The 74th session of the General Assembly at its 52nd (resumed) meeting adopted the resolution titled ‘Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar’ again with an overwhelming majority of votes. 134 countries voted in favour, 9 voted against and 28 abstained. The resolution, co-tabled by the OIC and EU, was earlier adopted at the Third Committee on 14 November 2019 also with an overwhelming majority and today’s General Assembly endorsement came after settlement of its budgetary issues at the Fifth Committee. Like previous years, the Permanent Mission remained engaged in the entire process of drafting, negotiation and ultimate adoption of the resolution. Since August 2017, this is the third time the resolution has been adopted by the General Assembly which is an expression of the international community’s continued solidarity with the cause of Rohingyas.
In the same session, the General Assembly also approved by consensus the regular budget allocation for operationalizing the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) which was created by the Human Rights Council resolution 39/2 of September 2018. The IIMM is the successor to the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar.
The General Assembly endorsements of the Myanmar resolution and the IIMM are significant developments since they are expected to further strengthen the ongoing justice and accountability initiatives including at the ICJ and ICC.