Stronger international action needed to change situation in Myanmar: UN expert

GENEVA

A UN expert warned on Wednesday that "turning the tide" in Myanmar requires stronger international action as the military junta escalates attacks on civilians.

"The steady decline of Myanmar’s military junta, driven by significant battlefield losses and widespread citizen opposition, has led it to escalate of attacks on civilians, underscoring the need for stronger, coordinated international action," Tom Andrews, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, told the Human Rights Council in his speech.

Andrews called for an end to "appeasement and engagement with the junta without conditions" and added: "Going forward, the first condition must be to stop the killing."

He underlined that the past five months have seen a marked escalation of attacks on civilians "with airstrikes against civilian targets increasing fivefold."

"Now, it has launched a program of forced military recruitment, pushing young people to go into hiding, flee the country, or join resistance forces – young people who are unwilling to be drafted into the junta’s campaign of brutality," he warned.

Despite provisional measures handed down by the International Court of Justice in the genocide case brought by the Gambia, he said, systematic human rights violations against the Rohingya, including these attacks, continue "unabated."

"Those who have bet on the junta to restore order and stability in Myanmar have made a losing bet. The junta is the principal driver of violence, instability, economic decline, and lawlessness in the country," the special rapporteur said.

Andrews warned that the chaos in Myanmar could spill into the region and the world.

He urged the international community to provide greater support "until the junta’s atrocities are brought to an end."

Myanmar has been under junta rule since February 2021 and the military, locally known as Tatmadaw, has faced severe resistance from ethnic groups in many regions of the country.

At least three ethnic armed groups, which united under the so-called Brotherhood Alliance, have been fighting the junta regime to take control in the northern parts of Myanmar since late October.

The groups are attacking junta forces, which rule the Buddhist-majority southeast Asian nation, capturing many towns and junta outposts.

Many people have been reported killed during the attacks.