Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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22. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the steps he will take to ensure that the recommendations of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar are implemented; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40115/18]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission (IIFFM) on Myanmar makes for harrowing reading.

Ireland has strongly supported the mandate of the IIFFM since it was established in March 2017 and I offer my thanks to them for their work and for this report.

The findings of the IIFFM corroborate many of the eyewitness accounts which have emerged from Myanmar in recent times. In particular the report 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.

The IIFFM’s report also finds that there is sufficient evidence of 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.

The work of the IIFFM in investigating allegations, recording victim testimony and gathering other evidence, so that it can be preserved for further criminal proceedings, is crucial to ensuring full accountability.

I have taken note of the recommendations and Ireland is actively engaging with our international partners in responding to its findings.

One of the key issues we have focused on so far is the issue of accountability. At the recent 39th Session of the Human Rights Council, Ireland actively supported the creation of a resolution on Myanmar, proposed jointly by the EU and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, which mandates a new impartial independent mechanism to collect, consolidate, preserve and analyse evidence of the most serious violations of international law committed in Myanmar since 2011. This is an important step in facilitating fair and independent criminal proceedings for these crimes.

The IIFFM report also makes a number of other recommendations. In particular, the report recommends the introduction of targeted sanctions against members of the Tatmadaw and Border Guard Police who have been accused of violations of international law. Ireland has actively engaged in the formation of the EU’s position in the most recent EU Foreign Affairs Council’s Conclusions on Myanmar, which were adopted on 26 February 2018. These Conclusions, which in some ways anticipated the outcome of the IIFFMM, provide for the imposition of targeted measures against certain persons from the Myanmar Armed Forces and Border Guard Police responsible for serious human rights violations and for the expansion of the existing arms embargo. A number of members of the Tatmadaw and Border Guards have been listed under these sanctions since the Conclusions were adopted in February. Ireland is actively engaging in further discussions in this regard in light of the findings of the IIFFM.

Another of the key recommendations of the IIFFM relates to the question of repatriation. Ireland strongly supports the IIFFM’s insistence that provisions be made for a safe, voluntary, dignified and sustainable means of return of the Rohingya to Rakhine State and for the introduction of measures that will enable them to sustain a reasonable livelihood. The question of citizenship is central in this regard and I call on the authorities of Myanmar comprehensively address this issue.

Additionally, it is clear that the long-standing drivers of conflict in Myanmar need to be addressed. The IIFFM recognises that, the implementation of the findings of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State (The Annan Commission) provides a roadmap for sustainable and community-led peacebuilding in Rakhine State, and for the development of extremely impoverished regions there. Ireland has strongly and repeatedly supported the implementation of the report of the Advisory Commission’s findings and will continue to do so.

Officials in my Department will continue to monitor the situation and to work with our international partners to urge progress within Myanmar on these difficult issues and to pursue a resolution to this crisis that brings peace, reconciliation and prosperity for everybody in Myanmar. In the meantime, Ireland will continue to support the provision of humanitarian aid to those in need.