The Importance of Evidence in Myanmar
May 3, 2018
Women and Justice in Southeast Asia. The Case of Thailand
December 1, 2018Myanmar: Violence against the Rohingya Population. The Importance of the Evidence.
– The Federal Lawyer, September Issue 2018 –
The number of Rohingya victims is uncertain: estimates range between 400 and 6,700, but the categorization of the crime depends on the perpetrator’s intention rather than on the number of victims.
Since August 2017, more than 670,000 Rohingya lawfully present in Myanmar have been intentionally deported across the international border into Bangladesh.
But what is the reason for their persecution?
The Rohingya are an ethnic group, the majority of whom are Muslim, who have lived for centuries in Rakhine State, Myanmar (also called Burma), where the majority of people are Buddhist (87.9 per cent), follows by minorities such as Christian (6.2 per cent) and Muslim (only 4.3 per cent).
The Rohingya, the most persecuted minority in the world, are discriminated against based on ethnicity and religion, and the lack of legal status is the main reason for their oppression.
Myanmar is not a State Party to the ICC. Bangladesh is. The Court may exercise jurisdiction over conduct to the extent it partly occurred on the territory of Bangladesh.
Last September, there was the recent decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber of the ICC in which the Court decided that it may exercise jurisdiction over the alleged deportation of the Rohingya from Myanmar to Bangladesh.