CENTHRA Wants Myanmar Government To Be Charged At ICC

PUTRAJAYA (Malaysia), Oct 18 (Bernama) -- The Centre for Human Rights Research and Advocacy (CENTHRA) has urged international stakeholders to charge the Myanmar government at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for committing crimes of violence against the Rohingya minority. CENTRA chief executive officer Azril Mohd Amin said the discrimination and oppression against the ethnic group persisted until today without any sanctions. "We should not allow this. International laws needs to be deployed," he said in a press conference, here Monday. According to Azril, under Article 5 of the Rome Statute, four types of international crimes are included under the jurisdiction of ICC, namely, genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of intrusion. He said, CENTHRA believed the actions of the Myanmar regime towards the Rohingya fell into the category of genocide and crimes against humanity. He said, ICC has two approaches to bring forth the crimes carried out by the regime, to either refer to the United Nations (UN) Security Council or the ICC prosecutor could begin their own investigation based on information provided. Azril said, as the majority of the Rohingya were Muslims, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) should take on a more forceful action through its human rights organisation, the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC). "Through the aid of IPHRC, a special community needs to be formed to investigate and document the carnage and discrimination occurring in the country, as evidence to be submitted to ICC," he said. -- BERNAMA