By bdnews24.com

June 7, 2018

Bangladesh has responded to the queries of the International Criminal Court or ICC over its jurisdiction to run a case against Myanmar in regard to the Rohingya issue.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam confirmed this to bdnews24.com on Thursday.

He said it is in fact mandatory on Bangladesh to respond as it is a member of the Rome Statute.

“We have provided the information only as requested by the court,” he said, adding that Bangladesh is still committed to settle the matter “bilaterally”.

He pointed out that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina floated a five-point plan in New York last year “which is still on the table and we are committed”.

The ICC last month wrote to Bangladesh asking for its opinion on whether The Hague-based court has jurisdiction to run a case against its neighbour.

Myanmar is not a member of the criminal court.

The letter from the pre-trial chamber followed Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s application on Apr 9 when she asked the ICC to rule on whether it has jurisdiction over the deportations of Rohingya people from Myanmar to Bangladesh, a possible crime against humanity.

The pre-trial chamber 1 in the letter, a copy of which was with bdnews24.com, invited the competent authorities of Bangladesh to submit written observations, either publicly or confidentially, on the three specific matters.

Those are:

(i) The circumstances surrounding the presence of members of the Rohingya people from Myanmar on the territory of Bangladesh;

(ii) The possibility of the Court’s exercise of territorial jurisdiction over the alleged deportation of members of the Rohingya people from Myanmar into Bangladesh; and

(iii) Any other matter in connection with the prosecutor’s request that, in the opinion of the competent authorities of Bangladesh, would assist the Chamber in its determination of this Request.

“We have provided all the information they asked for and everything that we know from our experience,” State Minister Shahriar Alam said when asked, without clarifying whether Bangladesh suggested that the ICC try Myanmar.

He said Bangladesh “is a responsive and responsible state. Our action always guided by universal values and laws”.

Officials, however, earlier indicated that Bangladesh would cite precendences in which ICC tried non-members being recommended by the UN Security Council.

It happened in cases of Darfur in Sudan and Libya, paving the way for the trial Omar Al-Bashir and Muammar Gaddafi.

Earlier, Myanmar government expressed “serious concern” on the news about the application by the ICC prosecutor.

Since August last year, nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled a brutal military crackdown in Myanmar, the United Nations and aid agencies have said.

The refugees have reported killings, rape and arson on a large scale. The United States and the United Nations have described the situation as ethnic cleansing.

Myanmar has denied nearly all allegations, saying it waged a legitimate counter-insurgency operation.

The government has said the army crackdown was provoked by the attacks of Rohingya militants on more than two dozen police posts and an army base last August.

An ICC ruling affirming jurisdiction could pave the way for Prosecutor Bensouda to investigate the deportation of many thousands of Rohingya.

“This is not an abstract question but a concrete one, affecting whether the Court may exercise jurisdiction ... to investigate and, if necessary, prosecute,” Bensouda said in the filing.

The main reason for doubts about the jurisdiction is that while Bangladesh is a member of the court, but Myanmar is not.

Bensouda argued that given the cross-border nature of the crime of deportation, a ruling in favour of ICC jurisdiction would be in line with established legal principles.

The court said the observations of the Bangladesh authorities would assist the chamber in its determinations of the request sub judice.

By Tun Khin

The Daily Star

June 7, 2018

Bangladesh's ICC cooperation is crucial for Rohingya justice

Since August last year, the world has witnessed how hundreds of thousands of desperate Rohingyas have fled across the border into Bangladesh, bringing with them tales of unimaginable horror. Many of these refugees are my friends and relatives. For the first time, the world has woken up to what we Rohingya have lived with for decades—Myanmar's systematic and genocidal attempts to wipe us out as a people. Now we need the help of the world, and Bangladesh, to obtain justice.

Last week, Myanmar announced it was establishing an “independent commission of inquiry” to “investigate the violation of human rights and related issues following the terrorist attacks” in Rakhine State in 2017. The fact that Myanmar did not even mention its own military's abuses speaks volumes of how credible this investigation will be. Over the past years, I have seen Myanmar establish a multitude of similar commissions, always at politically opportune times. In the end, they accomplish very little—they buy Myanmar a modicum of time and international goodwill, but they lead to no genuine accountability or to improvements for the lives of Rohingya people.

It is abundantly clear that Myanmar is both unwilling and incapable of investigating itself. Senior leaders have taken turns to deny the well-documented atrocities carried out by security forces against the Rohingya people. The military has little incentive to punish itself for its own crimes. State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, the de facto political leader, has dismissed reports of human rights violations and questioned why people have been fleeing in the first place.

