Accountability and Justice for the Rohingya: Three years on from the ‘clearance operations’ in Rakhine State

Tuesday 25 August 2020 marked three years since the start of the so called ‘clearance operations’ in Rakhine state, when 700,000 Rohingya were forced from their homes and over the border into Bangladesh. To mark the day, LAW, Shanti Mohila and the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK hosted an online event: Justice and Accountability for the Rohingya. Over 60 participants joined to hear from panelists Shanchita Haque, Chargé d’affaires and Deputy Permanent Representative to Permanent Mission of Bangladesh in Geneva; Professor Payam Akhavan, ICJ Counsel to The Gambia and ICC counsel to Bangladesh; Hasina Begum, Rohingya survivor advocate and member of Shanti Mohila, Nicholas Koumjian, Head of the Independent
Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar; and Tun Khin, President of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation, UK.

LAW Executive Director Antonia Mulvey chaired the meeting, where panelists discussed the multiple and intertwined legal processes that are playing out globally for the Rohingya at the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court and in a Universal Jurisdiction case in Argentina. The panelists emphasised the continuing dire situation for those Rohingya who remain in Rakhine state and those in the camps in Coxs Bazaar, but also that legal proceedings provide hope for the Rohingya – hope for justice, for peace and for repatriation.

Feedback on the webinar included:

‘We really enjoyed this very important event and the discussions, thank you so much for inviting.’

‘Many thanks for the panel discussion it was really excellent.’

Alongside the webinar, Antonia Mulvey contributed an article to the Opinio Juris Symposium: The impact and implications of international law: Myanmar and the Rohingya , to mark the anniversary.  You can read the article, Victims, Survivors, Advocates–The Multiple Justice Journeys of the Rohingya, here.