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UN Members Thwart China’s Bid to Gut Funds for Myanmar Probe

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https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/12/24/un-members-thwart-chinas-bid-gut-funds-myanmar-probe

December 24, 2018 11:37AM EST Dispatches
UN Members Thwart China’s Bid to Gut Funds for Myanmar Probe

Evidence-Gathering into Grave International Crimes will Proceed


Louis Charbonneau

United Nations Director@loucharbon

Smoke is seen rising from Burma’s Taung Pyo Let War village from across the border in Bangladesh.

United Nations member countries thwarted an attempt by China to slash proposed funding for investigations into Myanmar’s ethnic cleansing campaign against Rohingya Muslims. This ensures that a newly established UN body will have the necessary financing to gather and preserve criminal evidence for future trials.

After marathon negotiations – during which China called for cutting the proposed budget in half – the UN General Assembly’s budget committee approved without a vote some US$28 million for investigations in Myanmar, only slightly less than the proposed US$29 million budget.

In September, the UN Human Rights Council voted to establish an international body to help prepare evidence for future criminal proceedings. A UN fact-finding mission reported earlier this year that Myanmar security forces committed war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide against ethnic Rohingya in Rakhine State. The report also examined abuses by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army and by government forces and ethnic armed groups in Shan and Kachin States.

The UN Security Council, where China holds a veto, has been largely passive on the Rohingya crisis. It has held a handful of meetings and adopted several statements, though Beijing has vigorously opposed putting pressure on Myanmar with targeted sanctions or other measures. Unlike the Security Council, no country has a veto in the General Assembly so China was unable to block the push by the European Union, United States, Canada, Switzerland, and Kuwait on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to end debate and approve funding for the investigation.

In recent years, the General Assembly’s budget committee has become one of the UN’s biggest human rights battlegrounds. China and Russia have led an assault on funding for human rights posts in peacekeeping and political missions, targeting for defunding virtually every UN post with the words “human rights” in the job description.

China and Russia seem intent on destroying the UN’s human rights pillar post by post. UN member states, regional organizations like the OIC, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, and senior UN officials need to remain vigilant and use their authority to thwart them every step of the way. Otherwise the UN’s ability to protect and promote human rights and expose abuses could become a thing of the past.

Your tax deductible gift can help stop human rights violations and save lives around the world.

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https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/art...ar-for-its-abuse-of-minority-rohingya-people/
South Africa votes at the UN to condemn Myanmar for its abuse of minority Rohingya people
By Peter Fabricius• 24 December 2018

Fabricius-South-Africa-votes-Myanmar-1600x858.jpg

Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Lindiwe Sisulu, opening the Council of Ministers Meeting of Indian Ocean Rim Association. Durban, KZN. Picture byline: Jacoline Schoonees, 2 November 2018


The South African government hailed “a new dawn in South African foreign policy” after its envoy to the United Nations General Assembly in New York changed Pretoria’s vote and backed a resolution condemning human rights violations by Myanmar against the minority Rohingya people.

In November, South Africa had abstained from voting on the same resolution when it was before the General Assembly’s Third Committee which deals with human rights and humanitarian matters.

After an outcry against that vote, International Relations and Cooperation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu instructed South Africa’s diplomats in New York to back the resolution when it came up in the plenary of the General Assembly.

That happened on Saturday, when South Africa joined 135 other nations in voting for the resolution. Eight nations voted against it and 22 abstained.

Among those nations which voted against the resolution were China and Russia, two of South Africa’s partners in the Brics bloc, which also includes Brazil and India.

Sisulu said in a statement on Monday “South Africa’s vote in support of the resolution is a demonstration of a new dawn in South African foreign policy and a return to its founding principles of standing against human rights violations.”

She added that South Africa’s support for the resolution was in line with its new way of approaching resolutions in all multilateral bodies.

“All resolutions on country-specific situations will be assessed with different stakeholders involved,” Sisulu said. This approach represents a departure from the previous official policy which was to abstain from country-specific human rights resolutions – though that did not always happen in practice.

The new policy means that Pretoria will now consider such resolutions on a case-by-case basis. It does not mean that South Africa will automatically support all country-specific human rights resolutions. This was demonstrated in the voting on another resolution before the UN General Assembly on Saturday which condemned human rights violations by Russia in Crimea which it forcibly seized from Ukraine in 2014.

The resolution was adopted, with 65 states voting for, 27 against, and 70 abstaining. South Africa joined countries like Russia itself, China, Burundi, Chad, Comoros, Cuba, North Korea, Eritrea, India, Iran, Myanmar, Serbia, Sudan, Syria, Uganda, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe in voting against the resolution.

In her statement, Sisulu said she would hold a seminar with the country’s diplomats early next year to discuss South Africa’s approach and the issues it should focus on when it takes its seat on the UN Security Council at the start of 2019 for its third, two-year term. Sisulu said the issues would include silencing the guns in Africa; addressing the scourge of extremism and terrorism; and protecting women, children and civilians in conflict situations.