There is no question that the international community must play a role in providing justice, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) is increasingly looking like the only real hope. Although Myanmar is not a signatory to the Rome Statute of the ICC, that does not mean that all avenues are closed—far from it.

In April this year, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda asked the court to rule on whether the ICC “can exercise jurisdiction over the alleged deportation of the Rohingya people from Myanmar to Bangladesh,” which is under the jurisdiction of the Court. A ruling affirming such jurisdiction could pave the way for the ICC to investigate Myanmar for the crime against humanity of deportation. Bangladesh, which has already done so much in welcoming refugees, can play a crucial role in making this a reality.

On June 20, a panel of judges will hold a closed-door hearing on the question. The ICC has asked Bangladesh for its opinion on whether it can exercise jurisdiction over the deportation of Rohingyas from Myanmar to Bangladesh. So far, Dhaka has yet to respond, although the deadline of June 11 is fast approaching.

We are grateful for the generosity of Bangladesh since the crisis erupted. Dhaka has essentially kept its borders open and hosted hundreds of thousands of people in what has already become one of the world's largest refugee camps. When I visited Cox's Bazar, I was touched not only by the welcome from officials but also from ordinary people. At the height of the crisis, local Bangladeshis were lining up along the border to offer food to fleeing refugees and spent their own meagre resources on constructing shelters.

But an influx of people of this scale is a strain on any country's resources. The situation is not sustainable, and the only solution to the root cause of the crisis lies on the other side of the Naf river in Myanmar.

It is important to remember that this crisis has not happened in a vacuum but is just the latest chapter in a long cycle of abuse. In the late 1970s and early 1990s, similar violent campaigns by Myanmar security forces pushed hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees to flee into Bangladesh. Each time, Bangladesh struck a deal with Myanmar for the return of refugees, only for renewed violence to force another exodus of people. Each time, it has been Bangladesh that has been forced to deal with a humanitarian crisis that is not of its own making.

My parents were forced to temporarily flee into Bangladesh after Myanmar's first major anti-Rohingya operation (“Operation Nagamin” or “Operation Dragon King”) in 1978. I myself witnessed similar violence in 1991 shortly before I fled Rakhine State. How many more times will history have to repeat itself before something changes? Unless those responsible for atrocities—regardless of their rank or position—are held to account, Myanmar's authorities will feel they can commit similar abuses in the future without consequence.

An ICC investigation into mass deportation would be limited and not cover other crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, torture, persecution or genocide. But in the shorter term, it would be an essential start. Most importantly, it would send a powerful message to Myanmar's authorities that they are not above the law, and that the world is willing to back up condemnation with genuine action. Separately, we will continue lobbying members of the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Myanmar to the ICC, which would pave the way for a broader mandate.

The current lack of accountability is not just affecting the Rohingya, but also people in other ethnic areas where security forces and armed groups commit war crimes with impunity. In Kachin State, for example, violence has again flared between the military and insurgents, driving thousands from their homes.

By responding in the affirmative to the ICC, Bangladesh could play a major role in making such accountability a reality. I urge Dhaka to do what it can to support the ICC and the Rohingya people—not just for us, but for the fight for justice everywhere.

Tun Khin is president of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK and a member of the Free Rohingya Coalition.

By Antoni Slodkowski

Reuters

June 6, 2018

YANGON -- Safety and “identity” need to be in place for Rohingya Muslim refugees who return to Myanmar, the head of the United Nations in the country said on Wednesday, as Myanmar and U.N. agencies signed an outline deal on returns.

The signing of a memorandum of understanding between the government and U.N. development and refugee agencies - the UNDP and the UNHCR - marks a warming of ties which hit a low point last year after the government suggested some agencies provided food to Rohingya militants. 

The head of the United Nations in Myanmar, Knut Ostby, said he hoped U.N. staff would be able to travel to the violence-ravaged north of Rakhine State “almost immediately” to assess the situation and - over time - to help the refugees in Bangladesh make an informed decision about potential returns. 

Since August, about 700,000 Rohingya have fled an army crackdown in Myanmar, many reporting killings, rape and arson on a large scale. The United Nations has called the campaign a textbook example of “ethnic cleansing” - a charge Myanmar denies. 

U.N. officials have said for months the conditions in Myanmar were “not conducive” to returns which would be safe, voluntary and dignified and view Wednesday’s deal as a first step towards meeting those objectives. 

“There are two really crucial things that need to be in place - one is to have an identity for the people who come back, so that they can live as normal members of society both in terms of an identity and in terms of being able to have the freedom of movement,” Ostby told Reuters by phone. 

“And the other issue is that they need to be able to live in safety. They should not have to risk further violence,” said Ostby, who serves as the U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar. 

