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
Seven bodies found in Ye-U village following airstrike
/in NewsThe bodies included two women, three men, and two that were burnt beyond recognition
The bodies of seven local people who were killed last week following airstrikes on the village of Yae Myet in Sagaing Region’s Ye-U Township were discovered on Friday.
Residents of the village told Myanmar Now that the bodies included two women and three men. The other two bodies could not be identified at all, they said.
“We still don’t know who they are. Some had been hit by artillery shells and were badly disfigured, while others had been burnt beyond recognition,” said one local, citing members of the Ye-U People’s Defence Force (PDF) who found the bodies.
Another resident who saw the two burnt bodies said they had been partially buried.
“They were buried together in front of a burned-down house. However, they were only half buried,” he said.
Villagers and PDF members who attempted to cremate the remaining bodies had to abandon their efforts after a military jet flew overhead, he added.
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The military used five helicopters to carry out airstrikes on Yae Myet last Monday. The village of roughly 400 households was subsequently occupied by around 100 troops for the next three days.
Residents who had fled the attack said they could see flames rising from the village two days later. Those who returned after the soldiers left found that more than 60 houses had been torched. Other property, including 30 motorcycles and other vehicles, had also been destroyed by fire.
In a statement released last Tuesday, the military said it targeted Yae Myet because it had received information that local PDF forces were holding a meeting there.
Residents noted, however, that no mention was made of civilian casualties or the destruction of property.
Around 5,000 people from neighbouring villages, including Gwet, Naypukone, Euyin, Natgyikone and Sinthaykone, were also displaced by attacks last week.
The military has increasingly deployed helicopters and fighter jets against resistance forces around the country, including in Sagaing and Magway regions and Kayin (Karen) State, resulting in heavy civilian casualties.
Myanmar Now News
Two civilians killed as junta offensive on Thai-Myanmar border continues
/in NewsBoth victims were near a camp for displaced civilians when they were killed by heavy artillery fire on Christmas day
At least two civilians were killed on Saturday as Myanmar’s military continued its offensive against anti-regime forces near the Thai-Myanmar border over the Christmas weekend.
The junta used heavy artillery as well as helicopters and a jet fighter to pound targets in territory controlled by the Karen National Union (KNU) in Kayin (Karen) State’s Myawaddy Township, multiple sources told Myanmar Now.
Padoh Saw Taw Nee, the KNU’s foreign affairs officer and spokesperson, confirmed the reports of shelling and airstrikes, but said that none of the group’s troops had been killed or wounded in the attacks.
The two civilian victims were identified as Aung Myo Zin, a 40-year-old cook at a temporary camp for displaced villagers, and 38-year-old A Sai K, the editor of the anti-junta Federal Journal, who had recently fled to the area.
Both men were killed after an artillery shell exploded near a school in Htee Mei Wah Khee, a village that had been sheltering around 400 displaced locals, at around 1pm Saturday, according to witnesses.
“Airplanes flew over at least three times and dropped many bombs. Then the military’s ground troops opened fire with heavy weapons,” said a member of the People’s Defence Force (PDF), which has also been involved in recent clashes in the area.
One man in his 40s—later identified as Aung Myo Zin—was killed instantly, he added.
Friends of the other victim, A Sai K, said they didn’t learn of his death until the following day.
“We scattered after the shell hit and had no idea what was going on. The people who were there didn’t know who he was because he had only recently arrived,” said Soe Ya, the editor-in-chief of the Delta News Agency, who was with A Sai K at the time of the attack.
“We checked the body this morning and realised it was him,” he told Myanmar Now on Sunday.
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Several other people were also injured, including one man whose leg had to be amputated. The total number of casualties could not be confirmed at the time of reporting.
While only two bodies had been discovered as of Sunday, it was possible that others had also been killed, according to Soe Ya.
“These were heavy weapons that exploded near a group of displaced people. More people may have been killed, but we can’t confirm that yet,” he said, adding that at least seven people had suffered head injuries.
According to the PDF member, several artillery shells landed around Htee Mae Wah Khee, including one that exploded at a church that was under construction.
