{"id":98523,"date":"2020-02-01T15:39:41","date_gmt":"2020-02-01T22:39:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=98523"},"modified":"2020-02-01T15:41:43","modified_gmt":"2020-02-01T22:41:43","slug":"intl-media-shows-lack-of-fairness-ignores-state-counselors-message-to-the-icj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/02\/01\/intl-media-shows-lack-of-fairness-ignores-state-counselors-message-to-the-icj\/","title":{"rendered":"Int\u2019l Media Shows Lack of Fairness, Ignores State Counselor’s Message to the ICJ"},"content":{"rendered":"

By KYAW PHYO THA <\/span><\/b><\/span>23 December 2019 Courtesy: The Irravaddy<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

When Daw Aung San Suu Kyi led Myanmar\u2019s delegation at public\nhearings before the 17-member bench in the Great Hall at the International\nCourt of Justice on Dec. 10, she was at the center of international media\nattention. Impassively\u201d became the word of the day as, under their watchful\neyes, she listened to the Gambian team argue its case that Myanmar committed\ngenocide against the Rohingya; the international media frenzy had begun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That frenzy reached its peak\nthe next day, a few hours after she defended the country against the charges\nbefore the court.The Gambia accused Myanmar of violating the 1948 Genocide\nConvention over military clearance operations in northern Rakhine State, which\ncaused more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee the Southeast Asian country for\nBangladesh. The African country asked the ICJ to order provisional measures\u201d\nto prevent more violations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her nearly 25-minute oral\nargument, Myanmar\u2019s de facto leader didn\u2019t dispute that amid the armed conflict\nin Rakhine there may have been violations of human rights and infringements of\nuniversally accepted norms of justice and the rule of law during the military\nresponse to the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army\u2019s attacks on security outposts.\nBut she announced firmly that those crimes didn\u2019t amount to genocide and that\nthose involved in war crimes would be tried by local military courts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only if domestic\naccountability fails, may international justice come into play,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was no surprise to see\ninternational media crying out with headlines like Aung San Suu Kyi Defends\nMyanmar Against Genocide Claims\u201d\u2014it\u2019s understandable that they would focus on\nthis to grab readers\u2019 attention, and it\u2019s true that she denied genocide in her\nargument.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, reading the news\ncoverage of the hearings\u2014from my random picks of the Financial Times, The New\nYork Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The Guardian and The\nAssociated Press\u2014left me with an uneasy feeling. It\u2019s disappointing to see that\nnearly all of their coverage poorly reflected the intention of her testimony.\nIt\u2019s worrisome, because this negative portrayal in globally renowned media\ncould fuel international misconceptions, further damaging Myanmar\u2019s already\ntarnished reputation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the reports condemned\nDaw Aung San Suu Kyi as a failed human rights icon for not condemning the\nmilitary for their atrocities against the Rohingya. The Economist<\/a> named her an apologist for\nmilitary brutality, an oppressor of ethnic minorities and an abettor of\ngenocide.\u201d The WSJ wrote that she\nexpresses faith in the men in uniform who long ruled with an iron fist and\nwhom she once fiercely fought. She accused those seeking international action\nof undermining local efforts to ensure people who she said may have used\nexcessive force in some cases are prosecuted.\u201d The Financial Times<\/a> jumped on the bandwagon,\nasserting that she had failed to live up to her own Nobel Peace Prize\nacceptance speech in 2012, and had played down<\/a> crimes committed by the\nmilitary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly all of them said it\nwas unnecessary for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to personally testify before the\ncourt. They insisted that her trip to The Hague was an effort to tap domestic support<\/a> in her\nBuddhist-majority country ahead of elections due next year\u201d, echoing some\nopponents at home. Even though the intention of her appearance may be\ncontroversial, it\u2019s amusing to see The New York Times\u2019 claim<\/a> that her turn\nas the generals\u2019 protector has only cemented her popularity at home, where her\nparty, the National League for Democracy, faces elections next year.\u201d The\nAssociated Press<\/a> was no exception: By taking on the mantle of\nprotector of the nation, and even defending the military against international\ncriticism, Suu Kyi can win over Myanmar nationalists, putting her party in a\nstronger position for next year\u2019s general election.\u201d Of course, it is out\nof the question that anyone who stands up for their country, especially in a\ntime of difficulty, would earn local support!