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 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
- Over 67 killed by airstrikes in Arakan State since Sunday; ICRC requests humanitarian access during visit to Naypyidaw
- Myanmar junta airstrikes kill dozens, including prisoners, rebels say
Guards beat dozens of female political prisoners in Myanmar
/in NewsSeveral are in critical condition, a human rights group said.
Myanmar prison authorities beat about 80 female political prisoners, critically injuring five of them, after prison authorities sparked a protest when they confiscated the women’s belongings, a human rights group told Radio Free Asia on Tuesday.
Many people have been imprisoned in Myanmar for their political beliefs and activity since a 2021 coup ended a decade of tentative democratic reforms and triggered widespread opposition to military rule.
Junta authorities have been accused of torture, extrajudicial killingsand other abuses in Myanmar’s cramped and crumbling prisons.
Tension in the Bago region’s Daik-U Prison began when guards seized food and personal belongings of about 40 political prisoners on Saturday, according to the Political Prisoner Network Myanmar.
The women demanded their items back. As the disturbance grew, prison authorities punched and beat women prisoners and fired shots into the air, said a member of the rights group’s steering committee, Thaik Tun Oo.
“The five who were seriously injured are being treated at the prison’s clinic,” he told RFA, adding that they had suffered severe blows to the head.
Thirty of the victims were locked in cells following the riot, he said.
RFA contacted both the junta’s Prison Department and the Myanmar office of the International Committee of the Red Cross for more information on the situation but telephone calls and emails to both went unanswered.
About 160 political prisoners, including many of the victims, had recently been transferred from Kyaikmaraw Prison in Mon state, as well as Bago’s Thayarwady Prison, known for its poor conditions and crumbling infrastructure, Thaik Tun Oo said.
Two prominent members of the political activist organizations 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, Nu Nu Aung and Khat Khat Lwin, are being held at Daik-U Prison, said sources close to Nu Nu Aung, who added that she had been injured in the disturbance.
According to the rights group the Assistance Association for the Political Prisoners, as of Monday, more than 9,000 of the 26,877 people arrested since the coup had been sentenced to prison terms.
RFA News
Human Rights Situation weekly update (June 1 to 7, 2024)
/in HR Situation, NewsHuman Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from June 1 to 7, 2024
Military Junta Troop launched airstrikes and dropped bombs in Sagaing Region, Mandalay Region, Magway Region, and Kachin State from June 1st to 7th. People who were selected for Military Service were evaded, and therefore, over 20 people of their relatives were arrested instead. The Military Junta arrested people for Military Service, and now women are included in Bago Region, Magway Region, and Shan State.
Over 60 civilians died, and over 30 were injured by the Military’s heavy and light artillery attacks within a week. 2 civilians died from the land mines of the Military Junta Troop.
Infogram
Airstrike targets insurgent meeting in Myanmar, 16 killed
/in NewsActivists suspect junta forces got a tip-off about a meeting of anti-junta groups.
A Myanmar military airstrike on a meeting of anti-junta activists in a monastery in central Myanmar killed 16 people, including two monks, and wounded 22 people, witnesses told Radio Free Asia.
The bloody raid in Let Pan Tan village was the latest in the central region of Sagaing, which has been rocked by violence since the military overthrew an elected government in 2021 triggering an insurgency by members of the majority Burman community in Myanmar’s heartland.
Activists taking up arms against military rule have formed militias called People’s Defense Forces, linking up with ethnic minority insurgent groups that have been battling for self-determination for decades in remote borderlands.
One witness close to a People’s Defense Force said the military must have received a tip-off that the meeting was taking place on Saturday.
“The bombardment was carried out while the people were in the meeting due to leaked information. How would they know from so far away?” said the source who declined to be identified for security reasons.
“So it’s clear we should consider that there are spies and informers in the village or near the village, who are secretly collecting information about us.”
RFA was not able to contact People’s Defense Force groups in the region. Sagaing’s junta spokesperson, Nyunt Win Aung, did not answer telephone calls seeking comment.
While junta troops have been pushed back in several parts of the country since allied anti-junta fighters went on the offensive late last year, the military can unleash devastating force in seconds with its jets.
Anti-junta forces have no air power with the exception of drones, and little in the way of anti-aircraft weapon systems to face the threat.
On June 3, a junta airstrike on a wedding in Sagaing’s Mingin township killed 33 people and wounded 64.
RFA has not been able to verify whether the civilians were among the casualties in Let Pan Tan, where numerous buildings, including a second monastery, were damaged, the witnesses said.
Military swoop for suspects
Nine people at the meeting were killed on the spot and seven died later of their wounds, residents said.
It was impossible to identify some of the victims, another witness, who also declined to be identified, told RFA.
“The bodies were badly damaged and disfigured,” said the witness, adding that several victims were decapitated. “There are quite a lot of people who got severely hurt and had their arms or legs severed (in the blast). There isn’t enough medicine for everyone.”
Early on Sunday, a convoy of junta troops raided Let Pan Tan village and arrested about 10 people, including women, the witness said. RFA was not able to verify that information.
According to compiled data by the RFA, junta attacks have killed 662 civilians and injured 1,492 more nationwide from January to May 2024.
