Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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63. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if Ireland will be supporting the UN Security Council referring Burma to the International Criminal Court (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39171/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Ireland is not currently a member of the UN Security Council, and is therefore not in a position to formally offer support on the question of referring Myanmar to the International Criminal Court. However, as the Deputy notes, the findings of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (IIFFM) make for harrowing reading. The report corroborates many of the eyewitness accounts which have emerged from Myanmar in recent times. It provides credible findings that human rights violations amounting to crimes against humanity and war crimes have been committed by members of the Burmese Military (Tatmadaw) and other security forces in Rakhine, Kachin and Shan States. These crimes include the widespread killing of civilians; rape and sexual violence; torture and enforced disappearances. The IIFFM’s report also finds that there is sufficient evidence of the crimes committed in Rakhine State being so grave that they warrant a competent court to determine the liability for the crime of genocide of those in the Tatmadaw chain of command.

Having considered this evidence, Ireland would support the referral by the Security Council of the situation in Myanmar to the ICC. The Security Council is the only competent body that can take this step.

However, given the political and legal difficulties that surround such a referral, our focus in ensuring accountability and investigation of the allegations is necessarily elsewhere. We are working closely with international partners in other fora including the UN Human Rights Council and the EU to ensure that measures are put in place to allow the investigation of human rights violations and that those who have perpetrated these crimes are held to account.

In particular, at the current session of the Human Rights Council, Ireland is working in Geneva with the EU and other international in support of a resolution which seeks to establish an effective accountability mechanism to hold responsible those who have committed human rights violations.