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
- Open letter from Myanmar, regional and international civil society organizations to ASEAN to End Myanmar Military’s Violence, Advance Accountability and Operationalize Cross-border Humanitarian Aid
- Press Release – Rights-Based Reform: ASEAN Five Years on from the 5-Point Consensus
- Rights-Based Reform: ASEAN Five Years on from 5-Point Consensus
- [Open Letter] SEANF must remove membership of junta-controlled Myanmar National Human Rights Commission
- President Win Myint freed in broad Myanmar prisoner amnesty
Defending Democracy: Four Years Since the Failed Coup in Burma
/in Briefing Papers, ND-Burma's ReportsA short report by the Network for Human Rights Documentation-Burma
Despite the many challenges and changes that the people of Burma have
unjustlyexperienced since the attempted coup on 1 February 2021, there remains a joint commitment and effort for a federal and democratic future. Four years ago, the military junta did not hesitate to fire bullets at peaceful, unarmed protesters who swiftly denounced the General’s disregard for the nationwide 2020 election results, in which the National League for Democracy (NLD) party won its second landslide victory since coming to power in 2015.On the morning of when the new Parliament was set to resume, coup leader Min Aung Hlaing, along with his corrupt allies, immediately changed course by hijacking and dismissing the results. Despite no evidence of fraud or interference, the regime claimed that the election was stolen and that it was, therefore, the rightful ruler to govern. They arrested their political opponents, including the leader of the NLD party, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and President U Win Myint.
The junta expected to be recognized as the governing authority, believing the civilian population would promptly comply. This assumption was a significant misjudgment, as the military seriously underestimated the determination, commitment, and dedication of the millions who still oppose the regime’s oppressive actions.
Young people, notably women, were among the first to organize protests and led creative campaigns calling for immediate action by the international community to bring an end to decades of military rule in Burma. The military responded with deadly force. The first case of violent suppression of civic freedoms occurred on February 9, 2021, when police shot and killed a young woman peacefully protesting. This brutality only intensified the protesters’ resolve as they called for an end to injustices, urging the junta to restore power to democratically elected officials and to release all unjustly imprisoned individuals.
Four years later, unfortunately, all calls remain unanswered, as they have been ignored not only by the terrorist regime but also by international and regional stakeholders, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), who refuse to act with the urgency that the crisis warrants. The junta has swiftly targeted individuals attempting to undermine its agenda.
The National Unity Government of Myanmar (NUG) was established less than two months after the coup. It is Burma’s only legitimate representation, founded by the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH). The NUG arose from the democratic elections in 2020 and collaborative efforts with the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC). On September 7, 2021, the NUG proclaimed a ‘defensive war’ against the junta, marking the shift from peaceful protests to armed resistance in the people’s revolution. The People’s Defense Forces (PDFs), made up of civilians trained for combat, are now allied with various ethnic revolutionary organizations (EROs) in their fight for freedom against the military junta.
In the time that has elapsed, many things have changed. However, longstanding concerns remain woefully unaddressed. The human rights situation has significantly worsened, as millions are displaced and thousands remain unjustly imprisoned. By the end of 2024 alone, the NUG Ministry of Human Rights recorded an alarming 7,394 cases of widespread and systematic attacks in various forms against civilians. Their documentation included nearly 1800 cases of extrajudicial killings and 1355 cases of property destruction. ND-Burma member the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) also released findings which found nearly 100 civilians, including fourteen under the age of 18, were killed in December 2024. The majority, approximately 45, lost their lives in airstrikes. A subsequent report, “Close the Sky” by Blood Money Campaign, reported over 4000 airstrike incidents between 1 February 2021 and November 2024.
And yet, the international community, including ASEAN, has repeatedly engaged with the military which has risked lending the regime the legitimacy it so desperately craves.
Further, the junta’s crimes have been largely ignored, encouraging it to push forward with plans for a fraudulent election scheduled for later this year. Despite this, the military is increasingly losing control of bases and territory across various states and regions. Their denial of their current reality is contested by the decision to implement forced conscription. Enacted nearly a year ago, the newly passed law highlights the junta’s desperation to restore its strategic leverage. There have been record levels of military defections and historically low morale throughout the various battalions. Furthermore, following its setbacks against EROs there has been a significant increase in aerial assaults by the junta.
Without immediate and coordinated action by international stakeholders, including consultations with civil society organizations, to end the junta’s retaliatory and indiscriminate attacks, the military will only continue to perpetrate human rights violations with the same impunity it has benefited from for more than seven decades.
