Bosnia on Tuesday will mark the 22nd anniversary of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide by burying 71 recently identified victims in a collective funeral. Every year on July 11 newly identified victims of the genocide -- which claimed the lives of over 8,000 people -- are buried in a memorial cemetery in Potocari, eastern Bosnia. Thousands of visitors from different countries will attend the funeral service and burials. Among this year's guests will be Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey Numan Kurtulmus plus Serbian politicians Cedomir Jovanovic and Sasa Jankovic. Jovanovic and Jankovic were candidates in Serbia’s presidential election in April which was eventually won by Aleksandar Vucic. After this year’s funeral the number of burials in the cemetery will rise to 6,575. Damir Suljic, who was 15 when he was killed, will be the youngest victim to be buried this year. Alija Salihovic, the oldest, was 72. The remains of the 71 genocide victims were loaded on a truck in the Bosnian city of Visoko on Sunday morning for their final journey to Potocari. The coffins will be unloaded at the cemetery on Monday for Tuesday's service. Father to bury two sons At this year's ceremony, Mustafa Imamovic will bury his two sons, who were aged 19 and 21 when they were killed. Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Imamovic said they took a forest road to reach a Bosnian-government safe zone after the fall of Srebrenica in 1995. "We were together but we lost each other in the forest. My brother is still missing," he said. Although 22 years have passed since the genocide, families still continue to bury their children, wives, fathers and siblings. More than a thousand genocide victims' bodies remain unfound. Commemoration Elsewhere, hundreds of motorcyclists from across Europe began a road trip from the country's capital Sarajevo to Srebrenica to commemorate the victims. The motorcycle marathon -- organized under the slogan "We did not forget, we will not forget" -- passed through Sarajevo’s streets, attracting interest from local people. Earlier, thousands of people from all over the world set off on Saturday on a three-day commemorative peace march in Nezuk town near the Bosnian city of Tuzla. More than 5,000 participants have traveled about 35 kilometers (22 miles) each day to reach Potocari, spending the nights at designated wooded areas. During the long walk, they will given details about the genocide and told of the memories of survivors who took the so-called "Death Road" in their attempt to flee Bosnian Serb paramilitaries during the war. Srebrenica was besieged by Serb forces who were trying to wrest territory from Bosnian Muslims and Croats to form their own state. The UN Security Council had declared Srebrenica a "safe area" in the spring of 1993. However, Serb troops led by General Ratko Mladic -- who now faces genocide charges at The Hague -- overran the UN zone despite the presence of around 450 Dutch soldiers tasked with protecting innocent civilians as UN peacekeepers. The Dutch troops failed to act as Serb forces occupied the area, killing about 2,000 men and boys on July 11 alone. Some 15,000 Srebrenica people fled into the surrounding mountains but Serb troops hunted down and killed 6,000 of them in the forests. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Anadolu Agency

The largely civilian death toll in Hiroshima was 140,000. Reuters A United Nations treaty banning nuclear weapons has been welcomed by survivors of the deadly atom bomb attacks on Japan which ended the Second World War. Setsuko Thurlow, who survived the Hiroshima blast, was a 13-year-old schoolgirl when she was near to the hypocentre of the explosion on August 6, 1945. “I have been waiting for this day for seven decades and I am overjoyed that it has finally arrived,” she told the Japan Times. “This is the beginning of the end of nuclear weapons.” Recounting what happened in the aftermath to survivors, she said: “Their hair was standing on end — I don’t know why — and their eyes were swollen shut from the burns. Some peoples’ eyeballs were hanging out of the sockets. Some were holding their own eyes in their hands. Nobody was running. Nobody was yelling. It was totally silent, totally still. All you could hear were the whispers for ‘water, water.’ “I never would imagine this treaty was going to be concluded," he said. “I think it is the collective effort of the humanity of all the people that came together here at the United Nations.” The United Nation’s first-ever adoption of the nuclear weapons ban was agreed by a total of 122 countries, with only the Netherlands opposed and Singapore abstaining. Dutch foreign affairs minister Bert Koenders said the Netherlands supported the ban on nuclear weapons but was concerned over issues with the resolution itself. Particularly, how checks and controls would be adhered to. Costa Rican Ambassador Elayne Whyte Gomez, president of the UN conference on prohibiting nuclear weapons was jubilant. “We all feel very emotional today. We feel that we are responding to the hopes and to the dreams of present and future generations — that we undertake our responsibility as a generation to do whatever is in our hands to achieve and to move the world toward the dream of a world free of nuclear weapons.” The treaty will enter into force three months after the document is ratified by 50 countries. It is legally binding for an unlimited period. The text of the charter also bans threats to use nuclear weapons. In direct reference to A-bomb survivors, victims of the atrocity, which killed more than 140,000 people, will be provided with medical care and rehabilitation. However, none of the countries known or believed to have nuclear weapons - the US, Britain, Russia, North Korea , France, India, Pakistan, and Israel — is backing the pact. Nikki Hayley, the US Ambassador, agreed in principle on the ban but suggested “we have to be realistic”, according to Time magazine. She added that North Korea would be “cheering” such a ban on nuclear weapons, leaving US residents at risk. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Independent

