Nov 9, 2020 | DFF, Statements
JAKARTA — The killing of at least seven protesters by police in Myanmar’s Rakhine State last week was a tragic event, which must be urgently investigated, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) said today.
“From reports, police action appears to have been wholly disproportionate in this case,” said APHR Chairperson Charles Santiago, a member of the Malaysian Parliament. “The incident should be thoroughly and impartially investigated, and perpetrators must be held accountable.”
On the night of 16 January, police opened fire on a crowd of Rakhine Buddhist protesters in Mrauk-U Township, Rakhine State, killing at least seven people and injuring at least 12 others. The demonstrators had gathered to protest the authorities’ cancellation of an event commemorating the 233rd anniversary of the end of the Arakan kingdom.
“The events in Mrauk-U further emphasize serious concerns about the conduct of Myanmar’s security forces and the lack of accountability for their actions. The impacts of these actions on ethnic minorities are particularly acute, as this and numerous other recent events demonstrate,” Santiago said.
On 18 January, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi called for an investigation into the incident and assured that action will be taken against those found to have broken the law.
“The relevant authorities must act quickly on the State Counsellor’s call and take all steps necessary for an effective investigation. It is the responsibility of the Myanmar government and military to ensure that all people, regardless of their ethnic or religious background are able to enjoy their rights to free expression and peaceful assembly,” added Santiago.
Click here to read this statement in Burmese.
Nov 9, 2020 | FoRB, RM, Statements
MANILA — The failure of ASEAN leaders to confront the root causes of the ongoing crisis in Myanmar’s Rakhine State constitutes a blow to the regional bloc’s credibility, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) said today, following the conclusion of the 31st ASEAN Summit in Manila.
Regional lawmakers said that the lack of a strong commitment by member states to tackle the situation in Rakhine State represented a disappointing conclusion to discussions at the Summit, after some promising initial indications that the issue had been debated. They warned that the grouping’s continued inaction threatens the security and prosperity of all member states.
“Expectations have become quite low for ASEAN, an organization infamous for its inability to tackle difficult issues. But there was hope that the sheer scale and severity of the current crisis in Myanmar would be enough for ASEAN leaders to find a way to work coherently to address a situation that is not only a grave humanitarian crisis, but also a threat to the stability of the region and the organization itself. Instead, ASEAN has continued its failure to act decisively in the face of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity being perpetrated in our own backyard,” said APHR Chairperson Charles Santiago, a member of the Malaysian Parliament.
Over 600,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since 25 August, when the Myanmar military launched so-called “clearance operations” in northern Rakhine State following a series of attacks on police outposts by militants from the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA). Human rights organizations, as well as the United Nations, have documented serious rights violations against Rohingya in the context of operations by Myanmar security forces, including widespread killings, sexual violence, and burning of homes and villages.
On 6 November, the UN Security Council issued a statement expressing “grave concern” over human rights violations perpetrated against Rohingya, including by Myanmar security forces, and calling on Myanmar authorities “to ensure no further excessive use of military force.”
A draft of the final statement expected after week’s ASEAN Summit, however, reportedly made only fleeting reference to humanitarian relief for “affected communities” in northern Rakhine State. Like the ASEAN Chairman’s Statement issued in late-September – a statement criticized by Malaysia’s foreign minister, as well as by APHR, at the time – the draft document reportedly also made no mention of rights violations by security forces and did not name as a group the Rohingya, who have borne the brunt of the abuses and displacement.
Parliamentarians said that the outcome constituted an insufficient response to developments in Rakhine State, and that the avoidance of key details indicated ASEAN’s failure to address the drivers of the crisis.
“This is not simply a humanitarian catastrophe; it is a human rights crisis with deep roots in longstanding state-sponsored persecution against the Rohingya community. ASEAN’s approach seems to ignore this fact and act as though the mass displacement and associated humanitarian challenges arose out of nowhere,” said APHR Board Member Eva Kusuma Sundari, a member of the Indonesian House of Representatives.
ASEAN leaders reportedly discussed issues in Rakhine State at the Summit in Manila, including mention of the recommendations issued by a Myanmar government-appointed Advisory Commission, headed by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. However, key recommendations from that body’s final report, including those focused on drivers of conflict, appear to have been sidestepped by ASEAN leaders, APHR said.
