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
Inside Insein
/in NewsIll-treatment is rife, the food is bad and hygiene is sub-standard in the infamous Yangon prison that has long been the butt of grim word-play humour about “going insane”.
By OLIVER SLOW | FRONTIER
“There’s only one word for what life was like inside Insein prison – hell.”
U Kyaw Soe Win spent six years in the notorious jail on Yangon’s northern outskirts when Myanmar was under military rule. He was arrested in 1992 for protesting against the National Convention. After what he said was a sham trial lasting a few days, during which he had no access to a lawyer, he was convicted under the Emergency Provisions Act.
“I spent twenty three hours a day inside my cell; I was allowed out just three times a day, for twenty minutes at a time,” said Kyaw Soe Win. “I didn’t experience physical torture, but spending that much time inside your cell without anything to read or write, that is mental torture.”
Asked about the quality of prison food, Kyaw Soe Win laughed.
“It was the lowest quality food, not nutritious at all. Low quality rice, maybe some beans and a bit of vegetable – if you could call it that,” he said.
Ko Letyar Tun, who spent two stints in Insein, including many years on death row, over his involvement in the 1988 national uprising, said the quality of life depended on who was the head jailer.
“If you had a good one, life wasn’t too bad, but if you had a bad one, it was a horrible place to be,” Letyar Tun said. “I don’t remember the name of who was in charge when I arrived, but I can tell you, I will never forget his face,” he said.
Letyar Tun said torture was common in Insein.
“I was beaten by hand, with a stick. They beat you a lot. But it didn’t matter if you told them the truth. They heard what they wanted to hear, and if they didn’t like what you told them, they just carried on beating you,” he said.
Colonial relic
Glance from your plane window as it arrives or takes-off from Yangon International Airport and you might catch a glimpse of Insein, easily identified by its size and distinctive shape.
Insein prison was built by the British in 1887 to relieve overcrowding at Rangoon Central Goal, at the western end of Commissioner’s Road (now Bogyoke Aung San Road).
A scale model of Insein prison at the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners museum in Yangon. (Victoria Milko | Frontier)
Insein is said to have been built in the circular Panopticon design developed by the 18th century British philosopher and social theorist, Jeremy Bentham. The design was aimed at enabling a single guard to monitor all inmates without them knowing if they were being watched.
Bentham once said the use of the design for prisons enabled them to function “as a mill for grinding rogues honest”.
Critics of the design said it was inhumane and Insein has acquired an infamous reputation, mainly because of the effect on inmates of a lack of hygiene and the regular use of torture, especially when the country was under military rule.
Over the years, Insein has held thousands of political prisoners, many of them students and other activists arrested during the 1988 national uprising and the monk-led protests in 2007 known as the Saffron Revolution.
Political prisoners continue to be held in Insein.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said the nation’s jails held 36 political prisoners in May, with another 57 in custody awaiting trial and 169 granted bail.
A jailer’s perspective
U Thein Win spent 16 years with the Corrections Department including two stints at Insein, where he began working as a warder in 1975. He later worked as a warder at Myitkyina, Kawthaung and Mandalay prisons, before returning to Insein as chief jailer ahead of the protests in 1988.
Thein Win said he went four days without sleep or food during the height of the unrest, when a constant stream of arrested protesters was being delivered to the prison.
As a prison official, he regularly received death threats and carried a pistol for his protection.
“I didn’t feel pride about my work, but I had a sense of duty,” Thein Win told Frontier. “I felt a big burden, but I had to be loyal to the government. I had to do my job even though we faced death threats.”
Thein Win was vague when asked if he had been involved in torturing inmates but said he had often seen prisoners being beaten. Some of the worst beatings he saw were inflicted on the student leader, Min Ko Naing, and the comedian known as Zarganar.
Photo taken from inside the prison, courtesy of AAPP.
However, it was an incident more than a decade earlier that made a bigger impression on his mind: the execution of student activist Salai Tin Maung Oo, who was hanged at Insein on June 25, 1976.
Tin Maung Oo had gone underground after participating in the student-led protests that erupted after the body of former United Nations secretary-general U Thant was returned to Burma from the United States in December 1974. The activist was arrested in Yangon on March 22, 1976, after returning for celebrations the next day marking the 100th birthday of Thakin Kodaw Hmaing, one of the greatest Burmese poets, writers and nationalist leaders of the early 20th century, who died in July 1964.
