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, regional and international civil society organizations to ASEAN to End Myanmar Military’s Violence, Advance Accountability and Operationalize Cross-border Humanitarian Aid
- Press Release – Rights-Based Reform: ASEAN Five Years on from the 5-Point Consensus
- Rights-Based Reform: ASEAN Five Years on from 5-Point Consensus
- [Open Letter] SEANF must remove membership of junta-controlled Myanmar National Human Rights Commission
- President Win Myint freed in broad Myanmar prisoner amnesty
Myanmar Junta Kills Dozens in Latest Surge of Violence Against Civilians
/in NewsBy THE IRRAWADDY 27 September 2021
Recent days have seen a surge in killings of civilians—particularly members and vocal supporters of the ousted National League for Democracy (NLD), as well as villagers living in anti-regime resistance strongholds—by junta forces.
The fatalities reported over the past three days include Mandalay-based political activist and philanthropist Ko Than Htun Oo, a.k.a Ko Min Ko Thein, a member of NLD’s Mandalay branch. He died in police custody within a few hours of being arrested on Saturday.
The 48-year-old, affectionately known as “Ko Fatty” among his friends, was arrested at his home in Aungmyaytharzan Township of Mandalay Region for alleged possession of weapons.
During the raid on his home, junta forces told him to get on his knees. When he said he couldn’t kneel due to his weight, he was reportedly shot in the knee. He was arrested despite no weapons being found during the search. On Sunday evening, his family was notified of his death. The body was not returned to the family and regime officials said they organized funeral rites themselves.
Ko Ye Yint, another NLD member in Mandalay, was also killed in detention on Friday. The 30-year-old was shot dead after being accusing of trying to flee the police station. Junta forces detained him after accusing him of setting off a bomb explosion in Sein Pan ward, near his residence. Locals rejected the junta’s accusation against their neighbor, however.
U Pauk Gyi, a vocal supporter of the NLD in Mandalay, was also found dead on Friday morning, on an embankment in Sein Pan, Maharaungmyay Township. His body bore a gunshot wound to the head and stab wounds to the neck, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) stated in their most recent report.
The AAPP said U Pauk Gyi was arrested and taken away by junta soldiers and members of a Pyu Saw Htee, a militia group trained and armed by the junta, at midnight last Thursday following a report by one of the junta’s informers.
Youth activists and villagers from strongholds of anti-regime resistance groups who have inflicted heavy casualties on junta forces were also among the recent fatalities.
Activist Ko Sithu Kaung Myat, 24, from Bago City in Bago Region, was shot in the head, stomach and hands when junta forces arrested him at home on Thursday. He died on Friday while receiving medical treatment at Bago General Hospital, the AAPP stated in its report.
Following his death, police sealed the house where he and his mother lived, so that no one could enter, the AAPP added.
In Yangon, four youths were reportedly shot dead in Sanchaung Township, Yangon Region, at around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday. Propaganda published by military supporters portrayed the incident as a shootout between civilian guerrilla fighters and junta forces on the Myaynigone flyover. The propaganda accounts also stated there were casualties among the junta forces.
However, according to accounts of locals and video footage recorded by a civilian, there was no shootout in the area and the youths were dragged down from their apartment, beaten and kicked several times and shot. The Irrawaddy couldn’t independently verify the number of fatalities.
In Kayah State’s Demoso Township, which has seen intense clashes between junta forces and local civilian resistance fighters who took up arms against the junta, a 70-year-old man wearing a T-shirt with the UN emblem on it was shot dead on Sunday.
On Monday, the hearse carrying his body hit a mine reportedly planted by regime troops.
A score of civilians were also killed over the weekend in Sagaing Region, which has seen numerous junta raids in response to determined civilian resistance.
Heavy troops raided Tharsi Village of Sagaing’s Kalay Township on Sunday and shot and killed striking police officer Ko Zaw Myo Htut and villager Ko Than Htike Aung.
