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
- Myanmar military still bombing towns despite earthquake crisis, rebels say
- PRESS STATEMENT: CIVIL SOCIETY CALLS FOR DISASTER RELIEF FOR EARTHQUAKE SURVIVORS AND AFFECTED COMMUNITIES IN MYANMAR
- AAPP Launches its New Report on Justice, the Judiciary and the Weaponization of Law to Repress Civilians in Burma
- Junta offensives leave 4 dead, thousands displaced in northwest Myanmar
- Open letter: Special Envoy’s conflicts of interest signal urgent need for investigation and complete end of mandate
Urgent Statement: More Extrajudicial Killings from Daik-U Prison
/in Member statementsDate: July 19, 2023
On June 27, 2023, 37 political prisoners from Daik-U (Kyaiksakaw) Prison went missing. Thereafter, on July 7 and 8, a Daik-U Prison Officer sent letters to the families of Khant Linn Naing (aka Ko Khant, aka Let Wel) and Pyae Phyo Hein (aka Ko Pyae) to inform them they had died on June 27. In response to these letters, our organization, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), released a statement on July 10.
AAPP has increasingly been documenting letters being sent to the families of these missing political prisoners informing them of their deaths. This is not only an act of extrajudicial murder upon political prisoners, but severe psychological torture against family members of the political prisoners in question.
Of all the political prisoners who went missing on June 27, 2023, AAPP has been able to confirm the deaths of the following prisoners, along with Khant Linn Naing, son of Than Soe Naing, and Pyae Phyo Hein, son of Kyaw Oo, as of today:
Moreover, the number of people who have lately been killed from torture during interrogation following arbitrary arrest, being burned alive due to military attacks into towns and villages, and other deaths inside prisons, is rapidly increasing.
The killings by the junta of people in flagrant disregard of human life is an act that should challenge the domestic and international pillars of justice.
In regards to the deaths that occurred within prison and interrogation, AAPP Secretary U Tate Naing has said, “In the recent days, we have been hearing quite frequently about the deaths taking place inside prisons. Two political prisoners in Daik-U Prison, Aung Soe Moe (aka Mae Lone) and Hluttaw Representative of Waw Township, Bago Region, Maung Dee, died on July 16 and 17 respectively. Similarly, the family of Middleweight Lethwei Fighter Tue Tue (aka Naga Marn) was informed about his death on July 13 when they were called to Magway Police Station. However, Tue Tue (aka Naga Marn) had already been tortured to death in interrogation on April 26. Moreover, last month, on June 26, labor activist Thet Hnin Aung, was re-arrested while returning home upon release from Thaton Prison after having served his sentence. Thet Hnin Aung has been missing since. These events make clear, the junta is killing and disposing of the bodies of the political activists”.
Regarding current events, AAPP strongly requests governments and international institutions around the world, including the United Nations and accountability mechanisms, to carry out emergency investigations. In addition, we strongly request to take immediate and effective action against the military junta of Burma which has been carrying extrajudicial killings among other atrocities.
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Contact – info@aappb.org
Download link for English_Follow up statement on Daik-U prison case (19-Jul-2023)
Human Rights Situation weekly update (July 8 to 14, 2023)
/in HR Situation, NewsHuman Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from July 8 to 14, 2023
Military Junta troops launched an airstrike and dropped bombs in Sagaing Region, Chin State, Kayah State, and Kayin State from July 8th to 14th. They also burnt and killed 3 civilians from Sagaing Region. 4 underage children died and 7 underage children were injured by the Military’s heavy and light attacks within a week. The civilians from Magway Region and Tanintharyi Region were also arrested as human shields.
Military Junta said the political prisoners around Myanmar will be relocated to another prison but the Junta troops killed them. Among them, after 5 political prisoners had been killed, the Military Junta informed their families. 2 youths who were accused as the murderers of Li Li Kyaw Naing, were shot and killed under interrogation by the Military Junta in Yangon.
Infogram
US again touts importance of Myanmar peace plan despite divisions within ASEAN
/in NewsStatement by top diplomats said many members viewed Thai meeting with junta foreign minister as a positive step.
Washington on Friday again urged countries to push Myanmar on a peace plan that has failed so far, although the regional bloc is divided over how to handle the Burmese crisis.
Countries must persuade the Burmese military to follow through on the five-point plan, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said as he met with his counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and other countries in Jakarta on Friday.
“In Myanmar, we must press the military regime to stop the violence, to implement ASEAN’s five-point consensus, to support a return to democratic governance,” Blinken said in a speech during a meeting with ASEAN ministers.