Tin Maung Oo, the only student activist to have been formally executed under junta rule, was defiant to the end. The authorities had offered to spare his life if he agreed to abandon political activism and admit that the protests he was involved in were wrong, but he refused.
Tin Maung Oo’s last words to his executioners were: “You can kill my body but you can never kill my beliefs and what I stood for. I will never kneel down to your military boots!”
Speaking more than 40 years later, Thein Win said he could never forget what he saw that morning. As he spoke, tears filled his eyes.
“At about 4am, soldiers came to his cell and began beating him,” he said. “They gagged him and eventually dragged him to the room where he was hanged.”
Thein Win, who held the role of chief jailer for several more years, said the treatment of many prisoners made him feel ashamed.
“At first I was proud to work as a government official, but afterwards I felt ashamed,” he said, although he expressed pride in trying to help many inmates, and said some still came to his house to pay him respect.
A foreigner’s experience
One of Insein’s most high profile foreign inmates in recent years was New Zealander Mr Phil Blackwood, the general manager of a bar in Bahan Township.
Blackwood and two Myanmar colleagues, the bar’s owner, U Tun Thurein, and its manager, Ko Htut Ko Ko Lwin, were arrested in December 2014 and sentenced the following March to two-and-a-half years in prison for insulting religion over the online use of a Buddha image to promote a drinks promotion night. The trio was released from Insein in January 2016.
A family member of a political prisoner demonstrates outside Insein prison in 2016. (Ann Wang | Frontier)
Blackwood’s trial attracted considerable attention, and as a “high priority” prisoner he said he had his own cell.
“The first few months were tense,” Blackwood told Frontier in a recent phone interview from New Zealand, where he lives. “When I first went inside I was told there could be a potential hit on me, so I took that pretty seriously and mostly kept to myself.”
Blackwood said he gradually adjusted to life in prison and his situation became more bearable after he began to form friendships, including with some of the guards.
He was able to spend about eight hours a day outside his cell, in the jail’s exercise yard.
The doors of his cell were opened twice a day, from 7am to 12pm and from 2pm to about 5.30pm. The two hours they were closed were when “high risk” prisoners could go outside, Blackwood said.
Psychological victories helped to keep his spirits up, and one was to refuse to leave his cell as soon as the guards opened it and to return well before he was due to be locked-up again.
“It might seem silly, but that really helped me to feel that they weren’t in control of what I was doing. I felt like I could decide what I was doing,” Blackwood said.
There were dark moments, too. Blackwood said he never saw any inmate being tortured, but he did observe a rapid deterioration in the physical condition of a middle-aged man over about a week that coincided with a visit of a group he labelled the “Gestapo”, after the ruthless secret police of Nazi Germany. Frontier was unable to establish who this group was.
“We really saw him go downhill quickly over that week or so,” Blackwood said. “The guy had been inside for something like 13 years, then suddenly he deteriorated to the point where we heard he had died,” he said.
“It was hard in there, even for someone who, I guess, is in relatively good shape. But this guy didn’t look healthy, and the heat and the stress must have taken a toll.”
Photo taken from inside the prison, courtesy of AAPP.
His family were visiting from New Zealand at the time of the incident, and during a meeting with them he had to ask his wife, siblings and mother to leave the room, so he could speak with his father alone.
“I said to him, look. If anything happens to me in here, just make sure my body goes back to New Zealand,” he said.
“But you get used to anything, I guess.”
Blackwood was contemptuous of the way his trial was conducted.
“If I was to say they would need to change anything, it would be that bit before the prison – the trial, if you can call it that. It’s a shambles, and everyone inside that prison has to go through it,” he said.
The need for reform
For about three months, Blackwood and his co-defendants were ferried between Insein and the Bahan Township court once a week for a trial that attracted considerable media attention.
There’s been greater domestic and foreign media interest in the pre-trial hearings of Reuters reporters Ko Wa Lone and Ko Kyaw Soe Oo, who have regularly been making a shorter journey from Insein to Insein Township court.
They have been in custody since being arrested in Yangon’s northern outskirts on December 12 last year while investigating a massacre of Rohingya in Rakhine State and are accused of breaching the Official Secrets Acts, for which the maximum penalty is 14 years’ imprisonment.
