The Myanmar military has murdered civilians, and used them as human shields, in a series of atrocities in eastern Karenni State that may amount to war crimes, prominent human rights group Fortify Rights said in a new report published on Tuesday. The group says it documented attacks on churches, residential homes, camps for displaced people, and other non-military targets that took place in the state, also known as Kayah State, between May 2021 and January 2022. The report comes as foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations prepare to meet in Cambodia with no progress in a five-point consensus agreed with the military last April that was supposed to end the violence.
Fortify Rights said it was time the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) gave its support to a global arms embargo. “The Myanmar junta is murdering people with weapons procured on the global market, and that must stop,” Ismail Wolff, Regional Director at Fortify Rights said 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 strategic and sensible for ASEAN to support it.” The generals have resorted to force in an attempt to put down public opposition to its rule, cracking down on protests and stepping up attacks on anti-coup civilian militias and in ethnic minority areas where it has been embroiled in decades-long conflict with numerous armed groups.
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