UN Reports Escalating Violence in Myanmar as Elections Approach

(MENAFN) Violence, threats, and systematic repression are surging across Myanmar as military-orchestrated elections approach on Dec. 28, with ordinary citizens facing coercion from both ruling authorities and opposition militant factions, the UN Human Rights Office reported Tuesday.

UN rights chief Volker Turk, in a statement, urged an immediate halt to coercive practices linked to the vote. "The military authorities in Myanmar must stop using brutal violence to compel people to vote, and stop arresting people for expressing any dissenting views," he said.

The office documented dozens of detentions under an "election protection law" targeting individuals who voiced opposition. Punishments have been extraordinarily harsh, including three young people in Hlaingthaya Township in Yangon Region who were jailed for between 42 and 49 years for hanging anti-election posters.

High-profile arrests have also occurred, the office said, including film director Mike Tee, actor Kyaw Win Htut and comedian Ohn Daing, who were each sentenced to seven years in prison for undermining public trust after criticizing a pro-election propaganda film.

The office revealed it had received accounts from displaced populations in multiple areas, including Mandalay region, who were warned they would face assault or property confiscation if they failed to return home to cast ballots.

One source told the rights office: "They are saying to the internally displaced: 'You guys come back to the town (to vote). If you do not come back, we will continue to bomb you.'"

"Forcing displaced people to undertake unsafe and involuntary returns is a human rights violation," Turk said.

Militant organizations resisting the military have issued their own menacing warnings. In November, educators were kidnapped and election facilities in Yangon were bombed, injuring several election staff, it noted.

"These elections are clearly taking place in an environment of violence and repression," Turk said. "There are no conditions for the exercise of the rights of freedom of expression, association or peaceful assembly that allow for the free and meaningful participation of the people."

The democratically elected administration of Aung San Suu Kyi was overthrown in February 2021.

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