, Tooheys, and James Squire – could pull out of the brewery it co-owns with the Myanmar military, after facing international condemnation for its business partnership with an army accused of genocide.
The company’s president and chief executive, Yoshinori Isozaki, said in a statement the company recognised the “challenges of operating in frontier markets” and was working to improve its practices.
“Human rights is fundamental to all of our business activities … we are reviewing strategic options for our operations in Myanmar.”
Kirin’s review of its partnership with the Myanmar military is being led by its international advisory board, whose members include Australians Sir Rod Eddington and Paula Dwyer. Kirin owns a little over half of both Myanmar Brewery and Mandalay Brewery in partnership with Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd (MEHL), a conglomerate of the Myanmar military, accused of committing genocide in its persecution of the Rohingya ethnic and religious minority.
The business partnership with Kirin provides not only much-needed foreign currency for the isolated Myanmar military – which is subject to global arms embargoes – but also, crucially, is a source of international legitimacy..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of publication:
2020-02-15
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-16
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, Japan-Burma relations
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Description:
"On 23 January, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued what amounted to a “cease and desist” order against Myanmar, ordering authorities there to end genocidal practices against the Rohingya. The ruling of the so-called “World Court” has brought hope that international justice will prevail after the horrors inflicted on women, men and children in Rakhine State by Myanmar’s security forces.
But while the court’s ruling was a landmark moment, there are still many lingering questions. What happens next? What effects will the ruling have on Myanmar’s domestic scene, where an election looms later this year? Will Myanmar comply with the order — and what happens if it does not?
The ICJ’s ruling meant that a global legal body for the first time officially recognised the real threat of abuse against the Rohingya, and ordered Myanmar to do what it can to protect them. The ICJ also called on Myanmar to prevent further breaches of the Genocide Convention, rein in abuses by its security forces and preserve evidence of past abuses..."
Source/publisher:
"Euronews" (Lyon)
Date of publication:
2020-02-14
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-15
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
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Sub-title:
Genesis of sustained, institutionalized destruction of Rohingya is anchored in group’s identity as Muslims
Description:
"The International Court of Justice’s Jan. 23 interim order in a case filed by Gambia against Myanmar is designed to protect the Rohingya and preserve the crime sites. It has brought a sense of vindication to several million Rohingya victims – in the diaspora, inside Myanmar, and in refugee camps in Bangladesh.
It was by far the most significant act the international community has taken since the Rohingya have been subjected to a national policy of discrimination, disenfranchisement, displacement and destructive deportation by various organs of the state in Myanmar.
The case which Gambia brought before the court has focused narrowly on the violent events of 2016 and 2017. However, it is crucial to see this group destruction in the proper context which began under the false pretext of Myanmar’s attempts at cracking down on the “illegal immigration” across Myanmar-Bangladesh borders which stretch 270 miles.
As a matter of fact, today (Feb. 12) marks the 42nd anniversary of the first violently genocidal purge -- centrally organized by the then military dictatorship of General Ne Win in Rangoon involving various agencies, not only the government troops and police force but also departments or ministries of religious affairs, customs and various branches of intelligence
Paradoxically, this is also the date in which Myanmar celebrates “Union Day” -- when the country’s majority Buddhist Burmese public and several national minorities along the borders of colonial Burma agreed to merge their regions voluntarily to form a single federated independent nation in 1947.
On the very same day, in Rakhine, a state in western Myanmar that borders Bangladesh, Myanmar launched the first-ever violent deportation of literally hundreds of thousands of Rohingya -- the majority of whom were born and raised in the region and had official IDs and documentation that proved their Myanmar nationality.
The purges were carried out in two phases under military-style operations collectively known as Operation Dragon King.
The first phase was launched in Rakhine state’s capital Sittwe on Feb. 12, 1978, and lasted only a week, involving 200 interagency forces that resorted to various acts of violence and terror. The second phase was carried out in the northern Rakhine towns of Buthidaung and Maungdaw with 400 interagency security forces.
Myanmar troops resorted to arson, slaughter, rape and other terror methods in the region where the population was peaceful, unarmed and compliant as evidenced in the newspaper reports of the time from Bangladesh, Pakistan and other Asian regions..."
Source/publisher:
"Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of publication:
2020-02-12
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-13
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
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Sub-title:
Political will is extremely crucial since ICJ has no jurisdiction or legal apparatus over individual nations.
Description:
"In a historic judgement, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 23 January ordered Myanmar to implement vital measures to protect its Rohingya population from any further atrocities. This ruling has been hailed as an “accomplishment of international justice.” This lawsuit was brought by Gambia, a small African Muslim state backed by the 57 nation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in November at the United Nations’ highest body for disputes between states. It accused Myanmar of genocide against Rohingya in violation of a 1948 Genocide Convention.
The court witnessed the trial on 10–11 December where the State Counsellor of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi was herself present to defend her country’s honour. She emphasised that the accusations made against her government are “incomplete and misleading factual picture of the situation,” thus categorically denying the allegations of genocide and thereby requesting to dismiss the charges brought to it. Under the presiding Judge Abdulqawi Yusuf and 16 other judges present in the panel, the undisputed ruling on 23 January granted Gambia’s request for preliminary measures. According to the court, the Rohingyas face an ongoing threat that necessitates Myanmar to “take all measures within its power to prevent all acts” prohibited under the 1948 Genocide Convention, and report back to the court within four months, and then, every six months after that..."
Source/publisher:
Observer Research Foundation (ORF) via "Europe-Asia Studies"
Date of publication:
2020-02-11
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
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Description:
"Worldwide 70.8 million people were forcibly displaced from their home because of armed
conflict, generalized violence and human rights violations. These millions of stateless people
have been denied national identity and fundamental rights (education, healthcare, employment
and freedom of movement) (UNHCR, 2019a). According to UNHCR, 67% (Two-thirds) of all
the refugees worldwide belong to only five countries: Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan,
Myanmar and Somalia (UNHCR, 2019b). The Rohingya ethnic minority group is among some
of those stateless people who used to live in the Rakhine state of Myanmar. Myanmar is a multiethnic, multi-lingual and multi-religious country which has 135 official ethnic groups. All of
these ethnic groups are aggregated in eight major ethnic groups where Bamars (32% of the total
population) are the majority, and intrastate conflicts are often recorded between the Burmese
military force (Tatmadaw1
) and other ethnic armed groups (Stokke et al., 2018:3-4, 46;
Strömberg, 2018:6; François and Souris, 2018:12; Mithun, 2018:648). In contrast, compared to
the other ethnic conflicts in Myanmar, “The Rohingya conflict is highly asymmetrical in terms
of power, resources and military assets as the Rohingya population as a group has very few
resources, military or otherwise”. Describing the Rohingya conflict as a two-party conflict is
difficult. It is more like systematic discrimination, denial of human rights and violence,
specifically against the Rohingya civilians (SIDA, 2019:2)..."
Source/publisher:
Academia.edu (USA) via Mostakim Bin Motaher
Date of publication:
2019-00-00
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
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864.87 KB (33 pages)
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Sub-title:
The ICJ's order that Myanmar does all it can to prevent genocide offers the Rohingya hope for the future.
Description:
"On January 23, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague imposed emergency "provisional measures" on Myanmar regarding its actions against and treatment of the Rohingya minority - my people. To the average person this may sound like incomprehensible legalese. But for many Rohingya, who had long been waiting for the international community to take meaningful action to end their suffering, this was some of the best news they had ever received.
With this decision, the United Nations' "World Court" effectively instructed the government of Aung San Suu Kyi to respect the requirements of the 1948 genocide convention and bring an end to its military's attacks on the Rohingya. This decision marked the first time that a credible international body said "enough" to the government that for so many decades has abused and oppressed us.
My people's plight captured global headlines in August 2017, when the Tatmadaw (the Myanmar military) launched a vicious "clearance operation" in the Rakhine State, which was home to more than a million Rohingya. Over the course of a few weeks, soldiers rampaged through the region, killing thousands, committing mass rapes, burning villages to the ground, and driving more than 700,000 people to flee into neighbouring Bangladesh.
As shocking as the violence was, it was only the tip of the iceberg. For decades, the Myanmar authorities have confined the Rohingya to a virtual open-air prison in the Rakhine state. It denied us citizenship since 1982, effectively rendering us stateless. Our freedom of movement even within Myanmar is extremely limited. We are expected to acquire official permission, and often pay bribes, to leave our home villages. Healthcare and education are off-limits to most Rohingya. This is all part of a deliberate effort by Myanmar not only to dehumanise us, but also to make our lives so miserable that we have no option but to leave..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2020-02-08
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
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Description:
"Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sought continued support of the European Union (EU) to ensure safe, dignified, and sustainable return of the displaced Rohingya refugees back to Myanmar, a media report said on Friday.
"The Bangladesh Prime Minister thanked the EU members, including Italy, for their support to the cause of the Rohingya," The Daily Star newspaper quoted a joint statement issued on Thursday after talks between Hasina and her Italian counterpart Giuseppe Conte in Rome, as saying.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Hasina's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim said both sides welcomed the January 23 decision of International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the Rohingya crisis.
Karim said that Conte appreciated Bangladesh's management of the Rohingya crisis, adding that he encouraged Hasina to continue with the policy of hospitality. In its January ruling, the ICJ directed Myanmar to prevent the alleged genocide against the Muslim minority community.
The court said Myanmar must "take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts" described by the convention.