The People’s Defense Force-Kalay announced that the group attacked the troops with an allied group on their way back from Tharsi. During the clash, three junta troops were killed.
Sagaing Region’s local community pages reported that around four villagers including a woman in her 60s were killed in Nabutaw Village, Yinmabin Township on Sunday.
On Monday, junta soldiers also surrounded Monyway and Kyaymon villages in Monywa and arrested several villagers. At least two were reportedly shot dead by the time of publication of this article. Locals said the death toll could grow as the junta soldiers violently beat the detainees.
Since the coup, the junta has killed at least 1,125 civilians including youth activists, protesters, children, politicians and NLD members and supporters, and arrested more than 8,400 people, according to data compiled by the AAPP.
Irrawaddy News
Update on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar Statement by Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
/in NewsUpdate on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar
Statement by Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
48th Session of the Human Rights Council
23 September 2021
Madam President,
Excellencies,
Since my last update to this Council, the human rights situation in Myanmar has deteriorated significantly as the far-reaching impacts of the military coup continue to devastate lives and hopes across the country. Conflict, poverty and the effects of the pandemic are sharply increasing, and the country faces a vortex of repression, violence and economic collapse.
The military’s iron grip on power faces resistance from large segments of the society. Weapons of war continue to be deployed in towns and cities to suppress opposition. Over 1,100 individuals have reportedly now died at the hands of the security forces since the coup.
Over 8,000 individuals – including children – have been arrested since the coup, with over 4,700 remaining in detention. Most are held without any form of due process, and lack access to legal counsel, or even the ability to communicate with their families. We continue to receive reports from multiple locations of interrogation techniques that amount to ill-treatment and torture, and have credible information that more than 120 detainees have died in custody – some within 24 hours of their arrest.
Over 260 attacks on health-care facilities and personnel have been reported since February, including targeting and shooting medical personnel, ambulances and hospitals; arbitrarily detaining medical professionals; military occupation of hospitals; and confiscation of medical supplies such as COVID-19 vaccines and oxygen. These attacks gravely compound the humanitarian consequences of the violence and a surge in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our report A/HRC/48/67, which is before you today, documents many serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, including violations of the rights to life, liberty and security of person; the prohibition against torture; fair trial guarantees; freedom of expression, and freedom of peaceful assembly. Several of these violations may amount to crimes against humanity committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against the civilian population – or, to the extent arising in armed conflict, war crimes.
Excellencies,
Faced with this overwhelming repression of fundamental rights, a movement of armed resistance is growing, alongside the peaceful protests that have taken place for seven months. Local self-defence groups have taken up arms, and many have joined a growing so-called Defence Force movement. Earlier this month, the interim President of the National Unity Government – which comprises representatives elected in 2020 who oppose the coup – issued a call for nation-wide armed uprising against the military.
Armed clashes now occur regularly in many heartland areas where conflict has not been seen in generations. In recent weeks, the Tatmadaw has been conducting offensives in Magway and Sagaing Regions and in Chin State, reportedly killing villagers and burning houses.
In border areas that have faced conflict for many years – including Kachin, Shan, Kayin, and Kayah states – some ethnic armed organisations have assisted People’s Defence groups and, in some instances, have conducted joint military operations with them.
The Army has launched offensives and reprisal raids against villages perceived to be the bases of people’s defence forces or ethnic armed groups, including artillery barrages and airstrikes against civilian areas. Hundreds of individuals have been killed and injured, and many have been forcibly displaced amid escalating humanitarian needs for food, water, shelter, and medical care.
I appeal once again to all armed actors to respect human rights and ensure that civilians and civilian structures are protected. Use of airstrikes and artillery in residential areas, and any form of military operation that targets health centres, places of worship, schools or other protected structures must immediately cease.
Excellencies,
These disturbing trends suggest the alarming possibility of an escalating civil war.
