On Monday Nicholas Koumjian, head of the UN Independent Investigation Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), in a statement at the 51st regular session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland reported that Meta has given a substantial amount of information on the Myanmar army, which carried out genocidal acts against the Rohingyas by through propaganda. In this regard, 3 million facts and evidence of genocide have been collected against the country, which will be given to the international court.
The head of IIMM said, “Analyzing the data we have collected is the most challenging task.”
“For example Facebook gave us millions of data, which they removed. Because the Facebook account used to spread them, their identities were misrepresented. And these accounts were controlled by the Myanmar army. We were able to identify many social media posts that created a situation of incitement and fear against the Rohingya,” Koumjian said.
He also said that ten different posts were published on a social media platform on August 10, 2017, before the Myanmar Army committed Rohingya extermination operation. In which the Rohingyas were misrepresented. They published such posts which were offensive to Myanmar’s Buddhists. All of these were done by the military junta to spread lies and propaganda against the Rohingyas.
Koumjian said “The IIMM faced many obstacles in its investigation and data collection. Myanmar did not allow us to visit crime scenes and meet witnesses. Myanmar has been repeatedly requested to investigate allegations of international crimes. But so far no response has been received from them. Despite these obstacles, our investigation has made significant progress. Many brave individuals, NGOs and others came forward on their own and gave us important evidences. We have interviewed numerous witnesses to these events inside Myanmar, where their protection has been ensured.”
He further said that “IIMM has prepared 67 evidence-based and analytical packages, which will be submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Now we have added a team of financial experts, who will assist us by investigating financial matters. Our annual report states that we have collected 3 million pieces of information and evidence from nearly 200 sources. Containing interviews, documents, videos, images, social media data and geospatial images.”
He emphasized, “The people of the country continue to suffer due to lack of accountability. The Army’s extermination campaign against Rohingya in Rakhine has crossed five years. Rohingyas are currently waiting in neighboring countries for safe and normal conditions in Myanmar.”
IIMM head also said that they have given more importance to rape, violence against women and children. Many children in Myanmar have been victims of torture while targeting to catch their parents.
“We have collected reports that they have been wrongfully detained. Apart from this, we have evidence that sexual violence has been carried out on men and women there,” and he added that those who have committed serious international crimes in Myanmar will be brought to justice.
The Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) aims to build case files for proceedings in national, regional or international courts. It was established in 2018 by the U.N. Human Rights Council and began work the following year.
