By Salai Za Uk
Today a group representing victims of atrocity crimes committed by the Myanmar junta against the country’s Christian Chin People presented a criminal complaint to the Ministério Público (Public Prosecutor’s Office) in Timor-Leste. I led that group, which is requesting an investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity. Having been denied accountability for decades in our own country, we have come to Dili in search of solidarity and support in our quest for justice.
The criminal file we presented to the Prosecutor includes evidence of the gang rape of a pregnant woman; the massacre of ten people, including a journalist and a 13-year-old boy, who was among eight people who had their throats slit; the deliberate killing of one Christian Pastor and three Deacons; a disproportionate and indiscriminate aerial attack on a hospital which killed four medical staff and four patients, and finally a series of attacks on Christian churches, civilian infrastructure protected under international law.
As Christians we appeal for support
Accountability for these crimes is permissible in Timor-Leste under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows state authorities to take action regardless of where the crimes took place or the nationality of the victims and perpetrators. As a Christian, passionately committed to human rights, dignity and the rule of law, I appeal for action.
I pray our case will resonate powerfully with the Timorese people, given our similar modern histories. Like Timor-Leste, Myanmar was ruled for generations by Western colonials and, like Timor-Leste, Myanmar’s post-independence period saw vicious atrocity crimes perpetrated against innocent people demanding freedom and justice.
Since the coup, civil society groups like the one I head, have documented numerous attacks by the Myanmar junta on unarmed demonstrators in which thousands have been killed. They bring to mind the infamous Santa Cruz Massacre in Dili in 1991 in which over 250 demonstrators were murdered in cold blood. Similar massacres have been committed against the Myanmar people on an almost monthly basis since the coup in 2021.
Indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on Christians
The crimes we investigated are part of a deliberate, systematic, widespread, disproportionate and indiscriminate campaign of violence against civilians in Myanmar’s predominantly Christian Chin State. Since July 2022, the military junta has carried out around 1,000 documented air strikes in the state. More than 4,600 homes have been destroyed by airstrikes or deliberately burnt down. 478 civilians have been killed, including 91 women and 79 children. At least 19 medical facilities, 25 schools and 127 religious buildings, including 78 churches, have been damaged or destroyed.
Since the coup in Myanmar on 1 February 2021, approximately 200,000 people – nearly half the population of Chin State – have been forcibly displaced. Over 100,000 have fled to other areas of Myanmar, while tens of thousands of Chin are currently seeking refuge in India.
Chin State atrocities part of a nationwide picture
Beyond the situation in Chin State, our delegation has also come to Dili to highlight the plight of Myanmar’s embattled population more generally. Since the coup, the junta has increased its disproportionate and indiscriminate aerial, drone and artillery attacks on civilians.
According to the latest data from the UN and other credible sources, as of 31 March 2025, at least 6,473 civilians have been killed by junta forces, including 1,487 women and 748 children. Over 30,000 have been detained and over 22,000 remain in detention. According to the UN, nearly 2,000 people have died in military detention, with well documented cases of dozens being tortured to death. 172 people have been sentenced to death by military-controlled courts.
Violence in Myanmar has displaced more than 3.5 million people – over 5 per cent of the population – and although nearly 20 million are in need of assistance, according to the UN, the military has consistently blocked humanitarian access, even after natural disasters, including the earthquake in March 2025. Best estimates indicate that more than 1.5 million Myanmar people have crossed international borders by land or sea in search of safety, through regular and irregular channels, a regional refugee crisis that has created dire human rights and humanitarian challenges.
Compounding this regional crisis, Myanmar remains a centre for transnational crime. According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the country is a leading producer of opium and heroin. Moreover, the proliferation of scam centres risks the problem spilling over into Timor-Leste.
The sham election will lead to more violence
Myanmar’s ongoing sham elections—designed to legitimize an illegitimate dictatorship—further highlight the urgent need for international accountability. I previously brought this concern to the global stage during the 60th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in September 2025. At that time, I warned that the military was actively attempting to cloak its brutality in the guise of electoral legitimacy.
I stated then, and I repeat now: violence and human suffering will only increase if the military is permitted to hold these elections. It is a fundamental violation of justice that a regime engaged in the massacre of thousands of its own citizens should have any role in a democratic process.
Since that testimony, the situation has only darkened. The junta has ruthlessly employed the Political Party Registration Law of 2023 and the Election Protection Law of 2025 to stifle all dissent. Hundreds have been detained and tortured simply for voicing opposition to the poll, and over 40 political parties—including the National League for Democracy—have been dissolved.
The partial nature of this exercise is clear: the junta has only been able to compile voter lists in 145 out of 330 townships. Rather than producing the stability some of Myanmar’s neighbors had hoped for, these sham elections are fueling a new wave of violence and criminality.
In short, rather than producing stability, as some of Myanmar neighbours argued, the sham elections will become another source of violence, instability, criminality and widespread human suffering.
We ask for Timorese Solidarity with Myanmar
And so we have come to Dili, pleading for an investigation to be opened. Our case will place minimal pressure on Timor-Leste’s judicial system. All the evidence being presented to the Prosecutor’s Office in Dili has been meticulously documented and reconfirmed by my organization, the Chin Human Rights Organisation. In addition, the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, (IIMM) established by the UN, has a large body of verified evidence which can be made available to the Timorese authorities as part of their investigation.
If the authorities in Timor-Leste took the simple step of opening an investigation it would send a powerful message, widely accepted across the ASEAN: that the situation in Myanmar is unsustainable and must change.
We pray for justice
The Timorese know what the people of Myanmar are suffering through lived experience. After its own painful transition, Timor-Leste understands the meaning of freedom from fear and the price a nation must pay for collective dignity. Our legal case in Dili offers an opportunity for solidarity with some of the most marginalized and isolated people in the ASEAN region.
And so we appeal for support to Timorese civil society, the Catholic Church and all Timorese people of conscience. Given the position on human rights and accountability taken by leading politicians and other influential voices in Timor-Leste, the Chin People earnestly believe that our call for accountability will be heard. And we fervently hope that our prayers for justice, peace and dignity, on behalf of all the people of Myanmar, will be answered.
***
Salai Za Uk is Executive Director of the Chin Human Rights Organisation.
***
