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Aung San Suu Kyi Defends Myanmar Against Rohingya Genocide Accusations Aung San Suu Kyi Defends Myanmar Against Rohingya Genocide Accusations
(about 5 hours later)
THE HAGUE — A day after Daw Aung San Suu Kyi listened at the world’s highest court in The Hague to testimony of the horrors inflicted upon the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar — veils ripped off girls before their rapes, babies thrown to their deaths, hundreds of villages turned into kindling — the Nobel Peace Prize laureate on Wednesday defended her homeland from accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice. THE HAGUE — “Intercommunal violence.” Action against “insurgents or terrorists.” Possible — only possible — use of “disproportionate force.” But not genocide.
“Genocidal intent cannot be the only hypothesis,” she said in day two of public hearings, adding that her country’s own judicial system was investigating any possible crimes and would be reaching its own conclusions. A day after Daw Aung San Suu Kyi listened impassively to searing testimony about the horrors inflicted upon the Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar, she took the podium on Wednesday at the United Nations’ highest court to defend her homeland against accusations of genocide, arguing that there had been no orchestrated campaign of persecution.
Her statement at the International Court of Justice in The Hague capped a jarring turnabout, decades in the making, for Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, from champion of human rights and democracy to apparent apologist for brutality. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her ramrod resistance to the former military dictatorship that held her under house arrest for 15 years.
Presenting what many human rights experts have called some of the worst ethnic pogroms of this century as the result of “cycles of intercommunal violence going back to the 1940s,” Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi chided outsiders for not having an adequate understanding of Myanmar’s complex ethnic and social makeup. Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi did not directly address the atrocities by Myanmar’s military and associated mobs that were described the day before — summary killings, babies thrown to their deaths, mass rapes, whole villages burned to cinders — all amply documented by the United Nations and human rights groups. Thousands of Rohingya have been killed and three quarters of a million driven into a squalid exile in neighboring Bangladesh.
While saying that it could “not be ruled out” that the Myanmar military may have used “disproportionate force,” Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi criticized “impatient international actors” and said that “it would not be helpful for the international legal order if the impression takes hold that only resource-rich countries can conduct adequate domestic investigations and prosecutions.” Instead, she insisted that what foreign observers have called an organized, years-long campaign of atrocities against the Rohingya has been exaggerated and misconstrued, whether out of malice or just ignorance. She did not even use the word “Rohingya,” adhering to her government’s stance that no such ethnic group exists.
The world has come to describe the forcible expulsion of more than three quarters of a million Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar since August 2017, which was accompanied by mass executions, arson and rape, as ethnic cleansing. United Nations officials have said the nation’s military generals should be tried for the gravest crimes against humanity. “Genocidal intent cannot be the only hypothesis,” she said on the second day of a three-day hearing, before launching into a litany of ways in which she said her government was trying to lift up the Rohingya from dire poverty.
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi said that a fact-finding group that she had assembled had collected the most comprehensive record of witness testimony. She did not mention that her government has prevented United Nations investigators from northern Rakhine, the epicenter of the violence. The defense offered by Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, her nation’s de facto civilian leader, was, by any measure, underwhelming, and it seemed unlikely to raise her much-diminished international reputation.
In a landmark lawsuit filed by the West African nation of Gambia on behalf of a group of Islamic countries, Myanmar stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. Gambia’s case relies on numerous witness and human-rights expert testimony, along with reporting from a United Nations fact-finding mission on Myanmar. Instead, she went on the offensive against the outside world.
But Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, the onetime opposition leader who is now the de facto civilian leader of Myanmar, gave a spirited defense of the very same military brass who for years locked her up under house arrest. Presenting what many human rights experts have called some of the worst pogroms of this century as part of “cycles of inter-communal violence going back to the 1940s,” Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi chided foreigners for not having an adequate understanding of Myanmar’s complex ethnic and social history.
While saying that it could “not be ruled out” that the Myanmar military may have used “disproportionate force,” or did not “distinguish clearly enough” between rebels and civilians, she criticized “impatient international actors.”
The violence that began on Aug. 25, 2017, she said, was catalyzed by coordinated attacks on the police and army posts by a Rohingya Muslim militant organization and amounted to operations used to “clear a locality of insurgents and terrorists.” “It would not be helpful for the international legal order if the impression takes hold that only resource-rich countries can conduct adequate domestic investigations and prosecutions,” she said.
“If war crimes have been committed, they will be prosecuted within our military justice system,” she said. The global community has come to describe the forcible expulsion of Rohingya from Myanmar since 2017 as ethnic cleansing, even genocide. United Nations officials have said the nation’s military generals should be tried for the gravest crimes against humanity.
Over the past two years, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi has consistently declined to criticize the generals with whom she now shares power, after her party won elections in 2015. She did admit on Wednesday, however, that it could be hard for armed forces to reflect on their own failings. In a landmark lawsuit filed by the West African nation Gambia on behalf of a group of 57 Islamic countries, Myanmar stands accused of genocide. Gambia’s case, which it began presenting to the court on Tuesday, relies on testimony from numerous witnesses and human-rights experts, along with reporting from a United Nations fact-finding mission on Myanmar.
