Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations says the confessions of two former Myanmar soldiers to the mass murders of Rohingya Muslims will have a “major impact” on an international criminal investigation into army-led atrocities in the Southwest Asian country.

  Halek Hossain

Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations says the confessions of two former Myanmar soldiers to the mass murders of Rohingya Muslims will have a “major impact” on an international criminal investigation into army-led atrocities in the Southwest Asian country.

Bob Rae, who served as Canada’s special envoy to Myanmar before being named to the ambassador position this year, told Global News that Canada and the Netherlands will be making a joint submission to the International Criminal Court based on the legal issues that arise from the solders’ confessions.

Tow Myanmar soldiers admit to dozens of Rohingya killings: reports

He said while the two men may face “very serious consequences,” what’s most important is that they are aware of the criminal nature of their actions and that they didn’t act alone.

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“The evidence that has been described … is that this is not just about these two individuals. This is about what these two individuals know,” he said Tuesday.

“These people weren’t acting spontaneously. These weren’t a couple of bad actors who did this on their own. The evidence, I think, is that this is part of a broader strategy by the army. But all that remains to be tested in court ICC.

The confessions, which were first reported by

the human rights group Fortify Rights earlier Tuesday, appear to be the first public confession by soldiers of involvement in army-directed massacres, rape and other crimes against Rohingya in the Buddhist-majority country.

More than 700,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar to neighbouring Bangladesh since August 2017 to escape what Myanmar’s military called a clearance campaign following an attack by a Rohingya insurgent group in Rakhine state. Myanmar’s government has denied accusations that security forces committed mass rapes and killings and burned thousands of homes.

Fortify Rights, which focuses on Myanmar, said the two army privates — Myo Win Tun, 33, and Zaw Naing Tun, 30 — fled the country last month and are believed to be in the custody of the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands, which is examining the violence against the Rohingya.

The group said the two soldiers testified on video that they were instructed by commanding officers to “shoot all that you see and that you hear” in villages where minority Rohingya Muslims lived.

They also gave “the names and ranks of 19 direct perpetrators from the Myanmar army, including themselves, as well as six senior commanders … they claim ordered or contributed to atrocity crimes against Rohingya.,” according to Fortify Rights.