New Delhi, August 25 (IPS) – It has been five years since the Rohingyas were forcibly displaced from Myanmar, and their pleas for justice and accountability continue.
On August 25, 2017, “Myanmar Army began a campaign to tackle massacres, rapes and arson in northern Rakhine State,” Human Rights Watch said in its latest report. mine, Myanmar: No justice, no freedom for the Rohingya 5 years on: Commemorating atrocities International prominence.
Today, this day is marked as Day of Remembrance of the Rohingya Genocideforcing nearly 750,000 Rohingyas to flee to Bangladesh, while about 600,000 are still “oppressed” in Myanmar.
“No one should be held accountable for crimes against humanity and acts of genocide against the Rohingya people. This anniversary will prompt the governments concerned to take concrete action to hold the Myanmar military accountable and ensure justice and safety for the Rohingya in Bangladesh, Myanmar and across the region,” the report said. said.
For the hundreds and thousands of Rohingya refugees who entered southern Bangladesh via beaches and rice paddies in 2017, “they bring with them accounts of the unspeakable violence and brutality that forced them to had to flee,” UNICEF said in this report.
The attacks and fleeing violence during the 2017 exodus joined some 300,000 people already in Bangladesh from previous waves of displacement, forming the largest refugee camp in the world, the report said. effective”. As of August 2022, approximately one million Rohingya live in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh.
Dr Mohsina Chaklader, a physician with Humanity Auxilium, in an exclusive interview with IPS, said: “Rohingya refugees come with physical and mental trauma that is directly caused by the Burmese military offenses – including physical violence, deaths of loved ones, days of journeys without food”.
Humanity Auxilium is a health NGO that provides healthcare and training to the world’s most marginalized communities.
Chaklader said she has treated visible wounds and deep psychological trauma.
“The conditions I witnessed included fractures, deep wounds, malnutrition, infections, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Rohingya women and girls make up more than 50% of the population who come to these camps. They face special challenges as many people were tortured and gang raped during the genocide, and many gave birth as a result of those rapes. These victims were also rejected by their husbands for being raped and assaulted. Today, women are worried about the future of their children born in these camps.”
Despite the improvements, the conditions of the Rohingya refugees remain dire.
“From my recent visits I have seen better structural organization, but the camps continue to lack infrastructure – proper drainage, toilets, clean water supply, safety safety and mudslides throughout the camps impeding movement. The challenges are still great. Medical care is not enough to meet the needs of a population living in cramped and unhealthy conditions,” said Chaklader.
About half a million Rohingya refugee children have been exiled from their homeland. Many people born into this limbo today have little access to education.
According to a study by Norwegian Refugee Council, about 96% of 18-24 year olds surveyed are currently unemployed and 9 out of 10 young people aged 18-24 are in debt, have borrowed money within the past six months. Ninety-nine percent of women aged 18 to 24 are unemployed.
“In the absence of a political solution and resettlement of refugees in third countries, it is important to develop economic self-sufficiency in the camps,” said Chaklader.
“Although Bangladesh has been generous in accepting refugees, the government can do more to provide educational and economic opportunities for people in refugee camps. Bangladesh, as a developing country, needs more urgent cooperation and funding from the international community to meet the needs of the refugees,” said Chaklader.
This early year, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet met with religious leaders and women and visited camps in Cox’s Bazar, home to Rohingya refugees during her first visit to Bangladesh.
The High Commissioner reiterated the importance of ensuring that “safe and sustainable conditions exist for any returns and that they are conducted in a voluntary and dignified manner. The UN is doing the best we can to support them, and we will continue to do that, but we also need to address the root of the problem. We need to address that and make sure that they can return to Myanmar – when it is safe to do so and voluntarily return.”
In Myanmar, however, most Rohingya have no legal identity or citizenship, and statelessness remains a significant concern. Meanwhile, Rohingya children in Rakhine State, “have been violence, forced evictions and restrictions on freedom of movement“.
Until conditions in Myanmar allow Rohingya families to return, they will continue to be refugees or internally displaced people living in overcrowded and sometimes dangerous conditions.
With looming evidence of human rights violations by Myanmar security forces against ethnic minorities in Myanmar, in November 2019, Gambia initiated cases against Myanmar based on the Genocide Convention. , blamed the state for Myanmar’s “demining operations” in 2016 and 2017. against the Rohingya, a Muslim minority in Myanmar.
Based on this application filed at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in 2020 the court issued order provisional measures under Article 41 of the ICJ . Regulations order Myanmar to prevent acts of genocide; to ensure that the military, police or any other irregular forces assisted or directed or under their control do not commit acts of genocide and submit status reports every six months until upon the final decision of the Court.
In February 2022, hearings were held to consider Myanmar’s objections to the ICJ’s jurisdiction and acceptance of the case filed in January 2021. The Court rejected four preliminary claims. Ministry of Myanmar in the order of provisional measures 2020.
Welcoming progress at the ICJ despite concerns regarding the military representing Myanmar at the ICJ, Asian Judicial Alliancein one press statement, said: “The incident provides an opportunity for the authorities to respond to genocide allegations before an international legal forum and fight against entrenched retribution in Myanmar. The proceedings before the ICJ are an important measure to hold Myanmar accountable for its mass atrocities against the Rohingya people.”
Creating some impetus for justice and ending the pervasive culture of punishment in Myanmar, March 2022, The U.S. government officially determined that the Myanmar military committed genocide and crimes against humanity against the ethnic Rohingya Muslims of Rakhine State.
While human rights groups welcome these efforts, there is still growing concern about the influx of migrants into South and Southeast Asian countries, as these regions continue to see an increase in migrants. in against Islamism, against refugees, or unequal protection of refugees affection. Governments also need to comply with international refugee conventions when dealing with these ongoing humanitarian and mass migration crises.
With Myanmar’s unrest since the military takes power in February 2021, the conditions for safe repatriation to this region are not yet an option. On the fifth anniversary of the Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day, any further delay in international justice processes for genocide, reporting of serious human rights abuses or lack of support Much-needed humanitarian aid from neighboring countries, funding and support from the international community, we will only continue to perpetuate the plight of the world’s most persecuted minority.
They have lost their homes, they cannot claim citizenship in a country because the country refuses to recognize them, live in camps, flee on boats, and are beaten, raped, abused, displaced and many people were killed. In any international legal discourse, human dignity always plays a central role. The time has come for the world to give the Rohingya something that has been taken away from them: their right to dignity. Report of the United Nations Office IPS
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