Human Rights Situation weekly update (January 15 to 21, 2023)

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Within January 15 – 21, the Military junta did 6 times airstrikes in Sagaing, Magway Region, Kayin state. They used 500 lb burning bombs that destroyed houses and civilians. They relocated 700 prisoners and 3 political prisoners from Insion Prison to others.

Military destroys historic church, more than 100 houses in Catholic village

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Junta forces have razed most of the village, including a century-old place of worship, in a series of raids and arson attacks carried out over the past year

Regime troops torched a 129-year-old Catholic church and most remaining houses in the predominantly Catholic village of Chan Thar in Sagaing Region last week—their fourth arson attack on the village since last year.

A column of some 80 soldiers moved north from Depayin Township into Ye-U Township in two separate detachments on January 13 and 14, according to local defence teams. 

The soldiers raided and torched several villages in Ye-U Township, including Chan Thar, before advancing across the Muu River into Khin-U Township on January 15, the teams said. 

In a January 14 raid, one of the junta detachments destroyed Chan Thar’s Assumption Church, built in 1894, and at least 120 of the village’s houses.

“Nothing much is left of the church as they torched every major building. They even destroyed the prayer hall and the buildings for the nuns and the priest,” said James, a member of a local resistance force.

Before it became a target of junta attacks, Chan Thar had more than 500 houses. The village, which is located about 10km west of the town of Ye-U, is predominantly Catholic, with a Buddhist minority.

The village is one of several in Sagaing Region settled by Portuguese traders and adventurers in the 17th century. The settlers married into the local population, founded families, and passed down their religious heritage to their descendants, who still inhabit the area.

Another Catholic church, in the village of Chaung Yoe in Sagaing Region’s Taze Township, was torched by junta forces in March of 2022. 
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The church seen after the fire (Supplied)

The church seen after the fire (Supplied)

Junta forces had targeted Chan Thar before last week. Between May and December 2022, soldiers set fire to at least 250 houses in a series of increasingly destructive arson attackson the village.

“They have raided over 30 times now and this is the fourth time our village has been torched,” said a villager in Chan Thar who asked to remain anonymous. “Hundreds of houses have already been destroyed and essentially nothing is left of the village.”

Chan Thar residents had not expected the military to carry out another arson attack so soon, the villager said.

“It hadn’t been long since they left the village, so we didn’t think they’d come back this soon. They are deliberately conducting these attacks in order to oppress and kill civilians,” he added.

Chan Thar residents, who fled during the attack, reportedly attempted to resettle in the village after the junta column left. Locals from other villages raided by the junta columns in Ye-U Township have been displaced indefinitely, according to local defence teams. 

Regime forces have ruthlessly targeted villages in Ye-U Township in recent months in attempts to subdue armed resistance forces. Twenty-eight civilians were massacred in Mone Taing Pin, another village in Ye-U Township, in May of last year.

Myanmar Now News

HRW Urge ASEAN Chair Indonesia to Pressure Myanmar on Violence

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BANGKOK, THAILAND — 

Indonesia is under increasing pressure to use its new one-year role as chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to isolate Myanmar’s junta in a bid to end its bloody crackdown on pro-democracy opponents, analysts say.

But experts say reaching a consensus among the regional bloc remains a challenge in an area where Myanmar’s military still draws diplomatic cover from neighboring nations, as violence shows no signs of abating nearly two years after the February 2021 coup.

In its annual World Report released Thursday, Human Rights Watch flagged human rights abuses in Myanmar, also known as Burma, as one of Asia’s worst flashpoints.

Report authors say 16,000 people have been arbitrarily jailed for demonstrating in favor of a return to democracy, which ended when the military junta toppled the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

An estimated 2,300 civilians have been killed in clashes with the military or airstrikes as the junta seeks to squash a sprawling rebellion, while the junta has also returned to the use of the death penalty after three decades.

“We urge Indonesia to use its ASEAN chairmanship effectively to resolve the crisis in Myanmar,” Elaine Pearson, director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division, told reporters in Jakarta Thursday.

“The world’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shows what is possible when the world acts in unison.”

In 2021, Myanmar, an ASEAN member since 1997, agreed to a five-point plan to end the crisis, including ending the violence “immediately,” establishing a peaceful dialogue with opponents and allowing the ASEAN chair to appoint a special envoy.

