Why Canada Must Support Bringing Crimes of Genocide Against the Rohingya to the International Court of Justice

On May 14 2019, Senator Ratna Omidvar spoke in support of Senator Marilou McPhedran’s motion calling on the Canadian government to pursue crimes of genocide against the Rohingya at the International Criminal Court. In this clip, Senator Omidvar speaks to the complications in achieving justice with the International Criminal Court and the UN Security Council and highlights the need for other paths to justice.

Watch a highlight from Senator Omidvar’s speech and read the full transcript below: 

Hon. Ratna Omidvar: Honourable senators, I rise today to speak in support of Senator McPhedran’s motion calling on the Government of Canada to take further actions to bring to justice the perpetrators of genocide against the Rohingya people.

In 1951, after the horrors of the Second World War, the world came together to call into force the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Its rallying cry was never again — never again — would the world tolerate such oppression, injustice, inhumanity and cruelty. Yet, when we look back over the last 70 years, it appears that the global community has allowed genocide to occur again and again rather than never again. Remember Bosnia, Rwanda, Darfur and now Myanmar.

I want to take a minute to remind us about the scale of the disaster in Myanmar. Since August 2017, the number of refugees who have fled to Bangladesh has increased dramatically. More than 1.3 million in Rakhine State have been affected. More than 900,000 have been forced to flee.

The culpability lies with military leaders and the Government of Myanmar, who have acted with impunity. The United Nations has described the military offensive in Rakhine which provoked the exodus as “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”

This is not the first time I have spoken on this crisis. As you may recall, I introduced a motion in October of last year asking that the Senate revoke the honorary Canadian citizenship of Aung San Suu Kyi. That motion passed unanimously. In doing so, both houses of Parliament recognized that the crimes committed against the Rohingya constituted a genocide. We called on the UN Security Council to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court, which I will refer to as ICC.

The ICC has since ruled that it can prosecute Myanmar’s leaders for forcibly deporting the Rohingya to Bangladesh. However, there are concerns that other crimes may be left out of its proceedings and hearings, including executions, rapes and the burning of villages.

There is another problem. In order to expand the scope of this investigation and bring perpetrators to justice, the UN Security Council needs to pass a motion referring these crimes to the ICC. But, as we all know, some members of the Security Council will block such a move — in particular Russia and China.

Seeing the United Nations Security Council as an obstacle, Senator McPhedran has identified another route to justice and accountability. Her motion asks the federal government to invoke the Genocide Convention and to work with other like-minded states to bring this matter to the International Court of Justice.

While the International Court of Justice is not able to convict specific individuals for their crimes against humanity, it can compel the state of Myanmar to respond to the allegations of genocide put forward by UN observers. Provisional measures and reparations can be pursued in this court without having to navigate the UN Security Council.

The gap between the promise and the practice of preventing genocide over the last 70 years is dispiriting indeed. I believe, as Senator McPhedran believes too, that we must find multiple routes to justice. It is therefore entirely fitting that Canada lead on this by collaborating with international partners to pursue the matter with the International Court of Justice in addition to the examination currently under way in the ICC.

I want to briefly draw your attention to another clause in this motion. This clause urges the Senate to urge the federal government to continue to provide multilateral aid to address the humanitarian needs of the Rohingya refugees. Thus far, Canada has — and I’m pleased to say this — pledged $66 million to support the Government of Bangladesh and international humanitarian organizations on the ground in Cox’s Bazar. However, this is still a very long way from what Bangladesh, Cox’s Bazar and the refugees need.

In fact, Bangladesh has been put under such severe strain by providing for the refugees that it has, in some way, been incentivized to sign a voluntary repatriation agreement with Myanmar even though there are no indications that the Rohingya will be allowed to return safely with a pathway to citizenship.

I ask you to consider the soon-to-come monsoons. For those who have not lived through monsoons, you may have a romantic notion about them. I have lived through monsoons, and I know what they can do to infrastructure that is barely sustainable. Flash floods and landslides will destroy housing and infrastructure. People will sink. Clean water becomes contaminated. Malaria, cholera and other diseases spread rapidly.

I believe that we should act in an expeditious manner to approve Senator McPhedran’s motion. I have proposed another bill — the frozen assets repurposing act — which would provide another route for getting urgently needed resources to the refugees. While Canada may be a middle power, it is not without influence. By approving this motion, we are encouraging our allies to do so.

I thank Senators McPhedran, Ataullahjan, Andreychuk, Munson and others for keeping our attention on this urgent global problem. Thank you very much.