Mizzima

The annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Myanmar to officially be released on 5 July paints a dire picture of the crisis that has befallen the country since the coup of February 2021.

The report identifies trends and patterns of human rights violations between 1 February 2021 to 30 April 2023 with a focus on the human rights impact of the denial of humanitarian access. 

The report analyzes actions by all duty-bearers and finds that the Myanmar military is most responsible for the negative impact on the enjoyment of human rights and on delivery of humanitarian action. The report documents that the military has established an all-encompassing system of control based on instrumentalization of the legal and administrative spheres in Myanmar. 

As the UN report notes, concrete steps are needed to ensure essential needs of all people are met, including food and healthcare, and to respect, protect and fulfil peoples’ fundamental rights. 
The report includes recommendations to all parties, including the military authorities, the National Unity Government, and the international community.

The following is an abbreviated assessment of the report.

FOUR CUTS STRATEGY
Myanmar junta military actions since February 2021, including through its “four cuts” strategy against the civilian population, continue to expose the people in Myanmar to pervasive human rights violations, resulting in staggering humanitarian impacts.

Between February 2021 and April 2023, credible sources verified that at least 3,452 persons have died at the hands of the military and its affiliates, 21,807 individuals were arrested, and 5,839 convicted without any respect for judicial guarantees. Additionally, 154 have been sentenced to death and four known to be executed.

An estimated 1.5 million people have been internally displaced, with nearly one million in the central regions alone, and approximately 60,000 civilian structures have been reportedly burnt or destroyed. 

Over 75,000 people have reportedly fled to neighbouring countries. More than one million Rohingya already live under appalling conditions in refugee camps in Bangladesh and recent reductions to food rations due to limitations on available humanitarian funds are expected to have devastating consequences.

Of the remaining 600,000 Rohingya in Rakhine, nearly 150,000 live in camps where they are deprived of fundamental rights including freedom of movement. Under the current conditions, safe, dignified, and sustainable returns remain impossible.

Combined with the enduring impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the military coup has resulted in erasure of nearly a decade of progress, with a doubling of poverty levels since March 2020. 

PEOPLE IN NEED

Estimates indicate that 17.6 million people – one-third of the overall population – require some form of humanitarian assistance, marking a steep spike compared to the one million in need prior to the coup.

Restrictions on humanitarian access have been in place for decades under various governments and were mostly directed at limiting the delivery of assistance to minority groups. Since the coup, restrictions have increased amid a dramatic surge in humanitarian needs for all communities.

Food insecurity is on the rise in Myanmar, with 15.2 million people requiring food and nutrition support. Food prices have escalated tremendously by 63 and 177 per cent in 2021 and 2022 respectively. Food production has diminished because of continued violence and insecurity, reduced land access due to travel restrictions, displacement, land seizures, mine and unexploded ordnances contamination, insufficient agricultural workforce, and high transportation costs. Numerous interlocutors highlighted that many people are at risk of starvation.

In addition to the direct attacks on healthcare personnel and infrastructure and severe restrictions arbitrarily imposed on access to food assistance, the military has continued to instrumentalise the legal and administrative framework of Government to control and limit life-saving humanitarian assistance/relief. Imposition of martial law on an additional 40 townships across the country in February 202321 has further diminished access to aid of populations-in-need.

RESTRICTIONS

Barriers to humanitarian access were already significant under previous governments, with serious concerns continuously raised regarding operations in Kachin and Rakhine, including for the Rohingya, among others. As part of its attempts to assert control, the military has imposed a range of legal, financial, and bureaucratic requirements on civil society and humanitarian activity that have severely reduced civic space and delivery of lifesaving assistance. 

These restrictions have resulted in aid not reaching populations in conflict-affected areas, particularly those where the military has been most active in its attempts to suppress and crush resistance to its rule. Due to military actions, humanitarian assistance in most areas in the country can only be provided by evading military rules at great personal risk of arrest, mistreatment or even death. In areas under military control, access to populations-in-need has been limited through all-encompassing restrictive measures that instrumentalize the legal and administrative systems to control aid.

