Nearly a quarter of a million people have been displaced by the military government’s crackdown on anti-coup protests, the United Nations special investigator on human rights in Burma, Andrews said today.
The coup, which deposed civilian government leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a military coup on February 1, has triggered a wave of protests across Burma. The military government has become increasingly brutal in suppressing anti-coup protests.
According to local human rights groups, at least 738 people have been killed and 3,300 have languished in prison as political prisoners.
Tom Andrews tweeted, “Horrifying… Sources say the military crackdown has displaced at least 250,000 people in Burma and that immediate global action is needed to respond to this humanitarian disaster.”
The Christian aid group Free Burma Rangers estimated last week that at least 24,000 people in the northern Karen State have been displaced as a result of the military’s land and air campaign earlier this month.
Padoh Mann Mann, spokesman for the Karen National Union’s 5th Brigade, said more than 2,000 Karen people have crossed the Burma border into Thailand, and thousands more are homeless in Karen State, “hiding in the jungle near their villages. “.
As violence rises, Southeast Asian leaders and foreign ministers will meet in Jakarta, Indonesia, on the 24th to discuss the crisis in Myanmar.
Burma’s coup leader and armed forces chief Min Aung Hlaing is expected to attend the summit, and pro-democracy leaders and human rights groups have expressed their discontent.
Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said, “Min Aung Hlaing is under international sanctions for leading the military’s brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, and he should not be welcome to participate in a transnational government meeting on the crisis, which he has created.”
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