The events of recent weeks have demonstrated how urgently the work of the Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) is needed.
We asked our researcher on the ground what message we should convey to the international community. This was his response:
Tell them Rakhine State is still on fire.
Tell them that today I watched six locations burn from the Bangladesh border and hundreds arrive, completely destitute, begging for food, shelter, and clothing.
Tell them they were in tears.
Tell them that I spoke to villagers today from Rathedaung who said the army and local Rakhine told villagers to leave and go to Bangladesh, then the next day, the military surrounded the village on three sides and began firing on people. No one is sure how many people were killed; family members are missing. They spent seven days trying to get to Bangladesh. Now they're here with nowhere to go and no country to call home.
Tell them this is a crisis of the highest order and it's just beginning.
One begins to understand why Myanmar has indicated it will deny access to the FFM. If a state is engaged in ethnic cleansing, it has every reason to hide what it is doing from the outside world. Conversely if, as Myanmar claims, it is doing nothing wrong, if violence and destruction on a massive scale were exclusively the work of Rohingya militants and the villagers themselves, you would think the government would want to allow outside access, would want external corroboration, to lift the cloud of suspicion that hangs heavy upon it.
But one thing is certain: if the government thinks it can hide or cover up what is happening in Rakhine State, it is deluding itself. We live in an age of satellite imagery, of video phones, and there are literally hundreds of thousands of witnesses.
If the government imagines that in months to come, the gaze of the international community will wander on to other crises, it is sadly, desperately mistaken. The truth will out, we will never forget, and there will be accountability for what is happening in Rakhine State.
The government has one chance to pull itself and its country back from the brink of being a pariah state: it needs to allow access to the FFM and work in collaboration with the international community to end the abuses, hold those responsible to account, and address the root causes.
The Human Rights Council also cannot sit idly by. It did the right thing in creating the FFM six months ago, but it now needs to respond to the catastrophe unfolding before our eyes. It needs – this session – to denounce the atrocities, extend the mandate of the FFM, renew the call for access, and request the FFM to report to the General Assembly.
A six-month gap between now and the next reporting date in March is too long to wait. The Rohingya may not have six months. A report by the FFM to the General Assembly is critical to bridge that gap and keep the matter on the international agenda before it is too late.
