ND Burma
ND-Burma formed in 2004 in order to provide a way for Burma human rights organizations to collaborate on the human rights documentation process. The 13 ND-Burma member organizations seek to collectively use the truth of what communities in Burma have endured to advocate for justice for victims. ND-Burma trains local organizations in human rights documentation; coordinates members’ input into a common database using Martus, a secure open-source software; and engages in joint-advocacy campaigns.
Recent Posts
- Open letter from Myanmar civil society organizations to ASEAN to move beyond the Five-Point Consensus and support Myanmar people’s efforts to build federal democracy
- Justice
- UN expert on Myanmar to visit Australia
- Human Rights Situation weekly update (September 15 to 21, 2024)
- Myanmar civil society calls for ASEAN to move beyond the Five-Point Consensus and end all engagements with the illegal military junta
Open letter from Myanmar civil society organizations to ASEAN to move beyond the Five-Point Consensus and support Myanmar people’s efforts to build federal democracy
/in Member statements, Press Releases and StatementsTo: ASEAN Leaders
H.E. Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah, Prime Minister of Brunei Darussalam
H.E. Hun Manet, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia
H.E. Joko Widodo, President of the Republic of Indonesia
H.E. Sonexay Siphandone, Prime Minister of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic
H.E. Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Prime Minister of Malaysia
H.E. Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos, Jr., President of the Republic of the Philippines
H.E. Lawrence Wong, Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore
H.E. Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand
H.E. Phạm Minh Chính, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
CC: H.E. Duwa Lashi La, Acting President of Myanmar
7 October 2024
Subject: Open letter from Myanmar civil society organizations to ASEAN to move beyond the Five-Point Consensus and support Myanmar people’s efforts to build federal democracy
Your Excellencies,
Last week, the military junta in Myanmar unleashed a barrage of lethal, indiscriminate airstrikes across Shan, Karen, and Karenni States and Sagaing Region. Of extreme concern, in Lashio, northern Shan State, the junta conducted four consecutive days of airstrikes, which killed at least six civilians. Last month, from 1 to 7 September, the junta launched airstrikes targeting civilians in Chin, Shan, and Karenni States and Magwe, Sagaing, and Mandalay Regions—killing at least 40 people, including a dozen children.
The utter silence of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in response to these ongoing atrocity crimes by the illegal military junta against the people of Myanmar, once again, highlights its continued failure to address the dire human rights and humanitarian crisis in Myanmar. It is imperative that ASEAN change course immediately.
We, the undersigned 240 Myanmar civil society organizations, call on ASEAN to show its political leadership, commitment, and genuine will to support the well-being of the Myanmar people by implementing the following recommendations at the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits in Vientiane under Laos’ chairship. These recommendations were put forth during the ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People’s Forum (ACSC/APF) by the Myanmar National Organizing Committee for ACSC/APF, comprising 15 civil society organizations, and partner organizations. We further call on the international community, particularly the United Nations and ASEAN’s dialogue partners, to assist ASEAN with effectively implementing these recommendations:
Since the Myanmar military’s illegal coup attempt in February 2021, Myanmar has stood at a pivotal juncture in its history. Over the past three and a half years, the military junta has perpetrated a multitude of grave human rights violations and mass atrocity crimes across the nation, including massacres, torching and pillaging of entire towns, and lethal airstrikes against civilian communities and places where they take refuge. There have been over 2,400 airstrikes by the military since February 2021. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the military’s violence has displaced more than 3 million people—likely a gross underestimation of the true magnitude of displacement.
Despite the military junta’s extreme violence, the people’s revolution has persistently worked towards establishing a federal democracy. Over three and a half years, the people’s revolution has advanced and is now winning on the ground. Today, the Myanmar military junta does not have effective control of the country. Townships covering 86% of the country’s territory and including 67% of the national population are not under stable junta control.
Your Excellencies,
Myanmar is moving forward. Now is the time for ASEAN to seize this most critical opportunity and take immediate and decisive action to support the Myanmar people’s revolution for federal democracy and durable peace in Myanmar, as well as for peace and stability in the region.
