In December 2018, following resolutions of the UN General Assembly and the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Secretary-General appointed Guatemalan diplomat and peacebuilding expert Gert Rosenthal to conduct an independent inquiry into the involvement of the United Nations in Myanmar from 2010 to 2018.
The report explores the structural and systemic factors that, notwithstanding the lessons learned in previous cases – notably, in Sri Lanka – appear to have been repeated in Myanmar, despite the adoption in 2014 of the “Human Rights Up Front” initiative, designed precisely to avoid the repetition of the Sri Lankan experience.
These factors include the overriding issue of accountability, in terms of the United Nations actions – or inactions – regarding the nature and scope of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law that occurred (and continue to occur) in Myanmar.
Independent Inquiry into the Involvement of the UN in Myanmar from 2010 to 2018