Published on 02:54 PM, September 16, 2020

Release report on mass graves of Bangladeshis, Rohingyas found in 2015: rights group to Malaysia

This AFP file photo taken on May 13, 2015 shows rescue workers retrieving human remains from graves near the hillside site where shallow graves containing 26 bodies were found on May 1, close to the town of Padang Besar in the southern Thailand province of Songkhla. Malaysia authorities found mass graves containing the remains of 24 people believed to be human trafficking victims near the border with Thailand on May 23.
Star Online Report

Regional rights body Fortify Rights has called for Malaysia to immediately release the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the human trafficking and mass graves of Rohingya and Bangladeshis discovered in Wang Kelian, Perlis in 2015.

The RCI submitted its report to the King of Malaysia one year ago this month, said Fortify Rights in a statement today.

"Malaysian citizens and survivors of trafficking deserve access to the final report," said Matthew Smith, chief executive at Fortify Rights.

"This is a matter of truth, justice, and accountability."

Malaysian authorities discovered 139 graves and 28 suspected human trafficking camps in Wang Kelian in 2015. Between 2012 and 2015, transnational criminal syndicates trafficked at least 170,000 mostly Rohingyas from Myanmar and Bangladesh to Malaysia, generating an estimated $50 million to $100 million annually.

On February 28, 2019, Malaysian authorities announced the creation of an RCI to investigate and ensure accountability for the human trafficking and mass graves discovered in Wang Kelian.

The government gave the commission six months to submit its final report and recommendations.

Former Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria led the seven-member RCI, which included former Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Norian Mai and other former government and elected officials. The RCI called 48 witnesses, including police and Rohingya survivors, during 17 days of hearings in Kuala Lumpur.

In January 2020, former Malaysian Home Minister and current Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced the ministry will present the report to the cabinet in a week and if the cabinet agrees, they will allow the report to be made public.

There has been no further information about the report following this announcement.

In March 2019, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) and Fortify Rights published a report following a multi-year investigation, which indicated complicity and direct involvement of state authorities in the transnational trade of Rohingya refugees, including in Malaysia.

"The RCI was mandated to help bring perpetrators to justice, and that hasn't happened," said Smith.

"The government must act. There have been no changes in policy and not even a formal public reckoning of the crimes committed."

Following a similar discovery of mass graves in Thailand in 2015, Thai courts in 2017 convicted 62 defendants, including nine Thai government officials, for crimes related to the trafficking of Rohingya and Bangladeshis to Malaysia via Thailand.

Since 2015, Malaysian courts have only convicted four people of trafficking-related offenses in relation to the mass graves discovered at Wang Kelian. None of the convicted traffickers are Malaysian nationals.

The United States government currently ranks Malaysia a "Tier-2 Watchlist" country, its second lowest ranking, in the Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report.

The 2020 TIP report says: "Despite allegations of official complicity in migrant smuggling and trafficking crimes in relation to the 2015 discovery of migrant camps and mass graves in Wang Kelian, containing bodies of suspected Rohingya and Bangladeshi victims of extortion, torture, and other crimes, authorities have not brought charges against any Malaysian official or private citizen."

 

 

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