The human rights group Fortify Rights has urged UN Member States to urgently coordinate a global arms embargo on Myanmar, and for the UN Security Council (UNSC) to refer the situation in the country to the International Criminal Court.
The statement was issued on 11 October in the wake of the 9 October Myanmar junta attack on Munglai Hkyet IDP village, near Laiza in Kachin State, which is home to 100 displaced families and 50 permanent residents. The attack at 11:30 pm killed at least 29 people, including women and children, and injured many others.
Laiza is home to the headquarters of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) on the China border.
Fortify Rights also reported its interview with two ethnic-Kachin residents of Laiza about the attack.
In the first interview, “Waichyai Naw,” not his real name, 44, who experienced the attack said the attack happened in Quarter 9 of Laiza. He was near the location at the time of the attack and also visited the impact area after the bombing occurred.
“I heard a loud sound after 11 p.m. last night, 9 October. . . . It was the area where the IDPs were temporarily residing. I was at home watching the Gaza-Israel news, and I heard a loud explosion. It felt like a strong earthquake. Not just my house but the whole town felt this. Some of the ceilings at the church dropped down during the explosion. Some of the concrete from the walls fell in my house. It was very severe.”
He continued to say, “I could hear the speeding sound pheeee and then a loud bang and an explosion. People I spoke to from nearby also said the shelling exploded in three steps. The drop area was like half an acre. I saw a lot of destruction. The surrounding area of the drop site looked like a cyclone had come in. Some of the houses ’roofs were blown off.”
In a second interview with Fortify Rights a Laiza resident, who had visited the hospital treating wounded survivors of the junta’s deadly attack and who wanted to remain anonymous said: “I went to the hospital on the morning of 10 October. I spoke to hospital staff, and they said 29 people have died and 57 people
are injured. . . . I saw people with bandages on their heads, faces, hands, and legs who survived the attack.”
However, the Myanmar junta spokesperson Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun, on a military junta-run television network, denied the military was responsible for this attack.
Fortify Rights also urged the UN Security Council to refer the situation in the country to the International Criminal Court as it is the legal authority, under Chapter VII, to mandate arms embargoes to maintain or restore international peace and security.
John Quinley, the director of Fortify Rights, said in the statement, “The Myanmar junta is a long-time threat to international peace and security, and U.N. member states have the responsibility to prevent and remedy the atrocities,” adding that the international community must work with the people of Myanmar and local humanitarian groups to aid those displaced by these ongoing brutal acts of violence.”
