[1] Human Rights Watch, “All You Can Do is Pray;” Crimes Against Humanity and Ethnic Cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Burma’s Arakan State, April 22, 2013, https://www.hrw.org/report/2013/04/22/all-you-can-do-pray/crimes-against-humanity-and-ethnic-cleansing-rohingya-muslims; Human Rights Watch, “Burma: Rohingya Recount Killings, Rape, and Arson; Video Testimony Matches Satellite Images of Attacks,” December 21, 2016, https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/12/21/burma-rohingya-recount-killings-rape-and-arson.

[2] Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC Statute), 2187 U.N.T.S. 3, entered into force July 1, 2002, art. 7, http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/Rome_Statute_ICC/romestatute.html . The Rome Statute entered into force on April 11, 2002 and the ICC has the authority to prosecute the most serious international crimes since July 1, 2002. Burma is not a party to the Rome Statute.

[4] Ibid., art. 7(1); Prosecutor v. Dusko Tadic, ICTY, Case No. IT-94-1-T, Opinion and Judgment (Trial Chamber), May 7, 1997, para. 646, http://www.icty.org/x/cases/tadic/tjug/en/tad-tsj70507JT2-e.pdf.

[5] See Prosecutor v. Akayesu, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Case No. ICTR-96-4-T, Judgement (Trial Chamber I), September 2, 1998, para. 579. In Akayesu the Trial Chamber defined widespread as “massive, frequent, large scale action, carried out collectively with considerable seriousness and directed against a multiplicity of victims.” http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/ICTR/AKAYESU_ICTR-96-4/Judgment_ICTR-96-4-T.html ; see also Prosecutor v. Kordic and Cerkez, ICTY, Case No. IT-92-14/2, Judgement (Trial Chamber III), February 26, 2001, para. 179; Prosecutor v. Kayishema and Ruzindana, ICTR, Case No. ICTR-95-1-T, Judgement (Trial Chamber II), May 21, 1999, para. 123; Prosecutor v. Dusko Tadic, ICTY, Case No. IT-94-1-T, Opinion and Judgment (Trial Chamber), May 7, 1997, para. 648. See also Prosecutor v. Kunarac, Kovac and Vokovic, ICTY, Case No. IT-96-23 and IT-96-23-1A, Judgement (Appeals Chamber), June 12, 2002, para. 94. In Kunarac the Appeals Chamber stated that “patterns of crimes – that is the non-accidental repetition of similar criminal conduct on a regular basis – are a common expression of [a] systematic occurrence.”

[6] Rodney Dixon in Otto Triffterer (ed.), Commentary on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 1999), p. 124.

[7] ICTR, Kayishema and Ruzindana, (Trial Chamber), May 21, 1999, paras. 127-29.

[8] ICTR, Bisengimana, (Trial Chamber), April 13, 2006, para. 50.

[9] UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Myanmar: Humanitarian Bulletin, Issue 2 2017 | June – 22 September, September 22, 2017, https://reliefweb.int/report/myanmar/myanmar-humanitarian-bulletin-issue-2-2017-june-22-september ; Jurawee Kittisilpa, “Myanmar army chief urges internally displaced to return to Rakhine,” Reuters, September 21, 2017, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-rohingya-commander/myanmar-army-chief-urges-internally-displaced-to-return-to-rakhine-idUSKCN1BW1HD “Nearly 400 Die in Rakhine State As Myanmar Army Steps Up Crackdown on Militants,” Reuters, September 1, 2017, https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/nearly-400-die-rakhine-state-myanmar-army-steps-crackdown-militants.html.

[10] Human Rights Watch, “Burma: Military Burned Villages in Rakhine State,” December 13, 2016,

https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/12/13/burma-military-burned-villages-rakhine-state.

[11] Human Rights Watch, “Burma: Satellite Imagery Shows Mass Destruction,” September 19, 2017, https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/09/19/burma-satellite-imagery-shows-mass-destruction

[12] Human Rights Watch, “Satellite Imagery: Myar Zin village,” September 18, 2017, https://www.hrw.org/video-photos/satellite-imagery/2017/09/18/satellite-imagery-myar-zin-village; Human Rights Watch, “Satellite Imagery: Nwar Yon Taung village,” September 18, 2017, https://www.hrw.org/video-photos/satellite-imagery/2017/09/18/satellite-imagery-nwar-yon-taung-village.

