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
- Nearly 500 cases of sexual assault against women in Myanmar’s conflict
- Two women killed in airstrike on Oakkan village, Kawlin Township in northwest Myanmar
- Political prisoner dies due to lack of adequate medical care in Myanmar’s Dawei Prison
- Patterns of Military Oppression In 2023-2024
- Sexual abuse and violence worsens in Myanmar factories: activists
Myanmar junta raid and burn 20 villages over 3 days in Sagaing region
/in NewsMore than 10,000 fled their homes in Tigyaing township ahead of the raids.
Junta troops stormed 20 villages in Tigyaing township over three days this week, burning down over 400 houses as their arson campaign continued in Myanmar’s Sagaing region.
Local residents told RFA around 300 troops took part in the campaign, prompting more than 10,000 people to abandon their homes ahead of the raids.
The latest wave of arson attacks began early on Tuesday morning when troops stormed and burned Aung Thar Kone village. Locals said more than 1,000 people abandoned three nearby villages on hearing about the raid.
Troops continued their raids on Wednesday and Thursday, burning homes in villages – including 40 houses in Lay Thar Kone and Inn Tein – forcing thousands more residents to flee.
A local, who declined to be named for security reasons, told RFA a soldier shot and killed a man in his 80s, identified as Sein Maung, after entering Inn Tein village Thursday.
“He was planting crops in the field. He might have gone to see his sons and been shot dead. They said the junta soldier took 400,000 Myanmar Kyat (U.S.$190) from him,” the local said.
Junta spokesman for Sagaing region Aye Hlaing, who is also the military regime’s regional social affairs minister, told RFA he was unaware of any killings or arson and was not authorized to speak on such issues for security reasons.
Fighting has intensified in Myanmar’s northernmost region in the 22 months since the military toppled the country’s democratically elected government. The fighting has forced people from their homes leading to 616,500 being displaced in Sagaing since the coup, according to a Dec. 3 statement by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
RFA News
Junta to file criminal charges against detained Kachin reverend
/in NewsOfficials from the Kachin Baptist Convention are summoned to the Northern Regional Command in Myitkyina and reportedly shown video ‘evidence’ of Dr Hkalam Samson’s ‘crimes’
The junta is expected to soon file criminal charges against the detained former chair of the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) Dr Hkalam Samson, a representative of the organisation said on Wednesday.
Kachin religious leader Dr Samson was arrested at Mandalay’s Tada-U Airport on Monday and reportedly sent to the military’s Northern Regional Command headquarters in Myitkyina, Kachin State. He has not been heard from since.
KBC’s deputy secretary Lahpai Zau Ra said in a video message posted on the organisation’s Facebook page that the junta’s minister of border affairs and state security summoned four of the organisation’s officials to the Myitkyina military base on Tuesday. There, he reportedly informed them that Dr Samson would soon be facing charges.
Lahpai Zau Ra said that the border affairs minister did not elaborate on which laws the reverend had allegedly violated, but it was understood that the charges could be related to the content of his lectures and religious sermons.
“He showed us several videos as ‘evidence’ of the reverend’s ‘crimes.’ Some of them were meeting records,” Lahpai Zau Ra said in the video posted to KBC’s Facebook page.
KBC said it has formed a committee dedicated to working for Dr Samson’s release.
13 Rohingya, believed to be human trafficking victims, found dead near Yangon
/in NewsThe incident comes a week after 68 Rohingya men and women were arrested in the same area while being transported in a truck
The bodies of 13 Rohingya men and boys were found dumped on the side of a road in a northern Yangon suburb on Monday morning, two sources told Myanmar Now.
The victims, who were estimated to be between the ages of 16 and 20, were found dead near Ngwe Nant Thar, a village in Hlegu Township about 25km north of Yangon’s city centre, said a local regime authority who spoke on condition of anonymity.
“There were no injuries found on their bodies. The cause of their deaths is still unknown. The bodies were sent to the Yangon General Hospital and we are still waiting for the autopsy results,” the official told Myanmar Now on Monday afternoon.
The bodies were all dumped along a road less than a kilometre from Ngwe Nant Thar, he added.
A police source familiar with the case said that while the victims were known to be Rohingya, it was unclear where they had travelled from or how they got to Ngwe Nant Thar.
“I was informed that they were smuggled inside a vehicle and died due to a lack of oxygen,” the police source said.
Myanmar Now was unable to independently verify this information.
Most of Myanmar’s more than one million Rohingya have fled the country in recent years due to ethnic cleansing campaigns by the military. They have been subject to restrictions on their freedom of movement and other basic rights for decades.
These restrictions have made them vulnerable to human traffickers, who promise them better living conditions and work opportunities in Malaysia and other countries in the region.
Many are arrested in transit as they make the journey from Rakhine State to the Thai-Myanmar border or coastal areas in the country’s south. They are then charged with immigration offences that carry sentences of at least two years in prison.
On November 28, Radio Free Asia’s Burmese-language service reported that 54 men and 14 women of Rohingya ethnicity were arrested at a checkpoint in Hlegu while travelling inside a truck.
