Myanmar military engaged in widespread abuses: UN human rights chief

The UN rights chief says Myanmar's military has engaged in widespread human rights violations and abuses, calling on the international community to  take concerted, immediate measures to stem the spiral of violence in the Southeast Asian country.

"The military has engaged in systematic and widespread human rights violations and abuses – some of which may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said in a new report released for the 49th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday.

Bachelet said Myanmar's military and security forces had shown a flagrant disregard for human life, using air raids and heavy weapons on populated areas and deliberately targeting civilians.

Many of the victims were shot in the head, burned to death, arrested arbitrarily, tortured, or used as human shields, she said in a statement in the first comprehensive human rights report since last year's coup.

"Throughout the tumult and violence of the past year, the will of the people has clearly not been broken. They remain committed to seeing a return to democracy and to institutions that reflect their will and aspirations," she added.

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Citing the determination of Myanmar's people in their opposition to the coup, Bachelet called on the international community to do all it can to resolve the crisis and hold the perpetrators of gross violations of international human rights law accountable.

Covering the period since the February 1, 2021 coup, the report is based on interviews with over 155 victims, witnesses, and advocates, whose accounts were corroborated with satellite imagery, verified multimedia files, and credible open-source information.

"Its findings, however, represent only a fraction of the violations and abuses Myanmar's people have been subjected to since the coup," the report said.

Security forces and their affiliates have killed at least 1,600 people, and more than 12,500 people have been detained since the coup, the report said.

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

The report also said there were reasonable grounds to believe that Myanmar's military had engaged in violence and abuse as part of a widespread and systematic attack directed against civilians – patterns of conduct that may amount to crimes against humanity.

While security forces carried out most of the gross human rights violations documented, at least 543 individuals, including local administrators, their families and alleged informants, were also reportedly killed due to their perceived support of the military.

Anti-coup armed elements claimed responsibility for 95 of the incidents, said the report.

"Meaningful action by the international community is urgently needed to stop yet more individuals from being stripped of their rights, their lives and their livelihoods," Bachelet said. "The appalling breadth and scale of violations of international law suffered by the people of Myanmar demand a firm, unified, and resolute international response."

UN envoy urges Security Council action to prevent civil war in Myanmar

The United Nations (UN) special envoy for Myanmar urges the UN Security Council to take immediate action to prevent the further escalation of the crisis in the Southeast Asian country.

Myanmar has been gripped by turmoil since the military ousted former leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the coup and detained her and several other senior figures from the National League for Democracy (NLD) party over election fraud allegations.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have held numerous protests against the coup leaders in the Southeast Asian country.

The military junta has used lethal force against unarmed civilians, which has drawn widespread backlash, as it continues a brutal crackdown on protesters.

Myanmar's military forces were also involved in a campaign of genocide against Muslim Rohingya that started in 2017.

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