Amnesty International Urges UNSC To Take Myanmar To ICC For Military Abuses

BACKGROUND

• Amnesty International urged the UN Security Council to take action against Myanmar for military abuses.
• Amnesty urged that Myanmar should be taken to the International Criminal Court under the charges of indiscriminate firing at civilians in the continuing conflict with armed Arkan rebels.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL'S OBSERVATIONS

• "There are no signs of the conflict between the Arakan Army and the Myanmar military abating – and civilians continue to bear the brunt," said Ming Yu Hah, Amnesty International's Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns.
• Amnesty International is also concerned at recent reports of an increased presence of Myanmar military troops along the Myanmar-Bangladesh border. Images of antipersonnel landmines recently found in a civilian area were analyzed by Amnesty's weapons expert and identified as the MM2 type landmine often used by the Myanmar military. This device is larger than most anti-personnel landmines, and typically inflicts severe damage.

WHAT DID MYANMAR DO?

• One of the most recent instances was on September 18, when a 44-year-old Chin woman stood on a landmine while collecting bamboo shoots near the Myanmar military's Light Infantry Battalion 289 base in Paletwa. She died of her injuries a short time after.
• In yet another incident on September 11, the Myanmar military admitted that three of its soldiers had raped an ethnic Rakhine woman during operations in Rathedaung township in June.
• According to Amnesty, satellite analysis and new witness testimony also suggested that Myanmar soldiers burned a village in central Rakhine in early September.
• A spokesperson for the Myanmar military, Major General Zaw Min Tun, told journalists a police vehicle was attacked by the Arakan Army with a remotely detonated improvised explosive device (IED) near the village.

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