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.
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- Human Rights Situation weekly update (September 8 to 14, 2024)
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- Red Cross chief calls for greater aid access after visit to Myanmar
ASEAN leaders call for measurable progress on Myanmar peace plan
/in NewsThe Southeast Asian bloc’s meeting in Cambodia was under pressure to show results.
ASEAN leaders called Friday for measurable progress in their peace plan for Myanmar, amid growing criticism over the Southeast Asian bloc’s failure to stem the deepening conflict in one of its 10 member states.
Meeting at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Cambodia, the group reaffirmed their commitment to the Five Point Consensus that was agreed to in April 2021 and aims to bring peace and restore democracy to Myanmar following the military coup against the elected government that has spawned a deepening civil conflict.
A statement emerging from the summit in Phnom Penh called on ASEAN Foreign Ministers to establish a specific timeline for implementation of a plan that includes “concrete, practical and measurable indicators” of progress. ASEAN reserved the right to review Myanmar’s representation at its meetings.
The call for tangible progress comes as human rights groups assail ASEAN’s failure to pressure the Myanmar junta, which has largely ignored the Five Point Consensus and resisted dialogue with representatives of the civilian administration it ousted. Instead, the military has dubbed many of its key political opponents as terrorists or outlaws and waged a scorched earth campaign in the Burmese heartland.
CREDIT: AP/Apunam Nath
Earlier Friday, Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo expressed “deep disappointment” about the worsening situation in Myanmar. Indonesia is set to take over the rotating chairmanship of ASEAN from Cambodia, which is nearing the end of its 12-month stint.
Myanmar’s coup leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing was excluded from the summit, and Widodo told reporters he wanted to extend a ban on Myanmar junta representatives, who are barred from meetings of ASEAN leaders and foreign ministers, The Associated Press reported.
Friday’s statement, however, stopped short of barring the junta from attending other ASEAN meetings.
“Indonesia is deeply disappointed the situation in Myanmar is worsening,” Widodo said. “We must not allow the situation in Myanmar to define ASEAN.”
Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. also called on Myanmar to abide by and implement the Five Point Consensus.
Analysts say there are clear fault lines among ASEAN’s 10 members on how to deal with the Myanmar crisis – with Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore reportedly taking a tougher line than nations such as Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.
Nevertheless, as Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen kicked off Friday’s proceedings, he asserted: “Our Motto ‘ASEAN: One Vision, One Identity, One Community’ still holds true to its values today.”
He was speaking at the opening ceremony of what were actually two summits in one day. ASEAN is required to hold two leaders’ meetings a year but countries that don’t have the cash to pay for separate meetings are allowed to hold them back-to-back.
Also on the agenda were security issues, regional growth and geopolitics.
Marcos seemed to urge caution over global powers gaining further influence in the region. Leaders of strategic rivals the U.S. and China – President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Li Keqiang – are joining summit meetings in Phnom Penh this week.
“It is imperative that we reassert ASEAN Centrality. This in the face of geopolitical dynamics and tensions in the region and the proliferation of Indo-Pacific engagements, including the requests of our dialogue partners for closer partnerships,” he said.
Marcos’ comments came a day after top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, Daniel Kritenbrink, said Saturday’s ASEAN-U.S. Summit would try to promote the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, whose signatories include the Philippines. That framework is widely seen as Washington’s effort to counter China’s investment in infrastructure and industry in Southeast Asia and beyond.
“ASEAN is clearly at the center of the region’s architecture, and the U.S.’s strategic partnership with ASEAN is at the heart of our Indo-Pacific strategy,” Kritenbrink said.
The 10 ASEAN members will still need international trade and investment partners as the world recovers from the impact of COVID-19. Hun Sen was cautious about expectations of a strong post-pandemic recovery.
“While we are now enjoying the fruits of our efforts and moving towards sustainable growth we should always be vigilant as the current socio-economic situation in ASEAN as well as in the whole world remains fragile and divided,” he said.
But he cited forecasts that economic growth in ASEAN would reach 5.3% this year and 4.2% in 2023, which he called “impressive compared to the rest of the world.”
ASEAN leaders also held talks Friday with China, South Korea and the United Nations. On Saturday they meet with India, Australia, Japan, Canada and the U.S. Next week, there will be further summits of leaders of the G-20 in Indonesia, and APEC in Thailand.
Indonesia is next to take the ASEAN chair and it may be hosting an 11th member. Leaders issued a statement Friday saying they agreed in principle to East Timor joining the bloc.
RFA News
MYANMAR: ASEAN LEADERS MUST TAKE DECISIVE STEPS, STOP AIDING AND ABETTING JUNTA’S ATROCITY CRIMES
/in Member statements(Jakarta, 9 November 2022) — ASEAN must stop aiding and abetting the Myanmar military’s atrocity crimes and take concrete action to exclude all political and non-political representatives of the Myanmar military junta from attending ASEAN summits, meetings and activities, said Progressive Voice (PV) and the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA).
Justice For Myanmar, a group of activists, found that the Myanmar military junta had recently been appointed chair of the ASEAN Air Chiefs Conference (AACC). General Tun Aung led the junta’s delegation where they assumed the AACC Chairmanship for the coming year.
General Tun Aung is a former director of the military-owned Myanma Economic Holdings Ltd and is sanctioned by the UK and Canada. Just yesterday, in its fifth round of sanctions, the EU also sanctioned General Tun Aung among other individuals and an entity linked to the Myanmar military.
