Bangladesh, Burma and the Rohingya crisis
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43
“ … the 5-point plan remains a valid framework for addressing the current
crisis.” … “It is unfortunately true that limited progress has been made on these
objectives.”123
Second report and reply
99. Our further report on the crisis was, essentially, an urgent call for action in the light
of the compelling pleas we heard in Cox’s Bazar for measures to be facilitated to protect
the Rohingya from the expected heavy rainfall of the monsoon season. The key request
was for more land to be found and prepared to enable those most vulnerable to move to
safer ground. Since this second report on the crisis published in March after our visit to
the refugee camps there have been a few developments but no emerging clarity about the
longer term.
Recent developments
100. Recent key developments have been:
123
124
125
126
127
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In the “Report of the Secretary-General on conflict-related sexual violence”
for 2017 (dated 23 March 2018) Burma’s military forces, the ‘Tatmadaw’, were
named and added to the list of armies known to commit sexual violence in
armed conflict.124
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Over nine months since the expulsion of the Rohingya by Burma, Save the
Children, amongst others, highlight “a child protection crisis on the doorstep”
as babies begin to be born–and some abandoned–arising out of the multiple
cases of rape of Rohingya women and girls by Burmese military personnel.125 In
addition to this further human tragedy and trauma, the UN Envoy for Sexual
Violence in Conflict, Pramila Patten, and UN Assistant Secretary-General
for Human Rights, Andrew Gilmour, have jointly pointed out the grave risks
of inadequate access to midwifery and medical assistance due to the heavy
stigmatisation of pregnancy in such circumstances as well as the imminent
onset of the monsoon season.126
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The Burmese military have punished seven soldiers for the murder of 10
Rohingya in the village of Inn Din in Rakhine. A statement from the Burmese
army said: “Four officers were denounced and permanently dismissed from the
military and sentenced to 10 years with hard labour at a prison in a remote area.
Three soldiers of other rank were demoted to the rank of ‘private’, permanently
dismissed from the military and sentenced to 10 years with hard labour at a
prison in a remote area”. Subsequently, on 18 April, there were conflicting media
reports of these men being released under a prisoner amnesty.127
Bangladesh and Burma: the Rohingya crisis—monsoon preparedness in Cox’s Bazar: Government response to the
Committee’s Third Report, Fifth Special Report, 2017–19, HC 1055, 22 May 2018
Report of the Secretary-General on conflict-related sexual violence, paragraphs 10, 12, 17, 55–60 and Annex
- List of parties credibly suspected of committing or being responsible for patterns of rape or other forms of
sexual violence in situations of armed conflict on the agenda of the Security Council, p34, “Parties in Myanmar,
State actors: (a) Myanmar Armed Forces (Tatmadaw).” (Http://undocs.org/s/2018/250) But see
Nine months on, a race against time to find pregnant Rohingya rape survivors, IRIN news, 16 April 2018
Pregnant Rohingya Refugees Are in Desperate Need, Joint article by UN Envoy for Sexual Violence in Conflict,
Pramila Patten, and UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Andrew Gilmour, Bloomberg, 9 May 2018
‘Did Soldiers Jailed for Killings Go Free? Myanmar TV Says Yes (Briefly)’ The New York Times, 18 April 2018