As clearly recognized in the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Statement on the Escalation of Conflicts in Myanmar on 18 April 2024, the political, human rights, and humanitarian crisis in Myanmar is not merely an internal affair, but one that requires a resolution for “peace, security, and stability in the region,” which ASEAN has vowed to protect. Without swift action, Myanmar’s neighboring countries and ASEAN Member States will continue to face an influx of refugees, loss of commercial interests, and irreparable reputational damage. We believe that ASEAN has a clear obligation to act to prevent the junta from continuing its campaign of violence and from destabilizing the entire region.
We reiterate our calls and remain at your disposal to provide further information, as well as to assist and collaborate with you for effective implementation of the stated recommendations.
For more information, please contact:
Signed by 240 organizations including 45 organizations who have chosen to not disclose their name:
Download PDF file.
Justice
/in Cartoon Animation, News, Video Newsအတိတ်မှ လူ့အခွင့်အရေး အကြီးအကျယ် ကျူးလွန်ချိုးဖောက်မှုများအတွက် ကိုင်တွယ်ဖြေရှင်းရန် အသွင်ကူးပြောင်းရေး ဆိုင်ရာ တရားမျှတမှု (TJ) လုပ်ငန်းစဥ်တခုမှာ “တရားမျှတမှု” (Justice) ဖြစ် သည်။
လူ့အခွင့်အရေးချိုးဖောက်ခံရသူများအတွက် တရားမျှတမှုနှင့် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးချိုးဖောက်သူများ တာဝန်ယူ၊ တာဝန်ခံစေရန်အတွက် ဆောင်ရွက်သည့် လုပ်ငန်းစဥ်ဖြစ်သည်။
တရားမျှတမှု (Justice) လုပ်ငန်းကို “တရားစီရင်ရေး နည်းလမ်း” (Judicial) နှင့် “တရားစီရင်ရေး မဟုတ်သည့် အခြားနည်း”များ (Non-Judicial) ဖြင့် ဆောင်ရွက်ကြသည် (ဥပမာ- နစ်နာသူများအ တွက် ပြန်လည်ကုစားပေးလျော်မှု (Reparation) လုပ်ငန်းစဥ်)။
UN expert on Myanmar to visit Australia
/in NewsThe Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, will conduct an official country visit to Australia from 1–10 October 2024.
Andrews will discuss Australia’s perspective on the crisis in Myanmar and the ways in which the Government of Australia can stand for the human rights of the people of Myanmar.
The Special Rapporteur will visit Canberra to meet representatives of the Government of Australia. He will also travel to Sydney and Melbourne where he will engage with experts, humanitarian and refugee organisations supporting those who have fled Myanmar, and Australian civil society organisations with a focus on Myanmar and ASEAN.
He will also hold consultations with diverse groups from the Myanmar diaspora, including refugees from Myanmar who have been resettled in Australia since the military coup of February 2021.
The Special Rapporteur will hold a press briefing on 10 October 2024 at 11:30 a.m. local time at the United Nations Information Centre, Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House, 18 King George Terrace, Parkes ACT 2600. Access will be strictly limited to journalists.
Mr. Thomas Andrews (United States of America) is the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. A former member of the US Congress from Maine, Andrews is a Robina Senior Human Rights Fellow at Yale Law School and an Associate of Harvard University’s Asia Center. He has worked with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and parliamentarians, NGOs and political parties in Cambodia, Indonesia, Algeria, Croatia, Serbia, Ukraine and Yemen. He has been a consultant for the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma and the Euro-Burma Network and has run advocacy NGOs including Win Without War and United to End Genocide.
For additional information and media requests please contact Julia Dean dean@un.org.
For media enquiries regarding other UN independent experts, please contact Dharisha Indraguptha (dharisha.indraguptha@un.org) or John Newland (john.newland@un.org)
Human Rights Situation weekly update (September 15 to 21, 2024)
/in HR Situation, NewsHuman Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from Sep 15 to 21, 2024
Military Junta Troop launched airstrikes and dropped bombs in Sagaing Region, Mandalay Region, Shan State, Chin State, Rakhine State, and Kachin State from September 15th to 21st. The Military Junta committed arresting, occupying the properties, threatening by using power, and attacking with heavy artillery the civil volunteer societies that helped the people who were affected by the floods in Bago Region and Mandalay Region. Military Junta arrested over 1000 civilians as human shields from Indaw Township, Sagaing Region.