Barriers to humanitarian access were already significant under previous governments, with serious concerns continuously raised regarding operations in Kachin and Rakhine, including for the Rohingya, among others. As part of its attempts to assert control, the military has imposed a range of legal, financial, and bureaucratic requirements on civil society and humanitarian activity that have severely reduced civic space and delivery of life-saving assistance. These restrictions have resulted in aid not reaching populations in conflict-affected areas, particularly those where the military has been most active in its attempts to suppress and crush resistance to its rule. Due to military actions, humanitarian assistance in most areas in the country can only be provided by evading military rules at great personal risk of arrest, mistreatment or even death. In areas under military control, access to populations-in-need has been limited through all-encompassing restrictive measures that instrumentalize the legal and administrative systems to control aid.

AMENDING LAWS

In October 2022, the military unilaterally imposed amendments to the 2014 organisation registration law (‘registration law’), which formalised further restrictions on civil society and humanitarian actions. These amendments are the centrepiece of an interlocking system linking registration to several critical aspects of humanitarian action, including banking, importation and procurement of aid items, and movement of aid workers and items. Together with targeted restrictions in violence and conflict-affected areas, these have been instrumental in controlling and limiting necessary humanitarian assistance to populations-in-need.     

These amendments introduce compulsory registration of all non-profit organizations and impose lengthy and onerous administrative procedures and criminal penalties, including up to five years’ imprisonment, for lack of compliance. In their applications, organizations must disclose personal information of staff, funding sources, proposed project details, and operational locations. Vaguely formulated provisions, such as prohibiting any contact with broadly-defined groups including those organizations deemed “unlawful” or opponents of the military, are likely to result in their arbitrary application. This regime therefore facilitates extensive oversight by the military of non-profit organizations and their activities.     

Since adoption, the registration law has created a chilling effect within civil society and forced many organizations to grapple with whether their compliance could be perceived as legitimising the military.

LIMITATIONS ON MOVEMENT

Limitations on freedom of movement have represented a long-term pressing and continuous human rights concern in Myanmar, including under the previous quasi-civilian Government. After the coup, the situation has significantly deteriorated as the military has increasingly attempted to control movements. Delays and denial of visas have become a tool for the military to decide time, locations, and functions of those entering the country. Once in country, travel authorizations are required for movements of international staff and distribution of humanitarian assistance. For both visas and travel authorizations, valid organisational registration is required. This has particularly affected areas outside military control, as the military tightly manages access to those areas, with interlocutors reporting that authorization regimes infringe upon a wide range of fundamental rights.
      
While the pre-coup travel authorization regime in general did not apply to national organizations and staff, under the new regime, national and international organizations that intend to operate in military-defined travel-restricted areas are required to cooperate with the relevant administration and military structures. On 17 March 2023, the National Unity Government also requested all local and international organizations to seek prior authorization before travelling through or within areas under its control.  Grassroots and community-based organizations also reported being required to coordinate with anti-military armed groups when entering territories under their control.    
   
Interlocutors confirmed that checkpoints are the main impediment to free movement of people and goods, and they serve as a means for various groups to assert control over territory vis-à-vis the civilian population.

AID WORKERS’ CHALLENGES

A key consequence of the coup is that security has dramatically worsened for humanitarian workers and aid providers are consistently exposed to risks of arrest, harassment or other mistreatment or even death. While no comprehensive and systematic collection of data on attacks on humanitarian actors since the coup is in place, figures from credible sources vary between 13 and 40 killed, and 17 and 28 wounded.  Reports of arrests range between 43 and 212 individuals arrested. It is likely that these figures represent a mere fraction of the reality on the ground. Despite analytical limitations, it is evident that national actors are the most exposed as they account for all casualties, highlighting the continuous personal risks they face when alleviating the plight of victims. As one interviewee described, “Other people and I were trying to bring older people to the monastery and on the way, artillery [shelling] fell down. When you go to help people, you have to look at the sky and look at the ground. It is very difficult.”
     
Incidents documented since February 2021 have repeatedly shown that the military perceives aid providers as part of the population opposing their rule, rather than as actors who deserve specific protection. One interviewee emphasised: “There is a complete disregard for all humanitarian principles. There are no legal protections in place for humanitarian workers”. 

