The ICJ today denounced before the UN Human Rights Council the systematic impunity enjoyed by the military junta and other members of the military for gross human rights violations against many of Myanmar’s ethnic and religious minorities.
The oral statement of the ICJ at the interactive dialogue on the report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights of Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar reads as follows:
“Mr President,
The International Commission of Jurists calls attention to the systematic impunity enjoyed by the ruling junta and members of the military for gross human rights violations amounting to crimes against humanity and the mass expulsion of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim population. The persecution continues unabated. Since the Council last met, the SAC has demonstrated in countless ways that it will continue to use the legal system as a weapon to harass, suppress, and persecute minorities.
In October last year, the SAC passed the Organization Registration Law which effectively criminalizes human rights work and is being used arbitrarily to target organizations working to protect the rights of religious and ethnic minorities. In February, the Political Party Registration Law was passed, imposing nearly insurmountable requirements for parties that represent ethnic minorities.
Martial law has been declared in 40 additional townships in the primarily ethnic minority regions of Chin, Kachin, Karen, Karreni, Sagaing, Mon State, in addition to Yangon and Mandalay. In these areas, the junta uses military courts to try civilians in summary trials that lack the most basic rights guarantees, while simultaneously issuing life sentences and the death penalty without the right to appeal.
Mr. High Commissioner, what further can the Council take to protect the persecuted ethnic minorities in Myanmar?
I thank you.”
Contact:
Mandira Sharma, Senior International Legal Adviser, [email protected]
Raquel Saavedra, International Legal Adviser, [email protected]