UN experts urge Suu Kyi, condemn persecution on Rohingyas
Visit Rakhine, Coxs Bazar
UNSC meeting on Myanmar Thursday
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT
Seven UN experts have joined together to call on the government of Myanmar to stop all violence against the minority Muslim Rohingya community and halt the ongoing persecution and serious human rights violations which the high commissioner for human rights has described as an apparent textbook example of ethnic cleansing. They also urged Aung San Suu Kyi to meet the Rohingya people personally in Rakhine State as well as in Coxs Bazar to talk to those who have fled, as well as those who have stayed, to learn about the reasons for their current exodus.
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council will meet Thursday to discuss the violence in Myanmar and hear a briefing from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the crisis, diplomats said.
A news release forwarded yesterday by the office of the high commissioner for human rights (OHCHR) said, The call (to the Myanmar government and Suu Kyi) comes a month after attacks in RakhineState against 30 police outposts and the regimental headquarters in Taungala village, and subsequent indiscriminate counter-terror operations.
The experts are Yanghee Lee, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Agnes Callamard, special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Fernand de Varennes, special rapporteur on minority issues, Leilani Farha, special rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context, Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Mutuma Ruteere, special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and Ahmed Shaheed, special rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief.
They urged the UN member states to go beyond the statements and take concrete steps to stop the atrocities against Rohingyas, one of the most persecuted community in the world.
There have been credible allegations of serious human rights violations and abuses committed against the Rohingya, including extrajudicial killings, excessive use of force, torture and ill-treatment, sexual and gender-based violence, and forced displacement, as well as the burning and destruction of over 200 Rohingya villages and tens of thousands of homes, said the experts jointly.
We understand that State Counsellor Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi in her diplomatic briefing on 19 September had encouraged the international community to learn along with the Myanmar Government the possible reasons behind the current exodus from Myanmar to Bangladesh, they said, noting that about 430,000 people had reportedly crossed into Bangladesh in the past few weeks.
The experts stressed, No one chooses, especially not in the hundreds of thousands, to leave their homes and ancestral land, no matter how poor the conditions, to flee to a strange land to live under plastic sheets and in dire circumstances except in life-threatening
situations. Despite violence allegedly perpetrated by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), the whole Rohingya population should not have to pay the price.
We call on Aung San Suu Kyi to meet the Rohingya personally in RakhineState as well as in Coxs Bazar to talk to those who have fled, as well as those who have stayed, as she says the Myanmar Government is interested in doing, they said.
The experts further noted that even the Myanmar government-appointed Rakhine Advisory Commission led by former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan had concluded in its final report that protracted statelessness and profound discrimination have made the (Rohingya) Muslim community particularly vulnerable to human rights violations.
It also found that successive governments since independence, particularly after the military coup of 1962, had adopted legal and administrative measures that progressively eroded the political and civil rights of the Muslim communities in Rakhine State. They said
While it is commendable that the government appears intent on implementing the commissions recommendations, including those related to the Rohingyas citizenship rights, this will largely be an empty gesture now that the Myanmar military and security forces have driven out almost half of the Rohingya population in northern Rakhine and the Government has indicated that they can return only if they have proof of their nationality. Moreover, due to the mass burning of Rohingya villages, there is no home left for many to return to, they said.
We are equally alarmed by the governments apparent acquiescence in incitement of hatred and the condoning of intimidation and attacks against Rohingya families by other ethnic and religious groups. All violence aimed at the general population, including internally displaced people, must immediately cease, the experts stressed.
Myanmar should provide uninterrupted humanitarian access to international organisations to assist tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of internally displaced people in Rakhine State. It should further ensure full and unfettered access of human rights monitors including the Human Rights Council Fact-Finding Mission for an independent and impartial assessment of the situation on the ground, they said.
The Myanmar government should cooperate with all international aid organisations, rather than accusing them of supporting terrorism in their efforts to discharge their responsibilities to provide humanitarian aid and assistance to populations in need, they added.
UN member states need to go beyond statements and start taking concrete action to stop the military and security forces from accomplishing their so-called unfinished business of getting rid of the Rohingya minority from Rakhine State, the experts concluded.
Britain, France, the United States and four other countries requested the meeting of UN Security Council, to be held on Thursday, after more than 430,000 people, mostly Rohingya Muslims, fled an army campaign in Myanmar in recent weeks and crossed into Bangladesh.
The United Nations has described the military operation as ethnic cleansing and French President Emmanuel Macron last week went further, calling it genocide.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has denounced the plight of the Rohingya, accused Myanmar of waging a Buddhist terror against the Muslim minority and also denounced the genocide.
The military operation was sparked by attacks carried out by Rohingya militants on police posts on August 25.
The meeting was also requested by Egypt, Kazakhstan, Senegal and Sweden, which are non-permanent council members.
Council members will also get an update on the situation in Myanmar on Tuesday, ahead of the formal briefing by the UN chief, which will be held in an open session.
The Security Council earlier this month called for immediate steps to end the violence, following a closed-door meeting.
The 1.1-million strong Rohingya have suffered years of discrimination in Myanmar, where they are denied citizenship even though many have longstanding roots in the country.
In early September, Guterres took the rare step of sending a letter to the council to express concern about the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding, raising fears that it could have implications for peace and security beyond Myanmars borders.
Rights groups are pushing the council to threaten sanctions against Myanmars government and urging countries to review military cooperation.
Myanmars de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has disappointed human rights groups who had campaigned for her freedom during the Nobel Peace Prize winners 15 years under house arrest by a military junta.
Suu Kyi failed to quell outrage over the plight of the Rohingya when she delivered a nationwide address last week in which she appealed for patience.
