Regime commits 45 human rights violations in 10 days: rights group

By Admin 05 Jun 2024

DMG Newsroom
5 June 2024, Sittwe

Myanmar’s military regime committed 45 human rights violations in 13 regions and states across the country over a 10-day period from May 22-31, the Network for Human Rights Documentation – Burma said in a statement on June 4.

Tuesday’s statement broke down the 45 human rights violations as such: three each in Sagaing and Ayeyarwaddy regions and Kachin and Kayah states; five each in Arakan State and Mandalay and Yangon regions; one each in Kayin State and Tanintharyi Region; six in Bago Region; four each in Magway Region and Chin State; and two in Shan State.

The regime’s human rights violations took several forms, including airstrikes, shellings, gunfire, arson attacks, arbitrary arrests and use of civilians as human shields, the statement added.

“Junta jet fighters fly over the sky on a daily basis. We live in fear as the regime targets civilian areas,” said a local woman in Ponnagyun Township, Arakan State.

Most airstrikes were carried out in Sagaing and Magway regions, and Arakan, Chin and Mon states, during the 10-day period, the statement said.

The Arakkha Army (AA) said on Sunday that more than 170 junta soldiers, members of the Arakan Liberation Party/Arakan Liberation Army and Muslim conscripts raided Byaing Phyu Village in Sittwe Township and arrested anyone they could find, including children and women. It was the beginning of an unfolding massacre. On Tuesday, the AA updated its accounting of the Byaing Phyu death toll, saying 76 were killed; the vast majority men.

Social organisations, human rights groups and non-state governing entities including the AA and NUG have condemned the Sittwe massacre. Myanmar’s military regime has denied slaughtering dozens of civilians in Byaing Phyu Village, calling the alleged massacre a complete fabrication.

“The Sittwe massacre was a horrific human rights violation by the war-losing regime. The regime’s perpetration of such massacres amounts to genocide. The regime, which is suffering from all sides, will continue to carry out such mass killings. It is important to make the regime’s human rights violations known internationally,” said a human rights activist in Arakan State.

The junta has been increasingly targeting civilian populations as it loses ground on multiple fronts across the country, perhaps most starkly in Arakan State over recent months.