I urge action by members of this Council to actively support a political process that engages all parties to this crisis, including the National Unity Government, civil society, and representatives from the ethnic minority communities, especially women.
ASEAN’s initiative should urgently be accompanied by other influential Member States, using a mix of incentives and disincentives to reverse the military coup and desperate spiral of violence.
I encourage all parties, especially the military, to allow unrestricted access to facilitate humanitarian assistance, including vaccination efforts and other forms of health-care that should be made available in a non-politicized manner. Medical personnel must be protected, not targeted – and local community groups should be the primary instrument of delivery.
To create conditions for peace and dialogue, there must be immediate release of all political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other civilian leaders.
Accountability remains crucial to any solution going forward. The human rights violations crimes being committed by the Tatmadaw today are built upon the impunity with which they perpetrated the shocking campaigns of violence against the Rohingya just four years ago – and also against many other ethnic minorities over decades.
It is crucial that the perpetrators of the most serious international crimes, including potentially genocide, are duly held to account. In this regard, the expanded work of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, with its ongoing mandate over current events, has become even more important. Steps taken by the democratic opposition to engage the International Criminal Court and other bodies may also open new avenues for accountability. I also hope that many more military personnel will grasp that their own futures will not be served by following unlawful orders to commit international crimes.
Myanmar’s stability and path to democracy and prosperity have been sacrificed over these last months to advance the ambitions of a privileged and entrenched military elite. Many people who seek only to safeguard democracy and human rights have lost their lives. The national consequences are terrible and tragic — the regional consequences could also be profound. The international community must redouble its efforts to restore democracy and prevent wider conflict before it is too late.
OHRC
Weekly Update on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar : Post-Coup (September 13-19)2021
/in HR SituationPressure remains on the United Nations as members meet at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) to discuss among other things – who will be Myanmar’s permanent representative. Civil society organizations have issued statements calling on the UN to recognize and support Ambassador U Kyaw Moe Tun as Myanmar’s Permanent Representative at the UN General Assembly. To recognize the murderous regime that is the Myanmar Army would be a grave insult to the people of Myanmar – in particular the thousands of families who have loved ones in prison for exercising their rights to peaceful protest. In seven months, the junta has waged war on civilians in the country who have overwhelmingly rejected the military’s politics and justification of their attempted coup. The UNGA has previously adopted resolutions which condemned the military’s abhorrent use of violence against unarmed people. In addition, the UN Security has expressed concern over the increasingly volatile situation. Further, to recognize the junta in the midst of past criticism and calls for democracy to be restored would seriously call into question the concerns the UN has for the civilians in Myanmar. The human rights situation in the country has quickly become a nightmare for every day civilians who are quite literally fearing for their lives.
Among the many declining freedoms amid the junta’s sprawling censorship is that of expression and association. Amid ongoing rising tensions between the Myanmar Tatmadaw and the armed defence forces which have emerged in light of the coup, Internet shutdowns have become a tool for the junta to violate human rights. The blackouts in various parts of the country have set off alarms, particularly for communities living in conflict zones. Internet in Hpakant, Kachin State has been inaccessible since August and recently mobile Internet and some forms of Wi-Fi has been cut off in townships of Sagaing Region and Mandalay. Since the coup, the junta has illegally amended state laws which protect civilian privacy. The shutdowns have made local people more fearful. There is a reliance on technology and shared communications to relay warnings of oncoming attacks. Civilians have a right to live freely and safely, which includes being able to access information.
Fighting between resistance armed groups and the Myanmar junta has continued to take casualties from both sides. With combined forces of the Chin National Army and the Chin Defence Force, a Tatmadaw outpost was taken over in Thantlang township which killed 12 Myanmar soldiers. Chin State has been one of the hardest hit since the coup. A new briefing paper by the Chin Human Rights Organisation called the situation in Chin State a ‘humanitarian crisis.’ The fighting has forced over 1000 civilians in recent days to the Myanmar-India border.
