U.N.: Myanmar's junta engaged in systematic human rights violations


Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, on Tuesday accused Myanmar's junta of committing abuses that may amount to war crimes. File Photo by EPA-EFE

March 16 (UPI) -- Myanmar's junta is engaged in systematic and widespread human rights violations, some of which amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, the United Nations' human rights chief said in a new report that calls on the international community to do more to end the crisis in the Southeast Asian nation.

In the report, published Tuesday to coincide with a meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council, Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. high commissioner for Human Rights, states the Tatmadaw military forces have shown a disregard for human life since seizing power in a coup on Feb. 1 by bombarding populated areas with airstrikes and heavy weapons as well as targeting civilians, some of whom have been shot in the head and burned to death.

"Myanmar is facing violence on a massive scale," the report states. "Arbitrary detentions, unnecessary and disproportionate use of force against peaceful protesters, extrajudicial killings as well as ill-treatment and torture in custody have characterized the Tatmadaw's seizure of power."

The report, based on interviews with more than 155 victims, details the security forces' use of landmines and hidden improvised explosives to maim and kill people throughout the country as well the military's so-called clearance operations where forces comb areas in search of resistance groups to arrest, torture and summarily execute them and in the process loot and destroy property.

Airstrikes and mortar and artillery shelling as well as other explosives were deployed in these ferreting operations, resulting in some 550 deaths.

It also states that there are at least 85 reported instances of the Tatmadaw forcing individuals to perform labor and to act as human shields for advancing troops.

The military, under the pretext of elections irregularities, seized control of the country more than a year ago and arrested several members of its civilian government before putting itself at the helm of the country. It then met the subsequent protests of its coup with a bloody and ongoing crackdown.

According to Myanmar's Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, the junta has killed 1,676 people while the U.N. report states more than 12,500 have been detained with at least 440,000 others having been displaced. Another 14 million, it said, are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.

Bachelet said that despite the violence the will of the public to regain control of its country has not been broken.

"They remain committed to seeing a return to democracy and to institutions that reflect their will and aspirations," she said in a statement accompanying the report.

The protesters have the support of the United States and other democratic countries who have repeatedly enforced sanctions against Myanmar, targeting members of the junta as well as state-operated entities in order to cut off revenue to the military.

However, Bachelet in the report called on the international community for further action as it is urgently needed to "stem the pace at which individuals are being stripped of their rights, their lives and their livelihoods."

She said that Myanmar's military has created an environment where negotiations and dialogue cannot occur and where the country's citizens have no voice.

"The breadth and scale of violations of international law suffered by people of Myanmar call urgently for broader measures of justice and accountability that address more comprehensively the full range of violations that have been and continue to be suffered across the country," she said.

"Sustained serious violations of international law demand a firm, unified and resolute international response to effectively protect the human rights of the people of Myanmar," she said.