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
- On International Women’s Day, the Network for Human RightsDocumentation – Burma Calls for the Recognition of Women’s Contributions to the Pro-Democracy Movement
- INTERVIEW: Why an Argentine court filed a warrant for Aung San Suu Kyi’s arrest
- Myanmar junta bombs rebel wedding, at least 10 killed
- Press Statement: Argentine Court’s arrest warrants are welcome progress towards justice
- OPEN LETTER: UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL MUST TAKE CONCRETE ACTION TO SUPPORT THE MYANMAR PEOPLE’S EFFORTS TO BUILD A RIGHTS-PROTECTING FUTURE
Telenor has shared sensitive customer data with military since the coup: industry sources
/in NewsThe revelation comes as Telenor prepares to finalise the sale of its Myanmar unit to a military-linked company later this month
Norwegian telecoms company Telenor, a leading operator in Myanmar serving more than 18 million users, has complied with multiple requests from the military junta for sensitive user data since last year’s coup, according to industry sources.
The junta-controlled Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC) made at least 200 requests to Telenor over the past 12 months for information, including records of calls, call locations and the last known location of a number, a source with inside knowledge of the situation told Myanmar Now.
The company complied with all of these requests, as well as with instructions to shut down specified mobile numbers, the source said.
Myanmar Now has seen a number of the MOTC’s recent requests to Telenor. Some were for the one-month call histories of customers, while others asked for four- to six-month call histories.
Each request included multiple numbers, with some requests numbering in the hundreds. The 200+ requests therefore impacted thousands of Telenor customers.
The ministry cited Myanmar’s 2013 Telecommunications Law in its requests to the company. Article 77 of the law allows the ministry to suspend services, intercept communications, and temporarily control services in “emergency situations”.
According to the source, Telenor complied with all of the ministry’s requests despite concerns that they were based on information obtained by the junta through torture.
“We can generally say that the mobile numbers mentioned in the data requests were extracted during the interrogation of political detainees. So we can say that these numbers really are blood-stained,” the source said.
In response to questions from Myanmar Now regarding the company’s sharing of personal data, Telenor confirmed that the company has received directives from the military junta, and implied their compliance with those requests.
“Violating or not complying with directives issued under the existing legal framework, would have severe and completely unacceptable consequences for our employees,” Telenor communications director Cathrine Stang Lund said.
Myanmar Now asked Telenor if they were aware of any individuals arrested, tortured or killed after the company had shared data with the junta, and whether they had taken any steps to protect customers targeted in junta directives. Telenor did not respond.
It is not uncommon for authorities to ask mobile service providers for customers’ data. In Telenor’s 7th Sustainability Briefing, published before the coup, the company disclosed it had received 327 data requests from the authorities between 2014 and December 2020 and complied with 217 of them.
The company wrote that “the data disclosed were related to life-or-death situations such as murder, drug and missing person investigations.”
On February 14, 2021, Telenor stated that they would no longer disclose directive from authorities and Telenor Myanmar did not make a sustainability briefing in 2021.
In most cases, data requests made before the coup were approved by different ministerial departments.
“Now the military doesn’t make any reference to other government departments. Even when it does, it only refers to the Ministry of Home Affairs,” the source said.
Under Myanmar’s military-drafted 2008 Constitution, the Ministry of Home Affairs is one of three ministries under the direct control of the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
Some of the data requests made by the military in the first few weeks after last February’s military coup were related to the phone numbers of well-known actor Kyaw Thu, his wife Shwe Zee Kwat, and popular rock singer Lynn Lynn. All three had been charged with incitement and spreading rumours shortly after the military takeover.
The military authorities also raided the Yangon office of Kyaw Thu’s Free Funeral Service Society, seizing office documents and property.
A mobile number posted by Lynn Lynn on a Facebook page using his real name, Htwe Lynn Ko, on February 8 of last year was shut down by Telenor at the request of the military authorities. Lynn Lynn had been using social media to raise funds for state employees taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement against military rule.
Kyaw Thu and Lynn Lynn have both managed to evade arrest together with their families and are now in exile outside of Myanmar.
Lynn Lynn said he and his wife, popular singer and actress Chit Thu Wai, hid with their two daughters in separate locations until they were able to leave the country.
The couple actively supported the ousted ruling party, the National League for Democracy, during its election campaigns. They are also personally close to the party’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained by the junta since the coup.
