ethnic cleansing in myanmar (burma): 9 weeks, 800,000 ... · ethnic cleansing in myanmar (burma): 9...

11/1/2017 createsend.com/t/j-EC6F5C23426A096D2540EF23F30FEDED

http://createsend.com/t/j-EC6F5C23426A096D2540EF23F30FEDED 1/10

Ethnic cleansing in Myanmar (Burma): 9 Weeks,800,000 refugees, Zero UN Security CouncilResolutions

Since the start of so-called “clearance operations” in RakhineState on 25 August, Myanmar’s military has burned down atleast 288 villages and forcibly displaced approximately 60percent of the ethnic Rohingya population. Over the past nineweeks at least 607,000 Rohingya have �ed Myanmar, bringingthe total number of refugees now living in southern Bangladeshto more than 800,000 people. While Rohingya were prohibitedfrom self-identifying on Myanmar’s last o�cial census in 2014,the total Rohingya population in Myanmar had previously beenestimated to be 1 million people.

In response to the largest, quickest and most brutal episode ofethnic cleansing of our times, the UN Security Council has stillnot passed a single resolution. While a draft resolution iscurrently being negotiated, some Council members reportedlyremain opposed to sanctioning, or even publicly rebuking, theMyanmar authorities for atrocities committed in northernRakhine.

Meanwhile, evidence regarding mass atrocity crimes continuesto mount. Members of the Human Rights Council’s fact-�ndingmission on Myanmar concluded a visit to southern Bangladeshon 27 October, where they interviewed Rohingya refugees andnoted a “consistent, methodical pattern of actions resulting ingross human rights violations a�ecting hundreds of thousandsof people.” Satellite imagery and eyewitness testimony alsopoint to a sustained policy of ethnic cleansing on behalf of the

Atrocity Alert, No. 78, 1November 2017

No Images? Click here

Atrocity Alert is a weekly publication by the Global Centre for theResponsibility to Protect highlighting and updating situations

where populations are at risk of, or are enduring, mass atrocitycrimes.

http://gcr2p.createsend1.com/t/j-e-otytkdd-l-x/



Myanmar military, constituting crimes against humanity underinternational law.

In response to UN Security Council inaction, the internationalcommunity needs to increase the diplomatic pressure to endthe atrocities. A number of UN member states havealready suspended bilateral programs with Myanmar’s military.All senior o�cers with command responsibility for ethniccleansing should also face targeted sanctions. In addition, allinternational trade, aid and investment programs in RakhineState should be scrupulously reviewed. Myanmar’s militaryshould not be allowed to pro�t from ethnic cleansing.

All UN member states should also lobby State Counsellor AungSan Suu Kyi and Myanmar’s government to expeditiouslyimplement the recommendations of the Rakhine Commissionreport, chaired by former UN Secretary-General Ko� Annan, as ameans of ending structural discrimination and recurring con�ictin Rakhine State.

http://gcr2p.createsend1.com/t/j-l-otytkdd-l-r/



Photo Source: Reuters/Jorge Silva

Photo Source: UNICEF/Le Moyne

Remarks Delivered at UN General Assembly

Meeting on "Atrocities Against Rohingya:

From Condemnation to Action"

Webcast of UN General Assembly Meeting

on "Atrocities Against Rohingya: From

Condemnation to Action"

Populations at Risk: Myanmar (Burma)

http://gcr2p.createsend1.com/t/j-l-otytkdd-l-y/

http://gcr2p.createsend1.com/t/j-l-otytkdd-l-j/

http://gcr2p.createsend1.com/t/j-l-otytkdd-l-t/



Tensions high following re-run election in Kenya

Last Thursday, 26 October, Kenya held repeat presidentialelections following the Supreme Court’s annulment of theresults of the previous election held on 8 August. Two weeksprior to Thursday’s vote the main opposition leader, RailaOdinga, withdrew his candidacy and urged his supporters toboycott the re-run election. Despite low turnout and delays infour counties due to insecurity, the head of the IndependentElectoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) declared thatThursday’s election had been free, fair and credible. On 30October the IEBC declared incumbent President Uhuru Kenyattathe winner with 98 percent of the vote.

It is estimated that at least 13 people have been killed since lastThursday. During voting, opposition supporters clashed withpolice outside polling stations, particularly in Odingastrongholds in Kisumu and Nairobi. Since then protestors havereportedly set �re to buildings and established road blocks,while security forces have been accused of usingdisproportionate and deadly force, including �ring liveammunition.

In response to the violence, Kenyan politicians have engaged indangerous and in�ammatory rhetoric. Odinga has rejected theelection outcome, calling it a “sham,” while another oppositionpolitician, Musalia Mudavadi, accused the government ofdeploying security forces to western Kenya to conduct a“genocidal pogrom.” Meanwhile, Deputy President William Rutohas accused Odinga of transforming his party into a “resistancemilitia,” and compared him to atrocity perpetrator Joseph Konyof the LRA.

