Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal and Lelio and Lisli Basso Foundation
The genocide of the Rohingya people
International law and international criminal jurisdiction
Rome, 10 December 2018
Sala della Lupa, Chamber of deputy, Piazza Montecitorio
On the day commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Lelio and Lisli Basso Foundation and the Permanent Peoples Tribunal (PPT) convene the conference on the limits and perspectives of international law with reference to the ongoing genocide of the Rohingya people. Today Myanmar is the core of a conflict for strategic, economic and military interests.
The judgment of genocide was formulated by the PPT in the session held in Malaysia in September 2017, when the community of states and the international legal bodies refused to recognize the gravity of what was happening. The perpetration of criminal actions against the Rohingya led to the recent recognition of the genocide, also included in the agenda of the International Criminal Court.
The conference intends to take stock of the situation regarding the qualification of the crimes committed and the actions to be taken urgently. The need to find workable solutions to the crisis is urgent. The Rohingya people have dramatically become the symbol of the inability of international agencies to apply the “never again” of the Universal Declaration. The tragedy of that people clearly illustrates what is happening in many other corners of the world: the difficulty, sometimes the inefficacy of international law to become a criterion for guiding politics and an instrument for the protection of peoples and persons from serious violations of rights to existence, life, livelihood and equal dignity. In order to face resignation and impotence, our aim is to formulate possible solution and to promote a vigilant and more active international public opinion capable of undertaking the struggle for the respect and protection of fundamental rights of Rohingya people and other minorities in the country.
