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Opening statement by Nicholas Koumjian, Head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, to the 57th session of the Human Rights Council.
Opening statement by Nicholas Koumjian, Head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, to the 57th session of the Human Rights Council.
Teleprompter
Mr President Excellencies,
it is an honour to present to this council
the sixth annual report of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar.
Over the past year,
the mechanism has seen evidence of increasingly frequent
and brutal war crimes and crimes against humanity
committed by many different parties to the ongoing conflicts.
In many instances, civilians are not just collateral damage,
but rather the target of the attacks
which appear intended to create terror.
Aerial attacks by the Myanmar military intensified across the country.
Planes bombed a wedding party and monasteries in Sai
region,
a displaced persons camp in
Kachin state
and schools in
Kaya
Kin and Chin states.
Just last week, airstrikes near a night market in northern Shan state
reportedly killed about a dozen people, including a pregnant woman
and two Children.
The mechanism has collected many reports and testimonies
regarding crimes against the thousands now in detention,
including torture and sexual assault.
Victims and witnesses have recounted beatings, electric shocks,
strangulations
and torture by pulling out fingernails with pliers.
There is evidence that minors and other victims of all genders
have been subjected to gang rape, burns on sexual body parts
and other violent sexual and gender-based crimes.
The intensity of warfare across Myanmar has escalated,
including in Rakhine state,
where fighting between the military and the
Arakan army has impacted thousands of civilians.
The mechanism is actively investigating horrific reports of killings, torture,
rape
and the burning of villages.
All ethnicities in Rakhine state have suffered,
but the Rohingya population that remains there
is in a particularly precarious situation.
Caught between the Myanmar military and the Arakan army,
they have been directly targeted and
thousands forcibly displaced from their homes.
I I was particularly shocked by one video that circulated last month
showing the aftermath of a drone attack on
Rohingya that were attempting to flee Myanmar.
Dozens of bodies, mainly women and Children,
were scattered beside luggage on a riverbank.
The victims were clearly civilians.
I cannot imagine anyone believing there was a military purpose to this attack.
We will follow the evidence wherever it leads and make
every effort to see those responsible for this attack,
regardless of their ethnicity or politics
are held to account.
Mr President,
what is happening today in Rakhine state and
across Myanmar is the result of decades of impunity
when crimes go unpunished. This only fuels more criminal behaviour.
To fight against this impunity,
we have accelerated the sharing of our evidence and analysis
with authorities conducting proceedings,
concerting crimes against the Rohingya at
the International Criminal Court,
the International Court of Justice
and in Argentina.
To date,
we have shared over 80 packages containing more than 1 million evidence items.
While we have made significant progress, we face a number of challenges.
We do not have access to crime scenes or witnesses inside Myanmar
securely. Receiving information from inside the country is difficult.
Many individuals who cooperated with us to do so
at great personal risk.
To compensate, we have looked to innovate
and use the most modern technologies.
We have a specialised team to authenticate and verify the
very large volumes of digital information we have collected,
including photographs, videos, audio material,
geospatial imagery and social media posts.
This evidence is then crosschecked
against the information we've received from more than 900 sources,
including over 400 accounts collected from victims and other witnesses.
We have automated some of our processes to make the collection, analysis and
analysis and sharing of information
more efficient and secure.
I am very grateful to the many
courageous and committed persons and civil society organisations
who risked their lives and liberty to share information with us.
Our work would not be possible without them.
We put their safety paramount and
are using the most advanced technology to ensure that
their interactions with us have the highest level of confidentiality
and security.
Mr.
President,
the members of this council and concerned states have for years called
for an end to the violence and horrific crimes in Myanmar.
But seven years after the clearance operations that led to our creation. And
3.5 years after the military coup,
the violence has only increased.
The people of Myanmar are suffering
and nearby
states are also strained
under the burden of people fleeing across their borders.
Clearly, words are not enough.
All states, but especially those in the region,
must support our efforts to collect evidence of
the very worst violence being committed in Myanmar
and help us to end this downward cycle of impunity. Thank you