“The Annan Commission’s recommendations are a key entry point that ASEAN should be using more effectively to raise fundamental issues like discrimination, citizenship, and accountability for rights violations. This was a Myanmar government-sponsored body that pushed to deal with these drivers of the current crisis. If they can do it, ASEAN should certainly be able to,” Sundari said.
Parliamentarians said the need for regional and international action was reinforced by Monday’s release by the Myanmar military of the outcome of its own internal investigation into conduct by its forces in Rakhine State, which exonerated them from any wrongdoing.
“The Myanmar military clearly has no interest in accountability. This report further underscores the need to allow for a genuine investigation into alleged atrocities,” Charles Santiago said.
MPs also criticized ASEAN’s principle of non-interference, arguing that the policy hampered an effective response and was being invoked by leaders in a disingenuous manner.
“The non-interference policy is – in the words of Aung San Suu Kyi herself – just an excuse for not helping. It shouldn’t even apply in this case, where the issue clearly has immense regional implications,” Santiago said.
“If ASEAN leaders want to quit making excuses and actually help, they should do more to pressure the Myanmar government and military to halt the attacks, end policies that promote and institutionalize discrimination, and enable conditions for the safe return of Rohingya refugees to their homes in Myanmar.”
Nov 9, 2020 | FoRB, RM, Statements
We, a global coalition of 88 civil society organizations, urgently call upon UN member states to take immediate steps to address the human rights abuses and humanitarian catastrophe engulfing Myanmar’s ethnic Rohingya population. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein have described the Myanmar security forces’ ongoing campaign against the Rohingya in northern Rakhine State as ethnic cleansing. As more evidence emerges, it is clear that the atrocities committed by Myanmar state security forces amount to crimes against humanity. The United Nations and its member states need to take urgent action.
We urge UN delegations, especially those from the 114 countries committed to the Accountability, Coherence and Transparency (ACT) Code of Conduct, who made a pledge to support “timely and decisive action” to prevent or end the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, to immediately undertake efforts to adopt a resolution in the UN General Assembly addressing the situation, and call upon the UN Security Council to consider measures to be imposed on the Myanmar government.
Over 400,000 Rohingya have fled across the border into Bangladesh since August 25, when Myanmar security forces launched operations in response to coordinated attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) in Rakhine State. These operations, involving widespread killing, laying of landmines, looting, and arson targeting the Rohingya, have resulted in the mass destruction of more than 200 villages, according to satellite imagery and eyewitness testimony. Tens of thousands of people from other ethnic minorities have also been displaced as a result of the violence.
Strong condemnations by the UN and world leaders have not brought an end to Myanmar’s atrocities. In his opening statement to the Human Rights Council on September 11, al Hussein noted that in 2016 he “warned that the pattern of gross violations of the human rights of the Rohingya suggested a widespread or systematic attack against the community, possibly amounting to crimes against humanity.” Civil society organizations have warned that the campaign of Myanmar’s security forces against the Rohingya since August 25 amounts to crimes against humanity. It is crucial for UN members to take concrete action and place direct pressure on Myanmar’s military and civilian leaders.
The European Union, until recently, was the chief sponsor of an annual resolution on human rights in Myanmar at the General Assembly. Last year, the EU decided to stop the effort even in the midst of government violence against the Rohingya beginning in October 2016. Now, we urge members of the EU to work with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as well as other concerned states to jointly revive this resolution as a means of pursuing decisive action by the General Assembly in response to the gravity of the ongoing situation in Rakhine State and the evolving human rights and humanitarian crisis.
A General Assembly resolution should demand an immediate end to the abuses, that humanitarian aid agencies have immediate and unhindered access to populations in need, and for the UN Fact-Finding Mission authorized by the Human Rights Council in Geneva to be allowed unfettered access into and within Myanmar to investigate alleged human rights abuses across the country. It should also demand that the Myanmar authorities commit to ensuring that all Rohingya and other refugees and displaced people are able to return to their places of origin safely, voluntarily, and with dignity, and to dismantling the institutional discrimination and segregation of Rohingya and other Muslims in Rakhine State that forms the backdrop to the current crisis. The resolution should also urge member states and the Security Council to explore possible avenues to bring perpetrators of crimes under international law to justice.
