The Advisory Commission on Rakhine State () was an international advisory commission headed by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to ensure the social & economical well-being of both the Buddhist and the Rohingya communities of Myanmar's conflict-ravaged Rakhine State (the northern coastal region of Myanmar). The decision to establish the commission was made on 23 August 2016. The commission was an institution of Myanmar, established in cooperation with the Kofi Annan Foundation, and most members were Myanmar citizens. It became widely known and referred to as the "Annan commission" or the "Rakhine commission."Associated Press, "In Myanmar’s Troubled Rakhine State, Protesters Greet Kofi Annan." 6 September 2016, The Wall Street Journal, retrieved 18 August 2018"Atrocities against the Rohingya: How we built the case to implicate Myanmar military officials in crimes against humanity," June 29, 2018,Amnesty International, retrieved August 18, 2018 August 24, 2017, The Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, retrieved August 19, 2018
The release of the commission's final report coincided with an explosion of violence throughout Rakhine state that led to the killing, rape and injury of thousands—particularly Rohingya—and the mass expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya from the country, in one of the largest humanitarian catastrophes of the early 21st Century.Report: "'We Will Destroy Everything': Military Responsibility for Crimes against Humanity in Rakhine State, Myanmar (Burma)," , June 2018, Amnesty International, retrieved August 19, 2018"Myanmar’s Military Planned Rohingya Genocide, Rights Group Says," July 19, 2018, The New York Times, retrieved 18 August 2018
Rakhine state troubles
The Rakhine commission was charged with finding civil solutions to civil unrest and economic hardship in a region (Rakhine state) largely divided between ethnic minorities—particularly the Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims—who had each been victims of longtime poverty, exploitation and oppression by Myanmar's military, government and Burman Buddhist majority. The region had been the scene of extensive ethnic and military conflict, and population dislocations, for decades, but especially dramatically in the 21st Century, with the Rohingya generally the most vulnerable and unsuccessful faction.Min Kyi Thein and Victoria Milko, "Myanmar panel probing Rohingya crisis pledges independence," August 16, 2018, Associated Press at Fox News, (same article at The Washington Post,) retrieved August 19, 2018.Specia, Megan, "The Rohingya in Myanmar: How Years of Strife Grew Into a Crisis," , September 13, 2017, The New York Times retrieved August 19, 2018Taylor, Adam, "How Burma’s Rohingya crisis went from bad to worse," September 6, 2017, The Washington Post, retrieved 18 August 2018Report: "Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar," 29 June 2016, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations, retrieved 18 August 2018"Rohingya Face ‘Campaign of Terror’ in Myanmar, U.N. Finds." , 3 February 2017, The New York Times, retrieved 18 August 2018
The commission was unpopular with many Buddhist Myanma, who objected to the intervention in their relations with the Rohingya Muslims. The Rohingya Muslims, an unpopular and impoverished minority in Rakhine state, were denied a wide range of civil rights, even denied citizenship. Myanmar's government and military, and Buddhist Myanma, generally oppose and discredit Rohingya as illegal immigrants from neighbouring "Bengal" (the former region of eastern India that later became East Pakistan and today's Bangladesh). Myanmar generally forbids using the term "Rohingya" to describe these people, whom it calls "Bengali."
Final report and recommendations The Annan Commission's final report was released August 24, 2017, and it called for several measures to improve life in Rakhine state—including improving the rights of the Rohingya—but the report did not satisfy any faction to the conflicts.
Specific recommendations To invest heavily in infrastructure to help lift both communities out of poverty To lift all restrictions from the Rohingya people's human rights To review Myanmar's 1982 citizenship law To instigate a calibrated approach to security
Violent aftermath In early August 2017, as it became apparent that the Commission was about to release a final report with recommendations that threatened all sides in the conflict, the Myanmar military—the Tatmadaw—stepped up preparations for conflict, moving more troops into Rakhine state, deputizing Rakhine civilians, and increasing incursions into Rohingya villages. Some researchers and analysts have indicated that the Tatmadaw, working with Rakhines, planned to exterminate or drive out the Rohingya minority from the region."They Gave Them Long Swords": Preparations for Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity Against Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State, Myanmar, July 2018, Fortify Rights, retrieved 18 August 2018
The commission's final report was released August 24, 2017. The following night, August 25, 2017, a small, lightly armed Rohingya rebel group—the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) -- launched several coordinated attacks on government outposts in and around Rakhine state, killing 12 troops (at a cost of 50 or more ARSA combatants).
The military—having already pre-positioned forces and begun incursions into Rohingya communities—radically accelerated their attacks on the Rohingya in what it characterized as an "anti-terrorist" "clearance operation." The operation, aided by Rakhine Buddhists, swept through Rohingya villages, injuring, raping and killing thousands—mostly civilians—burning Rohingya villages and driving most of Rakhine state's Rohingya population (over 600,000) into neighboring Bangladesh in what came to be known as the "Rohingya Crisis."
International response
Annan presented his commission's recommendations to the United Nations Security Council shortly after the violence erupted, but—despite the support of U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres -- China and Russia vetoed any effort at significant U.N. intervention."Myanmar has to take back Rohingya refugees, Kofi Annan tells UN Security Council." 14 October 2017, BDNews24 (Bangladesh), retrieved 18 August 2018Annan, Kofi, Commission Chairman; (former UN Secretary General), "UN Security Council Briefing on the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State," October 13, 2017," The Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, retrieved August 18, 2018.
Implementation
Global pressure—from within the U.N., and from without—eventually led Myanmar's civilian government to "accept" the recommendations of the Annan commission. Under direction of Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a new committee—the "Advisory Board for the Committee for Implementation of the Recommendations on Rakhine State"—was formed, supposedly to "implement" the recommendations of the Rakhine Commission."Myanmar's Rohingya panel head refutes criticism by outgoing secretary," July 22, 2018, Reuters News Service, retrieved 18 August 2018"U.S. Adviser Rebukes Aung San Suu Kyi: ‘I Don’t Want to Be Part of a Whitewash’" The New York Times, retrieved 18 August 2018
However, by mid-2018, that committee had failed to achieve implementation of the Rakhine commission's recommendations, and two of the implementation committee's most prominent members -- Thailand's Former foreign minister Surakiart Sathirathai (the committee Secretary), and a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Bill Richardson—resigned, describing that committee as useless or fraudulent.
Replacement
As the first anniversary of the Rakhine commission's Final Report approached, and a deadline for response to charges from the International Criminal Court, Myanmar's government convened a new commission -- "The Independent Commission of Enquiry"—with largely the same assignment as the original Rakhine commission.Associated Press, "Myanmar panel probing Rohingya crisis pledges independence." The Washington Post, retrieved 18 August,. 2018"Don’t Expect Much from Latest Myanmar Commission; Chairwoman Declares ‘No Finger Pointing’ or Atrocities Against Rohingya," Human Rights Watch, retrieved 18 August 2018
However, critics—including foreign leaders and human rights groups—criticized the new commission's policy of "not pointing fingers," suspecting that the committee was developed to simply provide continuing cover for atrocities of the Myanmar government and military.
Within two days of the new commission's announcement of its intentions, the chairman of the original Rakhine commission, Kofi Annan, died.Harris, Richard (RCN editor), "Diplomat Kofi Annan... dies..." August 18, 2018, Rohingya Crisis News, retrieved 19 August 2018
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