But Myanmar’s junta, whose representatives have been barred from the bloc’s high-level meetings since the coup, has failed to abide by the agreement made with its regional counterparts.

Analysts say that has left a conundrum for the new ASEAN chair, Indonesia: Continue to let Myanmar dictate its terms of engagement with the region or pressure the junta into ending its campaign of violence.

“We’re looking to Indonesia to rise to that challenge … will it be easy? Of course not, knowing principles of non-interference,” Pearson said.

ASEAN operates on a principle of cross-border non-interference—a value reflecting a politically complex region that spans communist dictatorships (Laos, Vietnam), military-steered quasi-democracies (Thailand, Cambodia) and Muslim-majority democracies (Malaysia, Indonesia).

“So, to do this will require a lot of attention from [Indonesian Foreign Minister] Retno Marsudi and I really hope for the sake of the people of Myanmar that Indonesia does rise to that challenge.”

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has repeatedly called for an end to bloodshed, leading the most vocal criticism of Myanmar’s junta within a regional bloc more prone to tepid statements on the internal affairs of member states.

Reputation on the line

Experts say the rebellion against Myanmar’s junta is fast lurching toward an outright civil war, which will have ramifications for all of Southeast Asia, possibly marring ASEAN’s credibility and threatening a dangerous spillover of instability.

“As its biggest and most consequential member, Indonesia’s chairmanship is ASEAN’s best hope to rein in Myanmar’s bloody spiral from military coup to civil war,” said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, professor of International Relations at Chulalongkorn University.

“But it will be a daunting task because the Myanmar junta has been intransigent, so far taking ASEAN for a ride.”

Political fragmentation within the ASEAN bloc makes it difficult to achieve a firm position on Myanmar.

Thailand’s military-backed rulers—who last seized power from an elected government in their country in 2014—share a long-established relationship with Myanmar’s junta and its leader, Min Aung Hlaing, complicating any moves to pressure the army into ending the violence.

Even as efforts to isolate Myanmar diplomatically gathered pace late last year, Thailand hosted Myanmar’s foreign minister.

“It was very disconcerting and kind of undermined the effort to put more pressure on Myanmar,” said Phil Robertson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division. “It sent the wrong signal.” 

Some analysts say Thailand’s position is nuanced, subject to instability and refugee flows along its border with Myanmar.

“Thailand does not want to see the collapse of Myanmar,” said Bangkok-based Kavi Chongkittavorn, an ASEAN expert. “Thailand would be the most affected by the ongoing quagmire. Bangkok has been using quiet diplomacy—not silent diplomacy—to engage the junta.”

Yet without a strong line by ASEAN, the violence will continue weakening the regional bloc, says Thitinan, suggesting “actionable threats of suspension” are among the tools Indonesia must consider using as ASEAN chair.

“If the Myanmar crisis does not improve, ASEAN will be further marginalized in the eyes of the international community,” he said.

VOA News

Human Rights Situation weekly update (January 8 to 14, 2023)

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“Weekly Social Media Monitoring by Spring Archive” (January 8 to 14, 2023)

Military air-strike 6 times at Chin, Kayin and Shan state from January 8 to 14. They also arrested at least 20 people of CDM staffs and political activists in Hsipaw, Lashio, Kyaukme in North Shan state. Military junta was announced again by the messages of Telephone operators in January that they will cancel the Sim cards that have faked personal information.

Myanmar: Abuses Mount Since Military Coup

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ASEAN Countries Should Adopt Tough Sanctions against Junta

(Jakarta) – Myanmar’s junta has been responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity since the military coup in February 2021, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2023. The security forces have been implicated in mass killings, arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, sexual violence, and attacks on civilians in conflict areas. Amid a post-coup economic crisis, the junta has severely hindered the delivery of humanitarian aid to communities most at risk.

Member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which Indonesia will chair in 2023, should coordinate to support targeted sanctions on the Myanmar military’s major revenue streams.

“Ending the Myanmar junta’s widespread abuses needs a global commitment to impose pressure through targeted sanctions and accountability for atrocities,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Indonesia as ASEAN chair should take the lead in imposing concrete measures that will curtail the junta’s ability to violate the rights of its citizens.”

