UN Secretary-General Mr. Antonio Guterres has called for international action to make sure that Myanmar is held accountable for the crimes of its security forces. Describing the Rohingya refugee situation as one of the worst humanitarian and human rights crises of the past year, Mr. Guterres said that nothing can ever justify the disproportionate use of force against civilians and the horrendous violation of human rights violations by the security forces.
Speaking at a Security Council session convened on Tuesday on the one-year anniversary of the Rohingya crackdown the UN chief, while citing a report on massive human rights abuses prepared by a UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) fact-finding team, said the human rights abuses amounted to “the gravest crimes under international law”. British Minister of State for the UN, who presided over the Security Council session, said that it should be prepared to use all the tools it has to ensure justice for the Rohingyas.
The strongly-worded report by the UNHRC team headed by former Indonesian attorney-general Marzuki Darusman said that allegations of genocide against Myanmar officials should be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) or to a special tribunal.
The Netherlands and Sweden backed the suggestion and asked the Security Council to refer the matter to the ICC. Myanmar government led by de facto prime minister Aung San Suu Kyi on the other hand had rejected the report terming the findings of report as ‘bias’. Myanmar’s Permanent Representative Hau Do Suan said that his country did not accept the findings of the UNHRC team as it was biased. However, he added that Myanmar does not condone human rights abuses and would take action against anyone guilty if there was evidence of their conduct. It is worth to mention here that a year ago, the Myanmar military embarked on a sweeping crackdown in restive Rakhine state — driving out almost a million Rohingya to Bangladesh and creating one of the world’s largest refugee camps while allegedly raping women, killing children and beheading men in the process. The world was expecting that Prime Minister Suu Kyi’s government will allow an independent international probe into the military’s ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya community besides granting an unhindered access to the UN fact finding mission to hold an investigation into the systematic violence perpetuated against the hapless community but she has miserably failed in doing so. The Myanmar government failed in curbing hate speeches, allowing free access to UN agencies for relief operations and dismantling internal camps for Rohingyas and giving them freedom of movement. No action whatsoever was taken against senior military generals who according to UN report were found grossly involved in systematic genocide in the restive Rohingya state. To the contrary PM Suu Kyi was seen defending her government’s handling of the crisis.
The harrowing tales of horror from Myanmar that have shaken the world conscience is a great challenge for international community. As the situation in Rakhine state is becoming more precarious day by day and tens and thousands of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh continue to suffer there is a dire need that the UN security council should adopt a holistic approach to address this issue and make sure that the Myanmar Military generals who have been directly involved in planning, ordering or committing murder, rape, torture and the burning of villages should be brought to justice. It is also imperative that the security council in light of the UNHRC report must act decisively to ensure safe return of Rohingya refugees to their homes in Rakhine state.
