Just over a year ago, many of our Rohingya brothers and sisters endured what the UN has now said constitutes genocide.
Tens of thousands were slaughtered by the brutal Myanmar military, which stripped them of their citizenship decades earlier, and hundreds of thousands fled for neighbouring Bangladesh, where most now remain in makeshift camps in Cox’s Bazaar.
Up until now, there has been no accountability for the horrific crimes that were committed, and which continue to be committed against other ethnic minorities throughout the country.
The brutal Myanmar regime -- including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung Sang Suu Kyi -- insists that its own commission of inquiry will do the job. But we all know that perpetrators can never be trusted to deliver justice for their victims, especially for crimes of this scale.
In September, the UN’s Human Rights Council agreed to establish a new independent mechanism to investigate these crimes, and to prepare cases ready for prosecution. This was a massive step forward, and the most concrete signal this year that the international community is prepared to no longer stand idly by in the face of genocide.
It was also a sign that the international community understands that justice is an important pre-condition for any returns to Myanmar -- but as recent events have shown, we are a long way off being able to do this in a safe, dignified, and voluntary way for those involved, and with guarantees that their citizenship will be restored.
Now the new mechanism must be fully funded to get to work. The UN itself has said that it needs around $27 million in order to satisfy its mandate.
Unfortunately, some countries are trying to use the annual UN budget negotiations in New York (known as the “Fifth Committee”) as an opportunity to cut down that funding, and in the process gut the mechanism before it even gets started. This cannot be allowed to happen.
As important as the new mechanism will be, it will only be part of the process of delivering justice for these crimes.
The best way to do this remains for the UN Security Council itself to refer Myanmar to the International Criminal Court, ensuring that the full force of international law can be brought to bear.
This is the worst fear of the Tatmadaw military commanders who ordered and conducted the killing, and the one thing that may actually get them to stop.
While some members of the Security Council like Sweden and the Netherlands have called for a referral to the International Criminal Court -- and others like the UK would likely be supportive -- the politics of the Permanent Five veto wielding members remain divided, as ever.
But whether a country like China would actually be prepared to stand with a genocidal regime and veto any such resolutions remains to be seen -- especially given the ire of the Islamic world this would inevitably bring.
The UN Security Council was established to protect international peace and security. While we must continue to push for it to do its job, we must also not let this critical diplomatic moment sap away.
That is why the international community must, in the meantime, also consider options such as establishing a special tribunal as we saw in Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and which the General Assembly may even be able to mandate in its own right.
This would be the natural next link in the chain to the investigative mechanism.
Sanctions must also be ramped up, especially on the military’s economic interests, including their companies and cronies of which we now have a much clearer picture -- and it was indeed pleasing to see the European Union foreshadow additional steps in this regard.
By the end of this year, we will know whether the Rohingya people will be able to start to see the justice they were promised, and so rightly deserve.
But in order for this to be the case, the UN General Assembly must now fully fund the new investigative mechanism in order for it to get to work.
Nurul Islam is the Chairman of the Arakan Rohingya National Organization. Kyaw Win is the Executive Director of the Burma Human Rights Network.