RFA News
Myanmar officials evict 500 people who were living in their Mandalay shops
/in NewsResidents of more than 100 shops, clinics and offices in the area were given 15 days to vacate.
Military junta authorities have evicted more than 500 people who were living in shops near Mandalay’s sports stadium, saying that shop owners and their family members never had permission to reside in stalls purchased more than 20 years ago.
The shop owners were forced out without any offers of an alternate piece of land or any compensation, according to a shop owner, who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons.
“They evicted us without providing any support,” he told Radio Free Asia. “It’s very hurtful.”
The shops in the area surrounding Ba Htoo Stadium were sold in 2003 through private contracts with Myanmar’s Road Management Department. A two-story shop measuring 15 x 30 feet (4.5 x 9 meters) sold for over 160,000 kyats (US$57) at the time.
Shop owners still had to pay more than 50,000 kyats (US$18) per month – plus an additional 10 percent – to the Road Management Department to rent the land under shops.
Because the area is in Mandalay’s downtown area, the value of a shop has increased to about 300 million kyats (US$106,000), according to one resident who didn’t want to be identified out of security concerns.
Road Management Department officials issued notices on May 24 that cited the 1955 Government Housing Act, which mandates eviction for living without permission. Residents of more than 100 shops, clinics and offices in the area were given 15 days to vacate.
Several residents told RFA that everyone moved out before June 7 out of fear that junta troops would forcibly remove them if they didn’t comply by the specified date.
A second shop owner told RFA that there was nothing in the original sales contract about how long shop owners could live there.
The lack of clear language about residence in the contracts and the government’s interpretation of the 1955 law has been “deceitful,” he said.
Those who can afford it have rented houses, but some people are dependent on monasteries, the first shop owner said.
“It has forced us to transition from owning our homes to living as renters,” he said. “The displaced include employees, retirees, the elderly and the disabled. Students had already registered for this academic year, making their education difficult due to this upheaval.”
RFA couldn’t immediately reach Thein Htay, the junta’s Minister of Economy for the Mandalay region, for comment on the evictions.
RFA News
Junta bombs dropped on wedding party in Myanmar leave 24 people dead
/in NewsThe two 500-pound bombs also left 30 people injured in the northern Sagaing region.
A military junta airplane dropped two 500-pound bombs on a wedding ceremony, killing 24 people and injuring about 30 others in Myanmar’s Sagaing region on Monday, residents told Radio Free Asia.
After the bombing, junta troops fired several artillery shots into Ma Taw village in Mingin township, forcing more than 2,000 residents from six nearby villages to flee their homes, village resident U Htay said.
The bomb was dropped directly onto the wedding party at 8:15 a.m., he said. The bride and groom were on their way to the village monastery at the time and were uninjured.
“In rural areas, the place where food is cooked and served, and where wedding gifts are provided, are all in small central areas,” he said. “The bomb struck this central area, causing all people there to be hit.”
Because many of the injured are in serious condition, the number of deaths is expected to rise, residents said. Among the dead was an 8-year-old.
Families have tried to search for the remains of their missing relatives but the numerous dismembered body parts and continuous junta shelling have made that difficult.
“Junta troops are still firing heavy artillery, preventing anyone from daring to collect the dead bodies in the area,” U Htay said. “They are continuously shooting with heavy weapons.”
Civilians regularly targeted
Myanmar’s central dry zone, made up of the Sagaing, Magway and Mandalay regions, has become a hotbed of opposition to military rule from the majority ethnic Burman community.
The junta has responded with heavy firepower in its battles against militias known as People’s Defense Forces. At times, civilian populations have been targeted with artillery and bombs that have leveled villages.
Military-backed Telegram channels said the junta plane dropped the two bombs because a Mingin People’s Defense Force’s leader was one of the people getting married. RFA was unable to independently verify the claim.
Aung Myo Min, the human rights minister for the shadow National Unity Government, called the bombings a war crime.
“This is not a military campaign at all, but a deliberate bombing of a civilian wedding,” he said. “It is a military strategy and an intentional attack on the civilian population.”
Despite numerous attempts, RFA received no response from junta spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun regarding the bombing.
RFA also attempted to contact Nyunt Win Aung, the junta’s spokesman for Sagaing region, but he did not respond to several phone calls.
RFA News
Human Rights Situation weekly update (May 22 to 31, 2024)
/in HR Situation, NewsHuman Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from May 22 to 31, 2024
Military Junta Troop launched airstrikes and dropped bombs in Sagaing Region, Magway Region, Rakhine State, Chin State, and Mon State from May 22nd to 31st. In Yangon Region, the fully aged youths do not get the recommendation letter for traveling and the Military is threatening and showing the power that the people have to pay if do not want to get the Military Service and will shoot if they try to flee or evade. The Military Junta is sending letters to the youths for Military Service in the Bago Region and Mandalay Region and arresting them, therefore, youths are fleeing and trying to escape. Military Junta beat and arrested a youth from Ayeyarwady Region who refused to get the Military Service. The military Junta is arresting the youths who are qualified to get the Military Service around Myanmar.
Over 10 civilians died, and over 20 were injured by the Military’s heavy and light artillery attacks within a week. A civilian died, and 5 were injured by the land mines of the Military Junta Troop.
Infogram