Rohingya would have a greater hope for justice if the West cared to defend the international legal order which it says it supports

By Fareed Khan & Raiss Tinmaung

The past two weeks saw news of multiple developments relating to the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar. But hope among Rohingya refugees remains fleeting.The New York Times released videos of two Myanmar army deserters who provided testimony that their chain of command gave orders to "Kill all ‘kalars’ including babies".  In their testimony the two former soldiers implicated by name and rank 19 officers and six senior commanders.

In addition, the governments of Canada and the Netherlands jointly announced their intention to intervene in support of the Gambia at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the case against Myanmar for crimes it committed in the Rohingya genocide.  As well, Amnesty International released a damning report naming western corporations with international investors that pay dividends to members of Myanmar's military leadership.  

To put matters into context, it is important to understand Myanmar's history – one that has been rife with persecutions of ethnic minorities for decades.  A simple internet search would show reports of mass murders, rapes, forced labor, and forced disappearances of Rohingya, Kachin, Karen, Shan and other ethnic minorities in Myanmar.

It was only recently that the world started paying attention to the crimes of the Myanmar regime when in 2017 its military and security forces conducted so-called "clearance operations" of Rohingya communities.  This final stage of Myanmar’s decades long genocide agenda against the Rohingya resulted in the complete destruction of nearly 400 Rohingya villages, the ethnic cleansing and expulsion of more than 800,000 Rohingya refugees to neighbouring Bangladesh (creating the largest refugee camp in the world), the mass murder of tens of thousands of Rohingya civilians (including babies), and the gang rape by Myanmar soldiers of tens of thousands of Rohingya women and girls.

Numerous human rights organizations have declared Myanmar’s brutal clearance operation of the Rohingya as a clear case of genocide.  But the first spark of hope that the West was going to take action to defend the Rohingya minority didn’t occur until a year after the atrocities were revealed.  In Canada both houses of Parliament unanimously adopted motions in September 2018 that declared the atrocities committed by Myanmar as a genocide. While that acknowledgement was well received within the Rohingya diaspora, it did little to change the reality on the ground.

It wasn’t until November 2019, when the Gambia, backed by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, filed a case at the ICJ under the Genocide Convention against Myanmar for its crimes against the Rohingya that they felt a real sense of justice being done. The same year, the International Criminal Court also decided to conduct a preliminary investigation into the actions of Myanmar’s leaders for the crime of forced deportation of Rohingya to Bangladesh.

In spite of all the above, Myanmar continues to commit campaigns of mass atrocities against its minority communities as is evidenced by the fact that its army is currently in the process of undertaking new “clearance operations” in Rakhine State where it is employing its standard tactics of terrorizing civilians, torching communities, and gang raping women and girls from minority communities. It is clear from these actions that Myanmar’s leaders care little about international condemnation for their brutal campaigns against their minority communities, and that they have not learned anything from being brought before the ICJ for the horrific crimes they committed against the Rohingya.

Canada’s announcement that it intends to intervene in the Rohingya genocide case at the ICJ along with the Netherlands is a step in the right direction. Its announcement that it will focus on the sexual and gender based crimes of the genocide is important given the prolific use of rape by Myanmar as a method to terrorize Rohingya civilians.  However, unlike the year-long wait to recognize the Rohingya genocide, this expression of intent by Canada needs to be turned into action quickly.

Alongside these efforts Canada should also undertake efforts at the United Nations, European Union, ASEAN and other international bodies to impose targeted sanctions against multinational corporations who invest in the business ventures controlled by Myanmar’s military leaders. Furthermore, Canada should push for a complete arms embargo against Myanmar, in light of the fact that military hardware sold to the regime is used primarily to terrorize the nation’s ethnic minorities.

Canada's intention to intervene at the ICJ is an indication that it is willing to defend the Genocide Convention, a document which it was involved in drafting after the horrors of the Holocaust were revealed. For the 1.3 million Rohingya who now languish in refugee camps in Bangladesh, or the Rohingya who live in fear in the few surviving Rohingya villages of Myanmar, it is at least a hope for seeing justice done.  But a greater effort is required by Canada and other Western nations which claim to be committed to defending the international legal order, if the Rohingya are to see justice done and the perpetrators of genocide in Myanmar brought to justice.

Fareed Khan is the Director of Advocacy and Media Relations for the Rohingya Human Rights Network.

Raiss Tinmaung is the Founder and Chair of the Rohingya Human Rights Network.

© 2020 The View From Here.  © 2020 Fareed Khan.  All Rights Reserved.