Myanmar’s military junta is using violence and intimidation to force people to vote in an upcoming army-controlled election, while armed opposition groups are employing similar tactics to deter voters, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
According to AFP from Geneva, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in a statement that Myanmar’s military authorities must immediately stop brutal violence against civilians aimed at coercing them into voting, and halt arrests carried out for expressing dissent.
The junta is set to begin voting from Sunday, promoting the tightly controlled election as a return to democracy. The polls are being organised five years after the military overthrew the country’s elected government and the outbreak of civil war.
Meanwhile, former civilian leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi remains in prison, and her popular political party has been dissolved.
International observers have rejected the month-long, phased voting process as merely a new form of military rule.
Türk told AFP last month that holding elections in Myanmar under the current conditions was “unthinkable.”
In his statement on Tuesday, he warned that ordinary citizens are facing threats from both the military authorities and armed opposition groups over participation in the vote.
The statement noted that many people have been detained under the “Election Protection Law” for exercising their right to freedom of expression. It said some have received “extremely harsh sentences.” In Yangon’s Hlaingthaya township, three young men were sentenced to between 42 and 49 years in prison for putting up posters opposing the election.
The UN human rights office said it has received reports from displaced people in various parts of the country, including the Mandalay region, warning that they would be attacked or have their homes seized if they failed to vote.
Türk stressed that forcing displaced people to vote against their will in unsafe conditions constitutes a violation of human rights.
He also said civilians are facing “serious threats” from anti-junta armed groups. Among them were nine female teachers who were abducted last month in Kyaikto while travelling to attend ballot-related training. They were later released with warning messages from their captors, the statement said.
Türk concluded that the election is clearly being held in an environment of violence and repression, where there is no space for people to freely exercise their rights to expression, association, or peaceful assembly.