On February 13, 2025, twelve days ago, a Federal Criminal Court in Argentina ordered arrest warrants for 25 Myanmar military leaders and civilian government officials, including junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, former President U Htin Kyaw, and State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
In context, the Court’s decision is a part of its ongoing investigation into genocide and crimes against humanity committed against the Rohingya in Myanmar from 2012 to 2018. Welcomed as an impartial and independent decision by international human rights organisations, this decision marks a critical moment in the long and challenging pursuit of justice for the Rohingya: This is the first time that arrest warrants have been ordered in relation to the Myanmar military’s genocide against the Rohingya in 2017.
A perusal of this order issuing arrest warrants show that they are not determinative of guilt or responsibility for these international crimes, but instead aim to summon the 25 named individuals to testify before the Court as part of its investigation. We believe these individuals will be treated in accordance with standards of international justice, including the affordance of due process and the opportunity to present evidence in their defence.
If these warrants are taken to their logical end, an impartial inquiry into justice and accountability, not only for the Rohingya but for all people of Myanmar, the Argentinian government has now been called upon to request Interpol to issue Red Notices for the 25 named individuals to initiate their extradition to Argentina.
Details of the suit under universal jurisdiction
Tomas Ojea Quintana is the human rights lawyer who served as U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar between 2008 and 2014. In this case, he has represented the Burmese Rohingya Organization U.K., which filed a case in an Argentine court in 2019 that allege genocide and crimes against humanity were committed by senior Myanmar military officials against Rohingya Muslims. An interview with him may be read here.
The arrest warrants were issued for those named in the suit including the de facto leader of the democratically-elected government, Aung San Suu Kyi. Aung San Suu Kyi was
Removed from power when the military took over the country in a 2021 coup and is reportedly under house arrest but the junta has not disclosed her exact location. Interestingly, the Argentine suit was filed under the principle of “universal jurisdiction” enshrined in Argentina’s constitution, which holds that some crimes are so heinous that alleged perpetrators thousands of miles away can be tried. The reasons why members of the now deposed civilian government are named in the suit because they were in charge of the government in 2017, and Aung San Suu Kyi defended the military’s actions in 2019 to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the Netherlands. However, members of Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government, made up of other leaders deposed by the coup and their allies, have requested that Suu Kyi and other civilian leaders be removed from the arrest warrant because the Rohingya could be unfairly blamed for adding a blemish to the reputation of Myanmar’s most popular political figure. But Quintana said the court decided that she and the others must be included to show that the court is impartial.
Independent International Fact-Finding Report, 2018, UN response
A report by the United Nations in September 2018 severely indicted the Myamar military on the mass persecution of the Rohingyas. The present development therefore follows the release of a report into the circumstances surrounding the mass exodus of more than 700,000 Rohingya people from Myanmar, beginning in mid-August 2017 – events previously described by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights as a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing”.
The crimes committed include murder, rape, torture, sexual slavery, persecution and enslavement, according to the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar.
Speaking to journalists in Geneva, the investigators – Marzuki Darusman, Radhika Coomaraswamy and Christopher Sidoti – underlined the horrific and organised nature of the brutality meted out on civilians in Myanmar’s Rakhine state since 2011, as well as Kachin and Shan states. “The fact-finding Mission has concluded, on reasonable grounds, that the patterns of gross human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law that it is found, amount to the gravest crime under international law,” Mr. Sidoti said.
“These have principally been committed by the military, the Tatmadaw,” he added, referring to Myanmar’s armed forces. “The Mission has concluded that criminal investigation and prosecution is warranted, focusing on the top Tatmadaw generals, in relation to the three categories of crimes under international law; genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.”
This case
According to the news available with the United Nations on this crucial matter affecting human rights, in November 2019, the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK filed a petition on behalf of Rohingya victims requesting the Argentinian courts to open an investigation into the role of Myanmar’s military and civilian leaders in committing genocide and crimes against humanity against the Rohingya. The details are available here. Two years later, on November 2021, an investigative judge of the Federal Criminal Court of Argentina commenced investigations, and in 2022, delegated investigative powers to the Federal Prosecutor’s office. Since then, the Mechanism has been assisting and sharing evidence with the Prosecutor’s office following a request for its support. In pursuance of the matter, last year, in June 2024, the Federal Prosecutor petitioned the Federal Criminal Court to issue 25 arrest warrants for 25 suspects from the Myanmar military, security forces and civilian government. Thereafter, on February 13, 2025, the Federal Criminal Court ordered the arrest of these suspects. The arrests aim to bring the suspects before the court for a preliminary hearing, which is part of the investigative stage. The court may then decide whether to refer any suspects to trial on specific charges.
What is universal jurisdiction?
This principle means that some crimes are so serious in nature that a national court may, depending on their laws, prosecute alleged perpetrators even if there is no connection between the crime and that country. Based on universal jurisdiction, perpetrators of serious international crimes may be prosecuted by a national court irrespective of where the crimes were committed or the nationality of the perpetrator or victim. For more information, see the OHCHR website.
How does the Mechanism support universal jurisdiction cases?
The Mechanism has a mandate to support universal jurisdiction cases that concern serious international crimes committed in Myanmar through sharing evidence and analysis with relevant investigative, prosecutorial or judicial authorities, as long as the jurisdiction in question provides basic guarantees for a fair trial that meets international standards and cannot impose the death penalty. Since 2021, the Mechanism has been an Associate Member of the European Network for investigation and prosecution of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, also known as the European Genocide Network. This enables cooperation with national investigative and prosecutorial authorities across Europe and other jurisdictions.
Related developments
Turkey: In March 2022, the Myanmar Accountability Project submitted a complaint to the Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul concerning crimes committed by the military following the coup. The Turkish authorities have yet to announce any response to the complaint.
Germany: In January 2023, 16 applicants from Myanmar, supported by the non-governmental organization Fortify Rights, submitted a criminal complaint to the Federal Public Prosecutor General of Germany against senior military officials and others. The Federal Prosecutor has rejected this complaint in September 2023.
Philippines: In October 2023, five victims and their families filed a joint criminal complaint before the National Prosecution Services in the Philippines alleging the commission of certain war crimes in Chin State, Myanmar, in 2021. The Philippines authorities have yet to announce its response to the complaint.
United Kingdom: The Counter Terrorism Command of the UK Metropolitan Police has opened structural investigations for each of the situations under investigation by the International Criminal Court, which includes Bangladesh/Myanmar. This means that the case is ongoing, under investigation and they are identifying potential witnesses and examining the alleged crimes.
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