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.

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