Suu Kyi sat impassively through graphic accounts of mass murder and rape perpetrated by Myanmar’s military at the start of a three-day hearing into allegations of genocide at the UN’s highest court. Abubacarr Marie Tambadou, the Gambia’s attorney general and justice minister, said as he opened his country’s case against Myanmar at the international court of justice (ICJ) in The Hague that another genocide was unfolding right before the world’s eyes but there was nothing being done by anyone to stop it.
The contrast between Aung San Suu Kyi winning the 1991 Nobel peace prize and her present position as chief denier that any ethnic violence has been perpetrated against the Rohingya has astonished international human rights organisations. Last year, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum revoked her Elie Wiesel award.
The ICC has jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression. It is intended to complement existing national judicial systems and it may therefore exercise its jurisdiction only when certain conditions are met, such as when national courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute criminals or when the UNSC or individual states refer situations to the Court.
But Myanmar is not a signatory to the Rome Statute which established the ICC, although Bangladesh is one of the signatories and has accepted the Court’s jurisdiction in the matter. Suu Kyi’s presence in the Court thus signifies nothing — if anything, it exemplifies the determination of the Myanmar government to brand the Rohingya as Bengali illegal immigrants and dismiss the cases of genocidal action by the Myanmar army as baseless and without merit.
You can’t fool all of the people all of the time but the Myanmar government are surely giving that quote a run for its money. They have nothing to fear– after all, as the states which invest in Myanmar are likely to continue to do so as Myanmar has valuable natural resources which are waiting to be tapped.
Its main international backers–Russia and China, have everything to lose if they don’t prevent resolutions against Myanmar in the UNSC. Both are sources of arms exports to Myanmar. In both countries the defence establishment is quite powerful, so both countries are unlikely to do anything to hurt Myanmar. Additionally China has large investments in energy in Myanmar, yet another crucial economic tie to that nation.
As long as both nations continue to shield Myanmar from UNSC resolutions there is nothing at all for Myanmar to fear. Due to this symbiotic relationship the mere sanctions by the West against selected Myanmar generals is unlikely to deter Myanmar from pursuing its policy of selective genocide. After all it has been given a free reign by a majority of its population who detest the Rohingya and applaud any action taken to leave the country.