Nearly 738,000 Rohingya refugees are living in camps in Bangladesh since Aug. 25, 2017, following a wave of persecution and violence in Myanmar that the UN has described as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing and possible genocide.
Myanmar does not use the Rohingya term and also doesn't recognize them as its citizens, arguing that they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh..."
Source/publisher:
Daijiworld.com
Date of publication:
2020-02-07
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-07
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
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Sub-title:
The reach of the International Court of Justice is limited in ameliorating violent conflicts within or between states, says Hurst Hannum.
Description:
"Myanmar has been ordered by the International Court of Justice to take “provisional measures” to protect the Rohingya, an ethnic Muslim minority in the Buddhist-majority country that has suffered “mass killing, mass displacement, mass fear [and] overwhelming … brutality” at the hands of the military.
Over 700,000 Rohingya fled or were forced out of the country since 2016, most to neighbouring Bangladesh. The order comes after the African state of Gambia in November 2019 filed a complaint of genocide of the Rohingya against Myanmar with the International Court of Justice, the judicial organ of the United Nations.
Under the 1948 Genocide Convention, genocide requires a specific intent to destroy a group in whole or in part. READ: Myanmar already protecting Rohingya, ruling party says after world court's order
The United Nations (UN) General Assembly and numerous human rights organisations have for years condemned Myanmar’s attacks on the Rohingya..."
Source/publisher:
"CNA" (Singapore)
Date of publication:
2020-02-01
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
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Sub-title:
Myanmar's allies China and Vietnam block vote on a joint statement forcing EU member states to make separate report.
Description:
"The UN Security Council on Tuesday discussed the International Court of Justice's order that Myanmar do all it can to prevent genocide against the Rohingya Muslims, but failed to agree on a statement.
China, an ally of Myanmar, as well as Vietnam, which is a member of the regional Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) along with Myanmar, objected, diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because it was a closed-door meeting.
More:
'As expected': People in Myanmar shrug off ICJ Rohingya ruling
After ICJ ruling, Myanmar denies genocide against Rohingya
Myanmar: Defending genocide at the CJ
Instead, the European Union members of the council urged Myanmar in a joint statement to reporters afterwards to comply with the measures ordered by the UN's top court, stressing that they were "compulsory under international law."
France, Germany, Belgium and Estonia along with former council member Poland also urged Myanmar "to take credible action to bring to justice those responsible for human rights violations."..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2020-02-05
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
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Description:
"In the wake of the ruling from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordering Myanmar to prevent genocide against the Rohingya going forward, the initial excitement was tempered by pragmatics—how this important court order can be enforced so that it actually protects the 600,000 Rohingya who remain in Rakhine State.
To be sure, there is no confusion that these measures are binding—as the court noted, they create international legal obligations that require Myanmar’s compliance. But how can the international community guarantee that Myanmar actually does anything? And does Myanmar’s civilian government have the capacity to do what is needed?
The answers to these questions are mixed, generally relying on exertion of geopolitical pressure, including through the United Nations Security Council, to which the order has been transmitted. As a general rule and absent a concrete enforcement mechanism, ICJ orders have a reliable compliance rate. However, looking at the Myanmar case in context, and in particular the measures requiring prevention of the commission of genocide by Myanmar’s military, compliance will require a serious and concerted effort by both the international community and the civilian government..."
Source/publisher:
"Just Security"
Date of publication:
2020-02-03
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-04
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Landmark initial ruling against Myanmar also raises doubts about UN impartiality and credibility
Description:
"Given the persistent global publicity and intense lobbying on behalf of persecuted Rohingya refugees, a provisional decision handed down on January 23 against Myanmar by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague came as no surprise.
The ICJ, the United Nations’ principal judicial organ, ordered Myanmar to take measures to stop killing and harming Rohingyas and to implement “all measures within its power to prevent genocide.”
The ruling, likened in reports to a “restraining order”, said Myanmar’s government must further ensure that its military does not “attempt to commit genocide or conspire to commit genocide.” At the same time, ICJ judges underlined in dry legalese that the initial ruling would in no way prejudice the court’s dealing with the “merits of the case”, meaning it has not yet decided whether or not genocide was committed.
The court did go further than requested by Gambia, the country which has brought the case to the ICJ on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), by ordering Myanmar to report on measures taken to comply with the ruling in four months and thereafter every six months. The initial ruling will add more international pressure on Myanmar to hold those responsible for alleged crimes against humanity to account, but will also likely cause the nation’s leaders to more deeply entrench their position of denial..."
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of publication:
2020-01-24
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Description:
"The Rohingya, who have been described by the UN as the most persecuted minority in the world, experienced a glimmer of hope last week, when the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered a remarkable ruling that those members of the community remaining in Myanmar currently face a credible threat of genocide. This was the first time that a genocide case has been brought before the ICJ by a signatory county — in this case, The Gambia.
The case before the ICJ took an unexpected turn in November, when Aung San Suu Kyi, the long-time pro-democracy icon and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and currently the most powerful person in the civilian government in Myanmar, announced that she would defend Myanmar against the charges of genocide in person before the court in The Hague.
For a while, Suu Kyi’s former friends and allies in the international community sought to make sense of what was happening to the Rohingya by casting her as a prisoner of fate to the military establishment, which still controls most of the reins of power in the country. But as Suu Kyi became an increasingly prominent apologist for the army, and even adopted the language of those clamoring for the genocide by denying the very identity of the Rohingya and casting them as foreign “Bengalis,” we have increasingly run out of doubt to give her the benefit of.
All possible doubt was finally dispelled when she appeared before the ICJ, casually admitting that war crimes had taken place, but that what had happened could not be genocide because there was no genocidal intent. She made this case while still refusing to utter the word “Rohingya” and insisting that she was talking about “Bengalis” — an “other” she should not be expected to be responsible for..."
Source/publisher:
Arab News (Saudi Arabia)
Date of publication:
2020-02-02
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
The Myanmar military’s years-long campaign against the Rohingya Muslims left hundreds of villages a smoldering pile of debris.
Description:
"Myanmar has been ordered by the International Court of Justice to take “provisional measures” to protect the Rohingya, an ethnic Muslim minority in the Buddhist-majority country that has suffered “mass killing, mass displacement, mass fear [and] overwhelming…brutality” at the hands of the military.
Over 700,000 Rohingya fled or were forced out of the country since 2016, most to neighboring Bangladesh.
The order comes after the African state of The Gambia in November 2019 filed a complaint of genocide of the Rohingya against Myanmar with the International Court of Justice, the judicial organ of the United Nations. Under the 1948 Genocide Convention, genocide requires a specific intent to destroy a group in whole or in part.
The U.N. General Assembly and numerous human rights organizations have for years condemned Myanmar’s attacks on the Rohingya. The country – which was slowly emerging from the global economic and political isolation that followed its 1989 military coup by making some very modest concessions to democracy – has also been subjected to new sanctions..."
Source/publisher:
The National Interest Online (USA)
Date of publication:
2020-02-03
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
The ICJ ruling on Myanmar is a rare bright point in a woeful international response. Unfortunately its powers are limited
Description:
"On Thursday the internet in Kutupalong, a city-sized refugee camp in south-eastern Bangladesh, was switched back on for a few hours. The camp’s residents gathered around their phones as, 5,000 miles away in The Hague, the international court of justice (ICJ) delivered a ruling on Myanmar’s treatment of its Rohingya Muslim minority. They cheered as the court issued a set of legally binding obligations: that Myanmar’s military does not commit acts of genocide against some 600,000 Rohingya who still live in the country, and that evidence of past crimes remains intact. This was the first legal victory for Rohingya since 2017, when upwards of 700,000 were driven into Bangladesh in a campaign by Myanmar’s military that produced the most concentrated outflow of refugees anywhere since the Rwanda genocide in 1994. Responding to attacks by Rohingya militants on security posts in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in late August 2017, military units acted with such ferocity that, within two months, the country had been emptied of nearly half its entire Rohingya population. Those who made it to Bangladesh recounted how troops encircled villages at night and opened fire, cutting down those who fled. Satellite imagery revealed more than 380 destroyed villages, and in the year that followed, new security bases were built where Rohingya homes once stood. Yet until now, there had been little substantive international action..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of publication:
2020-01-24
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Sub-title:
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ordered measures to prevent the genocide of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar (formerly Burma).
Description:
"The decision comes despite de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi defending her country against the accusations in person last month.
Thousands of Rohingya died and more than 700,000 fled to Bangladesh during an army crackdown in 2017.
UN investigators have warned that genocidal actions could recur.
The ICJ case, lodged by the African Muslim-majority nation of The Gambia, called for emergency measures to be taken against the Myanmar military until a fuller investigation could be launched.
The man who took Aung San Suu Kyi to the world court
Myanmar Rohingya: What you need to know
The Lady who fell from grace
Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist state, has always insisted that its military campaign was waged to tackle an extremist threat in Rakhine state.
In her defence statement at the court in The Hague, Ms Suu Kyi described the violence as an "internal armed conflict" triggered by Rohingya militant attacks on government security posts..."
Source/publisher:
"BBC News" (London)
Date of publication:
2020-01-23
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
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Sub-title:
So-called Independent Commission of Enquiry whitewashes military abuses in bid to elude genocide charges
Description:
"Myanmar’s government made a stunningly rare admission of wrongdoing recently when it admitted that “war crimes” had been perpetrated against Muslims in Rakhine state during the violence of 2017. Unsurprisingly, it concluded the savagery did not constitute genocide as United Nations (UN) and other human rights investigators have suggested.
