Decisively Rejected: Myanmar Ambassador To Un Rejected The Report Of ICC

The Republic of the Union of Myanmar, Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Hau Do Suan read out a statement rejected the report of ICC decisively at the plenary meeting of the 74th United Nations General Assembly on November 4 in New York.

In his statement, the ambassador first mentioned that Myanmar’s participation in the debate of this agenda item shall not be, in anyway, construed as Myanmar’s recognition of the International Criminal Court (ICC) not the Court’s jurisdiction over My country, Myanmar, which is not a party to the Rome Statue.

Paragraphs 38-40 and 43-45 of the ICC Report (A/74/324) covers the account of the illegitimate attempts by the IC Prosecutor to open a case against Myanmar for the authorization of an investigation into alleged deportation of so called “ Rohingyas” people from Myanmar to Bangladesh.

Following the case built up by the Prosecutor, the Pre-Trial Chamber l decided on 6 September 2018 that the Court may exercise jurisdiction over the alleged deportation of the so called Rohingya people from Myanmar ( a state not party to the statue) to Bangladesh. Furthermore, the Prosecutor requested Pre-Trial Chamber lll to authorize investigation against Myanmar.

The Government of Myanmar strongly rejects the ICC’s ruling of 6 September 2018. The ruling itself is the result of faulty procedure and of dubious legal merit. My delegation would like to reiterate our firm position that Myanmar is under no obligation to respect the ruling of the Court since it has no jurisdiction over Myanmar. Nowhere in the ICC Charter does it say that the Court has jurisdiction over State not a party to the Statue.

It’s obvious that the Prosecutor clearly disregarded legal merits and Myanmar Government’s determination and efforts to resolve the present humanitarian problems of Rakhine State, particularly on the repatriation of the displaced people.

The ambassador also pointed out that the prosecutor’s request for investigation excludes the atrocity crimes committed by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) against the Hindus and other ethnic people in Rakhine. She deliberately omitted the undisputed fact that ARSA’s actions precipitated the mass displacement. In addition, the Prosecutor relies heavily on human rights reports that contain factual errors and unsubstantiated narratives.

The issue of Rakhine is neither an issue of religious persecution not act of deporting a group of people out of the country. The Government of Myanmar strongly rejects labeling the issue as crimes against humanity or ethnic cleansing. In fact, it is a political and economic issue involving cross-border migration since colonial time when the British brought in people from Bengal, primarily from Chittagong region to Rakhine. There was also another wave of mass migration across the border during Bangladesh’s independence war in 1971.

The immigration problem in Rakhine was also exacerbated by the poverty, lack of rule of law and security. There has long been a deep rooted tensions, mutual mistrust and fear between the local ethnic communities and the migrant community. The democratic government of Myanmar had initiated to solve this long-neglected problem by setting up the Rakhine Advisory Commission led by Dr. Kofi Annan. On the day, the Commission presented it recommendation, ARSA launched multiple armed attacks on dozens of security posts in Northern Rakhine thereby, creating humanitarian crisis of massive out flow of people to Bangladesh. There has never been deportation of people from Rakhine to anywhere. ARSA was the real culprit of causing the massive displacement.

The Government of Myanmar is working hard in cooperation with Bangladesh, UNDP, UNHCR and ASEAN as well as with the help of our friends from the region for voluntary repatriation of the displaced people from Rakhine in safety and dignity.

The ambassador strongly rejects unlawful call for referral of Myanmar to the ICC by some member states, particularly by the delegation of Canada in her statement in this hall earlier of the day and raised a serious question about the true intention and sincerity of those supporting the ICC prosecutor’s dubious action to bring Myanmar to the ICC, who herself is currently facing a formal  complaint to suspend her duty for allegedly committing serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity during the rule of military dictatorship between 1994 and 2002 in her own country, Gambia.

The ambassador said that finally, my delegation wishes to put on record that Myanmar dissociates itself with the adoption of the draft resolution A/74/L.8.