‘Malaysia should push for safe zone to ease crisis’
KUALA LUMPUR: The creation of an international safe zone for displaced Rohingya Muslims requires Myanmar’s consent and the backing of other countries including Malaysia, said the Centre for Human Rights Research and Advocacy (Centhra).
Its chief executive, Azril Mohd Amin, said Malaysia should persuade other nations to support the proposal, which was mooted by Bangladesh last Friday.
He said the setting up of a safe zone was a “state practice” that had been part of customary international laws applicable in international and non-international armed conflicts.
“Rule 35 in the International Humanitarian Law provides for the establishment of ‘hospital and safety zones and neutralised zones’, which forbids directing any attacks on a zone set up to shelter the wounded, the sick and civilians from the effects of hostilities.
“In the event that Myanmar refuses to comply with international laws, it is difficult if Bangladesh is left alone to ensure the proposed safe zone is well implemented,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Azril said the first and fourth Geneva Conventions provided for similar zones to protect vulnerable civilians from conflicts.
He said the conventions stipulated that hospitals and safe zones should be far from military operations.
Asean and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), he said, must not remain silent on the systematic persecution of the Rohingya Muslims.
He said instead, Asean and OIC should ensure that Myanmar met the demand for a safe zone.
“Malaysia’s efforts to deliver humanitarian assistance will be more meaningful if the safe zones are immediately realised, as this mechanism ensures better distribution of aid to victims and provides a strategic platform for the long-term solution to the dragged-out humanitarian crisis affecting the Rohingya Muslims,” he said.