Can a Lawsuit Stop a Genocide?

COMMONWEAL

By Paul C. Saunders

October 13, 2020

 

The case against Myanmar 

Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh (Alamy/Mahady Hasan Riad)

On January 23, 2020, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, informally known as the World Court, rendered a historic judgment. The decree ordered the government of Myanmar to comply with several directives: to take measures to prevent genocide against the Rohingya people; to ensure that its military refrain from acts prohibited by the Genocide Convention; and to preserve evidence and submit a report to the court within four months, detailing compliance with the court’s order. The unanimous decision by the fifteen-judge court represented only the third time that the Genocide Convention has been invoked before the World Court in a contentious case—and the first case ever to consider the claims, under the convention, of non-contiguous, non-warring countries.

Anti-migrant sentiment fanned on Facebook in Malaysia

REUTERS

By Rozanna Latiff, A. Ananthalakshmi
October 14, 2020

 

 

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - As coronavirus infections surged in Malaysia this year, a wave of hate speech and misinformation aimed at Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar began appearing on Facebook.

FILE PHOTO: Rohingyas living in Malaysia protest against the treatment of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims near the Myanmar embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia September 8, 2017. REUTERS/Lai Seng Sin/File Photo

Alarmed rights groups reported the material to Facebook.

But six months later, many posts targeting the Rohingya in Malaysia remain on the platform, including pages such as “Anti Rohingya Club” and “Foreigners Mar Malaysia’s Image”, although those two pages were removed after Reuters flagged them to Facebook recently.

Bangladesh: Teen injured in Rohingya clashes dies

AA

SM Najmus Sakib 

DHAKA, Bangladesh 

13.10.2020 

File Photo

A 14-year-old boy became the latest victim of days of violence inside Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh’s southern Cox’s Bazar district, officials said on Saturday.

The victim was identified as Ziabur Rahman, son of Mohammad Arif Ullah, and a resident of the Kutupalong refugee camp.

“The boy died on Saturday morning. His parents say he was abducted after a clash on Oct. 3 and was released after a few days in injured condition. He died today at a hospital in Cox’s Bazar,” Khalilur Rahman Khan, the camp manager, told Anadolu Agency.

Myanmar: New evidence of attacks in Rakhine state

AA

SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh
13.10.2020

UN Security Council must urgently refer situation in Myanmar to International Criminal Court, says Amnesty International

Human rights organization Amnesty International announced Monday that it has gathered fresh evidence of indiscriminate attacks on civilians in western Myanmar amid an escalation in an ongoing armed conflict between the country’s military and the Arakan Army.

The evidence suggests that the Myanmar military burned villages and wounded and killed civilians in Rakhine in early September.

Amnesty urges UNSC to take Myanmar to ICC for military abuses

JURIST 

Becca Salamacha | U. Pittsburgh School of Law, US
October 12, 2020 

 

Amnesty International urged the UN Security Council Monday to take action against Myanmar for military abuses. Amnesty’s condemnation of Myanmar’s military action follows after reports of intensified violence between Myanmar’s military and Araken Army that led to civilian casualties.

Ethnic Rakhine in Bangladesh Protest against Myanmar’s ‘Military Aggression’

RADIO FREE ASIA

Sharif Khiam
Dhaka
2020-10-12

Members of the ethnic Rakhine community in Bangladesh hold banners as they protest in Dhaka against what they say is Myanmar’s military aggression in Rakhine state, Oct. 11, 2020.
Sharif Khiam/BenarNews

Hundreds of Bangladeshis from the mainly Buddhist, ethnic Rakhine minority group staged a rare, if not unprecedented, protest over the weekend against Myanmar’s alleged military aggression in Rakhine state, saying their community there faces operations aimed at ethnic cleansing, much like the stateless Rohingya.

An armed conflict between Myanmar government forces and the Arakan Army (AA), an ethnic Rakhine rebel group fighting for greater autonomy for the Rakhine people, intensified in early 2019. This past March, Myanmar declared it a terrorist organization.

OP-ED: Bangladesh is being held hostage

Dhaka Tribune  

Anis Alamgir

October 12th, 2020

Abandoned by all BIGSTOCK

With little support from the international arena, what is the future of the Rohingya in Bangladesh?

On October 5, Vikram Doraiswami, the newly appointed Indian High Commissioner to the country, arrived in Bangladesh. He told reporters at the land port in Akhaura: “Bangladesh is one of India’s closest friends, and thus we are eager to continue and enhance our bilateral relationship with this neighbouring country.”

