Factual Inaccuracy and Historical Bias in the Detailed Report of the UN Fact-Finding Mission published on 17 September 2018. The Mission exceeded its Mandate to a Spectacular Extent.
The Report A/HRC/39/CRP.2 of the Detailed Findings of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar to the UN Human Rights Council, which readers will recall was published on 17 September 2018 and first discussed under political pressure in the UN Security Council at their 8381st Meeting on 24 October 2018 even before it had been considered in detail by the Human Rights Council itself, has in many ways been the basis for cases now under consideration in the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.
In my Op-Ed of 7 December 2019, I took the view that the Mission in its Report had not shown the objectivity which should have been expected from a Mission appointed by the Human Rights Council to establish the facts about the recent troubles in Rakhine State.
In my further Op-Ed of 1 March 2020 (revised on 17 January 2022), I highlight a lack of intellectual rigour and curiosity, an inclination to gullibility and a readiness to put the worst possible interpretation on events by the Fact-Finding Mission.
Finally, in a TOAEP Policy Brief in April 2020 I examine the extent to which the Mission exceeded its mandate, notably in releasing a flood of recommendations to UN bodies and international institutions which have been generally and not surprisingly ignored as a guide to action.
A factual Note on the International Utilisation of the "Rohingya" Designation may be found at this link.
An informed critique, released on 9 October 2018, by Dr Raphael Bouchnik-Chen (Began-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies) of the detailed 17 September 2018 Fact-Finding Mission report may be found at this link.
In January 2018 I sent, at the request of the Fact-Finding Mission, a short brief on four issues which I thought merited the Mission's attention.
Data Base - Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar
(mandated by the UN Human Rights Council)
1. Resolution 34/22 2017 of the Human Rights Council
2. Advance Unedited Version of the Fact-Finding Mission Report - 24 August 2018
3. Press Release by the OHCHR - 27 August 2018
4. UK FCO Minister Mark Field comments on the Report - 27 August 2018
5. Report of the Fact-Finding Mission - 12 September 2018
6. Final Report of the detailed findings of the Fact-Finding Mission - 17 September 2018
7. OHCHR Press Notice on the occasion of the release of the F-FM Report - 18 September 2018
8. Resolution of the UN HRC on Myanmar at their 39th Session - 25 September 2018
9. Resolution adopted by the HRC - 27 September 2018
10. UN Report raises troubling questions: Raphel G Boutnik-Chen Algemeiner 10 October 2018
11. UN Press Release about discussion at the 8381st meeting of the UNSC 24 October 2018
12. Record of 8381st meeting of the UNSC 24 October 2018
13. Edith Lederer reports for AP on Press Conference and UNSC Meeting 25 October 2018
14. Speech by Radhika Coomaraswamy on the Rohingya question 3 May 2018
15. Critical comments on this speech by Derek Tonkin 21 December 2018
16. Mission urges finananical isolation of Myanmar military - 14 May 2019
17. The Economic Interests of the Myanmar Military - 5 August 2019
18. Report of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar - 7 August 2019
19 Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar - 8 August 2019
20. Sexual and gender-based violence in Myanmar - 22 August 2019
21. Myanmar's Rohingya living under threat of Genocide, UN experts say - 16 September 2019
22. Statement to the HRC by the Chair of the IIF-FM Marzuki Darusman - 17 September 2019
23. OHCHR Compendium of Reports by the Fact-Finding Mission