On 18 September, at least one civilian was killed and over a dozen homes burned in Thantlang as the junta shelled villages.
KACHIN STATE
For civilians in Kachin State, offensives between Kachin armed groups and the Tatmadaw can come at any moment. In recent weeks, villagers have been killed for simply walking past regime bases and being targeted by the junta. Since August, the military has cut Internet access in Hpakant as offensives increase as violence becomes increasingly more volatile. A young woman in Tanai township was shot in the head during a battle with the Kachin Independence Army and the junta. She was running to her car to escape when she was struck.
Tatmadaw soldiers also arrested several civilians in Mohnyin township following days of fighting between the local People’s Defence Force.
MAGWAY REGION
Magway Region has been hit particularly hard with violence. As the armed resistance movement grows, the Tatmadaw too has increased their operations to silence and suppress anyone who they deem a threat. At least 18 unarmed civilians were violently tortured and killed in Gangaw Township. An 80-year old man was among those who was killed with a shot to the head and his arms tied behind his back. Those who attempted to fight back and defend their village were young and ill-equipped with weapons that matched the juntas. Twenty-seven homes were also deliberately set on fire by the regime in a Magway village. At least 70 soldiers and 20 local civilians and PDF members were killed in recent attacks in Saw, Magway Region.
Residents of Town in Myanmar’s Chin State Flee Junta Artillery Barrage
/in NewsThe entire population of the mountaintop town of Thantlang in Chin State has fled after being bombarded by Myanmar junta forces during an intense clash with civilian resistance forces on the weekend.
Virtually the entire population of around 8,000 residents have already left the town, with just a few dozen people including pastors and senior citizens remaining, according to Thantlang Placement Affair Committee-IDPs Help (TPAC-IDPs), which is assisting the fleeing residents.
On Saturday, more than 30 junta troops were killed during a shootout with a combined force of the Chinland Defense Force-Thantlang (CDF-T) and Chin National Army (CNA), according to the CDF-T.
After sustaining a large number of casualties, junta forces randomly opened fire on the residential area of the town using heavy weapons and explosives. As a result of the attack, 19 houses burned down.
Christian pastor Cung Biak Hum was also shot dead and his wedding ring looted by Myanmar junta soldiers, who cut off the pastor’s finger.
The pastor was shot dead by junta soldiers when he went outside to help put out the fires caused by the military’s artillery barrage. Junta forces also stole a watch and mobile phone belonging to the pastor.
The next day, the junta’s soldiers roamed the town, arbitrarily opening fire on houses without reason.
The junta’s bombardment and random shootings prompted the whole population to flee the town, an official of TPAC-IDPs told The Irrawaddy on Monday.
He added that emergency assistance was needed for the fleeing residents of Thantlang.
After the parallel National Unity Government’s declaration of a People’s Defensive War against the junta on Sept. 7, urban warfare between the CDF-T and junta forces erupted in Thantlang on Sept. 9.
After that clash, four civilians were injured when junta forces randomly opened fire with heavy explosives and a house was also burned down by the soldiers.
On Sept. 10, a combined force of CDF-T and CAN seized and burned down a military outpost in Lungler Village near the Indian border west of Thantlang.
Irrawaddy News
Junta soldiers kill pastor and cut off his finger as houses burn in Chin town
/in NewsCum Biak Hum was killed while trying to put out fires caused by junta artillery shells in Thantlang
Soldiers shot and killed a Baptist pastor then cut off his finger, apparently to steal his wedding ring, amid clashes between anti-junta fighters and the military in the Chin State town of Thantlang on Saturday.
Pastor Cung Biak Hum, 31, was among a group of residents who came outside to put out fires that started when junta troops shot artillery shells at the town.
He was shot twice in the chest and his body was found an hour later with his left ring finger missing, said Reverend Dr Lal Uk, the chair of the Thantlang Association of Baptist Churches.
