Briefers Urge Third Committee to Address Unmet Needs of People, Election Concerns in Conflict-Torn Myanmar, Act on Neglected Crisis
Delegates Also Take Up Human Rights Abuses in Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Belarus, Russian Federation, As Well As Those Resulting from Moscow's Aggression on Ukraine
“The world is not powerless” in countering the threat posed by the military junta in Myanmar, an independent human rights expert told the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) today, urging States to impose sanctions on the regime and denounce its ‘fraudulent’ election to be held in 2025.
“Myanmar has become invisible, [as] it remains out of sight and out of mind to most of the world,” said Thomas H. Andrews, Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in that country, where 18.6 million people require humanitarian assistance; 13.3 million people are facing emergency levels of food insecurity; over 5,800 civilians have been killed by junta forces; and over 21,000 political prisoners remain behind bars.
Since the February 2021 military coup d’état against a democratically elected Government, the conflict between the junta regime and other armed groups has intensified across the country.
“Nowhere is the situation more desperate and dangerous than in Rakhine State,” he said, adding that junta forces have burned entire villages to the ground, while the Arakan Army has also been implicated in grave human rights violations. For many of the hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas who are completely cut off from humanitarian assistance and threatened by starvation in northern Rakhine State, “failure to act immediately to provide emergency humanitarian aid will be a death sentence,” he cautioned.
The junta needs money, weapons and legitimacy to sustain itself, he said. Commending States’ increased willingness to impose sanctions on arms-dealing networks and junta-controlled banks, he noted that measures taken by some States led to decreases in the flow of weapons and funds to the junta.
In the past year, “the frequency and brutality of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Myanmar has only increased,” said Nicholas Koumjian, the Head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar. Aerial attacks by the Myanmar military have intensified, killing hundreds of civilians. In the past few weeks, the Mechanism has collected evidence of air strikes on an internally displaced persons camp in Mandalay and Kayah State; markets, schools and a temple in Northern Shan State; a wedding reception in Sagaing; and several villages in Rakhine State.
He also detailed the Mechanism’s investigations into unlawful detention and crimes committed against detainees, noting that it has collected harrowing testimonies about torture, including gang rape, from victims and witnesses. The Mechanism is collecting evidence of brutal war crimes committed, not just by the military junta, but also by other armed groups. In Rakhine State, reports resurfaced of horrific crimes, including torture, rapes and mass killings. To break this cycle of atrocities, the Mechanism has accelerated the volume of information and analysis it shares with the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.
“The Myanmar conflict risks becoming a forgotten crisis,” warned Julie Bishop, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar. She described her “impartial” efforts to build trust among stakeholders, including meetings with the military junta’s chief and representatives from political groups and other organizations, aimed at fostering “a home-grown, inclusive, and sustainable peace.” Myanmar actors must move beyond the current “zero-sum mentality,” she urged, stating that there can be little progress in addressing the needs of the people while armed conflict continues across the country. Any pathway to reconciliation requires an end to violence, accountability, and unfettered access for the UN and its partners to address vulnerabilities among the marginalized, including Rohingya, ethnic communities, and particularly women and children.
Moreover, transnational crime from Myanmar is proliferating, she observed, adding that — with “out of control” criminal networks of arms production and trade, human trafficking, drug manufacture and trafficking — the country ranks among the highest for organized crime. Calling for a return to democratic civilian rule, she voiced concern over the military’s stated intention to hold elections amid intensifying conflict and human rights violations.
Voicing strong appreciation for the briefers’ reports, Myanmar’s delegate said that since the unlawful military coup, the political, security, humanitarian and human rights conditions in his country have “alarmingly deteriorated”. Stressing that the situation on the ground is “far direr than we could see and expect,” he condemned the junta’s brutality. In Butalin Township this month, some victims were decapitated, their body parts dismembered and scattered, and their heads and body parts hung on the fences of civilian houses. In other cases, people were burnt alive.
“How could some States supply arms […] to this atrocious junta?” he asked, underscoring the need to end the military dictatorship and its culture of impunity, and impose targeted sanctions on the junta. “These criminals must be held accountable through justice means,” he asserted, stressing that Myanmar’s case should be referred to the International Criminal Court.
The Committee also heard the presentation of reports on the human rights situations in some other countries.
Human Rights Situation in Democratic People's Republic of Korea
“The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s unprecedented self-isolation has further aggravated the dire human rights situation in the country,” said Elizabeth Salmón, Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the country. Victims of enforced disappearances and torture upon forced repatriation, escapees and their families are all considered victims of torture under international humanitarian law, she stressed. Escapees must endure “constant fear” of severe punishment upon forced repatriation while families – cut off from communication to avoid Government retaliation – experience “immense suffering”. Member States must fulfill victims’ rights to reparation if Pyongyang fails to, she said, calling on countries where escapees reside to ensure their rights to medical and psychological care. In that same vein, she called on all Member States to contribute to the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture.
Human Rights Situation in Ukraine Resulting from Russian Federation's Aggression
Erik Møse, Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, noted that “Russian authorities have committed a wide array of violations of international human rights and international humanitarian law”. Recalling that the Commission had previously found that the use of torture by the Russian Federation was widespread and systematic, he said that it had now found evidence of torture in all the provinces of Ukraine that had come under Russian control, as well as in the detention facilities it had investigated in the Russian Federation, with additional common elements, including the recurrent use of sexual violence as a form of torture. Moreover, “Russian authorities denied medical access to detainees who were clearly in a poor state of health,” he reported, citing a former detainee’s account of medical personnel saying, “You ought to die anyway,” following inadequate treatment for a wound. Concluding that Russian Federation authorities have committed the crime against humanity of torture, he called for accountability by identifying and prosecuting the perpetrators — “an essential part of the sense of justice of the victims”.
Human Rights Situation in Russian Federation
Addressing the Russian Federation’s use of torture within its borders, Mariana Katzarova, Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in that country, said the crime against humanity is committed “to subjugate Russians by brute force”. In contrast to States’ obligations under the Convention Against Torture, the Russian Federation lacks federal legislation qualifying torture as a distinct offense. Instead, the scourge is prosecuted under lesser crimes such as “excess of authority” if at all, she said, spotlighting “alarming” instances of torture in the penitentiary system, including electric shocks to genitals — a method dubbed “a call to Putin” — and rape. Accountability for perpetrators is virtually non-existent, she underlined, calling on Moscow to engage with her mandate. States must support the pursuit of justice in accordance with universal jurisdiction. “We owe it to the countless victims who have been silenced, tortured, imprisoned or killed,” she said.
Human Rights Situation in Belarus
Anaïs Marin, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus, noted the increased isolation of that country. The State does not take recommendations from international organizations into account — some since the 1990s — resulting in a human rights situation that is “now worse than ever,” she said, calling on Member States to end the “total impunity” enjoyed by perpetrators of human rights violations in Belarus.
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