Access to basic services, livelihoods and infrastructure would also have to be addressed, he said. 

Rohingya are widely called “Bengali” in Buddhist-majority Myanmar - which they see as a derogatory term implying they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. They have been denied citizenship despite many tracing their roots in the country back generations.

‘PATH TO CITIZENSHIP’ 

Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s government has pressed the Rohingya to accept National Verification Cards - documents that are a part of government effort to register Rohingya, but which falls short of offering them citizenship. 

Rohingya community leaders have widely rejected the card, saying it treats life-long residents like new immigrants. 

Ostby, asked how the Wednesday agreement might help to resolve the issue of citizenship, said: “We have been talking for a long time about making a clear and predictable path to citizenship for those who are eligible.” 

But the granting of citizenship was the government’s prerogative, he said. 

“What we can do is to facilitate and we call for commitment to international principles,” said Ostby in his first detailed remarks on the text of the agreement, which has not been made public. 

Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed in January to complete the voluntary repatriation of the refugees within two years but differences between them persist, impeding implementation of the plan. 

The Myanmar government said in a statement after the signing it hoped the repatriation process would “hasten” with U.N. involvement. 

It said the UNHCR would help “in the implementation of the voluntary repatriation and the reintegration of all those who return”, while the UNDP would focus on preparing “conditions for recovery and resilience-based development”. 

Reporting by Antoni Slodkowski; Editing by Robert Birsel

By Edith M. Lederer

June 6, 2018

By Stephanie van den Berg

Reuters

May 31, 2018

THE HAGUE -- Hundreds of Rohingya victims have appealed to judges at the International Criminal Court to grant prosecutors jurisdiction to investigate deportations from Myanmar to neighbouring Bangladesh, an ICC official said on Thursday.

The world’s first permanent war crimes court does not have automatic jurisdiction in Myanmar because it is not a member state, but the prosecutor in April asked the court to look into the Rohingya crisis and a possible prosecution through Bangladesh, which is a member. 

Since August, nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled a military crackdown in mainly Buddhist Myanmar, the United Nations and aid agencies have said. 

Refugees have reported killings, rape and arson on a large scale; some countries compared the situation to the widespread ethnic cleansing seen during the Balkan wars of the 1990s. 

“We are of Rohingya identity and we want justice,” the group said in a letter, demanding that the court take action. “We have been raped, tortured and killed.” 

It was signed with fingerprints of the victims, mostly illiterate women from rural communities. 

A submission on behalf of 400 victims was handed to the court on Wednesday, backing the earlier request from the ICC prosecutor for jurisdiction, spokesman Fadi El Abdallah said. 

The families asked the court to examine allegations not only of deportation but persecution and what they called genocide by the Myanmar military against the Muslim Rohingya minority. 

Myanmar has rejected the efforts to establish international jurisdiction over the matter. 

Lawyers representing a group called Shanti Molhila, or Peace Women, said the court should hear the case because some of the crimes were committed across the border in Bangladesh. 

In her request to judges, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda argued that the ICC had jurisdiction over the deportations because of the cross-border nature of the offence. 

Editing by Anthony Deutsch and Mark Heinrich

30 May 2018

PRESS RELEASE

Protect the Rohingya calls for the end of the Rohingya genocide! Join the movement by wearing BLACK in solidarity on Wednesday, 13 June 2018 and remember to tweet your photos and messages of solidarity to us: @ProtectRohingya using the Hashtag: #Black4Rohingya

The Rohingya have been described as the world’s most persecuted minority by the United Nations. They live in Arakan State, Myanmar where they have been denied citizenship, freedom of movement, access to education and health services. They have been subject inter alia to land confiscations, arbitrary arrests, forced sterilisation, extortion, torture, rape and collective punishment. Their citizenship was revoked by the state in 1982.

Since 2012 the brutality against them has only been exacerbated by the state’s unwillingness to punish right-wing nationalists who spew hatred against them, address its apartheid policies and keep its security forces in check. 

Myanmar military clearance operations have forced more than 680 000 Rohingya to flee over the border to Bangladesh since August of 2017. Stories of murder, rape , arson attacks and extra-judicial killings by the military are the order of the day. With the monsoon season arriving in recent months the Rohingya’s situation has only worsened. 

The Myanmar government disputes the allegations, characterising the actions of its forces as anti-terrorism. It also claims that eyewitness accounts have been fabricated (while denying outside observers, including foreign journalists and even a United Nations observers, meaningful access to the region.

The international community has failed to take any real action to stop the violence against the Rohingya and few countries are offering practical assistance and resettlement programs to Rohingya refugees.

