On Tuesday, August 8, the UN Human Rights Council’s Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar said in its annual report that there was strong evidence that junta forces and its affiliated militias had committed brazen “war crimes” by indulging in “aerial bombing” and “disproportionate attacks on civilians.”
The report covers the period between July 2022 and June 2023 and incorporates evidence from 700 sources, including 200 eyewitnesses. “The military continues to carry out widespread and systematic attacks on the civilian population and the armed conflict substantially intensified,” it says.
There is strong evidence that the #Myanmar military & its affiliate militias are committing increasingly frequent & brazen war crimes, says the @UN_HRC-mandated Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar in its latest annual report.
PRESS RELEASE ➡️https://t.co/lenEesPqnv pic.twitter.com/onlbyF6fSy
— United Nations Human Rights Council (@UN_HRC) August 8, 2023
According to the report, the evidence indicates that the junta has been involved in three types of combat-related war crimes: (a) Targeted attacks on civilians using bombs, (b) killings of civilians during operations, and (c) intentional burning down of civilian dwellings.
“Every loss of life in Myanmar is tragic, but the devastation caused to whole communities through aerial bombardments and village burnings is particularly shocking,” said Nicholas Koumjian, the head of the mechanism.
“Our evidence points to a dramatic increase in war crimes and crimes against humanity in the country, with widespread and systematic attacks against civilians, and we are building case files that can be used by courts to hold individual perpetrators responsible,” he said.
This year’s annual report revealed there has been a brazen increase in mass executions of civilians. It also said “the evidence collected indicates that the fires were deliberately set by military forces on the ground or were caused by artillery strikes.”
The junta has justified aerial bombings, even those carried out on schools and monasteries, as part of counter-insurgency operations.
The UN mechanism underscores that preventing and penalizing war crimes perpetrated by subordinates is an obligation of military commanders, and failure to fulfill this responsibility could render the commanders criminally liable under international law.
The report remarked that “repeatedly ignoring such crimes may indicate that the higher authorities intended the commission of these crimes.”
The UN Human Rights Council created the investigative mechanism for Myanmar in 2018 with an agenda of preparing files for criminal prosecution and collecting evidence of crimes and violations of international law.
