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
Arrested for leaving home without a smartphone: Soldiers levy ludicrous charges in Ayeyarwady
/in NewsTensions are running high in Ayeyarwady’s capital. After a string of assassinations, junta authorities recently put Pathein under martial law, imposing a curfew and tightening security checks for those moving around the city.
In the midst of this, residents of Ayeyarwaddy Region are reporting being fined—or abducted—on grounds that reach across the spectrum of possibility.
Since the lockdown, soldiers—increasingly paranoiac in their search for those sympathetic to the region’s PDF—have begun fining residents on increasingly asinine charges. DVB has seen reports of citizens being fined for having dark skin or scars, walking the opposite direction on a one-way street, and even for not wearing shoes.
Residents from Mawlamyine Island, Bogale, Maubin, and Pathein told DVB that, amongst implausible charges, civilians had been fined K500 for wearing face masks in public, while others had been fined up to K5,000 for carrying no phone—or, indeed, for being in possession of a keyboard phone lacking internet capabilities.
“Because people are being censored, those who do not want to be harassed by the military are increasingly using keyboard phones,” a source told DVB, adding that, in Pathein, soldiers had been enforcing such fines as early as late October. “Locals say that since then, junta soldiers have also fined those using keyboard phones.”
Random spot checks of soldiers thumbing through smartphones are a common sight in post-coup Burma. To circumvent the military’s gaze, citizens have taken to carrying burner phones, more often than not fitted with fake social media accounts; necessary when having a NUG photo frame across your profile picture is enough to send you to jail.
Never to be outfoxed, the military has simply begun arresting in lieu of evidence, hoping that a confession will be gained after the event. DVB has received reports of arrests for those accused of “walking in cordoned off zones without access to a Facebook account”, as well as those merely suspected of communicating with NUG and PDF supporters. However, as the military no longer needs to make a case before taking people into custody, it is difficult to know with certainty on what basis its arrests are made.
“Locals were arrested at the scene and taken to a military interrogation center where they were tortured and beaten until [the military] found out what they wanted to know,” the source said. “Locals say they have been forced to jump like frogs and do squats, even if the information they have provided is correct. They have been detained without charge by military informants.”
DVB News
Jailed 1988 veteran admitted to hospital with ‘life-threatening’ infection from wound
/in NewsMya Aye’s condition has improved but doctors say it will worsen again if he is sent back to Insein Prison
Jailed veteran democracy activist Mya Aye was taken to hospital with a “life-threatening” infection last month and is still there receiving treatment, his lawyer has revealed.
The activist, who was a prominent leader of the 1988 pro-democracy uprising and was among the first people to be detained by the military as it staged its coup on February 1, was taken from Insein Prison to an external hospital on October 11 after a wound on his ankle became infected.
The 54-year-old first noticed the infection on October 7, but he refused to be sent to the underequipped prison hospital, saying he would not be able to receive the treatment he needed there.
Then on October 10, he fainted from the infection on his way to the toilet at night and was sent to a hospital outside the prison in the afternoon of the following day, said Tinzar Oo, who visited her client on the day he was admitted.
“He wasn’t expecting for it to get this bad,” she said.
“According to the doctors, Mya Aye was very lucky that he got to the hospital in time,” she added. “He could have lost his leg or even his life if he was just a bit later. The infection he got was quite worrying. They said it was life-threatening.”
The activist did not need surgery but doctors have warned that the wound could get worse again if he goes back to prison before it has completely healed, she added.
“I was worried he would die when I saw him on October 11. He looked like he was dying. His legs were all swollen up. I wasn’t used to seeing him like that since he was always well-dressed during his court hearings,” said the lawyer.
As well as the wound on his right ankle, she added, Mya Aye had an infected lump on his thigh that needed to be popped by the doctors.
“When I saw him that day, he didn’t even talk about his wound. He just said that he was worried about the people outside,” she said.
Mya Aye faces up to a two-year prison sentence for a charge under Section 505c of the Penal Code of “inciting hate towards an ethnicity or a community”. The charge relates to an email he sent to a Chinese official seven years ago about Myanmar’s peace process.
He wrote in the email that because of government propaganda and Burmese ethnonationalism, people in Myanmar believed that China was interfering in the peace process and had backed Kokang rebels in their fight against the Myanmar military, according to his case file.
Mya Aye has been unable to attend his hearings, held at Insein Prison, because of his infection but a new hearing has been scheduled for November 22, Tinzar Oo said.
