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Statement Supporting Establishment of UN-COI into War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity in Burma
Statement Supporting Establishment of UN-COI into War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity in Burma
The Forum of Burmese in Europe ( F B E ) has resolved in its 17th Conference held in Paris on July 29-30, 2011 that the Forum unanimously supports the establishment of the UN-mandated Commission of Inquiry (UN-COI) into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma. The Forum will cooperate closely with the international actors and organizations in implementing the establishment of the UN-COI in the country.
Since 1992 the UN General Assembly (UNGA) has been calling on the military dictatorship in Burma to respect international law and Geneva Conventions. Since 1997 the UNGA has made 18 calls for inquiries into gross human rights violations. In its 20 resolutions on Burma, the UNGA has described at least 15 different human rights abuses which could be classified as possible war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated by the Burmese military regime. These have been described as ‘major and repeated violations of international humanitarian law.’
The UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Burma, Prof Tomas Ojea Quintana, has repeatedly recommended establishing such a Commission of Inquiry, warning that ‘ failing to act on accountability in Myanmar will embolden the perpetrators of international crimes and further postpone long-overdue justice.’ Former UN Special Rapporteurs on Burma, Prof Paulo Sergio Pinheiro and Yozo Yokota support it.
Fourteen Nobel Peace Laureates, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mikhail Gorbachev, Elie Wiesel, Lech Walensa, etc. have called for the establishment of the UN-COI. Some of the world’s leading jurists have as well recommended it. A bipartisan women group of 13 US Senators recently urged Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to support establishment of an international commission of inquiry into war crimes in Burma. The Commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission of Royal Thailand, Dr Nirun Pitakwatchara has expressed recently his personal support for a Commission of Inquiry into crimes against humanity and war crimes in Burma, as an important mechanism to check and balance the power and accountability of the military regime. In last May, the Vice-Chair of the Indonesian National Human Rights Commission, Mr Nurkholis, called on ASEAN to support a UN investigation into business and human rights violations in Burma. Democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has repeatedly expressed her strong support for COI, particularly when she addressed the US Congress by video link in June.
By now at least 16 countries have strongly expressed support for COI, including 12 EU member states as well as the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. In February 2011, the Burmese regime rejected 16 separate requests for investigations into gross human rights abuses made by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva as part of the Universal Periodic Review. In the past 20 years, the UNGA has made 18 calls on the Burmese regime to fully and promptly investigate gross human rights abuses, some of which may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, including use of sexual violence as a weapon of war, forced labour, deliberate targeting of civilians, use of torture, forced displacement, recruitment of child soldiers, imprisonment of over 2,000 political opponents, and persecution of ethnic minorities. These calls have been consistently ignored as serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law continue up to this day, gravely undermining lasting peace and national reconciliation in Burma.
The Forum of Burmese in Europe (F B E) calls on the EU Foreign Ministers, who will be drafting this year’s UNGA resolution on Burma in coming September, to fully support the inclusion in the resolution of a request to establish a Commission of Inquiry into international crimes in Burma. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in his latest report on implementation of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), emphasized that the ‘Responsibility to Protect is a universal principle, and it requires accountability.’ He further stated that R2P relies on the whole range of policy instruments, including the tools of investigation, fact-finding,……and conflict resolution laid out in Chapters VI and VIII of the UN Charter. As such the EU, as a key stakeholder , has both the moral leadership and imperative to heed the calls of the UN and uphold their Responsibility to Protect the suffering people of Burma from international crimes, committed by the Burmese regime and its institutions. It is therefore high time and imperative for the EU to demonstrate political will and leadership in establishing a Commission of Inquiry through a UNGA resolution. A Commission of Inquiry is not only necessary if the UNGA’s authority and credibility are to be upheld, it may as well serve to prevent future human rights violations in Burma, and may well contribute towards establishing a meaningful dialogue between the regime, the democracy movement, the ethnic leadership and the international stakeholders. It is as well a vital step towards national reconciliation. For the sake of justice, for the sake of ending impunity in Burma, and for the sake of the shaky credibility of the UN, it is now high time to act profoundly rather than a pretty lip-service.
In Sincerity and Solidarity,
FBE Founding Members
August 15, 2011
Contact persons:
Mr. MP Kyaw Thwin, Norway, +47 90 88 34 48, kyawthwin2004@yahoo.com
Dr. Win Naing, United Kingdom, +44 77 85 56 81 54, drwinnaing@yahoo.com
Mr. Htin Kyaw, France, + 33 1 48 21 71 25, htinkyaw9954@hotmail.com
Mr. Nwe Aung, Germany, + 49 2173 907335, NweAung@aol.com
Postfach 1738, D-40742 Langenfeld, Germany
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