Statement on Responsibilities of Buddhism

Case 02-2015: Myanmar

Official Statement on Responsibilities of Buddhism

The Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights, on September 24, 2017, decides to reaffirm again the fact that Buddhist Spirituality does not endorse Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing, Crime against Humanity and Crime against Peace that are happening in Myanmar under the immoral supervision of the de facto President Aung San Suu Kyi. This can be demonstrated not only because the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights repudiates such international crimes, but also due to the fact that in September 2017 several Buddhist and Christian organizations in Bangladesh have decided to protest in the streets by making an ethical condemnation of the ethnic cleansing that the Rohingya People in Myanmar is suffering, and whose hundreds of thousands of members are fleeing to the neighboring country of Bangladesh. The Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights, despite being the first and most fervent organization to denounce the Myanmar crimes against the Rohingya People, is proud to perceive that it is not alone in the struggle for human rights, since the Buddhist and Christian organizations in Bangladesh that massively protested in Dhaka have also demanded Myanmar to be tried before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for being perpetrating acts of genocide, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, as stated by lawyer Rana Dasgupta of the National Coordination Committee of Religious and Ethnic Minorities Organizations.

Finally, the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights congratulates Ashoke Barua of the Bangladesh Buddhist Federation, since he agrees that the crimes committed against the Rohingya People are atrocities totally contrary to the teachings of peace and tolerance transmitted by Siddharta Gautama. In this sense, as a predominantly Buddhist country, the People of Myanmar are called upon to peacefully rebel against the civic-military tyranny of their rulers, who are violating the Buddhist Law and the International Human Rights Law. The Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights calls for the People of Myanmar to rebel through nonviolence and civil resistance, following the example of Siddharta Gautama, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, who have challenged violent governmental powers through the power of love, harmony and Truth.

Master Maitreya Samyaksambuddha

President and Spiritual Judge of the Buddhist Tribunal on Human Rights