Argentina court to investigate Myanmar war crimes against Rohingya Muslims

The Guardian 

Agence France-Presse
Mon 29 Nov 2021 

The case, which the UN says could amount to genocide, was brought under the legal premise of universal justice.

Protesters show support for the Rohingya outside the Peace Palace in the Netherlands on 10 December 2019. Myanmar is facing legal challenges from all over the world, including Argentina. Photograph: Sem van der Wal/EPA

Argentina’s justice system will investigate allegations of war crimes committed by the Myanmar military against that country’s Rohingya minority under a court ruling upholding the principles of “universal justice”.

The appeals court decision, which Agence France-Presse has seen, overturns a lower court ruling rejecting a request for an investigation by the British-based Burmese Rohingya Organisation (BROUK).

Two Burmese soldiers confess to war crimes against the Rohingya

The Economic
Sep 12th 2020 edition

They shot the smoking guns

They are being questioned by the International Criminal Court


PRIVATE MYO WIN TUN looked steadily into the camera as he recounted two weeks in August 2017 when he and his battalion laid waste to several villages in Rakhine, a state in the far west of Myanmar. They were there, he said, as part of the Burmese army’s “clearance operations” targeting the Rohingya, a persecuted Muslim ethnic minority, which sparked the exodus of more than 740,000 Rohingyas to neighbouring Bangladesh. Mr Myo Win Tun confessed to participating in the massacre of 30 Rohingyas, whom he helped to bury in a mass grave, and to raping one woman. In another video, Private Zaw Naing Tun said that his battalion “wiped out about 20 Muslim villages”, and that he stood sentry while his superiors raped women. Based on their accounts, Fortify Rights, a human-rights NGO which obtained the footage, believes these two men may be directly responsible for killing 180 Rohingyas.

Bangladesh's Rohingya refugees lobby ICC to sit in Asia during war crimes investigation

ABC Net
By Angelique Lu

01.09.2020

Muhammed Nowkhim is one of hundreds of Rohingya refugees hoping to testify before the ICC.(Supplied. Muhammed Nowkhim.)

Two Australian lawyers acting on behalf of hundreds of Rohingya refugees are pushing to have the International Criminal Court (ICC) sit in Asia for the first time.

The ICC is investigating allegations of genocide and crimes against humanity allegedly committed by Myanmar Government and military officials in 2017.

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya — a stateless, mostly Muslim minority group — fled to neighbouring Bangladesh during the unrest.

Myanmar Army Actions in Rakhine State Should be Tried as ‘War Crimes,’ Says Amnesty

Radio Free Asia
2020-07-08 

Houses burn in abandoned Letka village in Mrauk-U township amid armed conflict in western Myanmar's Rakhine state, May 16, 2020. Residents fled the community in April 2019 following clashes between Myanmar and ethnic rebel forces, and sought shelter in displacement camps.
Associated Press

Myanmar’s army has shelled villages and burned homes in Rakhine state in recent months, killing and displacing civilians in “attacks that amount to war crimes” that should be tried by the International Criminal Court, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

Aung San Suu Kyi: Give Myanmar time to deliver justice on war crimes

FINANCIAL TIMES
Aung San Suu Kyi
January 23 2020
 

Independent commission has documented killing of civilians and looting

Aung San Suu Kyi writes that the voice of victims 'must be heard' but investigators must also be 'vigilant in their search for truth' © Yves Herman/Reuters 

This week, a comprehensive inquiry into the 2017 violence and mass displacement in the state of Rakhine presented its final report to Myanmar’s president. 

 

The Independent Commission of Enquiry interviewed close to 1,500 witnesses, including security personnel and affected persons. It has gathered more first-hand information than any other fact-finding body in the world. 

War crimes, not genocide committed against Rohingya: Myanmar probe

Bangkok Post
21 Jan 2020

A Rohingya refugee reacts while holding his dead son after crossing the Naf river from Myanmar into Bangladesh on October 9, 2017, about two months after operations by the Myanmar military began. 

YANGON - A Myanmar-appointed panel concluded Monday 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.

