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
- Junta targeting rebel-held areas in northern Myanmar with airstrikes and artillery
- Human Rights Situation weekly update (September 8 to 14, 2024)
- Myanmar National Organizing Committee for ACSC/APF ASEAN Civil Society Conference/ASEAN People’s Forum 2024
- Human Rights Situation weekly update (September 1 to 7, 2024)
- Red Cross chief calls for greater aid access after visit to Myanmar
Estimating Trafficking of Myanmar Women for Forced Marriage and Childbearing in China
/in ND-Burma Members' ReportsIn 2017, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Center for Humanitarian Health partnered with the Kachin Women’s Association Thailand to conduct a mixed methods study (combining qualitative and quantitative research methods) in Kachin State and Northern Shan State in Myanmar, and Yunnan Province in China.
The study seeks to estimate the prevalence of trafficking for forced marriage and childbearing among women and girls from Myanmar (specifically Kachin State and Shan State) to China (specifically Yunnan Province), as well as to improve understanding of the migration patterns, including risk and protective factors relating to force, coercion, and trafficking.
Click here to download full report.
October Monthly Chronology 2018 and Current Political Prisoners list
/in ND-Burma Members' ReportsMONTH IN REVIEW
October in Numbers
Sentenced: 8
Arrests: 10
Charged: 17
Released: 5
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October Month in Review
October was another grim month for Burma’s press freedom. Three senior journalists from Eleven Media were charged under Section 505(b) of the colonial era Penal Code by the Yangon Regional Government. 505(b) is used frequently to suppress freedom of speech. Eleven Media allegedly criticised the Yangon Regional Government. The accused are managing editors Kyaw Zaw Lin, Nari Min, and chief reporter Phyo Wai Win. Such trials can financially cripple small media corporations. The trio were arrested for deeming to cause “public distrust in the company”. These actions from elected officials is unacceptable in Burma, a country in the midst of transition into a democracy. The intervention of President U Win Myint in the case is welcomed, but his advice has thus far gone unheeded. In the lead up to the UN’s ‘Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists’, this was yet another disappointing set back for media freedom in Burma.
Rather than periodic recommendations from the echelons of power, Burma needs comprehensive reform of its many outdated laws.
This month marked another chapter in the trial of the Tanintharyi Journal. On October 1 the weekly journal was charged by the Dawei Township court in Tanintharyi Region under Article 25(b) of the Media Law for a satirical piece published in the Journal’s November 20, 2017 issue. The piece titled “Electioneering Smile” allegedly satirized regional Chief Minister Lei Lei Maw as the fictional Shwin Gwan Gwep lawmaker. If found guilty they could be fined up to 1,000,000kyats ($628) for ‘deliberately affecting the reputation of a specific person or an organisation, if not concerned with public interests and human rights’. On October 26, the Supreme Court in Naypyitaw rejected an appeal to drop the charge filed on August 14. Without trying to understand the nature of satire, charges of defamation is concerning for media freedom. The Eleven Media trial and this lawsuit demonstrates the continued deterioration for press freedom in Burma. Moreover, freedom of expression is also under attack from a variety of defamation cases.
On October 23 former member of the NLD, Magway Division Lower House MP, Tin Aung Tun charged Dr Myo Nyunt under Section 10 of The Law Protecting the Privacy and Security of the Citizen, at Minbu Police Station. The case essentially stems from a series of remarks made to reporters following an NLD executive committee meeting. An inter-party dispute that could now escalate into jail time. A state of affairs perfectly encapsulating Burma’s judicial predicament. Following the NLD committee meeting, Dr Myo Nyunt told reporters that Tin Aung Tun had resigned because “party rules were too strict and they were also not happy that they had to make cash contributions to the party”. Tin Aung Tun quickly followed with a lawsuit because “what he said is not true and damaged my reputation”. Article 8(f) of The Law Protecting the Privacy and Security of Citizens makes it a crime to act “in any way to slander or harm a citizen’s reputation in the absence of an order, permission or warrant issued in accordance with existing laws or permission from the president or a Union-level government body”. Article 10 states that those found guilty will be sentenced to between six months and three years and a substantial fine. The Government must take action and amend this restrictive law.
The Law Protecting the Privacy and Security of Citizens was used again this. On October 26 Aung Than Wai was sentenced to six months imprisonment for criticising former Arakan State Secretary. Aung Than Wai was charged for a facebook post allegedly criticising the State Government following the Mrauk-U riots.
PAPPL continues to be used against activists to restrict freedom of expression. In October, two committee members of the Movement for Democracy Current Force (MDCF), Thet Zin and Kyaw Zin Lat, were charged under Section 20 of PAPPL. They both held protests calling for the International Criminal Court (ICC) recommendation for action to be taken against Burma’s Generals. Aung Myint, Myat Kyaw, Kyaw Moe, and Thet Myo Aung were charged at Kyauktada Police Station under Section 199 of PAPPL, for supporting the Fu Yun labour strike. All Burma Federation of Student Union (ABFSU) members, Ninn Aung and Wai Yan were arrested by an unknown group. A total of 81 activists and civilians have been facing trial outside prison and inside prison under PAPPL. Liberal democratic societies respect human rights and allow people to protest freely. In this case however, those cases illustrate that Burma has failed to respect these rights. AAPP urges to protect the rights of its citizens by immediately amending PAPPL.
