The recent sentencing of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, two Reuters journalists working in Myanmar, to seven years in prison under the Official Secrets Act, is a cause of significant concern. That they were arrested for covering allegations of grave human rights violations by the Myanmar Military against the Rohingya community in Rakhine State makes this case all the more worrying.
Media freedom and critical journalism are essential pillars of democracy. A free press has a key function in promoting transparency and holding democratic governments to account. I continue to call for the immediate and unconditional release of the two journalists and call on the Myanmar authorities to ensure adequate conditions for journalists to carry out their work.
Ireland continues to actively engage with our international partners on these and other issues of grave concern through bilateral contacts in Myanmar and via participation in the EU and UN responses including at the ongoing 39th Session of the Human Rights Council and at the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly to which I will shortly travel.
More broadly, Ireland and the international community have taken a number of steps to address the Rohingya crisis which have focused on responding to the humanitarian crisis, promoting a political solution and pressing for accountability for crimes and other violations of human rights abuses that have occurred.
Ireland has also supported the intensive political response by the international community which continues to be pursued.
In addition, Ireland has consistently called for an independent and impartial investigation into the serious and credible allegations of human rights violations by the Myanmar security forces. In that regard, we have strongly supported the work of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (IIFFMM) and UN Special Rapporteur to Myanmar Yanghee Lee, and the recent publication of the Report of the IIFFM has made for harrowing reading. The report of the IIFFMM notes that the crimes in Myanmar “stem from deep fractures in society and structural problems that have been apparent and unaddressed for decades.”
It is therefore imperative that Myanmar and the international community respond comprehensively to the findings of the report and its recommendations in a way that both addresses the long-standing root causes of this crisis and in a manner that ensures the perpetrators of the crimes described in the report are swiftly brought to justice.
I have taken note of the recommendations and Ireland is actively engaging with our international partners in responding to the report, including at the current session of the Human Rights Council where this report is being formally presented.
While efforts aimed at achieving accountability and a political solution to the crisis are vitally important, there is an immediate need for a life-saving humanitarian response to the extremely difficult conditions faced by the huge numbers of displaced members of the Rohingya community now mainly in Bangladesh. To this end, Ireland has actively supported the international humanitarian response to the refugee crisis and we provided direct funding of €1 million in 2017 with an additional €1.1 million allocated for 2018. Our support has focused on food, nutrition, shelter, water and sanitation.
My Department will continue to liaise closely with EU and other international partners to press for progress in resolving this crisis including through our Embassies in Thailand and in Vietnam who are closely monitoring the situation.