Myanmar junta blocks military-aged men from work abroad
/in NewsMinistry of Labor told employment agencies not to allow men aged 18 to 35 to sign up for foreign work contracts.
Myanmar’s junta has banned employment agencies from sending military aged men abroad as it struggles with a growing civil war while promising to extend peace and stability for an election that it hopes will bolster its legitimacy.
Millions of Myanmar people have gone abroad to work, many through arrangements it has with other governments, organized by employment agencies.
While the overseas workers are an important source of income for the junta that seized power in a coup on Feb. 1, 2021, the military is also keen to fill the ranks of its armed forces as it battles ethnic minority insurgents and allied pro-democracy fighters.
Nearly a year after the junta enforced a conscription law, began recruiting women and arresting young men to serve, it has sought to block prospective soldiers from travelling abroad for work, representatives of employment agencies told Radio Free Asia on Friday.
“Starting today, people between the ages of 18 and 35 will no longer be eligible for the OWIC,” an official at a Yangon-based oversea employment agency told Radio Free Asia, referring to the Overseas Worker Identification Card, issued by the Ministry of Labor, which everyone hoping to work abroad must obtain.
“The restriction does not apply to women yet, only males between the ages of 18 and 35,” the official said, referring to a ministry order to stop issuing the cards.
RFA tried to telephone the junta’s spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Htun, to ask about the policy, but he did not answer. Minister of Labor Nyan Win also declined to comment and referred RFA to Zaw Min Htun.
The ruling military extended a state of emergency for another six months on Friday saying more needed to be done to ensure peace and stability for a successful general election.
No date has been set for an election, which anti-junta forces have dismissed as a sham. The constitution mandates that an election must be held within six months after a state of emergency is lifted.
In December, junta authorities ordered job agencies to add a clause in migrant workers’ contracts stating they could be called home for military service.
One young man hoping to get a job through an agency to work in Thailand – where about 1.8 million Myanmar workers are officially employed and many more work unofficially – was despondent about his chances.
“I already signed a contract with the agency and put a deposit down,” said the 25-year-old who declined to be identified.
Another employment agency employee said migrant workers who come home for a visit could be banned from going back to their jobs abroad.
“Some people might come back without studying the situation here … They won’t be given permission to go abroad again,” said the agency staffer, who also declined to be identified.
Under Myanmar’s Military Service Enactment Law, anyone summoned for military service, as well as anyone who manages to postpone their service, are not allowed to travel to go abroad.
RFA News
Over 1,000 civilians flee Sittwe amid tension between Myanmar junta and ethnic army
/in NewsThey fear becoming targets of bombings, sniper fire or airstrikes.
More than 1,000 civilians have fled Rakhine state’s capital Sittwe and nearby areas in western Myanmar, fearing heavy artillery attacks as tensions rise between junta forces and the Arakan Army, an ethnic armed group that has advanced on junta positions, residents said Friday.
Ongoing exchanges of fire between junta soldiers and the Arakan Army, or AA, in nearby villages, have prompted residents to seek safe havens out of concern that they might be hit by bombs, sniper fire, drone strikes or air strikes, should the conflict escalate.
Of the 17 townships in Rakhine state, 14 are under the control of the AA, leaving only three — Sittwe, the military council’s regional headquarters, Kyaukphyu and Munaung — still in the hands of the military junta.
Observers believe that the AA soon could launch an offensive against Sittwe.
And because of this, civilians say they fear getting trapped in the crossfire of heavy artillery used by junta battalions based in Sittwe if the AA strikes.
Sittwe is crucial for the junta — which seized control of Myanmar in a 2021 coup d’état — not only as a source of much-needed revenue and foreign currency, but also for its role in Myanmar’s oil and gas trade via the Indian Ocean.
Besides Sittwe, people in Rathedaung, Pauktaw and Ponnagyun —townships close to Sittwe — are also leaving their homes out of fear of direct attacks, said a Rathedaung resident who spoke on condition of anonymity for safety reasons.
“Some already fled from Sittwe township, but now they find themselves forced to flee again, adding to their hardships,” the person said. “Many are struggling due to a lack of warm clothing for winter and severe shortages of basic necessities after being displaced.”
Junta fortifies positions
The junta’s blockade of transportation routes in Rakhine state, which has made travel for displaced civilians difficult, has compounded the situation, they said.
Sittwe residents told RFA that the AA has surrounded the city with a large number of troops while the military junta has fortified its positions, increasing its military presence with battalions outside the city, in areas of Sittwe, and at Sittwe University, in preparation for a defensive stand.
