The United Nations Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) reported a dramatic increase in the frequency and intensity of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Myanmar to the UN Human Rights Council on Monday.
‘”Last year I reported to this Council an increase in serious international crimes committed in the country. Tragically, the frequency and intensity of war crimes and crimes against humanity has only increased in recent months,” Nicholas Koumjian, head of the IIMM, told the council.
The investigative body has seen more brazen aerial bombings and indiscriminate shelling, resulting in the deaths of innocent civilians including children, increased executions of captured combatants and civilians, and intentional burnings of homes and villages in the past year, he said. There has also been a rise in the number of arrests without due process and the IIMM has collected credible evidence that some detainees have been tortured, violated sexually and suffered from other forms of severe mistreatment, he said.
The IIMM”s repeated requests for information and access have been ignored by the Myanmar military authorities, Koumjian added.
According to the rights group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, at least 4,071 civilians have been killed and more than 24,700 individuals detained by the junta forces since the coup in February 2021.
Data for Myanmar, a local monitoring group, said that as of July 31, the junta troops and its affiliated militia groups had burned down about 74, 850 civilian homes across the country. The junta has escalated massacres, aerial bombings, and arson attacks on civilians, rights groups agree.
Nicholas Koumjian said the IIMM had collected evidence from over 700 sources, including documents, photographs, videos, geospatial imagery, social media posts and other open-source material. It also interviewed around 200 survivors, eyewitnesses and defectors and launched a dedicated inquiry into financial information related to entities and individuals that have contributed to, or benefited from, the serious international crimes committed in Myanmar as well as weapon supply chains.
He said that he and his group won’t simply place evidence in storage, but intend to use it to facilitate justice and accountability in courts and tribunals willing and able to prosecute those responsible for crimes against humanity.
The IIMM is continuing to investigate earlier crimes, particularly those committed during the 2016 and 2017 clearance operations against the Rohingya in Rakhine State, including the dispossession of land, homes and businesses, Koumjian said.
Currently, the IIMM is sharing information and evidence with three ongoing proceedings focused on crimes committed against the Rohingya at the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court and in Argentina, he explained.
“The Myanmar people are suffering deeply from the effects of these ongoing horrific crimes. I would like them to know that the Mechanism is committed to pursuing justice for them and focusing all our efforts to ensure that the perpetrators will one day be held to account,” he said.
