YANGON (UCAN): In its annual report released on August 9, the United Nations’ Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar [IIMM] concluded that Myanmar’s military junta has committed crimes against humanity systematically amid ongoing conflicts in the beleaguered country following the coup on 1 February 2021 [Sunday Examiner, 7 February 2021].
The report said that members of the security forces and armed groups have perpetrated sexual and gender-based crimes, including rape and other forms of sexual violence, as well as crimes against children.
The IIMM collected more than three million pieces of information from almost 200 sources since starting operations three years ago including interview statements, documentation, videos, photographs, geospatial imagery and social media material.
“There are ample indications that since the military seized power in February 2021, crimes have been committed in Myanmar on a scale and in a manner that constitutes a widespread and systematic attack against a civilian population and the nature of potential criminality is also expanding,” the report said.
Crimes against women and children are among the gravest international crimes, but they are also historically underreported and under-investigated
Nicholas Koumjian
It said this included the execution of four pro-democracy activists on July 25, which was carried out after the report was prepared.
“Perpetrators of these crimes need to know that they cannot continue to act with impunity. We are collecting and preserving the evidence so that they will one day be held to account,” Nicholas Koumjian, head of the IIMM, said.
The report also revealed that children have been tortured, conscripted and arbitrarily detained, including as proxies for their parents. “Crimes against women and children are among the gravest international crimes, but they are also historically underreported and under-investigated,” Koumjian said.
The latest report came just two weeks before the sombre fifth-year commemoration of the military’s crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state that drove more than 740,000 people into neighboring Bangladesh since August 2017.
“While the Rohingya consistently express their desire for a safe and dignified return to Myanmar, this will be very difficult to achieve unless there is accountability for the atrocities committed against them, including through prosecutions of the individuals most responsible for those crimes,” Koumjian said.
There are ample indications that since the military seized power in February 2021, crimes have been committed in Myanmar on a scale and in a manner that constitutes a widespread and systematic attack against a civilian population and the nature of potential criminality is also expanding
Report by United Nations’ Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar
The IIMM was set up by the UN Human Rights Council in 2018 to collect and analyse evidence of the most serious international crimes and other violations of international law committed in Myanmar since 2011.
A UN fact-finding mission reported that genocidal acts had been carried out in Rakhine by Myanmar’s military in 2017 while the United States labelled it a genocide against the Rohingya.
International legal pressure continues to mount on the country’s military leaders, including coup leader, Min Aung Hlaing, to be tried at the International Criminal Court over rights abuse against peaceful protesters and civilians across the country, while the ongoing genocide case against Myanmar is pursued at the International Court of Justice.
More than 2,100 people, including scores of children, have been killed and over 15,000 people have been detained by the junta since the coup.
