Myanmar is guilty of genocide against the Rohingya people, according to the verdict of International Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal. A seven-member panel announced the verdict on Friday after considering documentary and expert evidence as well as the testimony of some 200 victims of the atrocities committed against the Rohingya Muslims Kachin and other minority groups in Myanmar, reports The Star Online of Malaysia.
PPT was established in Bologna in 1979 as a direct continuation of the Russell Tribunal on Vietnam (1966-67) and Latin America (1973-76), according to its website. The Russell Tribunal, also known as the International War Crimes Tribunal, Russell-Sartre Tribunal, or Stockholm Tribunal, was a private body organised by British philosopher and Nobel Prize winner Bertrand Russell and hosted by French philosopher and writer Jean-Paul Sartre. It investigated and evaluated American foreign policy and military intervention in Vietnam after the defeat of French forces in the battle of Diên Biên Phu in 1954 and the establishment of North and South Vietnam.
On the strength of the evidence presented, the tribunal reached the consensus ruling that Myanmar has the intent to commit genocide against the Kachin and other groups, the tribunal said. The verdict came at a time when over 4,20,000 Rohingyas fled persecution in Myanmar to Bangladesh in last four weeks.
It said visas and full access must be granted to the UN investigators for probing the atrocities committed against the Rohingya Muslims Kachin and other groups in Myanmar. This is the first time the tribunal delivered a verdict accusing a government having link with a Nobel Laureate. Myanmar must prosecute perpetrators of human rights abuses, hate crimes, genocidal massacres, rape, torture, arson and ethnic and religious violence against the Rohingya Muslims Kachin and other groups in its courts. There must be no more impunity for military personnel or militias.
The ground reality is unfortunately different as the tribunal’s verdict does not have any legal basis — it is unlikely to leave the Myanmar government in a state of fear. Myanmar knows that it will escape sanctions by such nations as the USA and the UK because it has a quasi-democratic government — so it is unlikely it will be afraid. Also it has strong allies such as India and China who will continue to support it with weapons because both want to court it.
New oil and gas pipelines from Kyaukpyuin town in Rakhine province connect China’s southwestern province of Yunnan directly with the Indian Ocean, bypassing the narrow Malacca Strait, where a strong U.S. naval presence has long worried Chinese policymakers. China may ultimately invest upto USD 30 billion in Rakhine State to secure its energy needs. Where its own national interests are at heart it is unlikely to pay more than lip service to ideals of humanity. India on the other hand is directly preventing Rohingyas from entering its borders by operating a ” rude and crude ” policy which involves using stun grenades and chili sprays to deter Rohingyas from entering.
So for the Rohingyas the reality is essentially unchanged.
