Atrocities against Rohingya Muslims
What more is needed for the international community to act against the ongoing barbarity?
HUMAYUN KABIR BHUIYAN
On February 3, the Office of the United High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a 43-page report detailing unprecedented and devastating cruelty of Myanmars security forces against Rohingya population in Rakhine state since October last year.
Reading the report that contains human rights violations committed by the security forces like mass gang-rape, extra-judicial killings including of babies and young children, brutal beatings and disappearances, any individual of minimum level of conscience will be horrified and he or she will feel nothing but extremely sorry for the victims.
Many of the testimonies of Rohingyas, who had to flee from their homeland, are beyond belief and only resemble with the stone-age barbarity.
The OHCHR report said that the widespread human rights violations against the Rohingya population by Myanmars security forces in the countrys northern Rakhine state indicate the very likely commission of crimes against humanity.
The devastating cruelty to which these Rohingya children have been subjected is unbearable what kind of hatred could make a man stab a baby crying out for his mothers milk. And for the mother to witness this murder while she is being gang-raped by the very security forces who should be protecting her, said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein upon release of the report.
The gravity and scale of these allegations begs the robust reaction of the international community, he said, adding that perpetrators and those who ordered them must be held accountable.
On Friday, UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide Adama Dieng also said that violence in Myanmars Rakhine state could amount to crimes against humanity and that the scale of violence against the Rohingyas documented in the UN report a level of dehumanisation and cruelty that is revolting and unacceptable.
The UN report was based on testimonies of more than 220 Rohingyas, who fled to Bangladesh from Rakhine to escape the atrocities, from January 8 to January 23.
After the repeated failure of the Government of Myanmar to grant it unrestricted access to the worst-affected areas of northern Rakhine state, High Commissioner Zeid deployed a team of human rights officers to the Bangladeshi border with Myanmar, where an estimated 69,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled since 9 October 2016.
According to the report, more than half of the women its human rights team interviewed reported having suffered rape or other forms of sexual violence. Many other interviewees reported they had witnessed killing of people including their family members and missing of people.
The report also cited consistent testimony indicating that hundreds of Rohingya houses, schools, markets, shops, madrasas and mosques were burned by the army, police and sometimes civilian mobs. Witnesses also described the destruction of food and food sources, including paddy fields, and the confiscation of livestock.
It also noted that several people were killed in indiscriminate and random shooting many while fleeing for safety.
Numerous testimonies collected from people from different village tractsconfirmed that the army deliberately set fire to houses with families inside, and in other cases pushed Rohingyas into already burning houses, the report stated.
Testimonies were collected of several cases where the army or Rakhine villagers locked an entire family, including elderly and disabled people, inside a house and set it on fire, killing them all, it said.
Many witnesses and victims also described being taunted while they were being beaten, raped or rounded up, such as being told you are Bangladeshis and you should go back or What can your Allah do for you? See what we can do? it added.
Quoted an interviewee, the report concluded as stating, Now is the worst it has ever been. We have heard from our grandparents that there were bad things happening in the past too, but never like this.
The UN Human Rights chief talked about the robust reaction from the international community and demanded that perpetrators and those who ordered them must be held accountable.
Has the international committee reacted? Indeed some countries have: only in issuing statements, expressing concerns, perhaps condemning the atrocities. Is this reaction good enough? The answer is definitely a big NO.
Following the release of the report, the international community as well as media, especially the western ones, who regularly lecture the world about human rights and rule of law, are not seen to be that vocal given the gravity of the situation. When a blogger is killed in Bangladesh or an individual is whipped in Saudi Arabia, their voices are loudly heard. Given the scenario, one might be forgiven to accuse many of the western countries and media of not doing enough for the Rohingya, which is, according to UN, is one of the worst persecuted communities in the world. Many are questioning what the international community is waiting for to act.
Many people across the globe believe that there is no strong reaction to the atrocities orchestrated by the international community as the Rohingyas are Muslims. And, there are reasons to believe so.
For instance, on October 9, 2016, nine Myanmar policemen were killed in Rakhine which was responded with mighty force by the Myanmar government saying that it was security response. In December 8, in Shan state bordering China, bodies of 9 policemen were recovered. Unlike in Rakhine, they were killed by recognised rebels, according to the website of Myanmars State Councillor Suu Kyi. But there was no security response from the government to collectively punish any community.
It is worth mentioning that most inhabitants of Shan state are Han Chinese while Rohingyas are Muslim Indo-Aryan. Therefore, a good number of people, including many diplomats, are of the opinion that the ongoing operations in Rakhine against Rohingyas have racial and religious elements.
To prove this notion wrong, the international community, particularly the powerful ones, must wake up and deliver a strong response to the Myanmar government. There should be one clear message to the government literally run by Aung San Suu Kyi. And, that is, Hey, you cannot get away with this in todays globalised and inter-dependent world. There will be consequences of the barbarism committed by your military.
UN Human Rights Chief Zeid said that Suu Kyi assured him of an investigation into the allegations.
If the past is any guide, any investigation by a body formed by the Myanmar government will not bring any result. And, there is a popular belief that Suu Kyi has little or no control over the countrys military.
Even UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide Dieng on Friday expressed his concern that the commission previously appointed by the government to investigate the allegations and which, despite having unhindered access to the region, found no evidence, or insufficient evidence, of any wrongdoing by Government forces.
[However,] OHCHR, which was not given access to the area, found an overwhelming number of testimonies and other forms of evidence through interviews with refugees who had fled to a neighbouring country, the Special Adviser added.
The existing Commission is not a credible option to undertake the new investigation, he said.
I urge that any investigation be conducted by a truly independent and impartial body that includes international observers, he added.
Actually time has come to go even further. There must be an international body, preferably under the UN leadership, to investigate the allegations and look into the root causes of the problem. The objective of that committee must be to ensure a situation where Rohingyas can live peacefully in their homeland.
The allegations must be discussed in the UN to react to the atrocities strongly. The other measures may include reinstatement of sanctions and deployment of UN observers and soldiers until the Rogingyas get back their sense of security. The Rohingyas, who are in Bangladesh, can be taken back to Myanmar to keep them in camps under international supervision.
The Muslim nations and regional powers like China and India might play a big role in compelling Myanmar to stop persecuting the Rohingya. Nothing was noticed in the media from China and India on the allegations contained in the UN report about six days ago. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, which proclaims to be the collective voice of the 57 Muslim States, is yet to issue any statement since the release of the report.
Time is running out for the international community to wake up to act rather than providing only lip services. If the brutality of Myanmar against its own people in Rakhine state continues, Myanmars objective of ethnic cleansing, as described by a senior UN official, will be fulfilled. If it does happen, not only Bangladesh rather the whole world will suffer. And, it is known to everybody that prolongedoppression leads to desperation anddesperate people are always vulnerable to extremism.
The writer is Special Correspondent of The Independent