Additionally, thousands of Rohingya — a stateless ethnic group that predominantly follows Islam and resides in Rakhine state — have been given military training by the junta, sources said.
“The army is shooting; the navy is also shooting,” said a Sittwe resident. “People are afraid. They don’t know when the fighting will start.”
AA’s heavy artillery
The AA has already fired heavy artillery and used snipers. Local news reports on Jan. 27 indicated that daily exchanges of fire were occurring between the ethnic army and junta forces, including the use of attack drones.
Attempts by RFA to contact both AA spokesperson Khaing Thu Kha and junta spokesperson and Rakhine state attorney general Hla Thein for comment on the issue went unanswered by the time of publishing.
Human rights advocate Myat Tun said he believes the AA will resort to military action in Sittwe if political negotiations fail.
“The situation in Sittwe is escalating,” he said. “The AA is preparing to take military action if political solutions are not reached.”
RFA News
Myanmar: Arakan Army Admits to Executing Prisoners of War
/in NewsResponding to leaked execution videos, armed group acknowledges crimes, vows accountability
Yesterday, Fortify Rights published an analysis of two leaked videos it obtained showing a group of AA soldiers and plain-clothed men cutting and hacking the throats of two prisoners of war in front of a shallow dirt pit in the ground.
Hours after Fortify Rights published its findings, AA spokesperson Khaing Thuka acknowledged the authenticity of the videos, condemned the killings, and said that those responsible had been identified and punished, providing no further details. He confirmed to Myanmar news media that the two victims were captured Myanmar military junta soldiers and that the incident occurred during an army operation against the junta’s Military Operations Command 9 in Kyauktaw Township, Rakhine State, on February 7, 2024.
When asked about Fortify Rights’s report on the incident, Khaing Thuka suggested the executions were acts of revenge, telling BBC Burmese: “When they captured Myanmar military soldiers who had unlawfully arrested, tortured, and executed their own family members, some of our local resistance fighters could not control their anger and acted in this manner as an act of revenge, violating military discipline.”
Speaking with Narinjara News, he said: “This incident is completely against our policies. We do not condone such unlawful acts. Anyone who committed such offenses has been and will be punished. We will take the best measures to prevent such incidents from happening again while continuing our fight.”
Fortify Rights said this case should be investigated and prosecuted by the International Criminal Court.
Under the laws of war and international criminal law, temporary emotional distress— such as rage, grief, or a desire for revenge—neither excuses nor mitigates criminal responsibility, said Fortify Rights. The Geneva Conventions explicitly prohibit the execution or mistreatment of prisoners of war, regardless of motive, even if those prisoners previously committed atrocities. All combatants in armed conflict must adhere to the laws of war and rules of engagement, even under extreme emotional stress.
Moreover, under the Geneva Conventions, all captured enemy soldiers must be treated humanely, and serious violations are considered war crimes. Military leaders and commanders who fail to prevent, investigate, or punish such violations may be held criminally responsible under the doctrine of command responsibility and prosecuted for war crimes.
Fortify Rights called on the AA and all parties to armed conflict in Myanmar to cooperate with international justice mechanisms, including the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), a body established by the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2018 to collect and preserve evidence of atrocity crimes in Myanmar for future prosecutions. Just days before the AA accepted responsibility for the killings, the IIMM published an explainer on its work, saying it is “investigating serious international crimes committed by all perpetrators, including recent atrocities in Rakhine State, as part of its mandate to collect, preserve, analyze and share evidence of the most serious international crimes committed in Myanmar since 2011.”
The AA is an ethnic armed group controlling vast areas of Rakhine State and fighting a revolutionary war against Myanmar’s illegal military junta. The junta is responsible for widespread war crimes and crimes against humanity in Myanmar, as well as genocide against Rohingya people in Rakhine State.
Fortify Rights has documented and exposed several instances of war crimes committed by AA, against the ethnic-Rohingya population in areas under its control, including a massacre of Rohingya civilians near the Naf River in Maungdaw on August 5, 2024, and an arson attack on Rohingya homes in May 2024. The AA has denied these allegations and has yet to take responsibility or hold its troops accountable for the crimes.
fortifyrights.org
Myanmar’s Arakan Army confirms torture, execution of POWs in leaked viral video
/in NewsThe group’s spokesperson says the incident was retaliation for the deaths of AA family members.
Read RFA coverage of this story in Burmese.
Ethnic Rakhine rebels on Friday confirmed the torture and execution of two prisoners of war from Myanmar’s military after video clips of the killings went viral online.
