GENEVA, Switzerland – The Myanmar military rulers’ restrictions on life-saving aid are growing and may amount to war crimes such as degrading treatment, starvation, and collective punishment, a UN human rights report said on Friday, June 30.
Soldiers have targeted medical facilities, burnt food stores, destroyed water wells and even killed a group of three displaced people for trying to return to their village and grow food, it said. “In the context of armed conflicts, the intentional obstruction or denial of humanitarian assistance may constitute war crimes such as willful killing, torture and other degrading treatment, starvation, and collective punishment.”A spokesperson for Myanmar’s military could not immediately be reached for comment. The junta has denied targeting civilians and says its operations are against “terrorists” who seek to destabilize the country.
“Aid providers are consistently exposed to risks of arrest, harassment or other mistreatment, or even death,” UN human rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told a media briefing.