{"id":3792,"date":"2018-09-26T11:46:16","date_gmt":"2018-09-26T05:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/new-eng\/?p=3792"},"modified":"2026-01-28T10:56:55","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T04:26:55","slug":"tatmadaw-snubs-uks-hunt-who-stresses-accountability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/?p=3792","title":{"rendered":"Tatmadaw snubs UK\u2019s Hunt, who stresses accountability"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Top Tatmadaw (military) officers refused to meet with British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who underscored the need for Myanmar to hold accountable those officers suspected of committing human rights abuses against Muslims in northern Rakhine State.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Hunt arrived in Myanmar on Thursday for a two-day official visit, during which he met with State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and visited northern Rakhine.<\/p>\n

Hunt underscored the need for accountability and justice for any atrocities that have been perpetrated in the restive state. He said that if there is no accountability and justice in Myanmar, then the international community needs to look at all options, including referring the case to the International Criminal Court.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2019The latter would need the support of the (UN) Security Council, which it may not get, so we need to look at other options too,\u201d Hunt said.<\/p>\n

He confirmed that he will discuss what the international community should do with the Rakhine issue at the UN general assembly.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2019Britain can\u2019t act alone. We need to act in concert with other countries \u2013 we are a believer in the international rules-based order. It\u2019s incredibly important for all of us that the perpetrators face justice,\u2019\u2019 Hunt said.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the UN general assembly\u2019s high-level meeting and general debate begins, and the Rakhine issue is likely to be among the top agenda items.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, a UN fact-finding mission on Myanmar released a report that called for Myanmar military leaders to be investigated for crimes against humanity. Most of UN\u2019s member countries have backed its proposals, and Hunt has said Britain will use all the tools at its disposal to try to make sure there is accountability.<\/p>\n

\u2018\u2019What is essential now is that the perpetrators of any atrocities are brought to justice, because without that, there can be no solution to the huge refugee problem,\u2019\u2019 Hunt said.<\/p>\n

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\"President\u2019s<\/span>President\u2019s Office spokesperson Zaw Htay talks about the northern Rakhine crisis during a press briefing on Friday. Photo \u2013 EPA<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

U Aung Myo Min, executive director of social advocacy group Equality Myanmar, said Myanmar can have wider access to the international community through the ICC.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government should consider whether to continue placing itself into a tighter situation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He added that the government should start cooperating with the international missions in dealing with the Rakhine crisis.<\/p>\n

U Thein Than Oo, a lawyer, said the government took the wrong approach of making blanket denials when faced with the possibility of an ICC referral by the international community.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder the procedures of the UN, it\u2019s not easy for the case to reach the ICC. However, the situation is in flux, so the government needs to be careful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

However, U Nandar Hla Myint, spokesperson of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, described Hunt\u2019s actions as interference in the country\u2019s internal affairs. \u2018\u2019We reject what [Hunt] said when he met with the State Counsellor. This is interference,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He added that the Rakhine crisis is an internal matter that must be solved through cooperation between the government, military and political parties under the country\u2019s laws.<\/p>\n

At a press conference on Friday, President Office\u2019s spokesperson U Zaw Htay said the fact-finding mission\u2019s report on northern Rakhine was issued unilaterally, was aimed at the dissolution of Myanmar, and did not follow accepted international procedures.<\/p>\n

\u201cTremendous pressure is being put on the government, which might hinder our democratic transition,\u201d said U Zaw Htay.<\/p>\n

On August 25 last year, the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army launched deadly attacks on government security outposts in northern Rakhine, prompting a brutal military crackdown that was considered by the international community as \u201coverkill.\u201d It accused government forces of perpetrating massive human rights abuses against the Muslim minority in the state.<\/p>\n

The United Nations and other international humanitarian agencies estimated that the crackdown forced over 700,000 Muslims from northern Rakhine to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh.<\/p>\n

Myanmar Times<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Top Tatmadaw (military) officers refused to meet with British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who underscored the need for Myanmar to hold accountable those officers suspected of committing human rights abuses against Muslims in northern Rakhine State. Hunt arrived in Myanmar on Thursday for a two-day official visit, during which he met with State Counsellor Daw […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3793,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3792"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3794,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3792\/revisions\/3794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}