UK Statement for the Enhanced Interactive Dialogue on reports of High Commissioner and Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar. Delivered by the UK's Human Rights Ambassador, Eleanor Sanders.
Thank you, Mr. President, High Commissioner, and distinguished panellists.
Your latest reports reveal deeply troubling evidence of human rights atrocities committed in Myanmar, including by the Myanmar military. Civilians are bearing the brunt: detained without due process, killed in indiscriminate air strikes, and displaced as their homes, schools, and hospitals are destroyed.
The Myanmar military's intensified use of airstrikes following the March earthquake inflicted further devastation on civilians, compounding the crisis.
The Mechanism has uncovered extensive evidence of systematic torture and abuse in detention facilities operated by the military since the coup. Detainees, including children, have been subjected to beatings, electric shocks, and sexual violence, including rape and sexualised torture.
These reports expose a pattern of deliberate cruelty, underscoring the urgent need for justice. The international community must do more to ensure perpetrators are held to account.
The UK remains committed to supporting future accountability in Myanmar. The Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM)'s documentation plays a vital role in laying the groundwork for this, and the UK has contributed £900,000 to the mechanism to help ensure that evidence is preserved, and justice can be pursued.
Thank you.