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In 2014, Lynn Lynn was a judge in a national ringtone competition Telenor held before their network launch.
Like many activists and journalists since the coup, Lynn Lynn primarily used Telenor, which was widely trusted, and boycotted mobile operators linked to the military junta.
“I feel sad that an organisation like Telenor, headquartered in the city that awards the Nobel Peace Prize, is sharing personal data with a terrorist military junta,” said Lynn Lynn.
The Shwe Byain Phyu Group, which has a long history of serving military-owned MEHL, is to be the majority owner of the new partnership that will acquire Telenor’s Myanmar operation
‘Alarming’ revelation
A spokesperson for activist group Justice for Myanmar called on the Norwegian government to urgently investigate whether Telenor has aided and abetted crimes committed by the military by sharing data, and said it must also ensure remedy for victims.
“It is alarming that Telenor has been sharing call and location data with the terrorist military junta, with full knowledge of how this endangers Myanmar people’s lives,” said Yadanar Maung, the group’s spokesperson.
“The junta has been conducting mass arrests, torture and murder since its attempted coup, and these acts amount to crimes against humanity. By sharing data, Telenor’s cooperation with the junta in its brutal crackdown makes the company complicit in these international crimes,” she said.
Myanmar Now reported last week that Telenor’s sale of its Myanmar subsidiary will becompleted by February 15.
Internal documents seen by Myanmar Now from the junta’s Post and Telecommunications Department under the Ministry of Transport and Communications indicate that the buyer will be Investcom Myanmar, a company that has not yet been registered.
The documents state that Shwe Byain Phyu, a military-linked gems and petrol conglomerate, will be the majority owner of Investcom Myanmar.
Shwe Byain Phyu Telecom is a registered company in Myanmar. Until it changed its name on November 3, 2021, it was registered as Shwe Byain Phyu Manufacturing Co Ltd.
The company recently acquired a 49-percent stake in Investcom Pte Ltd, a company created by the Lebanon-based M1 Group that was registered in Singapore after Telenor announced last year that it was selling its Myanmar unit to the M1 Group for $105m.
On January 30, on behalf of the 168 civil society organisations in Myanmar, the Norwegian Forum for Development and Environment sent a letter to the Norwegian prime minister demanding a stop to the sale of Telenor Myanmar to M1 Group and Shwe Byain Phyu on human rights grounds.
Lynn Lynn also appealed for the sale to be called off.
“I expect Telenor Group management would sympathise with the Myanmar public’s struggle for democracy,” he said.
Telenor explained the company’s legal and human rights predicament as a reason for the sale of their Myanmar unit.
“Telenor is facing a conflict between local law and international law, employee safety and human rights principles which makes continued presence in Myanmar impossible for Telenor Group,” Cathrine Stang Lund said.
Myanmar Now News
Soldiers and Pyu Saw Htee militiamen murder four, burn hundreds of homes in Sagaing
/in NewsThe mob also looted several villages and carried the stolen goods away on several trucks, locals said
Junta soldiers and Pyu Saw Htee militiamen murdered four people, burned hundreds of homes, and looted villages during a three-day rampage through Sagaing Region’s Pale Township last week, local residents have told Myanmar Now.
The mob of about 100 members of the junta’s forces entered the village of Min Taing Pin firing their guns at around 11am on Thursday, bringing with them and then killing four captives who had their hands tied, two residents there said.
They then raided homes and detained around 100 people, including 15 who were elderly, inside a local school. One woman named Htay Kyi was reportedly beaten while being detained.
The soldiers then ransacked and looted houses, a jewellery store and mobile phone shops. “It was nothing more than a massive robbery,” one of the residents said.
“They started firing shots even before they entered the village,” he added. “Some people started running but others didn’t because the other junta forces that came into the village before didn’t cause much trouble. It’s just so bad this time.”
The second villager said that the soldiers and militiamen stole around 700 million kyat ($393,000) worth of cash and gold from the jewellery store and around 45 million kyat in cash and phone top-up cards from a money exchanger.
The soldiers broke down doors to enter houses, the second villager said. “They took rice, oil and food supplies for the most part. They also broke into three mobile phone shops and took every single phone, set of earphones and power bank. They even broke open the safes.”
After the robberies, the junta forces loaded the stolen goods into seven military trucks and carried them away.
