CITIZEN
May 1, 2019
By: MARIE-DANIELLE SMITH
Critics call Trudeau's government hypocritical for making regretful statements about events such as the Holocaust but failing to do more to stop an ongoing genocide
Rohingya refugees watch as firefighters douse flames after a fire broke out in the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh, April 24, 2019. AP
OTTAWA — A Senate motion will urge the Liberal government to meet Canada’s international treaty obligations by holding Myanmar accountable for its treatment of the Rohingya Muslim minority.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is hypocritical, say some, for making regretful statements about historical events such as the Holocaust and the Rwandan genocide but failing to do more to stop what Parliament has unanimously acknowledged as an ongoing genocide.
“How can you stand up as a government, as politicians, to talk about historic atrocities of the past and say, ‘we can’t let this happen,’ and ‘never again,’ and then when something is actually happening in front of you, before your eyes, and you have the tools available to do something, you do nothing?” said Fareed Khan, director of advocacy for the Rohingya Human Rights Network.
“The fact is if we are going to be a nation that strides around the world thumping our chest and saying that we are defenders of human rights and upholders of the rule of law, when things like this happen, when a genocide is happening and you recognize a genocide is happening, then to not do anything I think is basically morally indefensible.”No progress in making it safe for Rohingya to return to Myanmar: UN aid chief
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Independent senator Marilou McPhedran is expected to introduce the motion as early as Thursday and said she is optimistic the upper chamber will adopt it. McPhedran is in touch with MPs, including Liberals, who have made positive noises about supporting a similar motion in the House of Commons, she said.
It asks the government to invoke the United Nations Genocide Convention, of which Canada and Myanmar are both signatories, to pursue a case against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice. It also asks Canada to “exert pressure” on Myanmar to release two Reuters journalists who were jailed for exposing a 2017 massacre of Rohingya Muslims, and to allow independent investigators access to Rakhine State, the epicentre of the violence perpetrated by Myanmar’s military.
Myanmar’s government does not recognize Rohingya Muslims as legitimate citizens. Its military claims it is fighting Rohingya militants but international charities and news organizations have reported widespread violence against civilians in Rakhine State, including the razing of hundreds of entire villages. Upwards of 10,000 have died and as of mid-February the UN was reporting more than 900,000 refugees had fled into neighbouring Bangladesh.
In September, Canada became the first country in the world whose legislature formally recognized the situation as a genocide. Both houses also voted to revoke the honorary citizenship of Myanmar’s political leader Aung San Suu Kyi, once a human rights hero.
“This motion is the logical next step for Canada to continue to step up. Not to stop at the very important words of the joint motion in September,” said McPhedran, who is a human rights lawyer. “I see the Senate initiative as being a way for us as senators to continue to build the pathway to there actually being accountability for the genocide while the genocide is going on and not waiting 10 years or 20 years to express regret.”
Rohingya refugees pray in the Kutupalong refugee camp in Ukhia, Bangladesh, Aug. 25, 2018. DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Khan warned authoritarian leaders could be emboldened if Myanmar does not face serious international repercussions. He pointed to the detention of Ughyur Muslims in China — up to a million of them, according to some estimates — in re-education camps as another example. “If we don’t stand up to this, stand up and take action on this, then who is going to be next … if they see that the international order, and the treaties that are supposed to defend that order are toothless?”
A spokesman for Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, Adam Austen, provided a statement outlining the actions Canada has already taken: recognizing the atrocities as a genocide, sanctioning key military commanders, calling on the UN Security Council to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court
— which can prosecute individuals for war crimes, as opposed to the International Court of Justice, which deals with legal matters at the state level
— and calling for access of UN organizations to Rakhine State.
Canada also “led the effort” to establish an Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar at the UN “to build and collect evidence for the prosecution of international crimes including genocide,” Austen said. As for the journalists, “Canada is deeply dismayed. These journalists were detained and sentenced for investigating and exposing the atrocities committed by Myanmar’s military as part of the genocide carried out against the Rohingya people.”
Austen did not comment on the contents of the motion. “Canada will continue to lead international efforts to support the Rohingya’s basic needs, to exert pressure on the Myanmar government and to bring justice to the Rohingya for all they have suffered,” he said. “We will closely follow developments in the Senate.”
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