As South African’s having lived through a racist and brutal oppressive regime it is our duty to stand against apartheid wherever it exists. Burma should NOT be allowed to continue its genocide of the Rohingya population. 

We urge people of conscience the world over to join our campaign and spread the word about the 13th of June 2018.

#Black4Rohingya is a Protect the Rohingya initiative, initially held on 5 July 2013 and was then moved to 13 June from 2014 onwards in order to commemorate those Rohingya who were massacred in Arakan State in the second week of June 2012. 

Twitter: @ProtectRohingya

Instagram: @protecttherohingya

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/308153155947556/

Contact: +2772 1786 102

By TRT Newsmaker
May 28, 2018

Media Release from Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK

For Immediate Release 22nd May 2018

International Development Committee report must spur UK to act on Rohingya atrocities

Today’s report by the International Development Committee of the UK Parliament shines a light on ongoing ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya people in Burma and must lead to the UK government taking concrete action, said the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK.

The report calls for a “dramatic change” in the UK’s engagement with Burma, in the light of recent ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya people. The Committee also cites violations in other ethnic conflicts and shrinking space for freedom of the media and civil society as evidence of Burma’s deteriorating human rights situation. 

“This very welcome report must spur the UK government into action. The report clearly spells out that the ethnic cleansing against Rohingya in Burma means the UK cannot continue engaging with the Burmese government as if nothing has changed,” said Tun Khin, President of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK).

“The continued refusal of the UK government and the international community as a whole to take serious action against the Burmese military is sending a dangerous signal that atrocities will be accepted. There is no question that the genocidal policies of the Burmese military are still continuing. The worst of the violence may be over, but our people are still being driven from our homes through forced starvation and systemic discrimination.”

In February, a delegation from the International Development Committee was refused visas to enter Burma at the last minute. Burma has also denied access to other international observers, notably members of the UN Fact-Finding Mission, which was established in 2017 by the Human Rights Council (HRC) to "establish the facts and circumstances" of alleged security force violations

The UK must push for justice

In August 2017, the Myanmar military launched an operation in Rakhine State that was characterised by human rights violations that amounted to crimes against humanity. Thousands of people were killed, hundreds of homes burned down and at least 693,000 people were forced to flee across the border into neighbouring Bangladesh.

So far, the Burmese authorities – both the military and the civilian government headed by State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi – have refused to commit to providing justice and hold those responsible for violations to account. BROUK has urged the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Burma to the International Criminal Court. Since Burma is not a party to the ICC and has not accepted the court's jurisdiction, only the Security Council can refer the situation to the Court.

“We urge the UK government to do everything it can to ensure that the UN Security Council refers the situation in Burma to the International Criminal Court. There must be justice for the crimes against the Rohingya people to break this cycle of abuse. The Burmese military and civilian government are both unable and unwilling to hold perpetrators to account – the hope for accountability now lies with the international community,” said Tun Khin.

For more information, please contact Tun Khin +44 7888714866.

ERC demands Australian government to do a thorough investigation on the death a Rohingya refugee in PNG island

May 22, 2018

The European Rohingya Council (ERC) is shocked by the preventable and premature death of a 52-year old Rohingya Salim, who was sent to and kept in a remote Papua New Guinea island by Australian authority. According the report, he died after jumping from a moving bus near a refugee transition center. It is also reported that he had suffered from a medical problem for a long time. ERC believes that Mr. Salim took his life due to unbearable condition of such a long time detention in the island and died of medical negligence. ERC also believes that his death could be prevented if Australian authority addressed his suffering and treated his medical condition timely. 

Therefore, ERC demands Australian government to do a proper investigation and release the details report on the death of Mr. Salim. ERC also urges to grant asylum to all of the Rohingya kept in detention center for a long time or resettle them into third countries in order to avoid such horrible, and unnecessary loss of human lives. ERC wants to assure the Australian government that Rohingya are forced to flee their ancestral homeland by Myanmar’s genocidal persecution. 

Contact: Dr. Hla Kyaw, Chairman, European Rohingya Council - +31 6 52358202

RB News

May 20, 2018

Maungdaw -- Two Rohingya women have been detained by the Myanmar Police over the allegation of illegally returning to the country from the Bangladesh Refugee Camps, according to reliable sources.

The women were detained by the Myanmar anti-trafficking police on May 12, while crossing the bridge of Shujah (Shwe Zar) village in northern Maungdaw.

However, it has been learnt that the women were simply returning home from Bangladesh after having emergency medical surgeries and treatments (in Bangladesh).

