The United Nations should intervene in Myanmar’s Rakhine State to stop further escalation of violence against Rohingya Muslims and avoid any more genocide like in Cambodia and Rwanda, said the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s special envoy to Myanmar.
The conflict which has left at least 86 dead and an estimated 66,000 people fleeing into Bangladesh since it started on October 9, 2016, is no longer an internal issue but of international concern, said Syed Hamid Albar, the OIC’s Special Envoy to Myanmar.
The OIC will discuss ‘genuine steps’ today in Kuala Lumpur what the OIC and the international community should take to address the root causes of violence in the Rakhine State of Myanmar, according to a news agency and human rights bodies.
The meeting is expected to urge the Myanmar government to allow the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Rakhine State, address the root causes of the violence, and widen the scope of dialogue among the groups to ensure the return of the displaced Rohingya population to their homes in safety and dignity, the OIC said in a statement ahead of the meeting.
The OIC foreign ministers will hold the ‘extraordinary meeting’ in the Malaysian capital upon the request of the Malaysian government to discuss the situation of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam will represent Bangladesh at the OIC meeting and uphold Bangladesh’s position, a Foreign Ministry official said
The OIC Special Envoy to Myanmar, Syed Hamid Albar, said the OIC should seek UN intervention. His comments come ahead of a special OIC meeting called by Malaysia on Thursday to discuss measures to deal with the conflict affecting the Rohingya minority, who are predominantly Muslims.
“We don’t want to see any more genocide like in Cambodia or Rwanda,” Syed Hamid Albar told Reuters in an interview ahead of the meeting in Kuala Lumpur.
The OIC represents 57 states and acts as the collective voice of the Muslim world.
Refugees, residents and human rights groups say, Myanmar soldiers have committed summary executions, raped Rohingya women and burned homes since military operations started in the north of Rakhine State on October 9 last year.
The government of predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, has denied the accusations, saying many of the reports are fabricated, and it insists the strife in Rakhine State, where many Rohingya live, is an internal matter.
A Myanmar government spokesman said it will not attend the OIC meet as it is not an Islamic country, but that it had already made its actions clear to ASEAN members at their last meeting in December, and that UN intervention would only end up facing “unwanted resistance from local people”.
“So that’s why the international community should have a positive approach and understand widely our country’s conflict situation,” said Zaw Htay, a spokesman for the office of Myanmar President Htin Kyaw.
About 56,000 Rohingya now live in Muslim-majority Malaysia having fled previous unrest in Myanmar.
Malaysia, which is Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy, broke the tradition of non-intervention by members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by speaking out on the conflict, calling on the 10-member bloc to coordinate humanitarian aid and investigate alleged atrocities committed against the ethnic group.
Zaw Htay criticized Malaysia for its outspoken position on the conflict, saying the country should manage “its own political crisis” and “avoid encouraging extremism and violence” in Myanmar.
Meanwhile, more than 40 Myanmar-based civil society organizations in a statement on Wednesday called for a “truly independent” international investigation into the situation in Rakhine State, where state-sponsored attacks against Rohingya Muslim civilians have escalated in recent months.
Muslim and Buddhist communities in Rakhine State have faced human rights violations with impunity for decades.
The statement recommends the establishment of a “commission of inquiry to fully assess the totality of the situation in Rakhine State and provide clear recommendations for the current government to effectively address and prevent further problems.”
“This initiative is important for the entire country,” said Matthew Smith, chief executive officer at Fortify Rights. “It’s time for the government to get on board and support the establishment of an impartial and independent inquiry.”
The statement comes a day before Foreign Ministers of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC)-an intergovernmental body of 57 member states-will meet in Kuala Lumpur to discuss the situation of Rohingya in Rakhine State.
The diverse signatories to the statement include women-led organizations, human rights groups, academic institutions, and development organizations working throughout the country and with various ethnic communities.
More than 65,000 Rohingya men, women, and children have fled to Bangladesh since October, joining a longstanding Rohingya refugee population of an estimated half a million people.