She said 2018 had been an outstanding year for South Africa, including its chairing of the Brics forum and hosting its summit and hosting the ministerial meeting of the Indian Ocean Rim Association and the council of ministers meeting of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Sisulu also highlighted President Cyril Ramaphosa’s maiden address to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and the special peace summit commemorating the centenary of the birth of Nelson Mandela at the General Assembly, which she said had been addressed by more than one hundred leaders.DM

 
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https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/art...ar-for-its-abuse-of-minority-rohingya-people/
South Africa votes at the UN to condemn Myanmar for its abuse of minority Rohingya people
By Peter Fabricius• 24 December 2018

Fabricius-South-Africa-votes-Myanmar-1600x858.jpg

Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Lindiwe Sisulu, opening the Council of Ministers Meeting of Indian Ocean Rim Association. Durban, KZN. Picture byline: Jacoline Schoonees, 2 November 2018

The South African government hailed “a new dawn in South African foreign policy” after its envoy to the United Nations General Assembly in New York changed Pretoria’s vote and backed a resolution condemning human rights violations by Myanmar against the minority Rohingya people.

In November, South Africa had abstained from voting on the same resolution when it was before the General Assembly’s Third Committee which deals with human rights and humanitarian matters.

After an outcry against that vote, International Relations and Cooperation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu instructed South Africa’s diplomats in New York to back the resolution when it came up in the plenary of the General Assembly.

That happened on Saturday, when South Africa joined 135 other nations in voting for the resolution. Eight nations voted against it and 22 abstained.

Among those nations which voted against the resolution were China and Russia, two of South Africa’s partners in the Brics bloc, which also includes Brazil and India.

Sisulu said in a statement on Monday “South Africa’s vote in support of the resolution is a demonstration of a new dawn in South African foreign policy and a return to its founding principles of standing against human rights violations.”

She added that South Africa’s support for the resolution was in line with its new way of approaching resolutions in all multilateral bodies.

“All resolutions on country-specific situations will be assessed with different stakeholders involved,” Sisulu said. This approach represents a departure from the previous official policy which was to abstain from country-specific human rights resolutions – though that did not always happen in practice.

The new policy means that Pretoria will now consider such resolutions on a case-by-case basis. It does not mean that South Africa will automatically support all country-specific human rights resolutions. This was demonstrated in the voting on another resolution before the UN General Assembly on Saturday which condemned human rights violations by Russia in Crimea which it forcibly seized from Ukraine in 2014.

The resolution was adopted, with 65 states voting for, 27 against, and 70 abstaining. South Africa joined countries like Russia itself, China, Burundi, Chad, Comoros, Cuba, North Korea, Eritrea, India, Iran, Myanmar, Serbia, Sudan, Syria, Uganda, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe in voting against the resolution.

In her statement, Sisulu said she would hold a seminar with the country’s diplomats early next year to discuss South Africa’s approach and the issues it should focus on when it takes its seat on the UN Security Council at the start of 2019 for its third, two-year term. Sisulu said the issues would include silencing the guns in Africa; addressing the scourge of extremism and terrorism; and protecting women, children and civilians in conflict situations.

She said 2018 had been an outstanding year for South Africa, including its chairing of the Brics forum and hosting its summit and hosting the ministerial meeting of the Indian Ocean Rim Association and the council of ministers meeting of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Sisulu also highlighted President Cyril Ramaphosa’s maiden address to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and the special peace summit commemorating the centenary of the birth of Nelson Mandela at the General Assembly, which she said had been addressed by more than one hundred leaders.DM
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/ins...ite&utm_medium=post-article&utm_campaign=uber

good response from south africa .
 
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China: We believe in non-interference....except when we decide to interfere in investigations of ethnic cleansing.
 
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Time to open a human rights probe into China's abuse of ethnic Uyghurs. This is the only way to ensure China minds its own business.
 
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China hardly vetoed in any resolution. Not even for N. Korea... they are under strict sanction.
Its only BD which did not press strong enough and everytime China comes out like cry baby and ask to discuss secretly.
 
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Why dont Bangladesh accept their own kin?
Problem solved, happy
 
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Why do you not mind your own business?
I am minding my own but u see rohingyas tries to flood into malaysia too this affects me.

So it became my business, please accept your people not pass the bucket to surrounding countries.
 
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I am minding my own but u see rohingyas tries to flood into malaysia too this affects me.

So it became my business, please accept your people not pass the bucket to surrounding countries.
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Ask Myanmar to stop mistreating them in that case.
 
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They werent, rohingyas were given citizenship n the right to vote in Myanmar same as a native Myanmar

But rohingyas demand to have their own country carved inside Myanmar.


We are talking about now. Now go away as I am tired of the likes of you talking about stuff you know nothing about.
 
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They should rescind her Nobel Prize as well. It is such a shame and an affront to humanity.
 
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