U.N. Official: Evidence Myanmar Using Live Ammunition Against Protesters : NPR - 0 views
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Amid "growing reports and photographic evidence" that live ammunition is being used against anti-junta protesters in Myanmar, a United Nations human rights investigator is calling on the Security Council to consider sanctions against the country's coup leaders.
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in similar circumstances in the past, the Security Council had "mandated sanctions, arms embargoes, and travel bans" and called for "judicial action at the International Criminal Court or ad hoc tribunals."
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A letter signed by some 300 elected parliamentarians in Myanmar that was read out at the Geneva forum urged the U.N. to investigate "gross human rights violations" committed by the military since the coup, and said the new authoritarian regime had "placed restrictions on people's freedom of speech by preparing a telecommunications bill intended to control access to the Internet and mobile services."
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But the approval, by unanimous consent and without a vote, was rejected by both Russia and China, whose representatives afterwards "disassociated" themselves from the consensus. Both countries have close ties with Myanmar. "What happened in Myanmar is essentially Myanmar's internal affairs," China's representative, Chen Xu, said.
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Resistance from both Moscow and Beijing dimmed prospects for U.N. sanctions to mirror those imposed by the Biden administration this week, as both countries are veto-wielding members of the the Security Council.
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Nada al-Nashif, the deputy U.N. high commissioner for human rights, called the arrest of Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint and hundreds of others by the country's coup leaders "politically motivated."
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"more than 350 political and state officials, activists and civil society members, including journalists, monks and students, who have been taken into custody."
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"Several face criminal charges on dubious grounds. Most have received no form of due process and have not been permitted legal representation, family visitations or communication," she said.