The reporters, who are alleged to have been in possession of confidential documents, have appeared in court more than 20 times since the hearings began. The case has been marked by some dramatic revelations, including testimony by a police officer that their arrest was a set-up.
One issue in dispute is where they were arrested. The prosecution maintains that the documents were found in their possession when they were stopped by a routine police patrol. The reporters have told their families they were arrested soon after leaving a restaurant to which they were invited by police who handed them some documents.
Reuters journalist Ko Wa Lone, who is currently serving time inside Insein prison alongside his colleague Ko Kyaw Soe Oo. (Nyein Su Wai Kyaw Soe | Frontier)
The pre-trial hearings have also been told by an officer involved in the arrest that he burned his notes about the arrest and another prosecution witness said he had written details of the case on his hand because he was “forgetful”.
In April, Police Captain Moe Yan Naing testified that a senior officer had ordered his subordinates to plant confidential documents on Wa Lone to “trap” him. Moe Yan Naing has since been jailed for one year for violating police discipline. The day after he testified, his family was evicted from government housing in Nay Pyi Taw.
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have not commented on their treatment in Insein, but Reuters quoted defence lawyer U Than Zaw Aung as asking Police Captain Myint Lwin at a hearing on June 11 if the pair were “not allowed to sleep” while they were under interrogation for three consecutive days after their arrest last December.
Than Zaw Aung also asked the witness if Kyaw Soe Oo was “forced to kneel down” on the floor for more than three hours during questioning.
Myint Lwin denied the reporters were deprived of sleep or made to kneel, saying officers under his command were not allowed to “do such a thing”.
He also denied, under cross-examination, that the reporters were sent to a specialist interrogation facility after their arrests, saying they were initially detained at a police station in northern Yangon.
aappmus_milko-13.jpg
Ko Bo Kyi, a former political prisoner, and founder of AAPP. (Victoria Milko | Frontier)
Reuters reported that Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo told reporters outside the court after the hearing that they were questioned every two hours for about three days after their arrests by different officers who asked if they were “spies”.
Wa Lone said it was “completely untrue” that they had remained in a regular police station.
The treatment of the pair was “mental and physical torture,” Khin Maung Zaw told Reuters after the hearing, adding that evidence gathered through such methods was unlawful and should not be presented in court.
Meanwhile, campaigns continue for the release of political prisoners.
“The issue of political prisoners is not finished inside this country,” said U Bo Kyi, a former political prisoner and founder of AAPP. “The government needs to do more on this issue,” he said. “Prisoners are human beings; they must have enough space, they must have enough nutrition, they must have enough medication. They must not be dehumanised. The government has responsibility for that.”
Bo Kyi said the penal system urgently needs reform and one of the first measures should be to reduce the prison population by establishing the rule of law and ensuring that anyone charged with an offence receives a fair trial.
“Everything is interlinked, so it has to be holistic. It must include institutional reform, police reform and judicial reform,” he said.
TOP PHOTO: An aerial view of Yangon’s infamous Insein prison. (Steve Tickner | Frontier)
Tags:
FRONTIER Myanmar
Seeking justice in Burma (June 2018)
/in Justice NewslettersSeeking justice in Burma
June 2018
Pressure to hold perpetrators of mass human rights violations accountable continues to build; Kachin war commemorations banned and protesters charged; Panglong peace conference gets new date; defamation cases remain common despite reforms; high numbers of landmine fatalities in Shan and Kachin states. Read more
Myanmar: Military top brass must face justice for crimes against humanity targeting Rohingya
/in NewsThe comprehensive report, “We Will Destroy Everything”: Military Responsibility for Crimes against Humanity in Rakhine State, Myanmar, calls for the situation in Myanmar to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for investigation and prosecution.
“The explosion of violence – including murder, rape, torture, burning and forced starvation – perpetrated by Myanmar’s security forces in villages across northern Rakhine State was not the action of rogue soldiers or units. There is a mountain of evidence that this was part of a highly orchestrated, systematic attack on the Rohingya population,” said Matthew Wells, Senior Crisis Adviser at Amnesty International.
“Those with blood on their hands – right up the chain of command to Senior General Min Aung Hlaing – must be held to account for their role in overseeing or carrying out crimes against humanity and other serious human rights violations under international law.”
