47^th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council

Item 4: Interactive dialogue on the oral update of the High Commissioner on the situation of human rights in Myanmar (HRC res. 46/21)

Delivered by Khin Ohmar on behalf of Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)

6 July 2021

Madam President, Madam High Commissioner,

More than five months after the attempted military coup, the Myanmar military has continued its murderous rampage throughout the country to assert itself as the legitimate government against the will of the people of Myanmar.

The junta has killed over 890 people at protests since 1 February, while over 5000 people are in detention.[1] Abductions of family members of protest leaders and activists evading arrest by the junta have become yet another feature of its brutality. These include the detention of Su Htet Wine, a four-year old girl, her 17-year-old sister, Theint Sandi Soe, who is seriously ill, and their mother, to force her father, a protest leader, to turn himself in. While Su Htet Wine has been released, her sister and their mother remain in detention in Mogok Town Police Station, Mandalay Division.

Women and girls continue to bear the brunt of the military’s nationwide terror campaign. Survivor accounts and recent reports point to alarming levels of sexual violence, in particular sexual assault, torture, and physical and verbal abuse against women and LGBTIQ persons in detention.

Intensified military assaults in Kachin, Karen, Karenni, Shan and Chin States have led to widespread displacements and possible crimes against humanity and war crimes, and renewed fears of sexual violence against ethnic minorities.

Myanmar military’s long-established pattern of use of rape and sexual violence as weapons of war in armed conflicts is well documented. In 2019, the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar found that “sexual violence was a hallmark of the Tatmadaw’s military operations”, pointing to evidence that suggests systematic and widespread sexual and gender-based violence against Rohingya women and girls, transgender persons as well as boys and men.

We urge the High Commissioner to closely monitor the disproportionate violence and brutality inflicted on women, children, LGBTIQ persons, and women human rights defenders by the Myanmar military.

Myanmar people have clearly rejected the junta. We urge the Council and the international community to do the same and take all necessary steps to end the ongoing assault on the people of Myanmar and to hold the junta accountable for its grave crimes. Thank you.

[1] https://aappb.org/?p=16312

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