More than 130 parliamentarians from across Southeast Asia have demanded that the international community bring officials in Myanmar to justice for atrocities committed against the Rohingya population in Rakhine state of the country, according to a bdnews24.com.
In a joint statement released on Friday, 132 sitting MPs from five countries – Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Timor Leste, including 22 members of ASEAN parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR), urged the UN Security Council to refer the Rohingya issue to the International Criminal Court (ICC), the report said.
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Notably, since Myanmar is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, the ICC cannot directly summon Myanmar authorities and only the UN Security Council can initiate an inquiry by the Court.
The lawmakers have also urged members states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including Indonesia, to press the Myanmar government and military to end all forms of human rights violations against the Rohingya and other ethnic minorities.
They also urged the international community to support the calls of Yanghee Lee, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, to establish an international accountability mechanism that aims to impartially investigate human rights violations in the country, the report added.
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Notably, Saturday will mark the one year anniversary of the Myanmar’s launch of a military operation in Rakhine state in retaliation to attacks by the Arakan Salvation Army on police posts.
Thousands of Rohingyas were killed, villages blazed to ground, widespread sexual violence were meted out forcing more than 700,000 people to flee across the border to Bangladesh last year.