Arbitrary arrests have continued in ethnic areas this October. Two members of Arakan Youth Conference (AYC) Aung Zaw Lin and Khine Bo Bo Buthidaung Town, and May Yu Tun the member of the Arakan National Party (ANP) in Pauktaw Township were arrested and charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code in regards to the death of a Military Intelligence Corporal in Sittwe Town, Arakan State. Arresting youths from these organizations creates concerns for political freedom as it suppresses their political participation. These actions contravene International Laws, ICCPR and as well as local law, and the 2008 Constitution. Therefore, AAPP urges the Government to immediately release these activists and show the Government is committed to protecting the freedom and security of its citizens.
In addition, arresting, charging and sentencing civilians for unlawful association or without probable cause restricts the freedoms of citizens and infringes on their basic human rights. The following incidents from October highlight the ongoing issue of arbitrary arrests, sentences and unlawful charges under vague and repressive laws.
Principle 10 of the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment stipulates that, “anyone who is arrested shall be informed at the time of his arrest of the reason for his arrest and shall be promptly informed of any charges against him”. However, those who are arbitrarily arrested do not know why they are detained, and thus have their basic rights infringed. As long as the Government is unable to solve these problems, the National Reconciliation process will remain delayed. Therefore, AAPP calls on the Government to release all the people who have been arrested, charged and sentenced and show that the Government is committed to the rights of the ethnic minorities and to National Reconciliation.
Land Rights
Land confiscations and disputes continued to occur this October.
On October 6, President U Win Myint told department officers in Magway Townhall that solving confiscated land issues without corruption is imperative to making sure farmers do not have any grievances with the process. However, from our observations, land disputes have not ceased. Problems related to receiving compensation, the full amount of compensation, or the proper confiscated land back continue. Because of these problems, their livelihood and social life suffer. Burma signed an agreement of the ICESCR, so it should comply and follow its regulations. Therefore, AAPP urges the Government to protect its farmers by enacting an effective farmland law and protect the rights of its farmers.
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For more information:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Tate Naing (Secretary) +66 (0) 812 878 751
Aung Myo Kyaw (RGN Office Incharge ) +95(0) 42811 7348
Monthly Chronology for Download October Chronology
Month In Review English MiR October
Current Political Prisoners list 28 Remaining PP list Updated On October 31, 2018
Facing Trial list 262 facing trial list updated on October 31, 2018 (Updated)
66 (D) list for Download 66 (D) total list(new) Updated
What Is Transitional Justice Fact Sheet
/in Other documentation resourcesDuring periods of authoritarian rule and conflict, mass human rights violations are often committed in darkness, with the truth hidden and manipulated. After a transition to democracy, many perpetrators are often protected by entrenched impunity. In many cases, they still hold great power and tightly control a false narrative about what has taken place. Institutions that were designed to protect and uphold the rights of the people are weak or broken. In order to build a free and accountable democracy, the truth about what has happened needs to be investigated and shared, perpetrators brought to justice, victims assisted and honored, and laws and institutions reformed to ensure that the mass violations will not recur.
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TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE FACT SHEET: MYANMAR
/in Briefing Papers, NewsIn 1948, Myanmar gained independence from Britain following the 1947 Panglong Conference. The Panglong Agreement promised ethnic equality within the Federal Union of Burma with Kachin, Shan, and Chin leaders. Despite the agreement, demands for ethnic self-determination and equality soon sparked armed conflict between ethnic armed groups and government forces. A military coup in 1962 escalated into a civil war that brought acute repression with widespread detention and torture of political dissidents, journalists, human rights activists, and anyone suspected of criticising the state. A series of authoritarian military governments ruled, suppressing opposition and movements for democracy. When a semi civil government was elected in 2011, peace talks were resumed with dozens of ethnic armed groups. Eight ethnic armed groups signed a Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) under government stewardship.
UN SECURITY COUNCIL MUST ACT NOW AND REFER THE SITUATION IN MYANMAR TO THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
/in Member statements[New York, 25 October 2018] – The UN Security Council (UNSC) must exercise its authority and urgently act to refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court (ICC) said Progressive Voice, Rohingya Women Welfare Society and Kachin Women’s Association – Thailand following the briefing by the Chairperson of the Independent International Fact-finding Mission on Myanmar (IIFFMM) to the UNSC on 24 October.