On Wednesday, hours before Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi began her defense, U Myo Nyunt, the spokesman for her political party, the National League for Democracy, described the excruciating testimony presented to the court the day before as “he said, she said.” On Wednesday, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi — who could have left the task to others — presented her country’s rebuttal, giving a spirited defense of the same military brass who had locked her up. She has consistently declined to criticize the generals with whom she has shared power since her party won elections in 2015, although she has allowed that armed forces can be hard-pressed to admit to their own failings.
“We have already prepared to rebut these accusations,” Mr. Myo Nyunt said. “The fact-finding mission report is from respected persons from the international community but their report is not complete because of a lack of evidence.” The violence that began on Aug. 25, 2017, she said, was set off by coordinated attacks on police and army posts by a Rohingya Muslim militant organization and amounted to operations used to “clear a locality of insurgents or terrorists.”
Members of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s office have dismissed as fake news the crimes against the Rohingya that United Nations officials say were committed with genocidal intent. Only two isolated cases have been the subject of legal inquiries within Myanmar. “If war crimes have been committed,” she said, “they will be prosecuted within our military justice system.”
Diplomats who have tried to bring up the situation in Rakhine State, where the Rohingya are from, say Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi routinely cut them off. In some cases, she refused any further one-on-one meetings, two envoys said. Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, personally, is not a defendant at the International Court of Justice, which rules on disputes between nations over questions of international law.
Bill Richardson, a former American ambassador to the United Nations who was asked by Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi to participate in one of several commissions on Rakhine that she assembled, quit in disgust last year after he said she “exploded” in anger at his criticism. “She might have hit me, she was so furious,” he recalled then. Hours before she began speaking, U Myo Nyunt, the spokesman for her party, the National League for Democracy, dismissed the testimony presented to the court Tuesday as “he said, she said.”
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s muted response to the Rohingya’s plight has earned the condemnation of some of her fellow Nobel Peace laureates, eight of whom sent her an open letter this week accusing her of “actively denying that these atrocities even occurred” and urging that she “be held criminally accountable, along with her army commanders, for crimes committed.” “We have already prepared to rebut these accusations,” Mr. Myo Nyunt said. The United Nations report, he said, “is not complete because of a lack of evidence.”
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi is not a defendant at the International Court of Justice, which does not try individuals and instead settles disputes between nations over questions of international law. But her unexpected decision last month to lead Myanmar’s defense, beginning with three days of hearings this week, has placed her in the spotlight. Myanmar’s government prevented United Nations investigators from going to northern Rakhine, the center of the violence — a fact that Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi did not acknowledge on Wednesday.
The great hall of the International Court of Justice, a place of chandeliers and stained glass windows, has been packed with diplomats, activists, lawyers and reporters vying for a glimpse of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi. She sat impassively on Tuesday while Justice Minister Abubacarr M. Tambadou of Gambia opened his country’s case by urging the court to tell Myanmar “to stop this genocide of its own people.” She said a fact-finding group that she had assembled had collected the most comprehensive record of witness testimony.
Her aides have characterized as fake news various crimes against the Rohingya. Only two isolated cases of killings have been the subject of legal inquiries within Myanmar.
Diplomats who have tried to bring up the situation in Rakhine with Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi say she cut them off; two of them say she even refused any further one-on-one meetings.
Bill Richardson, a former American ambassador to the United Nations who was asked by Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi to participate in one of several commissions on Rakhine that she put together, quit in disgust last year after he said she “exploded” in anger at his criticism. “She might have hit me, she was so furious,” he recalled then.
The great hall of the International Court of Justice, a polished space of chandeliers and stained glass windows, has been packed with diplomats, activists, lawyers and reporters vying for a glimpse of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi. She did not react on Tuesday as Justice Minister Abubacarr M. Tambadou of Gambia opened his country’s case by urging the court to tell Myanmar “to stop this genocide of its own people.”
“It is indeed sad for our generation that 75 years after humankind committed itself to the words ‘never again,’ another genocide is unfolding right before our eyes,” he said. “Yet we do nothing to stop it.”“It is indeed sad for our generation that 75 years after humankind committed itself to the words ‘never again,’ another genocide is unfolding right before our eyes,” he said. “Yet we do nothing to stop it.”
Paul Reichler, an American who is the lead lawyer for Gambia’s legal team, addressed the question of whether Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi bore personal responsibility for the deaths of thousands of Rohingya. Her defenders say she is constrained by the military’s continuing grip on some of the most important levers of power in Myanmar.
Paul Reichler, an American who is the lead lawyer for Gambia’s legal team, addressed the question of whether Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi bore personal responsibility for the deaths of thousands of Rohingya. Her supporters say she is constrained by the military’s continuing grip on some of the most important levers of power in Myanmar.
