Today, the ICJ outlined the dire human rights and rule of law situation in Myanmar before the UN Human Rights Council during the interactive dialogue on the written update by the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The statement reads as follows:
“Madam President,
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) welcomes the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the rapidly deteriorating situation of Human Rights in Myanmar.
As the report of the OHCHR highlights thousands of people have already been unlawfully killed, displaced, subjected to enforced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary arrest and detention.
Those arrested and detained arbitrarily have been systematically denied access to a fair trial.
Continuous threats to lawyers, including of detention, deter them from representing their clients.
No possibility exists at the national level of accountability for gross human rights violations.
The recent calls of the National Unity Government (NUG) for a ‘defensive war’ and increasing IHL violations committed by the Tatmadaw in military operations in the ongoing armed conflicts make sustained monitoring by this Council ever more imperative.
The ICJ calls on the Council to ensure UNOHCHR’s continuous monitoring and reporting of the situation, support the work of the IIMM also by calling on member states to exercise universal jurisdiction in respect of cases committed in Myanmar and by calling for the UN Security Council to refer the situation of Myanmar to the ICC.
I thank you.”
Contact:
Massimo Frigo, ICJ UN Representative, e: massimo.frigo(a)icj.org, t: +41797499949