He added that civilians taking shelter in the village were later moved to a safer location.
Following the hour-long attack, the military’s ground troops advanced towards Htee Mae Wah Khee, according to the PDF member and a soldier from the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the KNU.
From 7pm to 3am Sunday, KNLA and PDF troops clashed with the junta army and the Karen Border Guard Force, an ethnic armed group under the command of the Myanmar military, the two sources said.
During the fighting, at least one artillery shell landed on the Thai side of the border, according to a report by Kawkareik Open News.
The shell was fired by the military from the village of Thay Baw Boe, south of Myawaddy, and hit a house in Mawli Chai, a village in Thailand’s Mae Sot Province, the report said.
Meanwhile, local media in Thailand reported that some tanks were seen heading towards the Thai-Myanmar border on Saturday as clashes on the Myanmar side continued.
On December 20, the KNU called on the United Nations to hold an emergency meeting to establish a no-fly zone over the Thai-Myanmar border to prevent the regime from carrying out airstrikes.
Three days later, the junta launched airstrikes on Lay Kay Kaw, a town under the control of the KNLA’s Brigade 6, before carrying out subsequent attacks during the Christmas weekend.
Clashes between the military and the KNLA were triggered by military raids on Lay Kay Kaw on December 14, in which some 30 people, including an MP from the ousted National League for Democracy government, were arrested.
Public Voice Television, a media outlet operated by the shadow National Unity Government, claimed earlier this week that KNLA and PDF fighters had killed at least 68 junta troops, including command-level officers, since the fighting began.
Around 10,000 civilians have been displaced by the deteriorating security situation in the area. Roughly half are believed to have crossed the Moei River into Thailand, where they have received assistance from the Thai authorities.
Written by Tin Htet Paing
Linn Htin contributed to this report
Myanmar Now News
59 civil society organizations issue a statement on the massacre of Karenni people by terrorist Myanmar military junta
/in Press Releases and StatementsOn December 24, 2021, Light Infantry Battalion 108 under the command of Light Infantry Division 66 of the terrorist military junta which is trying to seize power illegally, launched an offensive clearance operation near Moso Village in the western part of Hpruso Township in Karenni State, and arrested approximately 40 innocent villagers including women and children. They then put them in vehicles while they were handcuffed behind their backs and burned them alive, intentionally committing a massacre. Karenni State Consultative Council (KSCC) has released an emergency statement on these atrocity crimes.
Since May 20, 2021, nearly half of the Karenni population of 150,000 people have been displaced and became internally displaced persons (IDPs) due to brutal human rights violations, including artillery shelling, burning, violent crackdowns, torture, arbitrary arrests and killings by the military junta’s troops in Karenni State. More than 652 houses and buildings have been destroyed, and hundreds of innocent people have been killed.
We, the civil society organizations, strongly condemn the actions that amount to international crimes perpetrated by the military junta in Karenni State and we will stand with Karenni People to get justice. A similar massacre took place at Dontaw Village in Salingyi Township in Sagaing Region on December 7 where 11 innocent civilians were burned to death. Before this, the terrorist military junta has been the perpetrator on three occasions where at least 40 people were massacred in three different inhumane incidents in Kani Township, Saging Region in July. We are worried that these kinds of inhumane actions will continue to happen.
While the atrocities were being committed in Karenni State, since December 15 the terrorist military junta started to shell using heavy weaponry at Lay Kay Kaw and surrounding areas in Karen State and later with the use of airstrikes, as jets bombed the area indiscriminately. This has displaced more than 10,000 innocent civilians, half of whom fled to Thailand to take refuge. Some Thai villagers also had to relocate for security reasons as some houses on the Thai side of the border were destroyed by artillery shells fired by the terrorist military junta.
The terrorist military junta continues to perpetrate such inhumane criminal acts against people across the country including those in Karenni and Karen States, as they were not held to account for the international atrocity crimes they committed for decades and justice has not been brought. These acts of the terrorist military junta cause extremely high levels of human insecurity and suffering for the people.
