#GlobalJustice Weekly – Justice in sight with new Rohingya commission?
Can new Rohingya commission jolt action on alleged Myanmar atrocities?
Members of civil society working to end human rights violations and abuses in Myanmar, and in particular against the Rohingya ethnic group, have insisted that the European Union (EU) and its member states present a new resolution on the country’s human rights situation during the 71st UN General Assembly (UNGA) session.
While welcoming Myanmar’s new government’s prioritization of peace and national reconciliation, Burma Partnership drew the EU’s attention to reports of renewed military offensives, almost 14,000 civilians displaced between January and September 2016, and alleged extra-judicial killings, rape and other forms of sexual violence, forced labor, indiscriminate use of landmines, and recruitment of child soldiers by both the government and ethnic armed groups.
The call comes after former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s appointment as chair of the nine-member Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, established by Myanmar to investigate communal conflict pitting Rakhine Buddhists against the Rohingya, amounting to crimes against humanity according to some.
Both the appointment of a non-Burmese as chair and the lack of Rohingya representation on the Commission have garnered criticism, but can the establishment of the Commission nevertheless spur on local and international action within the Rome Statute framework?
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