Myanmar coup: Human rights group says military committed war crimes in Karenni

The junta in Myanmar remains to be in control of the country since the coup last year. A human rights group released a report revealing that the military has committed war crimes in the eastern Karenni state.

Al Jazeera reports human rights group Fortify Rights published a report Tuesday detailing that there is proof that the Myanmar military committed atrocities in the eastern Karenni State that can potentially amount to war crimes. The group said it documented the Myanmar military’s attacks on churches, homes, camps for displaced people, and other non-military targets that took place in the area. The attacks all took place between May 2021 and January 2022.

The group said that during those attacks, at least 61 civilians were killed. Fortify Rights then urged ASEAN to support a global arms embargo following the revelations found in the report.

“The Myanmar junta is murdering people with weapons procured on the global market, and that must stop,” said Fortify Rights regional director Ismail Wolff in a statement. “Clear and definitive action is needed to compel the Myanmar junta to rethink its attacks on civilians. The UN Security Council must urgently impose a global arms embargo on the Myanmar military and it would be sensible and strategic for ASEAN to support it.”

This comes as the foreign ministers of ASEAN countries are set to meet in Cambodia without any breakthrough in the five-point consensus that was agreed upon with the junta in April that was meant to end the violence. Over 1,000 people have already been killed from the brutal crackdown imposed by the junta since it staged a coup against the country’s elected government.

Previously, the military celebrated the country’s 75th Union Day with the junta chief Min Aung Hlaing issuing a pardon order on 814 prisoners. To mark the holiday, the Myanmar military held a parade with hundreds of soldiers marching alongside civil servants waving national flags and with troupes performing dances.

Those who were pardoned were mostly from the biggest province of Yangon, according to the military’s spokesperson. There was no mention of those who were pardoned included Australian academic Sean Turnell, who has been detained by the junta for more than a year.