The Hague Convention on Air Combat in 1923 – Clause 24, Sub-clause 1, states that Aerial bombardment is legitimate only when directed at a military objective.
In the “Framework of Analysis of Atrocity Crimes,” published by the UN in 2014, atrocity crimes were described as the worst crimes committed against humankind. The action of those crimes are crimes of the international level that damage the center of the human race. These are genocide, a crime against humanity, and a war crime. Successive military groups have committed heinous and cruel crimes against the ethnicity living in Myanmar and are still committing them.
Gambari Country is prosecuting the genocide against the Rohingya in Rakhine State in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) — a world-famous event. Genocide is defined as a crime committed against one ethnicity, ethnic group, tribe, or religious group. The crime against humanity is the systematic and widespread targeting of civilians. War crimes are those that are committed without complying with the provisions of the Geneva Convention. It provides special protection for four types of victims of international armed conflicts: the injured and sick troops from the frontline or from shipwrecks at sea; prisoners of war (WOP); and civilians during the war.
“An airstrike bombing that murdered over a hundred civilians”
Starting on 10 April, Myanmar New Year is set as an official holiday. It is a great and precious time to transition from the Old to the New Year for the Myanmar people by pouring the water. On the morning of 11 April, Pazigyi village was in an ugly scene as hell.
Pazigyi Village is located in Kanbalu Township, Sagaing Division. The whole of the Sagaing and Magway Regions is as a region strong resistance to the military council during this revolution, and as well there were been patrolling by the military council every day and burning of villages, inhuman arrests, killings, and rapes.
On the morning of April 11 held a ceremony. According to the news, it is the local administration office’s opening ceremony. Many villagers, including children living in nearby villages, attended this event. It was crowded because where tea and food were offered. There are 17 tables in the pavilion of donated foods and each table was full of people in the pavilion. Local people said, there are roundabout 90 people in the food pavilion.
There are 17 tables of donated foods in the pavilion, and each table is full of people in the pavilion. Locals said there are about 90 people in the food pavilion. At 7:45 a.m., a jet fighter of the Junta had bombed once, and an MI-35 helicopter carried out four bombings and shootings. As per initial reports, the death toll is about 60, and in the evening, the death toll was as high as 100. According to the last news, the numbers have exceeded a hundred.
According to a local resident, the bomb struck directly over the food pavilion. The pavilion and the 17 tables that were filled with people suddenly disappeared.
There were children of school age, elderly people, and pregnant women, and their bodies have been shattered by the dropping of a 200-pound bomb and as well gunning from a machine gun. The death toll has risen to 120, including more than 30 children. Some news reports from news agencies say that 5 children’s dead bodies under age 5 and 17 children’s dead bodies under age 18 have been found. The number of dead and injured people will be expected to increase due to the ongoing search and rescue operations that have not yet been completed.
When using aerial bombing to attack a military target, there must be careful calculations of the distance between the area where the bomb will be exploded and the civilians’ location. It is said that if there are civilians within the range of the spreading of aerial bomb explosions, it is not allowed to attack this military target.
This is not a misfire. It was systematically a planned bombing. In the afternoon, two jet fighters came and fired once again. At the time, there were those who picked up the dead body and were doing rescue. As a result of the afternoon shooting, three more people were killed among those who were doing rescue. The jet fighter came and fired again a third time between 5 and 6 p.m.
“Is it allowed to use aerial bombing in civil war?”
