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Human Rights Advocates Seek Action Against Military Coup in Myanmar

Lisa Schlein

   GENEVA - Officials attending an emergency session of the U.N. Human
   Rights Council on the crisis in Myanmar are denouncing the military
   coup last week that toppled the country's democratically elected
   government.

   The U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in
   Myanmar, Tom Andrews, called this a moment of great peril for the
   people of the Southeast Asian country.

   Addressing the U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday, he said the world
   must unite with the people and not allow what he calls the "illegal and
   reprehensible" actions of the Myanmar military against its own people
   to stand.

   Andrews said the response of police and security forces to peaceful
   protests is becoming increasingly violent, and there is growing
   evidence of Myanmar's security forces using live ammunition against
   protesters, which violates international law.

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