The investigation of committed crimes against 'Myanmar's Rohingya' and the invoke necessity to' The theory of responsibility to protect

• Author: Alireza Arashpuor - Alireza Roustaei
• Position: Assistant Professor in Public International Law, University of Isfahan, Isfahan Iran - Ph.D. Student in Public International Law, Khorasgan (Isfahan) Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran
• Pages: 384-401

The investigation of committed crimes against “Myanmar’s Rohingya"

and the invoke necessity to" The theory of responsibility to protect"

Assistant professor Alireza ARASHPUOR

1

Ph.D. student Alireza ROUSTAEI

2

Abstrac t

For seve ral decades, the Rohin gya ethn ic minority, in "Myan mar's Rak hine state"

is exposed to the systema tic violence by the state and governmen tal agents. The in tensity of

this vio lence was emerged in Jun e 2012 and attra ct the interna tional co mmunity a ttention

toward s of the Myan mar's coun try. The theory of re sponsibili ty to p rotect, is the primary

responsi bility t o protect of the people against the four major crimes, includ ing genoc ide,

war c rimes, crimes ag ainst humani ty and ethn ic cleansing which are in ch arge of the each

count ry state. At the sa me time, in the abse nce of willin g or clear abil ity of the mention ed

govern ment, t he intern ational community has a re sponsibili ty to a ct under the Ch arter of

the United Nations and in accordan ce with the ch arter provision s to prevent or sto p of the

mention ed cri mes. A ccording to the nec essary urgent support from the Roh ingya, i n this

study, in add ition to explain the concept of theory of responsib ility to protect, the possibil ity

of interna tional crimes aga inst of them is examined and wh ereas with reg ard to t his

questi on wh ether in th e Myan mar’s Rohin gya situ ation, th ere is th e invok e cond ition i n

terms of the theory of re sponsibili ty to protect or not, indeed, w hether th e interna tional

community can invok e to protect th em with regard to this theory or not, will be a nswered.

Keywords: Ethn ic minoriti es, The Rohi ngya, Myanmar, Genocid e, Crimes agai nst

humani ty, Theory of respon sibility to p rotect

JEL Cla ssification: K14, K33

1. Introduction

The Rohingya are frontiersman that their ancestral roots and cultural ties

are placed along the borders of Myanmar (Burma) and Bangladesh and today their

residence place are located in Rakhine (Arakan) State Myanmar country. After

Myanmar's independence from Britain colonial rule in 1948, in the regimes that

have ruled in Myanmar one after another, the ethnic-linguistic identity of this group

was recognized, but this identity systematically by the anti-Islamic military

governments that since 1962 have organized, has been ignored

3

.

For several decades in Myanmar's state media, official documents and

1

Alireza A rashpuor - As sistant Professor in Public International Law, University of Isfahan, Isfahan,

Iran, rezaarashpour@gmail.com

2

Alireza Rous taei - Ph.D. Student in P ublic International Law, Khorasgan (Isfahan) Branch, Is lamic

Azad University , Isfahan, Iran, alireza.roostayi@yahoo.com

3

Zarni, Maung; Cowley, Alice (2014), The Slow-Burning Genocide of Myanmar's Rohingya, „Pacific

Rim Law & P olicy Journal”, 23/3: 682-752. Available from: http://www.academia.edu/7787141/

Compilation_2014_Pacific_Rim_Law_and_Policy_ Journal_AssociationZarni, 2012

Juridical Tribune Volume 6, Issue 2, December 2016

385

school textbooks, the Rohingya is referred to as Bengali, which is somehow a racist

gesture and they imagine them as the remained illegal immigrants from colonial

periods that endanger the national security. However, there are serious differences

about the population amount of this ethnic minority, but the Rohingya states that

ten percent of the Myanmar population is formed about five million people

4

. Today,

the majority of the Rohingya population is living in Northern Rakhine State and are

stateless

5

. It is about twenty years that the United Nations General Assembly has

asked the Myanmar government that" This state should be ensured from the full

respect to the person’s rights who belong to ethnic and religious minorities and be

finished to the torture, disappearances and hurried executions"

6

.

The United Nations special rapporteurs and representatives, have reported

constantly the violence, including murder, rape, destruction of property and forced

labor against the Rohingya and sometimes have been described this violence as

"Organized" and a part of the government policy

7

. In the past decades, the

Rohingya are placed frequently subjected to violence by Myanmar Buddhists and

government agents. The history of conflict between the Rakhine people and

Muslims returns to World War II, when Muslims were remained loyal to Britain

colonial rulers and other Rakhine people who were supported from the Japanese

invaders. The Muslims after Myanmar's state independence in 1948, have faced

with the next government violence, so that the government has paid to the

Muslims' persecution and in order to change the racial context of Rakhine state has

been acted to their forced deportation

8

. In the year 1978, Myanmar army was

expelled from the country more than 200 thousand people of the Rohingya

population with the barbaric acts such as murder, rape and the burning of homes.

The most important discrimination against Muslims was started in1982 and with

the approval "Burma Citizenship Law". This law was denied the Rohingya

Myanmar citizenship based on racial discriminating fields. Since this law was not

replaced the Rohingya as the ethnics who were recognized as national races and

had been granted the title of citizenship to them, so they must provide strong

evidence based on their ancestors were living in this country before Myanmar's

independence that this work was very difficult for most Rohingya

9

. In January

2000, the United Nations special reporter in his report was considered the main

reasons that have led to the Rohingya mass exit from Myanmar that are as follows:

4

World Wide Magazine, 2015, p. 50

5

Szep, Jason; M arshall, Andrew R.C, (2013). “My anmar Minister Backs Two-child Policy For

Rohingya Minority, Reuters”. Available from:htt p://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/11/us-

myanmar-rohingyaidUSBRE95A04B20130611. [A ccessed 14 June 2014].

6

Yokota, Yozo (1996). “Human rights questions, human rights situations and reports of s pecial

rapport eurs and representatives”, United Nation General Assembly, A/51/466, para. 1

7

International Human Rights Clinic (2009). “Crimes in Burma”. Harvard Law School. Available

from: http ://www.law.harvard.edu/news/2009/05/28_burma.html. [Accessed 6 December 2014]

8

Human Rights Watch (2013). All You Can Do is Pray: Crimes A gainst Humanity and Ethnic

Cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Burma's Arakan State, 165 p. Available from:

http ://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/ report s/burma0413 webwcover_0.pdf., p 15.

9

Idem, p. 16