[13] Min Aung Hlaing urges unity over Rakhine crisis, AFP, September 17, 2017, https://frontiermyanmar.net/en/min-aung-hlaing-urges-unity-over-rakhine-crisis.

[14] Ibid.

[15] James Hookway, “Myanmar Says Clearing of Rohingya Is Unfinished Business From WWII,” September 2, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/myanmar-army-chief-defends-clearing-rohingya-villages-1504410530.

[16] Ministry of Information, “Local people arrive back home in peace,” MOI Webportal Myanmar, September 17, 2017, https://www.facebook.com/MOIWebportalMyanmar/posts/1311640255630504.

[17] Jurawee Kittisilpa, “Myanmar army chief urges internally displaced to return to Rakhine,” Reuters, September 21, 2017, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-rohingya-commander/myanmar-army-chief-urges-internally-displaced-to-return-to-rakhine-idUSKCN1BW1HD.

[18] These included the Nuremberg Charter, the Tokyo Charter, the Allied Control Council Law No. 10, and the statutes of the international criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and Rwanda (ICTR). See Roy Lee (ed.), The International Criminal Court: Elements of Crimes and Rules of Procedure and Evidence (Ardsley, NY: Transnational Publishers, 2001), p. 86; M. Cherif Bassiouni and Peter Manikas, The Law of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (New York: Transnational Publishers, 1996), pp. 627-38 (arguing that the crime of “deportation” under the Nuremberg Charter included “all unjustified transfers [including] internal displacement.”).

[19] Prosecutor v. Krstic, (Trial Judgment) IT-98-33-T (2 August 2001), para. 521.

[20] Christopher K. Hall in Otto Triffterer (ed.), Commentary on the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, 1999), p. 162.

[21] See Prosecutor v. Milomir Stakić, Case No. IT-97-24-T, ICTY, Appeals Chamber, Judgment, paras. 686-87.

[22] Human Rights Watch, “Burma: Military Torches Homes Near Border,” September 15, 2017, https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/09/15/burma-military-torches-homes-near-border.

[23] Human Rights Watch, “Arson Attacks on Villages in Rakhine State, Burma,” December 12, 2016, https://www.hrw.org/video-photos/interactive/2016/12/12/arson-attacks-villages-rakhine-state-burma.

[24] ICC Statute, art. 7(1)(g).

[25] See e.g., Blagojevic and Jokic (ICTY Trial Chamber), January 17, 2005, para. 556.

[26] Peter Bouckaert, “Witness to Carnage in Burma’s Rakhine State,” Human Rights Watch, September 22, 2017, https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/09/22/witness-carnage-burmas-rakhine-state.

[27] Human Rights Watch, “Burma: Landmines Deadly for Fleeing Rohingya,” September 23, 2017, https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/09/23/burma-landmines-deadly-fleeing-rohingya.

[28] See ICC Statute, art. 7(1)(g)

[29] Claire Cozens, “Gang rape horrors haunt Rohingya refugees,” AFP, September 24, 2017, https://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/37204578/gang-rape-horrors-haunt-rohingya-refugees/?cmp=st ; Human Rights Watch, “Burma: Security Forces Raped Rohingya Women, Girls,” February 6, 2017, https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/02/06/burma-security-forces-raped-rohingya-women-girls.

[30] Simon Lewis, Tommy Wilkes, “U.N. medics see evidence of rape in Myanmar army ‘cleansing’ campaign,” Reuters, September 24, 2017, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-rohingya-rape-insight/u-n-medics-see-evidence-of-rape-in-myanmar-army-cleansing-campaign-idUSKCN1BZ06X

[31] See ICC Statute, art. 7(1)(h); Nadhimana, Barayagwiza and Ngeze, ICTR Appeals Chamber, November 28, 2007, para. 985.

[32] ICC Statute, art. 7(2)(g).

[33] Prosecutor v. Krnojelac, ICTY judgment, IT-97-25T, March 15, 2002, sec. 431.

[34] ICC statute, art. 7(1)(h).

[35] See Antonio Cassese, ed. The Oxford Companion to International Criminal Justice, (Oxforcd: Oxford University Press, 2009) p. 454.

[36] World Food Program, “World Food Programme Statement, August 29, 2017, https://docs.wfp.org/api/documents/WFP-0000022211/download/?_ga=2.166720382.1774434364.1504902633-504753397.1504902633

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