85 years old village woman from Ken Pyin is fleeing to Rathedaung by boat during the military clearance operation on June 27, 2020.

AN. Sittway, July 8, 2020.

 

Amnesty International (AI) releases a press statement today and calls for UN Security Council to take action against Myanmar military for war crimes and urges the council refer it to International Criminal Court (ICC).

“The atrocities have not stopped—in fact, the Myanmar military’s security is only getting more sophisticated. This relentless pattern of violation is clearly a matter for ICC. The Security Council must act,” the statement said. 

AI said it has collected evidences when Myanmar military was carrying out indiscriminate airstrikes and shelling over the populated villages in Rakhine and Chin states, dozens of civilians were killed, including women and children. 

 

It also said some houses were burned down in villages in Minbya and Paletwa townships, showing a couple of satellite imageries. 

 

Its interview on victims of cluster villagers whose family members were killed during the airstrikes is very terrible losses of poor and rural ethnic people. 

 

It also said Myanmar soldiers arrested and tortured villagers in custody when they were accused for having connection with Arakan Army. 

 

“Despite mounting international pressure on the military’s operations in the area, including at the International Court of Justice, the shocking testimonies we have collected show just how deep impunity continues to run with Myanmar military ranks,” said Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Regional Director. 

 

Arakanese community organizations based in Asia, Europe, and West issued a joint statement on July 7 and made similar call on the UN Security Council to adopt a resolution to take effective and concrete actions against the Myanmar military, including investigation of war crimes and crimes against humanity. 

 

The statement said Myanmar army has killed 270 civilians, wounded 552 residents, and arrested 574 villagers, and many more people are disappeared since the operation begun in 2019. 

 

It also said 233,451 civilians have been forced to displaced, which is 11.67% of Rakhine population of estimated 2 million residents. 

 

The statement wrote, “The violence and atrocities will never end in Rakhine State as long as the military is unpunished and the perpetrators are not held accountable to international law.”

 

“Our community urges the UN Security Council to investigate the perpetration of summary executions, arbitrary arrests, torture, disappeared, rape, arson, and forced relocations of communities by the Myanmar military and to take concrete actions against the military for war crimes and crimes against humanity,” said the statement. 

 

The global Araknese community also welcomed British government’s recent visa and financial restrictions on Myanmar armed forces’ commander in chief and deputy commander for their accountability of involving in crimes against Rohingya populations. The community encourages all UNSC members to follow the same suit. 

 

Last week, four of Myanmar soldiers ganged rape a 36 years old mother of 4 children in U Gar village in Rathedaung township when she and her daughter along with her mother-in-law were hiding in the bomb shelter at the night. She was forced to place in another hut in the same compound at gunpoint and then rapped. 

 

The victim said she wished to die for the inhumane rapped.