Amassing the evidence
In the report, Amnesty International also names nine of the Commander-in-Chief’s subordinates in the Tatmadaw– Myanmar’s armed forces – and three in the Border Guard Police (BGP) for their roles in the ethnic cleansing campaign.
The culmination of nine months of intensive research, including in Myanmar and Bangladesh, the report is Amnesty International’s most comprehensive account yet of how the Myanmar military forced more than 702,000 women, men and children – more than 80% of northern Rakhine State’s Rohingya population when the crisis started – to flee to Bangladesh after 25 August 2017.
The report provides new details about the Myanmar military’s command structure and troop deployments, as well as the security forces’ arrests, enforced disappearances and torture of Rohingya men and boys in the weeks directly before the current crisis unfolded.
It also provides the most detailed information to date about abuses by the armed group the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), before and after it launched coordinated attacks on security posts on 25 August 2017. This includes killings of people from different ethnic and religious communities in northern Rakhine State, as well as the targeted killings and abductions of suspected Rohingya informants to the authorities.
Amnesty International has already documented in detail how the Myanmar military’s vicious response to the ARSA attacks came in the context of long-standing institutionalized discrimination and segregation amounting to apartheid and was marked by crimes under international law including murder, rape, torture, targeted large-scale burning of villages, the use of landmines, forced starvation, mass deportation and other serious human rights violations.
Based on more than 400 interviews – as well as reams of corroborating evidence, including satellite imagery, verified photographs and videos, and expert forensic and weapons analysis – the new report goes into harrowing detail about the patterns of violations committed in the military’s “clearance operations” following the ARSA attacks. It also identifies the specific military divisions or battalions involved in many of the worst atrocities. Amnesty International has documented the security forces committing nine out of the 11 types of crimes against humanity listed in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Combat troops deployed to ‘destroy everything’
The report documents how the military’s senior command put some of its fiercest fighting battalions, infamous for violations elsewhere in the country, front and centre in the operations in northern Rakhine State. This had disastrous consequences for the Rohingya population.
In the weeks leading up to 25 August, the Tatmadaw brought in battalions from the 33rd and 99th Light Infantry Divisions (LIDs), two combat divisions that Amnesty International had implicated in war crimes in Kachin and northern Shan State in late 2016 and mid-2017, as part of the ongoing internal armed conflicts there.
In some Rohingya villages, the incoming military commanders made their intentions clear from the start. Around 20 August 2017, five days before the bulk of the violence erupted, a field commander from the 33rd LID met in Chut Pyin, Rathedaung Township, with Rohingya leaders from nearby villages. According to seven people present interviewed separately by Amnesty International, the field commander threatened that if there was ARSA activity in the area, or if villagers did any “wrong,” his soldiers would shoot at the Rohingya directly, without any distinction.
Amnesty International likewise obtained an audio recording in Burmese, which it believes to be authentic, of a telephone call between a Rohingya resident of Inn Din, Maungdaw Township, and a Myanmar military officer based in the area. In the recording, the officer says, “We got an order to burn down the entire village if there is any disturbance. If you villagers aren’t living peacefully, we will destroy everything.”
The ensuing wave of violence, in which the security forces completely or partially burned several hundred Rohingya villages across northern Rakhine State, including almost every Rohingya village in Maungdaw Township, has been well documented by Amnesty International and others. The report goes into additional detail about the widespread as well as systematic attack on the Rohingya population, including in large-scale massacres in each of the three townships – in the villages of Chut Pyin, Min Gyi and Maung Nu. Thousands of Rohingya women, men and children were murdered – bound and summarily executed; shot and killed while running away; or burned to death inside their homes – though it may never be known exactly how many lost their lives as a result of the military operation.
The security forces also raped Rohingya women and girls, both in their villages and as they fled to Bangladesh. Amnesty International interviewed 20 women and two girls who were survivors of rape, 11 of whom were gang raped. The organization documented rape and sexual violence in 16 different locations in all three townships of northern Rakhine State. The practice was widespread and terrorized Rohingya communities, contributing to the campaign to force them out of northern Rakhine State. Some rape victims also had their family members killed in front of them. In at least one village, security forces left rape survivors inside buildings and set them on fire.
Border Guard Police arrests and torture
Amid growing tensions ahead of the 25 August attacks and in the days that followed, Myanmar security forces arrested and arbitrarily detained hundreds of Rohingya men and boys from villages across northern Rakhine State. Amnesty International interviewed 23 men and two boys whom the security forces arrested and tortured or otherwise ill-treated during this period.
