Myanmar: The violation of human, civil and labor rights by the military government continues

On February 1, 2021, the Myanmar military seized power, declared a state of emergency, and arrested all levels of the democratically elected civilian government. Shortly after, the Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population announced that 16 unregistered unions and civil society organizations were operating as “illegal labor organizations”.

Since then, unions and civil organizations that serve workers and migrants in that country have been subject to arbitrary arrests, detentions, violenceraids on homes and offices, seizure of equipment, threats, interrogations and harassment, warned the International Labor Organization (ILO) in a report released this Wednesday.

Abuse and persecution substantially limit the ability of these groups to operate, which, however, they persevere in their work with adjustments to their way of working in an attempt to improve the safety of its members.

The study cites as an example the story of a leader who attests to raids and destruction of property in the homes of the leaders of his union and who explains that currently carry out their tasks hidden in areas controlled by armed organizations of ethnic minorities to avoid arrest.

According to the ILO study, unions and civil organizations have had a determining role in the protection and advancement of labor rights in Myanmar for the past ten years and now face the risk of disappearing.

Accept abuse, the only option to keep your job

The report points out that, in the wake of the military coup, the work environment has become one in which workers have to accept any abuse if they want to keep their jobs without any possibility of negotiating or forming new labor organizations.

For counter existential threat to civic space and worker organizing In Myanmar, the ILO called on the international community to increase its flexibility and response capacity, granting ample and unrestricted financing to persecuted organizations.

“The international community must support to these organizations to help them survive and continue their vital work,” said Panudda Boonpala, ILO Deputy Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific.

© UNOCHA/Vincent Tremeau

The Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox Bazar is one of the largest in the world and is home to thousands of Rohingya who fled violence in Myanmar.

Five years after the beginning of a genocide

On the other hand, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar* He recalled that on a day like today five years ago, Myanmar forces began a genocidal attack against Rohingya men, women and children in Rakhine state.

In a statement, Thomas Andrews urged the world to do more to force the perpetrators of these atrocities. to render accounts and do justice to the Rohingya inside and outside of Myanmar.

The expert recalled that on the night of August 24, 2017, a series of attacks began that lasted weeks and resulted in the widespread and selective killing of Rohingya civilians, committing acts of systematic sexual violence and looting, and burning and destruction of entire villages.

Myanmar forces killed thousands of Rohingya and forced more than 700,000 to flee to Bangladesh to save their lives.

Andrews considered that it is high time that the international community as a whole recognize those attacks as genocide. “It’s time to call him by his name,” he said, lamenting that the Burmese army has yet to be held accountable for such a heinous crime.

He added that the attacks on the Rohingya minority have lasted for years and that the army has gone beyond the abuses against this group, imprisoning and executing defenders of democracy and human rights and elected leaders “while committing even more heinous crimes.” against the people of Myanmar”.

UNHCR/Roger Arnold

Rohingya refugees cross the border from Myanmar into Bangladesh.

International solidarity is urgent

“It is essential that, once and for all, the international community hold the Myanmar military accountable for its atrocitiesAndrews emphasized.

The rapporteur gave an account of his visit to Sittwe, a place that was referred to as “a concentration camp or ghetto” where more than 120,000 Rohingya are confined, living in hopelessness and despair.

Additionally, more than a million Rohingya survivors are in Bangladesh, in camps in Cox’s Bazaar and Bhasan Char.

These people cannot return to their homes and suffer from confinement and overcrowdingoften lack security and cannot earn a living, the expert added.

In this context, Andrews urged the international community to strengthen support for the Rohingya living in Bangladesh through a financing that allows them to guarantee access to humanitarian services, medical care and education of quality until they can return home.

He also asked for solidarity with that community so that justice is done to them and they rebuild their lives.

“The international community must do its part and promptly refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Courtwhile exerting maximum pressure through economic and diplomatic means on the military regime”, he concluded.

* The Special Rapporteurs are part of the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN human rights system, is the general name for the independent investigation and monitoring mechanisms established by the Council to address specific country situations or thematic issues around the world. The experts of the Special Procedures work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent of any government and organization and act in their individual capacity.