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Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) - July 2022
On 1 February 2021, the military junta headed by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, chief architect of the 2017 genocidal campaign against the Rohingya, attempted to overthrow the democratically elected civilian government. The following day, Min Aung Hlaing declared himself the head of the new State Administration Council (SAC), a military-run administrative organisation. Since this time, the junta has carried out a brutal nationwide crackdown aimed at suppressing widespread public opposition to its rule. Junta security forces carried out mass killings, torture, arbitrary arrests, and other abuses against protesters, journalists, health workers, and political opposition members amounting to crimes against humanity. Military attacks in ethnic minority areas throughout the country have also resulted in numerous war crimes. The current number of displaced men, women and children in Myanmar remains above one million. This includes nearly 760,000 people displaced by the conflict and insecurity since the February coup.
Read more: Violation of Freedom of Religion and Belief in Myanmar During Anti-Coup Revolution
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Summary
The Government of Myanmar has been engaged in a series of military campaigns against minorities. The most notable is their continued persecution of the Rohingya which has been described by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, as seeming like “a textbook example of ethnic cleansing”. At the same time the Myanmar Military has continued its six year long campaign against Christian minorities in the Kachin and Shan region. In all cases, the military campaign are hallmarked by religious persecution; arbitrary arrest, murder and rape as a weapon of war against civilian populations.
In light of the UN Security Council’s failure to agree on a resolution regarding Myanmar's campaign against the Rohingya, it is imperative that the EU Ministers take concrete actions when they meet on Monday November 13th to ensure that human rights violations are not normalised in the country and do not spread further throughout the country and to guarantee all perpetrators are held to account. These messages should also be repeated to the government of Myanmar when EU Heads of State meet those of Asian countries at the ASEM summit on 21-22 November in Naypyidaw.
