Myanmar: the perpetual human rights crisis and the crimes committed by the military junta to scare the population and repress dissent

ROME – “Two years after the coup, the generals are making scorched earth in an attempt to repress the opposition,” said theUnited Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk. In his analysis, regional and global peace efforts have largely fallen on deaf ears and the military, emboldened by continued and utter impunity, has consistently shown disregard for international obligations and principles.

The constant abuse of rights. The new UN report stems from requests from the Security Council and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), to press for an end to the violence and the immediate release of all political prisoners. The dossier recounts the violence of the junta in a period of time ranging from 1 February 2022 to 31 January 2023. Criminal acts have increased throughout the country, from north to south, from east to west. Today there are at least 2940 dead and about 17,572 arrests by the army and its affiliates. Almost 80 percent of the country’s 330 municipalities have been the scene of armed clashes.

The four cuts policy. The army employs the so-called “four cuts” approach, made up of indiscriminate air strikes, artillery shelling, devastation of villages to force the civilian population to flee. It also prevents humanitarian aid from arriving. The goal is to suppress organized non-state armed groups and other armed anti-military forces through a ban on access to food, finances, intelligence and the recruitment of opponents.

Attacks reported. On 16 September in the village of Let Yet Kone, in the Sagaing region, one of the most important religious and monastic centers in Myanmar, four helicopters opened fire on a school, killing six children and wounding nine others. Sixty soldiers on the ground, however, executed a school technician and five villagers before taking away the other children and teachers. An airstrike on a recently opened hospital in Man Yu Gyi village on 20 October killed one woman and wounded five others. A local source reported that the hospital had been inaugurated the day before and the victims were all volunteers from the facility.

The destruction techniques of the junta. One of the tactics most used by the military is the systematic and widespread burning of villages and homes. Nearly 39,000 homes have been burned nationwide since February 2022, a more than a thousand-fold increase from 2021, according to the UN report. Sagaing was the hardest-hit region, with more than 25,500 homes. In a documented incident on May 1 at Ah Shey See, satellite images show an entire village burned down, with 621 structures razed. And again thanks to satellite images it was possible to verify that between 16 and 28 September in Taze Township, also in the Sagaing region, the military destroyed 458 houses and damaged another 319 with a series of raids.

The economic crisis. The mismanagement of finances by the junta has caused an unprecedented crisis for a large part of the population, with the result that the poverty rate has doubled today compared to 2020. Almost half of the country’s inhabitants live in poverty. Populations living in the countryside are more at risk of starvation than others, also because the main supply routes have been blocked. In this way, even humanitarian workers cannot reach the over 17.6 million citizens of Myanmar in need.

The rules against the opponents. The military has adopted a series of rules, including martial law, that target political opponents and aim to limit civic space that had contributed significantly to Myanmar’s democratic transition, Turk points out in the report. Across the country, people are continually exposed to violations and crimes, including murders, enforced disappearances, displacements, torture, arbitrary arrests, sexual assaults. Many of these acts constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.