"4 months ago, Ma Sufaira, 22, d/o U Mohammed Nasim, from 'Maung Ni hamlet of Myoma Kayintan village,' suffered from bone-fracture in her arm and went to Bangladesh for surgery. The doctor fixed the bone by inserting steel-plate and asked her to re-visit him after 4 months to remove the plate.

"Now, 4 months after, on May 12, as Sufaira along with her sister was returning from Bangladesh after having the 2nd surgery to remove the steel-plate, their taxi was stopped by the anti-trafficking police led by Captain San Min while they were crossing 'the Shujah (Shwe Zar) Bridge' under the allegation of returning home from the refugee camps illegally. The police arrested the 2 women and released the taxi driver after extorting Kyat 100,000. They (the women) have been detained in the Maungdaw Police Detention since then," said a local in Maungdaw.

Our attempts to reach to the Maungdaw Police for comments on this have remained unsuccessful.

However, further reports have verified the CLAIM -- that the 2 women were not the refugees in Bangladesh camps but returning their home after having medical treatments and surgeries in Bangladesh -- with the FACT that they took part in the 'Census (Head-counts)' conducted by the authorities against the Rohingya population in Maungdaw District in 2018 (after over 700,000 people fled to Bangladesh to escape from genocidal violence against Rohingya in 2017).

Furthermore, 2 Rohingya men -- U Yunose, 48, s/o U Khin Maung and U Lala Yar, 33 -- from Myoma Taung Quarter (Quarter 2) returned home after having medical treatments in Bangladesh last week. Two days after their return, Police Captain San Min, the same police officer that has now arrested the 2 women, extorted Kyat 350,000 each from them after accusing them of illegally returning home from the Bangladesh refugee camps.

A human rights activist in Maungdaw anonymously said "these people are not illegally returning home from the Bangladesh camps. They all took part in the Census (head-counts). Since the government has denied the Rohingya people from access to medical treatments and healthcare, the people need to go to Bangladesh for that. That's the purpose why these people also have gone to Bangladesh and subsequently returned. 

"But the enforcement authorities are knowingly persecuting the Rohingya people and extorting money from them. Above all, what's so ILLEGAL for one in returning to his/her HOME?"

The Myanmar Government has barred the Rohingya people in Maungdaw District from travelling to Sittwe (Akyab) and Yangon, Myanmar's (unofficial) Capital, even in the case of medical emergency since 2012. Therefore, Rohingya people with chronic diseases and medical emergencies, they need to go to Bangladesh for treatments and surgeries. 

[Reported by Rohingya Eye; Edited by M.S. Anwar]

Please email to: editor@rohingyablogger.com to send your reports and feedback.

By Antoni Slodkowski

Reuters

May 18, 2018

YANGON -- The U.S. government’s aid chief said on Friday he believes in American aid engagement and development work in Myanmar, and the Rohingya crisis is an “impediment” to that work, not a reason to scale back assistance. 

Mark Green, administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is in Myanmar for a three-day visit that follows a trip to the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, and Rohingya refugee camps in southeast Bangladesh. 

Some Asian leaders have been wary about U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” policy and his commitment to the region, especially after he walked away from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact in 2016 in the name of protecting U.S. jobs. 

“When challenges are there, I don’t believe they get better by America pulling back ... I very much believe in what we do,” Green said in Myanmar’s main city of Yangon after meeting government leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the capital, Naypyitaw. 

Green said he believed in American engagement in Myanmar and the importance of “development tools” and “humanitarian assistance”. 

“We want to do more. We want to do good things, we want to do big things,” said Green.

On Thursday, Green told reporters in Dhaka the United States would provide $44 million in additional aid for the Rohingya and vulnerable populations in Myanmar and Bangladesh. 

According to U.N. estimates, nearly 700,000 Rohingya have fled into Bangladesh from Buddhist-majority Myanmar’s Rakhine State to escape a military crackdown since August, launched in response to Rohingya insurgent attacks. 

Refugees have told of numerous incidents of murder, rape and arson by Myanmar troops and Buddhist vigilantes, which the United States and United Nations have called “ethnic cleansing”. 

Myanmar has denied nearly all of the allegations, saying its security forces have been waging a legitimate counter-insurgency operation against Rohingya “terrorists”. 

“This is a country that I think has tremendous potential. There’s an impediment to that work - and that is the crisis that we’re talking about - but we believe that in the long-term future we can address this impediment,” said Green, referring to the Rohingya crisis. 

He has called on Myanmar to end violence against the Rohingya and to provide humanitarian workers and media unhindered access in the country. 

Green and other American officials on the trip also said the return of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar should be dignified, voluntary and safe and that their rights and security in Myanmar must be guaranteed. 

