Foundation for fear new report by Karen Human Rights Group 

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Monumental new report by Karen Human Rights Group shows how lack of justice for decades of human rights violations in Burma has created ‘foundation of fear’ that prevents scarred communities from trusting the government or peace process.

Myanmar military admits mass murder of Rohingya

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YANGON: Myanmar’s military admitted on Wednesday its soldiers had murdered 10 captured Muslim “terrorists” during insurgent attacks at the beginning of September.

Local Buddhist villagers joined in the mass murder by digging the mass grave and forcing the captured men into it.

“Villagers and members of the security forces have confessed that they committed murder,” the military said in a statement.

A five-member military team led by Lt Gen Aye Win visited the mass grave (seen in photo above) and interviewed 49 witnesses, according to the armed forces’ statement.

It was the first known admission of wrongdoing by the Myanmar military during its operations in the western state of Rakhine.

A statement released by watchdog Amnesty International condemned the massacre but said it has strong evidence of other mass murders of Rohingya by the tatmadaw, or Myanmar armed forces.

The Wednesday statement, said AI, “is only the tip of the iceberg and warrants serious independent investigation into what other atrocities were committed amid the ethnic cleansing campaign that has forced out more than 655,000 Rohingya from Rakhine State since last August”.

“Amnesty International and others have documented overwhelming evidence that far beyond Inn Din, in villages and hamlets across northern Rakhine State, the military has murdered and raped Rohingya, and burned their villages to the ground. These acts amount to crimes against humanity and those responsible must be brought to justice.”

The army launched a sweeping counter-offensive in the north of the state in response to Rohingya militant attacks on Aug 25, triggering an exodus of more than 650,000 Rohingya Muslim villagers.

The United Nations has condemned the army’s campaign as ethnic cleansing. Myanmar denies that, saying its forces were carrying out legitimate counterinsurgency operations.

The military announced on Dec 18 that a mass grave containing 10 bodies had been found at the coastal village of Inn Din, about 50 kilometres north of the state capital Sittwe. The army appointed a senior officer to investigate.

The military said on Wednesday its investigation had found that members of the security forces had killed the 10 and that action would be taken against them.

Photo released on the Myanmar armed forces’ Facebook page ‘True News Information Team’ purports to show investigators questioning a soldier over the Inn Din mass murder.

Security forces had been conducting a “clearance operation” in the area on Sept 1 when “200 Bengali terrorists attacked using sticks and swords”, the military said in a statement posted on the Facebook page of its commander-in-chief, Snr Gen Min Aung Hlaing.

The military refers to members of the Rohingya Muslim minority as “Bengalis”, a term the Rohingya reject as implying they are illegal migrants from Bangladesh.

Ten of the attackers were captured after the security forces drove the rest off by firing into the air, according to the statement on Facebook, which the military often uses to make announcements.

The captives should have been handed over to the police, in line with procedures, but the militants were attacking “continuously” and had destroyed two military vehicles with explosives, it said.

“It was found that there were no conditions to transfer the 10 Bengali terrorists to the police station and so it was decided to kill them,” the military said, referring to the findings of the investigating team.

Angry ethnic Rakhine Buddhist villagers, who had lost relatives in militant attacks, wanted to kill the captives, and stabbed them after forcing them into a grave on the outskirts of the village. Then members of the security forces shot them dead, the military said.

“Action will be taken against the villagers … and the security force members who violated the rules of engagement according to the law,” the statement said.

Action would also be taken against those who had failed to report the incident to their seniors, and those responsible for supervising the operation, it added.

The military investigation was led by Lt Gen Aye Win. The same officer had been in charge of a wider probe into the conduct of troops in the conflict that concluded in a report in November that no atrocities had taken place.

Related: Myanmar military admits soldiers murdered 10 captured Rohingya 

ND-Burma December justice news: Mon rights organisation details 22 years of rights abuses in Mon state and clear demands for justice from government; Conflict ramps up in Shan and Kachin; Ta’ang lawyer arbitrarily arrested and tortured; Reuters journalists on trial…

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Seeking Justice in Burma

December 2017

New ND-Burma member report details victims’ demands for justice
ND-Burma member the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) published a new reportdetailing human rights abuses by the military and ethnic armed organizations in Mon areas of Burma over the last 22 years. Having conducted dozens of interviews, HURFOM found that victims overwhelmingly want justice in the form of acknowledgments, apologies, reparations or criminal justice.

