U.S. supports a United Nations war crimes commission inquiry in Burma

The United States has announced recently that it is in favor of the creation of a UN commission of inquiry into war crimes in Burma. The commission would be in charge of conducting investigations on allegations of major human rights violations committed during the ongoing reign of the Burma’s authoritarian military junta. It is the hope of this commission that it may affect the decisions of new and incoming generations of the junta.

The military junta, ruled by Major General Than Shwe, has been infamous for the brutal suppression of its ethnic populace and political opponents and bloody crackdowns on political activity. This is evident most recently in the subjugation of Buddhist monks in the Saffron revolution of 2008.

This commission is a step towards the new US policy of diplomatic engagement with Burma. While the US is maintaining and, in fact, tightening its economic sanctions and restrictions on Burma, under the Obama administration, it has been attempting to open political engagement with the secretive government.

It seems like the example of Burma will stand as a precedent in future US relations with non-cooperative governments. Skeptics of this engagement strategy may cite disappointments with similar rogue regimes such as North Korea, while proponents urge that it is a valuable gesture to show that, instead of targeting the people, they are targeting “brutal generals in Naypyidaw, who are expecting to delete their dirty crimes by putting a sham constitution into effect through a sham election” – AFP.

While the US has largely dismissed the upcoming November elections as a sham, this may present a new opportunity for the US to be involved with an international institutions aimed at constructively solving the issues in Burma.

"There's a whole generation of military elites in Burma who will be making choices in the next few years…this is aimed at them."

- Tom Malinowski, director of the Washington office of Human Rights Watch