{"id":4279,"date":"2020-11-20T13:35:47","date_gmt":"2020-11-20T07:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/new-eng\/?p=4279"},"modified":"2021-01-21T13:37:10","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T07:07:10","slug":"myanmar-condemns-un-rohingya-resolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/?p=4279","title":{"rendered":"Myanmar Condemns UN Rohingya Resolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0THE IRRAWADDY\u00a0<\/strong>20 November 2020<\/p>\n

Myanmar has condemned a United Nations draft resolution on human rights for the Rohingya, backed by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the European Union, saying it is \u201cintrusive\u201d and \u201cpolitically motivated\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, a majority of UN members \u2013 131 countries \u2013 supported the resolution and the General Assembly approved it on Wednesday. Eight countries supported Myanmar and 31 abstained.<\/p>\n

According to Myanmar\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, U Kyaw Moe Tun, Myanmar\u2019s permanent representative to the UN, said the assembly\u2019s \u201cadoption of the discriminatory draft resolution demonstrates the failure to uphold the principle of sovereign equality of nations, undermining impartiality and fairness, and application of double standards\u201d.<\/p>\n

The UN said the General Assembly expressed \u201cgrave concern at reports of serious human rights violations by the military and security forces, as well as violations of international humanitarian law in Myanmar against Rohingya and other minorities, notably in Kachin, Rakhine, southern Chin and Shan states\u201d.<\/p>\n

Following the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army\u2019s (ARSA) attacks on border police outposts in Oct. 2016 and Aug. 2017 in northern Rakhine State, the military responded with \u201cclearance operations\u201d, which prompted more than 740,000 Rohingya to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. Their repatriation has been planned since 2018 but never implemented and no Rohingya have chosen to return officially through the government\u2019s repatriation program, which has been suspended because of COVID-19.<\/p>\n

The UN said: \u201cAmong the abuses are those involving arbitrary arrests, deaths in detention, torture, deliberate killing and maiming of children, recruitment and use of children for forced labour, indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas, the burning of homes and the forced displacement of over 860,000\u00a0Rohingya and other minorities to Bangladesh.\u201d<\/p>\n

The United States, Canada and Germany co-sponsored the resolution and urged Myanmar to cooperate with the United Nations human rights mechanisms formed since 2017, including the UN\u2019s Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar and Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews, and to grant them access and assistance.<\/p>\n

Germany, which represents the EU, said: \u201cThe humanitarian situation has not improved in recent years\u201d, citing ongoing conflict in Rakhine State.<\/p>\n

Coronavirus has exacerbated the situation, the German statement said. It added that the EU hopes \u201cthe draft will facilitate a solution for the Rohingya [and]sends a message of hope: the world doesn\u2019t forget you, Rohingya people\u201d.<\/p>\n

U Kyaw Moe Tun said the text is \u201cpolitically motivated\u201d, \u201cone-sided and barely reflects Myanmar\u2019s efforts and initiatives to address the challenges, and to lay a firm foundation for lasting peace and prosperity\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added the sponsors of the resolution \u201cconveniently ignore\u201d attacks by ARSA and the Arakan Army. He denounced \u201cillegitimate\u201d pressure exerted on Myanmar which \u201cfanned the flames\u201d of conflict.<\/p>\n

Myanmar formed its Independent Commission of Enquiry (ICOE) in 2018 to investigate allegations of human rights violations in Rakhine State.<\/p>\n

In January, ICOE submitted its\u00a0final report<\/a>\u00a0denying the security operations had genocidal intent. But the report admitted, \u201cwar crimes, serious human rights violations and violations of domestic law took place\u201d.<\/p>\n

The report stated that crimes occurred including mass killings of Rohingya and the burning of abandoned Muslim villages, which were allegedly committed by the security forces.<\/p>\n

Myanmar is currently fighting a lawsuit filed by The Gambia at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague alleging genocide against the Rohingya.<\/p>\n

State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi defended the country against the charges last December. As the ICJ\u2019s rulings are not binding, rights groups are pursuing an alternative approach by attempting to bring Myanmar\u2019s generals to the International Criminal Court over alleged human rights violations.<\/p>\n

U Aung Myo Min, a longtime human rights advocate, said allowing access to inquiries and cooperation with the international community and UN is a way to overcome the cycle of allegations against Myanmar.<\/p>\n

He said successive governments in Myanmar have rejected the General Assembly\u2019s resolutions, claiming they infringe on its sovereignty.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut these objections in the past led to human rights cases going to the UN Security Council. If the current government does not cooperate, it might lead to further action against Myanmar,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Eight countries \u2013 China, Russia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Zimbabwe and Belarus \u2013 voted against this week\u2019s UN resolution.<\/p>\n

China said it will continue to assist talks between Myanmar and Bangladesh, which are crucial for Rohingya repatriation.<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s representative said: \u201cMyanmar requires real assistance, not sweeping criticism [and]such resolutions do not resolve human rights problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thirty-one countries abstained, including Japan, Thailand and Singapore.<\/p>\n

Japan\u2019s representative said: \u201cThe draft regrettably lacks balance and does not recognize Myanmar\u2019s efforts to consolidate democracy.\u201d However, the draft did reflect \u201cthe concerns of the international community about the humanitarian situation of the displaced and those living in Rakhine State\u201d.<\/p>\n

The General Assembly also approved six resolutions on human rights in Iran, North Korea, Syria and Russia.<\/p>\n

Source;https:\/\/www.irrawaddy.com\/news\/burma\/myanmar-condemns-un-rohingya-resolution.html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0THE IRRAWADDY\u00a020 November 2020 Myanmar has condemned a United Nations draft resolution on human rights for the Rohingya, backed by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the European Union, saying it is \u201cintrusive\u201d and \u201cpolitically motivated\u201d. However, a majority of UN members \u2013 131 countries \u2013 supported the resolution and the General Assembly approved it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4280,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4279","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\/4279","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=4279"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4281,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4279\/revisions\/4281"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}