The top prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced on Monday he is seeking an arrest warrant for the Acting President of Myanmar on charges of crimes against humanity.
Prosecutor Karim Khan alleges President Min Aung Hlaing is criminally responsible for violent attacks against the Rohingya ethnic minority in 2017.
“This is the first application for an arrest warrant against a high-level Myanmar government official that my office is filing. More will follow,” Khan said.
Myanmar
Following a military coup in 1962, Myanmar was ruled by decades of totalitarian control. The regime was marked by violent crackdowns against anti-government protesters and mass killings.
A parliament was established in 2011. At the November 2020 election, a military-aligned political party was defeated. Myanmar’s army then violently overthrew the government before the new parliament could meet.
Its leaders have been accused of killings, unlawful arrests, torture, and sexual violence.
The Rohingya
In August 2017, prior to the coup, Myanmar’s army sent a battalion into the Rakhine region.
At the time, this region was home to hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people — an ethnic minority who aren’t legally recognised by the Myanmar Government. The group are considered stateless because they’ve been denied citizenship since the early 1980s. The Rohingya are Muslim, while Myanmar’s official religion is Buddhism.
In late August, after a Rohingya militant group attacked police in Rakhine, the battalion began a violent campaign.
Myanmar’s army burned Rohingya villages and killed civilians in Rakhine.
Advocacy groups have reported widespread rapes and sexual assaults of Rohingya women and girls by the military.
Nearly 750,000 people fled to Bangladesh in the wake of the violence.
The United Nations has since described the army’s campaign in August 2017 as “a massive offensive to drive the Rohingya people from their homeland” and “genocide”.
Why the ICC?
The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutes individuals accused of war crimes, including genocide, torture, and sexual violence. It steps in when states are “unable or unwilling” to try these cases.
125 countries, including Australia, are members of the ICC, meaning they must arrest anyone within their borders with an active warrant.
Since it was established in 1998, the ICC has convicted a handful of people, including militia leaders found guilty of war crimes.
Min Aung Hlaing
The request for a warrant for Acting President Min Aung Hlaing follows a five-year investigation and evidence from witnesses, photos and videos.
The ICC found “reasonable grounds to believe” that Hlaing “bears criminal responsibility” for crimes against humanity, including the mass deportation and persecution of the Rohingya people.
The crimes are alleged to have occurred between August and December 2017.
What next?
The prosecutor’s application for an arrest warrant does not mean Min Aung Hlaing will be arrested.
First, the application will need to be approved by a panel of three judges, who will ultimately decide whether to approve the prosecutor’s requests.
Myanmar isn’t a member of the ICC, meaning a warrant would have no effect within its borders. However, if Min Aung Hlaing enters an ICC country, such as Australia or the UK, he could be arrested if the warrant is approved.