Beijing is now more interested in keeping Bangladesh as a development partner through the continuous effort of distancing Dhaka from Delhi. Recently, Sino-Indian relations with Bangladesh are looking great, but the reality is different.

Rohingya Refugees, Workers Raise Funds to Help Ethnic Rakhines Displaced by War

RADIO FREE ASIA

2020-10-12 

Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, are shown raising funds for ethnic Rakhine displaced by fighting in Myanmar, Sept. 28, 2020.
Photo provided by citizen journalist

Rohingya Muslims both in refugee camps in Bangladesh and in cities in Myanmar are raising humanitarian relief funds for Buddhist Rakhine people displaced by fighting in their northern Myanmar state, easing traditional hostility between the two ethnic groups, sources say.

Collected funds are going to provide refugees with shelter and food amid a surge of coronavirus infections in Rakhine state, where fighting between government troops and the ethnic Arakan Army (AA) has killed nearly 300 civilians and driven more than 220,000 from their homes since late 2018.

Rohingya: Dhaka wants Suu Kyi to join talks in Beijing

Dhaka Tribune 

 UNB
October 12th, 2020 

Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi leaves the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the top United Nations court, during court hearings in a case filed by Gambia against Myanmar alleging genocide against the minority Muslim Rohingya population, in The Hague, Netherlands December 12, 2019 Reuters

Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming proposed a tripartite meeting between foreign ministers of the three countries - Bangladesh, Myanmar and China

Bangladesh wants Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi to be present at a tripartite meeting in Beijing, as proposed by China to discuss Rohingya repatriation issues.

"It will not be done without her presence. She should be there," Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen conveyed to China.

Suu Kyi, state counsellor of Myanmar, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize but she has subsequently been widely criticised for doing nothing to stop the rape, murder and genocide in Rakhine, refusing to condemn the Myanmar military or acknowledge accounts of their atrocities.

The foreign minister said the number one objective of Bangladesh is to see the repatriation of the Rohingyas to their place of origin in Rakhine State.

US Deputy Secy of State Biegun arrives tomorrow

The Daily Star

October 13, 2020
Diplomatic Correspondent 

Dhaka to raise Rohingya repatriation, RMG export issues

The repatriation of Rohingya refugees, privileges for readymade garments export and investments in infrastructure will be the main issues that Bangladesh will raise during US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen E Biegun's visit beginning tomorrow.

"Rohingya repatriation is our major issue. It is not just our responsibility. They will have to help us," Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen told reporters at his ministry yesterday.

Bangladesh-Myanmar: Rohingya Conundrum – Analysis

eurasiareview

By S. Binodkumar Singh*
October 13, 2020

Rohingya's in Kutupalong Refugee Camp in Bangladesh. Photo taken by John Owens/VOA, Wikipedia Commons.

 

On October 6, 2020, four people were killed in clashes between two groups of Rohingyas over establishing supremacy at the Lombasia Camp in the Kutupalang area of Cox’s Bazar District. 20 persons were injured in the violent clashes.

UN urged to take action against Myanmar over civilian abuses

Aljazeera
12 Oct 2020

First-hand testimonies and images obtained by Amnesty show the Myanmar military’s ‘utter disregard for civilian suffering’ in Rakhine, Chin states.

Myanmar's armed forces, also known as Tatmadaw, have been battling the Arakan Army, a rebel group seeking greater autonomy for the country's western region, including Rakhine and Chin states [File: Hein Htet/EPA]

 

Amnesty International has called on the United Nations Security Council to take urgent action against Myanmar before the International Criminal Court, amid mounting evidence of military abuses, including indiscriminate firing at civilians in the continuing conflict with armed Arakan rebels.

In a report released on Monday, Amnesty said that first-hand testimony, photographs and video evidence obtained by the group show the Myanmar military’s “utter disregard for civilian suffering” in areas at the epicentre of the fighting.

China concerned at delay in repatriation of Rohingyas

UNB 

UNB News
Dhaka
October 11, 2020

Killers of Chinese national to be brought to justice, says FM 

Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming on Sunday expressed concern as the repatriation of Rohingyas to their place of origin in Rakhine State has not started yet.

He shared his concern during his meeting with Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Sunday in the city.

Dr Momen sought Chinese government's support for the quick and sustainable return of Rohingyas to Myanmar.