The Rohingya men and boys were often severely beaten during the arrest and then taken to Border Guard Police (BGP) bases, where they were held incommunicado for days or even weeks.
BGP officers tortured the detainees to extract information or to force them to confess to involvement with ARSA. Amnesty International documented in detail torture that occurred in two specific BGP bases: one in Taung Bazar, in northern Buthidaung Township; and another in Zay Di Pyin village, in Rathedaung Township. Multiple survivors of torture named BGP officers responsible for the torture at these bases.
Released detainees described torture methods that included severe beatings, burning, waterboarding and rape and other sexual violence. Several Rohingya men who were held at the Taung Bazar BGP base described having their beards burned. Rohingya men and two boys who were detained at the Zay Di Pyin BGP base described being denied food and water; beaten to the point of death; and, in many cases, having their genitals burned until they blistered.
A farmer from a village in Rathedaung Township told Amnesty International: “I was standing with my hands tied behind my head, then they pulled off my longyi [a sarong-like garment] and put a [lit] candle under my penis. [A BGP officer] was holding the candle and [his superior] was giving orders… They were saying, ‘Tell the truth or you will die’.”
Some detainees did die from torture in custody, including a 20-year-old man who was beaten to death with a wooden plank after he asked for water.
To secure their release, detainees were made to pay large bribes and to sign a document stating they had never been abused. Ten months later, the Myanmar authorities have yet to provide information about who remains in detention, where they are being held, and under what charges, if any. These detentions amount to arbitrary detention under international law.
Command responsibility
Amnesty International reviewed confidential documents about the Myanmar military indicating that, during military operations like those in northern Rakhine State, forces on the ground normally operate under the tight control of senior commanders. Combat division units – which committed the vast majority of crimes against the Rohingya – have strict reporting requirements as to their movements, engagements and weapons use, information that senior commanders knew or should have known.
Further, top military commanders, including Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, actually travelled to northern Rakhine State directly before or during the ethnic cleansing campaign, to oversee parts of the operation.
Senior military officials knew – or should have known – that crimes against humanity were being committed, yet failed to use their command authority to prevent, stop or punish those crimes, and even attempted to whitewash the overwhelming majority of them in the aftermath. Moreover, there is sufficient evidence to require an investigation into whether some or all may have been directly involved in planning, ordering or committing murder, rape, torture and the burning of villages.
Amnesty International’s research identifies 13 individuals with key roles in crimes against humanity. The organization is calling for all those responsible to face justice.
Time for accountability
Faced with mounting international pressure, last month the Myanmar authorities announced the establishment of an “Independent Commission of Enquiry” to investigate allegations of human rights violations. Previous government and military-led investigations into abuses in Rakhine State have only served to whitewash military atrocities.
“The international community should not be fooled by this latest attempt to shield perpetrators from accountability. Instead, it must finally put an end to the years of impunity and ensure that this dark chapter in Myanmar’s recent history is never repeated,” said Matthew Wells.
“The United Nations Security Council must stop playing politics and urgently refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court, impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Myanmar and impose targeted financial sanctions against senior officials responsible for serious violations and crimes.
“While building international consensus and support for an ICC referral, the international community should use the UN Human Rights Council to set up a mechanism to collect and preserve evidence for use in future criminal proceedings.
“A failure to act now in light of the overwhelming body of evidence begs the question: what will it take for the international community to take justice seriously?”
AMIESTY International
Myanmar: Prosecute Dismissed Officers for Atrocities
/in NewsUN Security Council Should Urgently Refer Myanmar to the ICC
(New York) – The Myanmar government should prosecute recently removed army officers for their role in atrocities against ethnic Rohingya, Human Rights Watch said today. On June 25, 2018, in a statement posted on a Myanmar military Facebook page, the military announced the dismissal of Maj. Gen. Maung Maung Soe and belatedly announced the resignation of Lt. Gen. Aung Kyaw Zaw.
Each general oversaw military operations in Rakhine State following the deadly attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) on security posts on August 25, 2017. Military forces under the command of Maung Maung Soe and Aung Kyaw Zaw carried out a campaign of killings, rape, and mass arson that forced over 700,000 Rohingya refugees to flee to Bangladesh. Human Rights Watch found that these abuses amounted to crimes against humanity. The June 25 announcement made no reference of their link to atrocities, but instead focused on the weakness of their administration and performance prior to the ARSA attacks.
