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
NUG Accuses Myanmar Junta of Committing Crimes Against Humanity
/in NewsMyanmar’s parallel National Unity Government (NUG) has accused the military junta of committing crimes against humanity, citing its artillery strikes and air raids on civilians.
Many civilians were killed and injured and thousands were displaced by junta attacks using jet fighters and helicopters in Kachin, Karen, Kayah, Chin and Shan states and Sagaing and Magwe regions, and junta soldiers have committed mass killings, torched houses and used civilians as human shields, the NUG statement said on Thursday.
Its attacks violate international norms, ethics and laws created to protect humanity, said the NUG.
Hospitals and pharmacies were damaged by junta bombing in areas controlled by the Karen National Union in Hpapun District, Karen State, on Jan. 12.
This followed junta air raids on Kayah State’s capital, Loikaw, which displaced thousands of civilians. In December, Lay Kay Kaw, a new town in Karen State near the Thai border, was left almost deserted after aerial attacks.
On Friday, two junta helicopters attacked Lay Kay Kaw, close to areas where displaced people are sheltering beside the Moei River on the Thai border.
Ongoing airstrikes are also causing serious destruction in Sagaing Region.
The NUG’s shadow health ministry, citing international agency reports, said the regime killed 32 health workers and detained 288 others and raided 355 health care centers, including hospitals and clinics, between Feb. 1 and Nov. 30 last year.
Medics were the first profession to take to the streets against last year’s coup and formed the civil disobedience movement to strike against military rule. The regime responded by detaining and prosecuting striking medics.
The regime is ridiculing the Geneva Convention, United Nations Security Council and domestic and international laws with its continuing violence against Myanmar’s people, said the parallel ministry, asking the international community to take action.
The NUG said it has been trying to provide humanitarian assistance to the displaced and take measures to hold the regime to account under international law for its atrocities.
Irrawaddy News
Weekly Update on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar (January 3-9)2022
/in HR SituationMyanmar has a message to Cambodian leader, Hun Sen: You are not welcome. His visit symbolizes support for the murderous regime who have killed, arrested and detained hundreds of innocent people with impunity.
The leaders of the military junta have been violently steering the country off course for decades. Since 1 February, their selfishness and violence has heightened fears and anxieties as older generations are forced to relive traumas and a younger population grapples with what the reality of military rule looks like. Hun Sen shaking hands with Min Aung Hlaing, a ruthless dictator does not nothing but seemingly accept the mass crimes of soldiers routinely violating civilian rights and freedoms.
Civil society has been vocal in their opposition to the meeting between the two leaders in which over 190 organizations issued a joint statement condemned Hun Sen for supporting the terrorist regime. The calls were supported by Cambodian human rights groups as well. Protests across Myanmar were attended by activists, human rights defenders and civilians who echoed calls rejecting Hun Sen’s visit scheduled on 7 January.
Min Aung Hlaing has failed to act on commitments he made to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc, including halting violence against peaceful demonstrators, among other recommendations in the 5-Point Consensus. All efforts by ASEAN have been disappointing and have not led to any meaningful change. The fact that ASEAN chose to not invite representatives of the military to several meetings has not deterred the junta from their war path.
The General Strike Coordination Body released a statement also denouncing Hun Sen’s visit on the grounds that it ‘ignores the will of the Myanmar people.’ While visiting, ousted civilian government leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi, are not allowed to meet with the Cambodian officials.
The message being sent is clear, and must be heard. Cambodian is also riddled with a past of mass atrocities which amounted to genocide. Hun Sen has governed without hesitating to also squander voices of opposition, and has also made an enemy of the free press. “Dictators supporting dictators,” will not bode well and risks setting a standard that these meetings are to be accepted.
ASEAN has an obligation, as does the rest of the international community, to cut all business ties with the criminal regime and engage in a constructive dialogue with the National Unity Government.
The Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) has reported the deliberate burning of Thantlang town, making it the 18th time the junta has deliberately scorched the area since 9 September. CHRO has been documenting the widespread human rights violations being perpetrated in Chin State. In Thantlang alone, over 10 000 people have been displaced. According to CHRO, as of 3 January, over 700 structures, including seven churches and a dozen religious buildings have been intentionally set on fire since 9 September.
As well documented by the media and rights groups, Chin State had known only peace for many years until a strong resistance movement emerged after the attempted coup. Despite ongoing threats by the illegal junta to cooperate, or face violent threats to their lives and infrastructure, the Chin people have shown great courage in the midst of such horrors. Evidence and documentation of orders for soldiers to ‘clear the town’ must be taken seriously by the international community to hold the regime to account.
