UN rights chief urges new panel for Myanmar prosecutions
GENEVA: The UN rights chief yesterday called for the creation of a new "mechanism" tasked with preparing criminal indictments over atrocities committed in Myanmar, amid allegations of genocide against the Rohingya minority.
In her first speech as head of the UN rights office, Ms Michelle Bachelet called on the UN Human Rights Council to create "an independent international mechanism for Myanmar, to collect, consolidate, preserve and analyse evidence of the most serious international crimes, in order to expedite fair and independent trials in national and international courts".
"I urge the council to pass a resolution and refer the matter to the General Assembly for its endorsement, so that such a mechanism can be established," she said.
Such a panel has already been created for the Syrian conflict.
A UN Fact-finding Mission last month issued a damning report concluding that there was enough proof to prosecute Myanmar's army chief and five other top military commanders for crimes against humanity and genocide against the Rohingya.
Some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fled to Bangladesh after Myanmar launched a brutal crackdown on insurgents in August last year amid accounts of arson, murder and rape by soldiers and vigilante mobs in the mainly Buddhist country.
Myanmar has vehemently denied allegations of ethnic cleansing, insisting it was responding to attacks by Rohingya rebels.
The Fact-finding Mission is asking the council to renew its mandate for another year.
If created, the new mechanism focused on preparing cases for prosecution would comprise a separate group of experts.
Ms Bachelet stressed yesterday that the panel would also "complement and support the preliminary examination of the ICC (International Criminal Court) prosecutor". - AFP
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