“Releasing from service two generals whose forces committed ethnic cleansing is a grossly inadequate response to wide-ranging atrocities,” said Brad Adams, Asia director. “This slap on the wrist is further proof that the Myanmar military has little intention of providing accountability for grave crimes.”
Both generals have been sanctioned because of their alleged responsibility for military atrocities against the Rohingya in northern Rakhine State. On December 21, 2017, the United States sanctioned Maung Maung Soe, while on February 16, 2018, Canada did the same. On June 25, the European Union and Canada announced new sanctions that included Maung Maung Soe, Aung Kyaw Zaw, and five other members of the Myanmar security forces present in northern Rakhine State or responsible for operations there.
Brad Adams
Asia Director
Maj. Gen. Maung Maung Soe is the former commander of the Western Command, which oversees military deployments and operations in Rakhine State. His dismissal on June 25 followed his transfer from his position of command to “reserve” duty in November 2017, taking him out of his active role of command.
The statement points out several shortcomings of Maung Maung Soe, including his weak performance in gaining advanced information about the ARSA attacks and taking necessary actions or preparations prior to the attacks, as well as his inability to secure Rakhine State. The statement makes no reference to the atrocities carried out by the forces operating under the Western Command and within the territory for which his command was responsible.
Lt. Gen. Aung Kyaw Zaw was the former commander of the Bureau of Special Operations No. 3 (BSO-3), which oversees three regional commands, including the Western Command. Maung Maung Soe was his subordinate. The statement said that Aung Kyaw Zaw’s performance relating to the attacks in Rakhine State and implementing policies from “above” were lacking. He was reportedly transferred from his assignment in part as a consequence of a “health condition,” and was later permitted to resign from the military on May 22.
Both generals retained their positions of authority and responsibility over the military and security forces throughout the ethnic cleansing campaign that security forces began in late August in Rakhine State. Under the legal doctrine of command responsibility, commanders and other superiors are criminally responsible for crimes committed by their subordinates if they knew or should have known about such crimes and did not act to prevent them or punish those responsible.
The Myanmar government recently announced plans to establish a three-member commission of inquiry, including one international representative, to look into alleged abuses in Rakhine State. But the government has repeatedly failed to credibly investigate crimes against the Rohingya committed by government forces. A Myanmar army investigation into violence in Rakhine state in 2016, when Myanmar security forces conducted a campaign of mass arson, rape, and murder, forcing nearly 90,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh, found only two minor abuses. A second investigation, led by the same army general, concluded that “there were no deaths of innocent people” during the military operations that began in August 2017.
On June 27, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, questioned the purpose of the government’s new commission, especially since the government continues to block the UN-mandated Fact Finding Mission. She added in her update to the Human Rights Council that the situation in Myanmar demands accountability for the crimes committed and “clearly warrants” the attention of the International Criminal Court (ICC). She further said that the Human Rights Council should establish an accountability mechanism to prepare for an eventual prosecution of criminal suspects.
The UN Security Council should refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court. Under the ICC’s statute, the court can only act when a state is “unwilling or unable” to investigate or prosecute grave crimes in violation of international law. Because Myanmar is neither a party to the ICC nor has accepted the court’s jurisdiction, the UN Security Council needs to refer the situation to the court.
“Myanmar’s history of atrocity denial leaves little hope that the proposed government commission will deliver credible findings,” Adams said. “Targeted sanctions by governments send a strong message of condemnation and a measure of accountability, but they are no substitute for bringing those responsible for grave crimes to justice. Concerned governments should press the UN Security Council to refer Myanmar to the ICC, and ensure that evidence is collected and preserved for prosecutions.”
Human Rights Watch
Oral update by Ms. Yanghee Lee, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar at the 38th session of the Human Rights Council
/in News27 June 2018
Mr President, distinguished representatives, ladies and gentlemen,
I am honoured to once again address this Council to present my oral progress report pursuant to the HRC resolution 37/32 on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. The resolution mandates me to “continue to monitor the situation of human rights” and to “measure progress in the implementation of the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur”. Read more
International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, 26 June 2018
/in Press Releases and StatementsInternational Day in Support of Victims of Torture, 26 June 2018
Addressing the Needs of Torture Survivors
is Key to Building Peace and Democracy
Women’s League of Burma (WLB), Network for Human Rights Documentation-Burma (ND-Burma), the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (AAPP), the Vimutti Women’s Organization (VWO) and Asia Justice and Rights (AJAR) are calling for an end to torture, and for rehabilitation of torture survivors.
