Geneva: UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, warned on Thursday of severe abuses committed by Myanmar's military junta forces, including executions, torture, and sexual assaults against dozens of persons with disabilities, some of whom have been burned alive in their homes. In his new report "The Hidden Crisis: Disability Rights in Post-Coup Myanmar," issued in Geneva, Andrews revealed that junta forces have carried out mass arson campaigns across the country, displacing many families who are now struggling to survive in hostile environments with limited access to life-saving humanitarian assistance.
According to Kuwait News Agency, the 2021 military coup has devastated the lives of persons with disabilities in Myanmar and intensified longstanding discrimination against them. The report also highlighted that the widespread belief that impairments result from misdeeds in a past life not only fuels discrimination but is also internalized by persons with disabilities, leading many to withdraw from community life out of shame and an erosion of personal dignity.
Andrews noted that reform efforts came to a halt as the junta cracked down on civil society, driving many disability rights advocates into exile. Even so, a remarkable network of organizations, many led by persons with disabilities, continue to work against all odds to provide essential services and defend the rights of persons with disabilities. He added, "As a distracted world fixes its attention on other crises and conflicts, the situation of persons with disabilities in Myanmar has truly become a hidden crisis within a forgotten humanitarian catastrophe." The Special Rapporteur emphasized that it is critical for the world to pay attention.
The expert urged the international community to deny the military junta the means to continue its violence and partner with persons with disabilities to save lives and break the barriers of repression and discrimination.