We also urge members of the Security Council to add to the pressure on Myanmar authorities by seriously considering options such as an arms embargo against the military and targeted financial sanctions against individuals responsible for crimes and serious abuses.
All concerned UN member states should also consider bilateral, multilateral, and regional actions they can take to place added pressure on the Myanmar government. In particular, we call on all states to immediately suspend military assistance and cooperation with Myanmar.
If governments, UN officials and diplomats simply hold meetings and make speeches as atrocities continue in Myanmar, they bear the risk of failing to use every diplomatic tool at their disposal to stop the ethnic cleansing campaign and further crimes against humanity. In the face of mass destruction, killings and hundreds of thousands displaced, inaction should not be an option.
Signatories:
AFL-CIO
American Jewish World Service
Amnesty International
ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR)
Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN
Asociación Pro Derechos Humano – Peru (APRODEH)
Asylum Access
Avaaz
Burma Campaign UK
Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN)
Burma Task Force
Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK
Canadian Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Center for Civilians in Conflict
Center for Development of International Law
Christian Solidarity Worldwide
Coalition for Justice and Accountability (COJA)
Coalition for the Rights of Refugees and Stateless Persons (CRSP)
Council for Humanitarian Networking of Sheikul Islam Office
CREDO Action
Cross Cultural Foundation (CRCF)
Development and Justice Initiative, India
Equal Rights Trust
Fortify Rights
Foundation for Rural Development (FRD)
Front Mahasiswa
Genocide Watch
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P)
Global Progressive Hub
Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF)
Human Rights Now
Human Rights Watch
Indonesia Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI)
Institute for Asian Democracy
Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion
International Campaign for the Rohingya
International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect
International Detention Coalition
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
International Justice Project
International Organization for Victim Assistance
International State Crime Initiative
Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)
Jewish Alliance of Concern Over Burma
Jewish Council for Public Affairs
Jiyan Foundation for Human Rights
Justice Centre Hong Kong
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns
Migrant 88
Migrant Working Group (MWG)
Minority Rights Group International
Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies
National Council of Churches
National Religious Campaign Against Torture
Odhikar
Pan African Lawyers Union’s (PALU)
Partners Relief & Development
Pemuda Anti Kekerasan Acheh
Persatuan Darul Fitrah Terengganu
Persatuan Ulama Kedah
Physicians for Human Rights
Presbyterian Church (USA)
Progressive Voice Myanmar
PROHAM (Society for the Promotion of Human Rights Malaysia)
Refugees International
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
Restless Beings
SANRIM
SHARP-Pakistan
Society for Rights of Indigenous People of Sarawak
Society for Threatened Peoples-Germany
STAND Canada
STAND: The Student-Led Movement to End Mass Atrocities
Suaka Indonesia
Swedish Burma Committee
The Arakan Project
The Episcopal Church
The Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights
The Stanley Foundation
Ummatee
Union for Reform Judaism
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
United Nations Association – UK
US Campaign for Burma
Win Without War
World Federalist Movement – Canada
World Federalist Movement-Institute for Global Policy
Yateem TV
Nov 9, 2020 | FoRB, Opinion Articles
By Eva Kusuma Sundari
MP, Indonesia
While attending the conference, “Freedom of Religion or Belief and Gender Equality Seminar: Positive Synergies,” organized by the International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion and Belief (IPPFoRB) in New York on September 19-22, I was asked an interesting question related to Pancasila: How can Pancasila overcome the global threat of religious extremism?
The gentleman from Germany who asked me this question was curious about the role of Pancasila in helping Indonesia, a Muslim majority nation, avoid getting trapped in religious conflicts, like those plaguing the Middle East. Indonesia’s constitutionalist strategy is unique especially, and the ideology of Pancasila defines that uniqueness.
The question itself reflects the old debate that continues to reappear at the UN, as representatives and member states search for responses to the global trend of religious extremism. UN officials, along with activists, are beginning to realize that a purely secular approach, which ignores religious groups, is no longer relevant to the current situation.
In its 72nd year of existence, the UN faces the fact that 79 percent of the world’s population is confronted with the threat of violence due to religious extremism (Pew, 2016). This threat is not restricted to the Middle East, but extends across the world, including to the ASEAN region, where the threat of Buddhist extremism in Myanmar has endangered the lives of ethnic Rohingya Muslims.