Reporting by Antoni Slodkowski

By The Daily Star

May 12, 2018

Tawakkol Karman, a Nobel Peace Prize winner from Yemen, yesterday said what Myanmar did to the Rohingyas was “genocide”.

“We have visited the Rohingya camps recently and talked with over a hundred women and girls who are victims of sexual violence,” she said at a symposium organised by Asian University for Women (AUW) in Chittagong.

“They described us the barbarity committed before their eyes... they witnessed their kids or parents being slaughtered and shot dead in front of their eyes...their houses were burnt in front of them.

“Thousands of Rohingya people have been compelled to leave their houses,” she said, terming these incidents “genocide”.

Tawakkol was addressing the symposium titled “A Bridge Towards Sustainable Development: Overcoming Threats to Survival” held in a hotel in the port city.

The first Yemeni Nobel laureate said the world is now facing a moral deterioration as genocide and violence are going on in its different parts in the absence of international community.

“More than 500,000 people have been killed in Syria because they said they wanted freedom,” she said.

Human beings deserve democracy and freedom, she said, adding, democracy is a must for development and development is essential for peace.

Tawakkol then urged the students of AUW to fight against corruption and for justice. “Corruption leads to poverty,” she said.

“Your victory begins through your leadership,” she said, adding, “Be a leader in every field you are contributing... if you want to change, lead the change.”

Pramila Patten, special representative of the UN Secretary-General on Sexual-Violence in Conflict and UN Under Secretary General, said sectarian violence has been left unpunished for a long time.

She said what Myanmar did to the Rohingyas was “war crime”.

“Many witnesses told me many girls and women were literally raped to death,” she said, adding, “Not a single soldier or commander has been made accountable for their offence.”

“I would like to congratulate both the government and the people of Bangladesh for saving the lives of the Rohingya people,” she said, urging the world to stand beside Bangladesh.

“It is not the problem of Bangladesh, it is the problem of international community and I think the ball is now in the court of the international community.”

Ismail Serageldin, former vice president of World Bank and founding director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, said the world should keep open the door for the refugees.

Izzeldin Abuelaish, a professor of the University of Toronto, termed the persecution of the Rohingyas “crime against humanity”.

“The Rohingyas have been living in Myanmar for decades. So, the Myanmar government should recognise them,” he said at the programme.

Kamal Ahmad, founder of AUW, and Prof Nirmala Rao, vice-chancellor of the university, also spoke among others.

May 11, 2018

By Habib Siddiqui

RB Opinion

May 9, 2018

The Rohingyas are victims of a ‘slow-burning genocide’ that is perpetrated as a national project in Buddhist Myanmar (formerly Burma). Some 700,000 Rohingyas have been forced out of their ancestral homes in western Rakhine (formerly Arakan) state since September 2017 to seek refuge inside Cox’s Bazar of Bangladesh. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas have also been living as internally displaced persons (IDPs) inside the Apartheid Myanmar since 2012. The International Rescue Committee (Nov. 15, 2017) estimated that there were 75,000 victims of gender-based violence (meaning rape), and that 45% of the Rohingya women attending safe spaces in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh had reported such attacks. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has estimated that at least 6,700 Rohingya were killed in the first month of the crackdown alone. Credible estimates suggest that tens of thousands of Rohingyas may have been killed by Tatmadaw (Myanmar security forces that are more commonly known as the ‘rapist army’) and their civilian partners-in-crime within the mostly Rakhine Buddhist population. 

According to satellite imagery (March 2018), more than 360 Rohingya villages had been partially or completely destroyed by Buddhist forces since August, with at least 55 villages completely bulldozed, removing all traces of buildings, wells and vegetation. 

An international conference on “Rohingya Crisis and Solution” was convened on May 2, 2018 in Cologne, Germany. It was hosted by the Hasene IGMG (a not-for-profit organization of Turkish people working in Germany) and attended by some 500 participants from all over the globe and comprised representatives from the diplomatic corps, international organisations, human rights groups, academia, civil society, non-governmental organisations and media, as well as leaders of the Rohingya organisations. 

Muhammad Turhan, Mesud Gulbahar and Kemal Ergun from Hasene IGMG welcomed the attendees to Cologne, which is the fourth most populated city in Germany. The keynote speech for the morning session was delivered by Philip Ruddock, ex-MP (1973-2016) who had served as a cabinet minister during the Howard Government and then as the Attorney General. He highlighted the importance of holding the murderous Myanmar regime accountable for its genocidal crimes. The speakers and panelists included Professor Abid Bahar (from Montreal, Canada), Prof. Michael Charney (University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies), Jacob Sterken (from Canada) who is the co-founder of the Euro-Burma Office, and Nurul Islam, Chairman of ARNO (Arakan Rohingya National Organization). They discussed various aspects of history of Arakan showing the indigenous root of the Rohingya people there. 