Bowling Green’s Bosnian community will commemorate the 22nd anniversary of the deadly Srebrenica Genocide on Saturday by marching downtown 8,372 steps – one for each of the men and boys killed. “We make sure to hold their memory alive,” said Amer Salihovic, one of the march’s organizers speaking for Bowling Green’s Bosnian community. “We feel obligated that we need to pay our respects to the innocent lives that were lost.” Bowling Green’s Bosnian community will remember the genocide’s victims through a vigil and march from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday at Circus Square Park. Attendees will hear speeches from community members and get the chance to purchase shirts sold to benefit school children in Srebrenica. The community is also donating backpacks to benefit local school kids, Salihovic said. The killing began in July 1995 after Serbian forces overran the small mountain town of Srebrenica, which had been established by the United Nations as a safe zone under its protection. “They systematically executed in cold blood 8,372 young boys and men,” Salihovic said, adding that victims ranged from elderly men to newborns. At the time, Salihovic’s mother was pregnant with him. She and his five other siblings managed to get out of the town to relative safety, but his family wasn’t completely spared from the violence. Salihovic ultimately lost three uncles, his grandfather and several cousins to the violence. Sadly, when Salihovic’s family moved to Bowling Green, they discovered their story wasn’t unique. Many of his neighbors were haunted by their own losses. “With this walk we’re standing in solidarity with all of the victims,” he said, including those of the Holocaust and other genocides. Muamer Razic, who’s also helping to organize the memorial march, will remember his own family’s losses. Although he was too young to remember the violence, Razic relives it through the memories of his surviving family. “I was actually born during mortar fire,” he said, referring to the hospital where he was born in 1994. After stepping on a landmine, Razic’s uncle lost both of his legs, and his father, although he survived, still remembers the trauma he faced. “We don’t want anybody to forget about something that impacted so many lives,” he said. Growing up in Bowling Green, Razic remembers how his parents would work day and night to rebuild their lives. To this day, he still can’t imagine how they had the courage to endure what they faced. “Growing up here in the community, it was hard to kind of wrap our heads around it as children,” he said. When he walks the 8,372 steps this coming Saturday, he hopes to walk in their shoes. “It’s a really humbling experience,” he said. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 BG Daily News

People mourn around the convoy carrying corpses of the 71 victims of 1995 Srebrenica genocide, after the convoy arrived in Potocari village of Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina on July 09, 2017. ( Samir Yordamoviç - Anadolu Agency ) The remains of 71 Srebrenica genocide victims were moved aboard a truck laden with flowers from the Bosnian city of Visoko on Sunday morning for their final journey to a cemetery in eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina. The victims will be buried in the village of Potocari, just northwest of the city of Srebrenica, on July 11 to mark the 22nd anniversary of the genocide. A few hundred people had attended a ceremony in the city of Visoko city to bid an emotional farewell to the victims. The blue truck carrying the coffins was covered with a large flag of Bosnia-Herzegovina. After passing by a Sarajevo suburb, Vogosca, the truck stopped in front of the Presidency building near a special memorial for children who were killed during the Bosnian War between 1992 and 1995. Around1,500 children were killed during the 1995 siege of Sarajevo. A prayer ceremony was followed by numerous officials led by the Bosniak member of the tripartite Presidency of Bosnia Herzegovina, Bakir Izetbegovic. President of the Council of Ministers Denis Zvizdic, Turkish Ambassador in Sarajevo Haldun Koc and other officials were also present. Addressing the media Izetbegovic said the Srebrenica genocide is still being denied by some. Extreme sorrow "There is a provocation in many quarters such as with [erecting] monuments for those who deny the genocide, [who demand] the release of war criminals, etc. We need to have a positive attitude in order to overcome these issues. There is no other way out for the country in this complex structure," said Izetbegovic. As the truck passed through the streets of the capital Sarajevo, many people, including women and children, could be seen openly crying. Several also showered the truck with flowers and raised the palms of their hands close to their faces in a sign of prayer or remembrance. Fatima Besic was among those who came to bid farewell to her cousin who was killed during the genocide. "He died somewhere in the woods and was just found," Besic said. "His mother died five years ago and did not have chance to bid farewell." Hussein Ahmetlic, the truck's driver said that he was feeling extremely sorrowful. "There are 71 coffins in the truck. It's a difficult feeling. I do not fear, whatever has happened, it happened. This should be a warning message to all," said Ahmetlic. The convoy has arrived at the Potocari Memorial later Sunday. Despite the fact that 22 years have passed since the Srebrenica genocide, remains of victims are still being discovered and funeral ceremonies still being carried out in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Srebrenica was besieged by Serb forces between 1992 and 1995 during the Bosnian War. Back then, Serb militias were trying to wrest territory from Bosnian Muslims and Croats to form their own state. The UN Security Council declared Srebrenica a "safe area" in the spring of 1993. However, Serb troops led by General Ratko Mladic – who now faces genocide charges in The Hague – overran the UN zone despite the presence of around 450 Dutch soldiers tasked with acting as UN peacekeepers. The Dutch troops failed to act as Serb forces occupied the area, killing about 2,000 men and boys on July 11 alone. Some 15,000 Srebrenica men fled into the surrounding mountains but Serb troops hunted down and slaughtered 6,000 of them in the forests. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ © 2017 Anadolu Agency

