The Burma Campaign UK also reiterated its call to stop the Myanmar military promoting its businesses on Facebook, profits from which help fund genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. As observed by the U.N. International Fact-Finding Mission (IFFM) on Myanmar in its September 2018 report, “for most users [in Myanmar], Facebook is the internet.” The mission also noted that “Facebook has been used to spread hate” in the country and regretted that the company was unable to provide country-specific information about hate speech on its platform. The escalation in the violence has led to increased diplomatic efforts to resolve the political crisis — but there appear few viable ways forward. But four months later, a Reuters analysis found that hate speech was still flourishing on Facebook in Myanmar. But today, Facebook seems to be going back on its promises. It's even more difficult in the midst of the current crisis. UN human rights experts investigating a possible genocide in Myanmar have said that Facebook had played a role in spreading hate speech against the majority-Muslim Rohingya minority. Myanmar security forces burned down villages, killed civilians and engaged in mass rape in their campaign, which the World Court is investigating as a crime of genocide. Like many businesses, human traffickers quickly recalibrated to the realities of COVID-19. The application asks the Court to compel Facebook to provide information related to the personal Facebook accounts of Myanmar officials. In Myanmar, Facebook essentially is the internet — and, by extension, the only source of information — for some 20 million people, according to BSR’s estimates. Japan's lagging vaccine roll-out draws attention to the barriers in commercializing domestic vaccine production. And so, Facebook continues to sit on evidence that could help to bring to account those most responsible for the genocide unleashed against the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. Yet it did agree to share limited data with the IIMM’s investigators. How will the February 1, 2021, coup in Myanmar affect the country’s internal security and foreign relations? If The Gambia’s legal team at the ICJ is able to procure these critical documents, they could prove beyond reasonable doubt that Myanmar security forces used targeted violence against the Rohingya Muslims with specific “genocidal intent.” This is a necessary precondition to show that Myanmar violated the Genocide Convention 1948, to which it is a state party. This Community page has been created to keep Rohingya Issue alive as it is no longer a news now. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Rohingya groups around the world displayed a rare show of solidarity on Thursday with Myanmar’s ethnic Rakhine, who they say are suffering “horrifically familiar” war crimes and atrocities at the hands of the military. A recent poll from Gallup joins a growing body of evidence that China's global image is slipping - especially in the United States. View, About He confirmed that the IIMM had received a “first data set which partially complies with [the IIMM’s] previous requests” and that he was “hopeful it signifies a further step forward towards a cooperative relationship that will allow us access to important relevant evidence of serious international crimes.”. Burma Campaign UK has asked Facebook to ensure these pages are not used for recruitment, but no action has been taken. Australia’s minerals trade has been divided almost clean in half by the country's trade spat with China. The Times writes that the military harnessed Facebook over a period of years to disseminate hate propaganda, false news and inflammatory posts. Facebook shuts down news in Australia to prevent government regulation but refused to do so in Myanmar to prevent a genocide. Earlier in April 2018, digital researcher and analyst Raymond Serrato had told The Guardian that “Facebook definitely helped certain elements of society to determine the narrative of the conflict in Myanmar.”. Media reports suggest that the Biden administration had first proposed such a meeting. Ochab works on the topic of genocide, with specific focus, Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab is a human rights advocate, author and co-founder of the Coalition for Genocide Response. Stimulus, Taxes And Inflation: Is Our Economy Headed For Trouble? Just $5 a month. The Gambia’s application to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia followed a 2018 admission by Facebook that it failed to prevent its platform’s use to “foment division and incite offline violence.” Facebook admitted that it “can and should do more.” Its admission was posted in response to a report which recommended that Facebook “preserve and share data where it can be used to evaluate international human rights violations, and that the company publish data specific to Myanmar so that the local and international community can evaluate progress more effectively.”, Nonetheless, in August 2020, Facebook objected to the Gambia’s June 2020 request for disclosure. The impacts of the pandemic on India’s youth threaten to last for years to come, undoing decades of progress on multiple fronts. Ochab has written over 30 UN reports (including Universal Periodic Review reports) and has made oral and written submissions at the Human Rights Council sessions and the UN Forum on Minority Issues. To connect with