ND-Burma 2016 report finds dramatic increase in human rights violations

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8 February 2017
For Immediate Press Release

ND-Burma today releases its 2016 report on the human rights situation in Burma/Myanmar, which shows a dramatic increase in the number of human rights violations committed. Some of the key findings in the report include:

  • 154 human rights violations were recorded in 2016. This is almost double the 84 violations recorded in 2015.
  • The most common human rights violation is torture, with 67 cases recorded in 2016 compared with 26 in 2015. There has also been a large increase in the number of killings, with 28 cases recorded, compared with 11 in 2015.
  • More than half of human rights violations recorded took place in Shan state – a region that makes up just over 10% of Burma/Myanmar’s population.
  • The majority of abuses have been perpetrated by government forces, with the rest having been committed by Ethnic Armed Organizations.
  • The legal immunity enjoyed by the army under the 2008 Constitution has allowed government forces to continue to commit human rights violations under the NLD-led government.
  • However, the unprecedented sentencing of Burma army soldiers for killing civilians in 2016 and at the beginning of 2017 show there are increasing opportunities to seek redress for victims of human rights violations.

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ND-Burma Management Board member Moon Nay Li said:

“We believe that the legal immunity enjoyed by the army under the 2008 Constitution has allowed the military to continue committing human rights violations with impunity, resulting in this depressing spike in human rights violations. Straitened by the Constitution, the government has tried to ignore the past so it could focus on the future. However many victims of past abuses are unable build a future because of the abuses they have suffered. Ongoing abuses make it impossible for victims to trust in the future, which makes national reconciliation and lasting peace impossible. In order to find peace and to finally end the culture of impunity, we must seek redress for Burma/Myanmar’s many victims of human rights violations.”

For more information please contact:
For Burmese media (Myanmar)
Bo Tauk
Advocacy Team member
Mobile: +95 (0) 979 020 7495

For Burmese media (Thailand)
Moon Nay Li
Management Board member
Mobile: +66 (0) 855 233 791

For English media
Veronica Collins
Advocacy Manager
Mobile: +95 (0) 945 9361 186