Jan. 29 (UPI) -- As the one-year anniversary of the Myanmar coup nears, U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet is urging the international community to pressure the country to return to civilian rule.
"I urge governments -- in the region and beyond -- as well as businesses, to listen to this plea," Bachelet said in her appeal to the international community Friday. "It is time for urgent, renewed effort to restore human rights and democracy in Myanmar and ensure the perpetrators of systemic human rights violations and abuses are held to account."
Since the Feb. 1 coup, the military's effort "to crush dissent has led to the killing of at least 1,500 people," she added.