The Illegal Junta’s War on Humanity
On one hand, this speaks to the bigger picture of the junta’s systematic and widespread atrocity crimes, in particular shelling and airstrikes against civilians which resulted in large numbers of civilian deaths. On the other, by bombarding villages and slating civilians in cold blood, the junta has consistently shown total disregard for human lives of the Myanmar people. The junta ensures that affected, vulnerable communities are well rid of medical care, in addition to its strategy to block humanitarian aid delivery, which is necessary to alleviate their suffering.
This month, the Myanmar military junta has used airstrikes to target several healthcare facilities in Shan and Kachin States, and Magway Region. Since the attempted coup, healthcare facilities have been frequent targets of the military junta’s violent attacks and looting. Healthcare workers have been regularly subject to harassment, arrest or killing by the illegal military junta. This is one form of the junta’s warfare against humanity: to deprive civilians of medical care, food, and shelter, to exacerbate the suffering of the people of Myanmar. The worsening humanitarian crisis calls for immediate and substantive actions to alleviate people’s suffering and save lives.
One of the most recent attacks on healthcare facilities was on April 25, 2023, when the junta launched an aerial attack on a hospital in Saung Pwe Village in Pekhon Township, southern Shan State. The hospital has been providing medical care for internally displaced persons (IDPs), including women and children, who sought refuge from the junta’s brutal attacks in their area. The airstrikes destroyed the hospital and injured five people including two doctors. Under the junta’s gruesome attack, a civilian performed a daring rescue of a newborn baby who is only three days old. The baby is now being cared for by the Kayan Rescue Committee-KRC.
Prior to this attack, on April 18, 2023, the junta carried out another aerial attack on a community healthcare center in Ma Gyi Kan Village in Myaing Township, Magway Region. The violent assault began with two helicopters indiscriminately firing sub-machine guns and rockets at the village to block escape routes, while simultaneously deploying a ground attack on the medical center. This village clinic, with a 50-patient capacity and a delivery room, was run by local health workers who have been participating in the Civil Disobedience Movement, to provide the much-needed healthcare for the community who have constantly suffered from the junta’s atrocities. At the time of the attack, patients were being treated at the clinic. The attack shattered the whole building, destroying an x-ray machine worth nearly $24,000, and killed a 15-year-old child. Junta troops also demolished civilian properties, including cars, motorbikes, and houses. They further held over 100 villagers hostage, including patients, and unlawfully arrested and detained around 15 villagers when they left the village. Again in the same month, on April 5, 2023, a hospital and other buildings were destroyed in an airstrike launched in Shwegu Township, Kachin State.
The Myanmar military targets not only medical facilities but also healthcare workers, who are among the most frequently attacked in Myanmar ever since the failed coup. The Ministry of Health of the National Unity Government of Myanmar reported that, from February 1, 2021, to February 28, 2023, a total of 70 health workers have been viciously killed and 836 have been arrested. The military junta also reportedly carried out at least 188 raids on healthcare facilities, with at least 59 ambulances destroyed and 49 looted. The military junta’s constant attacks of healthcare providers, facilities, transport, and patients have proven to be gross violations of international humanitarian law which binds the junta, although not a government, as an armed group to ensure protection of medical personnel during conflict. On one hand, this speaks to the bigger picture of the junta’s systematic and widespread atrocity crimes, in particular shelling and airstrikes against civilians which resulted in large numbers of civilian deaths. On the other, by bombarding villages and slating civilians in cold blood, the junta has consistently shown total disregard for human lives of the Myanmar people. The junta ensures that affected, vulnerable communities are well rid of medical care, in addition to its strategy to block humanitarian aid delivery, which is necessary to alleviate their suffering.
The role of healthcare workers in the Spring Revolution is extraordinary. Doctors and nurses were one of the first sectors of Spring Revolution’s Civil Disobedience Movement to defy the junta’s attempt to rule by leaving junta-run hospitals. Even in these desperate times, the provision of improvised healthcare by thousands of volunteers across the country to lessen people’s anguish and harsh living conditions of displaced and affected people is vital to the Spring Revolution. In parallel, as the New Humanitarian reported, the junta itself obstructs public access to junta-operated hospitals in the limited areas under its control. Local-led healthcare providers, alongside community-based and civil society organizations, have been first responders to provide humanitarian support to communities in dire need, especially in emergency situations. They have been able to immediately and effectively reach many sites that UN agencies and international and national NGOs cannot gain access from the junta. The military junta’s intention has never been to alleviate civilians’ misery, but rather to further the suffering of people by depriving them of medical care and other humanitarian needs.
