Myanmar’s soldiers administered a coup d’etat in February by detaining de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other politicians after weeks of heightened tensions due to a disputed election.
A day after Myanmar’s junta formally charged civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other officials with corruption, the UN rights chief said that the violence was further escalating within the Southeast Asian country . Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations diplomat on Human Rights, warned on Friday that Myanmar has plunged into a “human rights catastrophe” since the military coup in February.
“In just over four months, Myanmar has gone from being a fragile democracy to a person's rights catastrophe...The military leadership is singularly liable for this crisis, and must be held to account,” Bachelet said during a statement.
Myanmar’s soldiers administered a coup d’état by detaining de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other politicians after weeks of heightened tensions due to a disputed election. The military, which ruled Myanmar for nearly five decades, again took control under a state of emergency for one year, triggering protests across the country and condemnation from world leaders.
Scores of pro-democracy protesters and youngsters are killed by Myanmar's military, the Tatmadaw, since the coup. Several media reports indicate a military build-up, especially in Kayah state within the east and Chin state within the west of the country.
Citing reports of the military using civilians as human shields, Bachelet said that state security forces have continued to use heavy weaponry, including airstrikes, against armed groups and against civilians and civilian objects, including Christian churches. Bachelet said she was deeply troubled by the reports of detainees being tortured, and of collective punishment of relations of activists.
“There appear to be no efforts towards de-escalation but rather a build-up of troops in key areas, contrary to the commitments the military made to ASEAN to cease the violence,” she added.
The UN rights commissioner appealed to accentuate regional diplomacy by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other influential States. Bachelet urged them to enforce the immediate cessation of violence and ongoing human rights violations. she is going to update the UN Human Rights Council on things in Myanmar on July 7.
Meanwhile, Myanmar’s ministry of data , now controlled by the military, has said that the anti-corruption commission has inspected corruption cases against the ex-state counsellor. “She was found guilty of committing corruption using her rank,” the ministry said on Thursday.
