{"id":99103,"date":"2017-09-25T12:00:21","date_gmt":"2017-09-25T11:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=99103"},"modified":"2017-09-24T14:15:29","modified_gmt":"2017-09-24T13:15:29","slug":"tribunal-finds-myanmar-guilty-of-genocide-against-rohingya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/09\/tribunal-finds-myanmar-guilty-of-genocide-against-rohingya\/","title":{"rendered":"Tribunal Finds Myanmar Guilty of Genocide against Rohingya"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A panel of the international Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal delivers findings on the Rohingya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sept. 22, 2107. Hadi Azmi\/BenarNews<\/p><\/div>\n

22 Sep 2017 – <\/em>An international panel of judges declared today that the Myanmar government is guilty of committing genocide against Rohingya Muslims, who have been fleeing the country following months of military crackdowns against the minority group.<\/p>\n

The Permanent Peoples\u2019 Tribunal (PPT), a network of scholars and experts from around the globe, delivered its verdict after five days of hearings and testimony from witnesses in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.<\/p>\n

\u201c[T]he State of Myanmar is guilty of the crime of genocide against the Rohingya group,\u201d Daniel Feierstein, an Argentinian jurist who headed the panel, said in reading out its unanimous verdict at the University of Malaya.<\/p>\n

\u201cMoreover, that genocide against the Rohingya is now taking place with ongoing acts of genocide and the possibility the casualties of that genocide could be even higher in the future if nothing is done to stop it,\u201d he went on to say.<\/p>\n

Top UN officials have described what’s occurring in Myanmar\u2019s northwest state of Rakhine as “ethnic cleansing,” but have not used the term “genocide.” Ethnic cleansing, unlike genocide, has not been designated as an independent crime under international law.<\/p>\n

Crimes against the Rohingya qualified as genocide because Myanmar had pursued \u201csystematic policies of discrimination and physical elimination,\u201d and \u201cactive denial of identity and culture\u201d against them, the PPT said.<\/p>\n

The panel gathered evidence from witnesses, experts and prosecutors showing there was \u201csystematic use of the whole spectrum of atrocious violations of the right to life and dignity of the affected populations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRaping of women was possibly the most conspicuously present, beside the killing and burning of children and elderly, tortures, and the long list of acts included in the definitions of genocide, crimes against humanity and crimes of war,\u201d the tribunal added.<\/p>\n

More than half a million Rohingya Muslims have fled into Bangladesh in the past year amid what Amnesty International called mass scale \u201cscorched-earth\u201d campaigns in Rakhine state.<\/p>\n

Myanmar\u2019s military had launched security operations in Rakhine after Rohingya militants attacked police posts and killed some two dozen security forces. About 1,000 people have been killed in clashes and security sweeps, according to the U.N.<\/p>\n

The verdict by the experts on Friday marked the first time international jurists had described the situation in Rakhine as \u201cgenocide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Myanmar government representatives did not testify during the hearings, or respond to requests to appear before the tribunal, according to PPT officials. The Myanmar embassy in the Malaysian capital did not respond to calls from BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.<\/p>\n

\u2018Total impunity\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

The tribunal also found that the Myanmar government had \u201cgenocidal intent\u201d against other Muslims in the country, and the Kachin people, and that it had committed \u201ccrimes of humanity\u201d against them.<\/p>\n

The Kachin ethnic group lives in northern Burma’s Kachin State. Rebels in Kachin have been fighting for decades for independence or autonomy within a federal Myanmar, which successive governments of the ethnically diverse country have long rejected.<\/p>\n

The Permanent Peoples\u2019 Tribunal \u2013 founded in 1979 and headquartered in Italy \u2013 is an \u201copinion tribunal\u201d whose rulings are not legally binding. It began deliberations in London in March into whether state crimes were being committed against various groups in Myanmar.<\/p>\n

The tribunal will forward its findings to international bodies and civil groups in order to keep pressure on the Myanmar authorities, Feierstein told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.<\/p>\n

The six other panelists were human rights lawyers Nursyahbani Katjasungkana of Indonesia and Shadi Sadr of Iran; Helen Jarvis, an Australian-Cambodian jurist; Gill Boehringer, former dean of the law school at Australia\u2019s Macquarie University; Nello Rossi, an Italian solicitor-general; and Zulaiha Ismail, a trustee at Malaysia\u2019s Perdana Global Peace Foundation.<\/p>\n

Hasina addresses UN<\/strong><\/p>\n

Myanmar government officials have blamed atrocities, including the burnings of hundreds of Rohingya homes in Rakhine, on the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), which it had branded as a terrorist group.<\/p>\n

During her address to the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called on Myanmar to stop the \u201cviolence and the practice of ethnic cleansing in Rakhine\u201d immediately and without condition.<\/p>\n

She also called for \u201csafe zones\u201d to be created in Rakhine so all communities living there could be protected \u201cirrespective of religion and ethnicity.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Friday, the U.N.\u2019s resident coordinator in Bangladesh said the United Nations would need $200 million over the next six months to deal with the unprecedented influx of refugees from Rakhine.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, the United States announced that it would provide close to $32 million in new humanitarian aid to help with the refugee situation in southeastern Bangladesh and Rohingya who were displaced within Rakhine.<\/p>\n

Speaking before the U.N. Security Council, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence also called on Myanmar\u2019s security forces to end the violence immediately. \u201cThe images of the violence and its victims have shocked the American people and decent people all over the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In a speech to diplomats in Naypyidaw earlier this week, de facto Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi said there had been no further clashes or clearance operations after Sept. 5, and claimed that any human rights violations would be addressed \u201cwith strict norms of justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

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