Govt firm on relocating Rohingyas to Bhashan Char

Dhaka Tribune  

Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan

October 12th, 2020 

File Photo: The photo, collected from project official Atikul Islam’s Facebook page, shows houses built under a project to accommodate Rohingya refugees in Bhashan Char, Noakhali, Bangladesh Collected

5,000 workers working to further develop the island’s infrastructure and a police station will be set up soon, says disaster management secretary

The government is determined to go ahead with the relocation of nearly 100,000 Rohingyas to Bhashan Char Island in order to decongest the cramped Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar, senior officials concerned told Dhaka Tribune.

 

BDCSO to UN: Do not undermine local NGOs in Rohingya response

Dhaka Tribune     

UNB
October 11th, 2020

REUTERS

They also said the UN should limit its role only to monitoring and technical assistance in the Rohingya response

Speakers at a conference has the urged the United Nations (UN) not to undermine the local NGOs regarding the humanitarian response to Rohingya camps.

They also said the UN should limit its role only to monitoring and technical assistance in the Rohingya response.

OPINION - Myanmar's colonial policies and crimes trigger renewed liberation struggles

AA

Maung Zarni 

LONDON 

09.10.2020 

Lack of action from UN and world community encourages Myanmar to commit atrocities against ethnic communities

Maung Zarni, Burmese coordinator of the Free Rohingya Coalition and a fellow at the Genocide Documentation Center in Cambodia

The writer is a Burmese coordinator of the Free Rohingya Coalition and a fellow at the Genocide Documentation Center in Cambodia.

Almost three decades ago the UN had established the mandate of Special Rapporteur to monitor the human rights situation in Myanmar, under the Commission on Human Rights Resolution number 58 of 1992.

But the UN-mandated human rights missions have not deterred Myanmar’s successive governments from perpetrating human rights crimes against dissidents, government critics, and national minorities.

New Rohingya population figure in Bangladesh is accurate: official

bdnews24.com

Hassan Bipul, bdnews24.com

09 Oct 2020

The latest estimate of roughly 850,000 Rohingya refugees living currently in Bangladesh is ‘accurate’, not the initial calculation released two years ago that put the figure at nearly 950,000, says Mohammad Shamsu Douza, the government’s additional commissioner of refugee, relief and repatriation.

The official spoke about the problems currently facing the refugees sheltered in Bangladesh and the plans to resolve the crisis in an interview with bdnews24.com.

International Criminal Court: Prosecute and Offer Witness Protection to Myanmar Army Deserters

FORTIFY RIGHTS
Myanmar
September 08, 2020

Two Myanmar Army soldiers now in ICC custody in The Hague

(BANGKOK, September 8, 2020)—The International Criminal Court (ICC) should swiftly prosecute two Myanmar Army soldiers who confessed to their involvement in massacres, rape, and other crimes against Rohingya in Myanmar, and the court should facilitate witness protection for them, said Fortify Rights today. Fortify Rights has reason to believe Myanmar Army Private Myo Win Tun, 33, and Private Zaw Naing Tun, 30, are in the custody of the ICC and in The Hague.

“This is a monumental moment for Rohingya and the people of Myanmar in their ongoing struggle for justice,” said Matthew Smith, Chief Executive Officer at Fortify Rights. “These men could be the first perpetrators from Myanmar tried at the ICC, and the first insider witnesses in the custody of the court. We expect prompt action.”

Two Former Myanmar Soldiers Say They Helped Kill Up to 180 Rohingya People

VICE 

by Joe Freeman
08 September 2020 

This is the first time former members of Myanmar's military have admitted mass atrocities against Rohingya and is seen as a "huge development" in human rights cases filed against the country's top generals.

Smoke billows above what is believed to be a burning village in Myanmar's Rakhine state as members of the Rohingya Muslim minority take shelter in a no-man's land between Bangladesh and Myanmar in Ukhia on Sept. 4, 2017. Photo: K.M. ASAD / AFP

Two former soldiers from Myanmar admitted to taking part in the killing of up to 180 Rohingya men, women and children during a crackdown on the Muslim minority in 2017, a prominent rights group said Tuesday, September 8, releasing explosive testimony that is unprecedented as it comes from onetime members of the deeply secretive military.

In video testimony obtained by NGO Fortify Rights, Private Myo Win Tun said he executed people during operations that started in August 2017 in northern Rakhine state and that one of his commanders ordered soldiers to “exterminate all kalar,” a derogatory reference to Muslims in Myanmar. He also admitted to rape.

“The Muslim men were shot on their foreheads and kicked into the grave,” he said, according to the transcript translation, which was also reported in the New York Times.

“An Open Prison without End” Myanmar’s Mass Detention of Rohingya in Rakhine State