{"id":118869,"date":"2018-09-24T12:00:23","date_gmt":"2018-09-24T11:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=118869"},"modified":"2018-09-19T15:48:52","modified_gmt":"2018-09-19T14:48:52","slug":"u-n-investigators-renew-call-for-myanmar-military-officials-to-face-genocide-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/09\/u-n-investigators-renew-call-for-myanmar-military-officials-to-face-genocide-charges\/","title":{"rendered":"U.N. Investigators Renew Call for Myanmar Military Officials to Face Genocide Charges"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Myanmar border guard police patrol the fence in the “no man’s land” zone between Myanmar and Bangladesh border as seen from Maungdaw, Rakhine state during a government-organized visit for journalists on August 24, 2018. – A repatriation plan in tatters and funding fast fading for a million refugees with burgeoning needs, Rohingya Muslims who fled Myanmar to Bangladesh face a grim future after the latest round of a decades-old conflict. PHYO HEIN KYAW\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n

18 Sep 2018 – <\/em>U.N. investigators renewed their call today for the investigation and prosecution of Myanmar\u2019s top military officials for genocide and war crimes, publishing an exhaustive account of atrocities<\/a> allegedly committed against the country\u2019s Rohingya Muslims and other minorities.<\/p>\n

More than 700,000 Rohingya, a persecuted and mostly stateless minority, have fled across the border into Bangladesh since August last year when the Myanmar military launched a brutal crackdown in response to an attack by Rohingya insurgents. Refugees say they fled a campaign of arson, rape and murder that saw entire villages burned to the ground.<\/p>\n

In the wake of a similar campaign of violence that began in October 2016, the U.N. Human Rights Council established<\/a> an international fact-finding mission to investigate allegations of abuses in Rakhine state, where the Rohingya are from, as well as the war-ravaged states of Shan and Kachin. Though they were repeatedly denied visas to Myanmar, investigators drew on documentary evidence, satellite imagery and 875 interviews over the course of 15 months.<\/p>\n

Myanmar authorities deny the allegations, while the U.N., journalists and aid workers are largely barred from affected areas. Earlier this month, a Myanmar court sentenced two Reuters reporters<\/a> to seven years in prison for investigating the military\u2019s role in a massacre<\/a> of 10 Rohingya men and boys.<\/p>\n

Read more: <\/em><\/strong>Myanmar\u2019s Case Against Reuters Reporters Is a War on Truth<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The mission presented its full findings to the Human Rights Council in a 440-page report. It found that the Myanmar military, known locally as the Tatmadaw<\/em>, \u201csystematically\u201d targeted civilians with acts of sexual violence, torture, and forced labor. In Rakhine, the report said, the Military\u2019s conduct resembled a \u201cveritable check-list\u201d of crimes \u201ccalculated to bring about the physical destruction of the Rohingya group, as an underlying genocidal act.\u201d<\/p>\n

The thee-member mission called on the U.N. Security Council to refer Myanmar to the International Criminal Court or establish an alternative tribunal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe top generals should be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in Rakhine State. I have never been confronted by crimes as horrendous and on such a scale as these,\u201d said committee chair Marzuki Darusman, according to a news release.<\/p>\n

The committee released preliminary findings last month accusing the military of demonstrating \u201cgenocidal intent<\/a>\u201d sufficient to justify a probe and prosecutions. A Myanmar government spokesperson rejected the panel\u2019s conclusions<\/a>, claiming that Myanmar has \u201czero tolerance for human rights violations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Myanmar\u2019s delegate to the Human Rights Commission rejected the committee\u2019s findings again on Tuesday, calling the report \u201cone-sided.\u201d But earlier this month, the ICC ruled that has legal jurisdiction<\/a> to rule on Myanmar\u2019s deportation of the Rohingya, opening the door for initial prosecutorial investigations.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/em><\/strong>: Myanmar Generals Should Face Charges for Genocide, U.N. Says<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On Tuesday, the commission also called for targeted sanctions against top military officials and an international arms embargo. It also recommended the military, which is not subject to civilian oversight under Myanmar\u2019s 2008 Constitution, undergo a wholesale reorganization to reform a \u201ctoxic command climate\u201d that supported impunity for rights abuses.<\/p>\n

The mission also faulted Myanmar\u2019s civilian authorities, led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, saying the government \u201ccontributed\u201d to atrocities by blocking independent investigations and defending the military\u2019s conduct.<\/p>\n

\u201cIgnorance on the part of the Myanmar civilian authorities was effectively impossible,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 time.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

18 Sep 2018 – U.N. investigators renewed their call today for the investigation and prosecution of Myanmar\u2019s top military officials for genocide and war crimes, publishing an exhaustive account of atrocities. The mission also faulted Myanmar\u2019s civilian authorities, led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, saying the government \u201ccontributed\u201d to atrocities by blocking independent investigations and defending the military\u2019s conduct.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":102024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[677],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-updates-on-myanmar-rohingya-genocide"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}