7 July 2017 To, Dr Gianni Tognoni General Secretary Secretariat of the Permanent People’s Tribunal Rome, Italy Subject: ​Myanmar Muslim victims’ request for PPT to investigate the charges of Myanmar international crimes Dear Sir, Our group of Myanmar Muslim Human Rights Activists and our fellow Myanmar Muslim activists around the world together with Myanmar Muslim Refugees hereby request that the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) take up the urgent case of Myanmar Muslim minority. We hereby make this appeal based on well known Anti-Muslim Atrocities: Hate Speech, Racial-Religious Discrimination, Hate Crimes, Anti-Myanmar Muslim riots, looting, burning of Muslim houses and places of worships and mass murders by successive Myanmar Military Governments in the whole of Mainland Myanmar since 1962. These Crimes Against Humanity and mass murders are well documented and reported in the International Media, Human Rights Watch, Genocide Watch, Amnesty International, USCIRF’s Annual Reports, Fortify Rights but UN, UNSC, ICC, ASEAN, OIC, UNHCR etc failed to prominently highlight our plight and failed to take any action. After careful consultations among ourselves, activists and concerned citizens from Myanmar, we have opted not to involve the Muslim organisations inside Myanmar in our justice-seeking efforts abroad. For we know that Myanmar authorities would target them should they dare to come on board with our efforts internationally to seek justice and accountability for Myanmar’s faith-based persecution and discrimination in a vital forum such as the Permanent People’s Tribunal. In a country where anti-Muslim hate speech and organized mass violence enjoys blanket impunity Muslim communities, with their rich associations, are a sitting duck. But please do know that even the Muslims of Myanmar who live in deep fear of government retaliation and popular mass violence naturally long for justice, accountability and the right to life free of fear, uncertainties and anxieties for safety. We make this request to your good-self, the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on the basis of compelling evidence of ongoing: widespread institutional discrimination; state sponsored hate crimes; mass killings; wholesale destruction of communities and neighbourhoods; massive forced displacement; apartheid structures of segregation; targeted population control; state denial of Myanmar Muslim identity; forced labour; denial of access to livelihood, healthcare, freedom of movement, and food. Evidence of these genocidal violations, with blanket impunity, is to be found in the extensive and systematic research conducted by a range of academic and human rights organizations. (Ref: United States Commission on Tier 1 CPC Countries Designated by State Department & Recommended by USCIRF 2016 ANNUAL REPORT OVERVIEW) While working as Human Rights activists, we came to know that former chief of military intelligence ex-general Khin Nyunt, the late ex-brigadier Aung Thaung, Former Chief Minister of Mandalay Division and former chief of military intelligence ex-lt. general Ye Myint, Former President & ex-general U Thein Sein, the present Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar Armed Forces Sr General Min Aung Hlaing, and Former Sr-General Than Shwe are using the Wirathu/Thidagu led 969,Ma Ba Tha and their “Patriots” Swarn Arr Shins and other proxy groups as instruments to commission numerous atrocities against our community of Muslims in Myanmar. We can prove these allegations based on our close interactions with and previously close relations with the notorious U Wirathu, TIME’s “The Face of Buddhist Terror”, and our first-hand eye-witness observations of Meiktila and Mandalay Riots. We hereby wish to request the PPT in Rome to allow us to present to you for the Myanmar Muslims’ suffering for hate crimes against Muslims in Meiktila, Lashio, Mandalay, Pegu, Prome, Yangon etc as I have evidence, material and human witnesses which I could present. Signed U Maung Maung (Shwe Karaweik) On behalf of the following organizational initiators: Initiators 1. Myanmar Muslim Human Rights Association (Malaysia) 2. Majalis Pertubuhan Kebajikan Al-Islam Malaysia (Ulama dari Myanmar) [ Translation into English = Council of Myanmar Muslim Maulavis’ Welfare Organization in Malaysia] 3. Bama Muslim Council (of Maulavis in Malaysia) 4. Selayang Myanmar Muslim Association (Malaysia) 5. Penang Myanmar Muslim Association (Malaysia) 6. Myanmar Muslim Citizen Journalists (Malaysia-Singapore) 7. Johore Myanmar Muslim Welfare Group (Malaysia) _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Peoples Tribunal On Myanmar

Activists from the global south hear, far too often, from our donors that we should “learn how to become professional” and “make NGO management efficient”. Let’s decode what that means. Professional means “a person engaged or qualified in a profession”. Donors would like you to be a “professional” activist and want to see you approaching human rights work as a profession. Efficient management means “performing or functioning in the best possible manner with the least waste of time and effort”. For conventional NGOs this means achieving targets, writing reports and submitting them on time. To really understand the danger of becoming efficient, compare it with effectiveness. Being effective is about doing the right things, while being efficient is about doing things right, no matter how far you have moved away from human rights “activism” to be part of an efficient management team. As soon as a well-meaning group of activists start the process of becoming a professional NGO, the problems begin. No matter what is said at the outset about the NGOs being free to act the way they have envisioned, the truth is that NGOs are deeply indebted by donors, and well-funded NGOs are even worse. This is the start of submission to a system that repeatedly disempowers and controls. Look at the process: once a human rights movement in the global south decides to become a NGO – because that’s the only way donors (especially big multilateral or bilateral ones) will fund you, and provide the most basic financial resources, you have to sign a memorandum of agreement. The NGO leaders