AAPP Press Release: New Report “Towards Accountability: The Urgent Need for Renewed International Attention to Sit-Tat’s Crimes Against Humanity in Burma”

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March 1, 2023, marks 759 days since the military junta attempted to take control of the country and repressed pro-democracy resistance with mass arrests, massacres, and other atrocities. Today, to call on the international community to take action against the junta, AAPP has published its report, “Towards Accountability: The Urgent Need for Renewed International Attention to Sit-Tat’s Crimes Against Humanity in Burma.” The report provides AAPP data and testimonies on killings, detentions, and property seizures perpetrated by the junta against the pro-democracy movement.

To mark the report’s publication, co-founders and current Executive Committee members of AAPP, U Tate Naing and U Bo Kyi, issued the following press statements. Also included below is an excerpt from the report’s foreword written by Elaine Pearson, Asia Director of Human Rights Watch.

U Tate Naing, AAPP Secretary, said: “During the 23-year period since the founding of the organization, AAPP has been documenting countless human rights violations with strong evidence. However, this report will show that after the 2021 coup d’état, the crimes against humanity committed by Burma’s military have set a record in terms of brutality and violence.
If international justice mechanisms cannot take effective action against the crimes committed by Burma’s military, the junta will only continue its commission of blatant criminal acts. Therefore, the international community must facilitate justice for the people of Burma as immediately as possible.”

U Bo Kyi, AAPP Joint-Secretary, said: “AAPP has been monitoring human rights violations committed by the junta in Burma since long ago, and we have documented many human right violations. But it is not enough to call them human rights violations. The junta has committed and is committing crimes against humanity, which are serious international crimes. It is time to take action against this junta through the ICC and all other available mechanisms.”

Elaine Pearson, Human Rights Asia Director wrote: “It’s no longer a matter of knowing that crimes against humanity have been committed in Myanmar. The question now is how the perpetrators can be held to account…The report also calls for better coordinated targeted sanctions by foreign governments on junta officials and for ASEAN member states to adopt legislation necessary to support the exercise of universal jurisdiction to facilitate the prosecution of those responsible for these crimes.”

In Solidarity,

Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)

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