Bring hope to forgotten conflicts
3 November 2025
Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART) joins Fortify Rights and 35 other human rights groups in urging the President of Timor-Leste to refer Myanmar to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Following the accession of Timor-Leste to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), we urge the President of Timor-Leste to leverage this new platform to continue advocating for human rights in the region.
Humanitarian crisis is deepening under military rule in Myanmar. Civilians are targeted deliberately and indiscriminately through airstrikes and arson attacks. Vital infrastructure, such as hospitals, schools and camps for internally displaced persons, are also targeted by the military at great human cost.
We urge the President of Timor-Leste to refer Myanmar to the ICC. Under Article 14 of the Rome Statute, State Parties can refer a situation “in which one or more crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court appear to have been committed” to the Prosecutor of the ICC for investigation. Such a referral would open an investigation beyond crimes committed against the Rohingya Muslims to crimes committed throughout Myanmar.
Read the joint letter to the President of Timor-Lester regarding ‘The Situation in Myanmar’ in full.
The atrocities [people in Myanmar] face are very reminiscent of the barbaric atrocities suffered by people in towns and villages across Timor-Leste just over 25 years ago.
We urge you to use your new ASEAN membership and your existing ICC membership to lead a regional initiative to secure genuine peace, justice and accountability in Myanmar.
Specifically, we call upon Timor-Leste to file a referral of the situation in Myanmar under Article 14 of the Rome Statute with the ICC Chief Prosecutor, requesting him to open an investigation into atrocity crimes committed throughout Myanmar, and - furthermore - to urge other state parties to file referrals or to support yours.