{"id":149473,"date":"2019-12-23T12:00:47","date_gmt":"2019-12-23T12:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=149473"},"modified":"2019-12-16T10:12:33","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T10:12:33","slug":"aung-san-suu-kyi-appears-at-icj-as-un-rights-expert-urges-greater-protection-for-myanmar-activists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/12\/aung-san-suu-kyi-appears-at-icj-as-un-rights-expert-urges-greater-protection-for-myanmar-activists\/","title":{"rendered":"Aung San Suu Kyi Appears at ICJ as UN Rights Expert Urges Greater Protection for Myanmar Activists"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/un-news-logo-e1568706362531.png\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-109474\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/un-news-logo-e1568706362531.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Making the appeal is the UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/en\/hrbodies\/sp\/countriesmandates\/mm\/pages\/srmyanmar.aspx\" >Yanghee Lee<\/a>, who reports that online hostility against activists has increased since the announcement last month of international legal proceedings over the atrocities.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>10 Dec 2019 &#8211; \u201cI call on each and every organ of the Myanmar State to ensure that absolutely no reprisals are taken against any group or individual that is advocating for justice and accountability in Myanmar,\u201d<\/em> said\u00a0the\u00a0independent expert\u00a0in a <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/EN\/NewsEvents\/Pages\/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25411&amp;LangID=E\" >statement<\/a> issued today, adding that those targeted include members of the Free Rohingya Coalition.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Legal proceedings begin\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Rohingya are a mainly\u00a0Muslim population residing\u00a0in\u00a0northern\u00a0Rakhine state in\u00a0Myanmar, a majority Buddhist country.<\/p>\n<p>More than 600,000 members of the minority group fled to\u00a0neighbouring\u00a0 Bangladesh following a reported military crackdown in August 2017.\u00a0Numerous alleged human rights abuses took place, with the then\u00a0UN human rights chief\u00a0 describing it\u00a0as\u00a0bearing all the hallmarks of a \u201c<em>textbook example of ethnic cleansing<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_149474\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Aung-San-Suu-Kyi.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-149474\" class=\"wp-image-149474\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Aung-San-Suu-Kyi-1024x461.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"180\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Aung-San-Suu-Kyi-1024x461.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Aung-San-Suu-Kyi-300x135.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Aung-San-Suu-Kyi-768x346.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Aung-San-Suu-Kyi.jpg 1178w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-149474\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Aung San Suu Kyi appears at the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 10 December 2019. ICJ\/Frank van Beek<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Ms. Lee recalled that The Gambia\u00a0in November filed an application against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice\u00a0(<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.icj-cij.org\/en\" >ICJ<\/a>), the main judicial organ of the United Nations.<\/p>\n<p>The West African country brought the case to the world court on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).<\/p>\n<p>The ICJ proceedings began on Tuesday\u00a0in The Hague, with Nobel\u00a0peace\u00a0laureate and Myanmar\u2019s\u00a0civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi\u00a0also present in court to defend\u00a0the\u00a0country\u00a0against\u00a0accusations of genocide.\u00a0She is due\u00a0to\u00a0address the court on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0International Criminal Court\u00a0(ICC) has\u00a0also\u00a0authorized an investigation into alleged crimes against humanity\u00a0committed against the Rohingya,\u00a0while\u00a0criminal complaints of genocide and crimes against humanity have been filed in Argentina under the principle of universal jurisdiction.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">WATCH LIVE: The Gambia opens the first round of oral observations on its request for the indication of provisional measures in the case of <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/TheGambia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >#TheGambia<\/a> v. <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Myanmar?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >#Myanmar<\/a> before the <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ICJ?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >#ICJ<\/a> <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/bGKMbFQVlU\" >https:\/\/t.co\/bGKMbFQVlU<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; CIJ_ICJ (@CIJ_ICJ) <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CIJ_ICJ\/status\/1204330728756039680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" >December 10, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>Social media firms\u00a0urged to\u00a0take action\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>\u201cFollowing the announcement of these important developments, I have noted the spread of increasingly hostile online rhetoric propagating a false and divisive narrative of being either \u2018with us\u2019 or \u2018against us\u2019,\u201d\u00a0<\/em>Ms. Lee said.<em>\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cAbusive speech continues to be circulated on social media targeting Myanmar\u2019s ethnic minorities, including the Rohingya, as well as human rights defenders, women and others. These messages are intended to spread hatred and fear and, as we know, can have disastrous real-world consequences.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>As social media had a role in stoking the violence in 2016 and 2017,\u00a0Ms. Lee called on the Myanmar Government to take \u201curgent and comprehensive action\u201d to prevent\u00a0incitement to violence, discrimination and hatred.<\/p>\n<p>She also urged social media firms to meet their responsibility to respect human rights, including by ensuring their platforms were not being used to promote hatred or incitement to violence.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/news.un.org\/en\/story\/2019\/12\/1053121?utm_source=UN+News+-+Newsletter&amp;utm_campaign=cccd73f981-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_12_11_01_10&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_fdbf1af606-cccd73f981-105796125\" >Go to Original \u2013 news.un.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>10 Dec 2019 &#8211; \u201cI call on each and every organ of the Myanmar State to ensure that absolutely no reprisals are taken against any group or individual that is advocating for justice and accountability in Myanmar,\u201d said the independent expert in a statement issued today, adding that those targeted include members of the Free Rohingya Coalition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":109474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[677],"tags":[240,1688,1198,526,1199,865,260,487,651,103,107,527,985,124,126],"class_list":["post-149473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-updates-on-myanmar-rohingya-genocide","tag-asia","tag-bangladesh","tag-buddhism","tag-burma-myanmar","tag-ethnic-cleansing","tag-genocide","tag-history","tag-human-rights","tag-justice","tag-racism","tag-religion","tag-rohingya","tag-social-justice","tag-united-nations","tag-violence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149473","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=149473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}