Myanmar Now News
CDF Kanpetlet to take action against non-CDM civil servants
/in NewsOn Tuesday, the Chinland Defense Force–Kanpetlet announced via its Facebook page that it was to begin “taking action” against non-CDM civil servants in the Chin town of Kanpetlet.
The news, ambiguously reported across a range of third-party platforms, left many wondering if the CDF was pondering what would have been a highly-controversial campaign of violence—it was not.
In fact, the group claims that it is devising the first practical and humane guidelines for resistance groups dealing with those on the wrong side of what it calls the “zero-sum game” of Burma’s current political climate.
Speaking to DVB, the CDF Kanpetlet’s Brigade Commander said that, in accordance with Chin customs and policies—and with the help of international and local human right specialists—the group has drawn-up a far-reaching plan to impose punitive measures on civil servants refusing to join the CDM movement.
“We recognize those doing CDM as the first warriors of the Spring Revolution. Now, military affiliates are putting pressure on them to stop associating with the CDM and return to work. We decided to make a precise policy for CDM and non-CDM civil servants, to support and punish them consistently. If we can cut off every opportunity for non-CDM civil servants, we will win this war,”
The resistance group says it is currently compiling a comprehensive list of the city’s civil servants—both those participating in the CDM movement, and those attending work under the junta. Once complete, the plan’s finer details will be provided on November 10, the commander said.
“The list will allow us to return CDM civil servants to their former position when we win this war. We will also continue giving job opportunities to their children. For the non-CDM, the opposite will be true. Both them and their children will lose opportunities, and they will be socially punished. They will write their own history,” he said.
Although the commander appears to emphasise non-violent approaches when dealing with non-CDM staff, the group draws the line at “military affiliates” who “pressure CDM staff to return to work”— a category that risks being “eliminated” if found guilty of intimidation after a CDF investigation, the commander said.
The group further hopes that its list will help facilitate a more immediate rebooting of the city’s civil service under its nascent Public Administration (PAF)— one of a number of autonomous administrative bodies being developed across Chin State—within which which it plans to protect and support the city’s CDM movement by prioritising the employment of CDM staff.
Administrators from the People’s Administration in nearby Mindat, last week told DVB that they were advising Kanpetlet after succeeding in reopening primary schools across the township.
As a result, the group is currently developing its “Sunday Education Program” for Kanpetlet’s children, who due to COVID-19 and the coup, have been out of education for almost two years. As with Mindat, CDM teachers will be key to the scheme’s success.
“I’m fearful that children, especially teenagers, may not want a proper education—they are now eager to hold weapons to fight against the junta. For now, we are thinking of starting with classes in mathematics and English, rather than rolling out a full course of education,” the commander said.
Chin’s PAFs have so far proven a remarkable success story, providing the inspiration for a recent mushrooming of autonomous township administrations across Burma.
This success has in part been driven by the state’s almost total resistance to military control: at the start of the revolution, 80 percent of Chin State’s civil servants joined the CDM, putting a complete halt on the operations of the junta’s administrative machinery. Later, however, the military’s ruthless crackdown on CDM staff created cracks in the unity of the movement.
Now, the commander says, one is either with the people or against them.
“There are only two things in this revolution: justice (dhamma) and injustice (adhamma). If we do not make a decisive decision, our enemy will; if we don’t lead, they will. We are not doing this for our own benefit— every religion fights unlawfulness and injustice. Those who support the military, who pressure those doing CDM, are standing for adhamma—we have to make precise decisions during the revolution, backed up with precise action.”
DVB News
Myanmar Military Regime Steps up Campaign of Terror
/in NewsMyanmar’s junta has escalated its campaign against anti-coup opponents nationwide by stepping up its arrests, torture and killings, while ignoring calls from the international community to end all violence and release political prisoners.
On Monday alone, around 30 young people including teenagers were arrested in Yangon as junta forces raided several residential areas around the city.
15 youths including a 16-year-old boy were arrested during separate raids in Botahtaung, East Dagon, South Dagon, Thingangyun and Ahlone townships on Monday.
The military regime accused all of them of being involved in a deadly attack on a railway official at Yangon Railway Station, who was shot dead by an unidentified man on October 13 while he was on a ferry.
Two railway staff at Yangon Railway Station who had left to join the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), as well as elected lawmakers of the ousted National League for Democracy government – Daw Lei Lei Win and U Phyo Zeya Thaw – and three others are also accused of involvement in the incident and have been targeted with arrest warrants.
