An international people’s tribunal on Friday held Myanmar guilty of “genocide” against Rohingya Muslims and said the “systematic targeting of civilians” and other acts committed by the Myanmar Army must be qualified as war crimes.
A seven-member bench of Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT) headed by former president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, Daniel Feierstein, holding proceedings on alleged atrocities and state crimes against the Rohingya, Kachins and other ethnic minority groups in Myanmar, said the Myanmar army was committing the crime in the “context of official duties”.
The purpose of the Rome-based PPT tribunal was to “expose” the alleged inhuman treatment to Rohingya and push to stop the crimes.
Reading out the judgment, Feierstein said all these unpunished crimes had been and were currently committed by the Myanmar Army and by the regime in power in the State of Myanmar who seemed to be part of a plan.
“(with intention) …to deny every expression of autonomy and self-government of the people of Kachin state and, more generally, to humiliate and to destroy the ethnic and cultural identity of minorities living in Burma,” he said.
The panel arrived at the decision after hearing and analysing arguments by the prosecution, views of the expert witnesses and victim’s testimonies throughout a five-day trial ended Friday at the University Malaya Faculty of Law, Malaysia.
Findings of the Tribunal will be communicated to various UN Human Rights bodies including its Human Rights Council in Geneva and the Office of the Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide in New York.
The other six judges comprised of Zulaiha Ismail (Malaysia), Helen Jarvis (Cambodia-Australia), Gill H Boehringer (Australia), Nursyahbani Katjasungkana (Indonesia), Shadi Sadr (Iran) and Nello Rossi (Italy).
The Tribunal also made 17 recommendations following the judgement.
Among the recommendations announced was an immediate ceasefire package and de-militarisation with all armed groups in Rakhine state and the Myanmar military, including a de-militarised zone along the border in Northern region of Rakhine state.
