HRW welcomes the arrest request of the ICC Prosecutor’s Office against the military junta of Burma

Sees the prosecutor’s decision as an important step towards justice for the Rohingya and accountability for the Burmese military

Calls on the UN Security Council for an arms embargo and sanctions on junta leaders

Nov. 28 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The NGO Human Rights Watch has welcomed the request for an arrest warrant against the leader of the military junta of Burma, Min Aung Hlaing, issued this Wednesday by the Prosecutor’s Office of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the framework of its investigation for crimes against humanity in the country, particularly against the Rohingya community.

“The Prosecutor’s request is a strong warning to Burma’s abusive military leaders that they are not beyond the reach of the law. And it sends an important message to the Rohingya community that their fight for justice has not been forgotten,” said HRW’s senior international justice adviser, Maria Elena Vignoli.

In a statement, the NGO has welcomed this decision, which sees it as “an important step towards justice for the country’s Rohingya population (…) and the search for responsibility for the atrocities of 2016-2017″ as well as for ” erode the impunity that fuels the military’s continued abuses.

The abuses of the Burma Army are not limited to that period, the NGO has denounced, but have continued to be perpetrated despite the provisional measures of the ICC issued in January 2020. “Emboldened by decades of impunity, the Burma military has committed numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity since the 2021 coup d’état,” the organization lamented.

As documented by HRW, in the last year, the military junta has detained thousands of Rohingya for “unauthorized travel” and imposed new movement restrictions and aid blockades in Rakhine state, home of this minority.

In addition, the Burmese Army and the local guerrilla of the Arakan Army – a historic separatist group that continues its fight against the military, now within the framework of the conflict derived from the coup d’état carried out by the current Burmese military junta in 2021 – have committed ” mass killings, arson and illegal recruitment against the Rohingya population” and have even placed “land mines” along the border with Bangladesh.

Faced with this crisis in the Asian country, the NGO has lamented an insufficient, “fragmented and hesitant” response from the international community. In particular, the UN Security Council, which has the authority to issue legally binding resolutions, has remained “paralyzed” and has not adopted “tangible” measures since the end of 2022.

“The United Nations Security Council should expand the jurisdiction of the ICC to address the full scope of criminality by referring the situation in Burma to the court,” Human Rights Watch said.

Likewise, the NGO has urged the organization to promote a resolution that includes “a global arms embargo, the imposition of selective sanctions on the leaders of the junta and military-owned companies and the request for periodic reports from the UN Secretary General about the situation.”

“With few options to deliver justice, the ICC is doing exactly the job it was created to do. ICC member countries must fully support the court and raise their voices to support and defend its independent global mandate,” Vignoli said.

The Prosecutor’s Office of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has asked the court to issue an arrest warrant against the leader of Myanmar’s military junta, Min Aung Hlaing, for crimes against humanity, in particular the persecution of the Rohingya community. in Rakhine State and the resulting mass exodus to Bangladesh.

The office of prosecutor Karim Khan attributes to the Burmese leader, who has governed the Asian country since the coup d’état in February 2021, criminal responsibility for crimes of deportation and persecution, in relation to abuses perpetrated by the Burmese Armed Forces, which he commanded, between August and December 2017.