Britain's Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt tweeted on his Twitter account on Thursday (20/09) commenting on accountability and justice in Burma—the term he prefers to use to refer to Myanmar—and how the government should be responsible for the Rohingya crisis before the International Criminal Court (ICC) possibly steps in, as can be seen on VOA.
Hunt’s tweet was written after he met with Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday in a state visit to the country.
Hunt told Reuters, he pressed Suu Kyi on the importance of holding the armed forces responsible for any abomination, however, if it will not be implemented that the other options should be considered, in which, one of them is to refer Myanmar to the ICC.
At the end of his high-profile state visit, Hunt stated in an interview, “If there isn’t accountability through domestic processes the international community will not let it rest at that.”
“We need to be clear that there can be no hiding place for anyone responsible for these kinds of atrocities,” he emphasized.
Zay Htay, Myanmar’s government spokesman was unavailable to give any comments to respond.
Investigators from the United Nations have stated that the military of Myanmar has genocidal intention in executing mass killing and gang rapes towards Rohingya, which has resulted more than 700,000 refugees were forced to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh.
The investigators called for the military leaders of Myanmar, including commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing and five generals to be prosecuted on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.
As reported before, Myanmar refused to be called to have genocidal intent over the Rohingya crisis and claimed the UN findings as “one-sided” by emphasizing the military action and militant attacks on security forces that happened in August 2017, was part of a counterinsurgency operation.
Myanmar has established several domestic investigations that have largely dismissed allegations created by Rohingya refugees. In July, Suu Kyi assigned a commission with the retired Filipino diplomat Rosario Manalo as the leader to investigate the allegations of human rights violations.
During a two-day visit, Hunt also took time to look into other issues, including two Reuters journalists who were sentenced to 7-year prison terms.
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were convicted earlier this month under the colonial area Official Secret Acts, in a case that was perceived as a test of progress toward democracy in Myanmar.
According to Hunt, he expressed specific concerns with Suu Kyi on the conviction and told her to consider granting them a pardon.
“She indicated that the judicial processes would probably need to be concluded before that could be considered, but I did put that squarely on the table as something I hoped she would consider,” he said, cited from Reuters.
Furthermore, “This is a critical moment for Burma as one of the newest democracies in the world to show that its court system is effective and there is due process, and I think there are some grounds for concern that that didn’t happen in this case.”
Hunt also managed to meet the local Muslims in the northern part of Rakhine state on Thursday (20/09), where he "mainly observed the planned repatriation process," Rakhine State Minister U Chan Tha told VOA.