About 30 civilians died, and over 20 were injured by the Military’s heavy and light artillery attacks within a week. Over 30 civilians were arrested by the Military Junta within a week.
Infogram
Human Rights Situation weekly update (September 8 to 14, 2024)
Myanmar civil society calls for ASEAN to move beyond the Five-Point Consensus and end all engagements with the illegal military junta
/in Press Releases and StatementsAhead of the 44th and 45th Summits of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Vientiane, Laos, the Myanmar National Organizing Committee (Myanmar NOC) for ACSC/APF, comprising 15 civil society organizations, as well as partner organizations and network, participated in the ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People’s Forum (ACSC/APF) 2024 held on 19 – 21 September 2024 in Dili, Timor-Leste. This year, the delegation of Myanmar NOC and partner organizations and network was more inclusive than ever before, with the participation of Rohingya and LGBTQIA+ representatives.
The conference, hosted by the Timor-Leste National Organizing Committee for ACSC/APF and Forum ONG Timor-Leste (FONGTIL), was attended by over 500 delegates and participants from civil society and people’s movements from across Southeast Asia. Four plenary sessions, 24 convergence space workshops and 11 side events were held.
On 19 September, during the opening session, the Myanmar NOC reported to the conference the dire human rights and humanitarian crisis in Myanmar caused and exacerbated by the military junta, as well as the people’s resolute resistance against the military and building of a new federal democratic Myanmar from the bottom up, despite the junta’s widespread and systematic attacks.
Myanmar in the Plenaries
On 19 September, Yasmin Ullah, Executive Director of Rohingya Maìyafuìnor Collaborative Network (RMCN), a member organization of the Myanmar NOC, spoke on Plenary II: Critical Overview for ASEAN Mechanism. She discussed the failure of ASEAN, especially to protect vulnerable minority communities including the Rohingya, and ASEAN’s ongoing red-carpet treatment of the Myanmar military junta. She further highlighted ASEAN’s failure to coordinate sanctions against the supply chain of aviation fuel, which has continued to embolden the military junta to conduct frequent targeted airstrikes and massacring of civilians.
On 20 September, Zue Padonmar, Secretary 1 of the Interim Executive Council of Karenni State (IEC), and Nurhayati Ali, Director of Health and Human Services at RMCN, spoke on Plenary IV: People and Planet First: Toward a Liberating Southeast Asia. Zue Padonmar discussed the building of bottom-up federal democracy in Karenni State, including the establishment of the people-led Karenni Interim Government, its provision of public services, and its ongoing efforts to encourage public participation in its governance structures. Nurhayati Ali discussed the struggle of the Rohingya, emphasizing that “there will be no liberation in Southeast Asia without the liberation of Rohingya.” She also described the efforts of the Rohingya to reclaim their belonging in their ancestral homeland of Myanmar and in ASEAN, including by reengaging with Rohingya culture and sharing their traditions with the international community.
Myanmar in the Convergence Spaces
On 19 September, Myanmar NOC representatives from Women’s League of Burma (WLB) and Women Advocacy Coalition – Myanmar (WAC-M) convened a workshop entitled An Arduous but Yearning Endeavor: Access to Justice for the Survivors of Conflict-Related Gender-Based Crimes. This workshop was co-organized with Initiatives for International Dialogue and the People’s Empowerment Foundation. Panelists included a representative of WLB and Owen of WAC-M. During the workshop, the Myanmar NOC representatives emphasized that the Myanmar military is the main root cause of conflict-related gender-based crimes in Myanmar, and that the existing regional and international Women, Peace, and Security frameworks are insufficient to address the ongoing sexual and gender-based violence in Myanmar.
Also on 19 September, Khin Ohmar, Chairperson of the Myanmar NOC member Progressive Voice, joined the Grassroots Democracy and People’s Vision for Alternative Regionalism workshop as a panelist. She highlighted the Myanmar people’s tireless efforts and sacrifices to build new, inclusive, democratic governance structures, sharply contrasting the people’s incredible successes with ASEAN’s complete failure to address Myanmar’s multi-faceted crisis.
