See the full debate on UN WebTV. LRWC and IBAHRI joint statement at 02:26:49
Organization: Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada
Item: Item 4: Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar
Date: 29 June 2022
Speaker: Renée Mulligan
Oral Statement to the 50th Session of the UN Human Rights Council from Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada (LRWC), NGO in special consultative status
Myanmar: Take urgent measures to halt the military junta’s atrocity crimes
Mr. President,
Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada and the International Bar Association Human Rights Institute, appreciate the Special Rapporteur’s report that the Myanmar military junta’s attacks on the peoples of Myanmar likely constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes..[1] We condemn the junta’s ongoing gross and systematic violations and its destruction of the rule of law.[2]
Since the February 2021 coup, Myanmar’s military and police have reportedly killed more than 2,000[3] civilians including at least 382 children.[4] Hundreds of children are also among more than 11,200 people arbitrarily detained without adequate legal representation or fair trials, and 74 people have been unlawfully sentenced to the death penalty, including two children. At least 27 jurists as well as human rights defenders, journalists, and political opponents are currently arbitrarily detained[5] – with numerous reports of enforced disappearances and severe torture and ill-treatment including sexual violence. Since the coup, more than 700,000 have been displaced by junta forces.[6]
We call on this Council to take urgent measures to ensure accountability for perpetrators and remedy for victims. We call on the international community to urge a Security Council’s referral to the International Criminal Court, as well as an arms embargo, and to use all possible diplomatic channels to ensure that P5 members do not use veto powers to perpetuate impunity for atrocity crimes.
Thank you.
[1] Conference Room Paper of the Special Rapporteur, “Losing a Generation: How the military junta is attacking Myanmar’s children and stealing their future.” A/HRC/50/CRP.1, 13 June 2022, https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/2022-06/A_HRC_50_CRP1_EN.docx.
[2] Myanmar: A year after military takeover, no rule of law or judicial independence, International Commission of Jurists, 10 February 2022, https://www.icj.org/myanmar-a-year-after-military-takeover-no-rule-of-law-or-judicial-independence/.
[3] Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), https://aappb.org/?lang=en
[4] A/HRC/50/CRP.1, supra note 1. The Special Rapporteur’s Conference Room Paper notes that the junta’s relentless targeting of civilians and rampant human rights violations have contributed to widespread internal displacement. As of 23 May 2022, according to UN statistics provided to the Special Rapporteur (9 June 2022), there were more than one million internationally displaced persons in Myanmar, of whom more than 700,000 had been displaced by junta forces since the coup, including more than 250,000 children.
[5] One judge and 26 lawyers are recorded detained by AAPP, https://airtable.com/shrXiq3K1879QmNNB/tblC5yh720x2FBSJ5
[6] A/HRC/50/CRP.1, supra note 1.
