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They Gave Them Long Swords

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They Gave Them Long Swords Cover: Myanmar soldiers shot Mohammed, 7, in the chest as he fled attacks in “ his village. Physicians at Cox’s Bazar THEY General Hospital in Bangladesh operated on him to remove the bullet GAVE and fragments. He now lives in a refugee camp in Cox's Bazar District. LONG Patrick Brown © Panos/UNICEF 2018 “ THEM SWORDS Preparations for Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity Against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State, Myanmar Fortify Rights works to ensure human rights for all. We investigate human rights violations, engage people with power on solutions, and strengthen the work of human rights defenders, affected communities, and civil society. We believe in the influence of evidence-based research, the power of strategic truth-telling, and the importance of working closely with individuals, communities, and movements pushing for change. We are an independent, nonprofit organization based in Southeast Asia and registered in the United States and Switzerland. TABLE OF CONTENTS SUMMARY 10 METHODOLOGY 29 CHORNOLOGY OF EVENTS: AUGUST 2016 - JULY 2018 31 BACKGROUND 35 I PREPARATIONS FOR ATROCITY CRIMES BETWEEN OCTOBER 2016 AND AUGUST 2017 41 Confiscating Sharp and Blunt Objects from Rohingya Civilians . 41 Training and Arming Non-Rohingya Citizens . 43 Avoidable Deprivations in Food and other Aid . 46 Build-Up of State Security Forces in Northern Rakhine State . .49 . Other Human Rights Violations . 50 II ROHINGYA MILITANT ATTACKS ON AUGUST 25, 2017 53 III CRIMINAL ACTS AGAINST ROHINGYA BY CIVILIAN PERPETRATORS SINCE AUGUST 25, 2017 55 Murder . 55 . Looting and Destruction of Property . 58 IV CRIMINAL ACTS AGAINST ROHINGYA BY STATE SECURITY FORCES SINCE AUGUST 25, 2017 59 Murder . 60 . Throats Slit and Fatal Knife Wounds . 60 Burned to Death . .62 Indiscriminate and Targeted Shootings . .62 Killings of Children and Infants . 66 Burials and Burnings of Bodies. .67 Rape and Sexual Violence . 68 Landmines . 69 . Forced Displacement . 70 Destruction of Homes, Civilian Structures, and Means of Subsistence . 70 Destruction of Food Sources and Avoidable Deprivations in Aid. .71 V HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES BY ROHINGYA MILITANTS 73 Murder . 73 . Criminal Responsibility . .75 Threats and Intimidation . 76 Restrictions on Freedom of Movement . 77 VI INTERNATIONAL LEGAL FRAMEWORK: GENOCIDE AND CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY 81 Genocide . 81 Prohibited Acts of Genocide . 82 Protected Groups . 86 Intent to Destroy . 90 Crimes Against Humanity . 102 Prohibited Acts of Crimes Against Humanity . 103 The Contextual Element of Crimes Against Humanity . 110 VII ASSESSING CRIMINAL LIABILITY FOR GENOCIDE AND CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY 117 Command Responsibility for Commanders . 118 A Military or Military-Like Commander . 118 Effective Command and Control or Effective Authority and Control Over Forces . .118 Failure to Exercise Control Over Forces. 120 Knowledge of the Crimes . 121 Modes of Liability . 125 Direct or Indirect Perpetration or Co-Perpetration of Crime(s) . 125 Ordering, Soliciting or Inducing the Commission of Crime(s) . 128 Aiding, Abetting or Otherwise Assisting in the Commission of Crime(s) . 129 Substantially Contributing to the Commission of Crime(s) . 129 Inciting Others to Commit Genocide . 130 The Chain of Command: Individuals Who Should be Subject to Investigation and Possibly Prosecution . 131 VIII ROHINGYA HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS 135 IX RECOMMENDATIONS 139 To the Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar . 139 To the United Nations Security Council . 140 To the United Nations Human Rights Council and the United Nations General Assembly . 140 To the United Nations Country Teams in Myanmar and Bangladesh . 140 To Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) . 141 To the Government of Malaysia . 141 To the International Community, Including Canada, the United States of America, the European Union, Australia, Japan, Korea, the Organization for Islamic Cooperation, and others . 141 To the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army . 142 ANNEX A: MYANMAR ARMY-LED “CLEARANCE OPERATIONS” FROM OCTOBER TO DECEMBER 2016 IN MAUNGDAW TOWNSHIP, RAKHINE STATE 143 Criminal Acts Against Rohingya, October to December 2016 . 143 Murder . 143 Throats Slit and Fatal Knife Wounds . 144 Burned to Death . 145 Indiscriminate and Targeted Gunfire . 146 Killings of Children and Infants . 148 Burials and Burnings of Bodies. 149 Rape and Sexual Violence . 150 Testimony of Medical Doctors, Physicians, and Aid Workers . 152 Body Searches. 153 Arbitrary Mass Arrests and Enforced Disappearances . 153 Forced Displacement . 154 Destruction of Homes and Civilian Structures . 155 Destruction of Religious Structures . 156 Destruction and Confiscation of Means of Subsistence . 