Myanmar military committed war crimes in Karenni state: Fortify Rights report

The Myanmar military massacred civilians, used human shields, and committed other atrocities in Karenni State in acts that may amount to war crimes, said Fortify Rights in a new flash report published today.

Fortify Rights recommends that member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) support the establishment of a UN Security Council-mandated global arms embargo to prohibit the sale of weapons and dual-use technology to the Myanmar military junta.

The report has been released as Asean foreign ministers are due to meet for their annual retreat tomorrow.

"The Myanmar junta is murdering people with weapons procured on the global market, and that must stop," said Ismail Wolff, regional director at Fortify Rights.

"Clear and definitive action is needed to compel the Myanmar junta to rethink its attacks on civilians. The UN Security Council must urgently impose a global arms embargo on the Myanmar military, and it would be strategic and sensible for Asean to support it."

The 36-page flash report, entitled, "Ongoing War Crimes in Karenni (Kayah) State, Myanmar: May 2021 to January 2022," documents information related to the murder of at least 61 civilians in Karenni State by the Myanmar military.

The report includes additional details surrounding the "Christmas Eve massacre" near the village of Moso in Hpruso Township, Karenni State, where the Myanmar military killed at least 40 civilians, including a child and two humanitarians working with Save the Children, on December 24, 2021.

A medical doctor in Myanmar -- name withheld for security -- who conducted autopsies on bodies retrieved from the massacre site told Fortify Rights that autopsies were not possible on many of the bodies because they were so thoroughly burned.

However, he and another doctor identified at least 31 bodies, including five bodies of women and one girl under the age of 15.

"Some had their mouths stuffed with cloth, so we were pretty sure these people were gagged," the doctor told Fortify Rights.

"Almost every skull was fractured and badly cracked . . . [In some bodies], we could gather enough evidence to say they were burned to death alive."

The flash report draws on firsthand testimony from 31 eyewitnesses, survivors, internally displaced persons (IDPs), religious leaders, humanitarian and civil-society workers, members of armed resistance groups, and others between May 2021 and January 2022.

Fortify Rights obtained and reviewed photographic and video evidence of atrocities and internal files and documentation from humanitarian agencies and ethnic armed organisations operating in Karenni State.

In December 2021 and January 2022, the military junta intensified its attack on civilians in Karenni State, murdering men, women, and children, bombing civilian-populated areas, and using heavy artillery, arson, and airstrikes against civilian targets.

These violations were committed in the context of armed conflict between the Myanmar military and several ethnic armies and People's Defense Forces (PDFs)—community-led militias established for self-defense and to resist military rule in the aftermath of the coup d'état on February 1, 2021.

The report also documents the Myanmar military's use of civilians as human shields and forced porters.