“Nothing is left in Min Taing Pin,” said a person who is helping residents who fled the village. “They ransacked all the jewellery shops and garment shops. The village is nothing but a huge pile of garbage now. They took all the valuables.”
Residents did not know the names of the four captives who were killed, but recognised them and said they were from the nearby villages of Inn Kan and Ohn Hnauk. Soldiers shot the four of them to death and burned their faces before leaving the bodies outside of Min Taing Pin.
“They burned the bodies before they left the village so we wouldn’t be able to identify them,” the man helping the displaced villagers said.
Both he and the two Min Taing Pin villagers said the junta’s forces detained five women in their early 20s, and that others they spoke to believe the women were raped because they heard them screaming.
“The girls were hiding when the military arrived but they were found and taken by the military,” he said. “I don’t want to say their names for their own safety. Some said they heard the girls screaming. I didn’t hear them though as I was trying to flee.”
Myanmar Now was unable to gather further information about the women or verify what happened after they were detained.
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Houses torched
After spending the night in Min Taing Pin, the junta forces marched to the nearby villages of Kaing Twin and Hlaw Kar on Friday evening. All three villages lie along the road connecting Pale to the Magway Region township of Gangaw.
As in Min Taing Pin, they robbed houses and businesses in Kaing Twin and some of them carried the loot away on ten military vehicles to a village called In Pin Htee, where Pyu Saw Htee is known to be active.
The soldiers and Pyu Saw Htee members then began setting fire to houses.
“Almost the entire village of Kaing Twin is lost,” said a man who lives in Pale Township. “We are trying to get there to investigate. We still don’t know the exact number of casualties or amount of damage.”
It was a similar story when the junta’s mob later marched a mile north to the village Hlaw Kar. Hlaw Kar has 800 houses, while Kaing Twin has 400– and a total of 800 houses were burned down across the two villages, a Hlaw Kar resident said.
The fires began in Hlaw Kar village at around 1:30am on Saturday morning and soldiers set fires again at 7am, he added. “The village burned the whole night. All the pigs and cows died in the fire. Even when we went back to check after the military left, three houses were still burning.”
He and others found remnants from bottles used for molotov cocktails and wooden torches used to start the fires, he said. “I think they used the torches to spread the fire from one house to another. It’s just so cruel.”
Another Hlaw Kar local said that Pyu Saw Htee members started fires and the soldiers took pictures of themselves pretending to put out the flames before torching more houses. They did the same thing in Kaing Twin, he added.
“The Pyu Saw Htee came into our village first and then they started torching the houses. Then, the junta forces arrived, took photos and torched more houses,” he said.
On Saturday, the soldiers and militiamen travelled to nearby Ingyin Su village, which has a population of around 1,000.
Myanmar Now News
CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS REJECT UN SPECIAL ENVOY’S PROPOSAL OF “POWER SHARING”
/in Press Releases and StatementsRaise alarm at her misinterpretation that the “military are in control”
247 civil society organizations reject UN Special Envoy, Dr Noeleen Heyzer’s, proposal that those defying the military must negotiate a power sharing as a solution to the current political, human rights and humanitarian crisis created by the terrorist military junta.
In an interview with Channel News Asia, the Special Envoy discusses finding “commonalities”, a political transformation requiring process and a “need to negotiate what this power sharing could look like”. Her comments have been met with strong reactions.
We further raise alarm at the comments she made during her interview in which she claims that “The military is in control at this particular time”.
These statements could set a dangerous precedent, that those who take control through brutal means – massacring, killing, raping, arresting, torturing, burning villages and people, targeting civilians using airstrikes and shelling – be welcomed to share power. Such suggestions send a signal to the military that the UN is willing to act as a broker for their power despite the grave crimes they have committed, and further embolden them to commit atrocities with total impunity.
The youth who are continuing to call for an end to the military’s terror are not being unrealistic in their efforts to see their human rights and fundamental freedoms protected. Their calls reflect the principles laid out in the UN Charter and deserve the full support and respect of UN mandate holders.
In addition, it is not required of revolutionary movements to end in a power sharing agreement with those that have committed genocide and continue to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity. History has shown us that coups around the world have failed, and revolutions have succeeded. Those who have committed grave international crimes must be held accountable, not offered more power, a seat at the table and legitimacy by the international community. This will only embolden them to continue to commit grave crimes with total impunity.
