Shan Human Rights Foundation urges UN to investigate shootings, killings and torture of civilians by Burma Army in Kokang area

The Shan Human Rights Foundation claim they have collected evidence that proves that the Burma army is murdering and torturing civilians in the Kokang area of Shan state.

In a statement released Wednesday, 4th March Shan Human Rights Foundation said.

“Burma Army soldiers have been indiscriminately shooting at civilians, causing injury and death; have used civilians as hostages for ambush; and have also tortured civilians on suspicion of supporting the Kokang armed resistance group.”

The Shan Human Rights Foundation said it “strongly condemns these attacks and abuses against civilians, and urges the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Ms Yanghee Lee, to visit the Kokang area as soon as possible to monitor the human rights situation there, and push for accountability for abuses that have taken place.”

In a interview with Karen News, a Shan Human Rights Foundation spokesperson said that the UN Special Rapporteur, Ms Lee urgently needed to go to the conflict area and investigate.

“We [SHRF] urge the UN’s M’s Lee and the Myanmar Human Rights Commission to immediately investigate. Thousands of civilians are at risk and many are displaced and are in need of humanitarian aid.”

The Shan Human Rights Foundation said it had documented a number of cases as evidence of the human rights abuses committed by the Burma Army.

“Witnesses described seeing…bodies of civilians lying in the street in Laogai, some with their hands tied, indicating that the scale of the killings is greater than we have documented.”