Conflict ramps up in Shan and Kachin states displacing hundreds;
Ta’ang lawyer arbitrarily arrested in Shan state;
4 Karenni soldiers allegedly executed by Tatmadaw
Renewed Tatmadaw offensives in December displaced approximately 900 people in Shan State and 100 in Kachin State. The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) wrote a letter to local government objecting to individuals and private companies making use of lands belonging to to IDPs who fled conflict in 2011. A landmine in Muse township, Shan State, killed one child and injured 4; it is unclear who laid the mine. A local church group called on authorities to re-open the unsolved case of two Kachin school teachers raped and murdered in 2015. A detailed look at the Tatmadaw’s ‘other ethnic atrocity’ in Kachin State by Stella Naw can be found here.

Ethnic Ta’ang lawyer Mai Myo Aung was detained by police in Muse Township following a shooting at a gambling den, despite reportedly not being at the scene – police claim they have CCTV footage implicating him but have refused to release it. His wife says he has been beaten by police and authorities say he faces prosecution for homicide under sections 302 and 307 of the penal code.

In Loikaw, the capital of Kyah State, 3 soldiers of the Karenni National Progressive Party and a civilian were allegedly executed at an army base after having been arrested during a raid on the rebel camp. 5 youths who protested the killings have been summoned to appear in court accused of violating Section 19 of the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law.

Two Reuters journalists working on Rakhine story arrested; 
Press team arrested for flying a drone cleared of all charges; 
Journalist attacked and in critical condition 
Two Burmese Reuters reporters were arrested and accused of planning to provide state secrets to foreign media. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were reportedly arrested after accepting documents from police officers and face charges under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum jail term of 14 years. The journalists had reportedly been researching a story on military abuses in Rakhine State.

A piece of good news towards the end of the year as the two foreign journalists and their two local staff arrested for flying a drone over the parliament have been released and cleared of all charges.

A journalist for the local media organisation Democratic Voice of Burma was stabbed in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State, and is in critical condition. No case has been opened into the attack as of yet and there are no suspects.

Burmese government blacklists UN Special Rapporteur; 
UN Fact Finding Mission finds similar patterns of abuse in Rakhine, Shan and Kachin 
The Burmese government has banned UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, from entering the country and withdrawn all cooperation for the duration of her tenure. Yanghee Lee said in response: “This declaration of non-cooperation with my mandate can only be viewed as a strong indication that there must be something terribly awful happening in Rakhine, as well as in the rest of the country.”

Meanwhile the UN Fact Finding Mission concluded its first set of interviews with victims of human rights abuses and found “patterns” in the allegations of Shan, Kachin and ethnic Rakhine groups similar to those they heard from the Rohingya. If true, these would “constitute serious human rights violations,” according to the FFM investigators.

A mass grave containing ten bodies was found by the military in Rakhine state. A general has been appointed to investigate whether state troops are culpable; internal military investigations in Burma consistently absolve ist forces of any wrongdoing.

Third session of Panglong planned for early 2018: civil society demands to join discussions; 
Tatmadaw blocking Shan State preparations for peace conference 
The third session of the Panglong peace conference should be held at the end of January. Civil society organisations have demanded they be allowed to join discussions in a letter to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, signed by 145 representatives from 92 groups.

Shan leaders have been unable to prepare for the upcoming Panglong conference due to the Tatmadawobstructing preparations for State level political dialogues.

Ethnic groups called on the government and Tatmadaw to move away from general statements and deliver a detailed vision of what a future federal system would look like.

Majority of defamation complaints filed by government officials  
A report by Free Expression Myanmar found that the majority of complaints filed under Article  66(d) of the Telecommunications Law were by people closely related to the government. Article 66(d) has been widely used to punish criticism of people in power and has been deployed increasingly frequently since the NLD government took power.