Ethnic violence following Kenya’s disputed 2007 presidentialelection claimed the lives of 1,133 people. The internationalresponse and subsequent national reforms were widelyacknowledged as a successful example of “R2P in practice.”Following Thursday’s vote, President-elect Kenyatta said that“tribalism is an issue that we must continue to deal with and�ght with as we continue to develop our country.”

It is imperative that all Kenyan political leaders refrain fromusing hate speech or inciting their supporters to violence. Allparties in Kenya must work together to deescalate tensions andresolve the current political crisis.



Photo Source: European Pressphoto Agency/Dai Kurokawa

Photo Source: Agence France-Presse — Getty Images/Georgina Goodwin

Photo Source: AFP



Populations at Risk: Kenya

Three schools bombed in Syrian airstrikes ahead ofUN Security Council debate on Children and ArmedCon�ict

On Tuesday, 31 October, airstrikes on two schools in theopposition-held enclave of eastern Ghouta killed at least sevenchildren. Eleven civilians were also killed on 29 October inairstrikes which hit another school in the area. These attacks arepart of a wider o�ensive by the Syrian government which beganon 19 September and has resulted in a drastic increase incivilian deaths in opposition-held territory.

The 31 October attack took place on the same day that the UNSecurity Council held its annual debate on children and armedcon�ict, during which Council members noted their graveconcern regarding the scale and severity of human rightsviolations and abuses against children in con�ict zones.

http://gcr2p.createsend1.com/t/j-l-otytkdd-l-i/

http://gcr2p.createsend1.com/t/j-l-otytkdd-l-d/



Eastern Ghouta, where an estimated 350,000 people remaintrapped, has been besieged by Syrian government forces since2013. The UN International Children’s Emergency Fund hasdocumented at least 1,200 cases of child malnutrition in EasternGhouta. For the �rst time in over a year, humanitarian aidreached civilians trapped within the Kafr Batna and Saqbadistricts on 30 October.

The targeting of civilian infrastructure, indiscriminate use ofweapons in civilian areas and the deliberate denial ofhumanitarian aid constitute war crimes and crimes againsthumanity. All UN member states should sign and implement theSafe Schools Declaration. And all those who commit atrocitiesagainst children must be held accountable, including via theUN's International, Impartial and Independent Mechanismestablished to assist in the investigation and prosecution ofperpetrators of atrocities in Syria.

Photo Source: Screenshot from Ghouta Media Centre Video



Photo Source: Reuters/Bassam Khabieh

Photo Source: AFP

UN Secretary-General's Annual Report on

Children and Armed Con�ict

Populations at Risk: Syria

UN Secretary-General visits “forgotten crisis” inCentral African Republic

Amid increasing violence across the Central African Republic, UNSecretary-General António Guterres visited the country from 24-27 October. The Secretary-General warned that the con�ict inCAR is a "forgotten crisis," even though “communal tensions aregrowing, violence is spreading, and the humanitarian situation isdeteriorating.” Secretary-General Guterres condemned thepolitical manipulation of ethnic and religious identities in CARand urged community and religious leaders to “call for genuinereconciliation.”

The UN peacekeeping mission in CAR (MINUSCA) currently has12,870 authorized personnel and its mandate is scheduled forrenewal in early November. Shortly before his arrival in Bangui,the Secretary-General urged the UN Security Council to preventany further escalation of violence by strengthening MINUSCA’sprotection of civilians mandate and increasing the number oftroops.

http://gcr2p.createsend1.com/t/j-l-otytkdd-l-h/

http://gcr2p.createsend1.com/t/j-l-otytkdd-l-k/



Photo Source: OCHA

Joint NGO Press Release: UN Secretary-

General urged to Protect Civilians in CAR

Populations at Risk: Central African Republic

Globalr2p.org

Connect With Us

http://gcr2p.createsend1.com/t/j-l-otytkdd-l-u/

http://gcr2p.createsend1.com/t/j-l-otytkdd-l-o/

http://gcr2p.createsend1.com/t/j-l-otytkdd-l-b/

http://gcr2p.createsend1.com/t/j-l-otytkdd-l-n/

http://gcr2p.createsend1.com/t/j-l-otytkdd-l-p/



Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies The Graduate Center, CUNY 365 Fifth Avenue, Suite 5203 New York, NY 10016, USA

Phone: +1 212-817-1929 [email protected]

Copyright © 2017 Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect All rights reserved.

Tweet

Forward

Preferences | Unsubscribe

http://gcr2p.createsend1.com/t/j-tw-otytkdd-l-m/

http://gcr2p.forwardtomyfriend.com/j-l-2AD73FFF-otytkdd-l-c

http://createsend.com/functionalityDisabled.html

http://createsend.com/functionalityDisabled.html

ethnic cleansing in myanmar (burma): 9 weeks, 800,000 ... · ethnic cleansing in myanmar (burma): 9...

Documents