Myanmar Now News
Karenni forces capture soldiers linked to last year’s Christmas Eve massacre
/in NewsThe soldiers belonged to a unit that arrived in Karenni State just days before it witnessed one of the worst mass killings since the coup
Four soldiers accused of taking part in one of the worst atrocities committed by Myanmar’s military since it seized power nearly two years ago were captured in battle on Saturday, according to a Karenni resistance group.
The Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF) said that the soldiers—a sergeant, two corporals, and a private—were taken prisoner following a clash in Karenni (Kayah) State’s Demoso Township that also left 20 regime troops dead.
The group said that the captives were members of Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 108, a unit under the command of the notorious Light Infantry Division (LID) 66.
The LIB 108 troops were transferred to Karenni State from their base in Ayeyarwady Region’s Danubyu Township on December 19 of last year—just days before at least 40 civilians, including children, were burned to death in LID 66 custody near the village of Moso on Christmas Eve.
The 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
According to KNDF spokesperson Khu Reedu, who is also the group’s Secretary 3, the soldiers captured in the village of Dungkame (Dawkame) on Saturday admitted to their involvement in the massacre.
“They confessed to the crime themselves,” said Khu Reedu, adding that the prisoners would be handed over to the Karenni State Police (KSP), a resistance law enforcement agency, and detained in accordance with international law.
Myanmar Now was unable to speak to the prisoners or regime officials regarding the KNDF spokesperson’s claims.
Investigators who inspected the site of the mass killing said they found the charred remains of 26 men and five women, including two aid workers, among more than a dozen vehicles consumed by fire. Many more bodies were reduced to ash and collected in bags.
Local residents and resistance forces accused the LID 66 troops of deliberately starting the inferno, but the regime claimed that it was caused by the accidental explosion of fuel containers loaded on some of the vehicles.
The KSP and the shadow National Unity Government’s Ministry of Human Rights said that plans were underway to prosecute regime officials for the incident, but no details about the progress of the proceedings were available.
Myanmar Now News
Confiscation Destruction of Property (Cartoon Animation)
/in Cartoon Animation, Multimedia, News, Video NewsSTATEMENT CALLING FOR THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT TO STOP ODA TO MYANMAR
/in Member statements, Press Releases and StatementsDecember 5, 2022
H.E. Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister of Japan
H.E. Yoshimasa Hayashi, Foreign Minister of Japan
Statement Calling for the Japanese Government to Stop ODA to Myanmar
ayus:Network of Buddhists Volunteers on International Cooperation
Friends of the Earth Japan
Japan International Volunteer Center (JVC)
Network Against Japan Arms Trade (NAJAT)
Mekong Watch
Since the attempted coup by the military in Myanmar on February 1, 2021, there have been numerous reports of murder, sexual violence, forced disappearance, and torture by the military as well as security forces under military command. As of November 18, 2022, at least 2,519 people have been killed by the Myanmar military. This figure includes at least 191 children. Further, among those who have protested the attempted seizure of power by the Myanmar military, more than 16,275 people have been arbitrarily detained or have had arrest warrants issued by the illegitimate junta. Across Myanmar, there are an estimated 1.44 million internally displaced people (as of November 1), about one million of whom were newly displaced after the attempted coup.
By 2020, the Japanese government provided JPY 356.51 billion in total in grant aid as well as JPY 109.94 billion in total in technical assistance to Myanmar, and promised JPY 1,378.47 billion in loan aid (figure based on loan agreements). Regarding its policy on these Official Development Assistance (ODA) after the attempted coup, on May 21, 2021, then Foreign Minister Motegi stated that “…if the situation continues in this way, it is possible that we will be compelled to review ODA and that companies may become unable to provide investment even if they want to,” and that “as a country that has provided various forms of support for the democratization of Myanmar, and as a friend, Japan believes that we must clearly convey such points to Myanmar, and we have actually done so.” However, since then, despite the worsening human rights crisis in Myanmar, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has simply repeated that it would “comprehensively consider what measures may be effective while viewing the situation of the efforts made by Japan and the international community” in response to questions in the Diet and inquiries from citizens for over a year and a half, and has not taken any concrete measures to date.
A large part of ODA to Myanmar is loan aid (yen loans) for development of a special economic zone and surrounding infrastructure, construction of roads, and repairing railroads, as well as grant aid and technical assistance in the education, health, and agriculture sectors and aid provided through NGOs. It has been made clear by the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission that in Myanmar that companies owned or controlled by the military conduct many business operations, and that revenues from those operations are a source of funds for the military, supporting their atrocities. In consideration of such findings, since the attempted coup, civil society organizations have consistently urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to investigate whether ODA projects are financing the military and to publish the findings from such an investigation. So far, a complaint by a local stakeholder has indicated that in the construction of Bago Bridge, a yen loan project, a company related to Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) is providing materials for the bridge. MEC is one of the military enterprises that the above-mentioned Fact-Finding Mission recommended to the international community not to enter into or remain in a business relationship with. However, neither the Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor JICA has publicly explained the relationship between ODA projects and military-related enterprises. Because the Japanese government has continued ODA without any explanation, at the many protests that have been organized by Myanmar people living in Japan and Japanese civil society in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, concerns have been expressed regularly about how the flow of ODA funds may benefit the military.
