Decades of Impunity Paved Way for Myanmar’s Coup
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2021
MYANMAR’S MILITARY
OVERTHROWS THE
CIVILIAN GOVERNMENT
AND LAUNCHES A
BLOODY NATIONWIDE
CRACKDOWN.
BUT THIS IS NOT THE COUNTRY’S
FIRST MILITARY COUP.
FOR THE PAST 60 YEARS,
GENERATIONS HAVE SUFFERED
WIDESPREAD AND GRAVE ABUSES
BY MILITARY LEADERS SEEKING TO MAINTAIN POWER
AT THE EXPENSE OF BASIC RIGHTS
AND SO FAR, THE GENERALS HAVE ENJOYED
COMPLETE IMPUNITY FOR THEIR CRIMES.
1962
GENERAL U NE WIN
IMPOSES CATASTROPHIC
AUTHORITARIAN REGIME
DECADES OF REPRESSION FOLLOW
MASS UPRISINGS CRUSHED
SAFFRON REVOLUTION SUPPRESSED
IN ETHNIC AREAS
THE MILITARY USES
SCORCHED EARTH STRATEGIES,
TO INSTILL TERROR IN
CIVILIAN POPULATIONS.
2017
MILITARY FORCES PERPETRATE A CAMPAIGN OF
EXECUTIONS AND RAPE AGAINST THE ETHNIC ROHINGYA
THE RESPONSE FROM THE
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
IS WEAK.
THE GENERALS RESPONSIBLE FOR WAR CRIMES
AND CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
HAVE NOT BEEN HELD ACCOUNTABLE.
PROTESTERS ARE RISKING THEIR LIVES
FOR FREEDOM AND JUSTICE
GOVERNMENTS NEED TO SHOW THE PEOPLE OF MYANMAR
THAT THEY ARE NOT ALONE IN THAT FIGHT.
THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL
SHOULD URGENTLY
BAN ARM SALES
TO MYANMAR
AND REFER THE
SITUATION IN MYANMAR TO THE
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT.
Police and soldiers have killed more than 1,300 people and arrested more than 10,000 protesters, journalists, and others in Myanmar. The methodical and systematic post-coup abuses, like those inflicted on the Rohingya, amount to crimes against humanity. The roots of the coup and the bloodshed that’s followed lie plainly in the impunity that the military has enjoyed since first taking power in 1962.