Therefore, we urge the United Nations Security Council, Secretary General and international community to immediately respond and take action as follows so that the terrorist regime led by Min Aung Hlaing is effectively punished.
Junta forces attack Kalay township village from land and air
/in NewsAfter an attack by the resistance on an area military outpost, Myanmar army troops open fire on the village from two helicopters before setting homes ablaze
The Myanmar army carried out an airstrike from two helicopters on Natchaung village in Sagaing’s Kalay Township on Thursday afternoon and set homes in the community on fire later that evening, according to local sources.
Natchaung, home to some 2,000 households, is located some 15 miles southeast of Kalay town.
After an armed resistance group ambushed a military-occupied high school in Natchaung—where some 100 soldiers were stationed—at around 10am on Thursday, the army sent two helicopters to the site at 3pm. They reportedly circled the village five times from south to north while firing shots.
“The helicopters came one by one. The first one would come, fire shots, and then the second one would come after the first one went back. Then the cycle would be repeated,” a local man told Myanmar Now.
“They fired shots for a long time. Each of the helicopter trips lasted around 20 minutes.”
Junta troops started torching houses in Natchaung at around 6pm after the local defence forces had left and many locals from the village had fled, another resident said.
Although few locals managed to escape during the afternoon airstrikes, more were able to leave in the evening, according to the resident.
“The [Myittha River] jetties did not dare to operate as the military was in the village, so most of the people just stayed in the village,” he said, adding that members of the Myanmar army had promised them in November that they would not harm anyone who stayed behind after such clashes and opted not to run.
He said that at least three homes were destroyed but the full extent of the damage was not known.
Village in Ye-U Township torched two days after junta air raid
Yae Myet is just the latest village to be targeted by an aerial assault by regime forces
Soldiers raided six homes, stealing valuables and arresting locals who they accused of being connected to the resistance.
The Kalay chapter of the People’s Defence Force, the Chin National Defence Force, and a number of local guerrilla groups are operating in the region, according to the locals who spoke to Myanmar Now.
The airstrike not only damaged homes, but also monasteries, they added. Residents of other nearby villages, such as Nat Myaung and Chaungwa, were also displaced by the attack.
Initial reports said nine people were killed in the clash and the airstrike but Myanmar Now was not able to confirm this information.
With Sagaing and Magway becoming resistance strongholds in the 10 months since Myanmar’s military coup, the junta’s armed forces have been carrying out offensives in the regions, including using attacks from the air and burning homes in Ye-U and Yae Myet in Sagaing and Hnankhar in Magways’ Gangaw.
We tried to contact the junta’s information officers regarding the allegations of escalating attacks by its army, but the calls went unanswered.
Myanmar Now News
At least 35 charred bodies found in Karenni State village on Christmas
/in NewsThe KNDF says that Myanmar junta troops are responsible for the massacre of who they believe to be men, women and children fleeing clashes near a Karenni village
Warning: This report contains disturbing images
The remains of at least 35 charred bodies, including one belonging to a child, were found near a village in eastern Myanmar’s Karenni (Kayah) State early Christmas morning, according to both locals and an anti-junta armed resistance group based in the region.
The bodies were found on eight burned vehicles and five motorbikes near the village of Moso on Saturday. The Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF) has accused the Myanmar military troops who were present in the area on Friday of committing the crime in question.
The commander of the KNDF’s Brigade 4, who did not want to be named, said that at around 11am on Friday, members of his group saw smoke billowing out of the parked vehicles, but they did not see the burned bodies, as the fire was still blazing.
Due to fears that junta troops may still have been present in the area, the KNDF was only briefly able to visit the area surrounding the trucks that day; it was not until the following morning, when they returned to the scene, that they witnessed the full extent of the massacre.
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Among the charred remains were the fingers of a child who the KNDF commander estimated to be younger than five. He noted that KNDF members had previously seen a small vehicle carrying a woman and child pass down the road leading to that area before the fires had started.
“We don’t know exactly how many women, men and children are among those burned. Some became ashes, some others were charred,” the commander told Myanmar Now.
