UN RIGHTS CHIEF CALLS FOR GATHERING EVIDENCE OF CRIMES AGAINST ROHINGYA
▶ Bachelet’s first address to Human Rights Council sets sights on Myanmar’s persecution of Muslim minority
The UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet yesterday called for a new body to collect evidence for prosecution of crimes, including murder and torture, committed against Rohingya in Myanmar.
Ms Bachelet, in her first speech to the Human Rights Council since taking office on September 1, said that attacks and persecution appeared to be continuing in Rakhine state.
“Investigators also found indications of executions, torture and sexual violence against minorities in Kachin and Shan states,” she said.
“The persistence of these patterns of violations underscores the total impunity accorded to the Myanmar security forces.”
She was speaking to the 47-member Geneva forum, which opened a three-week session. Ms Bachelet welcomed a decision by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court last week that it had jurisdiction over deportations of Rohingya from Myanmar to Bangladesh.
“This is an immensely important step towards ending impunity and addressing the enormous suffering of the Rohingya people, Ms Bachelet said.
“I also welcome efforts by member states at this council to establish an independent international mechanism for Myanmar to collect, consolidate, preserve and analyse evidence of the most serious international crimes, to expedite fair and independent trials in national and international courts.”
An independent team of investigators last month said in a report that there was evidence of “genocidal intent” by the military against Rohingya, and that offences against humanity and war crimes appear to have been committed.
The investigators said six generals, including the military chief, should face justice.
A year ago, government troops led a crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in response to attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army on 30 Myanmar police posts and a military base.
About 700,000 Rohingya fled the crackdown and most are now living in refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh.
The new process, similar to what was set up for crimes in Syria, would complement and support the preliminary examination of the international court prosecutor, Ms Bachelet said. “I urge the council to pass a resolution and refer the matter to the General Assembly for its endorsement so that such a mechanism can be established,” she said.
The Myanmar regime has denied committing atrocities against the Rohingya, saying its military carried out justifiable action against militants. It has so far shown that it has no intention of co-operating with the court.
Ms Bachelet, a former president of Chile, also called on China to allow in monitors after “deeply disturbing” allegations of large re-education camps in which Uighurs are detained in Xinjiang province.
A UN rights panel last month said it had received credible reports that up to a million Uighurs may be held in detention in the far western province and called for them to be freed.
China has rejected the allegations of internment camps and accused “external factors” of raising trouble in the region.
Ms Bachelet said the panel had brought to light “deeply disturbing allegations of largescale arbitrary detentions of Uighurs and other Muslim communities, in so-called re-education camps across Xinjiang”.
Reports had also been received of “patterns of human rights violations in other regions”, she said, calling on the government to allow her office access across China.
Ms Bachelet said she was sending teams to Austria and Italy to look into the protection of migrants and voiced alarm at anti-migrant violence in Germany.
Italy has denied entry to rescue ships and there have been reports of a sharp rise in acts of violence and racism against migrants, Africans and Roma, she said.
Ms Bachelet said she was concerned at 500 migrant children in the US who were taken from their parents and have not yet been returned by authorities.
She decried the announcement by US President Donald Trump’s government last week that it would withdraw from a court agreement limiting the detention of migrant children to 20 days.