40
Bangladesh, Burma and the Rohingya crisis
army that perpetrates human rights violations and crimes against humanity
and then war crimes to its own people. The British Government have the
responsibility to sanction those associated with the military.116
Rabat Plan of Action
91. Following several workshops on the prohibition of incitement to national, racial and
religious hatred organized by the United Nations in various regions of the world, a plan
of action to prevent incitement to discrimination, hostility and violence, as outlined in
Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, was presented by
internationally recognized experts at an event held in Geneva on 21 February 2013.117
92. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, in her opening statement,
stated:
In recent years, incidents involving hate speech, negative stereotyping in
the media, and even advocacy of religious or national hatred by public
officials and political parties have resulted in killings of innocent people,
attacks on places of worship and calls for reprisals. This spiral of violence
has made it incumbent on us to renew the search for the correct balance
between freedom of expression—which is among the most precious and
fundamental of our rights as human beings—and the equally vital need to
protect individuals and communities from discrimination and violence.118
93. Aung San Suu Kyi seems to have failed the test set by the Rabat Agreement which
was articulated at the time by UN Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama
Dieng:
National and local authorities can exacerbate the severity of the speech, but
they have also the potential to counter hate speech through positive speech
and messages of tolerance and restraint.119
94. David Baulk of Fortify Rights said:
She has made no attempts to counter hate speech or send positive messages
about tolerance and restraint. Instead she has either remained silent or
referred to ‘fake news’. Aung San Suu Kyi is not giving them orders, but
she is standing up in public and defending the actions of the Myanmar
military, whether that is in the west of the country or the north. That makes
her complicit in atrocity crimes. When we think about if there is any way
back for her in terms of the trust lost among ethnic nationality populations,
it will be a very long road to regaining that trust. If she is earnest about
winning back that trust, the first thing that needs to happen is for her to say
publicly that perpetrators of these atrocity crimes must be held accountable
for their actions.120
116
117
118
119
120
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Rabat Outcome Document
United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner: Rabat Plan of Action on the prohibition of
advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence
OHCHR: Fighting incitement to crimes against humanity, February 2013
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