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UN Security Council

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 October 2018

Tuesday, 2 October 2018

Questions (148)

Thomas P. Broughan

Question:

148. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if Ireland is supporting the UN Security Council's decision to refer Myanmar to the International Criminal Court in relation to prosecutions for war crimes in Rakhine and other Burmese states. [39467/18]

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Written answers

Ireland is not currently a member of the UN Security Council, and is therefore not in a position to formally offer support on the question of referring Myanmar to the International Criminal Court. I note that while the UN Security Council has discussed the situation, and has visited Myanmar in May of this year, no resolution to refer Myanmar to the International Criminal Court has been tabled.

As the Deputy will no doubt agree, the findings of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (IIFFM) make for harrowing reading. The report corroborates many of the eyewitness accounts which have emerged from Myanmar in recent times. It provides credible findings that human rights violations amounting to crimes against humanity and war crimes have been committed by members of the Burmese Military (Tatmadaw) and other security forces in Rakhine, Kachin and Shan States. These crimes include the widespread killing of civilians; rape and sexual violence; torture and enforced disappearances.

The IIFFM’s report also finds that there is sufficient evidence of the crimes committed in Rakhine State being so grave that they warrant a competent court to determine the liability for the crime of genocide of those in the Tatmadaw chain of command.

Having considered this evidence, Ireland would support the referral by the Security Council of the situation in Myanmar to the ICC. The Security Council is the only competent body that can take this step.

However, given the political and legal difficulties that surround such a referral, our focus in ensuring accountability and investigation of the allegations is necessarily elsewhere. We are working closely with international partners in other fora including the UN Human Rights Council and the EU to ensure that measures are put in place to allow the investigation of human rights violations and that those who have perpetrated these crimes are held to account.

In particular, at the current session of the Human Rights Council, Ireland has worked closely with the EU and other international partners in support of a resolution which was adopted on 27 September to establish an effective accountability mechanism to hold responsible those who have committed human rights violations in relation to the Rohingya people.

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