Activists begin bid to get UNESCO recognition for 8888 uprising;
Aspiring 88 Generation politicians register as ‘Four Eights Party’ 
Activists have started the process of putting Burma’s 8888 uprising forward for inclusion in  UNESCO’s Memory of the World register. U Any Bwe Kyaw, a member of the group pushing for the nomination, said: “We want the world to recognize this movement so that no future governments can erase the history recorded in this museum.”

Some of the leading voices from the 8888 uprising have registered a new political party called the ‘Four Eights’, with the aim of taking ‘political responsibility’ as opposed to power.

Only 10% of land grab complaints have been settled;
Letpadaung copper mine complaints ignored
Only 10% of cases submitted to the committee on land complaints have been settled since it was formed in 2016. A total of 543 out of 5735 complaints have been resolved.

A letter to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from Letpadaung residents affected by the controversial copper mine project has been ignored.

Government fails to pay ethnic language teachers
Hundreds of ethnic language teachers in Mon and Karen states have not been paid their salaries for several months.

Refugees rise in Kachin, Shan states due to clashes

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THE number of people displaced in the escalating clashes between government forces and ethnic armed groups in Shan and Kachin states rose to 1200, aid officials said Thursday.

Some 1100 people from Kaing Tine, Kyaukphyu Lay, Ar Pyaung and Hgin Gar villages fled to Kyaukme city due to fighting between Tatmadaw and Ta’aung (Palaung) National Liberation Army (TNLA) in northern Shan State’s Kyaukme and Namsan townships, according to Shan State Department of Relief and Resettlement Director U Soe Naing.

He said the displaced people from the clashes which began since the last week of December, have currently taken refuge at Warso Monastery, Aung Mingalar Monastery, No.3 Dhamaryone Sakan and Aung Myae Thar Yar Monastery.

“At present, we have provided them with basic necessities such as food and clothing,” U Soe Naing said.

Department officials will meet the displaced people who have taken refuge in Kyaukme to provide more food, he said, adding that his office will cooperate with local civil society groups and Red Cross in helping villagers who want to evacuate from their homes.

“We are directly giving aid to refugees in the areas in Northern Shan State which are under the government’s control,” said Union Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Dr Win Myat Aye.

“Through negotiation with respective organisations, we have also provided for those who have fled to the areas beyond the government’s control,” he added.

Villagers feared that fights would intensify so they began fleeing from their villages since December 29, said U Thar Zaw, a relief worker.

Most of the refugees are women and children, and they still need blankets, pillows and food, said U Tin Maung Thein, a spokesperson for Zewita, a social welfare association in Kyaukme.

Tatmadaw and TNLA fought throughout December in Kutkai, Mong Ton, Muse, Mong Ko, Kyaukme and Namsan townships.

In the adjacent Kachin State, government forces — locally known as Tatmadaw — and the state’s ethnic armed group  Kachin Independence Army (KIA) have also clashed in Mansi township, displacing 100 villagers, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) figures released on January 1.

“There was fierce fighting last month in Manwynegyi village. Villagers fled as the planes fired. It is calm now and we will have to arrange for them to go back,” Mansi township MP for State Hluttaw U Min Min said.

Dr Win Myat Aye said that the government can only extend immediate help to those refugees in government controlled areas.

“If refugees enter government-controlled areas, we will provide assistance. We are providing vocational training at IDP camps and arranging everything for them including healthcare,” he said.

Fighting between Tatmadaw and KIA stared in mid-December in Laiza, Hpakant, Tanai and Mansi, and the situation in these areas remains tense.

Myanmar Times

Ex-Political Prisoner Makes Art From Plastic Refuse

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By KYAW PHYO THA 5 January 2018

Shortly before daybreak on the last day of 2017, San Zaw Htway, a Myanmar artist famous for his collages made from recycled plastic bags and also a former political prisoner, succumbed to a liver ailment in a Yangon hospital. Known for his humility and the promotion of his collage techniques among children, including those in internally displaced person camps, the 44-year-old had been diagnosed with advanced liver cancer brought on by the dire prison conditions he endured as a political prisoner and poor healthcare following his release. Here is his profile, published in the October 2014 edition of the Irrawaddy Magazine.

