Kofi Annan Advisory Commission & Bangladesh՚s Five-Point Peace Plan for Rohingya Crisis (Important)

Kofi Annan Foundation and the Office of the State Counsellor established an Advisory Commission on Rakhine State which produced its recommendation in August 2017. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina floated five-point peace proposal at United Nations- one of the points is to implement all the recommendations of the committee.

Map of Bangladesh՚s Five-Point Peace Plan for Rohingya Crisis

Kofi Annan Foundation and Advisory Commission on Rakhine State Report

  • In September 2016, following a request from Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the State Counsellor of Myanmar, the Kofi Annan Foundation and the Office of the State Counsellor established an Advisory Commission on Rakhine State.
  • Commission is national entity with majority of members from Myanmar.
  • Mandated with examining complex challenges facing Rakhine State proposing solutions.
  • Advisory Commission on Rakhine State, was founded in September 2016 as a neutral and impartial body to propose concrete measures for improving the welfare of people of Rakhine state.
  • The Commission was composed of six local and three international experts, and chaired by Kofi Annan.
  • In August 2017, it presented its final report “Towards a Peaceful, Fair and Prosperous Future for the People of Rakhine” .

Key Considerations of Advisory Commission on Rakhine State

It considered:

  • Humanitarian and developmental issues
  • Access to basic services
  • Legal questions including citizenship
  • Assurance of basic rights
  • Security to all people in all communities.

Towards a Peaceful, Fair and Prosperous Future for the People of Rakhine- Final Recommendations of Advisory Commission on Rakhine State

The challenges facing communities across the State are dangerous and demand urgent action- unresolved status of the large number of currently stateless Muslims

1. Socio-Economic Development

  • Local communities would benefit more from investment in Rakhine and increased participation in decision-making on issues related to development.
  • Government should ensure that local communities benefit from natural resource extractions in Rakhine State.
  • Government should ensure adequate compensation for appropriated land, and to invest heavily in infrastructure including roads, jetties, electricity, drinking water and internet access.
  • Planned airport at Mrauk-U should be constructed.
  • Provision of vocational training prioritizing women based on labour-market assessments, and urges the government to reduce red tape to promote business, and to address regulatory issues that currently constrain small businesses, including access to lending and agricultural credit.
  • To counter vulnerability to climate change government should urgently step-up efforts to strength climate resilient options, and improve the irrigation.

2. Citizenship

  • Identity and ethnicity are sensitive issues in Myanmar with direct impact on citizenship. Commission called for:
  • Acceleration of the citizenship verification process in line with the 1982 Citizenship Law.
  • Government developing a clear strategy and timeline for the process, communicated through a broad outreach campaign.
  • Verified individuals immediately be given all benefits, rights, and freedoms of citizenship.
  • Complaints regarding the verification process be addressed swiftly independent of the institutions responsible for the citizenship process.
  • Rights of those whose citizenship application is not accepted be clarified.
  • Revisiting the law considering - amongst other issues - aligning the law with international standards, re-examining the current linkage between citizenship and ethnicity, and considering provisions of citizenship by naturalization.
  • Rights of non-citizens in Myanmar be regulated
  • Clarification of residency rights.
  • Existing legislation being interpreted and applied non-discriminatory manner

3. Freedom of Movement

  • Rakhines and Muslims face movement restrictions with Muslims in particular IDPs particularly affected. Commission calls for:
  • Ensuring freedom of movement irrespective of religion, ethnicity, or citizenship
  • Mapping exercise to identify all existing restrictions on freedom of movement
  • Measures to prohibit informal restrictions including unofficial payments and arbitrary roadblocks.

4. Communal Participation and Representation

  • Urgent steps are needed to promote communal representation and participation for underrepresented groups, including ethnic minority groups, stateless and displaced communities affecting Muslims disproportionally.
  • Women should be included in political decision-making.

Household leaders, Village Administrators and Village Tract Administrators be directly elected by the residents.

5. Internally Displaced People (IDPs)

  • Government acted swiftly on camp closures but return and relocation process was not desirable.
  • Government should cooperate with international partners ensuring return and relocation is carried out in accordance with international standards, is voluntary, safe, and dignified.
  • Government should ensure dignified living conditions in camps, including improved shelter, water and sanitation, education, and access to livelihood opportunities.

6. Cultural Developments

Commission recommends:

  • Myanmar should declare Mrauk U as a candidate for UNESCO world heritage status
  • Listing and protecting historic, religious and cultural sites of all communities in Rakhine.

Inter-communal Cohesion

Inter-communal dialogue must be fostered at all levels- township, state and Union.

Security of All Communities

  • The Commission advised against a purely security response in Rakhine but instead called for a calibrated response that combines political, developmental, security and human rights approaches to address the root causes of violence and reduce inter-communal tensions.
  • Commission recommended simplifying the security infrastructure in Rakhine by creating a unified agency for all policing, with a single chain of command.
  • Improved training - including in human rights, community policing, civilian protection and languages - should be provided to all members of the security forces to improve intelligence gathering and relations with local communities.
  • Composition of police force should reflect the population in all components, including women and minorities.

Bilateral Relations with Bangladesh

Strong bilateral cooperation are important to secure the border and address shared challenges - including drug trafficking Myanmar and Bangladesh should further strengthen their bilateral cooperation in various areas.

Bangladesh՚s Five-Point Proposal

Sheikh Hasina five-point formula is expected resolve Rohingya crisis and end ethnic cleansing of Rohingya minority which deepened crisis along Bangladesh՚s border with Myanmar with over 430,000 refugees fleeing violence in Rakhine State since August 2017.

  • Myanmar to stop violence and practice of ethnic cleansing in Rakhine State unconditionally, immediately and forever.
  • UN Secretary General immediately send fact-finding mission to Myanmar.
  • All civilians, irrespective of religion and ethnicity, are to be protected in Myanmar using safe zones inside Myanmar under UN supervision.
  • Sustainable return of all forcibly displaced Rohingyas in Bangladesh to their homes in Myanmar
  • Recommendations of Kofi Annan Commission Report must be implemented immediately, unconditionally and entirely.

Rohingya Muslims Fleeing Myanmar

  • According to UN estimates, over 450000 Rohingya Muslims fled Myanmar՚s Rakhine state into Bangladesh since August 2017 due to violence in Myanmar՚s Rakhine province.
  • Violence started after Rohingya militants belonging to Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (also known as Harakat al-Yaqeen or Faith Movement) attacked police posts in Myanmar՚s northern Rakhine state. Myanmar՚s military then launched violent crackdown on insurgents from Muslim Rohingya population leading to mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims into neighboring Bangladesh.

Who Are Rohingya?

  • Ethnic Muslim minority group primarily from western Rakhine state.
  • Practice a Sufi-inflected variation of Sunni Islam.
  • Differ from Myanmar՚s dominant Buddhist groups religiously, ethnically and linguistically.
  • Speak Bengali dialect, as opposed to commonly spoken Burmese language in Myanmar.
  • Myanmar considers Rohingya՚s as illegal Bengali immigrants, despite many residing in Rakhine for centuries.
  • Myanmar refuses to grant them citizenship so they are stateless and do not have freedom of movement, state education and civil service jobs.
  • UN describes Rohingyas as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.

Examrace Team at Aug 21, 2021