The bloc, of which Myanmar is a member, has sought to mediate a resolution to the situation in that country, where the military toppled an elected government in February 2021 and threw civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in prison. Nearly 3,800 people have been killed in post-coup violence, mostly by junta security forces.
On Thursday, ASEAN issued a joint statement of its foreign ministers, but that was delayed by a day following a meeting of the region’s top diplomats Tuesday and Wednesday. Reports said the delay arose because they could not agree on what their joint statement would say about Myanmar.
The statement reflected the dissonance.
Thailand had last month held another meeting with Myanmar’s junta-appointed foreign minister, representatives of ASEAN members Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and the Philippines, and India and China. The Burmese and Thai militaries are said to be close, and the outgoing Thai PM is a former army chief.
ASEAN 2023 chair Indonesia did not take kindly to that meeting, which it skipped along with Singapore and Malaysia.
And yet, the joint statement acknowledged that meeting, noting that “a number of ASEAN member states” viewed it “as a positive development.”
The statement went on to note, however, that efforts to solve the Myanmar crisis must support the five-point consensus and efforts by ASEAN chair Indonesia.
Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai defended the meeting, saying it was in line with an earlier ASEAN document that called for exploring other approaches for resolving the crisis.
In another shocker for the rest of ASEAN, and indeed, everyone else, the Thai foreign minister announced on Wednesday that he had met secretly over the weekend with Myanmar’s imprisoned civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. The Thai foreign ministry said that she and the junta had approved the meeting with Don.
And not everyone is on board with the five-point consensus either, although they present a unified front, reports say.
The previous foreign minister of Malaysia, Saifuddin Abdullah, was an exception. He had said last July that it was time to junk the peace plan and devise a new one on a deadline that included enforcement mechanisms.
ASEAN operates by consensus, which means any action it takes has to be approved by every member state. Divisions within the bloc have meant that not every member has approved of tougher action against Myanmar.
Therefore, other than shutting out the Burmese junta from all high-level ASEAN meetings for reneging on the consensus, little else has happened since February 2021.
Hunter Marston, a Southeast Asia researcher at the Australian National University, said the ASEAN top diplomats’ joint statement was largely in line with his expectations.
He would have liked to see “ASEAN invite the NUG as a way of imposing costs on the junta, but that won’t receive consensus,” Marston told BenarNews, referring to the National Unity Government, which is the shadow civilian administration.
He would have also liked to see “see a clearer acknowledgement of ASEAN’s frustration with the military junta.”
And the statement “still left room for Thailand’s rogue … diplomacy,” Marston said.
Another analyst, Muhammad Waffaa Kharisma, from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta, said he had expected a little better from the joint statement.
“[N]ow I only hope that ASEAN does not accept back the junta without accountability,” he told BenarNews.
RFA News
Divided ASEAN condemns Myanmar violence again, supports five-point plan
/in NewsRECASTS WITH JOINT COMMUNIQUE
ASEAN foreign ministers on Thursday condemned violence in Myanmar again and repeated support for a peace plan ignored by its junta rulers, as the divided bloc struggled to find unity over the protracted crisis.
Myanmar has been ravaged by deadly violence since a military coup ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in February 2021, unleashing a bloody crackdown on dissent.
A joint communique finally arrived late Thursday, more than a day after a two-day Association of Southeast Asian Nations ministerial meeting ended as the fractured group wrangled over its content and wording.
It said a five-point plan agreed with Myanmar’s junta two years ago — which they have failed to implement — remained the bloc’s best hope of solving the crisis, despite Thailand launching a separate track to ASEAN efforts in recent months.
“We… reaffirmed our united position that the five-point consensus remains our main reference to address the political crisis in Myanmar,” it said.
“We strongly condemned acts of violence, including air strikes, artillery shelling, and destruction of public facilities and urged all parties involved to take concrete action to immediately halt indiscriminate violence (and) denounce any escalation.”
It asked all sides of the Myanmar conflict to “create a conducive environment for the delivery of humanitarian assistance and inclusive national dialogue.”
ASEAN chair Indonesia had on Wednesday urged a political solution to the crisis at two-day foreign minister talks.
But more than two years after the coup, the divided 10-member bloc’s peace efforts remain fruitless, as the junta ignores international criticism and refuses to engage with its opponents.
A Southeast Asian diplomat attending the meetings told AFP on condition of anonymity the delay was because they were “working on the language on Myanmar”.
An early draft seen by AFP on Tuesday had left a section on Myanmar blank.
The diplomat said some countries wanted outright re-engagement with the junta, while others said the five-point plan that aims to end the violence and renew talks must remain the basis for re-engagement.
This confirmed the “deep divisions within ASEAN on the Myanmar issue”, the diplomat added.