SHAN STATE
Fighting between the military junta and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) in northern Shan State intensified in a suspected retaliation after two TNLA soldiers were shot and killed by unidentified gunmen. Six locals who were caught in the crossfire and all from the same family, were injured when an artillery shell landed on their home. Three children under the age of five also sustained injuries.
Fighting in Shan State has forced many civilians to flee their homes, prompting the Committee for Shan State Unity Committee to issue a statement calling on all stakeholders to find a solution to end violence and keep civilians safe.
KAYAH (KARENNI) STATE
The Karenni National Progressive Party announced that they are committed to exposing the junta’s widespread human rights violations by creating a documentary. One quarter of the population in conflict-torn Kayah (Karenni) State has been forcibly displaced by the Myanmar military’s violence. The junta has committed serious violations which have forced the most vulnerable to the brink of survival.
Over the weekend, the Kayah (Karenni) capital city of Loikaw was violently assaulted by junta armed forces in clashes which killed at least four civilians and displaced over 1000. The civilian armed resistance in Kayah (Karenni) State has been met with brute force from the Myanmar military. The ‘scorched-earth’ tactics being used are indicative of a worrying tactic of the junta to eliminate opposition, even at the cost of innocent civilian lives.
Locals blame military after married couple’s mutilated bodies found in Sagaing
/in NewsThe victims each had burn marks on their skin and the wife had one of her breasts missing
Locals in Sagaing’s Kalay Township found the badly mutilated bodies of a married couple late last month, days after they went missing, and have blamed the military for their murders.
Moe Moe Htay, 48, was found dead by the Myittha river on December 29 with a knife wound in her stomach, burn marks on her skin, and one of her breasts missing, a relative of the couple told Myanmar Now.
The body of her husband Nyi Nyi, 49, was found nearby the next day. “He had his hands tied to a bamboo stalk like a chicken and was burned,” said the relative.
The couple left their village of Khon Toe Myo Thar on December 25 to collect money they were owed by someone half an hour away in the village of Tinthar.
But they never arrived at their destination. The relative believes they were abducted and murdered by soldiers on guard duty at the Kabarni bridge.
The families of the couple held a funeral for them on January 6. Their bodies were cremated near the village where they were found.
They leave behind two sons, one in his teens and the other in his twenties.
Myanmar Now reviewed photos of the bodies that matched the descriptions given by the relative.
The injuries were so severe that the pair were only recognisable by their clothing, the relative said.
Several local residents declined to speak with Myanmar Now about the killings out of fear of being targeted by the military.
Calls to the Kalay Township police station seeking comment on the case went unanswered.
Locals in Kalay have mounted fierce armed resistance against the junta, inflicting heavy casualties against its forces with guerrilla-style attacks.
In response soldiers have routinely terrorised civilians with killings, abductions, torture and arson.
Myanmar Now News
Myanmar Military Regime Bombs Kayah State Capital From the Air
/in NewsMyanmar’s military regime launched air strikes on Loikaw, the capital of Kayah State, on Saturday and Sunday, forcing thousands of local residents to flee their homes.
Fierce clashes broke out between resistance groups and junta troops in the town on Friday. Residents of at least three of 13 wards in Loikaw have fled since Saturday and more are fleeing, according to humanitarian groups helping the displaced people.
“Around 2,000 people were evacuated on Saturday and Sunday. We evacuated them together with the Red Cross Society. Nearly half of the town has fled the fighting. Though the fighting took place in Mong Lone, Pan Kan and Ywa Tan Shae, people from the other parts of the town have also fled out of fear,” a charity worker told The Irrawaddy on Sunday.
People who remain in the town are staying in their homes, and businesses have also closed, he said. While his group is helping to evacuate displaced people to churches, many others have also fled the town on their own, he said.
“People don’t go out because helicopters were hovering. The town is deserted. Those who were not able to flee in time remain in their homes. But we are evacuating people at their request. We pick them up at their homes when they phone us,” he added.
Six civilians were killed in Friday’s fighting as junta troops attacked civilian targets, said the Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF). The following day, the regime shelled several wards in Loikaw as junta jets dropped bombs.
Some residents have fled to Shan State, Mandalay, Naypyitaw and other towns, but some are only taking shelter at local churches in Kayah.