Myanmar Genocide, join Facebook today. What’s behind the Indian Army’s reorientation of its Mathura-based 1 Corps toward China? Enjoying this article? It has a long history of violent conduct against ethnic minorities, including the Kachins, Karens and Shans. Its response to The Gambia’s application seems at odds to its 2018 statement. It told the U.S. court that The Gambia’s request was “extraordinarily broad” and would mean providing “special and unbounded access” to accounts. Facebook … In fact, given the pervasiveness of social media today, such behavior by powerful companies like Facebook categorically empowers authoritarian regimes backed by majorities and, consequently, put vulnerable minority groups in the direct line of fire. This is despite the widely reported havoc caused by the military’s violent scorched-earth campaigns in Rohingya villages, which triggered a massive humanitarian crisis by forcing 800,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh. She fled to ... [+] Bangladesh shortly after the August 25th attack from Tula Toli village in Myanmar. An international investigation of extrajudicial killings in the Philippine drug war remains unlikely, even after a stunning admission by the justice secretary. The battle-hardened and heavily armed Tatmadaw’s offensives in rebel-held minority areas have caused large-scale destruction and displacement of civilians. Money, Tokyo In November 2019, The Gambia submitted a request to the ICJ for provisional measures of protection. Also read: Facebook bans Trump through Biden inauguration, maybe longer The military threw major resources at the … Report, Trans-Pacific The announcement came two days after at least 38 protesters were shot dead by security forces. Facebook, however, rejected the … China is keeping its vaccination campaign homegrown -- despite some reservations from the public. It maintained its stage towards The Gambia’s application in the District Court of Columbia. While so far, no Ankhi Das-like smoking gun has emerged in Myanmar to show overt pro-regime bias on Facebook’s part, there have been a few markers on the way that indicate that the social media company has favored majoritarian state and quasi-state actors over minority groups. Facebook continues to sit on evidence that could help to bring to account those most responsible for the genocide unleashed against the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. Towards the end of August 2020, Facebook’s attitude appeared to change. In fact, the U.S.-based company, headed by Mark Zuckerberg, is currently mired in a similar debacle in India’s eastern neighbor, Myanmar — a country that today stands accused at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) of perpetrating genocide against the Rohingya Muslim community. In response, Facebook took down the account of the commander-in-chief of the Myanmar military, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, and other military officials and organizations.In 2018 alone it … On June 8, 2020, The Gambia filed an application for discovery with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. After failing to stem the hate speech and misinformation that fueled a genocide in Myanmar, Facebook now says it plans to take proactive content moderation steps following a military coup taking place in the country.. According to the report, Das did so to remain in the ruling party’s good books and protect the social media giant’s business prospects in India. Get briefed on the story of the week, and developing stories to watch across the Asia-Pacific. In an internal message posted late on Monday and viewed by BuzzFeed News, Rafael Frankel, a director of public policy in the Asia-Pacific region, told employees that the … UN investigators have said the use of Facebook played a "determining role" in stirring up hatred against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. Lawmakers from the home state of Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya minority regularly posted hateful anti-Muslim content on Facebook and, in some cases, explicitly called for violence, according to an analysis by BuzzFeed News. This is not the first time Facebook has been accused of looking away from majoritarian hatred that members of a ruling regime have peddled on its platform. Myanmar security forces burned down villages, killed civilians and engaged in mass rape in their campaign, which the World Court is investigating as a crime of genocide. Facebook faces accusations of favoring a majoritarian regime in Myanmar. Unable to reverse course and unwilling to compromise, the military junta seems likely to use force to secure its hold on power. Meanwhile, The Gambia was ordered to produce its written submissions by July 2020, with Myanmar to respond by January 2021. Two months after the strikedown, the Myanmar government formally classified the AA as a “terrorist group and unlawful organization.”. Facebook’s submission reportedly states that, “the request, made in June, for the release of ‘all documents and communications’ by key military officials and police forces was ‘extraordinarily broad’ and would constitute ‘special and unbounded access’ to accounts.”. One of the many such posts, with reference to the Rohingya, said: “We must fight them the way Hitler did the Jews, damn kalars!”