TIB condemns UN failure to act upon an expert report that could prevent massacre of Rohingyas: Demands accountability for failing to practice what they preach
Media Statement
TIB condemns UN failure to act upon an expert report that could prevent massacre of Rohingyas: Demands accountability for failing to practice what they preach
Dhaka, 8 October, 2017: Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) has strongly condemned the UN failure to take into cognizance and act upon a report of an independent expert it commissioned before the military crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhain state.
TIB expressed deep disappointment that the UN not only suppressed the report it received in May 2017 but also ignored the prediction of the report that security forces were going to be “heavy-handed and indiscriminate” in dealing with the Rohingyas, which came true in August-September. TIB termed it an unacceptable offense that the global body deliberately shelved the recommendation to be coherent and undertake serious contingency plan against the impending violation of human rights.
In a statement issued today, executive director of TIB, Dr. Iftekharuzzaman said, "we call upon the UN to explain this inaction, particularly the inability of UN to practice what it preaches. No one, not least the UN, can be above accountability. The report must be disclosed for public information and those responsible for the failure to act in a manner that could have prevented the worst possible form of preplanned and massive violation of human rights must be brought to justice".
Dr Zaman further said that the UN should now have the courage to explain the reasons behind suppressing such a hugely important report and deliberately missing the opportunity to prevent what UN itself later described a "textbook case of ethnic cleansing" and human rights organizations called crime against humanity or at least gross violation of fundamental human rights of over half a million people.