It has been over a decade since the military initiated their political process of power sharing. This consisted of unelected military officials holding 25% of the seats in parliament and control over key ministries that were integral to the governance of Myanmar, under a military-drafted 2008 Constitution that undemocratically ensured their place in the corridors of power.
They stole the wealth of the people of Myanmar for decades during the military dictatorship and throughout the military orchestrated political process of the past decade. They exploited natural resources, while continuing to commit war crimes against people who live in resource-rich ethnic areas.
For over 70 years the military has waged a fierce war against ethnic peoples, committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. While sharing limited power with the National League for Democracy, they committed war crimes and crimes against humanity against ethnic people and genocide against the Rohingya.
The Special Envoy should advise the UN Security Council to immediately refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court so that these grave crimes committed by the Myanmar military can be investigated and prosecuted. Offering them a seat at the negotiating table is not in accordance with the “will and interests of the people of Myanmar” as adopted in resolutions at the UN General Assembly.
The Special Envoy’s misinterpretation that “the military is in control” could not be farther from the truth. Over the past year, Myanmar people’s revolutionary movement has successfully prevented the military from grabbing power over the country, despite all its brutal efforts. The military are, however, conducting fierce airstrikes in ethnic areas where they are losing territorial control; shooting and shelling people forcing them to flee across the border into neighboring countries, threatening international peace and security; burning bodies including children and staff of international organizations in an attempt to instill terror. These are not acts of a military who are in control.
International experts on Myanmar have previously stated in response to UN officials inaccurately suggesting that military has “taken over” or that it has an “iron grip on power”, that “Misinterpretation leads to misrepresentation, misrepresentation leads to misunderstanding, and misunderstanding leads to mistakes”. We could not agree more.
Such mistakes have been a persistent problem for the UN in Myanmar as outlined in the Rosenthal report, which found that systemic and structural failures rendered the UN impotent in the face of the Rohingya genocide. The UN must not make the same mistakes, and once again, fail the people of Myanmar.
If the Special Envoy is genuinely committed to a “Myanmar-led process” and engaging “directly with and listen carefully to all those affected by the ongoing crisis”, she must understand the root causes of the current crisis and genuinely listen to the calls of the people of Myanmar. Their calls have been clear. The military must never rule.
The UN Special Envoy and other mandate holders, as well as UN agencies, funds programs and entities, must support the calls of the people of Myanmar and their efforts towards a future federal democratic Myanmar. They must respect their will and work to ensure that the military is never again allowed to have power.
For further information, please contact:
Signed by Myanmar CSOs and Supported by Regional and International CSOs:
Download PDF file in [English]
CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS REJECT UN SPECIAL ENVOY’S PROPOSAL OF “POWER SHARING”
/in Member statementsCivil Society organizations reject UN Special Envoy’s proposal of “power sharing”
Raise alarm at her misinterpretation that the “military are in control”
247 civil society organizations reject UN Special Envoy, Dr Noeleen Heyzer’s, proposal that those defying the military must negotiate a power sharing as a solution to the current political, human rights and humanitarian crisis created by the terrorist military junta.
In an interview with Channel News Asia, the Special Envoy discusses finding “commonalities”, a political transformation requiring process and a “need to negotiate what this power sharing could look like”. Her comments have been met with strong reactions.
We further raise alarm at the comments she made during her interview in which she claims that “The military is in control at this particular time”.
These statements could set a dangerous precedent, that those who take control through brutal means – massacring, killing, raping, arresting, torturing, burning villages and people, targeting civilians using airstrikes and shelling – be welcomed to share power. Such suggestions send a signal to the military that the UN is willing to act as a broker for their power despite the grave crimes they have committed, and further embolden them to commit atrocities with total impunity.
The youth who are continuing to call for an end to the military’s terror are not being unrealistic in their efforts to see their human rights and fundamental freedoms protected. Their calls reflect the principles laid out in the UN Charter and deserve the full support and respect of UN mandate holders.
In addition, it is not required of revolutionary movements to end in a power sharing agreement with those that have committed genocide and continue to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity. History has shown us that coups around the world have failed, and revolutions have succeeded. Those who have committed grave international crimes must be held accountable, not offered more power, a seat at the table and legitimacy by the international community. This will only embolden them to continue to commit grave crimes with total impunity.
