The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Myanmar rights probe warns over ‘incredible brutality’ of warring forces
Conflict in Myanmar between the military junta and opposition forces is increasingly brutal, with both sides likely responsible for international crimes including summary executions, top independent rights investigators said on Tuesday.
In a call to regional bloc ASEAN to help end the violence and support efforts to bring perpetrators to justice, the head of the Human Rights Council-appointed probe into the Myanmar emergency, Nicholas Koumjian, described an increasingly “desperate” junta whose devastating military tactics were being matched by opposition fighters acting with total impunity.
“Aerial bombings have increased very substantially in this last year,” Mr. Koumjian told journalists in Geneva. “In Kayah state in February of this year, four children were killed and around 10 injured when fighter jets dropped bombs and deployed machine gun fire on the school.”
Mr. Koumjian added that his investigators had also seen a video “that showed resistance forces beheading two captured soldiers in Loikaw in Kayah state in November, December of last year”, along with another video posted on social media of two young men being burned to death in Magway region. “So, this kind of incredible brutality is going on,” he said.
The Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) was created by the Human Rights Council in 2018 to collect evidence of the most serious international crimes committed in Myanmar since 2011. It released its latest annual report on Tuesday.
Civilians frequently targeted
“Unfortunately, what our report conveys is that the number of these crimes is only increasing and the armed conflict is increasing in intensity and in brutality and crimes are happening more and more frequently,” Mr. Koumjian noted.
The veteran rights expert and former international criminal justice prosecutor expressed his opinion that the junta which seized power in Myanmar on 1 February 2021 was becoming more “desperate” over the period covered by the report from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024 - a time when armed conflicts increased across Myanmar as challenges to military rule intensified. “The targets of these bombings are usually civilian targets,” Mr. Koumjian said. “Schools and churches and hospitals are often the only structures in the area and those are the structures…that are being bombed.”
ASEAN influence
In a direct appeal to the regional bloc ASEAN, Mr. Koumjian urged it to respond to “substantial evidence” that the Myanmar military was committing war crimes and crimes against humanity “at an alarming rate”, by putting pressure on the junta to halt the conflict.
ASEAN - a “very key player in Myanmar”, according to the human rights investigator – has drawn up a five-point consensus to end the fighting that has been signed by “the junta itself”. Nonetheless, “we see instead an increase in violence and an increase in the violence targeting civilians,” he said. “So, I think absolutely, it's time for ASEAN to put some bite into its consensus. It's not enough simply to say we support ending the violence, there have to be steps taken to ensure that, in fact, the violence has ended.”
Broad reach
The head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) noted that the panel’s report was based on information and evidence collected from more than 900 sources, including more than 400 eyewitness testimonies, along with additional evidence such as photographs, videos, audio material, documents, maps, geospatial imagery, social media posts and forensic evidence.
Fighting impunity remains a core objective of the IIMM which has shared its findings and evidence with authorities at the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice and in Argentina, Mr. Koumjian said.
Myanmar conflict – rights probe update
TRT: 2 min 17s
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 13 AUGUST 2024 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- Exterior medium: UN Geneva flag alley.
- Medium-wide, Press room, UN Geneva.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Nicholas Koumjian, Head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM): “Aerial bombings have increased very substantially in this last year; in Kayah state in February of this year, four children were killed and around 10 injured when fighter jets dropped bombs and deployed machine gun fire on the school.”
- Medium-wide, Press room and podium speakers, UN Geneva.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Nicholas Koumjian, Head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM): “We have a video that showed resistance forces beheading two captured soldiers in Loikaw in Kayah state in November, December of last year. So this kind of incredible brutality is going on.”
- Wide, Press room, UN Geneva.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Nicholas Koumjian, Head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM): “Our mandate is to collect evidence of the most serious international crimes in Myanmar and unfortunately, what our report conveys is that the number of these crimes is only increasing and the armed conflict is increasing in intensity and in brutality and crimes are happening more and more frequently.”
- Medium-wide, Press room, UN Geneva.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Nicholas Koumjian, Head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM): “There’s no doubt that the military, the junta, is becoming more desperate and we've seen, for example, this big increase in the use of aerial bombing and the targets of these bombings are usually civilian targets; schools and churches and hospitals are often the only structures in the area and those are the structures that are being - major structures - that are being bombed.”
- Medium-wide, Press room podium speakers.
- SOUNDBITE (English) – Nicholas Koumjian, Head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM): “We see an increase in the violence targeting civilians. So, I think absolutely, it's time for ASEAN to put some bite into its consensus. It's not enough simply to say we support ending the violence, there have to be steps taken to ensure that, in fact, the violence has ended.”
- Medium-wide, journalists, participants, one taking video on mobile phone.
- Medium-wide, participant taking video of proceedings.
- Medium, participant.
Similar Stories
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | HRC
Introductory press conference with new members of the Commission.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said Tuesday UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk was outraged by the repeated large-scale attacks by the Russian Federation on energy infrastructure in Ukraine.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN warns against repeating abuses in South Kordofan that occurred in El Fasher.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF
Mozambique floods heighten disease, malnutrition risks – UN agencies
Catastrophic flooding in Mozambique is causing massive disruption to lives and livelihoods across the country, increasing the risk of disease and exposing urban areas to crocodiles, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | OCHA
Yemen: Children are dying and it’s going to get worse, aid veteran warns
In Yemen, renewed political instability threatens and economic woes linked to the war to complicate the already difficult task of helping vulnerable people suffering from deepening hunger, illness and displacement, the UN's top aid official there said on Monday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF , IFRC
Ukraine: Families in ‘survival mode’ amid Russian strikes and -18°C cold
Families across Ukraine are in “constant survival mode” amid ongoing waves of Russian missile and drone strikes that have left blocks without power for days at a time, while temperatures plunge to a deadly -18°C (-0.4°F), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
At the bi-weekly press conference in Geneva, UN Human Rights Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence urges Iranian authorities to end violent repression and calls for accountability.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF
Gaza: A ceasefire that ‘still buries children’ is not enough, says UNICEF
Airstrikes, drone strikes and hypothermia are among the lethal conditions prevailing in Gaza despite the ceasefire, with more than 100 children killed since early October, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
At the UN bi-weekly press conference in Geneva, UN Human Rights Spokesperson Marta Hurtado commented on the widespread repression and intimidation against political opposition ahead of the general elections in Uganda.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , UNICEF
Aid agencies marked 1,000 days of war in Sudan on Friday with a grim reminder that the conflict has created the world’s biggest hunger crisis and largest displacement emergency. Every day, civilians have been “paying the price for a war they did not choose”, said the UN aid coordination office, OCHA.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
Ravina Shamdasani, UN Human Rights spokesperson, made the following comments at the bi-weekly press briefing of the United Nations on the United States’ intervention in Venezuela.
1
1
1
Edited News | OCHA , OHCHR
Venezuela: US military intervention ‘far from victory for human rights’, makes world less safe – UN rights office
The UN rights office (OHCHR) on Tuesday expressed concern over the situation in Venezuela following the United States military operation and seizure of President Nicolás Maduro over the weekend, insisting that the move runs counter to international law and damages global security.