Even when ODA projects do not have business ties to the military, infrastructure that is built by ODA such as roads may be used in Myanmar military operations. Karen Peace Support Network has demanded that construction of a bridge in a conflict zone in the East-West Economic Corridor be suspended. Further, Human Rights Watch has pointed out that two out of three vessels provided under the 500 million yen Economic and Social Development Programme, signed on September 12, 2016 with Myanmar, was used for military purposes in Rakhine State on September 14, 2022. As long as armed clashes in the ethnic minority regions and crackdown on citizens continue, the economic ripple effect of large infrastructure projects such as those implemented by yen loans will not extend beyond a few companies, and there is little possibility that such projects will contribute to the improvement of living standards of the people in Myanmar overall. Given this, it lacks meaning to invest Japan’s public funds in infrastructure projects in Myanmar under the current circumstances.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in the Diet that as of April 2021, 34 ODA projects were being implemented, totaling JPY739.6 billion based on figures in loan agreements. This was confirmed at a meeting with NGOs. We share the concern of Myanmar citizens that by continuing so many projects worth so much money even after the attempted coup, the Japanese government is giving implicit support to the military junta.
One year and ten months have passed since the attempted coup, but the Myanmar military continues to commit grave human rights abuses that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. We express deep concern that Japan may be complicit in the human rights abuses by the military by providing ODA to the benefit of the military. We strongly demand that the Japanese government suspend all loan aid currently being implemented under the control of the Myanmar military and that it listens to the National Unity Government (NUG), Ethnic Revolutionary Organizations (EROs) and local Myanmar CSOs to effectively support the will of the people of Myanmar.
Endorsed by the following organizations:
1 Action Committee for Democracy Development (Coalition of 14 grassroots networks) Myanmar
2 Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Center Japan
3 Asian Community Center 21 Japan
4 Asian Health Institute Japan
5 Association of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters Myanmar
6 Burma Campaign UK United Kingdom
7 Burmese Relief Center Japan Japan
8 Burmese Women’s Union Myanmar
9 Campaign for a New Myanmar USA
10 Earth Tree Japan
11 Equality Myanmar Myanmar
12 ETOs Watch Coalition Thailand
13 Family Based Learning Network of Farmers for Agrarian Reform (FALFAR) Myanmar
14 Federation of Workers’ Union of the Burmese Citizen in Japan (FWUBC) Japan
15 Friends Against Dictatorship (FAD) Thailand
16 Future Light Center Myanmar
17 Future Thanlwin Myanmar
18 Gen-Z Myanmar Support Team Myanmar
19 Generation Wave Myanmar
20 Grass-root People Myanmar
21 Human Rights Foundation of Monland Myanmar
22 India For Myanmar Myanmar
23 International Campaign for the Rohingya USA
24 Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES) Japan
25 Japan Tropical Forest Action Network (JATAN) Japan
26 Kachin Women’s Association Thailand Myanmar
27 Karen Human Rights Group Myanmar
28 Karen Peace Support Network Myanmar
29 Karen Women’s Organization Myanmar
30 Karenni National Women’s Organization Myanmar
31 Keng Tun Youth Myanmar
32 Let’s Help Each Other Myanmar
33 Metta Campaign Mandalay Myanmar
34 Myanmar News Now!! Japan
35 Myanmar People Alliance (Shan State) Myanmar
36 Network for Human Rights Documentation Burma (ND-Burma) Myanmar
37 Network for Indonesian Democracy (NINDJA) Japan
38 No Business With Genocide USA
39 Non-for profit Organization Music Dream Creation Japan
40 Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica Myanmar
41 Pacific Asia Resoure Center Japan
42 Progressive Voice Myanmar
43 Project SEVANA South-East Asia Thailand
44 Save and Care Organization for Ethnic Women at Border Areas Myanmar
45 Second Tap Root Myanmar
46 Shan MATA Myanmar
47 SHARE(Services for the Health in Asian & African Regions) Japan
48 Sinapis Japan
49 Sisters 2 Sisters Myanmar
50 Southern Youth Development Organization Myanmar
51 Spirit in Education Movement (SEM) Thailand
52 Ta’ang Legal Aid Myanmar
53 Tanintharyi MATA Myanmar
54 The Free Burma Campaign (South Africa) (FBC(SA)) Myanmar
55 The Mekong Butterfly Thailand
56 Thint Myat Lo Thu Myar Organization Myanmar
57 U.S. Campaign for Burma United States
58 WE21 Japan Japan
59 Women’s Democratic Club, Femin Japan
Contact:
Mekong Watch
3F Aoki Bldg., Taito 1-12-11, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-0016 Japan
Phone: +81-3-3832-5034
E-mail: contact@mekongwatch.org
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