Irrawaddy-Sept 12
The United Nations Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) reported a dramatic increase in the frequency and intensity of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Myanmar to the UN Human Rights Council on Monday. ”Last year I reported to this Council an increase in serious international crimes committed in the country. Tragically, the frequency and intensity of war crimes and crimes against humanity has only increased in recent months,” Nicholas Koumjian, head of the IIMM, told the council. The investigative body has seen more brazen aerial bombings and indiscriminate shelling, resulting in the deaths of innocent civilians including children, increased executions of captured combatants and civilians, and intentional burnings of homes and villages in the past year, he said. There has also been a rise in the number of arrests without due process and the IIMM has collected credible evidence that some detainees have been tortured, violated sexually and suffered from other forms of severe mistreatment, he said. The IIMM”s repeated requests for information and access have been ignored by the Myanmar military authorities, Koumjian added. According to the rights group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, at least 4,071 civilians have been killed and more than 24,700 individuals detained by the junta forces since the coup in February 2021. Data for Myanmar, a local monitoring group, said that as of July 31, the junta troops and its affiliated militia groups had burned down about 74, 850 civilian homes across the country. The junta has escalated massacres, aerial bombings, and arson attacks on civilians, rights groups agree. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/crimes-against-humanity-are-getting-more-brazen-in-myanmar-un-told.html