Nine youths, including three teenagers, were also arrested at a house in Yangon’s Thingangyun Township. Junta-controlled TV reported the arrests on Tuesday night.
In the report, they claimed that a 17-year-old boy, the youngest of the group to be detained, had made a confession, leading to the arrest of four more people and the seizure of weapons on Monday.
All those detained are accused of being involved in several bombing incidents and attempted attacks against junta forces in Yangon.
Regime media said in the report that the group included two members of the Burmese Revolution Force and two members of the Yangon Anti-Dictatorship Force, two civilian resistance groups. Two of those arrested are accused of raising funds online for armed resistance against the junta.
In southern Myanmar’s Tanintharyi Region, over a dozen residents of Dawei and Launglon townships were reportedly arrested this week.
The most recent arrest included three relatives of Ko Lu Lu Zaw, an activist who is wanted by the military regime for his involvement in peaceful anti-regime demonstrations in Launglon Township. Early on Wednesday morning, junta forces arrested the activist’s wife, two-year-old child and uncle as they couldn’t find Ko Lu Lu Zaw at his home.
Earlier on Monday, the junta also raided the houses of two wanted anti-coup protest leaders in Launglon Township. The junta forces burned down the house of one activist after failing to find him and arrested the mother of another protest leader as a hostage.
The death toll of civilians murdered by the regime also continues to increase. Recent deaths include a striking teacher and Ko Phyo Wai Tun, the head of a boarding school who was living in Gway Pin Kwet Thit Village in Chauk Township, Magwe Region.
Ko Phyo Wai Tun died during his interrogation, hours after his arrest, from injuries consistent with torture, the rights group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said in their most recent report.
He was arrested together with his two younger brothers on the night of October 31 by Infantry Battalion 13 based in Chauk Township, and accused of supporting the local People’s Defense Force. His family were told to collect his body the following day.
U Win Lwin, a teacher at the Basic Education High School in Sintgine, Magwe Region, who was involved in the CDM, also died from injuries consistent with torture, AAPP stated in their report.
At around 3am on November 1 at around 3am, junta soldiers arrested five villagers including U Win Lwin for questioning. Three out of the five were released that evening, but U Win Lwin and U Yan Aung Win, a tutor, were kept in detention. On November 2 at 7am, U Win Lwin’s family were told to collect his body.
At least 1,179 people have been killed by junta forces since their February 1 coup and over 9,500 people were arrested according to AAPP.
Irrawaddy News
Weekly Update on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar: Post-Coup (October 25-31) 2021
/in HR SituationHuman Rights Watch and the Associated Press released detailed reports of the torture innocent civilians in Myanmar have been subjected to. While these tactics are not new, the junta’s lawlessness is in full swing leading the joint secretary of the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, Ko Bo Kyi to state that in many ways, the military has become ‘even more brutal.’ Torture tactics include mock executions, beatings, and electrocution. Women are targeted with physiological warfare and sexual violence and assault. A transgender activist and writer who was detained by the junta was forced to endure humiliation tactics and was sexually harassed and beaten with gun stocks. Hot water was poured all over her body.
These accounts from survivors are a terrifying glimpse into the horrors that exist within the walls of the junta’s interrogation centers. They also demand action. Many did not leave the walls of the prison they were confined to. They are tortured to death, and their families denied answers and the bodies of their loved ones.
While the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) opened a three day summit without the presence of the junta, civil society organizations have urged ASEAN to take the next logical step – which is recognizing the National Unity Government as the legitimate governing body. Despite barring the junta from attending, ASEAN has still nonetheless met with coup leaders and sided with them at times of contention. Bo Hla Tint, who has been designated the NUG ambassador to ASEAN, has said that he is willing and open to have a dialogue to ‘restore democracy in Myanmar.’
Since September, the terrorist junta has scorched over sixty homes in Chin State as military operations continue to expand. In addition to burning villages, livestock have been killed and possessions looted from civilian homes. The Myanmar military has denied all accounts of arson and theft, claiming instead that it is the people who burnt down their own homes. The Chin Human Rights Organization has stated on multiple occasions that the regime’s crimes are all in violation of international law, including setting fire to at least 300 homes in the State since August.
Meanwhile, the crackdown in Chin State continues to intensify. With more than 90% of the population Christian, the regime has burned down churches and fired artillery shells to traumatize the population. As fighting broke out in Falam between the Chin National Front and the junta, villagers began to flee in anticipation of worsening outbreaks. On 29 October, as of 7:00 pm. over 100 houses, including religious buildings are reported to have burned down in Thantlang. CHRO reiterated its calls to the UN Security Council to convene an emergency meeting as junta reinforcements arrived in Falam.
