Now more evidence has surfaced that a very large number of Rohingyas have been massacred and buried in five mass graves according to an exclusive investigation by the Associate Press (AP). Myanmar soldiers used acid to burn away the faces of slaughtered Rohingyas to ensure that they could not be identified before the dead bodies were thrown into mass graves. Also time-stamped image-based evidence gathered by the AP shows blue green puddles of acid sludge floating around corpses. The report by the AP is corroborated by witness testimony from survivors and relatives of victims. The mass killing is believed have taken place on August 27 last year. The AP documented interviews with survivors of the massacre in Gu Dar Pyin Which indicates about 400 Rohingyas were slaughtered by the army and Buddhist mobs.
Last month in a rare moment of semi-truth, the Myanmar army admitted that its soldiers murdered 10 Rohingyas whose bodies were found in a mass grave in village called Inn Dinn. In fact, the grave was found by two Myanmar journalists who now face charges of treason. That left the Myanmar army no other alternative than to admit its role in the massacre. James Gomez of Amnesty International described the mass grave in Inn Din as "only the tip of the iceberg'' of known and unknown atrocities and war crimes committed. John Sifton of Human Rights Watch rightly observed that it was not that human remains were lying around everywhere and added that there were reasons to believe that the authorities had disposed of human remains. Now both Gomez and Sifton have proved correct in their views.
The US State Department said it was "deeply, deeply troubled'' by the new evidence and called for the Myanmar government to allow an independent investigation. But at the same time the US maintains close ties with the Myanmar army and regularly participates in military exercises along with its strategic allies in the region with that very army which is the principal perpetrator of Rohingya genocide. The hypocrisy is so obviously clear. UN special envoy on human rights in Myanmar Yanghee Lee described the killing and disposal of the bodies bear "the hallmarks of a genocide''. Phil Roberts of Human Rights Watch said the AP report "raises the stakes for the international community to demand accountability from Myanmar''.
Based on its surveys, Medicins sans Frontieres (MSF) estimates that as many as 13,000 Rohingyas have been killed in Rakhine since August, many of them children. Eric Schwartz of Refugee International described the events in Myanmar as "one of the greatest crimes in recent memory - massive abuses, forced relocation of hundreds of thousands of people in matter of weeks."
The Rohingyas have been persecuted by the Myanmar army and reviled by the Buddhist nationalists in their home state Rakhine. They have been denied their ethnicity claim, including citizenship, by the Myanmar state. But ever since Aung San Suu Kyi (ASSK) came to power the speed and ferocity of Rohingya persecution accelerated to a point of genocide where outright mass murder, gang rape, mass burning of villages against completely defenceless Rohingyas which led 680,000 Rohingyas to flee for life across the border to Bangladesh where they now live in squalid conditions. ASSK has become the chief defender of the army's genocidal attacks on the helpless and defenceless Rohingyas, mocking the mass murder and arson as a "huge iceberg of misinformation'' and rejecting reports of gang rape as "fake news''. Her government is directly culpable of atrocities committed against the Rohingyas.
Zeid Raad Al-Hussein, Chief of UN Human Rights, cited a long list of atrocities that have been committed against the Rohingyas and what they have suffered describing them as "acts of appalling barbarity''. He previously also described the Myanmar army's genocidal attacks against the Rohingyas as "textbook'' case of ethnic cleansing. Al-Hussein in an interview with the BBC expressed the view that the possibility that acts of genocide had been committed could not be ruled out and Myanmar's current leader ASSK and her top general Min Aung-Hlaing could end up before a court, presumable a reference to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. But his remarks were greeted with embarrassing silence.
Moreover, Myanmar is not a party to the ICC; as such that will require a referral by the UN Security Council to the ICC. But that is not going to happen as China and Russia will definitely veto such a resolution. Al-Hussein urged the UN to set up a new mechanism to allow criminal prosecution of individuals suspected of committing atrocity crimes. Genocide is the most serious of atrocity crimes. His new approach to prosecution reflects his frustration with the current process through the ICC. ASSK and her generals are literally getting away with murder. Without being held to account, ASSK and her generals will be free to continue with their acts of unspeakable barbarity against the Rohingyas and other ethnic minorities in Myanmar. The Rohingya crisis exposed a great act of moral failing by most world leaders, more so by most Asian leaders. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi even visited Myanmar to lend his full moral and material support to ASSK and her generals to pursue the unspeakable barbarity against the Rohingyas. In effect many argue that Modi likely to have provided ASSK and her generals a role model for how to undertake, in particular how to commit atrocities against religious minorities, in particular Muslims. ASSK was also an esteemed guest of Modi at the India's republic day celebrations in Delhi in January this year.
Worse even, Bangladesh and Myanmar have agreed to a deal to repatriate Rohingya refugees, with absolutely no guarantee of their safety. Once repatriated these refugees will be held in holding camps which are in effect "concentration camps''. Without resolving the core issues relating to their ethnicity and citizenship and return of their properties, their going back will be a very risky endeavour and may result in either getting killed or fleeing back to Bangladesh again. The deal to repatriate Rohingya refugees without resolving the core issues which will provide protection, is part of a larger campaign by ASSK and her generals to whitewash the atrocities that they have committed.
Yanghee Lee, the UN envoy on human rights in Myanmar, reiterated her calls for those responsible for the massacre to be bought to justice and that is "because the people, the victims, and the families of victims definitely deserve an answer''. But prosecutions for human right violations are very rare because the ICC has been rendered ineffective, in large part because major global powers such as the USA, China and Russia reject its jurisdiction. But that did not stop the USA to support the ICC when it suits its purpose in other countries but not the USA. There are instances where even member countries refused to enforce its statutes.
But those responsible for atrocities committed against the Rohingyas must be held accountable and that clearly means ASSK and her generals should be held directly responsible for crimes against humanity. She and her generals have shown no remorse for the horrible crimes committed against the Rohingyas, instead she is trying to whitewash it as former US cabinet member and veteran diplomat Bill Richardson exposed her initiatives to do so. In view of a dysfunctional international system to bring criminals like ASSK and her generals to face trial, the alternative as suggested by Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch is to impose "targeted sanctions'' against the perpetrators of genocidal crimes committed against the Rohihgyas - but not the people of Myanmar. That action must, however, not preclude continuing to explore all the legal and procedural avenues to bring ASSK and her generals to face trial before the ICC. This will also work as a warning to other likely mass murders around the world about the consequences of undertaking such a venture.
The writer is an independent economic and political analyst.
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