Bangladesh Thursday asked Myanmar to immediately "pull back" security forces and heavy weapons from the border after the troop build-up near a camp housing thousands of stranded Rohingya stirred tension on the troubled frontier. —Photo: AFP To the three Nobel Peace laureates - Iran's Shirin Ebadi, Ireland's Mairead Maguire and Yemen's Tawakkol Karman - who visited Bangladesh recently, issues of genocide, crimes against humanity and human rights violations are bread and butter issues. They thus concluded after their visits to the Rohingya camps that the Myanmar military had committed genocide and still continuing with its evil actions. They called upon their fellow Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to resign her post as the Myanmar government's 1st State Counsellor with the charge of Foreign Affairs because she has been the principal spokesperson of the regime to hide its acts of genocide against the Rohingyas.
The three visiting Nobel laureates did not indulge in international politics, strategic affairs or any other jargon. They suggested the only way for Bangladesh to save the Rohingyas from "becoming history" and itself from the burden of looking after a million of them on its soil would be to take the case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The need to go to the ICJ, that was always a major option, is now an overriding imperative with Myanmar continuing to send more refugees to Bangladesh by continuing with the genocide. Therefore, it is a wonder why the Bangladesh Government did not yet go to the ICJ and what it has been expecting for the resolution of this huge crisis.
It was let down at the beginning of the crisis in August when New Delhi openly sided with the Myanmar military in denial of its genocide of the Rohingyas on the plea that the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) had killed four Myanmar soldiers. And China did even more in favour of the Myanmar military. It first protected the Myanmar military by telling the UN and the West that what Myanmar had done with the Rohingyas was its internal matter. It then used its influence on the Bangladesh government to broker an "arrangement" with Myanmar to send back the Rohingyas in stages. That "arrangement" was open-ended and all the strings to interpret the so-called arrangement were given to the Myanmar side. More importantly, there was no pressure on Myanmar to take back the refugees unless it was satisfied it was ready to do so.Thus China allowed Myanmar safe exit from a very tight corner to which the international powers and the UN had pushed it for its blatant acts of crimes against humanity.
The China-brokered "arrangement" has not led to the return of even a single Rohingya to their homeland. In fact, with no cessation of brutality towards them, the Rohingyas are instead continuing to enter Bangladesh. And Myanmar is flexing its military might on the Myanmar-Bangladesh border.
It is time for Bangladesh to return to the drawing board and see the mistakes it has made in handling what is undoubtedly the greatest crisis to befall the country since its successful liberation war in December 1971. Its closest friends, India, China, Russia and later Japan, and in South Asia, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan have sided with Myanmar. It then allowed China to broker the "arrangement" that helped Myanmar come out of the tight corner in the UN where the western powers could have made Myanmar not just to take responsibility of the genocide but also to accept arrangements for a resolution of the problem.
Bangladesh should have understood that the motives of China and India were strategic in nature and also in conflict with each others'. The conflicts notwithstanding, both China and India needed to keep Myanmar happy.
The three Nobel laureates hinted where Bangladesh should now seek the resolution of the Rohingya issue. They pointed towards the International Court of Justice to which Bangladesh should take the Myanmar regime on the grave charge of genocide of the Rohingyas. The International Genocide Convention to which Myanmar and Bangladesh are both signatories allow member countries to take a genocide case to the ICJ. The Myanmar military could be charged with genocide under Article 2 of the Genocide Convention for targeting and killing the Rohingyas because they are a different group based on their religion and ethnicity.
The Myanmar military could also be charged under a number of other descriptions of genocide in the same Article, as for instance, for attempting to take away the ethnic identity of the Rohingyas and forcibly interfering with their birth and other fundamental aspects of their lives and livelihood. And there are also enough provisions in Article 3 of the Convention under which the Myanmar military can be brought to stand trial for committing genocide and its obligations as a signatory to the Genocide Convention.
Myanmar is now apparently determined to free the country of the Rohingyas, one issue that unites the predominantly Buddhist country that is otherwise divided deeply internally with a good number of active secession movements in the country. This deep hatred towards the Muslim Rohingyas clearly borders on insanity.
That places the ball squarely in Bangladesh's court. And Bangladesh should heed the suggestion of the three Nobel laureates and take Myanmar to the ICJ on the charge of genocide and ethnic cleansing.
M. Serajul Islam is a former Ambassador.
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