157 Multiple Internal Displacement and Refugee Flight . 158 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 160 “They Gave Them Long Swords” Noor Haba, 11, carries her family's belongings to Shamlapur Beach in Bangladesh after the boat she traveled on from Maungdaw Township, Myanmar arrived safely at 8:43 a.m. Patrick Brown © Panos/UNICEF 2018 Summary 10 SUMMARY ▶ The United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention has found that genocide and Mohammad F., 15, receives crimes against humanity are “processes that take time to plan, coordinate and treatment at Cox's Bazar implement.” These crimes do not occur spontaneously or as isolated events; General Hospital. The Myanmar Army opened fire on him as he they require resources and decisions by people in positions of power. fled his village in September The dominant narrative accepted internationally about what occurred in 2017, shooting his arm clean off. His uncle covered the wound Myanmar’s northern Rakhine State in 2017 suggests that Rohingya militants with medicinal leaves while they attacked dozens of police outposts, instigating a spontaneous Myanmar Army- hid in the jungle for five weeks led crackdown against Rohingya civilians, forcibly displacing hundreds of before arriving in Bangladesh. thousands to Bangladesh. He is with his brother, 10, and sister, 7; their parents' This report documents and reveals a sinister subplot: Myanmar authorities whereabouts are unknown. made extensive and systematic preparations for the commission of mass Patrick Brown © Panos/ UNICEF 2018 atrocity crimes against indigenous Rohingya civilians during the weeks and months before Rohingya-militant attacks on August 25, 2017. Summary 11 While the Myanmar authorities have subjected Rohingya to widespread and systematic human rights violations for decades, the Myanmar Army’s preparations for the most recent attacks on civilians in northern Rakhine State occurred between October 2016 and August 2017. On October 9, 2016, Rohingya men and boys armed mostly with sticks and knives attacked three police outposts, reportedly killing nine police and sparking a Myanmar Army- led attack on Rohingya civilians in approximately 40 villages in Maungdaw Township, displacing more than 94,000 civilians. Following that wave of brutal violence, the international community failed to act, and Myanmar officialdom evidently took note: The military, administrative, and civilian authorities subsequently made a series of decisions and enacted several measures that contributed to the commission of the crime of genocide and crimes against humanity beginning August 25, 2017. Specifically, this report documents how, between October 2016 and August 2017, Myanmar authorities: ▶ • SYSTEMATICALLY “DISARMED” Rohingya civilians, confiscating household items that might be used as weapons or in self-defense. Lifeless bodies of Rohingya children and adult refugees • SYSTEMATICALLY TORE DOWN fencing and other structures around are transported after their boat from Myanmar capsized off Rohingya homes, providing the military with a greater line-of-sight on Inani Beach near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, September 28, civilians. 2017. More than 100 Rohingya were on board. • TRAINED AND ARMED local non-Rohingya communities in northern Patrick Brown © Panos/ Rakhine State. UNICEF 2018 Summary 12 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar walk through paddy fields and flooded land upon arriving in Bangladesh. Patrick Brown © Panos/UNICEF 2018 • SUSPENDED HUMANITARIAN AID AND ACCESS TO ROHINGYA, systematically weakening the civilian population and removing monitors on the ground. • ENFORCED A DISCRIMINATORY MUSLIM-ONLY CURFEW in northern Rakhine State and evacuated thousands of non-Rohingya citizens from the area. • BUILT UP AN UNUSUALLY SIZABLE MILITARY PRESENCE, incommensurate with the threats at hand. Taken together, these measures demonstrate a level of preparation not previously documented with respect to the Myanmar Army-led “clearance operations” in northern Rakhine State in 2016 and 2017. All of these measures fall within the United Nations Framework for Analysis of Atrocity Crimes for identifying “preparatory action” for genocide and crimes against humanity. Moving from the preparations, almost immediately following the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army’s (ARSA) attack on police outposts in Maungdaw, Rathedaung, and Buthidaung townships in northern Rakhine State during the early morning hours of August 25, Myanmar authorities descended on villages and activated non-Rohingya Summary 13 civilian squads, some of whom the authorities previously armed and/or trained. These civilian perpetrators were not vigilantes—they acted under the Myanmar military and police in razing hundreds of Rohingya villages throughout northern Rakhine State, brutally killing masses of unarmed Rohingya men, women, and children. For its part, the Myanmar Army led massacres, systematically
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