'No sign' of end to brutal crackdown in Myanmar: UN
May 12, 2021
Geneva [Switzerland], May 12 : One hundred days since the Myanmar military coup, the "brutal" repression of protesters has continued, despite all international efforts to end the violence, the UN rights office (OHCHR) said on Tuesday (local time).
Addressing a media briefing, the OHCHR spokesperson Rupert Colville said, "The military authorities are showing no sign of letting up in their brutal crackdown on opponents in a bid to consolidate their hold on power."
"While much of the world's attention has been on the number of peaceful protesters and bystanders killed by the security forces, the authorities continue to commit other gross human rights violations against the people of Myanmar", added Colville.
The OHCHR spokesperson called for greater international involvement to prevent the human rights situation there from deteriorating further.
He urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to "react quickly and to intensify its actions" to ensure Myanmar's military leadership adheres to the commitments it made in the five-point plan agreed at the regional bloc's meeting of leaders on April 24, in Jakarta.
As of 10 May, at least 782 people have been killed as security forces used unnecessary, disproportionate and lethal force, to suppress demonstrations and other forms of public participation, since the military coup on 1 February, UN News reported.
Over the past month, the military leadership has issued more than 1,561 arrest warrants against civil society activists, trade unionists, journalists, academics, public personalities and online voices, driving the vast majority of them underground.
