Human Lives Human Rights: As the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) marks its 55th anniversary , Rights groups remind the regional bloc of the failure of its five-point plan published in April 2021 to end the violence and increasing human rights violations in Myanmar.
Instead of implementing the agreement, Myanmar’s military has continued to perpetrate grave human rights violations against the population of 54 million.”
Earlier a report showed that police officers dressed as civilians, disguising themselves as fruit sellers and trishaw drivers, spy on anyone daring to express dissent.
In retaliation against activists, the military has raided their homes and arrested their family members.
Another report published by Amnesty International, revealed that the Myanmar military was committing war crimes by laying antipersonnel landmines on a massive scale in and around villages in Kayah State.
The military in he Myanmar uses torture tactics in detention, including inflicting sexual and gender-based violence and psychological torture.
They also committed enforced disappearances and subjected detainees to torture and other ill-treatment in detention centres.
In the latest example of its abusive treatment of the Myanmar people, the military executed four men in July after grossly unfair trails – the first executions since the 1980s – with more than 70 people on death row post-coup.
ASEAN must prove it is not a toothless body but act decisively to hold the Myanmar military to account for its atrocious human rights violations.
The military has decades of blood on its hands and will continue to trample on the lives and rights of millions of people in Myanmar if it is not made to face the consequences of its crimes.
ASEAN must swiftly adopt a more robust course of action towards the continuing atrocities – including executions following unfair trials, extrajudicial killings and torture committed by the Myanmar military – so that military leaders end the escalating violent repression they have unleashed since the February 2021 coup.
The Myanmar military has systematically cracked down on tens of thousands of peaceful protesters nationwide, since February 2021, forcing 700,000 people from their homes, killing over 2,000 people and arresting almost 15,000 individuals.
Rights groups urge ASEAN to demand immediate action from the Myanmar military, including the release of all those who are arbitrarily detained.
ASEAN must also address the non-refoulement of refugees or anybody else fleeing violence in Myanmar, facilitating desperately needed humanitarian assistance, and adding its voice to calls for a global arms embargo.
