Burma Campaign UK today repeated its call for an international investigation into human rights abuses in Rakhine State, following the United Nations confirming that at least 48 Rohingya, including women and children, and one police sergeant, have been killed in recent attacks.
The United Nations has called on the government of Burma to carry out a ‘full, prompt and impartial investigation and ensure that victims and their families receive justice’. However, the United Nations knows full well that there is no chance of the government of Burma carrying out such an investigation.
The United Nations has been calling on the government of Burma to carry out full and impartial investigations into human rights abuses for more than twenty years, including in UN General Assembly resolutions, and every single call has been ignored.
In relation to this specific incident, the Burmese government, right up to the level of the President’s Office, has lied and tried to cover up what has happened. Police were also involved in these killings.
On every key issue relating to the Rohingya that the United Nations has called for action on, the government of Burma has either failed to take action, or flatly rejected calls for action. This includes reforming the 1982 Citizenship Law, allowing and ensuring unhindered and safe humanitarian access, preventing violence, taking action to prevent hate speech and the incitement of violence, and investigating and holding to account those responsible for violence.
It is time that the United Nations acknowledged that soft diplomacy has failed, and that further action, including conducting an international investigation, is now essential.
“To simply repeat a call on the government of Burma to investigate the most recent attacks, when similar calls have already been ignored on countless occasions, is not an adequate response to human rights abuses which violate international law and where there is evidence of ethnic cleansing”, said Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK. “The only way any kind of impartial investigation is going to happen is if it is conducted by the international community.”