and management team will have to be inducted into the “good governance” model dictated by the donor through a series of training programmes, meetings and workshops. They will have to develop operating procedures, organisational policies and even strategies to match the donor’s expectations. We are expected to be “professional” if we wish to continue to get funding. Then an NGO has to adopt a human resource policy, finance policy, as well as guidelines on how to use computers/internet and how to engage with the press. The activists, who have no choice but to survive on the small salary that the NGO pays, have to submit to the processes of the organisation. This will affect everything from when the activist-turned-professional-staff are supposed to arrive or leave, to how they are supposed to conduct themselves at work. And the movement-turned-NGO often has to share its press releases to donors for their endorsement before it can be released. Look at the process: once a human rights movement in the global south decides to become a NGO – because that’s the only way donors (especially big multilateral or bilateral ones) will fund you, and provide the most basic financial resources, you have to sign a memorandum of agreement. The NGO leaders and management team will have to be inducted into the “good governance” model dictated by the donor through a series of training programmes, meetings and workshops. They will have to develop operating procedures, organisational policies and even strategies to match the donor’s expectations. We are expected to be “professional” if we wish to continue to get funding. Then an NGO has to adopt a human resource policy, finance policy, as well as guidelines on how to use computers/internet and how to engage with the press. The activists, who have no choice but to survive on the small salary that the NGO pays, have to submit to the processes of the organisation. This will affect everything from when the activist-turned-professional-staff are supposed to arrive or leave, to how they are supposed to conduct themselves at work. And the movement-turned-NGO often has to share its press releases to donors for their endorsement before it can be released. A good leader is sensitive to the disempowering ecosystem created by a large, process-driven NGO/donor. That leader provides the emotion that donor-pleasing NGOs are incapable of having. They have the power to bring joy to the team, discuss their issues, vent their frustrations and encourage their ideas. More importantly, a leader protects the interest of the movement, not because that is the expected “professional” leadership process, but because they are an empowered human being and knows why they are a leader. The leader can create the space for all activists without compromising funding. But they should also be ready to say no to funding if the movement’s agenda is compromised or hijacked. A good leader enables the human rights movement to be free from the “professionalism and efficiency-driven” activist-taming culture. A good leader also knows when they should leave, not because they do not have the skills or capacity anymore, but because they have empowered staff to replace them. Don’t make funding the goal itself Funding is not the only important consideration for an NGO. It is an important component but it is not always needed. Keep this in mind when looking for funding. It is a well-known fact that the big multilateral and bilateral donors have more funding to disburse (after their own handsome portion for administrative charge) but there are small donors, private foundations and grants that are often better suited for human rights organisations. Look for funding only when it is vital but don’t make funding a goal of your organisation. My advice to human rights movements is to remain grassroots and loosely organised movement for as long as you can. Don’t become a “professional” NGO for the sake of it. Becoming “professional and efficient” is becoming corporate. You will deliver much better if you stay a raw, innocent and effective activist. If not, you might as well shift to the corporate world. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Medium

Myanmar security forces allegedly raped as many as 13 women during “clearance” operations following an explosion in May that was reportedly detonated by ethnic Rohingya insurgents, according to rights groups and witnesses. Activists and witnesses tell IRIN that the assaults took place in Buthidaung Township in Rakhine, a western state where security forces are accused of abuses against minority ethnic Rohingya Muslims. The UN estimates that about 75,000 Rohingya fled to neighbouring Bangladesh after the military launched counterinsurgency operations following deadly attacks on border police posts last October by a new group calling itself the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army. The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported that the bodies of five men were discovered after they were apparently killed on 5 May while trying to build improvised explosive devices. The bodies were found, along with bomb-making material, when “security forces conducted an area clearance”. During those clearance operations, soldiers allegedly raped between five and 13 women on 9 and 10 May, according to Chris Lewa of the Arakan Project, an advocacy group with an extensive network of contacts in Rakhine State, where most of Myanmar’s approximately one million Rohingya live. “Our sources say this occurred in north Buthidaung Township following an explosion, which was attributed to the insurgency,” she said. “It seems this was retaliatory.” Andrew Dusek, a spokesman for the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said the UN has received reports of this and several other “concerning allegations of such incidents” in Rakhine during the past few months. “They have been brought to the attention of the government,” he said. SEE: The roots and risks of Myanmar’s new Rohingya insurgency The government has in the past flatly denied that soldiers killed and abused Rohingya civilians, and it says it will not allow a UN fact-finding mission into the area to investigate. But Myanmar is facing increasing international pressure, and officials say that they are instead