Geneva: Today marks five years since more than 700,000 Rohingya women, children and men were forced to flee Myanmar for Bangladesh – and Myanmar’s human rights catastrophe continues to worsen, with the military (the Tatmadaw) maintaining military operations in Kayah and Kayin in the southeast; Chin state in the northwest; and Sagaing and Magway regions in the Bamar heartland.
The use of air power and artillery against villages and residential areas has intensified, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, told reporters here today. Recent spikes in violence in Rakhine State, she said, also seemed to indicate that the last fairly stable area of the country may not avoid a resurgence of armed conflict. Rohingya communities have frequently been caught between the Tatmadaw and Arakan Army fighters or have been targeted directly in operations. Over 14 million need humanitarian assistance.
“We continue to document gross human rights violations and serious violations of international humanitarian law on a daily basis, including repression against protesters and attacks against civilians that may amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes,” Bachelet, whose tenure ends on August 31, 2022, said. She recounted her conversation with Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar last week. “One teacher I met told me he had earned distinctions in all his classes at school in Myanmar and had dreamed of being a doctor,” she said and narrated that instead, he has spent the past five years in a refugee camp, having had to flee his country – because he is Rohingya. “I still cry at night sometimes when I remember my dream,” he told me, adding that “my Buddhist friends are now doctors in Myanmar.”
She urged the international community to intensify pressure on the military to stop its campaign of violence against the people of Myanmar, to insist on the prompt restoration of civilian rule, and accountability for violations committed by security forces.
Bachelet also mentioned that yesterday marked six months since Russia’s armed attack on Ukraine, and said her office had documented at least 5,587 civilians killed and 7,890 injured in Ukraine. Of these casualties, nearly 1,000 were children. Besides, 6.8 million people had to flee their country while millions of others were internally displaced. Referring to hostilities conducted close to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, she said the Zaporizhzhia plant needs to be immediately demilitarized.
“I call on the Russian President to halt armed attack against Ukraine,” she said and added that both parties must respect, at all times and in all circumstances, international human rights law and international humanitarian law.
“The international community must insist on accountability for the many serious violations documented, some of which may amount to war crimes,” she said.
Top photo: A child refugee from the Rohingya community
– global bihari bureau
