Statement at the 51st Session of the UN Human Rights Council
Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Myanmar
Delivered by Kyaw Win
Thank you, Mr President, and thank you Special Rapporteur for the update.
Myanmar remains at crisis point in terms of human rights, especially the assault on civic freedoms. Both the UN and human rights groups have documented allegations of crime against humanity and war crimes perpetrated by the junta, with more than two thousand individuals unlawfully killed since the attempted coup in 2021.
Peaceful expression of dissent have been met with arbitrary arrest and detention by the junta. Criminalisation of activists, journalists and lawyers on fabricated charges ranging from ‘incitement’, sedition and terrorism has persisted. Political detainees have reported the frequent use of torture and extra-judicial executions in military bases, police stations and other places of detention. Burmese Muslims on the Thai-Burma border have been rendered stateless. The junta are consistently breaching ICJ provision measures.
Despite these documented crimes, impunity still persists and we call on the Council to ensure advancement of accountability.
Despite the appalling executions of four pro-democracy activists by the junta in August this year and the global outrage, more political prisoners are at risk of facing the death penalty and human rights violations have continued unabated. In this environment, civil society requires even more support and protection from the international community.
We ask the Special Rapporteur of strategies he has identified to enhance civic space protection inside the country, and particularly the role of UN agencies and UN member states in supporting both your mandate and supporting local civil society and human rights defenders.
Civic space in Myanmar is rated as "Repressed" by the CIVICUS Monitor