depending on the government’s own commission to assess the claims “We are not rejecting the allegations,” said Zaw Htay, a government spokesman. “But we need to collect data and information for the investigation commission, which is headed by Vice President U Myint Swe, which is doing the job of investigating human rights allegations and other media reports.” Testimonies of abuse IRIN has obtained video testimonies from people who say they witnessed the assaults. Their names are being withheld for their protection. One witness said she was “too shy to say” exactly what happened to a woman she saw severely sexually assaulted, but she provided more detail on attacks by security forces on two others. “A woman’s blouse was removed and her chest was grabbed. They kicked her and injured her,” said the witness, adding that another woman “was stabbed with a knife and bled.” A separate witness said her daughter was ripped from her arms by security forces. “The police pulled at us and my daughter was taken away,” said the woman. “When I tried to prevent this, I was beaten.” The witness said she watched another woman being severely assaulted after pleading with security officers to release her daughter-in-law. “They beat her on the head with a gun and stabbed at her with a knife,” she said in the video testimony. “They cut and removed her clothes.” “We are not rejecting the allegations,” said Zaw Htay, a government spokesman. “But we need to collect data and information for the investigation commission, which is headed by Vice President U Myint Swe, which is doing the job of investigating human rights allegations and other media reports.” Testimonies of abuse IRIN has obtained video testimonies from people who say they witnessed the assaults. Their names are being withheld for their protection. One witness said she was “too shy to say” exactly what happened to a woman she saw severely sexually assaulted, but she provided more detail on attacks by security forces on two others. “A woman’s blouse was removed and her chest was grabbed. They kicked her and injured her,” said the witness, adding that another woman “was stabbed with a knife and bled.” A separate witness said her daughter was ripped from her arms by security forces. “The police pulled at us and my daughter was taken away,” said the woman. “When I tried to prevent this, I was beaten.” The witness said she watched another woman being severely assaulted after pleading with security officers to release her daughter-in-law. “They beat her on the head with a gun and stabbed at her with a knife,” she said in the video testimony. “They cut and removed her clothes.” ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 IRIN News

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Eric Reeves

To, Dr Gianni Tognoni General Secretary Secretariat of the Permanent People’s Tribunal Rome, Italy Subject: ​Myanmar Muslim victims’ request for PPT to investigate the charges of Myanmar international crimes Dear Sir, Our group of Myanmar Muslim Human Rights Activists and our fellow Myanmar Muslim activists around the world together with Myanmar Muslim Refugees hereby request that the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) take up the urgent case of Myanmar Muslim minority. We hereby make this appeal based on well known Anti-Muslim Atrocities: Hate Speech, Racial-Religious Discrimination, Hate Crimes, Anti-Myanmar Muslim riots, looting, burning of Muslim houses and places of worships and mass murders by successive Myanmar Military Governments in the whole of Mainland Myanmar since 1962. These Crimes Against Humanity and mass murders are well documented and reported in the International Media, Human Rights Watch, Genocide Watch, Amnesty International, USCIRF’s Annual Reports, Fortify Rights but UN, UNSC, ICC, ASEAN, OIC, UNHCR etc failed to prominently highlight our plight and failed to take any action. After careful consultations among ourselves, activists and concerned citizens from Myanmar, we have opted not to involve the Muslim organisations inside Myanmar in our justice-seeking efforts abroad. For we know that Myanmar authorities would target them should they dare to come on board with our efforts internationally to seek justice and accountability for Myanmar’s faith-based persecution and discrimination in a vital forum such as the Permanent People’s Tribunal. In a country where anti-Muslim hate speech and organized mass violence enjoys blanket impunity Muslim communities, with their rich associations, are a sitting duck. But please do know that even the Muslims of Myanmar who live in deep fear of government retaliation and popular mass violence naturally long for justice, accountability and the right to life free of fear, uncertainties and anxieties for safety. We make this request to your good-self, the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on the basis of compelling evidence of ongoing: widespread institutional discrimination; state sponsored hate crimes; mass killings; wholesale destruction of communities and neighbourhoods; massive forced displacement; apartheid structures of segregation; targeted population control; state denial of Myanmar Muslim identity; forced labour; denial of access to livelihood, healthcare, freedom of movement, and food. Evidence of these genocidal violations, with blanket impunity, is to be found in the extensive and systematic research conducted by a range of academic and human rights organizations. (Ref: United States Commission on Tier 1 CPC Countries Designated by State Department & Recommended by USCIRF 2016 ANNUAL REPORT OVERVIEW) While working as Human Rights activists, we came to know that former chief of military intelligence ex-general Khin Nyunt, the late ex-brigadier Aung Thaung, Former Chief Minister of Mandalay Division and former chief of military intelligence ex-lt. general Ye Myint, Former President & ex-general U Thein Sein, the present Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar Armed Forces Sr General Min Aung Hlaing, and Former Sr-General Than Shwe are using the Wirathu/Thidagu led 969,Ma Ba Tha and their “Patriots” Swarn Arr Shins and other proxy groups as instruments to commission numerous atrocities against our community of Muslims in Myanmar. We can prove these allegations