Editing Kofi Annan (section)

=== Rakhine Commission (Myanmar) ===
In September 2016, Annan was asked to lead the [[Advisory Commission on Rakhine State]], Myanmar,<ref name="protesters_greet_annan">{{Cite news|agency=[[Associated Press]]|title=In Myanmar's Troubled Rakhine State, Protesters Greet Kofi Annan|date=2016-09-06|work=The Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-myanmars-troubled-rakhine-state-protesters-greet-kofi-annan-1473138653|access-date=2022-04-05|archive-date=18 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180818214507/https://www.wsj.com/articles/in-myanmars-troubled-rakhine-state-protesters-greet-kofi-annan-1473138653|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="panel_head_refutes_2018_07_22_reuters">{{Cite news|date=2018-07-22|title=Myanmar's Rohingya panel head refutes criticism by outgoing secretary|language=en|work=Reuters|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-rohingya-panel-idUSKBN1KC07V|access-date=2022-04-05|archive-date=5 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220405231303/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-rohingya-panel-idUSKBN1KC07V|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="rakhine_commission_rcn">{{Cite web|archive-date=2018-08-19|title=Rohingya Crisis News – OFFICIAL INFO – 4A|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819114351/http://home.iwichita.com/rh1/info/rohingya/4/4a.htm#rakhine_commission|access-date=2022-04-13|url=http://home.iwichita.com/rh1/info/rohingya/4/4a.htm#rakhine_commission}}</ref><ref name="kofi_annan_dies_rcn">{{Cite web|archive-date=2018-08-19|title=Rohingya Crisis News – 2018 NEWS – 5C|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819114404/http://home.iwichita.com/rh1/info/rohingya/5/5c.htm#kofi_annan_dies|access-date=2022-04-13|url=http://home.iwichita.com/rh1/info/rohingya/5/5c.htm#kofi_annan_dies}}</ref> an impoverished region beset by [[ethnic conflict]] and extreme [[sectarian violence]], particularly by Myanmar's [[Buddhism in Myanmar|Buddhist majority]] against the [[Rohingya people|Rohingya Muslim minority]], further targeted by government forces.<ref>{{cite report |title=Situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar |url=https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/G1613541.pdf |website=[[ReliefWeb]] |access-date=13 April 2022 |date=29 Jun 2016 |archive-date=27 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211127124601/https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/G1613541.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="rohingya_face_campaign_of_terror_nytimes_com">{{Cite news|last=Cumming-Bruce|first=Nick|date=2017-02-03|title=Rohingya Face 'Campaign of Terror' in Myanmar, U.N. Finds|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/03/world/asia/rohingya-myanmar-un-report.html|access-date=2022-04-05|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=18 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180818214524/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/03/world/asia/rohingya-myanmar-un-report.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="we_will_destroy_2018_06_amnesty_intl">{{Cite news|date=2018-06-27|title=Myanmar: Military top brass must face justice for crimes against humanity targeting Rohingya|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/06/myanmar-military-top-brass-must-face-justice-for-crimes-against-humanity-targeting-rohingya/|access-date=2022-04-05|publisher=[[Amnesty International]]|language=en|archive-date=19 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819114510/https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/06/myanmar-military-top-brass-must-face-justice-for-crimes-against-humanity-targeting-rohingya/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="military_planned_genocide_2018_07_19_nytimes">{{Cite news|date=2018-07-19|title=Myanmar's Military Planned Rohingya Genocide, Rights Group Says (Published 2018)|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/world/asia/myanmar-rohingya-genocide.html|access-date=2022-04-05|archive-date=19 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819114748/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/19/world/asia/myanmar-rohingya-genocide.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The commission, widely known simply as the "Annan Commission", was opposed by many Myanmar Buddhists as unwelcome interference in their relations with the Rohingya.<ref name="protesters_greet_annan" />

