“Evidence of incapacity”: European Union unable to speak with one voice concerning Rohingya crisis – Credibility at stake

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) has accused the European Union (EU) of not being able to speak with one voice concerning the Rohingya crisis in Burma/Myanmar. “This is an evidence of incapacity for the EU’s foreign policy. Europe is unable to react adequately to the serious human rights violations and the mass exodus of about 421,000 Rohingya. The EU is losing credibility in human rights issues – and its political influence in the region is at stake,” criticized Ulrich Delius, the STP’s director, in Göttingen on Thursday. “Apparently, national interests are too important to agree on a coherent approach to the Burma-issue.”

On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron had gotten attention by using the terms “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” in connection with the Rohingya-crisis. Britain, however, had not decided to stop military support for Burma until there had been massive protests in the country – and EU Foreign Affairs Minister Federica Mogherini and Germany’s Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel are extremely careful with criticism. They merely urged the conflict parties to restraint, and advised Burma’s government to implement the half-hearted recommendations made by the former UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, to stabilize Rakhine state. Due to pressure from Burma’s government, Mogherini and Gabriel even avoided mentioning the term “Rohingya” in their statements.

In April 2017, Germany and Austria had decided to invite the Burmese army’s Commander-in-Chief, Min Aung Hlaing, and to establish better contacts with the military. Apparently, the fact that the Burmese army had committed serious human rights violations against unarmed Rohingya villagers in November and December 2016 did not play an important role. Hlaing visited Berlin and was greeted with military honors, although it had already been evident that the armed forces were instrumentalizing the Rohingya conflict in order to obstruct the democratization process in Burma.

The European parliament had been more critical. On September 14, 2017, it had adopted a resolution to condemn the discrimination and persecution of the Rohingya minority in Burma.