Over the past two years of the failed coup, the junta has repeatedly shown its indifference to the protection of civilians and healthcare workers and facilities through evidence of its intensifying attacks. Rather than rhetoric from the international community, the dire humanitarian situation necessitates immediate and concrete actions to halt the violence and provide essential aid for people’s needs. This calls for the international community to materialize a UN Security Council resolution under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which includes a global arms embargo on Myanmar. Another concrete action that states can take is to ensure its private and state-related companies cut any involvement in the supply of aviation fuel which feeds the junta’s increasing airstrikes. Moreover, ASEAN must move beyond the Five-Point Consensus, which it has consistently failed to implement over the past two years. In particular, it must change course on the Fourth point, which pledges to provide humanitarian assistance through the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre). Civil society has repeatedly expressed serious concern about the capacity of the AHA Centre to address the humanitarian crisis in conflict setting instigated by political violence. Furthermore, the independence of the AHA Centre cannot be established as its Governing Board still includes the Myanmar military junta – the perpetrator of the ongoing atrocity crimes and worsening humanitarian crisis. Instead, ASEAN and the wider international community must pivot to an approach grounded on humanity and protection of civilians: channel and scale up humanitarian assistance through frontline civil society and ethnic aid providers. Such support for medical workers and aid providers is paramount to lessening the suffering of the people on the ground.
_______________________
[1] One year following the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, the former military junta changed the country’s name from Burma to Myanmar overnight. Progressive Voice uses the term ‘Myanmar’ in acknowledgement that most people of the country use this term. However, the deception of inclusiveness and the historical process of coercion by the former State Peace and Development Council military regime into usage of ‘Myanmar’ rather than ‘Burma’ without the consent of the people is recognized and not forgotten. Thus, under certain circumstances, ‘Burma’ is used.
Resources from the past week
Statements and Press Releases
By 546 civil society organizations
By All Burma Federation of Trade Unions
British Companies: Stop Insuring Aviation Fuel Deliveries to Burma
By Burma Campaign UK
Myanmar Junta: End Attacks on Civilians, Comply with World Court Rulings
By Fortify Rights
By Justice For Myanmar
Heineken, Carlsberg and ThaiBev tax payments bankrolling Myanmar junta
By Justice For Myanmar
53rd International Earth Day Statement
By Kachin National Forum
By Myanmar Industries Craft & Services Trade Unions Federation
National Unity Government: Ministry of Health Announcement (3/2023)
By National Unity Government of Myanmar
အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရက ကရင်နီအမျိုးသားနှစ်သစ်ကူးနေ့သို့ ပေးပို့သည့် သဝဏ်လွှာ
By National Unity Government of Myanmar
By National Unity Government of Myanmar
“ဝ” ပြည်နယ် ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးတည်ဆောက်မှု (၃၄) နှစ်ပြည့်သို့ ပေးပို့သော ဂုဏ်ပြုသဝဏ်လွှာ
By National Unity Government (Ministry of Defence)
By National Unity Government (Ministry of Defence)
By National Unity Government (Ministry of Defence)
By National Unity Government (Ministry of International Cooperation Myanmar)
The Statement of Peace Process Steering Team (PPST) Meeting (02/ 2023)
By NCA-S EAO
Newspaper editor is paranoid Burmese junta’s latest media victim
By Reporters Without Borders
Reverend Samson’s Prison Sentence
By United States Department of State
Reports
May Pazigyi Be Blessed With Merits Shared By The Whole Country. – Issue 100
By Myanmar Peace Monitor
လူ့အခွင့်အရေးဆိုင်ရာ သတင်းလွှာ အတွဲ(၁)၊ အမှတ် (၃၂)
By National Unity Government (Ministry of Human Rights)
By National Unity Government (Ministry of Human Rights)
By Transnational Institute
Conflict Dynamics between Bangladeshi Host Communities and Rohingya Refugees
By United States Institute of Peace
Progressive Voice is a participatory, rights-based policy research and advocacy organization that was born out of Burma Partnership. Burma Partnership officially ended its work on October 10, 2016 transitioning to a rights-based policy research and advocacy organization called Progressive Voice. For further information, please see our press release “Burma Partnership Celebrates Continuing Regional Solidarity for Burma and Embraces the Work Ahead for Progressive Voice.”