War crimes, not genocide committed against Rohingya: Myanmar probe

AFP
20 January' 2020

A Rohingya refugee reacts while holding his dead son after crossing the Naf river from Myanmar into Bangladesh on October 9, 2017, about two months after operations by the Myanmar military began

Myanmar-appointed panel concluded Monday 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.

Myanmar panel: Security forces likely committed war crimes

The WashingtonTimes
Associated Press
Monday, January 20, 2020

Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi, right, shakes hands with Philippine diplomat Rosario Manalo, a member of the Independent Commission of Enquiry for Rakhine State, at the Presidential Palace in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Monday, Jan. 20, 2020. An independent commission established ... more >

 

NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (AP) - An independent commission established by Myanmar’s government has concluded there are reasons to believe that security forces committed war crimes in counterinsurgency operations that led more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to neighboring Bangladesh.

Myanmar finds war crimes but no genocide in Rohingya crackdown

Aljazeera
2020.01.21
ICOE report comes days before UN's top court issues ruling on whether urgent measures are necessary to stop genocide.

Rohingya, who have lived in Myanmar for generations, fled to Bangladesh in 2017 and are fearful of returning without guarantees on their rights and citizenship [File: Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters]

A commission set up to investigate the 2017 crackdown in Rakhine that led hundreds of thousands of mostly Muslim Rohingya to flee Myanmar, has concluded that while some soldiers probably committed war crimes there was no genocide.

The Independent Commission of Enquiry (ICOE) released the findings of its investigation, but not the full report, to the country's president on Monday, a few days before the United Nations' top court is set to rule on whether to impose urgent measures to stop the alleged continuing genocide in Myanmar. 

In Myanmar's conflict-torn Rakhine, fresh allegations of 'war crimes'

KFGO
Friday, July 12, 2019
By Poppy McPherson and Thu Thu Aung

 FILE PHOTO: Recently displaced children play around the ancient pagodas in Mrauk U, Rakhine state, Myanmar June 28, 2019. REUTERS/Ann Wang 

MRAUK-U, Myanmar (Reuters) - When 35-year-old Ah Hla showed up to a police station in western Myanmar in late April hoping to see her husband among the prisoners, she didn't know whether he was alive or dead.

Several dozen men, including her fisherman husband, had been detained weeks earlier when the military raided their village in central Rakhine state's Mrauk-U township and accused them of belonging to a rebel army, residents told Reuters.

Investigator: UN, International Community Fail to Hold Myanmar Accountable for Crimes Against Rohingya

VOA

By Lisa Schlein
July 3, 2019 

Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee gives her report to the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, March 11, 2019. 

GEVENA, SWITZERLAND - A U.N. investigator says the United Nations and international community have failed to hold the government of Myanmar accountable for decades of persecution and repression against the minority Rohingya Muslims. The report from the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar is under discussion at the U.N. Human Rights Council.

More than one million Rohingya refugees have fled to Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh to escape violence, persecution and death in Myanmar. U.N. investigator Yanghee Lee says she is concerned the international community is beginning to overlook their situation.

UN warns of possible new war crimes in Myanmar

THE GURDIAN
Hannah Ellis-Petersen
Thu 4 Jul 2019

Special rapporteur tells of abductions and torture of civilians by Myanmar military and insurgent group

 The UN special rapporteur to Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, said the situation in Myanmar was worsening by the day. Photograph: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images

Human rights abuses that may amount to fresh war crimes are being committed against civilians in Myanmar’s restive Rakhine and Chin states, the UN has said, as the fighting between the military and rebel groups intensifies.

Speaking to the UN human rights council (UNHRC), Yanghee Lee, the UN special rapporteur on Myanmar, detailed accounts of abduction and torture of civilians by both the Myanmar army and the rebel insurgent group the Arakan Army, which is fighting for greater autonomy in the region.

“The conflict with the Arakan Army in northern Rakhine state and parts of southern Chin state has continued over the past few months and the impact on civilians is devastating,” Lee told the UNHRC on Tuesday. “Many acts of the Tatmadaw [Myanmar armed forces] and the Arakan Army violate international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes, as well as violating human rights.”