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s incredibly na\u00efve to say\nthat protecting the generals is a vote-winner. Everyone who follows Myanmar\nnews knows how unpopular the military has been in the country\u2014how does\nprotecting those who are unpopular boost your popularity? The idea that\ndefending the generals would win over nationalists\u201d is a big joke as well. The\nnationalists are the most persecuted force under the NLD government for their\nfar-right Buddhist ideology, and they hate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for what they\nview has her oppression of them. They are loyal to the military. Why would they\nvote for the NLD, rather than the army-affiliated and nationalism-tainted\nparties that have registered for the upcoming election? Any gratitude they\nmight feel would take a back seat\u2014especially for them\u2014when it comes to\npolitics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from their poor\nunderstanding of local politics, the international media cited above also\nfailed to practice fairness\u201d in their reporting of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi\u2019s\nargument. While they all highlighted her denial of genocide; her defense of the\ngenerals and local court martial proceedings relating to human rights\nviolations against the Rohingya; and more importantly, her rejection of the\nuntimely application of international justice in the case, they all omitted the\nstatement of Myanmar\u2019s de facto leader to the court that, Only if domestic accountability\nfails, may international justice come into play.\u201d The absence of this statement\nfrom their stories could lead international readers to the conclusion that\nMyanmar blindly rejects international justice. While it acceptable to insist\nthat those responsible for the atrocities be held accountable, it is unfair and\nmisleading to portray the country as neglecting its obligations arising from\ntreaties and other sources of international law, one of the fundamental\nobjectives of the United Nations Charter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The accuracy of their\nreporting on the public hearings in The Hague is also questionable. Enter The\nGuardian. The credibility of the British newspaper\u2019s report<\/a> might have\nbeen salvaged if its reporter had done some basic fact checking\u201d before\nwriting that his two Rohingya sources, Khatun, 50, and Ali, 46, voted for Aung\nSan Suu Kyi in 2010\u2026.\u201d If it really had happened, she should thank them for\ntheir support. Sadly, her party boycotted the general election held by the then\nmilitary government nine years ago. The Guardian and other international media\nreporters should take what they hear with a few grains of salt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Closer to home, for the\nMyanmar military, now is the time to show the world that it respects every\naspect of human rights, not just on religious and racial grounds, but by\nbringing justice to those who suffered in Rakhine State. Importantly, the\nuntimely pardon of the perpetrators of the Inn Din killings has cast serious\ndoubt on the credibility of the military trials among the international\ncommunity. Even Daw Aung San Suu Kyi told the court that, Many of us in\nMyanmar were unhappy with this pardon.\u201d Of course, it is likely one of the main\nfactors that resulted in Myanmar being brought before the World Court, and\nbrought shame to the nation. So, to the military: Please prove that the ongoing\ntrial and future legal proceedings result in the prosecution of those who are\nguilty, without fear or favor, and regardless of rank, and that there will be\nno more violations in Rakhine or elsewhere in Myanmar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Above all, it should be kept\nin mind that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi didn\u2019t dispute the fact that the military may\nhave committed human rights violations against the Rohingya, and asserted that\nthose found guilty will be prosecuted, as there is an ongoing court martial and\nthere will be more to come in the near future. She assured the court that\nthere will be no tolerance of human rights violations in Rakhine, or elsewhere\nin Myanmar.\u201d The international community should wait to see the outcomes\nof the trials and then decide. Hasty measures imposed from outside at the\nmoment will not benefit Myanmar, which is undergoing a fragile national\nreconciliation, including with the military. This is especially true in\nRakhine, as the area today is still reeling from communal violence between\nRakhine and Rohingya. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi clearly mentioned this in her speech\nduring the last day of hearings. For those who didn\u2019t see it in the coverage of\nthe above-mentioned international media, here it is in her own words: Steps\nthat generate suspicion, sow doubts, or create resentment between communities\nwho have just begun to build a fragile foundation of trust could undermine\nreconciliation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Courtesy: The Irravaddy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/www.irrawaddy.com\/opinion\/commentary\/intl-media-shows-lack-fairness-ignores-state-counselors-message-icj.html\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By KYAW PHYO THA 23 December 2019 Courtesy: The Irravaddy When Daw Aung San Suu Kyi led Myanmar\u2019s delegation at public hearings before the 17-member bench in the Great Hall at the International Court of Justice on Dec. 10, she was at the center of international media attention. Impassively\u201d became the word of the day as, under […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98523","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=98523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98523\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}