Myanmar Army Committed War Crimes, Torture, Killings - UN

By Staff, Agencies

Myanmar’s military has engaged in systematic human rights violations, many amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity, the United Nations said in its first comprehensive human rights report since last year’s coup.

Security forces have shown a flagrant disregard for human life, using air raids and heavy weapons on populated areas and deliberately targeting civilians, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said on Tuesday.

Many victims were shot in the head, burned to death, arrested arbitrarily, tortured, or used as human shields, she said in a statement on the report, which urged “meaningful action” by the international community.

“The appalling breadth and scale of violations of international law suffered by the people of Myanmar demand a firm, unified, and resolute international response,” Bachelet said.

The UN report said it was based on interviews with many victims of abuse, as well as witnesses, whose accounts were corroborated with satellite imagery, verified multimedia files and open-source information.

In Kayah State, burned bodies of women and children were found, some in positions indicating they had tried to escape and were burned alive, it added.

The report found detainees were tortured during interrogation, including suspension from ceilings, electrocution, injection of drugs and some subjected to physical violence, including rape.

The report said that at least 1,600 people had been killed by security forces and their affiliates, while more than 12,500 people had been detained.

At least 440,000 others have been displaced and 14 million are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, the delivery of which has largely been blocked by the military in new and pre-existing areas of need, said the report.

Myanmar’s human rights record had been under the spotlight since several years ago.

The majority of the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority was forced to leave in 2017 after being persecuted by the Myanmar military in a campaign that involved the burning of Rohingya villages and the killing of civilians.

At the time, the UN labelled the actions of the Myanmar military “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing.”