Myanmar citizens urge DOJ to act on their war crimes complaint vs ruling junta

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'With the persecution of Myanmar’s Christians continuing, we pray that our brothers and sisters in the Philippines will hear our prayer and grant us justice,' Salai Za Uk Ling, chief of the Chin Human Rights Organization, says

MANILA, Philippines – Some Burmese people who monitor the Myanmar military junta’s abuses in Chin State recently urged the Philippine Department of Justice (DOJ) to act on the complaint they filed against their country’s ruling junta.

Led by Salai Za Uk Ling, chief of the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO), the Myanmar citizens asked the DOJ to immediately resolve their pending motion for reconsideration.

With their lawyer Romel Bagares, the CHRO filed the motion after the DOJ’s “unprocedural decision to undocket and return a war crimes complaint they filed last year against Tatmadaw.”

According to the group, it was the prosecutor general – chief of the National Prosecution Service – who returned the complaint filed by the group on October 25, 2023 against against Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and other Junta members over alleged violation of Republic Act No. 9851 or the Philippine International Humanitarian Law Act.

“We have waited long enough for justice and accountability against the junta whose soldiers have murdered our family members, burnt our homes down and forcibly displaced thousands of us, driving whole communities across the border into India. We appeal to the Philippines’ authorities to take swift action and open an investigation,” said Ngun Thawng Lian, uncle of Pastor Cung Biak Hum, who was killed in Chin on September 18, 2021.

Two years ago, the Burmese natives sued the junta over the burning of their houses and killing of their families in the Chin state, located in western Myanmar. When the military coup ousted Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021, the Chin state pushed back against the junta forces. Then soldiers went to their place and burned down the town. According to the Chin people, when their natives tried to put out the fire, they were shot and killed.

The survivors had asked the Philippine DOJ to assume universal jurisdiction over the crimes that happened in its Southeast Asian neighbor. Universal jurisdiction is a legal concept where countries are obliged to solve grave crimes in the world due to the thinking that all nations have equal duties to mankind.

“The attacks on Chin State are on-going and part of Myanmar’s forgotten war against the Chin People,” Salai Ling said.

“Christians are being murdered, churches and faith-based schools are being destroyed in a systematic campaign by junta forces. With the persecution of Myanmar’s Christians continuing, we pray that our brothers and sisters in the Philippines will hear our prayer and grant us justice,” he added.

Difficult test

In March 2024, the NPS wrote a letter to the CHRO’s legal counsels explaining that the complaint did not meet the conditions required for the Philippine authorities to have jurisdiction over the complaint. The NPS said none of the complainants were Filipinos, none of the accused are in the Philippines, and none of the allegations raised were committed against a Filipino.

“Clearly then, this Office cannot take cognizance of the matter since the conditions set forth in Section 17 of [RA No.] 9851 for the State to exercise jurisdiction, are not present,” said the NPS.

In its motion for reconsideration, the group argued that under the law of humanity and the practice of international criminal tribunals, among other reasons, the war crimes complaint, like what the Chin people filed against junta, fall under the universal jurisdiction of Philippine courts.

Bagares, in addition, said that “the Department of Justice has admitted that the facts alleged in the complaint correspond to the elements of specific war crimes punishable under the Philippines International Humanitarian Law Act. According to their own reasoning, this compelling evidence we presented warrants a full-blown preliminary investigation, where we would subpoena the Myanmar generals to answer the complaint.”

“The recent arrest and incarceration at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague of former President Duterte has potentially given new impetus to the Chin case in Manila,” Bagares added. – Rappler.com