The government made the admission following the finalization of the Independent Commission of Enquiry (ICOE) report, the executive summary of which was made public just days before the United Nations’ International Court of Justice (ICJ) announced temporary provisions on Myanmar in its ongoing proceedings on genocide charges. The ICOE’s conclusions evinced two broad international receptions: one of measured acknowledgement that it admitted to serious crimes previously flatly denied by the administration of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi – and thus provides a foundation for further discussion on accountability – and another of blithe indifference. While the report should be dismissed as another exercise in cynical codswallop from an unrepentant military and civilian government, the ICOE experience nonetheless signals something more. That is, the report bids to peddle a sense of official partial closure on what happened in Rakhine state and that government business may now return to normal..."
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of publication:
2020-01-31
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory
Language:
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Description:
"Myanmar has been ordered by the International Court of Justice to take “provisional measures” to protect the Rohingya, an ethnic Muslim minority in the Buddhist-majority country that has suffered “mass killing, mass displacement, mass fear [and] overwhelming…brutality” at the hands of the military.
Over 700,000 Rohingya fled or were forced out of the country since 2016, most to neighboring Bangladesh.
The order comes after the African state of The Gambia in November 2019 filed a complaint of genocide of the Rohingya against Myanmar with the International Court of Justice, the judicial organ of the United Nations. Under the 1948 Genocide Convention, genocide requires a specific intent to destroy a group in whole or in part.
The U.N. General Assembly and numerous human rights organizations have for years condemned Myanmar’s attacks on the Rohingya. The country – which was slowly emerging from the global economic and political isolation that followed its 1989 military coup by making some very modest concessions to democracy – has also been subjected to new sanctions.
But this is the first judicial intervention in the crisis. Can international law protect the Rohingya when diplomacy, politics and sanctions have failed?..."
Source/publisher:
"The Conversation"
Date of publication:
2020-01-30
Date of entry/update:
2020-02-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Despite indifference to legal cases some ethnic minority groups are backing the Rohingya to push back against military.
Description:
" While thousands rallied in Yangon in December to support Myanmar's government as it contested allegations of genocide at the International Court of Justice, the public response to the first of the court's rulings has been decidedly more muted.
The ICJ imposed a series of provisional measures on Myanmar last week, ordering it to take certain action to prevent future acts of genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority.
The judges also rejected Myanmar's motions to dismiss the case, which means the trial will now proceed to hear arguments on the alleged genocide itself.
The decision brought criticism from officials. Than Htay, the chairman of the military-aligned opposition Union Solidarity and Development Party claimed “all 52 million people” in Myanmar would disagree with it, according to The Standard Time Daily, a local newspaper.
But on the streets of the country's biggest city, the ruling barely registered.
Two students who spoke to Al Jazeera separately both said neither they nor their friends particularly cared about the ICJ. “Yes I know about it, but I don’t really follow it,” said one.
Another woman, from Rakhine but living in Yangon, said the result was “as expected”. When asked if she agreed with the ruling, she said: “Yes. It should be.”
The ICJ case against Myanmar was brought by the Gambia accusing the country of committing genocide in its actions against the Rohingya and a brutal military crackdown in Rakhine in 2017 that sent 740,000 people fleeing across the border to Bangladesh..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2020-01-31
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-31
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
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Sub-title:
A weekly look at the public conversations shaping ideas beyond borders — in the Subcontinent. Curated by Asad Ali
Description:
"The editorial again pointedly ends by saying that since “What Bangladesh has been saying has found a voice at the World Court, we once again appeal to the entire world to step up its effort to assist Bangladesh in protecting the Rohingyas, and to hold Myanmar accountable for its many crimes that must not be ignored any longer.” The grim situation of the Rohingyas in Myanmar and the decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), The Hague — ordering Myanmar to urgently take “provisional” measures to protect the Rohingya from violence — is highlighted in an editorial in Daily Star. It recounts the ICJ verdict to justify “what Bangladesh has been saying at the top of its voice”. The editorial, right at the outset, says, “We hope the whole world is listening at last.” It then goes about putting into perspective the Rohingya crisis and Myanmar’s inability to deal with it in a humane manner: “Declaring there is prima facie evidence of breaches of the 1948 genocide convention, the court found that the Rohingyas remaining in Myanmar were “extremely vulnerable” to violence at the hands of Myanmar’s military. And, therefore, the panel of 17 judges, in its unanimous ruling, asked Myanmar to report back to it within four months on the actions it has taken to prevent any serious harm being done to the Rohingyas and every six months thenceforth.” The editorial goes on to say that, “We owe a debt of gratitude to Gambia for bringing this matter to the attention of the ICJ. Despite the fact that the ruling dealt only with the Gambia’s request for so-called preliminary measures, the equivalent of a restraining order for states —not the court’s final decision — it nevertheless could pave the way for Myanmar to finally be held accountable for its atrocities against the Rohingyas.”..."
Source/publisher:
"The Indian Express" (India)
Date of publication:
2020-01-27
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-31
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Description:
"The inability of international law to effectively address situations of mass human rights atrocities, in particular genocide, within States has been the source of much consternation for international lawyers. The term genocide, deriving from the Greek prefix genos meaning race or tribe and the Latin suffix cide meaning killing, was coined by Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1944, in the aftermath of the Holocaust. It was soon codified as an independent crime under the 1948 United Nations Convention, acceded to by around 152 states. However, in over 70 years of operation of the Convention, the record of establishing State responsibility for the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide has been unsatisfactory, illustrated by well-documented failures in Cambodia, Rwanda and Yugoslavia.
However, in a significant ruling on the Rohingya issue, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) took tentative steps towards remedying In its preliminary judgment, the ICJ unanimously granted provisional measures, at the request of Gambia, directing Myanmar to take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts, including by any persons subject to its direction, control or influence, which constitute genocide under the convention in relation to the Rohingya people in its territory; and take all measures to prevent the destruction and ensure the preservation of evidence related to the allegation of genocide. More strikingly, the ICJ sought to oversee the implementation of its provisional measures, directing Myanmar to submit a report to the court on all measures taken to give effect to the order, within four months from the date of the order, and thereafter every six months until the final decision.its otherwise unenviable record of adjudicating allegations of genocide..."
Source/publisher:
"Hindustan Times " (India)
Date of publication:
2020-01-27
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-30
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
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Sub-title:
Why would Gambia step up for the Muslim minority Rohingya thousands of miles away?
Description:
"On Thursday, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a unanimous ruling that ordered Myanmar to “take all measures within its power” to protect its ethnic minority Rohingya population from genocide. The case — against which Myanmar’s civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, argued unsuccessfully — ended up in front of the ICJ because of a tiny African country thousands of miles away. Here’s what you need to know about this story. How the case got started
The case before the ICJ started a few weeks ago, when Gambia accused Myanmar of violating the United Nations’ 1948 Convention on Genocide. Suu Kyi flew to The Hague to defend her country, arguing that her government’s actions were legitimate counterinsurgency efforts against rebels in Rakhine state. Gambia requested immediate measures to prevent further harm to the Rohingya. Last week’s ruling was the ICJ’s response. The ICJ has not yet ruled whether genocide has been committed. The court demanded that Myanmar report back within four months on what steps it has taken and preserve any evidence relevant to the genocide case..."
Source/publisher:
"The Washington Post" (USA)
Date of publication:
2020-01-29
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-30
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Description:
"For the first time, a court has ordered Myanmar to take actions to protect the Rohingya. Last Thursday, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the United Nation’s highest court, issued an order in a case brought against Myanmar by Gambia claiming violations of the Genocide Convention. For more on Gambia’s filing in this case, as well as other efforts to bring accountability for the crimes against the Rohingya, see my previous post for Just Security here.
Preceding its decision, the ICJ held oral arguments concerning Gambia’s request for what are known as “provisional measures” in early December. A request for provisional measures is in some ways comparable to a request for a preliminary injunction in U.S. courts. A party is requesting that the court issue an order to prevent further harm while the case is proceeding, which can be particularly important at the ICJ where cases can take years to conclude. A request for provisional measures typically comes early in the case, and well before the record is fully developed and the issues can be judged on their merit. However, the standard of proof for granting provisional measures is that of a prima facie showing, considerably less than that required for final judgment. In theory, determinations made at the provisional measures stage have no bearing on the ultimate decision reached on those issues later.
While a request for provisional measures is not uncommon, what made the December oral arguments extraordinary is that Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and the de facto head of Myanmar (albeit with the military retaining a great deal of power) chose to act as the “agent” for Myanmar. This meant she would be leading the delegation and defending Myanmar in court. Once a symbol for human rights, she had already been widely criticized for her actions and inactions in regards to the Rohingya people..."
Source/publisher:
"Just Security"
Date of publication:
2020-01-28
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-29
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
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Sub-title:
Myanmar has responded defiantly to a ruling by the UN's top court ordering measures to prevent the genocide of Rohingya Muslims.
Description:
"The country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it presented a "distorted picture of the situation".
Thousands of Rohingya died and more than 700,000 fled to Bangladesh during an army crackdown in 2017.
The measures imposed by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) are binding and not subject to appeal.
However the ICJ has no way of enforcing them.
The case was lodged by the African Muslim majority nation of The Gambia. The ruling warned that genocidal actions could recur.
The man who took Aung San Suu Kyi to the world court
Myanmar Rohingya: What you need to know
The Lady who fell from grace
Myanmar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said its own commission, the Independent Commission of Enquiry, found that there had been no genocide in Rakhine state. However it did say that war crimes had occurred, and were being investigated and prosecuted by Myanmar's national criminal justice system.