But Mr. Reichler showed the court a picture of large billboards that have appeared in Myanmar in recent days, showing her superimposed in front of three smiling generals with the caption: “We stand with you.”But Mr. Reichler showed the court a picture of large billboards that have appeared in Myanmar in recent days, showing her superimposed in front of three smiling generals with the caption: “We stand with you.”
Mr. Myo Nyunt, the National League for Democracy spokesman, said that the billboards did not mean Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi and the military were united. Mr. Myo Nyunt, the National League for Democracy spokesman, said that the billboards did not mean Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi and the military were united. “It just means they are in the same cabinet,” he said. “This case is very delicate and we need to handle the problem gently.”
“It just means they are in the same cabinet,” he said. “This case is very delicate and we need to handle the problem gently.” Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party is facing elections next year, and her attitude toward the Rohingya has broad support in Myanmar.
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party is facing elections next year, which many believe was one motivation for her to personally lobby the international court.
“Unfortunately she has totally taken sides, and she is now whipping up nationalism simply to become more popular,” said U Maung Tun Khin, a Rohingya who traveled to The Hague from London to witness the hearings.“Unfortunately she has totally taken sides, and she is now whipping up nationalism simply to become more popular,” said U Maung Tun Khin, a Rohingya who traveled to The Hague from London to witness the hearings.
Ma Thinzar Shunlei Yi, a youth activist in Myanmar, said the International Court of Justice case had allowed the National League for Democracy to rally support at a time when ethnic strife and a struggling economy have dented support for the ruling party. Ma Thinzar Shunlei Yi, a youth activist in Myanmar, said support for the National League for Democracy had been flagging in the face of ethnic strife and a struggling economy, but people have rallied around the party over the genocide case.
“We can see that the divided political forces inside Myanmar have united to face a lawsuit from a foreign country that is seen as a common enemy,” Ms. Thinzar Shunlei Yi said. “We can see that the divided political forces inside Myanmar have united to face a lawsuit from a foreign country that is seen as a common enemy,” she said.
People in Myanmar, she added, were not willing to “trade the reputation of their leader for the sake of minorities, especially the Rohingya.”
Rohingya Muslims have been persecuted for decades in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, gradually losing rights to education, health care and even citizenship. Half a million Rohingya still live in Rakhine, but they have been herded into internment camps or prevented from leaving their villages, even to farm or collect firewood.Rohingya Muslims have been persecuted for decades in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, gradually losing rights to education, health care and even citizenship. Half a million Rohingya still live in Rakhine, but they have been herded into internment camps or prevented from leaving their villages, even to farm or collect firewood.
About a million more have fled to neighboring Bangladesh, where they are crowded into the world’s largest refugee camp. Those who have fled to Bangladesh are crowded into the world’s largest refugee camp.
The three days of hearings this week are for Gambia to ask the court to issue a temporary injunction ordering Myanmar to protect those Rohingya who remain in the country. A United Nations rapporteur recently warned that “crimes with genocidal intent” were continuing and intensifying in Rakhine. The purpose of this week’s hearing is for the court to decide whether to order measures to protect the Rohingya who remain in Myanmar. A United Nations rapporteur recently warned that “crimes with genocidal intent” were continuing and intensifying in Rakhine.
Gambia, a small Muslim-majority country, accuses Myanmar of violating the Genocide Convention, which both Gambia and Myanmar have signed. Another case is working its way through another international court, but that effort is hampered by the fact that Myanmar is not party to that court’s convention. A ruling on the underlying allegation of genocide could take years. Another case against Myanmar, formerly called Burma, is working its way through another international court.
Abdul Malik Mujahid, the American chair of a rights coalition called Burma Task Force U.S.A., traveled to The Hague from Chicago. (Myanmar was formerly known as Burma.) Mr. Mujahid, who is also an imam, said he believed that Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s presence at the court would backfire by giving renewed exposure to the continuing plight of the Rohingya. Abdul Malik Mujahid, who heads Burma Task Force U.S.A., part of a coalition of Muslim groups, said he believed that Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s presence at the court would backfire by giving renewed exposure to the continuing plight of the Rohingya.
“I’m sure she is doing a disservice to her government and her cause by showing up,” he said. “The world will pay attention to her, and also to the facts in a legal case that might otherwise get little attention. She is providing infamous star power to the case.” “I’m sure she is doing a disservice to her government and her cause by showing up,” said Mr. Mujahid, an imam who traveled from Chicago to attend the hearing. “The world will pay attention to her, and also to the facts in a legal case that might otherwise get little attention. She is providing infamous star power to the case.”
Marlise Simons reported from The Hague, and Hannah Beech from Bangkok. Saw Nang contributed reporting from Mandalay, Myanmar.Marlise Simons reported from The Hague, and Hannah Beech from Bangkok. Saw Nang contributed reporting from Mandalay, Myanmar.