{"id":96059,"date":"2019-12-06T16:40:55","date_gmt":"2019-12-06T23:40:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=96059"},"modified":"2019-12-06T16:40:55","modified_gmt":"2019-12-06T23:40:55","slug":"buddhist-world-must-support-myanmar-at-the-un-and-international-court-of-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/12\/06\/buddhist-world-must-support-myanmar-at-the-un-and-international-court-of-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"Buddhist world must support Myanmar at the UN and International Court of Justice"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Senaka Weeraratna<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Gambia, acting on behalf \nof the Organization of Islamic Co \u2013 operation (OIC), has filed a lawsuit against \nMyanmar at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), allegedly on the ground of \ncommitting the crime of Genocide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \nGovernment of Myanmar has taken up the challenge to contest this case at the ICJ \nand the State Counsellor, \nAung San Suu Kyi, in her capacity as the Minister for Foreign Affairs, will lead \nthe legal team to defend her nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Myanmar\u2019s \nlegal team is expected to argue that genocide did not occur, that the top U.N. \ncourt lacks jurisdiction and that the case fails to meet a requirement that a \ndispute exists between Myanmar and Gambia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \nproceedings are scheduled to commence on December 10, 2019 at the Hague and \ncontinue for three days of hearings. Under the Charter of the United Nations \n(UN), all member states of the UN, including Myanmar, are bound by the Statute \nof the ICJ.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \ncrime of \u2018Genocide\u2019 means acts committed \nwith the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national or racial group. It \nis an issue that concerns all civilized nations and peoples, especially those \nwho were victims of colonial rule during the last 500 years against whom much of \nthe brazen acts of Genocide were committed in many parts of the world. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Myanmar has taken an \nexplicit stand on the issue of Genocide by becoming a signatory to the \nConvention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide on \n14th<\/sup> March 1956. On the occasion of seeking the approval of \nParliament for subscribing to the Geneva Convention, the Minister concerned \ndeclared to Parliament on 2nd<\/sup> September 1955, I can state with full \nconfidence that today Myanmar has not engaged in any act to destroy, in whole or \nin part, a national, racial, or religious group or any other group. This has not \nhappened today and it will not happen in the future\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In \na Press Release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Government of \nMyanmar dated November 27, 2019, it is stated that Today, Myanmar is as \nresolute as we were when we ratified the Convention for the Prevention and \nPunishment of the Crime of Genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both the Government \nof Myanmar and its armed forces face many internal problems related to ethnic \ntensions. Turning \nto recent events in Myanmar, the ARSA \n(Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army) with links to radical Islamic terrorist groups \nhave been responsible in Rakhine for acts of terrorism and slaughter of the \ninnocents. This co -ordinated terrorist attack with foreign elements took place \nin early 2018. Therefore, the elected Government of Myanmar with a mandate to \nprotect the citizens of Myanmar, had no choice but to send its armed forces to \nRakhine in order to protect Buddhists, Hindus, and various indigenous Tribal \nGroups, who faced the wrath of ARSA and the Bengali Muslims who have infiltrated \nRakhine heavily with intent to grab land and dispossess the original inhabitants \nnamely the citizens of Myanmar, from their traditional home land in Rakhine. \n <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A \npropaganda war has been launched against Myanmar by the OIC and the highly \nprejudiced international media such as Al Jazeera that totally ignores the \nBengali Muslim land grab that blights Rakhine, the Chittagong Hill Tracts \n(Bangladesh), and various parts of India including Assam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A \nsimilar situation of organized and co -ordinated violence arose in Sri Lanka, \nwhen on Easter Sunday April 21, 2019, suicide bombers linked to radical Islamic \nterrorist groups killed 259 people and injured over 500 people.   Three \nchurches and three luxury hotels in Colombo were targeted in a series of \ncoordinated terrorist suicide bombings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Myanmar and Sri \nLanka have a shared past linked to Theravada Buddhism running for over a \nthousand years. History shows that both countries had assisted each other in \ntimes of crisis when the survival of each country was at stake. An existential \nthreat from a common source intending to displace Buddhism in both countries \npersists today. This trend is clearly visible in the narrative of the \ndisappearance and replacement of Buddhism in several Asian countries during the \nlast one thousand years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \nDharmic (Indo \u2013 Buddhist) world must take cognizance of these historical \ndevelopments and ask the question whether the current happenings in Myanmar, Sri \nLanka and Thailand (all Theravada Buddhist countries now besieged ) are but a \ncontinuation of a calibrated process set in motion over a thousand years ago to \ndislodge and finally replace Buddhism from its traditional primacy in Buddhist \nAsia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It \nis worthy of note that Indian civilizational influence outside India prevails \nlargely in Buddhist countries of Asia. The failure to counter aggressive \nAbrahamic incursions can only lead to the shrinking of Buddhist and Hindu space \nin South Asia, South East Asia and the Far East. It is in India\u2019s long – term \ninterest as a rising world power to extend both support and protection to \ncountries where India\u2019s Dharmic civilizational influence prevails and continues \nto be valued and deeply respected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What can India and \nBuddhist majority countries do at the UN and International Court of Justice? \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a)    \nSri \nLanka, India, Thailand, Nepal must join hands with China, Russia, Vietnam, \nCambodia and Laos, and several other countries that have unreservedly given \ntheir unqualified support to Myanmar at the UN. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

b)    \nIt is \nopen to any country to intervene at the International Court of Justice in the \ncapacity of an amicus curiae. What is \u2018amicus curiae\u2019? Latin \u2018for friend of the \ncourt\u2019. In other words, amicus curiae is an instrument for the benefit of the \ncourt, that assists it in some manner. Black\u2019s \nLaw Dictionary defines amicus curiae<\/em> as \u2018[a] person \nwho is not a party to a lawsuit but who petitions the court or is requested by \nthe court to file a brief in the action because that person has a strong \ninterest in the subject matter.\u2019 It is within the power of the ICJ to accept \nAmicus Curiae briefs from countries that have a strong interest in the \nproceedings and its outcome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

OIC is in the picture via \nGambia. The absence of the equivalent of an OIC such as a summit level League of \nBuddhist Nations, should not prevent India, Sri Lanka, Thailand from submitting \nAmicus Curiae briefs to the ICJ. In certain instances, briefs have even been \naccepted from well established NGO\u2019s. Will the premier International Buddhist \nOrganization namely the World Fellowship of Buddhists (WFB) rise to the occasion \nand accept this challenge?   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senaka \nWeeraratna<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

December 07, \n2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Senaka Weeraratna Gambia, acting on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Co \u2013 operation (OIC), has filed a lawsuit against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), allegedly on the ground of committing the crime of Genocide. The Government of Myanmar has taken up the challenge to contest this case at the ICJ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forum","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96059\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}