In the early days of the coup, the military targeted medical personnel with arrest, and repeatedly opened fire on ambulances at protests. One interviewee reported that merely possessing an identification card that lists a medical role puts individuals at risk of arrest when passing through military checkpoints. In the following months, attacks on ambulances have continued to occur, as have arrests and detention of health workers, and attacks against medical facilities and other protected objects.
    
Interviewees reported that in November 2021, the military raided a clinic that had been in operation for over two decades in Kayah State, arresting four doctors, 13 nurses and one volunteer while also confiscating medical supplies and food rations. On 11 April 2023 in Pazigyi village, Sagaing, a military combat aircraft bombed attendees, including women and children, at an inauguration ceremony for a community building. Minutes later, a helicopter arrived and opened fire on the injured and those rescuing them. Later that day, another military aircraft shot at people collecting dead bodies and human remains. This attack reportedly resulted in the deaths of up to 168 people, including at least 45 women and 38 children.

As indicated above, aid providers also face significant risks of harassment, intimidation, arrest, and detention when delivering assistance and passing through checkpoints. In Rakhine and parts of southern Chin, several aid providers and medics were arrested for transporting essential supplies, including medicines, when the military had placed blanket restrictions on humanitarian access. Orders imposing curfews or restrictions on the number of individuals who can travel on a given vehicle at one time – often reported in areas under martial law – have made transportation of humanitarian assistance even more risky. An interviewee stated, “The main overall risk is that when you deliver assistance, you are considered as associated to illegal groups and get arrested for that.”

CONCLUSIONS

As the post-coup human rights crisis continues to worsen, Myanmar’s overall humanitarian situation has also deteriorated to alarming levels. Through the implementation of its “four cuts” policy aimed at severing support for anti-military groups, the military has killed and injured thousands of civilians while destroying goods and infrastructure necessary for survival, including food, shelter, and medical centres. In violation of international obligations, the military has targeted humanitarian actions and actors through an all-encompassing system of military measures and the instrumentalization of the legal and administrative spheres, forcing aid providers to either renounce support to people in desperate need of life-saving aid or to deliver at enormous personal risks.
 
Meanwhile, duty bearers have failed to meet their obligation to protect civilians. Security across the country has deteriorated as the military has persistently targeted civilians through airstrikes and razing of populated areas. Widespread use of landmines by multiple actors has also furthered insecurity. As a result, many organizations have forgone or drastically modified operations in affected areas, negatively impacting a wide range of human rights protections for individuals affected by violence. Local actors, who are overwhelmingly carrying out operations, are continuously risking death, arrest, torture, and harassment. Violations and restrictions documented in this report, when conducted as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population, and if they resulted in severely depriving fundamental rights of individuals perceived as part of a group opposing military rule may constitute the crime against humanity of persecution. 
 
Amongst the numerous and interconnected measures put in place by the military to control or deny humanitarian assistance, a key obstacle are the military checkpoints. These are unanimously reported to be places of arbitrary enforcement of unclear rules, instilling fear in anyone who has to cross them. Whenever possible, those seeking assistance and those seeking to assist try to avoid checkpoints. Given increased violence and mine contamination across the country this is, however, increasingly difficult, resulting in a clear negative impact on the quantity, quality, and timeliness of assistance reaching people-in-need. 

While the military restricts movements of people through several measures, the instrumental use of the pre-existing arbitrary and discriminatory travel authorizations regime plays a critical role. In all areas under its control, the military strategically decides on the groups of beneficiaries and types of aid to be delivered, as well as its timing, in violation of principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence. Similarly, the military prevents the movement of goods and humanitarian items through systemic restrictions, and the ability of individuals to transfer and safely access funds. 

These pervasive and interlinked restrictions are anchored in the recently imposed regime for compulsory registration of organizations. Through its unilateral instrumentalization of the legal system and criminalization of lack of compliance or engagement with non-registered organizations, the military has cohesively linked access to funds, goods, authorizations, visa, and numerous other critical aspects of humanitarian actions, to registration. Registration depends on lengthy and onerous administrative procedures whose rules remain unclear and are under the discretion of the military. Intrusive documentation is required of applicants and stringent checks indicate the intention to politicize the delivery of humanitarian assistance.