YANGON — Give him plastic bags of any color, and this former political prisoner will turn them into a work of art.

Instead of acrylic paint and brushes, San Zaw Htway opts to work with not only plastic bags, but also cardboard, instant coffee packets and other recycled goods. He taught himself to make painting-like collages with these materials while he was serving time under the former military regime.

“They’re all I need,” boasted the 40-year-old, pointing to scissors and adhesive containers littered across the floor of his studio in Rangoon. In one corner of the second-floor studio sits of a pile of smoothed plastic wrappings that otherwise would have been destined for a garbage can.

The article ‘From Plastic, Ex-political Prisoner Makes Art’ as it appeared in The Irrawaddy Magazine’s October 2014 issue.

Since his release from prison in 2012, San Zaw Htway has held five solo shows in Burma, in addition to teaching his collage techniques to orphans and children living with HIV.

Now his work is gaining international attention. He has been shortlisted for the 2014 Artraker Award, which recognizes artists who are making a difference in highly challenging environments. The works of 12 candidates from 10 countries, including Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, will be exhibited from Sept. 18-25 at London’s a/political gallery.

“Being shortlisted means a lot to me because recycled collage art is still not well embraced in Burma,” said San Zaw Htway at his home, while preparing for his trip to the capital of England.

A collage by San Zaw Htway.(Photo: The Irrawaddy)

“Despite my access to paint and brushes now, I still stick to recycled collage art because it’s environmentally sustainable and I want the art trend to develop in Burma,” he added.

Painting was a childhood hobby for San Zaw Htway. When he was sentenced to 36 years in prison for his anti-government political activities in 1999, he was only a college freshman majoring in history. He spent 13 years in prison, during which time he was put in solitary confinement and he went on hunger strikes.

Burmese prisons are notorious for their squalid conditions and restrictions on prisoners’ rights, with even reading and writing prohibited. San Zaw Htaw said he saw art as a way to defy prison authorities. “I intentionally did it to show them that they can’t control everything in our lives,” he said. “But the problem was how to make it happen, since painting materials were not allowed.”

The student activist decided to make collages with materials within his reach. When his family sent him foods wrapped in plastic bags, he turned the bags into a canvas on which he plastered colorful cuttings from instant coffee packets and shampoo sachets. He scavenged prison garbage cans for plastic sheets in colors that caught his eye. He washed them, smoothed them out and applied them onto the makeshift canvas with the help of a smuggled scissor and glue.

A collage by San Zaw Htway.(Photo: The Irrawaddy)

Working late at night under the faint glow of a light bulb that dangled on the ceiling of the corridor outside his cell, he was careful to hide his work from prison authorities, taking days to finish a single collage. He produced portraits of Burmese democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi and collages of peacocks, the emblem of Burmese student and democracy movements. Some of his works reflected his longing for freedom, including “Blue Moon on the Highway,” one the three collages that have been chosen for the exhibition in London.

“I was lying awake one night in 2009 and I heard the occasional swishes of buses on the highway outside the prison. I felt a surge of longing to be on one of those buses, so I poured out my feeling onto the collage,” he said.

Htein Lin, a prominent Burmese contemporary artist and another former political prisoner, said San Zaw Htway’s nomination for the Artraker Award and his participation in the exhibition would be a source of pride for Burmese artists and their country.

A collage by San Zaw Htway.(Photo: The Irrawaddy)

“I like his recycled artwork, not only for its promotion of environmental sustainability, but also for its reflection of an important message behind all forms of prison artwork: You can lock up our bodies, but not our emotions and our creativity,” he said.

Apart from being a collage artist, San Zaw Htway is a counselor for former political prisoners and their families. Earlier this year he joined a training program—organized by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) with support from Johns Hopkins University—and now he offers counseling sessions five days per week.

“As a former political prisoner myself, I know very well to what extent we and our families have been mentally affected by what we faced for years. Counseling is one of the best ways to cure their traumas,” he said.

