DHAKA, Jan 24 (NNN-BSS) –– UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar’s rights
situation Yanghee Lee proposed mounting pressure on UN Security Council
(UNSC) for exposing to punitive actions perpetrators of Rohingya genocide
since the council so far failed to effectively denounce the culprits.
“Unfortunately the UN Security Council (UNSC) failed to refer the situation
of Myanmar to international Criminal Court,” she told a press conference
before ending her final trip to Bangladesh as the UN rapporteur as she nearly wrapped a six-year assignment to record Rohingya atrocity evidences.
Yanghee added: “I think we must continue to put pressure on UN Security
Council on its failure to do this.”
She bluntly attributed the UNSC failure to China and Russia saying “it is
really regretful” adding “I’ve said this many times that it’s shameful for
the (two) states to not do anything (against human rights violation)”.
Yanghee, a psychology professor by background currently associated with the South Korea’s National Human Rights Commission as well, said she was now set to submit her report to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
UN had assigned her as its Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human
Rights in Myanmar in 2014 but during the period Myanmar never allowed her to enter into its territory forcing her to extract the evidence from Rohingyas fled to Bangladesh and other sources.
Yanghee said Myanmar repeatedly denied her request after the outbreak of
Rohingya influx, prompting her to visit Bangladesh several times to gauge the situation in bordering Rakhine State.
“I am disappointed. I must speak the truth,” she said over Myanmar’s
denials but added that despite the end of her UN assignment she would
continue to strive to do her utmost to improve the situation.
The UN official said she found a deep desire among Rohingyas to return to
their homeland in Rakhine during her interactions with them in their
makeshift camps in Cox’s Bazar.
Yanghee said her report would also contain a proposal to set up an UN-
backed ad-hoc international tribunal for effective punitive actions against
Rohingya genocide perpetrators following the examples of special courts for trial of Sierra Leone, Rwanda and Bosnia-Herzegovina atrocities.
All the three special tribunals were set in The Hague, where the
International Court of Justice (ICJ) and International Criminal Court (ICC)
are also situated while both the courts earlier took into cognizance the
Rohingya atrocities for separate legal actions.
Yanghee said the proposed tribunal would supplement the ICJ and ICC
procedures. — NNN-AGENCIES
