Statement condemning Facebook’s complicity in inciting violence against Rohingyas in Myanmar

12/01/2021
0

Statement condemning Facebook’s complicity in inciting violence against Rohingyas in Myanmar

12th January 2021: The European Rohingya Council condemns the role of the Facebook administration in the orchestration and perpetration of the Rohingya genocide by Burmese authorities. Facebook has faced severe criticism for its abject failure to tackle hate speech against the Rohingyas in Myanmar. Numerous official military Facebook pages linked to genocidaires still exist, including some with the official Facebook blue tick. Burma Campaign UK has asked Facebook to ensure these pages are not used for recruitment, but no action has been taken. Additionally, in some cases, Facebook has also been used as a tool to spread violence or hate crimes against Rohingyas by pro-Myanmar army personnel or reporters who aim to spread fake narrative propaganda against the Rohingya people. We submit that facebook knowingly remains silent on the issue and is complicit in the genocide of millions of Rohingya people.

The Burmese military has significant economic interests in Burma. The military owns various companies involved in a wide range of products including beer, mobile phone networks, tea, cement, and even ballrooms. There are dozens of Facebook pages for these companies, promoting and selling their products, yet facebook has not acted on Burma Campaign UK requests to remove these pages, despite a United Nations report detailing how military owned companies help fund violations of international law. Reputed studies show that such companies help the Burmese army to make millions of dollars to fund their purchase of weapons and commit human rights abuses, including war crimes, crimes against humanity and even genocide against Rohingya and other ethnic minorities in the region.

Failure to put an end to this reveals the double standards of the Facebook administration, as incitement of violence in America got President Donald Trump banned from Facebook, however persons committing similar or even worse crimes in Burma, still enjoy the official Facebook blue tick. Social media is an incredibly powerful tool that must be used for the welfare of the masses and not to assist dictators and genocidaires to commit heinous crimes against vulnerable minorities. The ERC urges the Facebook staff to take swift action to halt these accounts and posts immediately.

For more information on this topic, please contact:

Dr. Ambia Perveen
Chairman | The European Rohingya Council
chairman@theerc.eu | info@theerc.eu