. As the proceedings continue, the question is how to regulate the giant so that it would not be used for genocidal atrocities or other international crimes that flourish on propaganda of hate and violence. When social media giants preoccupy themselves with their annual returns instead of focusing on building safe online spaces, peace, justice, and accountability suffer. The initiative has led to the establishment of the UN International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief on August 22. What happens next? One human rights observer told The Guardian that Facebook was “tipping the scales” toward the military and providing “a big boost for the government.”. The order is an interim step, put in place to protect the Rohingya while the case continues. Angshuman Choudhury is a senior researcher and coordinator of the Southeast Asia Research Programme at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi, and former GIBSA visiting fellow to the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin. Asia, South By not cooperating with The Gambian legal team and creating a critical roadblock in the ongoing ICJ trial, Facebook is certainly not doing more to ensure that it is a “force for good in Myanmar.” It is also failing to aid an important international effort to establish accountability in the country. In January 2020, the ICJ issued the requested provisional measures, ordering Myanmar to prevent genocidal acts against the Rohingya Muslims. Less than a month earlier, on the day of the attacks, the Myanmar government had declared ARSA a “terrorist organization.”. Us, Write You may opt-out by. The lack of cooperation is not surprising. For instance, in September 2017, Facebook banned the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) — a Rohingya insurgent outfit behind the August 25, 2017 coordinated attacks on border police outposts in northern Rakhine — designating it as a “dangerous organization.” It also sanctioned the removal of all posts that even praise ARSA. U.N. Myanmar investigator Yanghee Lee said Facebook was a huge part of public, civil and private life, and the government used it to disseminate information to the public. Book Review: Evan Osnos Reveals The Good, Bad And Inexplicable About The 46th President In ‘Joe Biden’. Before that in April 2018, Zuckerberg, during a grueling U.S. congressional hearing, admitted that there was a problem of hate speech in Myanmar, and Facebook was hiring “dozens” of Burmese language content reviewers to better regulate language-specific hateful content. Asia, Southeast North Korea’s ruling party wants modern military drones for strike and recon missions. Activists in Myanmar flagged Facebook’s ban as pro-regime, anti-minority conduct and a violation of freedom of speech. New Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene became the first to get his shot, kicking off Mongolia's vaccine campaign. Facebook … A close defense partner could provide what it needs. But why would Facebook favor the regime in Myanmar? In the Myanmar context, the scales are already tipped in the military’s favor when it comes to the civil conflict. A few days after the announcement, Nicholas Koumjian, head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism on Myanmar (IIMM), a UN Human Rights Council established mechanism to collect evidence of the most serious international crimes and violations of international law and prepare files for criminal prosecution, reportedly said that despite long talks with Facebook and it holding evidence which is “highly relevant and probative of serious international crimes”, Facebook had declined to share any information with IIMM. Refusing to allow access to disclosure accommodates impunity of those responsible for the acts. Southeast Chinese VC investment has been excluded from India but is growing in South and Southeast Asia. Power, Crossroads The Myanmar military, or Tatmadaw, which ruled the country with an iron fist for 60 years, is a majoritarian institution dominated by the Bamar ethnic group. Ochab authored the initiative and proposal to establish the UN International Day Commemorating Victims and Survivors of Religious Persecution. Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab is a human rights advocate, author and co-founder of the Coalition for Genocide Response. One Yangon-based analyst, Ko Maw Htun Aung, told The Irrawaddy that Facebook had become “frenetic” and was “overreacting to their past failure,” by which he meant the Rohingya crisis. Social media companies, like Facebook, enabled the spread of genocidal propaganda and so allowed the crime to happen. All Rights Reserved, This is a BETA experience. Myanmar security forces burned down villages, killed civilians, and engaged in mass rape in their campaign, which the World Court is investigating as a crime of genocide. “Kalars” is a common racial expletive used against the Rohingya (among other groups) in Myanmar. In the week Facebook has suspended US President Donald Trump for inciting violence, Burma Campaign UK repeats its call to Facebook to stop the Burmese military using Facebook to recruit members, and to stop the Burmese military promoting its businesses on Facebook, profits from which help fund genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Asia, Central It had further said: “We know we need to do more to ensure we are a force for good in Myanmar, and in other countries facing their own crises.”, Facebook had also categorically said that its own internally-sanctioned Human Rights Impact Assessment recommended that it “preserve and share data where it can be used to evaluate international human rights violations, and that the company publish data specific to Myanmar so that the local and international community can evaluate progress more effectively.”