ISTANBUL

A human rights group urged the UN on Wednesday to impose an arms embargo on Myanmar’s junta de facto rulers amid continued persecution of the country’s Muslims.

The Burma Human Rights Network group, which uses an older name for Myanmar, called on the UN Security Council to “end its inaction and refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court,” as well as impose “a binding global arms embargo including a prohibition on security assistance, the sale and transfer of arms, dual-use technology, and suspend the supply of aviation fuel.”

It also urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to reject the junta's upcoming “sham elections” set for later this month and to take action against the junta, including blocking Myanmar from all its meetings.

Myanmar is also a member of the 11-nation Southeast Asian bloc but has been barred from attending annual meetings since the 2021 coup that brought the junta to power.

It also called on neighboring countries, including India, Thailand, Indonesia, and Bangladesh, to “devise a comprehensive regional response to the refugee crisis, provide protection, support, and humanitarian and legal aid to all refugees fleeing Myanmar, and to authorize emergency cross-border aid to internally displaced persons.”

Myanmar's Muslims continue to face persecution even 77 years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the group said, marking the declaration's anniversary.

In Myanmar, principles such as the right to safety, dignity, and equal protection under the law “have been systematically violated for decades by the military, through persecution, dispossession, and violence carried out with impunity,” it said.

Persecuted Rohingya

Muslims and other minorities, including the Rohingya, have suffered under the military’s engineered “systems of control, segregation, and erasure” for nearly eight decades, it explained.

"These abuses have included forced displacement, denial of citizenship and legal status, mass killings, and the destruction of homes, religious sites, and entire communities," it added.

"Muslim communities face targeted attacks and collective punishment, including airstrikes on Muslim villages, the destruction and closure of mosques, surveillance of religious life, raids on gatherings, and the desecration or demolition of cemeteries for military projects," it noted.

The network called on governments worldwide to target the military's supply chain enablers and financial networks, pursue international legal action against the junta, including by joining Gambia's case at the International Court of Justice and by actively pursuing investigations and prosecutions under the principle of universal jurisdiction, as well as increase engagement with and recognition of democratic and resistance stakeholders.

The Rohingya, a mostly Muslim minority in Myanmar, face abuse, discrimination, and statelessness, and frequently attempt dangerous sea crossings to flee hardship.

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled Myanmar since 2017 due to violent crackdowns by the military and armed groups. More than 1.3 million have sought refuge in Bangladesh, with some reaching Indonesia and Malaysia after perilous sea journeys.

Ethnic clashes have exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar, which has been engulfed in civil war since the military coup of February 2021.