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Updated September 23rd, 2021 at 18:15 IST

UN: Myanmar human rights situation is deteriorating

The UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Thursday that Myanmar now "faces a vortex of repression, violence and economic collapse" as civilians come increasingly under attack.

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IMAGE: AP | Image:self
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The UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Thursday that Myanmar now "faces a vortex of repression, violence and economic collapse" as civilians come increasingly under attack.

Speaking during at the 48th Human Rights Council in Geneva, Michelle Bachelet said the "far-reaching impacts of the military coup continue to devastate lives and hopes across the country."

Myanmar's military overthrew the previous government in February 2021, ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, reversing years of progress toward democracy after five decades of military rule.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights said more than 1,100 people have been killed by security forces since the coup, while over 8,000 - including children - have been arrested.

Over 4,700 people are in detention, "most are held without any form of due process" while interrogation techniques being used "amount to ill-treatment and torture", Bachelet said, with over 120 detainees having reportedly died in custody.

The UNHCR's new A/HRC/48/67 report on Myanmar outlines the many human rights violations in the country.

Some of the violations amount to "crimes against humanity committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against the civilian population – or, to the extent arising in armed conflict, war crimes," Bachelet said.

Bachelet also relayed that local defence groups have emerged to challenge the military, with many joining the Defence Force movement.

However the military has responded with "offensives and reprisal raids against villages perceived to be the bases of people's defence forces or ethnic armed groups", including the use of artillery and airstrikes, resulting in hundreds of deaths and injuries.

Bachelet called on the "armed actors" involved "to respect human rights and ensure that civilians and civilian structures are protected".

She noted that the developments raise the spectre of an "escalating civil war".

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said it was imperative that the perpetrators of "the most serious international crimes" be "held to account" as she appealed to members of the Myanmar military to "grasp that their own futures will not be served by following unlawful orders to commit international crimes."

IMAGE: AP

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Published September 23rd, 2021 at 18:15 IST

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