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 regime enters year 5 in terminal decline
- Myanmar junta bombs Rohingya Muslim village killing 41, rescuers say
- Myanmar’s junta cuts filmmaker’s life sentence to 15 years as part of wider amnesty
- Close The Sky
- International condemnation of the escalating humanitarian crisis and rights violations in Myanmar
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
Bodies of two NLD supporters abducted by junta found dumped near party office in Mandalay
/in NewsA third man who was taken at the same time is still missing
The bloodied bodies of two National League for Democracy (NLD) supporters abducted by the military were found dumped on a roadside in Mandalay last week, while a third person who was detained with them is still missing.
San Lwin, 60, and Kyaw Htay Aung, 44, turned up dead near the NLD office in Chanayethazan Township on Friday after junta forces took them from their homes in Maha Aungmyay Township’s Thanyat Mhaw area two days earlier.
Moe Gyi, 50, was also taken from his home on the same street and his condition is unknown.
About five cars and two motorcycles arrived on the street in Thanyat Mhaw’s London ward around 10pm for the raid. “They broke into Moe Gyi’s house first, then two more vehicles arrived and arrested the remaining two,” said a local who requested anonymity.
The families of San Lwin and Kyaw Htay Aung collected their bodies from the morgue at Mandalay General Hospital, the local said, adding that it appeared as though a social services group must have picked up the bodies from the street to bring them to the morgue.
Both bodies had bruises and stab wounds, he added, citing the men’s family members. The families declined to comment when contacted by Myanmar Now.
Photos on social media showed the men’s bodies with their heads placed together lying near a pool of blood.
A source close to the men’s families told Myanmar Now that it is unclear why they were targeted.
“Their families still don’t know why they were even arrested in the first place,” said the source. “They were just regular supporters of the NLD party. It’s still not known what made them take such brutal action.”
Calls seeking comment from the No. 7 Police Station in Maha Aungmye went unanswered.
Kyaw Htay Aung was a former 100 household administrator and the owner of a mobile phone accessories shop. He was cremated at around 2pm on Friday. San Lwin was cremated the following day.
Kyaw Htay Aung left behind two young children and San Lwin left behind a teenage son.
In a similar incident late last month a 50-year-old NLD supporter named Pauk Gyi was abducted by junta forces from his home in Maha Aungmye’s Shan Wine ward at midnight. The next morning his body was found on a traffic island on Strand Road.
The junta has killed at least 1,220 civilians since the February 1 military coup, according to figures from the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners.
Myanmar Now News
US Condemns Myanmar Military’s Violence in Chin State
/in NewsWashington has condemned the Myanmar junta’s horrific use of violence in Chin State and called for urgent international action to hold the Myanmar military accountable for its brutality. The United States (US) intervention comes after regime forces shelled the Chin State town of Thantlang again last Friday, destroying over 160 houses and buildings including two churches.
On Sunday, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a press statement that such brutal actions by the military regime against people, their homes and places of worship lays bare the junta’s complete disregard for the lives and welfare of civilians.
“These abhorrent attacks underscore the urgent need for the international community to hold the Burmese [Myanmar] military accountable and take action to prevent gross violations and abuses of human rights, including preventing the transfer of arms to the military,” the spokesperson said in the statement.
At least 164 houses out of 2,000 homes in Thantlang burned down after junta artillery strikes on Friday. The fires started after the bombardment and engulfed the town until Saturday morning, as the town’s residents have largely fled and any attempt by people in surrounding villages to extinguish the fires would have been a risk to life, according to the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO).
The majority of Thantlang’s population had already evacuated the mountain-top town due to earlier artillery strikes. Around 20 buildings burned down in late September after junta shelling, while a Christian pastor who tried to help put out the fires was killed by regime troops.
Many people in Thantlang have now lost not only their homes, but all their belongings.
Junta forces also deliberately torched houses after the artillery strikes, according to local resistance groups. The shelling is said to have started after a soldier who was looting a shop was shot dead by civilian resistance fighters.
During the latest bombardment on Friday, the Church on the Rock and the Presbyterian Church caught fire, along with a building attached to the Thantlang Baptist Church, the largest congregation in the town, CHRO said in their statement.
Save The Children also reported that their office was destroyed in the blaze. The London-based charity said in a statement that it is concerned for the safety of 20 children and their teachers in an orphanage located at the entrance of the town.
Junta spokesman Major General Zaw Min Tun disputed the reports and accounts by locals of the military’s role in Thantlang’s razing as “groundless”. He accused local People’s Defense Forces of setting fire to the houses.
Salai Issac Khen, a former Chin State municipal minister under the ousted civilian National League for Democracy government, condemned the military’s shelling of Thantlang, saying that the regime will have to take responsibility for the horrific act.
“It is not easy to build a house in mountainous Chin State. Chin people have no reason to burn down their houses,” the former minister wrote.
Dr. Sa Sa, an ethnic Chin and the parallel National Unity Government’s Minister of International Cooperation, said he was shocked by the sheer level of brutality and the cruel disregard for humanity displayed by the junta forces.
He said his homeland has been subjected to an extreme campaign of violence and terror for standing strong in the struggle for democracy and freedom.
“Without the support and intervention of the international community, the fires lit in Chin State by the murderous military regime will engulf the entire nation,” Dr. Sa Sa said in a urgent appeal letter.
The minister called on the international community to take immediate and decisive action to cut off the junta’s access to money, financial services, fuel, weapons and ammunition and, most all, international legitimacy.
Irrawaddy News