“The [bodies] were no longer recognizable or identifiable when we saw them.”
Supplies found by KNDF members on the vehicles suggested that the victims were locals fleeing clashes in the area.
The commander speculated that the Myanmar army troops may have deliberately set the people in the trucks on fire using gasoline as an accelerant, noting that the vehicles were positioned intentionally next to one another, side by side.
“They [the junta soldiers] are no longer humans. Their crimes are worse than those committed by fascists,” the commander said.
International charity Save the Children said in a statement published on Saturday that two of their staff were returning to their office after carrying out a humanitarian visit in the area when they were “caught up in the incident.” The staff were still missing at the time of reporting.
The organisation wrote that they had received confirmation that their private vehicle had been attacked and burned.
“Save the Children condemns this attack as a breach of International Humanitarian Law,” CEO Inger Ashing said in the statement, adding, “attacks against aid workers cannot be tolerated.”
Around 100 troops from the Myanmar army’s Light Infantry Division 66 made advances from Demoso Township towards Hpruso on Friday, according to the KNDF. The troops then clashed with a joint force belonging to the KNDF and members of the Karenni Army near the village of Moso.
During the military offensive, the army troops beat and arrested villagers and ransacked their property, the KNDF said in a statement on Saturday. The troops also killed four members of the Karenni Border Guard Force (BGF), known as BGF Battalion 1004, who attempted to stop the army troops from terrorising the villagers, the KNDF said.
“[They] arrested four members of the BGF Battalion 1004 and tied them up before executing them by shooting them in the head,” the KNDF statement said.
The KNDF received reports from Moso that some of the village’s residents went missing on Friday and that they would try to confirm the identities of the victims.
“This is an inhumane act,” a spokesperson from the KNDF said. “We would like to express our condolences to the families of those victims whose lives were sacrificed in this incident. Secondly, we will retaliate against the military council in response to this incident.”
Editor’s Note: This article was updated on December 26 to include information from Save the Children’s statement on the incident.
According to the state media reports from the junta’s mouthpiece on Saturday, seven vehicles coming from the village of Kwaing Ngan towards Moso on Friday did not stop when asked to do so by Myanmar army troops. The junta alleged that people in the vehicles shot at the soldiers from the trucks and they were “captured dead” after a shootout.
The report did not mention how many were killed in the shootout or the fact that the charred bodies were found near Moso village.
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The KNDF rejected the junta’s claim and insisted that the victims were villagers.
“They were villagers, including women and children. How could they have weapons?” said the spokesperson. “They ran in fright amid the clash and junta troops stopped them and burned them alive on the vehicles.”
Myanmar Now is unable to verify whether the victims were killed and burned later or burned alive.
Karenni State was one of the first areas of the country to see the emergence of an armed resistance movement in the wake of the February 1 coup.
The Karenni Civil Society Network reported last week that more than 150,000 civilians have been displaced in predominantly Karenni areas of Kayah State and southern Shan State’s Pekhon Township since the conflict began.
Myanmar Now News
Human Rights Situation in Myanmar: Post-Coup (December 13-19) 2021
/in HR SituationIn 2016, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), one of the members of the Network for Human Rights Documentation – Burma, released a report on prison conditions in Myanmar, and the urgent need for reform. Among their key findings, overcrowding in cells led to the deterioration of health conditions of inmates. Prisoners were regularly subjected to torture and inhumane treatment leading to deaths in custody.
In 2018, another report: “Activism and Agency,” also authored by AAPP looked at the experiences of female prisoners specifically which drew similar findings including sexual, physical and psychological abuse and harassment. Across decades, those detained in Myanmar’s various detention centers are not safe. Since February, thousands of innocent civilians including human rights defenders have been arrested, detained and subjected to harrowing treatment in military custody. Despite the many calls of groups like AAPP, the junta has not reformed prison conditions to be in line with international standards in the slightest.
