Amnesty International on Myanmar's rapist and murderous military

MYANMAR’S MILITARY UNREPENTENT, UNREFORMED, AND

 UNACCOUNTABLE 

UN Human Rights Council 

Forty-second session 

9 – 27 September 2019 

Mr. President, 

Amnesty International thanks the experts of the Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) for their update and their final report, and shares their concerns about serious ongoing violations of international law in Myanmar.

Like the FFM, we too have documented new violations by the military in the last year, including in Rakhine State, where there has been a serious escalation in fighting between the military and the Arakan Army (AA) since January. Myanmar soldiers have launched unlawful attacks which have killed or injured civilians. They have arbitrarily arrested men and boys – most of them ethnic Rakhine – subjecting them to torture or other ill-treatment, and have perpetrated extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances. Many of these violations constitute crimes under international law, including war crimes.

However, it is not just in Rakhine State that the Myanmar military continues its reign of terror.  In the last year, soldiers have also committed serious violations against ethnic minority civilians in northern Shan and Kachin States, including arbitrary arrests, torture and other ill-treatment, incommunicado detention, indiscriminate attacks, and forced labour. These violations have continued even after the military’s announcement of a unilateral ceasefire in December 2018. Ethnic armed groups in these areas have also committed abuses, including abductions, illtreatment and forced labour. Civilians in northern Shan State are currently bearing the brunt of renewed fighting, with thousands displaced from their homes in the last month.

Mr. President,

Many of these new violations – whether in Rakhine, Shan, or Kachin states – have been perpetrated by soldiers from the same units implicated in atrocities against the Rohingya from August 2017. Let us make no mistake, one year after the FFM delivered its damning report to this Council, and despite international attention and pressure, the Myanmar military remains unrepentant, unreformed, and unaccountable.

While this Council has taken important action towards ensuring accountability for atrocities in Myanmar, we are dismayed that the UN Security Council continues to abdicate its responsibility to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Until it is willing to act, it is essential this Council keeps the situation in Myanmar firmly – and regularly – on its agenda.

We would like to thank the Fact-Finding Mission for their important contributions over the past two and a half years and urge this Council to ensure their findings and recommendations are effectively followed-up on, in particular with regards to accountability. 

Mr. Darusman, what further actions could this Council take to build on your work and strengthen efforts towards justice, truth, reparation, and reforms in Myanmar?

Thank you, Mr. President.