“We believe they cut off the finger to get his ring but we are not exactly sure of it,” the reverend said. “I think it is his wedding ring. The finger was cut off from near the base. Otherwise the ring couldn’t be taken easily.”
Cung Biak Hum’s funeral was held on Sunday morning. He is survived by his wife and two young sons.
The fires he was trying to put out destroyed at least 18 homes and a government building, residents said.
The killing happened on the same day that the Thantlang branch of the Chinland Defence Force (CDF), along with forces from the Chin National Army (CNA) clashed with junta soldiers.
The CDF said in a statement that it killed 30 soldiers and suffered no casualties on its side. Myanmar Now was unable to verify this with residents.
Junta forces have been attacking civilian targets since September 11, when a joint force of the CNA and the CDF overran a military outpost in the village of Lungler in Thantlang Township, a Thantlang local told Myanmar Now.
“The soldiers from the army base in the town have been firing like they’re in a battle,” he said. “There is a hill near Thantlang and they have been firing from there. There is a police post in the town as well and they opened fire from there too.”
“They’re the real terrorists. They don’t hesitate to kill the civilians. We, the Chin people, can’t surrender anymore,” he added.
Later on Saturday night, another hour-long clash between the military and the CDF was reported in the state capital of Hakha, 35 kilometers from Thantlang. At least three people were injured and a house was set ablaze by artillery fire from the junta’s side, according to Chin State-based media.
The Falam-based Chin Baptist Convention on Sunday condemned the junta’s “barbarous” attacks on religious buildings and property in the state, saying soldiers had occupied churches and ransacked churches.
“We condemn the actions of the Myanmar Tatmadaw, which could create religious and racial conflicts that are far worse and more complicated than current political conflicts,” the convention said in a statement.
Tom Andrews, the UN human rights envoy for Myanmar, called for foreign powers to pay closer attention to the situation in the country.
“The murder of a Baptist minister and bombing of homes in Thantlang, Chin State are the latest examples of the living hell being delivered daily by junta forces against the people of Myanmar. The world needs to pay closer attention,” he tweeted. “More importantly, the world needs to act.”
Myanmar Now News
Myanmar Junta Kills At Least 12 Civilians Over Weekend
/in NewsAt least a dozen civilians were killed by junta forces in Magwe, Sagaing and Yangon regions during the weekend.
On Sunday, junta forces killed two brothers in Taungdwingyi Township, Magwe Region, after a telecom mast belonging to the military-owned Mytel, one of four telecom operators in Myanmar, was destroyed.
Resistance fighters said in a statement that the troops tortured villagers as they interrogated them over the incident and two were killed. Four other villagers were detained, it added.
Telecom towers owned by Myanmar’s military are being targeted by resistance fighters following the shadow National Unity Government’s declaration of war against the junta on September 7.
The junta troops also burned several houses during raids on Hnan Khar and Htet Hlaw villages on Gangaw Township in the region, a resistance stronghold, over the weekend.
According to residents, a villager and resistance fighter were shot dead by junta troops in Htet Hlaw on Sunday morning during a raid. Around 30 houses were also burned down during the raid, forcing villagers to flee.
Villagers said they found the two bodies when they returned to put out the fires.
On Monday morning, junta troops torched Hnan Khar, burning at least 10 houses. Nearly 40 houses have been partially or completely destroyed in the village since Friday.
In Myaung Township, Sagaing Region, seven villagers, who were trapped in their village during clashes between junta forces and resistance fighters, were reportedly shot dead by regime soldiers.
In Yangon Region, 36-year-old Ko Aung Ko was shot dead after he reportedly failed to stop his car at a checkpoint on Saturday night. His wife, who was a passenger, was shot and is in a critical condition.
Since the February coup, junta forces have killed at least 1,080 people, including teenagers, children, student activists, protesters, politicians, bystanders and pedestrians. More than 8,000 people have been detained of whom 6,398 remain in custody, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
Irrawaddy News