It also blamed condemnation by "human rights actors" for affecting Myanmar's bilateral relations with some countries.
"This has hampered Myanmar's ability to lay the foundation for sustainable development in Rakhine," it added in a statement..."
Source/publisher:
"BBC News" (London)
Date of publication:
2020-01-23
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-29
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
more
Description:
"Rohingya Muslims, described by the UN as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world, have finally seen a beacon of light in the fight for justice driven forward by Gambia.
The historic decision by the UN's International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Myanmar is now legally bound to protect Rohingya Muslims from genocide, and stipulated four provisional measures they must take in doing so.
This unprecedented ruling means that Myanmar's government must prevent any Rohingya Muslim in the country from being killed and reserve any evidence of a genocide that has already happened. In spite of this ground-breaking turning point in the path to justice, concerns still exist in the steps to seeking accountability to bring the perpetrators of the crimes against Rohingya to account.
The Myanmar military crackdown in 2017 saw thousands of Rohingya Muslims killed, and 700,000 flee to neighbouring Bangladesh. Rohingya communities continue to be subjected to indiscriminate killing and gang rape. Pregnant women, babies, children and the elderly have not been spared. With so many accounts and evidence of human rights violations, it is shocking that Myanmar continues to evade accountability..."
Source/publisher:
"The New Arab" (London)
Date of publication:
2020-01-27
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-29
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
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Description:
"Present: President YUSUF; Vice-President XUE; Judges TOMKA, ABRAHAM, BENNOUNA,
CANÇADO TRINDADE, DONOGHUE, GAJA, SEBUTINDE, BHANDARI, ROBINSON,
CRAWFORD, GEVORGIAN, SALAM, IWASAWA; Judges ad hoc PILLAY, KRESS;
Registrar GAUTIER.
The International Court of Justice,
Composed as above,
After deliberation,
Having regard to Articles 41 and 48 of the Statute of the Court and Articles 73, 74 and 75 of
the Rules of Court,
Makes the following Order: 1. On 11 November 2019, the Republic of The Gambia (hereinafter “The Gambia”) filed in
the Registry of the Court an Application instituting proceedings against the Republic of the Union
of Myanmar (hereinafter “Myanmar”) concerning alleged violations of the Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (hereinafter the “Genocide Convention” or
the “Convention”)..."
Source/publisher:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) (The Hague)
Date of publication:
2020-01-23
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first)
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
227.63 KB (28 pages)
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Sub-title:
Top UN court finds 'irreparable damage' caused to Rohingya; orders Myanmar to take steps to prevent genocide.
Description:
"The Hague-based International Court of Justice has ordered Myanmar to take emergency measures to prevent genocide of the Rohingya.
In a unanimously-ruled order issued by a panel of 17 judges, and read by presiding Judge Abdulaqawi Ahmed Yusuf, the court upheld the provisions of the 1948 Genocide Convention - saying Myanmar had "caused irreparable damage to the rights of the Rohingya".
More:
Myanmar finds war crimes but no genocide in Rohingya crackdown
Myanmar to release its Rohingya crackdown investigation results
ICJ to rule on emergency measures in Myanmar genocide case
According to the Statute of the ICJ, the court has the power to order provisional measures when "irreparable prejudice could be caused to rights which are the subject of judicial proceedings". The court found that the condition of urgency had been met in this case.
In November the Gambia filed a suit against Myanmar alleging it was committing "an ongoing genocide against its minority Muslim Rohingya population" and violating the 1948 Genocide Convention..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2020-01-24
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Gambian Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou's actions brought Aung San Suu Kyi to The Hague to deny that her country's military was committing a genocide. As the UN's highest court orders measures to prevent further mass killings, Anna Holligan takes a look at the man taking on the Nobel laureate.
Description:
"It was an unexpected detour that led Abubacarr Tambadou from his home in the tiny West African country of The Gambia to experience an epiphany on the edge of a refugee camp in Cox's Bazar.
Listening to survivors' stories he said the "stench of genocide" began drifting across the border into Bangladesh from Myanmar.
"I realised how much more serious it was than the flashes we'd seen on television screens," he told the BBC.
"Military and civilians would organise systematic attacks against Rohingya, burn down houses, snatch babies from their mothers' arms and throw them alive into burning fires, round up and execute men; girls were gang-raped and put through all types of sexual violence."
The Rohingya are a Muslim minority in mainly Buddhist Myanmar.
'Just like Rwanda'
These chilling scenes reminded Mr Tambadou of events in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide that claimed the lives of about 800,000 people.
"It sounded very much like the kind of acts that were perpetrated against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
"It was the same modus operandi - the process of dehumanisation, calling them names - it bore all the hallmarks of genocide..."
Source/publisher:
"BBC News" (London)
Date of publication:
2020-01-23
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Experts celebrate landmark ruling, but have little hope that gov't which denies genocide will prevent further violence.
Description:
"In a ruling that the Rohingya minority have celebrated, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ordered Myanmar to take urgent measures to protect the mostly Muslim minority.
On Thursday, a panel of 17 judges unanimously decided that Myanmar should take "all measures within its power" to prevent genocide, following a case filed by The Gambia in November.
Presiding Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf said Myanmar has "caused irreparable damage to the rights of the Rohingya", referring to a military campaign of violence in Rakhine state that saw more than 740,000 members of the ethnic minority flee to neighbouring Bangladesh in 2016 and 2017.
More:
ICJ orders Myanmar to protect Rohingya
Myanmar finds war crimes but no genocide in Rohingya crackdown
'Justice served': Rohingya in Bangladesh hail ICJ order
While academics and Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh welcomed the judgement, others have urged caution - now, they say, there must be increased international scrutiny on Myanmar's treatment of the minority..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2020-01-24
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide
Language:
more
Topic:
International Justice
Sub-title:
International Court of Justice Unanimously Orders Measures to Prevent Genocide
Topic:
International Justice
Description:
"The International Court of Justice (ICJ) order on January 23, 2020, directing Myanmar to prevent all genocidal acts against Rohingya Muslims is crucial for protecting the remaining Rohingya in Rakhine State, Human Rights Watch said today. The court unanimously adopted “provisional measures” that require Myanmar to prevent genocide and take steps to preserve evidence.
Myanmar’s military committed extensive atrocities against the Rohingya, including murder, rape, and arson, that peaked during its late 2017 campaign of ethnic cleansing, forcing more than 740,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh. In September 2019, the United Nations-backed International Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar found that the 600,000 Rohingya remaining in Myanmar “may face a greater threat of genocide than ever.” “The ICJ order to Myanmar to take concrete steps to prevent the genocide of the Rohingya is a landmark step to stop further atrocities against one of the world’s most persecuted people,” said Param-Preet Singh, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch. “Concerned governments and UN bodies should now weigh in to ensure that the order is enforced as the genocide case moves forward.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of publication:
2020-01-23
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-24
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide
Language:
more
Sub-title:
The International Court of Justice decision comes in a case brought by the African nation of Gambia on behalf of an organization of Muslim nations...At public hearings last month, lawyers for Myanmar's accusers used maps, satellite images and graphic photos to detail what they call a campaign of murder, rape and destruction.
Description:
"The United Nations' highest court is set to rule Thursday on whether to order Myanmar to halt what has been described as a genocidal campaign against the country's Rohingya Muslim minority.
The International Court of Justice decision comes in a case brought by the African nation of Gambia on behalf of an organization of Muslim nations that accuses Myanmar of genocide in its crackdown on the Rohingya.
At public hearings last month, lawyers for Myanmar's accusers used maps, satellite images and graphic photos to detail what they call a campaign of murder, rape and destruction amounting to genocide perpetrated by Myanmar's military.
The hearings drew intense scrutiny from around the world as Myanmar's former pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi defended the campaign by military forces that once held her under house arrest for 15 years.
Suu Kyi, who as Myanmar's state counselor now holds an office similar to prime minister, was awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for championing democracy and human rights under Myanmar's then-ruling junta.
Buddhist-majority Myanmar has long considered the Rohingya to be "Bengalis" from Bangladesh even though their families have lived in the country for generations. Nearly all have been denied citizenship since 1982, effectively rendering them stateless. They are also denied freedom of movement and other basic rights..."
Source/publisher:
Arab News (Saudi Arabia)
Date of publication:
2020-01-23
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Momentous pronouncement follows Hague hearing at which Aung San Suu Kyi gave evidence
Description:
"The United Nations’ highest tribunal is to deliver its decision on whether emergency measures are required to prevent Myanmar conducting genocide against its Rohingya Muslim minority.
The momentous pronouncement on Thursday follows a three-day hearing at the international court of justice in The Hague last month at which the Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi defended her country against accusations of systematic human rights abuses and war crimes. The ruling on the need for “provisional measures” will be read out at 10am local time by the court’s president, Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, and may take more than an hour to deliver. The hearing will be broadcast live on the ICJ website.
The case was brought by the Gambia, a predominantly Muslim west African state that alleges Myanmar has breached the 1948 genocide convention enacted after the Holocaust. It argues that the violence is continuing..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of publication:
2020-01-23
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar
Language:
more
Description:
"An independent panel created by the Myanmar government has concluded that government security forces committed war crimes against Rohingya Muslims but that they did not commit genocide against the ethnic minority.
The findings were included in a report released Monday by the Independent Commission of Inquiry.