In Indonesia, past religious conflicts have contributed to still unsolved problems of internally displaced people adhering to the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam in West Nusa Tenggara and West Java, as well as Shi’a Muslims in Sidoarjo. The Sunda Wiwitan and Ahmadiyah groups in Kuningan are also still fighting for the fulfilment of their civil rights due to intolerant groups who pressured local rulers against granting them their rights.
In a secular country that ignores religious identity, extremist groups seize the empty space of religious meaning and monopolize it with the discourse of an exclusive religion. The superiority of a particular religion is highlighted so that it often raises an intolerant, anti-diversity attitude and does not hesitate to promote violence and discrimination against religious and racial minorities.
Single-faith states that discriminate against minority religions face similar situation. Groups that monopolize ownership of “true” interpretations of religion often end up triggering religious extremism by promoting hatred and violence to preserve their dominance.
States that embrace strict secularism or religious monopolism fail to cope with extremism because both approaches deny the important role of religious minorities in society. Both approaches have proven unable to create societies that are tolerant and respectful of diversity.
The world needs an alternative political system that recognizes the importance of an inclusive religious identity. In such a system, tolerance would be institutionalized so that diversity and mutual respect can be taught in the education system and disseminated to society systematically.
Religion in a cultural manner
In Indonesia, Sukarno proved to be a visionary. His ideas from 1945 provide important answers to the needs of the world today. At that time, he rejected both Turkish-style secularism and the Islamic republican state of Pakistan, even though Indonesia shares the characteristic with both those nations of a Muslim-majority population. He proposed the Foundation of the Pancasila State based on the One Godhead.
This principle accommodates the need for the recognition of an inclusive religious identity, so there is vast space for freedom of religion or belief. “I want a state which believes in one God, where everyone is free to practice his religion or belief,” Sukarno said on June 1, 1945.
Sukarno explained that religious freedom requires us to be cultivated in a manner that is not selfish or insulting other religions or other religious streams or schools. Sukarno reminded us of the dangers of individuals like Islam Sontoloyo, who mislead their fellow Muslims and divide the nation.
Affirmation of the guarantee on freedom of religion or belief can be seen in Article 29 of the Indonesian Constitution. There it mandates that the cabinet minister of religion must be a minister for all religions, with the primary duty of ensuring that every citizen can possess, change, and practice the religion or beliefs of his or her choosing.
Not only does the Constitution respect the religious identity of individuals, but also the religious identity of groups (Article 28 E). In fact, there are hundreds of thousands of religious organizations registered with the Ministry of Home Affairs, as well as with the Directorate General of Culture, in addition to thousands more unregistered religious organizations.
For Indonesia, religious freedom and tolerance has become a tangible benefit for society, rather than just a conceptual ideal. The motto of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity), taken from the Sotasoma Book of Mpu Tantular from the 14th Century, represents the institutionalization of religious tolerance between Hinduism and Buddhism.
Therefore, the recent rise in intolerant attitudes does not reflect the true character and the soul of the Indonesian nation. Reinforcement of Pancasila and its emphasis on inclusion is urgently required in order to reaffirm the soul and unique characteristics of indigenous Indonesian religious nationalism.
Gotong-royong tackles religious extremism
Pancasila demonstrates its supernatural powers because human beings work to defend the concepts, principles, and values contained within it, namely belief in the Almighty, humanity, nationalism, democracy, and social justice. These principles cannot be separated, and together they represent the antitheses of the values promoted by religious extremists globally.
Sukarno stated that Pancasila can be squeezed into three precepts. First, the belief in God that guarantees respect for diverse religious identities, requiring all people to be tolerant. It is proven to fail to be created by both the secular state and the mono-religious state.
Second, the principle of socio-nationalism (the combination of the principles of humanity and nationalism) to oppose the transnational ideological extremism. Third, the principle of socio-democracy principle (the combination of the principles of democracy and social justice) is democratic politics that fulfill the goal of democratic economics.
When these three precepts of Pancasila are further merged, they become a sila that is gotong-royong, or collaboration. In collaboration or gotong-royong, there is a different but complementary division of labor to achieve one shared goal to eliminate religious extremism.
The description of Pancasila has already been Sukarno’s speech at the UN General Assembly to the XV (30/9/1960) as an alternative ideology of the United Nations to build a fairer world for ensuring equality. Seventy years later, Pancasila has begun to be sought out by others, after observing Indonesia’s success in institutionalizing religious tolerance to ensure the sustainability of economic progress.