When asked how he felt to be participating in the exhibition in London, he said he was happy.

“My prison experience has taught me that no matter how dire the situation is, there is a way to achieve what you want to do,” he said. “That is my message to anyone who sees my art.”

The Irrawaddy News

What is the NLD Doing for Political Prisoners?

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It was Jan. 4, 2018. As it was also the 70th anniversary of Myanmar’s independence, I could not help thinking about my days in prison. Independence Day is one of the special occasions each and every prisoner looks forward to with high hopes.

That is because of a custom of granting amnesty to prisoners and reducing jail sentences on every anniversary.

Everyone who has had to spend part of his or her life in prison knows how it feels. Prisoners cannot help feeling grateful to the government when they see some of their fellow inmates walk out of prison on such occasions, even if they themselves are not released. It is a fine practice among prisoners, despite being anti-government activists, to praise and thank the government for granting them amnesty.

Such days give hope to all types of prisoners. It is also a common practice among prisoners as these days approach to ask prison authorities for any unusual news from the outside.

All inmates look forward to these days because death sentences can be commuted, long sentences can be reduced and those about to complete their terms may be released.

I had not heard of anyone being released from prison under a general amnesty as I was writing this piece on Jan. 5. When I asked the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) about it, they said they had not heard of any releases either.

I could not help but empathize with the political prisoners in jails across Myanmar. They were surely extremely disappointed as their hopes were dashed. They have pinned all their hopes on such occasions.

When I saw that the government was organizing a grand New Year’s alms-offering ceremony and Dhamma talks attracting more than 100,000 devotees, I was confident there would be something for prisoners. I later came to learn that I had been completely wrong.

Back when the government’s ranks had no ex-political prisoners, amnesties and commuted sentences came every year. Former political prisoners were even allowed to form a committee to identify current political prisoners with the aim of getting them released.

A lot of political prisoners were freed this way. It has also become the norm for other inmates to be released alongside the political prisoners.

That is why I was confident that a government led by a party of former political prisoners would release the political prisoners left.

My expectations have proven to be wrong. It has been a long time since I last heard anything about political prisoners being identified. There are still about 100 political prisoners left in Myanmar, according to organizations of former political prisoners such as the AAPP.

The AAPP has even gone to the trouble of tracking down the original dossiers of the accused to identify people as political prisoners before adding them to its list. It found many cases in which what happened had nothing to do with the laws under which the victims were charged. The charges were fabricated intentionally to put the dissidents in prison, making it impossible to know if they are guilty or innocent based on the charges. The AAPP has carried out a thorough investigation to come up with a detailed list.

It was also revealed that there are about 120 lawmakers in the Union Parliament who were once political prisoners. There is no doubt that former political prisoners can empathize with their peers still behind bars. However, the question is why the representatives have not been able to help them. Why have they not tried to help them?

When I attended a ceremony to mark Independence Day at the headquarters of the NLD about 10 years ago, I was offered a badge with the name of a political prisoner on the back. When I asked about this, the party said it had chosen by lot a political prisoner for me to help.

The back of my badge said “Ma Khin Htar in Dawei Prison.” I was not able to help her because I myself soon became a political prisoner.

However, about two years after I was sent to prison a lady approached my family offering to help me because I had been chosen by lot for her. After consulting with my family, she sent me books to read in prison.

Such help can be of great benefit to a person in prison. It can give an inmate hope and strength. I later learned that the lady, Daw Sabel, had taught my son and daughter-in-law, and she has felt like a member of the family ever since.

I am deeply sad that the help and assistance the NLD offered when it was an opposition party disappeared after it came to power. I am just sad because I have not been able to find out why that has been so.

I believe the government has complete authority to release political prisoners. I am confident that no one can prevent it from, and interfere with it in, exercising that authority. It would be very ugly to write a history that says that about 120 former political prisoners were not able to come to the rescue of about 100 political prisoners behind bars.

What has been happening? Could you please help me find the answer?

 Sai Nyunt Lwin is the secretary general of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy.

Irrawaddy News