Legal Aspects of the Issue

    For decades, the Rohingya in Myanmar has been the victim of the extensive violation of human rights. Recently the Rohingya, Karen, San, Chin, and other ethnic groups are facing ethnic cleansing in Myanmar. Of them, the Rohingya is the mostly dehumanized and persecuted ethnic minority group. The Rohingya is stateless and exile in its own country. The Government of Myanmar (GoM) has taken attempts for establishing one nation, one language, and one religious policy in the country. Since 2012 the persecution upon the Rohingya in Myanmar falls in the genocide. In 1917, the Rohingya faced the final stages of genocide. Genocide is considered as one of the worst moral crimes a government can commit against its citizens. An attempt has been taken here to discuss the aspects of genocide, and genocide upon the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. The Rohingya has its distinct ethnicity with own language and culture, and a long historical connection to Rakhine State (Ullah, 2011). The 1982 Citizenship Law has been denied Burmese citizenship of the Rohingya. Under this law, the Rohingya was not recognized as one of the country’s 135 ethnic groups (Abdelkader, 2014).  

                 In the 1990s, Myanmar passed a law that required all people in Rakhine to gain permission before obtaining marriage licenses. Because GoM claimed that the Rohingya population is reproducing faster than international standards. To achieve marriage licenses men need to shave their beards and prohibit women from wearing religious head and face coverings for their license photographs. The Rohingya women required to take pregnancy tests before issuing marriage permits (Fortify Rights, 2015).

             

                  On 24 March 2017, the UN Human Rights Council agreed to form an independent fact-finding mission on Myanmar to look into alleged recent human rights violations by military and security forces. Five months after the mission was formed, Myanmar's army launched a major assault on Rakhine state, following deadly attacks by Rohingya militants on police posts. The military's campaign became the main focus of the investigation, which also looked into rights abuses in Kachin and Shan states. The mission wrote to Myanmar's government three times asking for access to the country but it received no response. Myanmar, a Buddhist-majority country with significant numbers of ethnic minorities, has denied accusations of genocide, insisting that the military's actions were part of a fight against "terrorism" and were triggered by a series of attacks on police posts and border outposts by the Arakan Rohingya Solidarity Army (ARSA) armed group. The human rights groups are demanding that Myanmar's generals be indicted for war crimes in other minority territories beyond Rakhine state, which is home to the Rohingya people. In its report, the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar pointed out crimes against minorities in the Kachin and Shan states.

    A full-fledged investigation, including allegations of genocide and crimes against other minorities, would only be possible if the UN Security Council referred the situation in Myanmar to the jurisdiction of the ICC which something that is unlikely to happen. Three of the Council's veto powers consist of Russia, China and the United States reject the ICC's authority and have no intention of becoming members. Support is equally unlikely from Russia and China, the latter of which has close strategic and economic ties with neighbouring Myanmar. Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan once called the establishment of the ICC "a gift of hope to future generations" and "a giant step forward in the march towards universal human rights and the rule of law." He said he hoped "that the Court will have unquestioned authority and the widest possible jurisdiction."

             The Public International Law and Policy Group (PILGP) welcomed the UN Human Rights Council's recent decision to establish an independent investigative mechanism to collect and analyse evidence of the most serious crimes and violations of international law committed in Myanmar, including Rakhine state. A UN report released in August found "genocidal intent" in the Myanmar military's crackdown on the Rohingya, and recommended the commander-in-chief and five generals be prosecuted under international law. It also urged the UN Security Council to impose an arms embargo and targeted sanctions. Myanmar's government rejected the 440-page report, describing the investigation as "flawed, biased and politically motivated". Two months later, the head of the UN's Fact Finding Mission on Myanmar told the council that the Rohingya who remained in Myanmar, some of whom have been confined to grim camps since communal violence in 2012, faced an "ongoing genocide" and severe repression. That briefing drew objections from six of the Security Council's 15 members, including China and Russia.