Today marks five years since the Burmese military’s violent overthrow of an elected government in Myanmar, and subsequent commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide against our fellow people.
The military’s atrocities – including air and drone strikes, arbitrary arrest and detention, mass killing, sexual and gender-based violence – have forced millions of civilians to become internally displaced persons in areas of armed conflict and famine, or refugees in life-threatening conditions of exile over land and sea.
We strongly reject the military’s recent sham election, which will only embolden its forces to intensify its campaign of terror across the country. Even during its so-called election period, in just weeks, the military murdered over 170 civilians with its airstrikes. This month, at the International Court of Justice’s public hearings on The Gambia v. Myanmar case, the military publicly denied its genocide against the Rohingya and the Rohingya identity.
We urge the international community to hold the Burmese military accountable for international crimes. Holding the key agent of Myanmar’s catastrophe will help end the country’s decades-long impunity, which is now being exercised by the Arakan Army to ethnically cleanse Rakhine State of the Rohingya. Myanmar’s future must rest on the rule of law, equality, and fundamental freedoms of all of the country’s diverse peoples.
At the same time, we call for immediate protection and relief to all civilians in Myanmar. The international community must enable cross-border aid via credible actors to Myanmar, as well as comprehensive support to women-led groups and other local civil society.
We urge the international community to join our brave people’s resistance against authoritarianism, dictatorship, patriarchy, and all other forms of oppression.
WOMEN’S PEACE NETWORK
Posted by jamestan2019 
MARUAH Singapore 
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