Local administrators in Nyaungshwe in southern Shan State at the border of Kayah State have warned locals not to shelter displaced persons from Kayah, and displaced people were also not allowed to enter Taunggyi, the capital of Shan State, according to the Shan State-based news agency Shan Herald.
Junta troops and local People’s Defense Force (PDF) members clashed in Loikaw, and junta helicopters were hovering over the town on Sunday morning.
“Many people remain in the town, though others are fleeing. We have not yet fled. We have packed things up, and got the car ready to flee. If the situation is OK, we will move tomorrow. But we heard gunfire today, and choppers were hovering,” a resident of Mong Lone ward told The Irrawaddy on Sunday.
More than half of Kayah State’s 300,000 population have already been displaced by fighting following the February coup, and the majority of Loikaw’s some 150,000 residents are fleeing the junta’s weekend aerial attacks, according to locals.
A Loikaw resident told The Irrawaddy on Monday that “the town is deserted and many more, including my family, are planning to leave today and tomorrow.”
Junta attacks from the air were also heard in Demoso, Shardaw and Moebye and Pekhon towns. Helicopters could be heard hovering above Hpasawng Township, said the Loikaw resident.
At least 30 junta soldiers including a lieutenant died and many more were injured in Saturday’s fighting, according to the KNDF. The group said it shot down a gunship and destroyed an armored vehicle in the fighting, and also seized weapons and ammunition from the regime.
Junta troops also clashed with resistance groups in Demoso on Sunday, and at least 10 junta soldiers died in the fighting despite air support.
“Some 20 junta soldiers are believed to have been injured, and at least 10 are thought to have died. The regime fired artillery and also carried out aerial attacks. One of our comrades died and three were injured. One of them had to have one of his kidneys removed. He is stable now,” a KPDF spokesman told The Irrawaddy.
Some civilian houses were damaged in the junta shelling and air strikes and junta troops also deliberately set some houses on fire to cremate their colleagues’ bodies, said the spokesman.
“Junta troops burnt the bodies of their fellows in civilian houses. We have found three charred bodies of junta soldiers,” he said.
The KPDF said it had also seized weapons and communications devices from the regime in the Demoso fighting. The military regime, according to Loikaw residents, has intensified its attacks in Loikaw, deploying helicopters to regain road access to other parts of Kayah State via Loikaw. Resistance groups have blocked road access since last month, preventing the regime from sending reinforcements and food supplies.
Irrawaddy News
Junta troops kill four teens after coming under attack near Tanintharyi village
/in NewsLocals say the four youths—three of whom were minors—were shot at close range shortly after being detained on Friday
Soldiers who came under attack from resistance forces in Tanintharyi Region’s Thayetchaung Township on Friday shot and killed four youths suspected of belonging to the People’s Defence Force (PDF), according to local sources.
The four victims, who ranged in age from 14 to 19, were returning home from a construction site where they were working when they were detained by soldiers, the sources said.
“They were wrongly accused of being PDF members and shot in the head at close range. They were very scared since they were just kids,” said a local man who spoke to Myanmar Now on condition of anonymity.
The incident reportedly occurred shortly after noon on Friday following clashes that broke out several hours earlier in the village of Kin Shey between resistance forces and members of the pro-military Pyu Saw Htee militia group.
When two military trucks carrying reinforcement troops approached the village from the north at around 11:45am, they came under attack from local resistance fighters using handmade explosives, according to a PDF member.
“The construction workers were going home from work when they ran into the military. They were wrongly accused of having perpetrated the bomb attack,” said the PDF member.
The victims were Khant Zin Htwe, 14, Aung Thet Phyo, 17, Ye Zaw Hteik, 17, and a 19-year-old man who could not be identified at the time of reporting.
According to the PDF member, two middle-aged men were also shot by regime forces and had to be hospitalised.
After the initial attack—which is believed to have injured four junta troops—two more military trucks arrived and soldiers began making arrests, he added.
A local resident told Myanmar Now that the soldiers fired a number of shots as they went through the village interrogating its inhabitants. At least one person was taken away with his hands tied behind his back, he added.
Kin Shey is located about 18 miles northeast of the town of Thayetchaung in Tanintharyi’s Dawei District. Many of those living there have already fled due to security concerns, residents said.
The Pyu Saw Htee group that attempted to enter the village on Friday was accused by locals of beating and detaining a monk and four other civilians, including two women, in the nearby village Saw Phyar in early October.
Local resistance groups, as well as Brigade 4 of the Karen National Liberation Army, have been active in fighting junta forces in Thayetchaung’s Taung Pyauk region since the shadow National Unity Government declared the start of a “resistance war” in September.
