The head of a United Nations team investigating human rights abuses in Myanmar has said that the scope and scale of alleged international crimes taking place in Myanmar “broadened dramatically” during the past year, as the military sought to assert its control in the wake of the February 2021 coup.
The UN established the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) in 2018 to investigate the military crackdown in northwestern Rakhine State that sent hundreds of thousands of mostly Muslim Rohingya across the border into Bangladesh and is now the subject of a genocide case at the International Court of Justice.
Referring to findings in the IIMM’s recent annual report, the IIMM's head, Nicholas Koumjian, told the UN's Human Rights Council that there was ample indication that since the military takeover, crimes had been committed “on a scale and in a manner that constitutes a widespread and systematic attack against a civilian population” and that the “geographic scope” of the suspected crimes and “nature of the criminality” had expanded.
The generals have dismissed allegations of abuse in its post-coup crackdown, claiming it is fighting against “terrorists,”a label it has attached to anyone opposed to the regime, including the government set up by elected politicians who were removed from office by the military.
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