It has been over a decade since the military initiated their political process of power sharing. This consisted of unelected military officials holding 25% of the seats in parliament and control over key ministries that were integral to the governance of Myanmar, under a military-drafted 2008 Constitution that undemocratically ensured their place in the corridors of power.
They stole the wealth of the people of Myanmar for decades during the military dictatorship and throughout the military orchestrated political process of the past decade. They exploited natural resources, while continuing to commit war crimes against people who live in resource-rich ethnic areas.
For over 70 years the military has waged a fierce war against ethnic peoples, committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. While sharing limited power with the National League for Democracy, they committed war crimes and crimes against humanity against ethnic people and genocide against the Rohingya.
The Special Envoy should advise the UN Security Council to immediately refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court so that these grave crimes committed by the Myanmar military can be investigated and prosecuted. Offering them a seat at the negotiating table is not in accordance with the “will and interests of the people of Myanmar” as adopted in resolutions at the UN General Assembly.
The Special Envoy’s misinterpretation that “the military is in control” could not be farther from the truth. Over the past year, Myanmar people’s revolutionary movement has successfully prevented the military from grabbing power over the country, despite all its brutal efforts. The military are, however, conducting fierce airstrikes in ethnic areas where they are losing territorial control; shooting and shelling people forcing them to flee across the border into neighboring countries, threatening international peace and security; burning bodies including children and staff of international organizations in an attempt to instill terror. These are not acts of a military who are in control.
International experts on Myanmar have previously stated in response to UN officials inaccurately suggesting that military has “taken over” or that it has an “iron grip on power”, that “Misinterpretation leads to misrepresentation, misrepresentation leads to misunderstanding, and misunderstanding leads to mistakes”. We could not agree more.
Such mistakes have been a persistent problem for the UN in Myanmar as outlined in the Rosenthal report, which found that systemic and structural failures rendered the UN impotent in the face of the Rohingya genocide. The UN must not make the same mistakes, and once again, fail the people of Myanmar.
If the Special Envoy is genuinely committed to a “Myanmar-led process” and engaging “directly with and listen carefully to all those affected by the ongoing crisis”, she must understand the root causes of the current crisis and genuinely listen to the calls of the people of Myanmar. Their calls have been clear. The military must never rule.
The UN Special Envoy and other mandate holders, as well as UN agencies, funds programs and entities, must support the calls of the people of Myanmar and their efforts towards a future federal democratic Myanmar. They must respect their will and work to ensure that the military is never again allowed to have power.
For further information, please contact:
Signed by Myanmar CSOs and Supported by Regional and International CSOs:
Download PDF file in [English]
Child shot dead as police open fire on Myitkyina neighbourhood following explosion
/in OthersA seven-year-old boy is killed in his home by indiscriminate shooting in the Kachin State capital following an explosion at a police battalion
A seven-year-old boy in Myitkyina, Kachin State, was killed by a stray bullet after junta troops opened fire in his neighbourhood in response to an explosion at a nearby police battalion on Tuesday, a source close to the victim’s family said.
The blast occurred outside the base of Police Battalion 30, located between Lel Kone and Kyun Pin Thar wards, at around 6am. Officers in the base responded by shooting indiscriminately on foot throughout the area, as well as from a car along Kyun Pin Thar St.
One of the shots hit Bhone Khant Htae—also known as Mohammad Saiful Alam—who was playing video games with his brother at home in Kyun Pin Thar ward next to the battalion.
“The child fell facedown but his brother thought he was ducking because he was scared [of the noise],” the family friend said. “They only found out he had been shot when blood started to come out of his chest and mouth after the gunshots stopped.”
At around 8am, members of the military came to collect the child’s body, but returned him to his family at around 11am. Junta medical records showed that the bullet went through Bhone Khant Htae’s chest and left arm and exited the body, according to the friend.
A funeral for the boy was held later that day.
Tuesday also marked one year since the military coup in Myanmar, with locals reporting that Myitkyina was largely quiet that day, in coordination with the “silent strike” organised by the resistance movement. Streets in Kyun Pin Thar remained deserted following the explosion and the subsequent gunfire
Locals in the area said that Police Battalion 30 was responsible for using flash grenades during a major crackdown on anti-junta protests in April of last year, and had opened fire indiscriminately into Kyun Pin Thar ward.
Explosions have been occurring around Myitkyina since late January, including at a traffic police outpost, a cable box for military telecoms provider MPT, and an office and telecommunications tower belonging to Mytel, which is partially owned by the military.
