Politics

HRW urges UN to sanction Myanmar military for civilian bombings

Bangkok, Jan 12 (EFE).- The NGO Human Right Watch denounced Friday the increase in bombings against civilians in Myanmar during the campaign by the military junta, which staged the 2021 coup and demanded that the United Nations Security Council impose sanctions against the army.

“The increase in illegal air strikes by the junta exemplifies the deterioration of the human rights situation in Myanmar since the 2021 coup,” said Elaine Pearson, the NGO’s Asia director, during the presentation in Bangkok of the Human Rights Watch World Report 2024.

The organization said the junta is carrying out increasing air strikes against villages of ethnic minorities or controlled by those opposing the military regime, as well as mass murders, forced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, torture and other forms of violence.

As an example, the NGO cited the murder of more than 160 people in the Sagaing region in April 2023, when the military dropped a thermobaric bomb, a fuel-air explosive, against a rebel population.

In recent months, the army also resorted to air and artillery attacks to stop the rebel offensive in the northeast of the country, which experts say represents the biggest challenge for the junta since its uprising.

“Governments should toughen sanctions on the military and urge the UN Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Myanmar and refer the situation to the International Criminal Court,” Pearson said.

Until now, the security council’s measures against Myanmar authorities have been hindered by Russia and China, the main supporters of the Myanmar military and who have veto power in the international organization.

Although other countries such as the United States and the organizations such as the European Union have approved targeted sanctions against the military and its main companies, the NGO urged in its report to increase measures and “prevent the flow of weapons into Myanmar.”

The Feb. 1, 2021 military coup plunged Myanmar into a deep political, social and economic crisis and has opened a spiral of violence with new civilian militias that have exacerbated the guerrilla war that the country has been experiencing for decades.

At least 4,335 people, including pro-democracy activists and civilians, have died as a result of the military junta’s repression, according to data from the Myanmar NGO Association for the Assistance of Political Prisoners.

The coup ended a decade of democratic transition in Myanmar and the elected government of former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained ever since. EFE

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