Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi should have her award redacted. She chose to remain silent in the face of genocide enveloping her country. Oxford withdrew an award given to her for her political complicity in the ongoing massacres. A political chameleon, she forgot that it was global pressure that saved her from punishment when she was campaigning for democracy in Mayanmar. The merciless killing of civilians in Mayanmar, are a clear violation of international law and a gross violation of the United Nations Charter. The grave situation in Mayanmar is spiralling out of control. Principles of international law recognised in the charter of the Nuremberg tribunal and the judgement of the tribunal in 1950 stated: “Any person who commits an act which constitutes a crime under international law is responsible therefore and liable for punishment.”
It also stated: “The fact that a person who committed an act which constitutes a crime under international law acted as head of state or responsible government official does not relieve him from responsibility under international law.”
In the twentieth century, children have increasingly become the direct and indirect victims of armed conflict. The most fundamental challenge for any international legal system which wishes to mitigate the suffering of children in war, is to ensure their very survival.
International Humanitarian Law or the law of armed conflict governs the conduct of war; it sets out the parameters of what is legally permissible during hostilities. From what we know about children’s experience in the Mayanmar conflict, the fact is that they are increasingly the victims, sometimes purposefully targeted.
Protecting innocent civilians is the most important challenge ahead for the United Nations and other international policy makers. More attention to human security above national security will help reduce cycles of conflict and instability. For how long will we quietly look at these animalistic scenes produced by inhuman behaviour of people in Myanmar? And for how long will we be blind and tolerate those monsters who are fighting for their own interests by deaths of others.
— The reader is based in Benoni, South Africa.