Mr. Islam thanked Bangladesh government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for letting the fleeing Rohingya refugees to take shelter inside Bangladesh and for bringing their plight to the international community, including the UN. He and other speakers urged the Government of Bangladesh not to forcibly resettle the refugees inside Myanmar until and unless they are truly secured with equal rights as citizens of Myanmar. 

The keynote speaker for the second session was Tansri Dr. Syed Hamid Albar who had held multiple ministerial positions in Malaysia, including the foreign ministry. He discussed how the government of Myanmar had abused the openness shown by the ASEAN that did not want to interfere in internal affairs of a fellow block member. The speakers and panelists included (besides myself) Dr. Maung Zarni (from the UK) – a fellow human rights activist and Burmese dissident, Imam Dr. Abdul Malik Mujahid (Chairman, Burma Task Force, USA) and Mehmet Ozturk of Anadolu Agency. 

The theme of the second panel discussion was around genocidal crimes against the Rohingyas of Myanmar. We stated categorically that genocide is a process that goes through several stages; it does not happen by accident but is a deliberate act with warning signs. We also reiterated that Myanmar had committed four out of the five acts of genocide as spelled out by the 1948 Convention on the Punishment and Prevention of the Crime of Genocide, while just one of those acts is sufficient to incriminate a group or state for such crimes. 

We urged the international community to punish the criminals – state and non-state actors – including those (e.g., fascist academics like Dr. Aye Chan and bigoted monks like Wirathu) who provoked (and continue to provoke) genocidal crimes against the Rohingya people. Dr. Mujahid shared the opposition routinely faced by Burma Task Force – an advocacy group for human rights in Burma - from the lobby groups representing India, Indonesia and the Jewelry merchant group in the U.S. State Department. He also shared information that the Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch – two of the major human rights groups - are opposed to any comprehensive sanction imposed on Myanmar, thus, making the task of changing the policy in Washington D.C. an arduous one, if not a zero-sum activity. 

We, the speakers, highlighted the fact that genocide against Rohingya has continued this long because of ignoring early warning signs since at least the early 1990s when some 270,000 Rohingyas were forced to take shelter inside Bangladesh when Pyi Thaya operation was launched by the Myanmar security forces. It was the second such massive operation in 14 years when Naga Min (King Dragon) operation in 1978-79 forced the exodus of nearly 300,000 Rohingyas to Bangladesh. Even the 2012 genocidal pogroms that led to internal displacement of nearly 150,000 Rohingyas were not taken seriously by the international community, including the next-door Bangladesh government, despite serious urging from human rights activists and genocide experts/scholars. 

The keynote speaker for the third session was Professor David Scheffer who is the Mayer Brown/Robert A. Helman Professor of Law, and Director, Center for International Human Rights at the Northwestern University, Chicago, USA. He joined via Skype and discussed issues surrounding genocidal and war crimes. The speakers and panelists included Dhaka University (Bangladesh) professors of International Relations: Drs. Chowdhury R. Abrar and Imtiaz Ahmed. The other speakers included Harn Yawnghwe who is the Executive Director of Euro-Burma Office (and son of Burma’s fist president – Sao Shwe Thaike) and Amir Ahmic, Liaison Officer at International Criminal Tribunal (Bosnia). 

The speakers shared their experiences in dealing with genocidal crimes perpetrated against the Rohingyas and Bosnians (in former Yugoslavia). They called for ‘Protected Return to Protected Homeland’ for the Rohingya people. They highlighted the importance of providing formal education to the Rohingya children in refugee camps. They also raised the issues surrounding raped victims, their pregnancy and children, and that more international funding is necessary to address such issues immediately. The speakers also discussed the ‘Suu Kyi’ factor and how democracy went backward rather than moving forward under her de-factor leadership in Myanmar. She is a complicit to the genocidal crimes perpetrated by her security forces. They also urged concerned global citizens, esp. lawyers and legal experts, to file cases implicating members of the Myanmar government and military for their genocidal crimes against the Rohingya people. They also urged all to boycott Made-in-Myanmar products to create pressure on the criminal government of Myanmar to change its course so that the Rohingyas are integrated as equal citizens with all their rights preserved inside their ancestral homeland of Arakan.

