A/HRC/45/5 destroyed COVID-19 screening points operated by the Kachin Independence Organization and the Restoration Council of Shan. Kayin State 22. In January 2020, the resumption of construction work on a road connecting Kyaukkyi in Bago Region with Hpapun in Kayin, and the consequent increase in the Tatmadaw’s presence in the area, resulted in clashes with the Karen National Union, an ethnic armed organization and signatory to the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement. Local organizations maintained that the Tatmadaw had systematically fired artillery shells onto civilian areas to force the population to flee. Preliminary figures indicate that over 2,000 civilians fled to a nearby forest, where they faced difficulties accessing food and services. Reportedly, Tatmadaw soldiers killed three civilians in the area around the road construction in 2020, allegedly burning the body of one of the victims. Armed activities resulting in displacement continued after the Tatmadaw’s declared ceasefire in connection with the COVID-19 crisis, with hundreds reportedly fleeing their villages. On 6 May, the Tatmadaw reportedly destroyed at least two COVID-19 screening checkpoints operated by the Karen National Union. B. Accountability 23. Myanmar made limited progress on the fact-finding mission’s recommendations to conduct prompt, effective, thorough, independent and impartial investigations and to hold perpetrators accountable for crimes committed across the country. In April 2018, the Tatmadaw announced that a court martial, whose entire proceedings remain confidential, sentenced four officers and three soldiers to 10 years’ imprisonment with hard labour for their participation in the killing of 10 Rohingya men in Inn Din village. In November 2018, however, the Commander-in-Chief pardoned and released them after they had served less than a year of their sentences. Both process and pardon highlight the lack of transparency and independence in the military justice system in Myanmar and the Commander-inChief’s influence over cases. Similarly, on 30 June 2020, the Tatmadaw announced that a court martial had convicted two officers and a soldier for “weakness in following instructions” during the Gu Dar Pyin incident in Buthidaung in 2017. Consistent with previous military proceedings, and despite the Tatmadaw’s assurances of transparency, information on the identities and ranks of perpetrators, the crimes for which they were prosecuted, the trial proceedings and evidence, and their respective sentences, remains undisclosed. Secrecy and lack of independence characterize all Tatmadaw-run processes, making court-martial proceedings inadequate to render justice for crimes committed by military personnel against civilians. In the case of Kachin and Shan States, no investigations or prosecutions have taken place, with the military enjoying total impunity for crimes documented by the fact-finding mission in those areas. 24. Consistent with previous actions aimed at providing a notion of accountability,7 on 20 January 2020 the government-established Independent Commission of Enquiry (hereinafter referred to as the national commission) submitted its report to the President. Except for a 14-page executive summary containing recommendations and some annexes, the report remains unpublished. A full assessment of the factual and legal analysis underpinning the findings and recommendations, as well as of the national commission’s methods of work – including the type and selection of sources, access to and protection of witnesses, and particularly the failure to interview any Rohingya victims and witnesses in Bangladesh, is not possible on the basis of the information made available. Previous significant concerns about the structure, mandate, timing, independence and impartiality of this mechanism persist. As the national commission’s mandate was focused narrowly on specific events that took place in Rakhine during a short period of 12 days, there was no investigation of broader patterns of violation, or of crimes committed in other parts of the country. The authorities of Myanmar remain in denial that crimes in those areas have 7 6 A/HRC/39/64, paras. 95–99; A/HRC/39/CRP.2, paras. 1601–1609; A/HRC/40/37, paras. 56–59; and CEDAW/C/MMR/CO/EP/1, para. 9.