based on our close interactions with and previously close relations with the notorious U Wirathu, TIME’s “The Face of Buddhist Terror”, and our first-hand eye-witness observations of Meiktila and Mandalay Riots. We hereby wish to request the PPT in Rome to allow us to present to you for the Myanmar Muslims’ suffering for hate crimes against Muslims in Meiktila, Lashio, Mandalay, Pegu, Prome, Yangon etc as I have evidence, material and human witnesses which I could present. Signed U Maung Maung (Shwe Karaweik) On behalf of the following organizational initiators: Initiators 1. Myanmar Muslim Human Rights Association (Malaysia) 2. Majalis Pertubuhan Kebajikan Al-Islam Malaysia (Ulama dari Myanmar) [ Translation into English = Council of Myanmar Muslim Maulavis’ Welfare Organization in Malaysia] 3. Bama Muslim Council (of Maulavis in Malaysia) 4. Selayang Myanmar Muslim Association (Malaysia) 5. Penang Myanmar Muslim Association (Malaysia) 6. Myanmar Muslim Citizen Journalists (Malaysia-Singapore) 7. Johore Myanmar Muslim Welfare Group (Malaysia) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Peoples Tribunal On Myanmar

The International Criminal Court on Thursday rebuked South Africa for not arresting Sudan's president on a genocide warrant when he visited Johannesburg in 2015, but declined to refer Pretoria to the United Nations for possible censure over the lapse. The ICC indicted Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in 2008 over the deaths and persecution of ethnic groups in Sudan's Darfur province between 2003 and 2008. But he has continued to travel internationally, visiting Jordan as recently as March. The first part of Thursday's ICC ruling was expected as the war crimes court has consistently rejected arguments put forward by the South African government, namely that it could not arrest Bashir because visiting heads of state at the African Union Summit held in the country enjoyed diplomatic immunity. ICC judges said that heads of state or government clearly fall under the court's jurisdiction and cannot be exempted at home or abroad, echoing the conclusion of a South African domestic court. The second stage of the ruling was surprising as it was the first time the ICC found one of its members had defied its rules, yet took no action by reporting South Africa to the U.N. Security Council or ICC member states for possible censure. "The decision is something of an indictment of the U.N. Security Council and the (ICC's) Assembly of State Parties,” ICC expert and legal scholar Mark Kersten told Reuters. Presiding Judge Cuno Tarfusser, reading a summary of the ruling, noted that past referrals of countries to the Security Council for noncompliance were "futile" in terms of leading to further action and also "not an effective way to obtain cooperation" with the ICC. BASHIR DENIES WRONGDOING Bashir denies wrongdoing and has rejected ICC jurisdiction. It was the Security Council itself that referred Sudan's case to the ICC in 2005. "It is shocking that other (ICC member states) such as Jordan are also failing in their obligations to arrest Bashir, and this decision makes it clear they do so in flagrant violation of international law," Amnesty International said in a statement. The ICC's decision not to refer South Africa might also be intended in part to dissuade it from pulling out of the court. In February, the African Union called for member states to leave the ICC over a perceived bias by prosecutors in focusing on African conflicts. Kenya, Namibia, Burundi and South Africa have threatened to ditch the ICC and Pretoria began the formal withdrawal process last year before being blocked by a domestic court for not getting parliament's approval first before pulling out. "I believe (Thursday's) ruling will raise the costs of withdrawal for South African President Jacob Zuma," Kersten said. In The Hague, South African Ambassador Bruce Koloane said that for the time being "(we are) still a member effectively of the ICC, we still have to honour all our obligations”. In South Africa, opinions on what to do next were divided. Pretoria's foreign affairs department said the government would study the ruling "and its implications and seek legal opinion on available options". Siphosezwe Masango, who chairs parliament's international relations committee, said he remained convinced South Africa was right not to arrest Bashir, "a sitting head of state". Pretoria's main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, said the ICC ruling was an indictment of Zuma's ANC government, noting it had upheld the domestic court's position. "The ANC seems intent on relegating South Africa to the status of a scumbag nation which protects the law-breakers and corrupter of this world," DA Federal Executive Chairperson James Selfe said. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 Reuters

In this March image made from video, Rosmaida Bibi, who suffers from severe malnutrition, sits on her mother Hamida Begum's lap at their makeshift shelter at the Dar Paing camp, north of Sittwe, Rakhine State, Myanmar. Rosmaida Bibi looks a lot like any of the underfed 1-year-olds in a squalid camp for Myanmar's displaced ethnic Rohingya minority — but she's 4. She cannot grow, and her mother can't find anyone to help her because authorities won't let Rohingya leave the camp. | AP VIDEO Ever since she was born in a squalid displaced camp for Myanmar’s ethnic Rohingya minority where authorities won’t let anyone leave, Rosmaida Bibi has struggled to do something most of the world’s children do effortlessly: grow. Frail and severely malnourished, she looks a lot like every other underfed child here — until you realize she’s not really like any of them at all. A tiny girl with big brown eyes, Rosmaida is 4 — but barely the size of a 1-year-old. She wobbles unsteadily when she walks. Bones protrude through the flimsy skin of her chest. And while other kids her age chatter incessantly, Rosmaida is listless, only able to speak a handful of first words: “Papa.” “Mama.” “Rice.” Half a decade after a brutal wave of anti-Muslim violence exploded in this predominantly Buddhist nation in June 2012, forcing more than 120,000 Rohingya Muslims into a series of camps in western Myanmar, this is what the government’s policy of