UN rights expert expresses concern over increased violence in Myanmar’s Kachin state

04, May 2018 | CJP Team

Yanghee Lee, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, has “expressed grave concern” over an increase in violence in the country’s Kachin state, in which ten civilians have reportedly killed, and several others have been injured. Lee said she had received reports that Myanmar’s military had conducted aerial bombings and employed heavy weapons and artillery fire in civilian areas near the border with China. According to UN reports, more than 5,000 civilians have been forced from their villages near the Myanmar-China border within the last three weeks. These include elderly villagers, children, pregnant women, and people with disabilities. Lee also said that she had received reports that a food convoy arranged by the Red Cross in Myanmar was barred from entering the Mai Wai village on April 23. More than 100 villagers have been confined to the village for three weeks, and have little to no access to food, medication and other basic supplies. In March, Lee had informed the Human Rights Council that although global attention was focused on Myanmar’s Rakhine state, from where nearly 700,000 Rohingya have fled since August 2017, violence was increasing in other areas like the Kachin state.