Call for UN to sanction Myanmar
Former foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy wants military elite to face UN travel sanctions
OTTAWA — Myanmar’s military elite need to have their wings clipped by targeted United Nations travel sanctions in order to discourage the continued ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims, says former foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy.
“We’re talking about targeting specific people, particularly in the military,” said Axworthy, the chair of the Canadian-based World Refugee Council, which is working with the UN to reform the global refugee system.
“A lot of these guys like to fly off to Bangkok and get a new suit or something. I’m not being facetious,” Axworthy said in an interview. “A restricted-travel sanction would be very effective for a lot of the elites in Myanmar.”
Axworthy, a former Liberal foreign affairs minister under Jean Chrétien, called on Canada to lead a diplomatic push for sanctions through its diplomats at the UN and in missions across Asia.
The current Liberal government, which has dispatched special envoy Bob Rae and International Development Minister MarieClaude Bibeau to the region, suggested Thursday it was open to the idea.
“We continue to consider all options at our disposal to press Myanmar on this issue, including potential sanctions,” said Adam Austen, a spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland.
“The responsibility for ending the ethnic cleansing in Myanmar falls squarely on that country’s military leadership and its civilian government — these are crimes against humanity.”
Axworthy also poured cold water on an agreement announced Thursday between Myanmar and Bangladesh to return the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who fled a military purge of their northern Rakhine state.
Myanmar announced no details of the plan, which was immediately criticized by Amnesty International. Refugees in Bangladesh have said their homes were set on fire by soldiers and Buddhist mobs; some reported being shot at by security forces.
BANGKOK — Myanmar and Bangladesh signed an agreement on Thursday covering the return of Rohingya Muslims who fled across their mutual border to escape violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
Myanmar announced the agreement but provided no details on how many Rohingya refugees would be allowed to return home. Bangladesh said the repatriations are to begin within two months.
More than 620,000 Rohingya have fled from Myanmar into Bangladesh since Aug. 25, when the army began what it called “clearance operations” following an attack on police posts by a group of Rohingya insurgents.
Refugees said their homes were set on fire by soldiers and Buddhist mobs, and some Rohingya even reported being shot at by security forces.
The office of Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi said the agreement “on the return of displaced persons from Rakhine state” was signed by Cabinet officials in Naypyitaw, Myanmar’s capital. It said the pact follows a formula set in a 1992 repatriation agreement signed by the two nations after an earlier spasm of violence.
Under that agreement, Rohingya were required to present residency documents, which few have, before being allowed to return to Myanmar.
Rohingya at a refugee camp in Bangladesh expressed deep doubts about the new agreement.
“They burned our houses, they took our land and cows — will they give us these things back?” asked Abdul Hamid from Hoyakong.
“I’m not happy at all. First, I need to know if they are going to accept us with the Rohingya identity,” said Sayed Alom, also from Hoyakong.
Rohingya Muslims have faced state-supported discrimination in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar for decades.
Though members of the ethnic minority first arrived generations ago, Rohingya were stripped of their citizenship in 1982, denying them almost all rights and rendering them stateless.