While resistance forces have been using explosives to target junta infrastructure and posts nationwide, no group had claimed responsibility for the bomb attacks at the time of reporting.
Myanmar Now News
Weekly Update Human Rights Situation in Myanmar: Post-Coup (24 January – 30 January )2022
/in OthersAhead of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting with a minister from Cambodia (the current Association of Southeast Asian Nations Chair) and the UN special envoy for Myanmar Noeleen Heyzer, over 280 organizations including ND-Burma and several member organizations, called for the UNSC to address the deteriorating humanitarian situation and take urgent steps to protect civilian during this time of crisis. Human Rights Watch also called on the UNSC to ‘abandon their timid approach to their Myanmar military’s mounting atrocities and replace mealy-mouthed statements with tough action.’ These are all reasonable requests with overwhelming evidence of the junta’s crimes against humanity and war crimes which warrant immediate action.
As of 31 December 2020, there were 980 000 refugees and asylum-seekers from Myanmar in neighbouring countries. Between January 2020 and December 2021, over 775 000 people were internally displaced within Myanmar. This significant growth in displacement speaks to the harrowing violence being deployed by state-backed forces. The Myanmar Army is acting with lawlessness emboldened by impunity due to the lack of consequences they have faced. However, it cannot be denied that their onslaught of grave atrocities has not forced civilians to submit to their dictatorship and authoritarianism. By the regime’s own account – they are failing in their offensives and the growing number of Tatmadaw defections speaks to fragments within the junta itself.
The families and friends of two volunteer Kachin teachers who were killed seven years ago by the military junta are still waiting for justice. Maran Lu Ra and Tangbau Hkawn Nan Tsin were volunteering with the Kachin Baptist Convention when they were raped and stabbed to death in January 2015. The Myanmar Army destroyed evidence of their crime and there has yet to be any accountability for the young women. Since their death, dozens of civilians in Kachin State have been killed by the military junta, especially since the attempted coup. The sense of solidarity across Kachin State is strong with commitments to ‘defeat the military dictatorship.’
KAREN STATE
Fighting in Karen State has forced thousands of people to flee. The Myanmar junta is planning to further increase their offensives against Karen armed opposition groups, making the situation for internally displaced people even more uncertain. Thailand’s Prime Minister, Prayut Chan-o-cha, told the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Burma, Noeleen Heyzer, on January 17, 2022 that displaced villagers would not be pushed back. However, in stark contrast to these comments, there are reports that displaced people are being pressured by Thai authorities to return to Karen State. This is increasingly worrisome as fighting in Lay Kay Kaw has taken place steadily for about one month. The one peaceful town has now become a battlefield. Reassurances for safety for those who have returned have not been fulfilled. On 3 January, artillery shelling killed a woman and injured three others who returned to Palu Lay village. IDPs are in desperate need of medicine, food and adequate shelter. Karen civil society organizations have largely filled the gaps in the provision of these materials but more support is needed.
On 27 January, the Karen Human Rights Group reported that a landmine planted by LIB #285 at K’Wer Village, Lermulah Township killed a mother and her six year old son.
KAYAH (KARENNI) STATE
Civilians in Kayah (Karenni) State have been deprived of their humanity as unrelenting fighting makes the future more uncertain for civilians. The crimes perpetrated in Kayah (Karenni) State have devastated livelihoods. Details of the Christmas Eve massacre in particular in which the junta burned alive several dozen civilians attempting to flee violence continue to emerge. The victims included 26 males and five females. Family members have recounted endless calls that went unanswered to the victims because they were caught in the junta’s merciless attack.
Ethnic Revolution Organizations are among those who have called on the international community and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for a no-fly zone against the military junta, and to take greater steps to ensure civilian safety zones. This includes the Karenni National Progressive Party. Civilians have been targeted at IDP camps, as was the case when three people were killed and seven injured during an airstrike by the junta launched at a refugee camp in eastern Kayah (Karenni) State. Karenni police officers have also called for the dictatorship to be dismantled and have demanded justice for victims by ensuring the regime is put on trial at the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
Worse yet – the bodies of six people, including women and children, were found mutilated in a septic well. The victims include three 17 year old boys and a 16 year old boy. A 63 old woman was also found with her 23 year son with evidence of torture on their bodies including bullet and stab wounds.