&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Myanmar junta is using ‘brutal violence to compel people to vote’: UN")
Myanmar's junta (the ruling committee of senior military leaders) is forcing people to vote in the upcoming military-controlled elections in the country, using violence and intimidation, the United Nations said. The organisation said the armed opposition groups are using similar tactics to keep people away.
"The military authorities in Myanmar must stop using brutal violence to compel people to vote and stop arresting people for expressing any dissenting views," United Nations rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement on Tuesday (Dec 23). International monitors have dismissed the phased month-long vote as a rebranding of martial rule.
Turk told AFP last month that holding elections in Myanmar under the current circumstances was "unfathomable". On Tuesday, he warned that civilians were being threatened by both the military authorities and armed opposition groups over their participation in the polls.
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"Forcing displaced people to undertake unsafe and involuntary returns is a human rights violation," Turk stressed. "These elections are clearly taking place in an environment of violence and repression," Turk said.
"There are no conditions for the exercise of the rights of freedom of expression, association or peaceful assembly that allow for the free and meaningful participation of the people," he added.