persecution, segregation and neglect looks like up close. It’s a policy born of decades of military dictatorship and fear that Muslims are encroaching on what should be Buddhist land. The troubling thing today, rights groups say, is that this stance has been adopted by the administration of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace laureate and longtime opposition leader who rose to power after her party swept national elections last year. And any hope that Suu Kyi — once lauded worldwide as a human rights icon — might turn things around has been shattered by her silence and the reality that life for the Rohingya has deteriorated by the day. “This is worse than a prison,” Rosmaida’s 20-year-old mother, Hamida Begum, said of the makeshift hut they call home — the place where her daughter was born that floods with every heavy rain. Poor, unemployed, and prohibited from crossing checkpoints into more affluent Buddhist-only areas, Begum has been unable to find anyone who can help. “I want to give her an education. I want to send her to school like all the other kids,” she said as Rosmaida burrowed into her lap in Dar Paing, near the state capital, Sittwe. But “she is sick … she cannot grow.” The Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic group, have long been denied citizenship, freedom of movement and basic rights in Myanmar, a country that largely sees them as foreigners from neighboring Bangladesh even though most were born here. Although tensions in Rakhine state go back decades, the neighborhood Begum grew up in in Sittwe was mixed, and she said people there used to get along. That changed dramatically on June 5, 2012, when Buddhist mobs began attacking Muslims and setting homes ablaze. Begum fled, running barefoot so hard and so fast she realized only later that her feet were covered in blood. Today her neighborhood — where denuded trees and the destroyed remains of homes are still visible — is occupied by Buddhist squatters. Although Begum said her grandparents owned their family’s house there, they have neither been allowed to return nor compensated for its destruction. Aside from a single district, Sittwe is now entirely Buddhist, and Muslims are prohibited from walking its streets. Suu Kyi has denied such policies equate to ethnic cleansing, but international rights groups insist that’s exactly what they are. Suu Kyi’s office did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Matthew Smith, who runs the advocacy group Fortify Rights, said: “It’s scandalous that these internment camps still exist five years on. … The reality is that there’s a lot she (Suu Kyi) could be doing, but isn’t. “The Rohingya are no closer now to getting their rights … and in some respects the situation is much worse,” he said. Over the last year, “there’s been mass killing, mass rape, widespread forced labor and other violations, all committed with complete impunity.” After a Rohingya insurgent group killed nine officers in northern Rakhine state in October — the first reported attack of its kind — security forces responded by burning entire villages, raping women and killing an unknown number of people in a rampage that sent 75,000 people fleeing into neighboring Bangladesh, according to the United Nations and international rights groups. The government puts the toll at 52 dead or missing and blames extremists for the killings. Although southern Rakhine state, where Rosmaida lives, was not directly affected, the region has experienced a spike in tensions. On Tuesday, a 100-strong Buddhist mob in Sittwe killed one Rohingya man and injured six others who ventured into the city under police escort to buy boats. Suu Kyi says her administration is dealing with the issue by implementing the recommendations of a commission led by former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, which called on the government to close the displaced camps and allow their inhabitants to return home. Most of the camps remain open, though, and Suu Kyi’s administration restricts access to the region, blocking journalists from independent access to the north altogether. Last week, her government said it would also bar members of a U.N.-approved fact-finding mission from entering the country to investigate alleged rights violations by security forces against the Rohingya. Vanna Sara, a Buddhist abbot at Sittwe’s Seik Ke Daw Min monastery, said harsh policies were necessary to protect Buddhists. Western Myanmar is on the front line of a population explosion, and Muslims, he said, are trying to “swallow the whole region.” “They can’t be trusted. No Muslim can be trusted. They’re all scary,” Sara said. “That’s why, to tell you the truth, it’s better that we don’t live with the Muslims. That’s how we feel.” When Begum settled in Dar Paing after the 2012 violence, she tried to start her life anew. But her tragic story has mirrored that of many Rohingya. The man she married died shortly after he was detained in Malaysia, where he was trying to bring their family for a better life. Their son died a few hours after birth. Begum has since remarried, but her fisherman husband sometimes comes home from a day of work with less than a dollar, or nothing. That makes it hard to care for her biggest concern — her daughter — who is lucky just to be alive. A report issued by UNICEF in May said a staggering 150 children under the age of 5 die every day in Myanmar, while nearly 30 percent are malnourished. Although the U.N. does not have specific statistics for the camps, half of whose inhabitants are children, aid workers say the situation inside them is even worse. Begum has taken her daughter to local clinics half a dozen times, but her condition has never improved. Rosmaida is now being helped by an international humanitarian charity, which is giving her ready-to-eat packets of therapeutic food paste to alleviate severe acute malnutrition, which the World Health Organization describes as “a life threatening condition requiring urgent treatment.” But Begum is concerned because her daughter’s appetite is so low, “she has trouble eating all of them.” Twice a day, she takes her daughter’s hand and walks her through Dar Paing’s labyrinth corridors, a place Rosmaida has lived in her entire life. It’s hard, she says, because Rosmaida’s tiny joints often hurt. She can’t walk far, and she’s never been able to run. Soon, Begum will have another reason to worry: She is pregnant again. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 The Japan Times

