THE establishment of a Commission by the Myanmar government headed by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to address the human rights issues in the troubled Rakhine state and find a solution to ethnic Rohingya crisis appears to be a most welcoming step by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi government.
The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has lent his support to the efforts as the announcement of the Commission by Myanmar government came last week ahead of the opening of a peace conference with several rebel groups who are fighting for decades on regional issues. Suu Kyi will co-chair the Commission. It appears she is now giving priority to resolve outstanding ethnic crisis; which are blocking efforts of her country’s socio-economic development.
The conference however opened in capital Naypyidaw without representation of the Rohingya community who are facing systemic persecutions in the Rakhine state in the hands of Buddhists ultra nationalists. The Myanmar government does not recognize Rohingyas as Myanmar nationals and Suu Kyi even had advised diplomats few months back not to use the term Rohinga in her country. She appears to have changed for peace overnight. Her success may also reduce pressure of thousands of Rohinga refugees in Bangladesh.
The nine-member Rakhine Commission has three members of international community, four Buddhists and Muslims and two Myanmar government representatives. The presence of international community on the Commission highlights the pressure that Myanmar government was facing to resolve the crisis. By agreeing to their inclusion the Suu Kyi government has agreed to the need for making the Commission broad-based and powerful.
The new high profile Commission tasked to investigate decades of discrimination against minorities in Rakhine state, ensure accountability, recommend reparations, and lead efforts at reconciliation, if successful will perform an epoch-making job. The Commission will publish the report next year.
There is no secret that Aung San Suu Kyi is moving with the Commission, despite objections from local Rakhine lawmakers who demanded debate in Parliament on inclusion of foreigners on the Commission. They fear it may turn a domestic issue into an international one. But human rights issues are not merely internal but international issue.
Rohingyas have been stripped of the citizenship and were not allowed to cast vote in last election which took Suu Kyi’s NLD to power last year. They have been declared illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, were killed, their homes burnt and many were force to take shelter here. Meanwhile, more than 120,000 are now living in internally displaced persons camp within Myanmar.
The problem is now one of the biggest human tragedies in South Asia and the formation of the Commission by the newly elected democratic government of Myanmar shows the sincere initiative of Suu Kyi to resolve the crisis. The global community now hopes that Suu Kyi’s moved will bring peace in the troubled state and allow Rohingyas to return home.