WLB, ND-Burma, AAPP, VWO and AJAR are jointly organising a public event in Yangon to mark the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. The event will be held from 1:30-3:30pm at Free Funeral Service Society. At the event, participants will show their solidarity with survivors of torture and raise awareness on the needs of victims. The Burmese language version of the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT) produced by AAPP will also be distributed to the public.
Torture is not a practice of the past; it continues to be used in Myanmar by State actors, in particular in ethnic areas affected by current conflicts. Torture is still used during detention and interrogation, often in an effort to procure information or to force confessions. Villagers suspected of being affiliated with ethnic armed groups are frequently captured by military and tortured indiscriminately. Torture also includes acts of sexual violence. It is the government’s responsibility to stop and prevent torture in its jurisdiction.
The government must ratify the United Nations Convention Against Torture, and other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). It would be an important first step in ending the practice of torture in Myanmar. It would also be a symbolic pledge of solidarity with survivors.
Torture survivors have a right to reparations and support. Many face ongoing and serious health problems. Access to medical care is an urgent need. Other needs include psychosocial support, vocational training, and public acknowledgement. Reparations and addressing the needs of torture survivors must be priorities of the government. They should be items for discussion in parliament and must be included in current peace process discussions.
In order to demonstrate its commitment to eliminating the practice of torture, we call on the government of Myanmar to:
Yangon, 26 June 2018
WLB, ND-Burma, AAPP, VWO and AJAR
Contact persons:
• Lway Poe Ngeal, WLB, 0978 132 9742
• U Aung Myo Kyaw, AAPP, 09428117348
• Khin Mi Mi Khine, VWO, 0979 543 9108
About Women’s League of Burma (WLB) www.womenofburma.org
The Women’s League of Burma (WLB) is an umbrella organization comprised of 13 women’s organizations of different ethnic backgrounds from Burma. WLB was founded on 9th December 1999. Its mission is to work for women’s empowerment and advancement of the status of women, and to work for the increased participation of women in all spheres of society in the democracy movement, and in peace and national reconciliation process through capacity building, advocacy, research and documentation.
About ND-Burma www.nd-burma.org
ND-Burma formed in 2004 in order to provide a way for Burma human rights organizations to collaborate on the human rights documentation process. Seven member organizations and nine affiliate organizations seek to collectively use the truth of what communities in Burma have endured to challenge the regime’s power through present-day advocacy as well as prepare for justice and accountability measures in a potential transition. ND-Burma conducts fieldwork trainings; coordinates members’ input into a common database using Martus, open-source software developed by Benetech; and engages in joint-advocacy campaigns. When possible, ND-Burma also collaborates with other human rights organizations in all aspects of its work.
About Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) www.aappb.org
AAPP was founded in 2000 by former political prisoners living in exile on the Thai/Burma border. Since then, the organization has been run by former political prisoners, and has opened offices inside Myanmar in Rangoon and Mandalay. AAPP advocates and lobbies for the release of remaining political prisoners and for the improvement of the lives of political prisoners after their release. The various assistance programs for political prisoners and their family members are aimed at ensuring they have access to education, vocational trainings, mental health counseling and healthcare.
About Vimutti Women’s Organization (VWO)
Vimutti Women’s Organization (VWO) is a community-based organization, which was created in 2009. Vimutti is a Pali word (Myanmar ancient literature), which means “freedom”. All VWO members are socially minded volunteers. VWO is very active in communities doing social work, humanitarian support, and providing educational charity to children from poverty-stricken families. VWO is directly engaging with vulnerable people to create a healthy societal environment through research, advocacy, networking, and improving their collective capacity development. VWO has a special program for strengthening women former political prisoners.
About Asia Justice And Rights (AJAR) www.asia-ajar.org
AJAR is a regional human rights organization based in Jakarta. AJAR works to increase the capacity of local and national organization in the fight against entrenched impunity and to contribute to building cultures based on accountability, justice and a willingness to learn from the root causes of mass human rights violations in Asia Pacific region.
Download Pdf