International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan issued an order based solely on violence against the Rohingya in 2016 and 2017, without making any reference to the 2021 coup that plunged all of Myanmar into civil war. The last three years have changed relations between the coup army and ethnic minorities, complicating the situation on the ground.
The Hague () – The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court asked the court’s judges to issue an arrest warrant against General Min Aung Hlaing, head of the Burmese military junta, for crimes committed against the Rohingya minority between 2016 and 2017. Min Aung Hlaing, responsible for the coup d’état that paved the way to civil war in Myanmar in 2021, was accused of “deportation and persecution of Rohingya”, according to the statement released today by prosecutor Karim Khan, who since 2019 has been investigating the alleged crimes that caused an exodus of Rohingyas to Bangladesh.
“In my visits to the Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar over the past three years, and again yesterday, I have met Rohingya women who have spoken clearly and decisively about the need for accountability. I sat down with young activists who wanted to play their own role in the search for justice. And I have spoken to men of all ages, including the elderly and sick, who have asked to be seen and obtain justice for what they have suffered,” Khan stated in the note, but at no point does he mention the current conflict in Myanmar. The prosecutor stressed that impartial and independent investigations have been carried out and added that other requests for arrest warrants against senior Burmese government officials will follow.
Prosecutor Khan’s investigations focused on Bangladesh because Myanmar does not recognize the Court’s jurisdiction and access to Rakhine is hampered by the ongoing conflict. The region has been almost completely recaptured by the Arakan Army (AA), a local militia fighting the military junta. While on the eastern side of the country, armed resistance groups have recaptured a series of outposts on the border with China. Beijing, which also exerts some influence over ethnic militias and is interested in completing its infrastructure projects in Myanmar, and was pressuring General Min Aung Haling to ensure the security of Chinese investments and citizens, expressing some disappointment over the Burmese junta.
Between 2016 and 2017, the Tatmadaw, the Burmese army, carried out a harsh repressive campaign against the entire Rohingya population in response to attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) against some police posts. According to estimates by international organizations, at least 6,700 people died in the clashes and more than 700,000 fled to Bangladesh.
The ARSA is an Islamist-inspired terrorist group that today continues to operate among the displaced Rohingya in Bangladesh with the aim of positioning itself as the only leading group of the minority, whose members are mostly Muslim. Inside the refugee camps they killed some community leaders and burned civilian homes.
In the context of the civil war in Myanmar, the ARSA currently fighting alongside the Burmese army against the Arakan Army, and the Rohingya remain the main victims of the conflict. The army, weakened after three years of conflict, has exploited the historical rivalry between the Rakhine, of Buddhist religion, who form the Arakan army, and the Rohingya, of Islamic religion. The generals have recruited (partly by force) the Rohingya population (despite past clashes), and AA has responded in recent months by massacring hundreds of Rohingya in northern areas of the state. A complex situation that does not arise from the investigations or the words of chief prosecutor Karim Khan.
In 2017, the year in which accusations of “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” began by the United Nations and other international organizations, democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi was also criticized for having supported the actions of the military, but according to According to several Burmese commentators, Suu Kyi was trying to avoid a direct confrontation with the military. Indeed, despite the democratic openings that had been implemented in Myanmar, until before the 2021 coup, the Tatmadaw retained a quarter of the seats in Parliament and key ministries within the Executive.
Khan’s request will now go to a three-judge court that will evaluate the evidence and determine whether to issue an injunction. There is no deadline for the decision: the one that had been requested against Russian President Vladimir Putin required less than three weeks in 2023, while more than six months must have passed to issue court orders against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former minister. of Defense and the military chief of Hamas.
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