Commission calls for urgent change in Myanmar's west

By Kyaw Ye Lynn

YANGON, Myanmar

Restrictions on Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar’s Rakhine state must end to bring stability, ex-UN chief Kofi Annan said Thursday.

Annan has led a year-long inquiry into the situation in Rakhine, which has been wracked by sectarian violence for the last five years.

It called for “urgent and sustained action on a number of fronts to prevent violence, maintain peace, foster reconciliation and offer a sense of hope to the state’s hard-pressed population.”

In a 63-page report presented to the government Wednesday, Annan’s commission called for an end to the restrictions on movement and citizenship for the 1.2 million Rohingya minority in Rakhine.

The commission also recommended the closure of camps where around 120,000 people, mostly Rohingya, have sheltered since communal violence broke out in 2012.

The report warned of the dangers of further polarization between the Muslim and Buddhist communities in Rakhine.

“Unless the current challenges are addressed promptly, further radicalization within both communities is a real risk,” it said.

Annan said State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and government leaders had pledged to follow the commission’s findings.

Rights violations

“We really hope that the government will implement our recommendations,” he told a news conference in Yangon.

He added: “Unless concerted action -- led by the government and aided by all sectors of the government and society -- is taken soon, we risk the return of another cycle of violence and radicalisation, which will further deepen the chronic poverty that afflicts Rakhine state.”

A security clampdown launched in October last year in Maungdaw, where Rohingya form the majority, led to a UN report on human rights violations by security forces that indicated crimes against humanity.

The UN documented mass gang rape, killings, including of babies and children, brutal beatings and disappearances. Rohingya representatives have said approximately 400 people were slain during the operation.

The Annan report was the outcome of over 150 consultations and meetings held by the commission since September 2016.

“The commission has put forward honest and constructive recommendations which we know will create debate,” Annan said.

“However, if adopted and implemented in the spirit in which they were conceived, I firmly believe that our recommendations, along with those of our interim report, can trace a path to lasting peace, development and respect for the rule of law in Rakhine state.”

He proposed appointing a minister to coordinate policy on Rakhine and ensure the implementation of the commission’s recommendations.

Excuse not to implement

Responding to the report, Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said the recommendations “if fully implemented could bring the sort of progress that has been missing in Rakhine state for decades.”

He called for Suu Kyi to “face down extremists” and “ensure… that government security forces respect rights and hold their personnel accountable for any violations.”

The government should “not blink in dealing with the harder stuff, such as ensuring freedom of movement for all communities, prosecuting officials who use their positions to abuse rights or extort people and ensuring humanitarian access”.

The Burmese Rohingya Organisation U.K. welcomed the recommendations but voiced concerns about their implementation by the government.

“The international community has supported the Kofi Annan commission but unless they now pressure the government to implement the recommendations without delay, the whole process will have been a waste of time,” President Tun Khin said.

“We also need to see action on the serious human rights violations committed by the Burmese army, which was not covered by the commission.”

The organization added: “Rising tensions, instability and any further violence is likely to be used as an excuse by authorities for not implementing recommendations.”