U.N. investigator reports possible fresh war crimes in Myanmar

REUTERS

Stephanie Nebehay

July 2, 2019 

(This July 2 story removes incorrect reference to “Yangon government” in paragraph three. Yangon is not the capital.)  

A stranded boat which was used by Rohingya Muslims is seen at the Thande village beach outside Yangon, Myanmar November 16, 2018. REUTERS/Myat Thu Kyaw

GENEVA (Reuters) - Myanmar security forces and insurgents are committing human rights violations against civilians in restive western states that may amount to fresh war crimes, a United Nations investigator said on Tuesday.

A 2017 military crackdown drove more than 730,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to Bangladesh. U.N. investigators have said that Myanmar’s operation included mass killings, gang rapes and widespread arson and was executed with “genocidal intent”.

Burmese forces may be committing fresh war crimes against Rohingya, UN investigator says

The Telegraph

Gaia Caramazza 

3 July 2019

 

 Rohingya refugee children learn the Koran in a madrasa, or Islamic school, in a Rohingya refugee camp in Ukhia Credit: AFP

Burmese security forces are committing fresh human rights violations that may amount to new allegations of war crimes, a United Nations investigator said on Tuesday.

These claims surfaced with the deployment of thousands of Burmese troops fighting ethnic rebels in Rakhine and Chin, the conflict-ridden Western states of the country.

After a 2017 military crackdown, 730,000 Rohingya Muslims fled from Western Burma, and sought refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh.

New Evidence Uncovers War Crimes Committed By Myanmar Military

The Organisation for World Peace
9 Jun, 2019
by Rachel Cowcher

Military operations in the Rakhine State of Myanmar, have been declared as war crimes after recent investigations. Amnesty International’s report ‘“No one can protect us”: War Crimes and abuses in Myanmar’s Rakhine State’ released on May 29, found that since January 2019, Myanmar military has been conducting acts of violence with complete disregard for civilian lives, resulting in innocent people being injured or killed. The report details military activity including “extrajudicial executions, arbitrary arrests, torture and other ill-treatment, as well as enforced disappearances”.

Myanmar’s Military Is Still Committing War Crimes Against the Rohingya

Vice News
By David Gilbert
May 29, 2019

The Myanmar military units that committed war crimes against Rohingya Muslims in 2017 are still committing atrocities against the minority group today, according to a new report from Amnesty International.

Myanmar: Military commits war crimes in latest operation in Rakhine State

29 May 2019

 Myanmar,War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity

• New abuses come after government order to “crush” armed group

• Military units responsible for past atrocities are committing war crimes, while deployment of additional units suggests involvement of senior generals

• International community is failing – ICC referral urgently needed

Following a recent investigation in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, Amnesty International has gathered new evidence that the Myanmar military is committing war crimes and other human rights violations. The military operation is ongoing, raising the prospect of additional crimes being committed.

Myanmar military committing war crimes in Rakhine: Amnesty

Aljazeera
by Kate Mayberry

29/05/2019

Human rights group calls for situation in Rakhine state to be referred to International Criminal Court, sanctions.

 Myanmar border guards at Goke Pi outpost in Buthidaung during a government organised media tour of Rakhine state in January [Stringer/Reuters]

The same units of the Myanmar military that in 2017 were implicated in a brutal crackdown that drove hundreds of thousands of mainly Muslim Rohingya from the country are again committing war crimes as they step up their campaign against ethnic Rakhine rebels, Amnesty International has said.

UN: Attacks in Myanmar's Rakhine state could be 'war crimes'

Taiwan News  

By  Deutsche Welle

2019/04/06 15:02

The United Nations human rights agency on Friday condemned recent fighting between Myanmar's army and guerrillas of the Rakhine insurgent group known as the Arakan Army.

The spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ravina Shamdasani, said the agency had "credible reports of the killing of civilians, burning of houses, arbitrary arrests, abductions, indiscriminate fire in civilian areas and damage to cultural property."