‘A Hidden Crisis’: UN details impact of 2021 coup on Persons with Disabilities in Myanmar

Persons with disabilities in Myanmar are facing execution, torture, and sexual assault at the hands of pro-military forces, according to a new report released by the U.N.

“Dozens of persons with disabilities have been burned alive in their own homes as junta forces carried out campaigns of mass arson throughout the country,” Tom Andrews, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, said in a press release on Nov. 13.

The U.N. report titled “The Hidden Crisis: Disability Rights in Post-Coup Myanmar,” details how the 2021 military coup has decimated the lives of one of the country’s most vulnerable populations.

“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 explained in his U.N. report.