The last session of the day was chaired by Dr. Graham Thom who has worked as Amnesty International Australia’s Refugee Coordinator since May 2000. Regina Paulose, J.D., an attorney specializing on International Criminal Law and Razia Sultana, a Rohingya lawyer who grew up as a refugee inside Bangladesh, and is the founder of Rohingya Women Welfare, joined via Skype, sharing their views on international law as these pertain to Myanmar’s genocidal crimes against the Rohingya people, esp. females. 

Munira Subasic who had lost 22 family members in Srebrenica in July 1995 to Serbian genocidal criminals and was a primary eye-witness at The Hague International Court shared her insights about dealing with the pains of being a survivor to genocide, esp. the fact that while the Bosnian genocide stopped some two decades ago the Serbian criminals that killed his family members and raped so many women (and little girls) are still alive and continue to work and roam around unscathed within the Serbian territory of the new republic. She urged resoluteness in dealing with the Rohingya genocide and never to give up in demanding and to seeing justice carried out against the perpetrators of a genocide. 

Beini Ye who works as the Legal Officer of Open Society Justice Initiative in the UK shared her expertise in legal matters dealing with the Rohingya genocide. She said that the Myanmar’s rapist military have been using rape as a weapon of war to terrorize the Rohingya community permanently. The ‘rapist’ military has had used similar tactics in its war against ethnic rebels in the border territories. 

A lively questions and answers session followed each panel discussion. The conference ended with a note of solidarity with the Rohingya people and called upon the international community to stop the Rohingya genocide and to prosecute the criminals for perpetrating and/or inciting genocidal crimes against them. 

The speakers and attendees thanked Hasene International and its organizers for their generosity in hosting this much-needed international conference in Germany.

By Prothom Alo

May 9, 2018

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has wanted to know Bangladesh's opinion on whether The Hague-based court has jurisdiction to run a case on atrocities against Rohingyas.

The pre-trial chamber of the ICC has sent a letter in this regard on Monday and sought Bangladesh's opinion by June 11 either publicly or confidentially.

"The chamber hereby invites the competent authorities of Bangladesh to submit written observations, either publicly or confidentially, on the prosecutor's request no later than 11 June," reads the letter, a copy of which obtained by UNB.

The chamber invited the competent authorities of Bangladesh to submit written observations, either publicly or confidentially, on the three specific matters.

These are (i) the circumstances surrounding the presence of members of the Rohingya people from Myanmar on the territory of Bangladesh; (ii) the possibility of the Court's exercise of territorial jurisdiction over the alleged deportation of members of the Rohingya people from Myanmar into Bangladesh; and (iii) any other matter in connection with the prosecutor's request that, in the opinion of the competent authorities of Bangladesh, would assist the chamber in its determination of this request.

The chamber ordered the registrar to notify this decision to the competent authorities of Bangladesh together with a copy of the prosecutor's request.

A senior official at the foreign ministry said the government received the letter and is considering the matter.

Reading the content of the letter, the official said, Bangladesh has been affected due to influx from Myanmar and the chamber thinks is it right to seek opinion from Bangladesh.

On 9 April, the prosecutor submitted her request in pursuant to regulation 46(3) of the regulations of the court and article 19(3) of the Rome Statute.

On 11 April, the president of the Pre-Trial Division assigned the prosecutor's request to the Chamber.

In the request, the prosecutor seeks a ruling from the chamber on the question whether the Court may exercise jurisdiction over the alleged deportation of more than 670,000 members of the Rohingya people from Myanmar into Bangladesh.

The specific legal matter arising from this request is whether the court may exercise territorial jurisdiction over alleged acts of deportation of persons from the territory of Myanmar (a State not party to the Statute) into the territory of Bangladesh (a State party to the Statute.

Rule 103(1) of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence provides that any stage of the proceedings, a chamber may, if it considers it desirable for the proper determination of the case, invite or grant leave to a State, organization or person to submit, in writing or orally, any observation on any issue that the chamber deems appropriate."

Bangladesh has been particularly affected by the events concerning the deportation of Rohingya people from Myanmar.

Accordingly, the chamber considers it appropriate to seek observations from the competent authorities of Bangladesh on the prosecutor's request.

Such observations would, in these particular circumstances, assist the chamber in its determination of the request sub judice.

Bangladesh currently has a Rohingya population, which is far more than Bhutan's entire population.

Bhutan has around 800,000 people whereas Bangladesh had to give shelter to some 1.2 million Rohingyas.

Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a repatriation agreement on 23 November 2017. On 16 January, Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a document on 'Physical Arrangement' which will facilitate the return of Rohingyas to their homeland from Bangladesh.

The 'Physical Arrangement' stipulates that the repatriation will be completed preferably within two years from the start of repatriation but the repatriation on the ground is yet to take place.