UN investigator: Myanmar junta attacks civilians to terrorize them as arms buys fuel war

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The military-backed government in Myanmar is intentionally attacking civilians to terrorize them and force them into submission, and its increasing weapons purchases from China, Russia and elsewhere are fueling the conflict and the “catastrophic” human rights situation in the war-torn Southeast Asian nation, a U.N. rights investigator said.

Kelley Currie told reporters it is worrying that countries in the region and beyond are engaging with the government without asking for anything in return, such as a reduction in the level of violence, freedom for thousands of political prisoners and dialogue toward peace with all parties.

Myanmar's fellow members in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which had rebuked the military there for its 2021 seizure of power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, have lately seemed receptive to warmer relations.

The army's takeover triggered widespread pro-democracy protests that were brutally quashed, leading to armed resistance that has spread a civil war over much of the country. The government's armed forces have a huge advantage in arms and manpower, but have failed to overcome opponents despite the heavy use of force, including the unchallenged use of air power using planes from China and Russia.

Currie, the Human Rights Council’s special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, said Thursday she also wanted to raise concern about “the potential of violence” if the International Court of Justice, the U.N.’s highest tribunal, rules that Myanmar’s military engaged in genocide or failed to prevent it when it cracked down on the Muslim Rohingya minority in 2017.

“I have been seeing some signals on the ground in Myanmar that the groups that were responsible for hate speech and stirring up violence against non-Buddhist, non-Bamar minorities, including the Rohingya, that they are becoming much more active online,” she said, referring to Myanmar's dominant Bamar ethnic majority. “They’re become much more active in the political spaces and under the regime’s control, and I see this as a prelude to potential violence following the ICJ decision.”

She called on all countries to closely monitor the situation.

Nick Koumjian, head of the United Nations Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, said he saw many reports that the ICJ judges wanted to rule this year, with October having been mentioned. “We expect that the court will give some notice about when it would deliver the judgments, and we’re hoping it will be soon,” he said.

Currie said Myanmar’s legal economy has shrunk and the illicit economy has grown because of the 2021 takeover and the government's mismanagement of the economy .

“When military officers generally try to run an economy, they don’t do a very good job,” she said. “In Myanmar, they’re spectacularly bad at it. But they are also deeply corrupt, and they rely on patronage networks and illegal kickbacks and managing all sorts of activities in both the normal above-ground economy, a gray economy that’s somewhere in between, and the … black market economy.”

Currie said the government does “everything from currency arbitrage to taking, demanding shares in companies that are doing business, requiring kickbacks from farmers all the way up to the top of the supply chain and food and agriculture.”

The government has “many schemes of graft and corruption” to fund its activities and buy the military equipment it needs to continue the war, Currie said.

“They’ve also used those funds to upgrade their surveillance capabilities and their ability to police inside the territory that they still control, which is about half of the country,” she said.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an independent watchdog group, more than 32,000 people, including Suu Kyi, have been detained since the 2021 takeover and at least 15,000 remain behind bars.

Associated Press writer Grant Peck contributed to this report from Bangkok.