The commission, established by the government in July 2018, says it was “tasked to investigate allegations of human rights violations and related issues” after terrorist attacks in 2017 by a Rohingya insurgent group in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
The Myanmar government responded to the attacks with a military-led crackdown against the insurgent group, known as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army.
More than 730,000 Rohingya fled Rakhine state to neighboring Bangladesh during the weekslong crackdown that was widely condemned internationally..."
Source/publisher:
"VOA" (Washington, D.C)
Date of publication:
2020-01-21
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide
Language:
more
Topic:
War crimes, Genocide, United Nations, Rohingya, Tatmadaw, Myanmar, ASEAN
Topic:
War crimes, Genocide, United Nations, Rohingya, Tatmadaw, Myanmar, ASEAN
Description:
"It was recently reported that Myanmar had conceded that it had committed “war crimes” against its Rohingya Muslim community. This is as far as Myanmar has ever gone in admitting responsibility for the atrocities committed against its Rohingya minority. Still, to some observers, this is not good enough.
On 20 January, a Myanmar-appointed panel concluded that some soldiers likely committed war crimes against the Rohingya but that the military, however, was not guilty of genocide. The "Independent Commission of Enquiry (ICOE)" released the results of its probe just ahead of a ruling by the United Nation's (UN) top court on whether to impose urgent measures to stop alleged ongoing genocide in Myanmar.
"There is insufficient evidence to argue, much less conclude, that the crimes committed were undertaken with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical (sic), racial or religious group."
The fact that the ICOE would not admit that Myanmar’s military, also known as the Tatmadaw, were actively engaging in genocide as has been alleged, however, did not bode well with human rights groups..."
Source/publisher:
"The ASEAN Post" (Malaysia)
Date of publication:
2020-01-22
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
more
Sub-title:
'Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her partners in crimes should know that denial is a part of genocide'
Description:
"After having co-presided with the visiting Chinese president Xi Jinping over the signing of 33 agreements, including bilateral trade deals, Memorandums of Understanding, strategic partnership agreements, and technical cooperation, Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi was all smile again this Monday.
On the official website of Myanmar's Independent Commission of Enquiry, smiley Ms Suu Kyi was seen posing for cameras as the former Deputy Foreign Minister of the Philippines Ms Rosario Manalo presented her with the final report of the Myanmar-established Independent Commission of Enquiry which the Philippines diplomat chaired.
The Free Rohingya Coalition, an international network of Rohingya refugee activists and their supporters, issued a statement, refuting the findings of the commission that there is “no” or “insufficient” evidence to establish the genocidal intent behind Myanmar’s destruction of the Rohingya community in Rakhine state and the mass deportations of estimated 800,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh in 2016-2017..."
Source/publisher:
"Anadolu Agency" (Ankara)
Date of publication:
2020-01-21
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-22
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, About Aung San Suu Kyi
Language:
more
Description:
"A Myanmar-appointed panel concluded on Monday (Jan 20) that some soldiers likely committed war crimes against its Rohingya Muslim community but the military was not guilty of genocide, findings swiftly condemned by rights groups.
The "Independent Commission Of Enquiry (ICOE)" released the results of its probe just ahead of a ruling on Thursday by the UN's top court on whether to impose urgent measures to stop alleged ongoing genocide in Myanmar. It conceded some security personnel had used disproportionate force and committed war crimes and serious human rights violations, including the "killing of innocent villagers and destruction of their homes".
But the crimes did not constitute genocide, the panel decided.
"There is insufficient evidence to argue, much less conclude, that the crimes committed were undertaken with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical (sic), racial or religious group."
Military operations from August 2017 forced about 740,000 Rohingya to flee over the border into sprawling camps in Bangladesh..."
Source/publisher:
"CNA" ( Singapore)
Date of publication:
2020-01-21
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Internal displacement/forced migration of Rohingyas
Language:
more
Description:
"Maung Zarni is the co-founder of FORSEA, a grass-roots organization of Southeast Asian human rights defenders, and the co-author of “Essays on Myanmar’s Genocide of Rohingyas.”
Last month, Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi took the stand at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague to rebut allegations that her country’s systematic persecution of its Rohingya population amounts to genocide. Aung San Suu Kyi, once lionized for her stand against an oppressive military dictatorship, strenuously denied the charges — despite reams of evidence and the presence of nearly 1 million Rohingyas in refugee camps in Bangladesh. They ended up there after fleeing a so-called counterterrorism campaign by the Myanmar military in 2017 that left uncounted thousands dead..."
Source/publisher:
"The Washington Post" (USA)
Date of publication:
2020-01-16
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-16
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide
Language:
more
Description:
"The International Court of Justice, the United Nations' highest court, will issue a decision on a request for emergency measures in a genocide case against Myanmar on Jan. 23, the Gambian Ministry of Justice said on Twitter on Monday.
The mainly Muslim west African country filed the suit in November, alleging Myanmar was committing "an ongoing genocide" against its minority Muslim Rohingya population.
The ICJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Gambia has accused Myanmar of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention in a military campaign that expelled more than 730,000 Rohingya from the country.
It asked the International Court of Justice to order "provisional measures" to prevent more harm, a first step in a legal case that is expected to go on for years..."
Source/publisher:
"The New York Times" (USA)
Date of publication:
2020-01-14
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-15
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide
Language:
more
Description:
"In 2017, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya muslims were driven from their homes in Myanmar. At the time, a UN official called this a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing.” And today, the government of Myanmar is being sued at the International Court of Justice for perpetrating a genocide.
These attacks against the Rohingya are the most recent and extreme example of sectarian violence and discrimination in Myanmar — which is an incredibly diverse country with a long history of ethnic conflict.
So how does one stop this trend? How do you promote tolerance and pluralism in a place in which diversity has been used to fuel conflict? On the line with me today is someone who is doing just that.
Aung Kyaw Moe is the founder and executive director of the Center for Social Integrity in Myanmar. This is an organization that provides both humanitarian relief but also engages in peace-building and advocacy work. He is Rohingya and has used humanitarian aid in parts of the country where Rohingya live to encourage cross ethnic partnerships.
Aung Kyaw Moe and his organization recently received a high honor, the Global Pluralism Award, which is conferred by the government of Canada and the Aga Khan Foundation — and after listening to this episode, it will be clear why he won that award.
We kick of discussing diversity in Myanmar before having a longer conversation about how that how diversity has been used as a wedge to ignite conflict, and how Aung Kyaw Moe is working to reverse that trend..."
Source/publisher:
UN Dispatch
Date of publication:
2020-01-06
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-07
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide
Language:
more
Description:
"The Earth Society organised an eight-day exhibition with drawings made by Rohingya children, aged between nine and twelve. The event opened at EMK Center, Dhanmondi, on January 4. 21 drawings, portraying the heart-wrenching reality of the Rohingyas and the genocide and torture by the Myanmar Military, are on exhibit at the show.
The Earth Society is a local NGO working with capacity building, youth engagement, development, disaster management and refugee crisis, among other things. Their ‘Growing Together Campaign’ includes the youth of two different countries finding sustainable ways to address the refugee crisis. The campaign was organised by The Earth Society, with support from InterCollege, FGU, UNG AKTION, and co-funded by Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.
25 young people from the Danish organisation Youth Action and 27 young people from The Earth Society teamed up to build a project that would help both Rohingya children and their local communities through the Youth Exchange Program 2019. They visited two refugee camps, some of the host communities and participated in a number of interactive sessions with the refugees..."
Source/publisher:
"The Daily Star" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication:
2020-01-07
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-07
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Myanmar nominal leader’s defense of Rohingya crackdown at ICJ boosts her re-election chances
Description:
"To much of the world, Myanmar’s nominal leader Aung San Suu Kyi is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate turned genocide denier. At home, she is seen as a heroine who went to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to defend and uphold her country’s honor, though not necessarily in defense of the powerful military with which she has been at loggerheads for years.
The case brought to the ICJ by Gambia “to protect and preserve the rights” of Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya minority under the United Nations Genocide Convention will likely be a drawn-out and inconclusive legal process. That’s in part because all five permanent members of the UN’s Security Council may veto the enforcement of any verdict, which Myanmar allies China and Russia will likely do. Neither is an investigation ordered by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in November into alleged “crimes against humanity” committed during a Myanmar army campaign against the Rohingyas in 2017, which killed thousands and forced hundreds of thousands to flee across the border into neighboring Bangladesh, expected to succeed in prosecuting the perpetrators..."
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of publication:
2019-12-20
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), About Aung San Suu Kyi, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide
Language:
more
Sub-title:
After decades and decades of iron-fisted rule by one of the most repressive military regimes the world has ever seen, its people deserve better. At least, Justice, accountability, truth, and national reconciliation are aspirations that many have fought and died for many years. Myanmar cannot lose sight of them.
Description:
"As 2019 draws to a close, with no positive progress on the situation of human rights, Myanmar[1] has drawn international attention regarding allegations of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for crimes committed against the Rohingya. However, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s decision to represent the country as the Agent at the ICJ court proceedings in the Hague in defense of “the national interest”, has caused and continues to cause deep divisions amongst diverse people of Myanmar inside and outside of the country. Meanwhile in Rakhine State, clashes between the Arakan Army (AA) and the Myanmar military has displaced more than 5,800 people in one week while in some parts of Rakhine State people are still unable to access the internet, making it six months since it was shut down by the government. On Saturyday, twenty civil society organizations in Myanmar issued a joint statement – initiated by Free Expression Myanmar and joined by others including Progressive Voice – condemning this continued shut down of internet access in parts of Rakhine State.