When the Annan Commission released its final report,<ref name="rakhine_commission_rcn" /> the week of 24 August 2017, with recommendations unpopular with all sides, violence exploded in the [[Rohingya conflict]] – the largest and bloodiest [[humanitarian disaster]] in the region in decades – driving most of the Rohingya from Myanmar.<ref name="military_planned_genocide_2018_07_19_nytimes" /><ref name="we_will_destroy_2018_06_amnesty_intl" /><ref name="myanmar_panel_pledges_wash_post">{{Cite news|archive-date=2018-08-19|title=Myanmar panel probing Rohingya crisis pledges independence <!-- The Washington Post-->|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=2018-08-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819182205/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/myanmar-panel-probing-rohingya-crisis-pledges-independence/2018/08/16/6d5c7a2e-a15c-11e8-a3dd-2a1991f075d5_story.html|access-date=2022-04-13|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/myanmar-panel-probing-rohingya-crisis-pledges-independence/2018/08/16/6d5c7a2e-a15c-11e8-a3dd-2a1991f075d5_story.html?utm_term=.390befdbf42d}}</ref> Annan attempted to engage the United Nations to resolve the matter,<ref>{{Cite web|author=((New York Correspondent))|title=Myanmar has to take back Rohingya refugees, Kofi Annan tells UN Security Council|url=https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2017/10/14/myanmar-has-to-take-back-rohingya-refugees-kofi-annan-tells-un-security-council|date=2017-10-14|access-date=2022-04-05|website=[[bdnews24.com]]|archive-date=18 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180818214611/https://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2017/10/14/myanmar-has-to-take-back-rohingya-refugees-kofi-annan-tells-un-security-council|url-status=live}}</ref> but failed.

Annan died a week before the first anniversary of the report, shortly after an announcement by a replacement commission that it would not "point fingers" at the guilty parties – leading to widespread concern that the new commission was just a sham to protect culpable Myanmar government officials and citizens from accountability.<ref name="kofi_annan_dies_rcn" /><ref name="myanmar_panel_pledges_ap">{{Cite web|date=2018-08-16|title=Myanmar panel probing Rohingya crisis pledges independence|url=https://apnews.com/article/b5d5d4a151d1428bb50a81bf3e72a833|access-date=2022-04-05|website=AP News|language=en|archive-date=5 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220405231303/https://apnews.com/article/b5d5d4a151d1428bb50a81bf3e72a833|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="myanmar_panel_pledges_wash_post" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Myanmar's New Rohingya Panel Pledges Impartiality in Probe of Atrocities|url=https://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/myanmars-new-rohingya-panel-pledges-impariality-in-probe-of-atrocities-08162018162341.html|access-date=2022-04-05|publisher=[[Radio Free Asia]]|date=2018-08-16|archive-date=18 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180818182131/https://www.rfa.org/english/news/myanmar/myanmars-new-rohingya-panel-pledges-impariality-in-probe-of-atrocities-08162018162341.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2018, before Annan's death, Myanmar's civilian government, under the direction of State Counsellor [[Aung San Suu Kyi]], made a gesture of acceptance of the Annan commission's recommendations by convening another board – the advisory board for the Committee for Implementation of the Recommendations on Rakhine State – ostensibly to implement the Annan commission's proposed reforms, but never actually implemented them. Some of the international representatives resigned – notably the panel's secretary, Thailand's former foreign minister [[Surakiart Sathirathai]], and former US ambassador to the UN [[Bill Richardson]] – decrying the "implementation" committee as ineffective, or a "whitewash".<ref name="panel_head_refutes_2018_07_22_reuters" /><ref name="whitewash_2018_01_24_nytimes">{{Cite news|last1=Beech|first1=Hannah|last2=Gladstone|first2=Rick|date=2018-01-25|title=Citing 'Whitewash,' Bill Richardson Quits Rohingya Post|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/24/world/asia/bill-richardson-myanmar-rohingya.html|access-date=2022-04-05|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=19 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180819114855/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/24/world/asia/bill-richardson-myanmar-rohingya.html|url-status=live}}</ref>