Myanmar Clash: Junta Kills Over 5,000 Civilians
Last Updated on September 19, 2024 5:24 am
Myanmar’s ruling junta has become increasingly desperate to suppress rebel armed groups. Increased killings. They have also arrested thousands of people since the military coup three years ago.
Since taking power in 2021, the junta forces have killed 5,350 civilians in the country. They are still carrying out mass arrests, killings and tortures. This information was reported by the British news agency Reuters citing the United Nations on Wednesday.
According to the report, Myanmar’s military overthrew the elected government in February 2021 and seized power. Millions of people took to the streets in protest. Bloody violence ensued. The protest gradually turned into an armed rebellion. Even today fierce fighting is going on in different parts of the country.
A report by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk on Tuesday said that 5,350 civilians have been killed by the Myanmar military since the coup. The report was compiled by interviewing hundreds of victims and eyewitnesses from afar because the investigators were not allowed to enter the country.
It said 2,414 of those killed died between April 2023 and June 2024, a 50 percent increase over the previous reporting period. During this time, hundreds of people were killed in air and artillery attacks.
James Rodehaver, head of the UN Human Rights Office’s Myanmar team, said Myanmar’s human rights are falling into an abyss. Speaking to reporters in Geneva, he also said Myanmar’s military has used the legal system to create a deep crisis. Almost all forms of dissent against their attempts to rule the country have been criminalized.
According to the UN report, about 27 thousand 400 people have been arrested in the country since the military coup. They are believed to be held in military training centers.
At least 1,853 people, including 88 children, have died in custody since the military coup in Myanmar, Liz Throssell, spokeswoman for the UN Human Rights Office, told a press conference. Many of them are confirmed to have died after being subjected to abusive interrogation, detention or inadequate healthcare.
The Myanmar military has yet to respond to the UN report. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has recommended that Myanmar’s human rights violations be referred to the International Criminal Court.
The country is facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its brutal crackdown on the Rohingya minority in 2017.