Rights group says ICC arrest warrant request for Myanmar military leader is decisive in ending impunity News
MgHla, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Rights group says ICC arrest warrant request for Myanmar military leader is decisive in ending impunity

Secretary-General at Amnesty International, Agnès Callamard, welcomed on Wednesday the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan’s decision to seek an arrest warrant for Myanmar military leader, Min Aung Hlaing regarding alleged crimes against humanity committed against the Rohingya minority.

Callamard stated:

Today’s announcement by the ICC prosecutor is a decisive step and an important signal – both for Myanmar and the rest of the world – that those who are allegedly responsible for crimes under international law will be sought to face arrest and trial, no matter how powerful they are or how long they have escaped scrutiny. The cycle of impunity in Myanmar has to be broken now.

Based on the result of the independent and impartial investigation process carried out in 2019, the prosecutor concluded that Min Aung Hlaing is responsible for the crimes committed by the armed forces of Myanmar, the Tatmadaw with the support of the national police, the border guard police and non-Rohingya citizens within the four months from August 25, 2017, and December 31, 2017. The Prosecutor emphasized that the application was his office’s (OTP) first for an arrest warrant against a high-level Myanmar official.

No time limit is imposed on the ICC judges’ decision regarding the arrest warrant. If an arrest warrant is issued, Min Aung Hlaing must appear at trial per Article 58(1)(b) of the Rome Statute. ICC member countries are obligated to arrest and transfer him to the court if he enters the territory under Article 86 of the Statute.

Although Myanmar is not an ICC member state, the OTP’s investigation process was initiated because graved crimes trigger the court’s jurisdiction over non-member states under Article 13 of the Statute.

Myanmar’s military continually committed numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity since the 2021 coup. Other than the United Nations Security Council’s December 2022 Resolution condemning the military’s violence after the 2021 coup, Myanmar’s situation has not been referred to the ICC due to the anticipated vetoes by China and Russia, according to Human Rights Watch.

Amnesty International highlighted that the UN Security Council’s referral of Myanmar’s situation to the ICC could strengthen this move.

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