Canada gave hope to the Rohingya, then failed them by not acting to stop genocide. But there’s a chance for redemption

By Fareed Khan

One of the gravest human rights issues of the past two years has been the genocide of the Rohingya at the hands of the Myanmar government.  As Canada marked Victims of Genocide Day on December 9th and Human Rights Day on December 10th, Canadians need to examine how the Canada first gave hope to the Rohingya, then cruelly failed them, and how it can now redeem itself.

 

The world was aghast in the fall of 2017 when the atrocities committed by Myanmar against its Rohingya minority came to light – acts which were labeled "ethnic cleansing", "crimes against humanity," and ultimately "genocide".  Myanmar’s crimes against the Rohingya included the mass murder of thousands of unarmed civilians, the gang rape of tens of thousands of women, and the destruction of more almost 400 villages, which caused an exodus of Rohingya to neighbouring Bangladesh creating the world’s largest refugee camp.

In 2017 and 2018 Canada took international leadership in the Rohingya crisis through some key initiatives.  Canada was among the first nations to condemn Myanmar's atrocities.  In November 2017 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed Bob Rae as a Special Envoy to Myanmar to look into the crisis, report back, and recommend a course of action.  Following the release of Rae's final report in April 2018, Canada committed $300 million over three years for humanitarian assistance to Rohingya refugees (but ignored the majority of the remaining 17 recommendations).

As host of the G7 summit in 2018 Canada put the Rohingya issue on the agenda, and raised it in other international forums.  In addition, Canada used Magnitsky Act sanctions against a number of Myanmar's military officials, and supported the work of Canadian human rights jurists and organizations who filed legal briefs at the International Criminal Court in The Hague regarding the crime of forced deportation of Rohingya.

In the fall of 2018 Canada's Parliament passed two unanimously supported motions which officially acknowledged the atrocities committed by Myanmar against the Rohingya as "genocide" (the first nation in the world to do so).  Subsequently, Parliament also revoked the honourary Canadian citizenship conferred on Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi in 2008, and expressed its opposition to the repatriation of any Rohingya back to Myanmar without guarantees of safety and security.

But that is where Canada's leadership on the Rohingya crisis ended.

Despite repeated calls by the Rohingya Human Rights Network and other human rights organizations, Canada took no action at the United Nations to protect the more than 500,000 Rohingya remaining in Myanmar still being subjected to genocide.  Most importantly, since the beginning of 2018, Canada has been deaf to the many Canadian human rights voices, calling on the government to live up to its international treaty obligations by filing a complaint against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) under the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, despite the support shown for this action in a petition signed by more than 75,000 people.

For more than a year and a half the Canadian government has refused to live up to its international legal obligations by filing a genocide case against Myanmar at the ICJ, notwithstanding that this proposed action has the support of a third of the Senate, MPs from all parties, and human rights and civil society organizations.

The small West African country of Gambia has taken the lead in seeking justice for the Rohingya by filing a case for genocide against Myanmar at the ICJ.  The opening statements were made by the legal team from Gambia on December 11th.  The same day, disgraced Nobel Peace Prize laureate made an opening statement on behalf of Myanmar by trying to refute allegations that her nation committed genocide against the Rohingya, despite the overwhelming evidence available to prove otherwise.

Rohingya from around the world travelled to The Hague to be present on this historic occasion, to say thank you to Gambia, to stand in solidarity with that nation for taking on the genocide case against Myanmar, and to stand in defiance of Aung San Suu Kyi who has transformed from a human rights defender into someone complicit in genocide.  Rohingya were in The Hague to show her and the world that they will not be silenced, they will not be intimidated, or forgotten, despite the horrors and atrocities that have been inflicted on them by the Myanmar government, recently and over the past four decades.

There are also Rohingya Canadians who traveled to The Hague to stand shoulder to shoulder with their brothers and sisters.  They did this to send a signal to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that if Canada wants to be a “rule of law” nation and defender of human rights, as he and former Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland have so often stated, then they should take lessons from Gambia, which is living up to its legal responsibilities under the genocide convention, and defending the human rights of the Rohingya.  Where Canada has offered platitudes and slogans with no actions behind the words, Gambia is offering a real hope for justice.

However, Canada does have a path to redemption.  If the prime minister wants to show that Canada is truly a defender of the rules-based international order and human rights, then he needs to instruct Canadian officials to take actions which will allow Canada to become a party to Gambia’s genocide case.  All those who have been lobbying the government to stop the genocide in Myanmar, which continues to this day, still want Canada to participate in the genocide case, and put its legal expertise and international weight behind this prosecution in a substantive way. 

Words of support for the Rohingya are cheap, and Rohingya activists and their allies have heard far too many words from the Canadian government followed by too little action.  It is actions that matter.  Especially when it comes to helping those Rohingya who have survived genocide, and those who continue to be subjected to it. 

Sitting on the sidelines is not an option.  Canada needs to show leadership and join Gambia in prosecuting the Rohingya genocide at the ICJ.  Because to be a leader on the international stage requires action, and now is the moment to act and demonstrate Canadian leadership in a case where justice for survivors of genocide is the goal.  Words are important, but actions always matter more.

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