In her capacity as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi took the stand at the ICJ over the course of 10 – 12 December 2019 as the Agent of Myanmar. Although she denied the genocidal intent of the crimes, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi admitted at the world court that atrocity crimes have been committed by the Myanmar military. In her statement she admitted that “it cannot be ruled out that disproportionate force was used by members of the Defence Services in some cases in disregard of international humanitarian law.” The Myanmar military can no longer hide its brutal human rights violations against the Rohingya and other ethnic minorities. However, what is troubling is that a number of public rallies were held across the country in support of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi without a clear understanding of the public hearings at the Hague. The Myanmar military and the National League for Democracy government has taken advantage of this lack of clarity, falsely claiming that the people of Myanmar are on trial, rather than the State, for violating the Genocide Convention. Therefore, many of those who gather at the rallies in support of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi believe that they have a duty to support their leader for “defending the country.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Progressive Voice" (Thailand)
Date of publication:
2019-12-22
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, About Aung San Suu Kyi, Genocide
Language:
more
Sub-title:
With facts on the ground established, the Myanmar government's defence against the genocide charge can hardly stand.
Description:
"On December 9, the world marked the anniversary of the adoption of the 1948 UN Genocide Convention: a covenant signed in the wake of the Holocaust not only to punish genocide but to prevent it.
And yet, the tatters of the shredded promise of "never again" were on display the very next day at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which from December 10 to 12 held its first hearings in the case against Myanmar for the genocide of the Rohingya.
The case was brought by The Gambia, under a provision of the Genocide Convention that permits state parties to bring a case against any other party for violations, even if they themselves are not directly affected - a reflection of the extreme gravity of the crime.
The hearings - in which The Gambia requested "provisional measures" to mitigate further deterioration of the Rohingya's situation while the wheels of justice grind slowly forward - were just the preliminary stage of a long process which will take several more years to determine whether Myanmar bears state responsibility for genocide..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2019-12-22
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide
Language:
more
Description:
"The latest resolution passed by the United Nations General Assembly condemning rights abuses against Rohingya Muslims and other minority groups in Myanmar was the third such resolution on the subject. It was approved by 134 votes in favour and nine against while 28 nations abstained. A vote so close to the hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over a petition seeking interim measures to prevent further killings and abuses with genocidal intent demands closer scrutiny to understand global community’s attitude towards the Rohingya crisis.
China and Russia’s opposition to any international condemnation of Myanmar was not unexpected as both of them in the past had supported so-called security operations against alleged insurgency. Had these two veto-wielding nations allowed the UN Security Council to find a way forward to resolve the crisis or at the least refer Myanmar to the International Criminal Court (ICC), victims of those atrocities carried out by Myanmar security forces would have gotten some hope for justice. Apparently, there’s too little Bangladesh can do to win them over.
The other seven nations who voted against the resolution were Belarus, Cambodia, Peoples Democratic Republic of Lao, Philippines, Vietnam, Zimbabwe and Myanmar. Records show that these nations too have consistently sided with Myanmar. All these countries for decades have been criticised for their human rights records. Among them, Cambodia has bitter experience of dealing with genocide. It had cooperated fully with international jurists and experts to hold some of the perpetrators to justice. But, the current authoritarian regime’s appalling human rights records in the domestic front and reliance on China for military and economic aid explain its inability to support international actions against Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
"The Daily Star" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication:
2020-01-05
Date of entry/update:
2020-01-05
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide
Language:
more
Description:
"Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi was due to leave the Netherlands on Friday after defending her country against accusations of genocide during three days of hearings at the International Court of Justice. The west African country of Gambia filed a case in November, alleging Myanmar was committing “an ongoing genocide” against its minority Muslim Rohingya population.
As a first step, Gambia asked the court to order emergency measures to protect the Rohingya and keep the conflict from getting worse.
These are meant as a kind of restraining order while the 17-judge panel looks at the full case on its merits, which usually takes several years to complete.
The court said it would rule on the request as soon as possible, but did not set a specific date. A ruling is expected within weeks.
These hearings are expected to have been the first in a long process. The genocide case against Bosnian Serbs in Srebrenica in 1995 took almost 15 years to complete..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of publication:
2019-12-13
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-16
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide
Language:
more
Description:
"“I call on each and every organ of the Myanmar State to ensure that absolutely no reprisals are taken against any group or individual that is advocating for justice and accountability in Myanmar,” said the independent expert in a statement issued on Tuesday, adding that those targeted include members of the Free Rohingya Coalition.
Legal proceedings begin
The Rohingya are a mainly Muslim population residing in northern Rakhine state in Myanmar, a majority Buddhist country.
More than 600,000 members of the minority group fled to neighbouring Bangladesh following a reported military crackdown in August 2017. Numerous alleged human rights abuses took place, with the then UN human rights chief describing it as bearing all the hallmarks of a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.
Ms. Lee recalled that The Gambia in November filed an application against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the main judicial organ of the United Nations.
The West African country brought the case to the world court on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
The ICJ proceedings began on Tuesday in The Hague, with Nobel peace laureate and Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi also present in court to defend the country against accusations of genocide. She is due to address the court on Wednesday.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has also authorized an investigation into alleged crimes against humanity committed against the Rohingya, while criminal complaints of genocide and crimes against humanity have been filed in Argentina under the principle of universal jurisdiction..."
Source/publisher:
UN News
Date of publication:
2019-12-11
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General, Genocide
Language:
more
Sub-title:
World’s failure to act over Myanmar is ‘stain on collective conscience’, UN court told
Description:
"Aung San Suu Kyi has sat impassively through graphic accounts of mass murder and rape perpetrated by Myanmar’s military at the start of a three-day hearing into allegations of genocide at the UN’s highest court.
“I stand before you to awaken the conscience of the world and arouse the voice of the international community,” Abubacarr Marie Tambadou, the Gambia’s attorney general and justice minister, said as he opened his country’s case against Myanmar at the international court of justice (ICJ) in The Hague. “In the words of Edmund Burke: ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.’
“Another genocide is unfolding right before our eyes yet we do nothing to stop it,” he said. “This is a stain on our collective conscience. It’s not only the state of Myanmar that is on trial here, it’s our collective humanity that is being put on trial.” Before dawn on Tuesday, a long queue had formed outside the Peace Palace in the Dutch city to witness the first of three days of hearings that will focus attention on military clearance operations in 2017 against the Rohingya Muslim minority, 700,000 of whom were forced to flee across the border to neighbouring Bangladesh..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of publication:
2019-12-10
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), About Aung San Suu Kyi, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar
Language:
more
Description:
"Myanmar is preparing to defend itself against charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice on Tuesday.
Heading the country's legal team will be leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2019-12-09
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide
Language:
more
Title: Ethnic Groups Support ICJ Rohingya Genocide Lawsuit Against Burma Government And Its Military
Sub-title:
The International Court of Justice began its hearing on December 10 in The Hague, Netherlands on its genocide lawsuit filed by Gambia against Burma government.
Description:
"Prior to the court hearing, several ethnic Karen, Karenni and Shan civil society groups put out a joint statement supporting Gambia’s lawsuit.
On December 2, 2019 the Worldwide Karen Community issued a statement welcoming the filing of the genocide case against Burma at the ICJ and the decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to proceed with an investigation into the crime of deportation against the Rohingya.
The statement endorsed by 48 Karen civil society organizations around the world said that as the Rohingya case, Karen people suffered for decades from systematic human rights violations by the Burma Army.
The Worldwide Karen Community statement said; “this is a critical time for action. It is urgently needed for the international community to exert further pressure, including economic sanctions, to push for a complete halt to Burma Army offensives throughout the country – and to start a genuine, inclusive dialogue. Only a new federal constitution, granting the ethnic people their right to autonomy, and bringing the Burma Army under civilian control, can bring an end to the civil war and the ongoing crimes by the Burma Army.”
On December 8, the Karen Grassroots Women Network put out a statement supporting the ICJ lawsuit saying that for decades, women have experienced and witnessed the abuse of ethnic people in Burma taking place with impunity..."
Source/publisher:
"Karen News" (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2019-12-11
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide
Language:
more
Description:
"A three-day hearing initiated after Gambia filed lawsuit in November on Rohingya crisis.
Aung San Suu Kyi arrived at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on Tuesday for a highly anticipated genocide case against Myanmar.
The case, the first international legal attempt to bring Myanmar to justice over alleged mass killings of the Rohingya minority, comes after the Gambia on November 11 filed an application at the ICJ, accusing Myanmar of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention.
More than 700,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh to escape the violence..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2019-12-10
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General, Genocide
Language:
more
Description:
"The sight of more than a dozen young men armed with machetes walking out of a burning village in Western Myanmar is the moment I realized that I was witnessing a genocide in progress.
In the eight years I spent documenting a campaign of oppression against the country's ethnic minority Rohingya Muslims, I had heard countless tales from victims who had endured or witnessed atrocities committed by Myanmar's security forces.
Now, I was witnessing it in real time during the tail end of a government-approved press tour to Rakhine state’s conflict zone in September of 2017.
Two men, barefoot and wearing traditional longyis, stopped briefly on a dirt footpath in front of me as I filmed the destruction.
A journalist asked what they were doing. Speaking a local dialect, one replied that they had been ordered by Myanmar's Border Guard Forces (BGF) to burn the village.
At their feet lay plastic jugs with diesel fuel. Behind them, orange flames devoured the bamboo huts in the now-empty hamlet of Gaw du Thara.