According to local media reports, more than 4,000 civilians have been displaced in Tanintharyi’s Dawei, Myeik, Tanintharyi, Yebyu and Palaw townships since the fighting began.
Myanmar Now News
Myanmar military helicopter attack on populated village kills 5 people
/in NewsSources said the military fired indiscriminately into the village in response to a militia attack the day before.
Military attacks in Myanmar’s Sagaing region killed at least 15 people this week, including four siblings aged 5-26 who died when a missile fired from a helicopter struck their home, sources said.
The two Mi-35 attack helicopters on Jan. 4 launched six rockets and fired machine guns into Gahe village, part of Indaw township in Sagaing, a northwestern region that has been a hotbed of resistance to the military regime that overthrew Myanmar’s elected government nearly a year ago.
The attack on Gahe was the first time the military used heavy weapons against the village, a resident of Gahe village, who did not want to be named for security reasons, told RFA’s Myanmar Service.
“Our village was a peaceful place and they attacked us for no reason,” she said
“We used to go out and watch the planes when they passed by, but now we wouldn’t dare doing anything like that. One of the helicopters shot explosive rockets at us and the other used a machine gun,” she said.
Of the six rockets fired into the village, five exploded. The attack killed four siblings aged 5, 9, 13 and 26, and a 30-year-old woman.
Only the body of the 30-year-old could be buried properly. The bodies of the siblings could not be recovered. They died when one of the rockets exploded in their house and it burned to the ground with them inside, sources said.
Additionally, one of the five people wounded in the attack was a child who fled into the jungle and has not yet received medical treatment, they said.
Sources estimate that 800 people from Gahe and the surrounding villages have been displaced due to fighting between the military and local militias, called People’s Defense Forces (PDF), who oppose the military’s ousting of Myanmar’s democratically elected government almost a year ago.
In addition to the five deaths in Gahe, another 10 people were killed on Thursday in Kalay township, which is located in the western part of Sagaing on the border with India, when they returned to their villages after fighting there had seemingly died down, sources said.
“The people returned to the village believing the situation had cooled down. Then the soldiers came back all of the sudden and shot everyone they saw and at least 10 were killed,” a resident of Kalay told RFA.
Only two of the people killed in the attack have been identified, and the bodies have not yet been recovered. Nearly 10 houses in nearby Ingyun and Hakha Lay villages were also reported to have been set on fire Thursday.
After the attack in Gahe, the military continued conducting operations near the village and were still firing heavy weapons in the surrounding area, another resident of Gahe told RFA on condition of anonymity.
“I think they attacked our village thinking there were PDF members in the village. There are no PDFers here,” she said.
“This kind of thing has happened before in Htigyaing. We heard about 70 people lost their lives there” she said, referring to a township adjacent to Indaw.
Many villagers fled their homes and took refuge in monasteries in Nar Naung and Kyawywar villages, another villager told RFA.
“Some villagers have gone to be with their relatives but most of us are in monasteries because the soldiers came into the village the other day and spent the night there,” she said.
“When we left the village, we heard gunfire and small explosions. We were all scared and went to the monastery to take shelter,” she said.
One day prior to the helicopter attack, PDF members attacked two military vehicles about 10 miles away from Gahe.
RFA tried to contact Maj. Gen Zaw Min Tun, spokesman for the military junta, but he did not respond.
Airstrikes against villages have happened frequently over the past year, an officer with the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), an ethnic armed group that has been fighting the military since before the coup, mostly in nearby Kachin State, told RFA.
“The armed clash occurred outside the village, not inside the village, but the army just fired back without knowing the target, and the villagers had to suffer,” Col. Naw Bu said.
“The Sagaing region is close to us. Our No. 26 Battalion is in the area. When there are movements in the area, there is some kind of confrontation. So, when that happens, they use airstrikes,” he said.
Naw Bu said that the KIA has not launched attacks in the Sagaing region but has retaliated against military action in Kachin state. The military usually responds with airstrikes, he said.
According to data compiled by RFA based on statements by the shadow National Unity Government (NUG), there were 597 armed clashes in Sagaing region in the five months from June to November 2021, and a total of 274 civilians and 1,137 junta soldiers were killed over the same period.
The number of civilians killed by both sides in Sagaing through early December 2021 totaled at least 414, based on NUG monthly statements and reports from local media.
According to the Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, more than 75,250 people have been displaced by clashes in Sagaing region in the nine months from the coup until the end of October.
Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
RFA News