Burma blocks entry of UN mission charged with investigating alleged ethnic cleansing

Human Rights Watch denounces Aung San Suu Kyi’s government refuses to grant entry visas to UN team members

The UN rapporteur for Burma on violence against the Rohingyas: “Everything points to crimes against humanity”

The United Nations mission “urgently” adopted last March to investigate the violence in Burma and, in particular, the alleged crimes against humanity committed by the security forces against the Rohingya minority, has not yet moved to the country of Southeast Asia thanks to the efforts of the Burmese authorities to block their inquiries, which should have started this August.

According to a report by Human Rights Watch, the government de facto led by the Nobel Peace Prize winner, State Councilor Aung San Suu Kyi, has refused to grant entry visas to UN team members so far, Impossible to access the mission.

The situation was to be expected, as on June 30, Burma’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kyaw Tin told parliament that since the UN decision “is not in line with what is really happening on the ground,” the The government had issued orders “to the Burmese embassies not to grant any visas to members of the UN research mission.”

The team, made up of three researchers – the Indonesian expert on HRD Marzuki Darusman, Sri Lankan lawyer Radhuka Coomaraswamy and the Australian Christopher Sidoti – was established on March 24, 2016 with a majority of the votes of the Human Rights Council of United Nations to investigate violence in Burma, with “particular attention” to the military offensive in the state of Rakhine, which led some 75,000 members of the Rohingya (Muslim) community to flee to neighboring Bangladesh in October 2016.

Refugees reported rapes, massacres and torture at the hands of soldiers, including the killing of children and babies. The survivors denounced the scorched earth policy in many localities of Rakhine. The fact-finding mission should present its preliminary findings to the Human Rights Council next September and a full report in March 2018.

UN fears ethnic cleansing

UN Special Rapporteur for the Asian country, South Korea’s Yanghee Lee, said before that vote her fear that the Burmese authorities might be undertaking the expulsion of the Rohingya minority – 1.1 million people – from the country, Which would constitute an ethnic cleansing campaign. The Burmese Government, heir to the military junta, deplored the Council’s decision claiming to have launched its own military investigations into allegations of alleged crimes.

The army concluded that the survivors were lying, claiming that only a motorcycle robbery and beatings could be demonstrated to some villagers, ignoring evidence such as satellite images showing the burning of entire villages and testimonies of charges including group violations.

Speaking to THE WORLD, Yanghee Lee denounced the lack of credibility of Burmese investigations. “The very composition of the [internal] commissions of inquiry already generates doubts.When an institution is under investigation, all its members must be kept away from the investigating commission.Instead, [within it] Several military personnel and the head of the Police is the head of the commission that investigates the alleged abuses and acts of violence committed by the police, “he said then.

Bullying Tactics

“The United Nations must address Burmese intimidation tactics that include the threat of denying visas,” said John Fisher, head of Human Rights Watch in Geneva. “The Burmese military have long avoided accountability for their widespread and serious abuses. Authorizing entry to the mission would send the signal that the government is willing to work in partnership with the international community to help identify the perpetrators Of serious crimes and deter future crimes from all parties to the armed conflicts in Burma, “added the head of the NGO.

“Burma’s threat to block the entry of the mission will only end up hampering the government’s position on human rights,” Fisher said. “Even if the mission does not have access, we are sure that it will carry out its work and produce a report that will advance towards obtaining justice for victims of abuse.”

Freedom of expression

In another vein, the Burmese police have arrested the director of news portal Myanmar Now, the well-known journalist Ko Swe Win, very critical of the military junta, as a result of