KUALA LUMPUR – The United Nations must expedite processes at the International Court of Justice to stop the decades-long genocide of the Rohingya in Myanmar, said an organisation representing the community in Malaysia.
Myanmar Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organisation Malaysia president Zafar Ahmad Abdul Ghani said the situation of the Rohingya and other ethnic groups in Arakan state is of serious concern.
The Myanmar military, which seized power in a February coup, must include a Rohingya representative in the proposed national unity government (NUG) so that the community is able to make known its issues directly and accurately, he said.
“This is very important to ensure Rohingya issues are properly voiced out before the NUG becomes a real government. Previously, we supported the National League for Democracy (NLD), but when NLD came to power, we continued to be persecuted and live in genocide.
“We don’t want the same thing to happen with NUG,” he said in a statement issued in conjunction with Rohingya Genocide Remembrance Day, which fell on Wednesday.
Zafar, who has faced death threats for his activism, said he hopes the upcoming 76th UN General Assembly, slated from September 15 to 30, will not see a veto preventing the global body from taking action against perpetrators of the Rohingya genocide and human rights violators.
“Since the coup, the persecution of other ethnicities has also increased tremendously. We urge the UN to act immediately to stop the arrest, torture and killing of the people of Burma (Myanmar).
“We have everything in the world to save us from genocide, but it was not fully used to help us,” he added, pointing to the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Zafar said the situation has become worse with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Many UN conventions, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child and Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, have been created, but these rights are not guaranteed in Myanmar, he said.
“Children and women become the target of the junta regime, and suffer the most at times.
“We have the International Criminal Court to prosecute those involved in crimes against humanity, but it was not used fully to prosecute leaders who conducted genocide and human rights violations against the people of Burma.
“If the UN cannot function effectively, it will lose its credibility as a mandated body.” – The Vibes, August 29, 2021