– Thai dialogue track –
Thailand has made its own initiative to speak directly with the Myanmar junta and other actors in the conflict.
Last month, Bangkok hosted the junta’s foreign minister for controversial “informal talks” that further split the bloc.
Then on Wednesday, on the second day of ASEAN talks, Thailand’s top diplomat announced that he met last week with Suu Kyi — who has been detained since the coup, and jailed by a junta court for a total of 33 years.
Don Pramudwinai said he met the Nobel laureate on Sunday in Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw and that she was in “good health” and “encouraged dialogue”.
Don “freely discussed what he wanted” with Suu Kyi, junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said in an audio statement posted by the military’s information team Thursday, adding that her health was “good”.
On Thursday, Don told reporters: “It has been two years now, (and) not much improvement. So there must be re-engagement with Myanmar.”
– ‘Safe, stable, prosperous’ –
Indonesia has said any other efforts must support ASEAN’s existing five-point peace plan.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Zambry Abdul Kadir told reporters that all members were working towards the “same issue”, which was ensuring that Southeast Asia was “a region that is safe, stable and prosperous”.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said Jakarta had engaged in “quiet diplomacy” with all sides of the conflict, and in its seven months as chair had held more than 110 engagements concerning Myanmar.
But analysts said Thailand was taking the lead on the crisis, undercutting ASEAN efforts and shifting the centre of negotiation to Bangkok.
A Thai foreign ministry official declined to comment on Indonesia’s work as ASEAN chair.
Myanmar Now News
Still unsafe for Rohingya to return to Myanmar: US envoy
/in NewsA top US rights envoy in Bangladesh said Thursday that conditions remain unsafe for the return of ethnic Rohingya refugees to Myanmar, with Washington pledging further aid for the crisis.
Bangladesh is home to around a million members of the stateless minority, most of whom fled a 2017 military crackdown in neighbouring Myanmar that is now subject to a genocide probe at the International Criminal Court.
“We support efforts to create the conditions for eventual, safe, dignified, informed and voluntary return of Rohingya — conditions that do not currently exist,” the US Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights Uzra Zeya told reporters in Dhaka.
Zeya, speaking after talks with Bangladesh’s Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen, commended Dhaka for “reaffirming their commitment against forced return” of Rohingya people.
Bangladesh and Myanmar have discussed efforts to begin repatriating Rohingya refugees to their homeland, where they have been subject to decades of persecution and are denied citizenship.
“Obviously, we will not do anything to harm the refugees or Rohingyas that we have, who have been welcomed in Bangladesh,” Momen said.
Dozens have been killed in Rohingya camp clashes between rival insurgent forces this year, with Human Rights Watch on Thursday warning of “surging violence by armed groups and criminal gangs”.
The United States is the biggest donor to Rohingya humanitarian efforts, contributing more than $2.1 billion in aid to Rohingyas and host communities in Bangladesh.
Funding cuts forced the United Nations food agency to cut rations to refugee settlements twice this year, with aid workers warning that the move would likely worsen the already precarious security situation in the camps.
Zeya on Thursday announced a further $74 million in aid, including for Rohingyas refugees in Bangladesh and in camps in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
The US diplomat also met Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and discussed “the need for free and fair elections” due in January 2024.
Myanmar Now News
Human Rights Situation update (January to July, 2023)
/in HR Situation, NewsHuman Rights Violations Committed by Military Junta from January to June, 2023.
Military Junta troops Committed 1222 times of Human Right Violations in 15 Regions and States within 6 months from January to June 2023. According to Social Media and News Media, they committed 30 types of Human Right Violations. Among those Human Right Violations, the Military Junta attacked with heavy artillery 292 times to the Civilians and their places the most. As a second, the Military troops burnt and destroyed the civilians’ houses and properties 281 times. Third, they arrested the Anti- Military activists who protested in various ways 259 times. The Military Junta Troop is targeting and attacking Civilians entire country and also destroying the Civilians’ houses and buildings by launching airstrikes 128 times. As the worst Human Right Violations, the Military committed massacres by launching airstrikes and dropping bombs on over 100 civilians including children, and all died at Bazigyi Village in Kanbalu Township, Sagaing Region on April 11th in 2023. Military Junta committed rape and kill over 8 women and a total of 12 women died within 6 months. 2 civilians from Yangon Region and 6 from Mandalay Region, a total of 8 were arrested and killed by the Thwaythout Force that works under Military Junta. They committed arresting the civilians, burning the people, raping the women, and using the locals as human shields along their matching area. Civilians fled to the safety of the Military 180 times within 6 months. The Military Junta troop has been still committing Human Right Violations in various ways since the coup on 1st February 2021.
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