Myanmar: Severity of war crimes is increasing - Press Conference | United Nations

The head of the Independent, Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, Nicholas Koumjian, said, “the situation in Myanmar, unfortunately, is only getting worse. The intensity, the frequency and the severity of war crimes being committed in the country is increasing.” Koumjian spoke to reporter after presenting the Mechanism’s report on Tuesday to the General Assembly’s Third Committee. The head of the independent mechanism said, “We're sharing evidence about the Rohingya situation with several ongoing processes, including an investigation by the federal court in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Also with the International Criminal Court, which is investigating because the Rohingya were forced over the border onto the territory of a Member State of the ICC, Bangladesh, and that could constitute the crime of deportation.” He added, “the judges of the Court have authorized an investigation in that regard, and the prosecutor in November of last year said he would be seeking arrest warrants against the Commander in Chief and several others would be presented later.” Koumjian also said the Mechanism has “shared evidence with parties that the International Court of Justice, where the Gambia filed a case alleging that Myanmar has failed to fulfill its obligations under the Convention for the Prevention, Punishment of Genocide.” “That case now, the written proceedings closed at the end of last year. We anticipate hearings to start early next year, and I think that's an exciting development. We have shared evidence with both parties, and I believe our evidence will play an important role in those in that case,” he added. Koumjian also highlighted, “The so-called elections are coming up and expected, anticipated to begin according to the current de facto authorities in December.” “We're very concerned with what's going on with these elections. These are, I use the word elections, but these are elections without a choice,” he said. The head of the independent mechanism reiterated, “if the opposition forces are targeting individuals simply because they are participating in the election in some way, or facilitating the election. These are not combatants, and this would be a violation of the laws of war.” Asked about challenges, Koumjian said that it begins with the lack of access to the country. “Unfortunately, the authorities are not cooperating with us. We can't go to the crime scenes. We can't access many of the witnesses and even witnesses who are outside of the country now, in some of the neighboring countries, we don't have the consent of those States to cooperate with us and allow us to collect evidence on their territory,” he explained. The financial challenges, especially in for next year, “are really great despite the expanding number of crimes, that are occurring, we have shrinking resources,” Koumjian also said.


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