Statement of Association Ma’onah for Human Rights and Immigration and Geneva International Centre for Justice

Item 4: Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Myanmar

55th Session of the Human Rights Council

19th March 2024

Delivered by Gautier Boyrie / GICJ

Thank you.

For nearly 7 years, the Rohingya people have been victims of brutal genocidal violence at the hands of Myanmar’s military junta. And since the 2021 coup, tens of thousands have seen family members killed and their villages burned to the ground, left with no choice but to flee from their homeland.

In light of its conflicts with ethnic minorities throughout the country, notably against the Arakan Army in Rakhine State, the military has recently announced it will conscript civilians to fight its unjust battles. We already have reports of hundreds of Rohingya forced into the service, where they will likely be used as human shields, and even ordered to attack their own people.

This situation is unacceptable. There is much that can, and indeed must, be done to combat these abuses. Association Ma’onah and Geneva International Centre for Justice call on the international community to take the following measures:

First, it should cut off the instruments of the junta’s repression. This includes:

Cracking down on international arms dealers and networks;

Preventing the regime from accessing aircraft fuel for its deadly airstrikes;

And imposing further sanctions on the country’s financial system.

Second, the international community must provide more humanitarian funding to refugees, particularly in neighbouring Bangladesh, which hosts roughly one million Rohingya, who live under terrible conditions amid declining international aid.

Lastly, states must hold military leaders personally accountable for their genocidal acts, notably through mechanisms like the International Criminal Court.

Thank you.

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