The videos have prompted an NGO to call on the International Criminal Court to launch an investigation into the incident.
While RFA has obtained several videos of junta troops torturing and killing enemy combatants in the nearly four years since the military seized power in a February 2021 coup d’etat, opposition forces have largely claimed to adhere to the rules of war with regards to the treatment of POWs.
A leaked two-minute video clip recently generated a buzz on social media in Myanmar that shows around seven men — some of whom are wearing Arakan Army, or AA, uniforms — kicking and beating two shirtless men who are lying on the ground.
Another video showed their brutal killing.
On Friday, AA spokesperson Khaing Thu Kha confirmed that the videos showed his group’s soldiers torturing and executing two junta POWs in Rakhine state’s Kyauktaw township on Feb. 7, 2024, during an offensive against Military Operations Command No. 9.
Speaking at a press conference, he said that the AA soldiers “were unable to control their anger” and committed the crimes in retaliation for junta troops arresting, torturing and killing their family members.
The AA’s admission came a day after Southeast Asia-based NGO Fortify Rights called on the International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, Netherlands, to investigate reports of AA soldiers committing atrocities in Rakhine state, specifically mentioning the two video clips that went viral.
Sources with knowledge of the incident told RFA Burmese that it occurred in the mountains near Kyauktaw Mountain Pagoda during the February 2024 AA offensive.
The two junta soldiers were reportedly captured while fleeing from a battalion at Military Operations Command No. 9, said the sources, who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.
They said that the two men were killed while being taken to a location where other POWs were held, and claimed that the perpetrators included AA soldiers, AA militiamen, and members of the anti-junta People’s Defense Force, or PDF.
The incident followed a junta artillery barrage into Kyauktaw’s Kan Sauk village that had killed residents, including relatives of the AA soldiers, the sources said.
They said two men involved in the killing recorded the videos, one of whom shared the clips with residents after returning to Kan Sauk village. A villager sent the clips to a family member working in Malaysia, who posted them to Facebook, where they went viral.
Telecommunications and internet access have been cut in Rakhine state since late 2023, when the AA ended a ceasefire that had been in place since the coup, and RFA was unable to independently verify the social media accounts.
The AA has since gone on to take control of nearly all townships in the state and is now pushing into Myanmar’s heartland.
Attempts by RFA to contact the AA’s Khaing Thu Kha for comment on the killings went unanswered Friday.
Calls for accountability
Ejaz Min Khant, human rights associate at Fortify Rights, told RFA that the torture and execution of civilians or captured enemy soldiers are considered “war crimes.”
“It is crucial to take action against those involved in extrajudicial killings,” he said. “We welcome [that] the AA has acknowledged this and stated they have taken action.”
However, according to Fortify Rights, Khaing Thu Kha’s claim that the killings were retaliation for the deaths of AA family members contradicts what can be heard in the video, where the perpetrators said their commander had ordered them to kill the two POWs.
“If they were ordered to do so, who are their senior officers? What are their ranks? What specific actions have been taken?” Ejaz asked. “This must be clarified transparently.”
He said his group will urge the AA to cooperate with international judicial bodies to conduct an investigation into the incident and plans to monitor and document the army’s actions to prevent similar human rights violations.
The torture and executions drew additional condemnation from Salai William Chin, the general secretary of the Chin National Organization/Chin National Defense Force, another ethnic army battling the military in Chin state, in the northwest.
“It is absolutely unacceptable,” he said, adding that all anti-junta groups must work together to prevent such incidents.
“In the future, as armed opposition groups throughout the country wage war to capture junta camps and towns under junta control, we have to be mindful that this kind of incident should not occur again when we take POWs,” he said. “It is crucial that senior commanders don’t act like [leaders of] the terrorist military junta.”
RFA News
JUNTA-CONTROLLED MYANMAR NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION IS RETURNED TO SENDER
/in NewsIn a blow to the junta’s efforts to claim false legitimacy on the international stage, the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) has confirmed its decision to remove the accreditation status of the junta-controlled Myanmar National Human Rights Commission. Long a proxy and a smokescreen for the military junta to try and whitewash its grave violations of international human rights and humanitarian law, Myanmar civil society welcomes the removal of the MNHRC’s international status. This achievement is a result of years of work by the CSO Working Group on Independent National Human Rights Institution (Burma/Myanmar) (Working Group), of which Progressive Voice is a convener, and its rights-based civil society partners. It establishes a precedent that can be followed by other countries around the world which are faced with defective national human rights institutions (NHRIs).
The Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA) of GANHRI—comprised of NHRIs from throughout the world—recommended in 2023 to conduct a special review of the accreditation status of the MNHRC. This was due to concerns repeatedly raised about its lack of independence and its inability to exercise its mandate effectively, as well as a report from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to the UN Human Rights Council that noted that the MNHRC had “effectively been subsumed under military control, thus eliminating any element of independence and credibility.” Subsequent to this review, GANHRI’s SCA recommended that the MNHRC have its accreditation status removed, pending a one-year period for the MNHRC itself to respond to concerns. This is the second time that the MNHRC had an opportunity to provide evidence that it is compliant with the Paris Principles—the international standards that guide NHRIs—with the first being the special review period. After this recommendation, the MNHRC was interviewed again, but failed to satisfy the SCA. Thus in 2024, the GANHRI-SCA repeated its view and recommendation that it “is not satisfied that the MNHRC has adequately addressed its concerns and therefore reiterates that the MNHRC has not demonstrated its compliance with the minimum requirements of the Paris Principles.” A 20-day appeal period followed, during which the MNHRC lodged an appeal which subsequently failed, and GANHRI’s final decision stands.
There are several grave concerns that the SCA noted, and these reflect the points that have been consistently documented and raised by the Working Group and the Asian NGO Network on National Human Rights Institutions (ANNI). In particular is the complicity of the MNHRC in the junta’s war crimes and crimes against humanity by acting as a shield against further criticism and scrutiny. The GANHRI-SCA pointed to a January 2023 statement by the MNHRC that welcomed the military junta’s release and reduction of sentences of prisoners as “humanitarian” and an “indication of goodwill of the government.” The SCA noted that it “considers that this message of endorsement from the MNHRC, coupled with the absence of public positions on the widespread violations allegedly taking place across the country, provides evidence that the MNHRC is operating in a manner that seriously compromises its independence.” Other pointsmade by the SCA include its concern that the MNHRC has not demonstrated “adequate efforts in addressing human rights violations in a timely manner” and it “has neglected to speak out in a manner that promotes protection for human rights in response to credible allegations of serious and widespread violations during the state of emergency, including attacks on civilians.”
The MNHRC has long had issues with independence since its inception, but since the coup attempt by the junta, it has been a proxy of one of the worst human rights violating militaries in the world, proving itself to be an accessory to the junta’s crimes by defending and promoting its actions. It is telling that the GANHRI-SCA report notes that when interviewed, the MNHRC questioned the “accuracy and thoroughness” of reports by both the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar—a repeat of junta propaganda when its human rights violations are exposed.
The removal of the MNHRC’s status is also a result of many years of hard work, advocacy and campaigning by the Working Group and its partner ANNI. In joint submissions to GANHRI dated 23 February 2023 and 31 May 2023, the Working Group and ANNI have advocated for the removal or suspension of the junta-controlled MNHRC from GANHRI, along with its affiliated regional networks: the Asia Pacific Forum (APF) and the Southeast Asia National Human Rights Institution Forum (SEANF). Therefore, following GANHRI’s decision, the regional and subregional bodies—the APF and the SEANF—must remove the MNHRC from their membership for being non-compliant with the Paris Principles. In fact, the APF uses GANHRI accreditation status as the basis for its own membership criteria and is therefore required to remove the MNHRC from its network.
GANHRI’s removal of the MNHRC is a step in the right direction in terms of paving the way for a future in which the promotion and protection of human rights in Myanmar is strengthened, whilst also hollowing out the military junta’s false claims of legitimacy. It also provides space for the establishment of a new, independent and Paris Principles-compliant national human rights institution that has credibility and the trust of the people in a future federal democratic Myanmar—a longstanding call from Myanmar civil society to the leading revolutionary entities. Given the tragedy and violence that the Myanmar people have experienced and continue to suffer at the hands of a cruel and brutal military junta, a human rights-centered government, with an independent NHRI able to effectively and actively exercise a mandate to protect and promote human rights, is essential for a just and inclusive Myanmar. The decision by GANHRI is therefore a positive move towards this future—a future that the discredited and toothless MNHRC will thankfully not be a part of.
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[1] One year following the 1988 pro-democracy uprising, the former military junta changed the country’s name from Burma to Myanmar overnight. Progressive Voice uses the term ‘Myanmar’ in acknowledgement that most people of the country use this term. However, the deception of inclusiveness and the historical process of coercion by the former State Peace and Development Council military regime into usage of ‘Myanmar’ rather than ‘Burma’ without the consent of the people is recognized and not forgotten. Thus, under certain circumstances, ‘Burma’ is used.
PV