The chairperson of the IIFFMM, Marzuki Darusman, and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, gave a briefing to the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) Third Committee deliberations on 23 October. The IIFFMM chairperson and the Special Rapporteur stressed the urgent need for accountability in Myanmar and recommended the UNSC refer the situation in Myanmar to the ICC or establish an ad-hoc international tribunal and for the Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar military, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, to be held to account.
“I agree with the IIFFMM chairperson’s response to the Myanmar government representative who repeatedly echoed the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy’s statement. Patience is not what we need to resolve the deplorable situation of human rights in Myanmar,” said Khin Ohmar, of Progressive Voice. “The international community must urgently send a strong message to the genocidal Myanmar military that impunity and destabilization of peace and security will not be tolerated, otherwise, more lives will continue to be lost as Myanmar military will go on to repeat the same atrocities in other ethnic areas” she continued.
During the UNGA Third Committee interactive dialogue, the permanent representative from Myanmar repeatedly echoed the most recent statement made by the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General, Christine Schraner Burgener, who stressed the need for patience after meeting with government and military leaders and visiting IDP camps in Rakhine and Kachin States.
“Shutting down the IDP camps or planning to repatriate the refugees from Bangladesh without restoring the Rohingyas’ rights to full citizenship, freedom of movement, education, health and other fundamental rights further segregates the Rohingya community in their own country into an apartheid-like condition,” said Razia Sultana of Rohingya Women Welfare Society. The policy of discrimination and segregation is being further institutionalized and legalized through the current provision of the National Verification Cards (NVCs), which strip Rohingya and Kaman Muslims of their citizenship and ethnic identity, as the NVC identifies them as Bengali who entered Myanmar from the Bangladesh border.
“Sending the Rohingya refugees back to Myanmar under these conditions is like sending them back to the killing field,” she forewarned.
The recent announcement of the repatriation of 6,000 refugees from Bangladesh to Myanmar has created fear and confusion among the Rohingya refugees as ongoing safety and security concerns remain unresolved. The Myanmar government has continued to deny access to humanitarian agencies working in Rakhine State as well as independent monitoring of the situation, including barring the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar and the IIFFMM from entering Myanmar.
“The Burmese military continues to weaponize humanitarian aid in their war against ethnic nationalities throughout Burma,” said Moon Nayli of Kachin Women’s Association – Thailand (KWAT). As conflict continues to intensify in Kachin and northern Shan Sates since the resumption of war in Kachin State in 2011, tens of thousands of IDPs in Kachin Independence Army controlled areas remain without humanitarian aid as access remains restricted by the government and the military since 2016. According to KWAT, 390 villages, 274 churches, 196 schools, 230 clinics have been destroyed in the past seven years.
Progressive Voice, Kachin Women’s Association – Thailand and Rohingya Women Welfare Society call on the UNSC to refer the situation of Myanmar to the ICC for crimes that may constitute genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Those responsible, including the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Min Aung Hlaing, must be prosecuted, as well as targeted sanctions and an arms embargo enforced against the Myanmar military. The organizations further urged the Third Committee of the 73rd General Assembly to support the decision of the Human Rights Council to establish an independent mechanism to collect evidence of the most serious international crimes committed in Myanmar in its upcoming resolution on Myanmar and to provide the necessary funding and resources through the General Assembly for such mechanism to be fully operational.
In addition, the organizations urged the General Assembly to call on the Myanmar government to immediately undertake a transparent, inclusive and comprehensive review and amendment of the military drafted 2008 Constitution and the 1982 Citizenship Law with assistance from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and other relevant UN bodies, to be in compliance with international human rights law. The organizations also called for the repeal of the four race and religion protection laws and urged that such undertakings must be conducted though full and comprehensive engagement with civil society, political parties, ethnic armed organizations and other actors of ethnic and religious minorities with the aim to achieve an inclusive federal democracy that recognizes the historical belonging of ethnic and religious minority communities to Burma/Myanmar, guarantees equality for all people, combats hate speech, racism and ultra-nationalism and brings the Myanmar military under democratic civilian control.
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ND-Burma and its Reparations Working Group presented their new report in a diplomatic briefing at the Rangoon
/in NewsOn 18 October ND-Burma and its Reparations Working Group presented their new report “You cannot ignore us: Victims of human rights violations from 1970 – 2017 outline their desires for justice” in a diplomatic briefing at the Rangoon office of the European Union.
Delegation to Myanmar. Ko Aung Khing Min from Progressive Voice provided the background of the report; Ko Zaw Moe from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners explained the methodology and data analysis; Lway Poe Kamae Khour from Ta’ang Women’s Organization talked about the human rights violations occurring in ethnic areas of Burma; and Ko Thwin Lin Aung from Geniue People’s Servants outlined the analysis and recommendations of the report.
Diplomats who attended the briefing gave their input and pledged to support the Reparation Working Group’s fight for transitional justice in Burma.
The briefing was attended by diplomats from the EU, Poland, Norway, Germany, France, Switzerland, and Denmark, as well as representative from USAID.