When using aerial bombing to attack a military target, there must be careful calculations of the distance between the area where the bomb will be exploded and the civilians’ location. It is said that if there are civilians within the range of the spreading of aerial bomb explosions, it is not allowed to attack this military target. Our country is happening the longest civil war in the world. It has been for 75 years. After the start of the Spring Revolution, when the people defended the military junta, the military council used airstrikes to attack the people who fought against them. People protested loudly against attacking by using aircraft that were not allowed to use attacked in the Civil War. Now, the Spring Revolution has been entering nearly 3 years. The military council’s ground offensives didn’t work since January 2023, they attacked with airstrikes many times in Sagaing, Magway, Kachin, Shan, Chin, Kayin, and Karenni regions. Whenever the airstrikes were carried out, there was no ground battle, and they only attacked most civilian living areas. On April 10, 9 civilians were killed when the military council bombed Waibula city, in Falam Township. On April 11, over a hundred people were killed in Pazigyi Village. On April 10, (9) civilians were killed when the military council bombed Waibula City, in Falam Township. On April 11, over a hundred people were killed in Pazigyi Village. So, there is a question: Can the bombing attack be carried out with chaos by order? It is not like this. The Hague Convention on Air Combat in 1923 – Clause 24, Sub-clause 1, states that Aerial bombardment is legitimate only when directed at a military objective. When using aerial bombing to attack a military target, there must be careful calculations of the distance between the area where the bomb will be exploded and the civilians’ location. It is said that if there are civilians within the range of the spreading of aerial bomb explosions, it is not allowed to attack this military target. As mentioned above, airstrikes were always attacked against civilian areas, when there was no ground firing. If that is the case, there is no need to say that there is no right to attack by airstrikes in this kind of civil war.
At ANang Pa Village in Kachin State, 62 people were killed when the junta dropped the bomb on the large crowd of people attending the ceremony. In the Depayin’s Leyetkon school case, 6 children who were studying were killed, and many of the school children were injured. As a military council, they have been committing atrocious aerial attacks on the people since seized the State power without regard to Articles 25, 26, and 27 of the Law of War (1907 Hague Convention), and Article 1 of the Geneva Convention Protocol.
“The military junta confessed about Pazigyi”
Myanmar military junta has no custom of never confessing to using excessive force, airstrikes, burning villages, robbing, brutal killing, or raping cases committed against civilians. They always accuse the People’s Defense Force (PDF), which is under the control of the National Unity Government’s (NUG) command, of committing these crimes. Civilians including Buddhist Monks were massacred at the Buddhist Monastery in Nam Nein Village, Pinlaung Township. Myanmar junta denied that their troops didn’t commit it and also accused that belonged to KNDF (Karenni Nationalities Defense Force), KNPP (Karenni National Progressive Party), and PDF (People Defense Force) of killing them, to create ethnic conflict between different ethnicities. General Zaw Min Tun, the spokesperson of the Junta said that such brutal behavior is committed as a war crime.
Myanmar’s UN Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun’s report to the United Nations on March 16 said that the Junta had brutally killed 3130 people since the coup. In that number, it is said to include those who shot their heads during the protest march and those who were killed in prisons and interrogation camps. It is also said that more than 62,000 houses were burned down by the Junta’s troops.
The announcement by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) on April 6 said that the number of people who were internally displaced from their homes across the country was only over 300,000 before February 2021, but according to the record ending in March 2023, it has reached 1.8 million. The Junta group cannot deny that it has nothing to do with them. The culprit of all is the Junta.
Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun acknowledged that they carried out the airstrike in Pazigyi village that killed hundreds of people. Although they confessed, he said to avoid their guilty for that heinous act. He also said that there were buried mines near the scene of the incident from PDF. Additionally, our attack hit the direct explosives storage location where it happened, leaving casualties.
How many more people will have to die?
There is a question for the military that is protecting the country. Are the 60 military ethics still obeyed among the officers and soldiers?
Are the (10) morals of the military for the civilians, and as well the (5) morals for the enemy being the worthless paper? The military includes the Army, Navy, and Air Force. The Air Force is composed of intellectuals and academics, and these people are dropping bombs on civilians.
How many dead body
Need for UN to take action?
I think you remember these words. Young people tried to get protection from shooting to peaceful demonstrations in the Spring Revolution. I think you will remember this text. It was a young man’s text who tried to protect people from the junta being shot in nonviolent demonstrations of the Spring Revolution. You will remember the protest while holding the text until midnight.
The world is sad.
It is sympathetic.
Objection and condemnation. Apart from these words, they can’t prevent another way, so civilians are being attacked by the Junta’s Air Force. Now United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar Tom Andrews has raised questions about the attack on Pazigyi.
“How many Myanmar children need to die before world leaders take strong, coordinated action to stop this carnage?”
( Luttyar A )
References –
- Framework of Analysis of Atrocity Crimes; United Nations, 2014
- UNOCHA’s statement
- News from VOA, BBC, Myanmar Now, Interviews, and own notes