On 20 September, the Myanmar NOC convened the Triumph over Military Tyranny: ASEAN’s Role in Rebuilding Myanmar workshop under the theme of State Violence, Militarism, National Liberation, and Democracy. This workshop was co-organized with International Peace Bureau – Philippines, Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma, ALTSEAN-Burma, and the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA).
During the workshop, representatives of the Myanmar NOC discussed the ongoing progress of the Myanmar people’s revolution, ASEAN’s role in fueling the military junta’s false legitimacy, and the regional bloc’s need to recognize the people’s revolution and their efforts to build a new Myanmar. The democratic principles driving the Spring Revolution, particularly inclusion and equality—as well as the invaluable role of the Civil Disobedience Movement, students, youth, women, the LGBTQIA+ community at the revolution’s forefront—were highlighted. The workshop also highlighted the Rohingya people’s historical involvement in and contributions to Myanmar’s democratic movements, including the 8888 nationwide pro-democracy uprising and the present Spring Revolution.
The workshop emphasized that the Myanmar military junta has shown blatant disregard for ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus (5PC), only escalating its violence against civilians countrywide. ASEAN’s disjointed approach to Myanmar’s crisis has not only completely failed, but has also lent false legitimacy to the illegal, illegitimate junta and further emboldened it to intensify atrocity crimes.
Also on 20 September, Myanmar NOC members Blood Money Campaign (BMC), Generations’ Solidarity Coalition of Nationalities, Network for Human Rights Documentation – Burma, and Equality Myanmar convened a workshop entitled People to People for Justice: Challenging the Norms of Human Security, Peace, Gender Equality, and Accountability in ASEAN. This workshop was co-organized with Stop the War Coalition Philippines and the Asian Cultural Forum on Development Foundation.
The workshop included Mulan, a human rights defender from BMC; Ma Aye Saung, Adviser at WAC-M; and a representative of Justice and Equality Focus (JEF). They emphasized the Myanmar military’s decades-long impunity and ASEAN’s complete lack of political will to address the Myanmar crisis. The workshop, with a panelist from Indonesia, also highlighted the importance of people-to-people solidarity across ASEAN in ensuring human security and peace.
Also on 20 September, Yasmin Ullah of RMCN spoke as a panelist during a workshop entitled When Hate Speech Leads to Genocide: The Rohingya Case and What We Must Do to Resist. She highlighted how misinformation, disinformation, and hate speech against the Rohingya are tools to further divide the ASEAN region to become oblivious to the plight of Rohingya in Myanmar’s Rakhine State as well as to foster a culture of impunity where victims are blamed. She underlined the urgent need to hold the Myanmar military and other actors complicit in the hate speech against Rohingya accountable including those in the ASEAN region.
Separately, on 19 September, the Alliance Against CRSV–Myanmar co-organized a workshop entitled Strategies to Address CRSV in the Region. Moderated by Zin of WAC-M, a member of the Myanmar NOC, the workshop included Yasmin Ullah of RMCN and two members of the Alliance who highlighted the severity of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) against women and girls from different ethnic communities as well as the LGBTQIA+ community.
Myanmar Side Events
Throughout the ACSC/APF, the Myanmar NOC hosted the Burma/Myanmar Revolution Corner – a side event with photo exhibitions and film screening about the situation of internally displaced persons and airstrikes, and handicrafts by the Spring Revolution. RMCN also hosted an artwork and history exhibition to share Rohingya stories and culture. The Alliance Against CRSV–Myanmar further organized an exhibition and photo booth in support of CRSV survivors of Myanmar, where solidarity photos were collected for the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign later this year. All side events received tremendous support and solidarity from the ACSC/APF participants.
Reflections and aspirations of the Myanmar NOC and partners
The Myanmar NOC and partner organizations and network would like to extend our sincerest gratitude to the people and the Government of Timor-Leste for their wholehearted and overwhelming support for and solidarity with Myanmar people and our revolution. The liberation, freedom, and democracy that the people of Timor-Leste have as an independent sovereign nation is something Myanmar people are longing for, are fighting for, and are determined to achieve soon.
The Myanmar NOC and partner organizations and network would also like to sincerely thank the ACSC/APF 2024, the Timor-Leste National Organizing Committee for ACSC/APF, regional solidarity networks, and all participants for their steadfast support of the Myanmar people’s revolution and aspirations for inclusive federal democracy and human rights for all.