Eva Kusuma Sundari is a member of the House of Representatives of Indonesia and a Board Member of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights.
Nov 9, 2020 | FoRB, RM, Statements
JAKARTA, 11 September 2017 — Indonesian lawmakers from multiple parties issued a joint call from the halls of Parliament today for an immediate end to atrocities in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, urging their own government to do more to help resolve the crisis, including by exercising regional leadership to get the issue on the ASEAN agenda.
“We are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe on a scale unlike anything we’ve seen before unfold in Rakhine State. The numbers are staggering, and the suffering unconscionable. We cannot sit by and watch these atrocities proceed in our own backyard,” said Eva Kusuma Sundari, a representative from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) who also serves as a Board Member of ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR).
Nearly 300,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh since the Myanmar military initiated “clearance operations” in northern Rakhine State on 25 August following an attack on police outposts by Rohingya insurgents. Tens of thousands of non-Muslims have also been forced from their homes as a result of the fighting. Satellite images depicts widespread burning of entire villages, and survivors have recounted horrifying stories of mass killings and sexual violence. Credible reports have also emerged that the Myanmar military is using landmines near the border with Bangladesh.
“The Indonesian government needs to devote more diplomatic resources to avert what likely amounts to ethnic cleansing. Increase the pressure on the Myanmar military to bring an end to the slaughter, the burning, and the mass displacement. Efforts should be targeted at Myanmar Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, who is in charge of the security forces. He is the one with the power to end this horror,” Sundari said.
On 4 September, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi visited Naypyitaw, Myanmar, meeting with Min Aung Hlaing, as well as State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, de facto head of the civilian government, to discuss the situation. The same day, President Joko Widodo issued a statement calling for the international community to work together to address the humanitarian crisis. MPs said the moves were an important first step, but further action should be taken, including a push for ASEAN to take up the issue.
“Committing humanitarian aid is important, but our leaders must recognize Rohingya’s suffering will only cease when Myanmar security forces halt their attacks. Indonesia needs to fulfill its role as a regional leader by moving for the issue to be placed on the ASEAN agenda as a fundamental matter of regional peace and security,” Sundari added.
“ASEAN has been a force for peace in our region for many decades. If it fails to take up the Rohingya crisis now, though, it will be blocking an important opportunity to continue that legacy and putting the wider region’s security at risk. Indonesia must convince our fellow ASEAN nations of the implications of a failure to act,” said Akbar Faisal, a member of the House of Representatives from the National Democratic Party (Nasdem).
“This is not a religious issue. This is an issue of our fundamental humanity and our responsibility to one another as human beings,” added PDI-P MP Henky Kurniadi.
MPs called for the Myanmar government and military to commit to the implementation of recommendations of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, headed by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, while urging the Indonesian government to support the process.
“We have the basis for a long-term resolution within the recommendations provided by Kofi Annan’s Commission. Getting to the root of the problem and addressing issues like citizenship and inter-communal tensions is a must. But first, the killings and mass displacement have to stop,” said Mahfudz Sidik, an MP from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).
Lawmakers said decades of persecution of Rohingya in Myanmar, as well as a persistent failure by previous military-backed governments to confront the underlying issues head-on, contributed to the current crisis.
“For years, Rohingya in Myanmar have faced state-sponsored persecution and the systematic and institutionalized stripping of their rights. Hundreds of thousands had already been displaced from their homes before the start of this crisis, and now we see the situation deteriorating to an unprecedented level,” said Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, an MP from the National Awakening Party (PKB).
“Denied freedom of movement and other basic rights, and rendered stateless by a citizenship law that prevents them – based solely on their ethnic background – from ever obtaining full citizenship, Rohingya are running out of time and hope for their future,” he added.
“The international community is more focused on the democratic transition and economic development than on stopping the killing, and the Rohingya community, along with other ethnic and religious minorities, are paying a heavy price,” said Kyaw Win, Executive Director of the UK-based Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN), who joined the lawmakers at the Indonesian Parliament to provide updates about the situation on the ground.
“Myanmar’s democratic reforms are being totally derailed by this violence. The killing must stop.”
Click here to read this statement in Bahasa Indonesia.