In the 712-page World Report 2023, its 33rd edition, Human Rights Watch reviews human rights practices in close to 100 countries. In her introductory essay, acting Executive Director Tirana Hassansays that in a world in which power has shifted, it is no longer possible to rely on a small group of mostly Global North governments to defend human rights. The world’s mobilization around Russia’s war in Ukraine reminds us of the extraordinary potential when governments realize their human rights obligations on a global scale. The responsibility is on individual countries, big and small, to apply a human rights framework to their policies, and then work together to protect and promote human rights.

Since the coup, Myanmar’s security forces have arbitrarily arrested more than 16,000 pro-democracy activists and supporters and killed at least 2,300, according to the nongovernmental Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. In July, the military executed four political prisoners in Myanmar’s first use of the death penalty in over three decades. The National League for Democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is serving a 33-year sentence after closed military trials for corruption, incitement, breaching the Official Secrets Act, and other politically motivated charges.

The Myanmar military has carried out indiscriminate ground and air attacks that have resulted in numerous civilian deaths. Fighting since the coup has displaced over one million people internally, with another 70,000 refugees fleeing into neighboring countries.

The junta has blocked desperately needed humanitarian aid from reaching millions of displaced people and others at risk, in violation of international humanitarian law. Across the country, security forces imposed new travel restrictions and attacked aid workers, blocked access to roads and aid convoys, destroyed non-military supplies, and shut down telecommunications services.

In Rakhine State, new restrictions on movement and aid affecting ethnic Rohingya camps and villages exacerbated water scarcity and food shortages, increasing cases of preventable diseases and severe malnutrition. Escalating hostilities between the Arakan Army armed group and the Myanmar military resulted in Rohingya and Rakhine civilian deaths, arbitrary arrests, and displacement.

Key international actors such as the European Union, United States, United Kingdom, and Canada have imposed targeted sanctions on senior military and junta officials and some junta entities. However, countries in the Asia-Pacific region, notably ASEAN member countries, Australia, and Japan have not taken meaningful actions against the junta, undermining efforts by other governments, Human Rights Watch said.

HRW

Seven civilians killed in junta raids on central Sagaing villages

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The remains of most of the victims, including two elderly men in their 80s, were burned almost beyond recognition

Regime forces have killed at least seven civilians since late last week in a series of raids targeting villages in central Sagaing Region, according to local sources.

On January 6, a junta column of around 100 soldiers left the town of Kanbalu and attacked Htan Pin Kone, a village located about 15km to the northeast in neighbouring Kyunhla Township, locals told Myanmar Now.

Residents of the area say that when they returned to the village after the soldiers left the next day, they found the body of Nyi Nyi, a 30-year-old man who had been shot in the head.

Three days later, on Tuesday, the body of another man, identified as Tun Hla, 58, was discovered in a nearby wooded area.

“Tun Hla’s body was burned on top of a haystack, with his hands tied behind his back,” said a villager who saw the victim’s charred remains.

“Everything was set on fire. Even tractors and motorcycles were torched,” he added, speaking on condition of anonymity.
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On the same day, three more bodies, also badly burned, were found near the Kanbalu Township village of Pinttha, according to a member of a local defence team.

“There was not much left of them, just pieces of their skulls and fragments of the longyis they were wearing. The rest was just ashes,” he said.

The victims were identified as brothers Bo Bo, 30, and San Myint Aung, 27, both residents of Pinttha, and Maung Tun, 30, from the neighbouring village of Shan Kone.

Sources in both Htan Pin Kone and Pinttha said that the soldiers didn’t just chase villagers from their homes—they also pursued them into the nearby forests as they attempted to flee.

Meanwhile, another column of around 150 regime soldiers has reportedly torched 400 houses in 11 villages in Depayin Township since January 3. Two elderly civilians were also killed in the raids.

According to local sources, an attack on the village of Satpyar Kyin on January 7 left an 84-year-old man named Phoe Tar dead, while another on the village of In Taing Lay two days later resulted in the death of 85-year-old local Wun Mya.

“They put his body inside his neighbour’s house before setting it on fire,” said a Satpyar Kyin resident who saw Phoe Tar’s body.

Myanmar Now has been unable to independently verify this information, and junta officials were unavailable for comment.

The regime routinely denies carrying out arson attacks and targeting civilians, despite numerous reports of atrocities committed by the military since it seized power in a coup nearly two years ago.

Myanmar Now News