KAREN STATE
Earlier this month it was reported that Myanmar army officers and soldiers located near the Salween river looted a cargo vessel carrying urgently needed materials for vulnerable populations in Karen State. Soldiers were also heard indiscriminately firing. Meanwhile, offensives are continuing against Karen civilians who are fearful of the increasing presence of soldiers in their areas.
The Myanmar junta continues to use Karen villagers as human shields, threatening to torch their homes if they attempt to flee. In Yaw Thit Village, approximately 60 soldiers from LIB 556 and 560 have established a base. The junta is also stealing civilian livestock to eat and shooting indiscriminately all day and night. Given the circumstances unfolding along the Thai-Myanmar border, the National Unity Government has appealed to Thailand for cross-border humanitarian aid and COVID-19 relief.
SHAN STATE
The junta’s assaults on fundamental freedoms continue with violent attacks on innocent civilians. A woman in Pangsai was seriously wounded when she was struck by a piece of shrapnel while conflict waged in northern Shan State. She is in critical condition. Rival armed groups are regularly fighting each other and the Myanmar junta. Two civilians in Kyaukme township were also injured when fighting broke out and artillery mortars struck a 60 year old man and his 18 year old grandson. In an attempt to forge legitimacy, the junta has forced civilians to attend pro-military rallies in eastern Shan State.
Myanmar Junta Kills 10 Civilians in Five Days: AAPP
/in NewsMyanmar’s junta atrocities are continuing with the murder of more than 10 civilians, including a Buddhist monk and National League for Democracy (NLD) supporters, over the past five days.
Regime forces have looted houses, destroyed property, bombarded civilians with artillery, burned down homes and arbitrarily killed civilians during operations against civilian resistance forces, especially in Magwe and Sagaing regions and Chin, Shan and Kayah states.
By Saturday, 1,222 people had been killed by junta forces since the February coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which records deaths and arrests.
Last Thursday, the bodies of two NLD supporters, U San Lwin, 60, and U Kyaw Htay Aung, 50, were reportedly dumped by junta forces near the NLD office in Chanayethazan Township, Mandalay.
A photo was released of two bloody bodies lying beside a road in Mandalay.
The two victims were arrested with another NLD supporter, U Moe Gyi, 50, on Wednesday night, according to the AAPP.
The police retrieved the bodies and then reportedly asked family members to retrieve the corpses, according to the media.
Many torture injuries, including knife wounds, were found on the bodies, according to the AAPP.
A 25-year-old NLD member Ko Min Min Thu, also known as Mohammad Har Ni, from East Mawtone village in Tanintharyi Region, on Wednesday was tortured to death two days after being detained. He was seized at his home by regime forces last Monday.
On Thursday night, regime forces detained a married couple, U Myo Lwin and Daw San San Lwin, after failing to find their son who has been accused of being a People’s Defense Force (PDF) member.
U Myo Lwin was reportedly tortured to death during interrogation after the couple were accused of supplying the PDF, according to the media.
The AAPP said a Buddhist monk, U Kuthala, an assistant head of the monastery in Yinshae village, Yegyi Township in Ayeyarwady Region, was shot dead by regime forces last Tuesday while returning from shopping in Ngathaingchaung near Yegyi.
A novice monk was also injured in his ear during the junta shooting, the AAPP said.
On Thursday, former political prisoner Ko Kyaw Naing Tun, who was released from prison in Magwe Region in mid-October, was reportedly tortured to death by the regime after being detained again on Wednesday.
Another three civilians were shot dead by junta forces during raids on villages in Myaung, Budalin, and Khin-U townships in Sagaing Region on Sunday and Monday.
One or two displaced villagers were shot dead by the regime forces while returning home to fetch food at a village in Demoso Township, Shan State, on Sunday.
The Demoso PDF said junta forces burned down houses and randomly attacked villages and residential areas of Demoso on Sunday and Monday.
Troops burned harvested rice in Demoso on Saturday while advancing on neighboring Pekon Township in Shan State, the PDF said.
On Friday, troops bombarded the mountaintop town of Thantlang in Chin State. More than 160 houses, including two churches, burned down in junta artillery fire.
Except for Rakhine State, regime forces nationwide are facing increasingly intense attacks by civilian resistance forces and ethnic armed forces.
Irrawaddy News