Source/publisher:
"VOA" (Washington, D.C)
Date of publication:
2019-12-10
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar
Language:
more
Sub-title:
In an unprecedented move, former human rights icon defends Myanmar generals over mass killings, rape, and displacement.
Description:
"Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi will defend genocide allegations against Myanmar's military on Wednesday amid accusations of mass killings, rape, and expulsion of the Rohingya Muslim minority.
The Gambia, a small West African country, launched the case against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the United Nations's highest court, alleging it violated the 1948 Genocide Convention.
More:
New Rohingya book tells of the 'slow burn of genocide'
Aung San Suu Kyi arrives at ICJ as Myanmar faces genocide case
US slaps sanctions on Myanmar military chief over Rohingya abuses
Aung San Suu Kyi - once a human rights icon who fought against the powerful military for democracy - shocked critics and galvanised supporters at home by travelling to The Hague to head her country's delegation. Her office said she was going to "defend the national interest".
She listened impassively on Tuesday as lawyers for The Gambia detailed graphic testimony of suffering of Rohingya at the hands of Myanmar's security forces, including gang rape, torture, and murder.
"It was very important to see her have to sit inches away from people who were describing - in really painfully excruciating detail - all the horrible crimes of the Burmese military that happened on her watch," Brad Adams, of New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), told Al Jazeera..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2019-12-11
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
more
Description:
"The International Court of Justice (ICJ) kicked off its first hearings on The Gambia's case against Myanmar over accusations of genocide against the Rohingya people in The Hague on Tuesday.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner, and one-time champion for human rights, Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi attended Tuesday's hearing at the ICJ, representing Myanmar, in a move which has been widely criticised.
"All that The Gambia asks is that you tell Myanmar to stop these senseless killings, to stop these acts of barbarity that continue to shock our collective conscience, to stop this genocide of its own people." Gambia's Attorney General and Justice Minister Abubacarr M. Tambadou said during the hearing.
The Gambia is seeking provisional measures to protect the rights of Rohingya people under the 1948 UN Genocide Convention..."
Source/publisher:
"Ruptly" (Berlin)
Date of publication:
2019-12-10
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Court of Justice (ICJ) - General, International Court of Justice (ICJ) - Myanmar, Genocide
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Humanitarian agencies say Rohingya people displaced by violence in Rakhine state are forced to live in squalid conditions
Description:
"The UK has broken ranks with the UN and will keep funding “closed” Rohingya camps inside Myanmar despite fears that doing so may entrench “apartheid-like” conditions in the country, the Guardian has learned.
Internal briefing documents as well as interviews with UN and humanitarian agency officials in Myanmar showed the British government was maintaining a policy of providing aid and other support to displaced people living in camps in Myanmar’s Rakhine state that have been slated for closure since 2017.
The facilities have been criticised for being squalid, unsanitary and entrenching the segregation of Rohingya and other Muslim minorities, who in most cases are prevented from leaving..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of publication:
2019-12-11
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Myanmar leader will defend country against charges of genocide over a 2017 crackdown on the Rohingya filed by Gambia.
Description:
"Aung San Suu Kyi will appear at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on Tuesday for a highly anticipated genocide case against Myanmar.
The country's civilian leader, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her struggle against Myanmar's military dictatorship, arrived at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport on Sunday alongside Wouter Jurgens, the Dutch ambassador to Myanmar, and was greeted by a handful of supporters. More:
Rohingya campaigners say won't be 'silenced' by online threats
Myanmar sets up special legal unit as Rohingya cases loom
A boy who can sing: The life of a Rohingya child refugee
Several demonstrations, for and against her, are expected to take place in the coming days in the Dutch city.
The case, the first international legal attempt to bring Myanmar to justice over alleged mass killings of the Rohingya minority, comes after the Gambia on November 11 filed an application at the ICJ, accusing Myanmar of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention.
Aung San Suu Kyi's office confirmed last month that she would participate in the hearing and lead her country's team to "defend the national interest".
More than 700,000 Rohingya, a mostly-Muslim minority, fled to neighbouring Bangladesh after a bloody crackdown in 2017 by the Myanmar military, which UN investigators have concluded was carried out with "genocidal intent"..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2019-12-10
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-10
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), About Aung San Suu Kyi, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
more
Description:
"From democracy champion to defending Myanmar against genocide charges, the shock decision by civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi to face the UN’s top court risks further damaging her image overseas and deepening the siege mentality at home.
“We stand with you,” proclaim billboards across Myanmar, sporting beaming portraits of the Nobel laureate as she prepares to face the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the Rohingya crisis.
Suu Kyi’s supporters are printing off T-shirts, organising rallies and even signing up to VIP tours to The Hague to offer their backing.
Political parties and even some rebel armed groups have also fallen over themselves to give their support, in a country where the Rohingya garner little sympathy and are widely regarded as illegal immigrants.
Yet overseas, particularly in the West and in Muslim countries, Suu Kyi’s reputation lies in tatters with multiple awards and even an honorary citizenship revoked.
Critics say “The Lady”, once lauded alongside Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, has become an apologist for a murderous military intent on wiping out the country’s Rohingya Muslims.
The spectacle of Suu Kyi standing up in court on behalf of the nation might play well at home but she risks suffering a fatal blow to what remains of her international reputation.
“If she’s only going to use the visit to demonstrate defiance and continue to defend the indefensible, then it only widens the impasse,” Yangon-based analyst David Mathieson told AFP..."
Source/publisher:
Agence France-Presse (AFP) (France) via "The Daily Star" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication:
2019-12-09
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-10
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), About Aung San Suu Kyi, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
more
Description:
"နယ်သာလန်နိုင်ငံက ICJ တရားရုံးအထိ ကိုယ်တိုင်သွားပြီး နိုင်ငံ့ကိုယ်စား ဦးဆောင်ရင်ဆိုင်ရဲတဲ့ ဒေါ်အောင် ဆန်းစုကြည်ရဲ့လုပ်ရပ်ကို ကြိဆိုထောက်ခံတယ်လို့ ဝါရင့် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးလှုပ်ရှားသူ Equality Myanmar ရဲ့ အမှုဆောင်ဒါရိုက်တာ ဦးအောင်မျိုးမင်းကပြောပါတယ်။ One News က ဦးထက်အောင်ကျော်နဲ့ သီးသန့် မေးမြန်းခန်းအတွင်း သူက အဲဒီလိုပြောခဲ့တာပါ။
အခု ထုတ်လွှင့်ပေးမယ့် မေးမြန်းချက် ပထမ ပိုင်းမှာတော့… ICJ နဲ့ ICC ဘာကွာသလဲ၊ ICC က စွပ်စွဲစဉ်က ဘာမှမတုန့်ပြန်ဘဲ ICJ ပြောမှ နိုင်ငံတော်အတိုင်ပင်ခံပုဂ္ဂိုလ်ကိုယ်တိုင် သွားရောက်ဖြေရှင်းတာ ဘာကြောင့်လဲ၊ တရားရုံးရဲ့ ဆုံးဖြတ်ချက်က ဘာဖြစ်နိုင်သလဲ၊ လူထုထောက်ခံပွဲတွေက ဒေါ်အောင်ဆန်းစုကြည်ကို ထောက်ခံ တာအပြင် ရခိုင်အရေးဖြစ်စဉ်တွေအပေါ်ပါ ကရက်ရိုက်မှုရှိလာနိုင်သလား… စတဲ့အကြောင်းအရာတွေကို ဆွေးနွေးတင်ပြထားပါတယ်။..."
Source/publisher:
One News (Myanmar)
Date of publication:
2019-12-10
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-10
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
International Criminal Court (Myanmar), Genocide, About Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese-language news sources: Broadcast (radio and TV)
Language:
Font:
Unicode
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Description:
"The Nobel Peace Prize laureate will hear allegations that Myanmar committed atrocities against Muslim Rohingya.
Thousands of Rohingya were killed and more than 700,000 fled to neighbouring Bangladesh during an army crackdown in the Buddhist-majority country in 2017.
Myanmar has always insisted it was tackling an extremist threat.
The case has been brought by the small African nation of The Gambia.
In the initial three-day hearing at the ICJ, it will ask the court to approve temporary measures to protect the Rohingya.
What are the accusations?
At the start of 2017, there were one million Rohingya in Myanmar (formerly Burma), most living in Rakhine state.
But Myanmar, a mainly Buddhist country, considers them illegal immigrants and denies them citizenship.
Blow by blow: How a 'genocide' was investigated
Will Omar get justice for his murdered family?
The Rohingya have long complained of persecution, and in 2017 the military - the Tatmadaw - launched a massive military operation in Rakhine.
According to the ICJ documents, the military stands accused of "widespread and systematic clearance operations" against the Rohingya, beginning in October 2016 and expanding in August 2017.
It will hear allegations that the clearances were "intended to destroy the Rohingya as a group, in whole or in part", via mass murder, rape, and setting fire to their buildings "often with inhabitants locked inside"..."
Source/publisher:
"BBC News" (London)
Date of publication:
2019-12-10
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-10
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
more
Sub-title:
A brutal crackdown on the minority Rohingya has brought Myanmar to the UN's highest court and charges of genocide.
Description:
"Aung San Suu Kyi, former political prisoner, Nobel Peace Prize winner and now Myanmar's civilian leader, is in the Netherlands to defend the country against charges of genocide in relation to a brutal 2017 crackdown on its Rohingya minority.
Around 740,000 mostly Muslim Rohingya fled into neighbouring Bangladesh when the military swept through villages in western Rakhine state after an armed group attacked a number of security posts.
