ID IIMM

Head of IIMM, Mr. Nicholas Koumjian, presents the Mechanism 5th Annual Report on 11 September 2023.

On 11 September, the Head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), Nicholas Koumjian, presented the main findings of the Mechanism’s Fifth Annual Report, covering the activities carried out by the Mechanism between 1 July 2022 and 30 June 2023.

“Tragically, the frequency and intensity of war crimes and crimes against humanity has only increased in recent months”, Koumjian said, highlighting a worrying increase in aerial bombings and indiscriminate shillings resulting in the death of innocent civilians, including children. By the end of the reporting period, the Mechanism had collected millions of information items, and engaged with over 700 sources and information providers. However, and despite multiple requests to the Myanmar military, the Mechanism still has no direct access to Myanmar territory. In his concluding remarks, Mr. Koumjian mentioned several actions Council’s Member States can do to support the work of the Mechanism including 1. Giving the Mechanism access to their territory in order to conduct interviews with witnesses and collecte evidence; 2. Cooperating to ensure witness protection and relocation to safe places; 3. Providing the Mechanism with access to the most secure and advanced technologies to communicate with CSOs on the ground and collect and store evidence.

ID HC

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Volker Türk, presents its report on the human rights situation in Myanmar, on 26 September 2023.

On 26 September, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, presented the main findings of his latest report on the human rights situation in the country. Echoing what had previously been said by Mr. Koumjian a few days before, Mr. Türk, highlighted “senseless military attacks are exacerbating the human rights crisis with interconnected humanitarian, political, and economic impacts, imposing an unbearable toll on the people in Myanmar.” According to his report, during the reporting period – 1 April 2022 and 31 July 2023 - the military undertook 687 airstrikes, more than double the number carried out in the 14 months following the coup. As of 25 September 2023, a minimum of 1,108 deaths were reported at the hands of the military and its affiliates. “This is inhumanity in its vilest form”, said Mr. Türk, adding that denial of humanitarian access throughout the whole country is having dramatic consequences on the right to food. “It’s clear that new thinking on Myanmar is needed - urgently - for this unspeakable tragedy to end,” concluded Mr. Türk.

What countries said about Myanmar at the HRC 54

Majority of countries welcomed, appreciated or concurred with reports submitted by the IIMM and HC. Saudi Arabia “reviewed with interest” the HC’s report and Egypt and Mauritania took note of the IIMM’s, while Bangladesh, Libya and OIC took note of the HC’s report. Statements of Belarus, China, Iran, Lao PDR, Russia, Venezuela appeared to oppose or undermine the reports of IIMM and/or HC.

Facilitating accountability is the main work of the IIMM and it is also one of the key issues HC put a particular focus in his work and reporting. As such, a number of countries addressed the issue of accountability in their statements during ID IIMM and several countries did so during ID HC. However, during both IDs, there were certain countries that failed to address the issue of accountability in general and/or the accountability of the Myanmar military. Several countries were using vague or problematic terms when seemingly addressing Myanmar military, such as “Myanmar,” “de facto authorities of Myanmar,” “Myanmar authorities” or “authorities in Myanmar,” “Myanmar government,” “authorities in Naypyitaw” in their statements.

Worryingly, the number and degree of condemnations and concerns expressed by countries at the HRC 54 was the lowest since February 2021. After the HRC 54, 42 African States (out of 54), 29 Asia-Pacific States (out of 54 excluding Myanmar), 7 Eastern European States (out of 23), 27 Latin American and Caribbean States (out of 33), 4 Western European and Other States (out of 28) still remain silent on Myanmar.

Findings of the Centre’s analysis of the HRC 54 and updated list of silent countries can be found on Centre’s website.

CCPR Centre’s statements at the HRC 54

CCPR Centre's staff Paola Barioli reads a statement during the ID on the Fifth Annual Report of the IIMM on 11 September 2023.

The Centre submitted a written statement at the HRC 54 highlighting how continuing and escalating armed conflicts, multi-dimensional crises and violence, compounded by natural disasters, are drastically deteriorating the humanitarian catastrophe in the country and, together with food shortage and inflation of basic goods, affecting the lives of millions of people. The statement also tackles the situation of vulnerable groups inside the country, the use by the junta of the justice system to oppress dissidents and the urgent need for accountability for crimes and for continuous attention by the Council.

The Centre also delivered two oral statements at HRC 54, one during the ID on the Fifth Annual Report of the IIMM and one during the ID on the Report of the High Commissioner on the Human Rights Situation in Myanmar. Worth noting, in our oral statement on the IIMM report, we underline that results of the work of the Mechanism, if anonymously published possibly in a form of thematic reports or briefing papers, could certainly strengthen the international response to the crisis not only to ensure accountability, but also to more comprehensive address human rights violations on the ground including provision of targeted assistance to vulnerable groups and effective remedies to the victims.