. The Myanmar military has significant economic interests in Burma, owning companies involved in a wide range of products including beer, mobile phone networks, tea, cement, and even ballrooms. Asia, Pacific Not the best PR strategy for a profit-maximizing entity. Ochab works on the topic of genocide, with specific focus on persecution of religious minorities around the world, with main projects including Daesh genocide in Syria and Iraq, Boko Haram atrocities in West Africa, and the situation of religious minorities in South Asia. This is worrying because Facebook is an overwhelming force in Myanmar. Members of the Myanmar military have systematically used Facebook as a tool in the government’s campaign of ethnic cleansing against Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority, according to an incredible piece of reporting by the New York Times on Oct. 15. Currently, the largest social media company in the world appears complicit in speeding up this avoidable trajectory. Follow @EwelinaUO, © 2021 Forbes Media LLC. Without meaningful policy changes and a sincere commitment to values of justice, co-existence and accountability, social media platforms are bound to do more harm than good in today’s hate-filled online environs. for Us, four other Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs). The application alleges that the Government of Myanmar has been involved in atrocities against the Rohingya Muslims, which include “killing, causing serious bodily and mental harm, inflicting conditions that are calculated to bring about physical destruction, imposing measures to prevent births, and forcible transfers, are genocidal in character because they are intended to destroy the Rohingya group in whole or in part” in violation of the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the Genocide Convention). On August 14, the Wall Street Journal published a damning report revealing how Facebook India’s head of public policy, Ankhi Das, “opposed applying hate speech rules” to at least four figures from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who had posted violent, Islamophobic content on their profiles. Such a policy also risks angering the general public, especially the majority constituencies. Imposing bans on government- or military-linked accounts could dilute this monopoly by drawing the ire of state regulators. By Euan McKirdy, CNN. The Nobel Peace laureate was blasted by opposing lawyers for defending the Myanmar army’s conduct in Rakhine state. Updated 0005 GMT (0805 HKT) April 7, 2018 But the UN’s number one call is … Then in February 2019, Facebook designated four other Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs), including the Rakhine-based Arakan Army (AA), as “dangerous organizations,” restricting “all related praise, support and representation” for the minority rebel groups. Interestingly, Twitter continues to host the official accounts of both the AA or the ARSA. Despite the coming of a democratically elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi in 2015, the Tatmadaw continues to maintain a firm grip over Myanmar’s national affairs. Dams may seem to be a perfect solution to Pakistan’s water woes, but they carry steep costs – literally and figuratively. The Ankhi Das expose and the Myanmar story indicate a worrying new reality. Serrato had profiled close to 15,000 Facebook posts by members of the Buddhist ultranationalist group, Ma Ba Tha, and found that anti-Rohingya hate speech went up by 200 percent after the August 2017 attacks by Rohingya insurgents on border police outposts in northern Rakhine State and the military’s violent and possibly genocidal “clearance operations” that followed. This is … Most corporate multinationals behave in the exact same way when it comes to preserving their space in valuable national markets. The Rohingya genocide is a series of ongoing persecutions by the Myanmar (formerly Burmese) government of the Muslim Rohingya people.The genocide has consisted of two phases to date: the first was a military crackdown that occurred from October 2016 to January 2017, and the second has been occurring since August 2017. It specifically asked for “documents and communications from Myanmar military officials” and information from several other pages and accounts that Facebook had taken down (and preserved) in 2018 after a U.N. fact-finding mission indicted the social media company for playing a ‘“determining” role in the genocide against Rohingya Muslims. Yet, according to a recent report in Time, The Gambia’s request was anything but “extraordinarily broad,” since it specifically named “17 officials, two military units and dozens of pages and accounts.”, Facebook also argued that The Gambia’s request is “in violation of U.S. law, specifically a section of the Stored Communications Act (SCA).” Time report posited that argument is invalid because the SCA doesn’t protect “unlawful actions of state actors.”, All of this comes two years after Facebook admitted in an official statement that it hadn’t done enough to prevent its platform “from being used to foment division and incite offline violence” in Myanmar. Instead, it