The Myanmar NOC, with our platform of convening independent civil society organizations and networks, stand firm on non-discrimination and other human rights and democratic principles. As such, the Myanmar NOC will continue to do our part to ensure the ACSC/APF remains a people’s space protected based on these principles.
Recommendations to ASEAN
Once again, ASEAN’s complete silence on the Myanmar military junta’s latest airstrikes over the past week in northern Shan State proves its utter failure to address the dire human rights and humanitarian crisis in Myanmar. It is clear that ASEAN’s approach, including the failed 5PC, is not working in any capacity, Thus, ASEAN must change course immediately.
We demand ASEAN to respond to and take concrete actions in accordance with the following recommendations at the upcoming ASEAN Summits:
For more information, please contact:
Members of the Myanmar NOC:
Partner Organizations and Network:
Download press statement
Myanmar junta plans to execute 5 anti-military activists: sources
/in NewsRights group denounces use of capital punishment as a tool against dissent.
Myanmar’s military junta is planning to execute by Tuesday five political prisoners for the 2021 murder of a police officer, activists and other sources said, raising concern among rights groups about the conduct of their trial and the prospect of the military using capital punishment to suppress dissent.
Authorities in Insein prison, in the main city of Yangon, have been making preparations for the execution of the inmates, one of them a woman, including taking their measurements, said a source close to the prison who declined to be identified.
“We can confirm that the gallows have been prepared but we don’t know when, or if, the executions will take place. I’ve also learned that they have been allowed to meet with their families,” said the source.
The five, Kaung Pyae Sone Oo, Kyaw Win Soe, San Min Aung, Zayyar Phyo and Myat Phyo Pwint, were sentenced to death by a special prison court for the shooting and killing of a police officer at Ahlone Station in Yangon on Aug. 14, 2021.
Radio Free Asia tried to telephone the junta’s main spokesman, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, to ask about the situation but he did not answer the calls. He told the BBC Burmese service several days ago that he had heard nothing about any planned executions. RFA also tried to contact the deputy director general of the Prison Department but he did not respond.
RFA was also unable to reach any relatives of the five.
The junta that seized power in an early 2021 coup carried out the first executions in Myanmar for several decades with the 2022 execution of four democracy activists accused of “terror acts”, triggering a wave of condemnation, including from the United Nations, European Union and the United States.
The rights group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners – Burma reports that as of March, 164 people had been sentenced to death since the 2021 coup, which triggered a wave of opposition to military rule and an armed uprising.
The group ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights, or APHR, urged the military council to halt any plan to carry out the executions saying it was “alarmed by the use of the death penalty and how these trials were conducted.”
“These actions represent a grievous infringement of human rights and a blatant disregard for international legal standards,” the group said.
“The use of capital punishment as a tool to suppress dissent is unacceptable and must be condemned in the strongest terms,” said APHR board member Wong Chen, who is a Malaysian member of parliament.
‘On alert
Thaik Tun Oo, an official from the Political Prisoners Network – Myanmar, said the rumors of impending executions in the absence of any official word was akin to a “psychological operation” by the military to spread fear.
“Families are worried, and it seems this is being done deliberately. This isn’t official news from the prison side, nor does such news typically reach outside,” said Thaik Tun Oo. “I sense that a psychological operation is taking place.”
A senior member of Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government, or NUG, set up by pro-democracy politicians after the 2021 coup, said an investigation into the rumors of impending executions had revealed that health checks, typically conducted before executions, were being carried out not only in Insein but in other prisons as well.
“We are deeply concerned. The international community is on alert, with some considering statements expressing their concern and urging that these executions not be carried out,” he said.
An attorney told RFA that the families of condemned prisoners had to be notified 24 hours before an execution is carried out.
“If the death sentence is confirmed and the execution is carried out, the law stipulates that the prisoner must be informed 24 hours in advance, followed by notification to their family,” said the lawyer, who declined to be identified for security reasons.
“During that 24-hour period, there is no limit to the number of family members who can visit. So have they actually been allowed to meet with their families? Have any conversations taken place? Have they been notified? These questions are crucial.”
RFA News