Women on their way to Italy sit on the deck of the rescue vessel Golfo Azzurro, after being rescued by Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms workers from the Mediterranean Sea on Friday, June. 16, 2017. (Emilio Morenatti / Associated Press) The midwife leafed through a pile of folders on the table. Over the past 24 hours, she had been rushing in and out of the makeshift medic’s room aboard a boat rescuing people from the Mediterranean Sea. Now, as the vessel headed back to the Italian coastline with more than 1,000 migrants slumped on the deck, she had a chance to review her cases. “Thirty-four-year-old woman, from Cameroon. Pregnant, raped in Libya,” said Angelina Perri, a 59-year-old from Italy, reading her handwritten notes. She works for the nonprofit humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders – often known by its French initials, MSF – which is conducting rescue missions at sea between Libya and Italy. “Nineteen-year-old from Guinea, raped in Libya. Two Nigerian women, one 25 years old, one 24 years old, both raped.” The Mediterranean waters between Libya and Italy are the current front line for Europe’s migrant crisis. At least 2,196 people have died at sea trying to reach Europe this year, more than double the rate of 2016 . But the risk of death has not deterred people starting the journey: This year, more than 80,000 people have reached Italy on wooden and rubber boats, the majority traveling from countries in West Africa. The route to Libya is also perilous – and it is especially treacherous for women. On every rescue mission, Perri meets women who say they have endured sexual assault and rape. She spoke of cases where women had contracted HIV from sexual violence while crossing borders, and listened to others as they told her how guns and other objects had been used to penetrate them. Yet, despite the known risks on the journey to Europe, women are still willing to risk their lives to escape equally dire sexual violence at home. In 2016, the United Nations identified gender-specific violence – such as early and forced marriage and domestic violence – as reasons that women are leaving their countries of origin. The problem has persisted for some time in the region. In 2010, an MSF study on a sample of sub-Saharan women who had fled to North Africa found 70 percent had left their countries because of violence or abuse. Almost one-third of the women said they had been raped in their country of origin. The perpetrators of sexual violence on the route to Libya can be anyone: security and police forces, smugglers out to exploit and traffic women – and sometimes even the men on rescue boats with them. In February, a UNICEF report said the levels of sexual violence, exploitation, abuse and detention along the Central Mediterranean migration route makes it “among the world’s deadliest and most dangerous migrant routes for children and women.” One refugee charity described conditions on the route as “hell on earth,” with sexual abuse occurring at “every stage of the journey” and affecting “almost all” female migrants and refugees. The report said some women choose to get contraceptive injections while traveling to prevent pregnancies, knowing the likelihood of rape during the journey is high. Aboard the rescue boat, Perri attended to 17 pregnant women along with women traveling alone and mothers caring for several children. Some said they had abandoned abusive partners at home; others were forced to engage in transactional sex to fund their travel. Several women asked Perri whether they could take a pregnancy test. “We then ask if being pregnant is a good thing or a bad thing,” she said. “If they say it’s a bad thing, we know to investigate further.” Even when those in transit reach Libya, the conditions remain dire. Men, women are children are held indefinitely in detention centers , where many are tortured, raped and starved. Some are sold into the modern-day slave trade : The International Organization for Migration, a U.N. body, estimated that 80 percent of the 11,009 Nigerian women who arrived in Sicily from Libya in 2016 were trafficked. Women who work as maids in homes in Libya are sometimes kidnapped in the middle of the day to be smuggled into Europe. “Women are sitting there in homes eating their lunch, and the next minute they’re grabbed, dragged, and thrown on a boat,” said Sarah Adeyinka, an MSF cultural mediator, whose own cousin from Nigeria had been trafficked. Europe’s response to the issues faced by female refugees and migrants has been slow. In April, members of the Council of Europe recognized that “the gender dimension of the refugee crisis has been largely overlooked,” saying the protection of women “should be a priority, irrespective of their status.” Last month, the council ratified legislation to prevent and combat violence against women, highlighting a need for gender-sensitive asylum procedures and refugee-status determination, as well as the presence of female social workers, interpreters, police officers and guards in transit facilities. Still, some charities and organizations warn that sexual violence on migration routes is being gravely underestimated. They say that insufficient training, along with a lack of effective procedures to identify cases of sexual violence, means women are reluctant to seek medical attention or report the crimes. As a result, according to the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, Europe is “currently not able to prevent or respond to survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in any meaningful way.” As the boat arrived in Italy, Perri handed out medical certificates to those who had experienced sexual violence, torture and trafficking, detailing their experiences and the medical advice they had received. They hope the certificates can help their asylum cases, but there is no guarantee. “Some women refuse to take a certificate,” Perri said. “They’re afraid and don’t want to speak about it.” ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (c) 2017 The Spoken Man Review