A/HRC/45/5 occurred, and that cyclical violence and continuous serious human rights violations against minorities across the country are fundamentally linked to discriminatory policies and practices. 25. The recommendations of the national commission fail to consider and fully address the institutional weaknesses of the national justice system. To address the grave violations that have been perpetrated over decades, and to strengthen democracy and the rule of law, Myanmar must ensure accountability, including through transitional justice initiatives, in full compliance with international standards and through impartial and credible mechanisms. A broad process of constitutional, legal, institutional and administrative reform is needed, which should involve all relevant stakeholders and be aimed at ending impunity and preventing recurrence of violations. 26. In December 2019, Myanmar appeared before the International Court of Justice in the case concerning the application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (The Gambia v. Myanmar). During the public hearings on the request for the indication of provisional measures, submitted by the Gambia, which sought to preserve, pending the Court’s final decision in the case, the rights of the Rohingya group in Myanmar, of its members and of the Gambia under the above-mentioned Convention, the representative of Myanmar noted that disregard for international humanitarian law could not be ruled out, and restated the willingness of Myanmar to prosecute those responsible. But so far, the steps taken through its national commission and military justice processes appear to have been insufficient and to have replicated past patterns of delaying effective accountability processes and maintaining impunity. During the hearings before the Court, the representatives of Myanmar did not fully address the issue of sexual and gender-based violence, notwithstanding the fact-finding mission’s finding of “endemic rapes, mass gang rapes, and sexual violence against Rohingya women and girls, and sometimes men and boys”.8 The available findings of the national commission either deny or reject responsibility, calling into question both the willingness of authorities to ensure genuine accountability and the independence of the national commission. 27. In January 2020, the International Court of Justice indicated provisional measures requiring Myanmar to take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts that constitute genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in relation to the members of the Rohingya group in its territory, to preserve evidence pertaining to the allegations, and to report periodically on measures taken in compliance with the provisional measures. On 22 May 2020, Myanmar submitted its first report, which has not, to date, been made public. On 8 April 2020, the Office of the President of Myanmar issued two directives ordering public officials, including military, not to commit acts outlined in Articles II and III of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and prohibiting the destruction of evidence related to events referred to in the final report of the national commission respectively. No information is available on follow-up actions by the authorities to disseminate and raise awareness of the content of these directives among officials and government agencies of all levels. 28. The issuance of the presidential directives to preserve evidence came almost three years after the incidents in Rakhine had taken place. The fact-finding mission concluded that since August 2017 Myanmar had actively sought to prevent the return of the Rohingya through “appropriation of vacated land and terrain clearance” and by “erasing every trace of the Rohingya communities”.9 Also, satellite imagery unequivocally confirms that physical structures built since October 2017 for the return of the Rohingya, including Taung Pyo Let Yar Reception Centre, Nga Khu Ya Reception Centre and Hla Poe Khaung Transit Centre, were constructed where Rohingya villages had previously stood, thereby potentially destroying any evidence that may have previously existed at those sites. There is evidence that similar reconstruction has occurred since 2017 in multiple villages in Maungdaw township, as well as in Paung Zar village in Rathedaung township. 8 9 A/HRC/39/CRP.2, para. 1276. Ibid., para. 1182. 7