UN Security Council urges Myanmar to halt violence
November 7, 2017
The UN Security Council has condemned the violence that prompted the exodus of over 600,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh in recent months. A stronger resolution condemning the military excesses was blocked by China.
Image: DW/ P. Vishwanathan
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The United Nations Security Council on Monday unanimously approved a strongly worded statement on Monday, urging Myanmar authorities to "ensure no further excessive use of military force in Rakhine State."
Hundreds of people, the majority of them Rohingya, have been killed in the violence that has seen many homes destroyed and several villages burned down.
The Security Council on Monday expressed "grave concern over reports of human rights violations and abuses in Rakhine State, including by the Myanmar security forces, in particular against persons belonging to the Rohingya community."
"The Security Council calls upon the Government of Myanmar to ensure no further excessive use of military force in Rakhine State, to restore civilian administration and apply the rule of law, and to take immediate steps in accordance with their obligations and commitments to respect human rights," it said.
Rohingya children: Raped, kidnapped, orphaned
The plight of the Rohingya Muslims forced to flee the atrocities committed by militants and the army in Myanmar is hard to stomach. The most vulnerable are children, as John Owens' photo series shows.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Shot and stabbed
Since August, more than 600,000 Rohingya have fled from Myanmar into Bangladesh. "The day the military came, they burnt down the village and shot my mother as she was trying to escape. My father couldn’t walk, so they stabbed him. I saw this with my own eyes," says 10-year-old Mohammed Belal who managed to run away from his village.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Haunted by the trauma
Mohammed’s sister Nur also watched the slaughter. She and her brother now live in a shelter for unaccompanied children in Bangladesh. She can play there and gets regular meals, a stark contrast to her journey from Myanmar where she and her brother nearly starved. But she is still haunted by the trauma of the recent weeks. "I miss my parents, my home, my country," she says.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Deep-rooted conflict
The conflict, which has been going on for 70 years and is rooted in the post-World War II social organization of the country, has claimed more than 2,000 victims since 2016, including the mother of 12-year-old Rahman, above. "They set fire to my home, and my mother was ill, so she could not leave," he says.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Save the children
Dilu-Aara, 5, came to the camp with her sister Rojina after she witnessed her parents being murdered by the military. "I was crying all the time and the bullets were flying over our heads. I escaped somehow." The international aid agency Save the Children is helping minors who come to Kutupalong without parents. Children make up to 60 percent of all Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Hunted like animals
Jaded Alam is among the hundreds of kids who came to Kutupalong without parents. Fortunately, his aunt cares for him — and very well, he admits. Jaded grew up in a village called Mandi Para where he used to love playing football, but everything changed when the military attacked. "They told us to leave our home. When I was running with my parents, they shot them. They died on the spot," he says.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Child abductions
Not all families have been separated during their plight, however. Rahman Ali has been scouring the refugee camp for weeks now after his 10-year-old son Zifad disappeared. Rumors of child abductions have swirled around the camp for years, and Rahman fears his son has fallen prey to human traffickers. "I can't eat, I can’t sleep. I’m so upset! It’s like I’ve gone mad."
Image: DW/J. Owens
"My mind is not normal"
When the shooting started, Sokina Khatun did all she could to protect her children — but she couldn't save Yasmine,15, and Jamalita, 20, who were in a neighboring village at the time. "Their throats were cut in front of their grandparents," she says. "I was numb, I couldn’t feel the pain. Right now my mind is not normal," she says. She managed to rescue nine of her offspring.
Image: DW/J. Owens
Attacked, raped and robbed
Yasmine thinks she might be 15 but looks considerably younger. In her village, she used to play with marbles and run in the nearby fields, but different memories haunt her now: The attack by Myanmar forces, the beating and murder of her beloved father and brothers, and the rape by a group of Burmese soldiers who also robbed her. "I felt lots of pain in my body," she says.
Image: DW/J. Owens
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Access to full citizenship
The council called on Myanmar to address the root causes of the crisis "without discrimination and regardless of ethnicity or religion, including by allowing freedom of movement, equal access to basic services and equal access to full citizenship for all individuals."
It further demanded Myanmar to allow immediate, safe and unhindered humanitarian aid and media access to Rakhine. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is to report back in 30 days on the situation.
Rohingya people, a vast majority of whom are Muslim, have faced years of persecution in Myanmar. They have been denied citizenship rights and are viewed by the local authorities as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Myanmar's Buddhist majority is often accused of subjecting them to discrimination and violence.
Western nations wanted a stronger resolution but the move was scuttled by China, a neighbor and ally of Myanmar. Resolutions are legally binding unlike a statement.
To bring China onboard the 15-member body instead unanimously agreed on a formal statement.
The language on citizenship rights was watered down, as well as a demand that Myanmar allow a UN human rights mission into the country, diplomats said.
Myanmar denounced the statement, saying it was "based on accusations and falsely claimed evidence."
"It exerts undue political pressure on Myanmar," Myanmar's ambassador Hau Do Suan said. "It fails to give sufficient recognition to the government of Myanmar for its efforts to address the challenges in Rakhine State."
Bangladesh welcomed the statement, saying it will be reassuring for the displaced Rohingya that "the council remains engaged with their prolonged suffering, insecurity and uncertainty."
ap/kms (Reuters, AP, AFP)
Children refugee numbers mount as result of Rohingya crisis