seems to be taking a deeply statist approach toward these groups, thus helping an army that stands accused of genocide. When Facebook becomes 'the beast': Myanmar activists say social media aids genocide. The two sides initiated a disengagement along the banks of Pangong Lake in Eastern Ladakh. Facebook has said it agrees with a report that found it had failed to prevent its platform being used to "incite offline violence" in Myanmar. Defense, China Both groups continue to use the platform to release statements. From Nepal to India, Thailand to Myanmar, people are taking to the streets – or social media – to demand change. The crisis forced over a million Rohingya to flee to other countries. While the Suu Kyi government began a peace process in 2015, the military has been locked in a never-ending attritional war with the four minority rebel groups that Facebook banned in February. Bangladesh shortly after the August 25th attack from Tula Toli village in Myanmar. Facebook, however, rejected the request earlier this month. The information that The Gambia seeks is to be used in an action brought by The Gambia against Myanmar in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, The Netherlands. Facebook removed a number of pages and accounts associated with the Myanmar military in August, but Myanmar observers say those pages were used to distribute hate and foment violence for months, if not years, before Facebook finally took action against them. The case continues at the ICJ. The posts were made both before and for months after state-led violence displaced 700,000 Rohingya Muslims last year, in what the UN has described as genocide. Under the terms of the order, Myanmar is to report regularly on its implementation of the order. (Photo credit: Allison Joyce/Getty Images). In June, The Gambia — a small West African country that brought unprecedented charges against Myanmar at the ICJ — had filed a request at a U.S. federal court seeking some critical information from Facebook that could hold Myanmar accountable for its alleged misconduct against the Rohingya during “clearance operations” in 2016 and 2017. The Myanmar military’s Facebook operation began several years ago, said the people familiar with how it worked. This is a necessary precondition to show that Myanmar violated the Genocide Convention 1948, to which it is a state party. Asia, Asia Myanmar Genocide is on Facebook. This is yet another reason why there is a greater need for the regulation of social media providers. Since 2018, Facebook has repeatedly said it is now taking a more active role in Myanmar. How is that remaking foreign startup ecosystems? Forging a sustainable nationwide peace was elusive before. Roshida, 22, poses for a photo on December 1, 2017, in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. In fact, the 2018 U.N. fact-finding report had noted that “actions of the Tatmadaw in both Kachin and Shan States since 2011 amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.” Despite this, Facebook is yet to impose any across-the-board ban, of the kind slapped on the four minority rebel groups, on military-run accounts. A U.S. district court has been asked to order Facebook to release posts and communications of Myanmar military and police for a genocide case. Click here to subscribe for full access. © 2021 Diplomat Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. In fact, even the U.N. in Myanmar was once accused of looking the other way when the Rohingya came under attack in 2012, all to maintain the goodwill of the government in power. The Facebook posts of officials “may constitute evidence of genocidal intent”, the lawyers said. The Gambia’s application for discovery against Facebook indicates that “statements on social media, including Facebook, made by officials and representatives of Myanmar hostile to the Rohingya, or encouraging violence against them, including but not limited to statements made by senior military officers directed at rank-and-file soldiers or armed civilians who carried out attacks against the Rohingya, may constitute evidence of genocidal intent necessary to support a finding of responsibility for genocide.” As such, Facebook should step up to assist with the issue. But Facebook did not impose any such strikes on accounts operated by or linked to the Myanmar military until August 2018. And as many will attest, Facebook is the internet in Myanmar. In order to prove genocide, the gravest of international crimes, those overseeing any atrocities in Myanmar must be found to have had the specific intent to destroy the Rohingya ethnic group “in whole or in part”. To do so, a company needs to have a stable working relationship with the powers that be. (Photo credit: Allison Joyce/Getty Images), Four Wealth Tax Flaws That Will Do More Harm Than Good, Iraq Adopts New Law To Assist Survivors Of The Daesh Genocide, House Passes New Bill To Abolish Qualified Immunity For Police, Frivolous Patent Litigation Threatens The Technology Revolution. This is disappointing, but not surprising. For the same reason it would do so in India: to protect business interests in a domestic market that it currently dominates by a wide margin. The head of the IIMM is quoted by Reuters as stating that Facebook had not released evidence of “serious international crimes”, despite vowing to cooperate. Facebook … 13 talking about this.
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