It has been five years since the bloody crackdown in Myanmar that forced nearly one million members of the minority Rohingya community to seek shelter in neighbouring Bangladesh, joining scores of others who had fled previous waves of violence.
Nicholas Koumjian heads the International Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), established by the UN Human Rights Council to document crimes committed in the country, including in the wake of the February 2021 military coup.
During a recent visit to UN Headquarters, Mr. Koumjian spoke to Dianne Penn about the Mechanism’s work, its outreach to Burmese citizens, and the challenges facing its staff.
As a veteran prosecutor of international crimes – from Cambodia to Sierra Leone, to the former Yugoslavia and Timor-Leste – Mr. Koumjian is adamant that one day, justice will prevail in Myanmar.
