Philippines President Acquino Asked to Support UN Inquiry into Junta War Crimes

A leading international rights group, Human Right Watch (HRW), called on Philippines President Benigno S. Aquino III on Monday to support the establishment of the UN-created International Commission of Inquiry for Burma.

The international Commission of Inquiry (CoI) would investigate human rights abuses, crimes against humanity and possible war crimes committed by the Burmese military regime in Burma.

In an open letter send by the New York-based rights group to President Aquino, the HRW said, “We urge the Philippine government to join other states to publicly support the establishment of an International Commission of Inquiry for Burma and to actively engage on behalf of a UN resolution that will make it happen.”

“We encourage you to raise this issue within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which could be accomplished at the US-ASEAN summit later this week in New York,” said the letter.
HRW also highlighted the importance of the Philippines publicly supporting the CoI for Burma and that such commission should investigate reports of violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Burma by all parties since 2002 and identify perpetrators of such violations with a view to ensuring that those responsible are held accountable.

For more than a decade, impunity for serious human rights violations has continued in Burma. An international inquiry would be a significant step toward justice, said the letter.

According to human rights groups, the Burmese junta's troops and the ethnic armed groups have been responsible for numerous serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, including sexual violence against women and girls, deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilians, summary executions of civilians and captured combatants, torture, use of child soldiers, attacks on populations' livelihood and food supplies, forced displacement of populations and use of anti-personnel landmines. Non-state armed groups in Burma also have been implicated in serious abuses, including forced labor, recruitment of child soldiers, and anti-personnel landmine use.

In the letter, the HRW also asked President Aquino,“In your inaugural address, you said that 'there can be no reconciliation without justice. When we allow crimes to go unpunished, we give consent to their occurring over and over again.'" This rings particularly true for Burma, where abuses by the military government, as well as by armed ethnic minority groups, have gone unpunished for decades.

“In promoting human rights in Burma, you would be following your mother's lead. Former President Corazon Aquino stood strong for justice in Burma,” said the letter.

The effort to establish a CoI was initiated in March by UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma Tomás Ojea Quintana. It is already supported by Australia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Slovak Republic, the UK and the US.