The KNU released a report on March 27th titled “ Human Lives Lost Due to the War Crimes of the Myanmar Military”, which detailed the human rights violations that occurred in areas under KNU control between February 1st, 2021, when the military coup took place, and December 31st, 2022.
According to the report, there were over 7,500 clashes between KNU-affiliated forces and Military Council troops, and the Military Council committed close to 1,500 human rights violations following the coup.
The report also stated that over 200 local civilians were killed and more than 500 were injured as a result of various human rights violations committed by the Military Council in the KNU-controlled areas.
The report highlighted that apart from being used as “human shields”, over 1300 people were arrested without any apparent cause, and the majority of them have not been released to date. Many of the arrested individuals have not been heard of since their detention.
The reported also detailed that the Military Council’s shelling, indiscriminate shooting, and air raids resulted in the destruction of numerous structures, including 20 buildings, 6 hospitals, 13 schools, 8 monasteries and nunneries, 6 churches, and 882 homes.
The Burmese Junta has increased their military presence and operations in six of the seven districts under KNU’s control, leading to renewed clashes with the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). The only district exempt from this expansion was Hpa-An.
The report concluded that the KNU faced increasing belligerence from the Military Council as it became more involved in non-violent civil disobedience movements.
In the seven districts of KNU, the Military Council troops have been involved in multiple forms of human rights violations. These include targeted airstrikes and shelling on residential areas, arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings, exploitation of locals as human shields, coercion of porters into forced labor, and the destruction and pillaging of villages. These egregious acts are committed regularly against various groups, including ethnic minorities, children, disabled individuals, and innocent civilians, the report said.
The Military Council’s war crimes and targeted attacks on civilians have resulted in a significant increase in the number of locals fleeing from the Kawthoolei administrative area in KNU. Currently, the number of displaced individuals exceeds 365,000.
KNU’s report also stated that there is a critical need for immediate humanitarian aid to support the displaced individuals affected by the ongoing crises.
The Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (group of International Human Rights lawyer who have worked on UN-missions to Myanmar ) has issued a report on the on-going indictment against Myanmar senior generals at the ICC- International Criminal Court, in the case of ethnic cleansing and genocide directed at the ethnic Rohingya population.
This SAC-M legal council explains there are “ multiple routes to extend the ICC jurisdiction over all the crimes perpetrated against civilians since 2002 and particularly since the 2021 coup. They urge the ICC to expedite “the investigation of war crimes in Myanmar without further delay.”