Over the last week, more evidence emerged of unlawful treatment of prisoners, including a freelance journalist who became the first member of the press to be tortured to death by the junta in prison. Following a nationwide strike held on 10 December (Human Rights Day), inmates at Insein Prison participated in solidarity with the pro-democracy movement by refusing to leave their cells. They also sang an anti-dictatorship song when the junta interrogated them about the leaders of the protest within the prison. The regime responded violently by beating prisoners until they were no longer conscious and then subsequently denied them medical treatment.
The All Burma Federation of Student Union expressed worry for those who had been beaten, and then held in solitary confinement. Ko Bo Kyi of AAPP has said on multiple occasions that prison conditions have significantly deteriorated since the failed coup as the junta continues to abuse prison rights with impunity.
Systematic use of torture in prisons is a violation of international law. The junta is lawlessly detaining innocent civilians and then further subjecting them to conditions which deprive them of their dignity, safety and well-being. Human Rights Watch, BBC, the New York Times and the Associated Press are among the many who have documented the atrocities committed against civilians behind prison walls.
Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners outlined by the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs make clear that ‘all prisoners shall be treated with the respect due to their inherent dignity and value as human beings.’ The illegal junta has failed to protect and uphold prisoner rights. The international community has an obligation and responsibility to respond to the atrocities taking place to set a precedent that no one is above the rule of law, and to protect the lives of detainees.
KAREN STATE
With over 80 000 displaced, Karen villagers are in need of warm clothing as the cold season takes its toll on civilians forced to flee increasing junta offensives. The military junta has not eased in its brutal campaign of warfare against the Karen which has gone on for decades. On 15 December, reports emerged that over two-hundred soldiers had invaded the civilian town of Lay Kay Kaw, which is controlled by Brigade 6 of the Karen National Union. Dozens of activists were arrested as it provoked further instability as clashes took place with the Karen National Liberation Army.
According to the Karen Information Center, the junta was firing with large weapons at areas where they suspected the civilian defense forces to be hiding. Tensions had been building since 14 December, and forced several hundred civilians to begin fleeing. Thousands more began fleeing ongoing attacks by the junta who were indiscriminately firing into nearby civilian areas. On 16 December, Karen rights groups reported more fighting broke out near Mae Taw Tha Lay. The regime has blocked key routes needed to transport urgently needed humanitarian aid.
KAYAH (KARENNI) STATE
In Kayah (Karenni) State, displaced villagers are distraught over more instability threatening their livelihoods. Ongoing conflict has made it impossible for them to work as the presence of soldiers has made locals fearful of going too far outside of their villages. Farmers have been unable to tend to their fields, and have lost opportunities to harvest food and sustain an income.
To make matters worse, the illegal junta continues to block key routes needed for the delivery of humanitarian aid to internally displaced people (IDPs). Places where civilians would typically take refuge, such as churches and temples, have been taken over as military base camps. As the cold weather begins, IDPs have no choice but to seek safety and shelter in the jungle where living conditions are harsh.
According to the Karenni Civil Society Network, the junta has destroyed nearly 400 buildings in Kayah (Karenni) State. Between 22 November and 5 December, almost 1500 fled fighting in the State.
SAGAING REGION
More than 100 homes were set on fire by the military junta in Sagaing region’s Ayadaw Township on 13 December. The deliberate arson attack forced hundreds of villagers to flee, who returned to find approximately 100 homes completely scorched and devastated by the fires. The junta continues to target those affiliated with the pro-democracy movement, including those involved with the People’s Defense Forces. Soldiers reportedly also abducted two men, and destroyed a school.
Artillery firing was also aimed at the village. Food that was in the homes was eaten by the soldiers. Villagers that returned to their demolished homes recoiled from their losses, which had already been deeply strained by the impacts of the failed coup and increasing militarisation. In another worrying series of events, a citizen journalist reporting on the situation in Sagaing region was arrested and has not been heard from since.
Bodies of three men who returned to their village after fleeing clashes were caught and shot at close range were killed by the military junta. A villager commenting on the indiscriminate killings said: “Those soldiers are not even human anymore. They only know to kill all the men they see.”