A Nobel laureate justifies genocide and ethnic cleansing

Tampa Bay Times

December 25, 2019
Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi

The Nobel peace laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi recently defended Myanmar from accusation of genocide at the International Court of Justice. The Hague tribunal opened this landmark case, which was brought to the ICJ by the West African country Gambia, in mid-December 2019. Tragically, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s testimony mocked international law and provided a misleading narrative to justify horrific military violence against peaceful, unarmed children, women and men. Her testimony focused on the operations of militant Muslims, “internal armed conflict,” and the need for the military to “clear a locality of insurgents or terrorists.” It was tragic to hear this peace prize winner justify the well-documented brutality and murder of the Rohingya Muslims by parroting back the Myanmar military strategy for “counterinsurgency and counterterrorism.” Genocide and ethnic cleansing are not proportional responses to actions of small insurgency groups.