New Delhi (Mizzima) - The United Nations Security Council should refer Burma’s military rulers to the International Criminal Court for committing crimes against humanity, by stopping relief aids in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in May 2008 and persecuting survivors of the disaster, a new report said on Friday.
The report, which is the first independent inquiry into the aftermath of the disaster, said Burma’s military government’s “systematic obstruction” of relief work, penalization of minority ethnic groups and use of forced labour in reconstruction, could constitute crimes against humanity.
The report was a documentation by researchers from John Hopkins University in America, and an organization of Burmese volunteers called the Emergency Assistance Team – Burma (EAT), in the weeks following the deadly Cyclone Nargis, which struck Burma on May 2, 2008.
Released on Friday in Bangkok, the report, said it had discovered that Burma’s military junta failed to provide adequate food, shelter and medical care in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, which hit Burma’s Rangoon and Irrawaddy divisions, killing at least 1,40,000 people.
The report, which claims to have been framed after extensively interviewing relief workers and survivors, said despite the severity of the disaster, the Burmese junta refused to let in aid workers and relief supplies, arresting those volunteers, who secretly went in to help survivors. It continued confiscating land from the farmers and forced villagers to re-construct the devastated areas.
It also has details on allegations of aid being stolen and resold by the Burmese military authorities and how it had set-up check points to restrict movement into the disaster-stricken areas.
The junta treated the disaster, which devastated the lives of 2.4 million people, not as a humanitarian emergency, but as a security threat to the nation and instead of helping the survivors, went ahead with its political agenda of conducting a Referendum to approve its newly drafted constitution on May 10, the report said.
According to Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners-Burma (AAPP-B), the Burmese junta arrested at least 21 aid volunteers, including well known comedian Zargarnar and former sports journal editor Zaw Thet Htwe, for their involvement in distribution of aid supplies to cyclone victims.
Even as the new report lists the Burmese military junta’s crimes in their response to the cyclone, the Tripartite Core Group, a group formed with the Burmese government, the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) tasked with emergency relief and recovery after the cyclone, said it was making remarkable progress in their work in assisting the survivors.
In an email message to Mizzima, UN humanitarian coordinator in Rangoon, Bishow Parajuli said, the situation of the survivors was getting better with the support of the international community.
“For thousands of people, a certain level of normalcy is being restored,” Parajuli said.
However, he admits that thousands are still in need of adequate supply of aid saying, “There is a continuous need to rebuild physical infrastructure, such as houses, schools, health facilities, and cyclone resistant shelters.”
In early February, the TCG launched a three-year medium term recovery plan appealing for nearly USD 700 million to carry out the plan.
“The UN hopes and believes that the international community will continue to be generous,” said Parajuli, adding, “The consequences of insufficient funding, is that people are not getting all the assistance they need and it will be more challenging to recover fully from the disaster.”
However, despite the UN’s appeal of USD 477 million for recovery work up to April, it was only able to achieve 66 per cent of the total amount that it needed.
Researchers, who compiled the report also said the Burmese military government’s restrictions on movements in the country, hindered estimating the death toll caused by a supposed ‘Second Wave’ of deaths in the period following the cyclone.
The report said, under international law, creating conditions where the basic survival needs of civilians cannot be adequately met, "intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health," is considered a crime against humanity.
The report, in its recommendations, said the junta should be referred to the International Criminal Court, by the United Nations Security Council, for committing crimes against humanity.
