Since atrocities against the Rohingya broke out seven years ago, no one had been brought to justice for the crimes, the head of the UN’s Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, Nicholas Koumjian, declared.
Koumjian recalled that this week marks seven years since a wave of brutal atrocities by Myanmar (formerly Burma) security forces displaced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya women, men, and children from their homes in Rakhine State.
“Myanmar. Rohingya lost their loved ones and property, and many were subjected to horrific sexual violence. The majority sought refuge in neighboring Bangladesh where they remain, still awaiting the day when it will be safe to return to their homes in Myanmar.”
Inaction encouraged criminals in Myanmar to continue their actions without fear of repercussions, the investigator stated.
When crimes go unpunished, this can fuel more violence. This cycle of impunity must be broken.
Koumjian also noted that rising violence and resistance to military rule had made Rohingya “particularly vulnerable.” Earlier in August, a drone attack on Rohingya fleeing violence reportedly killed a large number of civilians. The Independent Mechanism launched new investigations into those offences.
“International justice is often slow, and this can be very frustrating for victims who rightly hope for justice that can bring an end to their suffering. We have collected and analyzed a very large quantity of evidence, including videos, photographs, social media posts, and geospatial imagery.”
The investigation team questioned hundreds of survivors, eyewitnesses, and people possessing insider information about the orders to commit the crimes.
The team was sharing its findings with authorities involved in Rohingya cases at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ), Koumjian reported. However, the ICC’s competence has been called into question amid a backlog of old cases and accusations of inefficiency.
We are identifying the individuals who are most responsible for the crimes committed against the Rohingya, including those who ordered the crimes, those who failed to punish crimes committed by those under their command, and those that actively promoted the hate campaign which fueled these crimes.
The Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar was established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2018 to compile and analyse evidence of the most serious international crimes and other violations of international law committed in Myanmar since 2011.
Seven years after being displaced from Myanmar during a violent campaign, more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, joining thousands of others fleeing previous atrocities. More than a million of them live in Cox Bazar in Bangladesh alone, making it the largest refugee settlement in the world.
