Irrawaddy-Sept 26
Pope Francis on Sunday appealed for greater international attention to the plight of Myanmar’s 54 million people, urging that they not be forgotten and noting that they have endured horrific violence by the junta amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity for nearly two years since the coup. His latest plea on Sunday followed the junta’s brutal helicopter attack on a school in Depayin, Sagaing Region, which killed around 11 children and injured more than a dozen during airstrikes and a ground raid. More children were also reportedly killed in junta air strikes across the country last week. Speaking at the conclusion of a Holy Mass in the southern Italian city of Matera, the Pope said he was thinking of Myanmar, where violence continues to cause death and displacement. “This week I heard the cry of grief at the death of children in a bombed school,” he said. “May the cry of these little ones not go unheard! These tragedies must not happen!” the Pope added. Despite the scale of the junta’s atrocities against civilians since the coup, including increasing brutality against children, the junta has gone unpunished by the international community, including the UN. The lack of practical action or support offered for the popular resistance movement against the regime has left many in Myanmar feeling abandoned. Highlighting the Myanmar people’s disappointment over the international response to their country’s crisis, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Tom Andrews said at a UN Human Rights Council meeting last Wednesday in Geneva that “many in Myanmar have come to the conclusion that the world has forgotten them, or doesn’t care.” Echoing the Myanmar people’s frustration, Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has also expressed his disappointment over the UN’s lack of action on the Myanmar crisis. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/pope-francis-urges-world-to-focus-on-myanmar-peoples-struggle.html