The United Nation's top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), will start hearing the case brought by The Gambia against Myanmar on Tuesday.
The International Criminal Court has also approved a full investigation of allegations of crimes against humanity committed during the military crackdown, while Aung San Suu Kyi herself has been accused of committing crimes against the Rohingya in a case brought in Argentina.
Myanmar has denied charges of genocide..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of publication:
2019-12-10
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-10
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
more
Sub-title:
Peace prize winner will lead her country’s defence against claims at court in Netherlands
Description:
"A momentous legal confrontation will take place at the UN’s highest court on Tuesday when the Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi appears in person to defend Myanmar against accusations of genocide.
Once internationally feted as a human rights champion, Myanmar’s state counsellor is scheduled to lead a delegation to the international court of justice (ICJ) in The Hague.
The claim that Myanmar’s military carried out mass murder, rape and destruction of Rohingya Muslim communities has been brought by the Gambia, a west African state that belongs to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
The contrast is repeatedly drawn between Aung San Suu Kyi’s 1991 peace prize win and 15 years spent under house arrest, and her present position as chief denier that any ethnic violence has been perpetrated against the Rohingya. Last year, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum revoked her Elie Wiesel award..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of publication:
2019-12-08
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-09
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, About Aung San Suu Kyi
Language:
more
Description:
"From democracy champion to defending Myanmar against genocide charges, the shock decision by civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi to face the UN’s top court risks further damaging her image overseas and deepening the siege mentality at home.
“We stand with you,” proclaim billboards across Myanmar, sporting beaming portraits of the Nobel laureate as she prepares to face the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the Rohingya crisis.
Suu Kyi’s supporters are printing off T-shirts, organizing rallies and even signing up to VIP tours to The Hague to offer their backing.
Political parties and even some rebel armed groups have also fallen over themselves to give their support, in a country where the Rohingya garner little sympathy and are widely regarded as illegal immigrants..."
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of publication:
2019-12-08
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-09
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, About Aung San Suu Kyi
Language:
more
Description:
"Speaking at the first day of the International Conference on Protection of Rohingya Survivors and Accountability for Genocide, professor and UN Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee delivered an inspirational opening keynote, calling Myanmar’s policies of persecution towards Rohingyas a classic genocide while exhorting activists in the audience – and on YouTube – to “call a spade a spade”.
She invoked the inter-state treaty known as the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Lee rightly slammed the United Nations, particularly the Security Council, to discharge its founding charter, exposed the unconscionable presence of Myanmar solders among the UN Peacekeepers and destroyed the credibility of the United Nations.
The two-day International Conference was at at Sogang University in Seoul, S. Korea, August 23-24, 2019..."
Source/publisher:
"FORSEA Forces of Renewal Southeast Asia"
Date of publication:
2019-08-29
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-09
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
more
Description:
"Human Rights in Myanmar - videotape presentation by Prof. Yanghee Lee at the International Conference on Protection and Accountability..."
Source/publisher:
" Free Rohingya Coalition"
Date of publication:
2019-02-09
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-09
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
more
Source/publisher:
"CNN" (USA)
Date of publication:
2019-08-27
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-09
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
more
Description:
"The United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on human rights Yanghee Lee urged Myanmar's government to lift its ban on Internet access in several townships. Speaking to media in Kuala Lumpur, she said her findings showed the worsening rights situation in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
"CNA" ( Singapore)
Date of publication:
2019-07-18
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-09
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
more
Description:
"Physicians for Human Rights was joined by Amnesty International and UN Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee for a Human Rights Council 41st session side event on the long-term legacy of state-backed violence against Myanmar's minorities.
Experts:
Yanghee Lee, Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, United Nations
Hilary Power, Senior Advocate for the UN Human Rights Council, Amnesty International
Phelim Kine, Director of Research and Investigations, Physicians for Human Rights
Moderated by: Antoine Madelin, International Advocacy Director, International Federation for Human Rights..."
Source/publisher:
"PHRvideo"
Date of publication:
2019-07-01
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-09
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide
Language:
more
Description:
"The U.N. special rapporteur on Myanmar Yanghee Lee said on Friday that violence against Rohingya Muslims was continuing and that Myanmar's military was forcing them to flee.
The military is "slowly bleeding the remaining Rohingya population and continuing to force them to flee to Bangladesh," Yanghee Lee told reporters in Dhaka after a visit to the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh.
"The causes of the current Rohingya situation lie in Myanmar and it is to Myanmar that we must look for the solution," said Lee
The government of Myanmar has refused Lee entrance to the country.
Referring to recent reports of Saudi Arabia and India deporting groups of Rohingya, Lee said these countries must ensure that Rohingya within their borders are protected and that their status as refugees is recognised.
Most people in Buddhist-majority Myanmar do not accept that the Rohingya Muslims are a native ethnic group..."
Source/publisher:
"AP Archive" (New York)
Date of publication:
2019-01-30
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-09
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya
Language:
more
Sub-title:
The causes and solutions to the crisis lie in Myanmar, Benoit Préfontaine said
Description:
"Canada has said they are using all tools at their disposal, including sanctions, against Myanmar leaders and companies as well as diplomatic efforts to help find a solution to Rohingya crisis.
"We fully agree that the causes and solutions to the crisis lie in Myanmar, and this is why we are using all tools at our disposal to help," Canadian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Benoit Préfontaine.
The High Commissioner was addressing a symposium titled “Bangladesh-Canada Relations: Prognosis for Partnership” at a Dhaka hotel organized by Cosmos Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Cosmos Group, as part of its Ambassador’s Lecture Series on Saturday.
Highlighting Canada’s supports over Rohingya issue, Foreign Secretary (Senior Secretary) Md Shahidul Haque, who spoke at the event as the chief guest, termed Bangladesh-Canada relation a trouble-free one which is growing on all fronts, reports UNB.
Chairman of the Cosmos Foundation Enayetullah Khan delivered the welcome speech at the symposium chaired by Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, the Principal Research Fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore, and former foreign affairs Adviser to Bangladesh’s previous caretaker government..."
Source/publisher:
"Dhaka Tribune" (Bangladesh)
Date of publication:
2019-12-07
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Burmese refugees in Bangladesh, Canada-Burma relations
Language:
more
Description:
"Myanmar leader and Nobel peace prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi departed on Sunday for the U.N’s top court in The Hague to defend the country against charges of genocide of its Rohingya Muslim minority. Suu Kyi was pictured smiling as she walked through the airport in the nation’s capital, Naypyitaw, flanked by officials, a day after thousands rallied in the city to support her and a prayer ceremony was held in her name.
Crowds are expected to gather again in the afternoon to send off several dozen supporters who will travel to The Hague in the Netherlands and demonstrations are planned throughout the coming week, with hearings set for Dec. 10 to 12.
Gambia, a tiny, mainly Muslim West African country, filed a lawsuit in November accusing Buddhist-majority Myanmar of genocide, the most serious international crime, against its Rohingya Muslim minority.
During three days of hearings, it will ask the 16-member panel of U.N judges at the International Criminal Court of Justice to impose “provisional measures” to protect the Rohingya before the case can be heard in full..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of publication:
2019-12-08
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, About Aung San Suu Kyi
Language:
more
Description:
" From democracy champion to defending Myanmar against genocide charges, the shock decision by civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi to face the UN's top court risks further damaging her image overseas and deepening the siege mentality at home.
"We stand with you," proclaim billboards across Myanmar, sporting beaming portraits of the Nobel laureate as she prepares to face the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the Rohingya crisis.
Suu Kyi's supporters are printing off T-shirts, organising rallies and even signing up to VIP tours to The Hague to offer their backing.
Political parties and even some rebel armed groups have also fallen over themselves to give their support, in a country where the Rohingya garner little sympathy and are widely regarded as illegal immigrants.
Yet overseas, particularly in the West and in Muslim countries, Suu Kyi's reputation lies in tatters with multiple awards and even an honorary citizenship revoked..."
Source/publisher:
"CNA" ( Singapore)
Date of publication:
2019-12-08
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, Genocide, About Aung San Suu Kyi
Language:
more
Description:
"Thousands rallied in support of Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar Saturday, on the eve of her departure for the UN’s top court to defend Myanmar against charges of genocide against Rohingya Muslims.
The raucous rally in the capital Naypyidaw came as China’s foreign minister arrived for a visit at Suu Kyi’s invitation.
Analysts say Beijing’s permanent seat on the UN Security Council – and its veto vote – makes it a valuable ally as Myanmar faces intensifying scrutiny over its treatment of the Rohingya.
Once-lauded democracy champion Suu Kyi’s shock decision to face the International Court of Justice (ICJ) next week to defend Myanmar against charges it committed genocide against the Muslim minority risks further damaging her already tattered overseas reputation.
But domestically “The Lady” remains revered, and the resolve of her supporters has only hardened in the lead-up to the ICJ hearing scheduled for December 10-12.
“We are proud of her taking accountability... by going to The Hague to protect the nation’s image,” shouted prominent writer Htin Lin Oo into a microphone in front of a banner emblazoned with the words “We stand with our leader.”
“Our blood shall come together and unite us when it is important,” he shouted to a cheering crowd, who hoisted colourful artwork of Suu Kyi in the air..."
Source/publisher:
Agence France-Presse (AFP) (France) via "New Straits Times" (Malaysia)
Date of publication:
2019-12-07
Date of entry/update:
2019-12-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, About Aung San Suu Kyi
Language:
more