Mister President, Mister Special Rapporteur,
FIDH and its member organizations ALTSEAN-Burma and Women’s Peace Network welcome this oral update.
We are shocked by the military junta’s unrestrained brutality against the people of Myanmar. The imposition of more than 100 death sentences against junta opponents since the coup has been compounded by the recent announcement of the planned executions of four individuals, including two prominent activists. While the planned executions have drawn widespread international outcry, similar condemnation should be voiced over the junta’s extrajudicial killing of more than 2,000 civilians since February 2021.
We are deeply concerned by increasing reports of serious human rights violations against political prisoners, including women, in jails and interrogation centers across the country. In most cases, torture, summary executions, and other abuses were committed in reprisal for the prisoners’ peaceful protests against poor detention conditions.
Unsurprisingly, the junta has failed to address the situation of the Rohingya, which remains dire. Restrictions on their freedom of movement and other grave human rights violations against them continue, and Rohingya continue to risk their lives to make perilous journeys to leave Myanmar and Bangladesh by boat.
We urge the international community to intensify its engagement with, and support of, the National Unity Government and to recognize it as the legitimate government of Myanmar.
We also reiterate our calls for: 1) a UN Security Council referral of the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court; 2) a global arms embargo on the junta; and 3) more effective sanctions targeting the Myanmar military’s economic interests.
Thank you.