Justice For Myanmar’s findings come just days before the ASEAN Summit, which is set to take place on 10 – 13 November in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
“By allowing the Myanmar military junta to chair the ASEAN Air Chiefs Conference, ASEAN is violating the Five-Point Consensus to cease the ongoing violence, doing the opposite of ensuring regional stability. ASEAN is becoming further complicit in the junta’s war crimes and crimes against humanity by emboldening the military junta,” said Khin Ohmar of Progressive Voice.
“General Tun Aung is a sanctioned individual, and the crimes being committed by the military under his command are well known. Instead of holding General Tun Aung accountable for war crimes, ASEAN is rolling out a carpet for him to be in charge of the regional body that aims for greater partnership between air forces. ASEAN must stop aiding and abetting the junta’s atrocity crimes. Top leaders of ASEAN must take decisive action at the upcoming Summit to exclude both political and non-political junta representatives from all ministerial and related meetings and activities. This should include the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children (ACWC) and the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR),” said Khin Ohmar.
“ASEAN’s dialogue partners, EU, Australia, New Zealand, US, Japan and South Korea must immediately sanction the Air Force Chief,” said the rights groups.
In its most recent attack, the Myanmar military carried out airstrikes targeting the Kachin people gathered at a music festival on 23 October, reportedly killing at least 80 people and injuring more than 100 others. In September, the military also launched airstrikes on a school in session in Sagaing Region, killing at least 11 children.
Over 2,400 people have been killed by the junta since its attempted coup in February 2021; this number only continues to climb.[1]
The junta also continues to co-chair the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus Experts’ Working Group (ADMM-Plus EWG) on Counter Terrorism, together with Russia.
In July, 448 civil society organizations sent an open letter urging members of the ADMM-Plus EWG on Counter Terrorism to boycott the meeting. Australia, New Zealand, US, Japan and South Korea did not attend. Despite ASEAN dialogue partners distancing themselves from the meeting, with the US specifically urging partners to use the mechanism for defence cooperation and “not to deliver propaganda,” ASEAN has allowed the junta to take control of the group’s website and use it as a platform to spread disinformation and propaganda, according to Justice For Myanmar.
“These instances are yet more examples of why the international community must no longer rely on ASEAN and its Five Point Consensus to provide solutions for the crisis in Myanmar. If ASEAN leaders want to stop aiding and abetting atrocity crimes and hope to gain any semblance of credibility, they must exclude the junta from its meetings. They must recognise and work with the National Unity Government and urge action from the UN Security Council,” said FORUM-ASIA.
The groups slammed ASEAN’s response to the crisis, which effectively emboldened the junta to carry out its war of terror. On 27 October, ASEAN foreign ministers concluded a special meeting on Myanmar by opting to retain the Five Point Consensus, which the Myanmar military has constantly defied.[2] Two days after the airstrike, the ASEAN Chair released a statement calling on “one with significant power” to cease its violence, not only falling short of holding the junta accountable but not even explicitly naming them.
“The human rights and humanitarian crisis in Myanmar pose a threat to regional stability; it is not merely an “internal affair”. ASEAN must refrain from legitimising the military junta: stop giving a seat to them at its summits and meetings. It should instead engage with the National Unity Government and support civil society groups,” said FORUM-ASIA.
The groups called on ASEAN leaders to develop a concrete plan of action that includes clear benchmarks and indicators of success to realistically measure progress, in a joint open letter signed by 505 organizations.[3]
“We urge the international community to increase tighter economic and diplomatic sanctions on the Myanmar military, including imposing a ban on the sale of aviation fuel to the junta to reduce its ability to carry out airstrikes on civilians. A comprehensive arms embargo with effective enforcement mechanisms is urgently needed to cut off the junta’s access to the weapons it is using indiscriminately,” said the groups.
[1] https://aappb.org/?p=23257
[2] http://l.forum-asia.org/Beyond.FPC
[3] https://progressivevoicemyanmar.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022.10_OpenLetter_ASEAN_SE_FINAL.pdf
— END —
Progressive Voice is a participatory rights-based policy research and advocacy organisation rooted in civil society, that maintains strong networks and relationships with grassroots organisations and community-based organisations throughout Myanmar. https://progressivevoicemyanmar.org/
The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) is a network of 85 member organisations across 23 countries, mainly in Asia. Founded in 1991, FORUM-ASIA works to strengthen movements for human rights and sustainable development through research, advocacy, capacity development and solidarity actions in Asia and beyond. It has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, and consultative relationship with the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights. The FORUM-ASIA Secretariat is based in Bangkok, with offices in Jakarta, Geneva and Kathmandu. www.forum-asia.org
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One civilian killed, village destroyed in repeated Myanmar military raids in upper Sagaing
/in NewsA man with an intellectual disability is found murdered after a junta attack that wiped out most of his Mingin Township village’s remaining homes
A junta force raiding villages in Sagaing Region’s Mingin Township reportedly killed a local man on Tuesday amid the assaults on the area, known as Taung Dwin Chaung.
That day, the unit of Myanmar army soldiers and allied Pyu Saw Htee militia members who had been occupying the village of Kyaw targeted Kone Maw, more than one mile away. There, they torched nearly 30 homes and murdered 55-year-old Htay Lin, who had an intellectual disability, according to members of a local anti-junta defence team.
The troops went on to burn 14 more buildings in Kyauk Maw village, one-quarter mile from Kone Maw, including a structure within a primary school compound, the Tawng Dwin People’s Defence Force-Mingin (TDPDF) spokesperson said.
Myint Myat Thu, the group’s information officer, told Myanmar Now that the military column first shot heavy artillery at the community and also looted a number of homes.
“Twelve of the 14 houses in question were reduced to ashes. They then ransacked the village and took everything that was valuable,” he said.
The TDPDF attacked the raiding column with heavy and light weapons at around 2:30pm.
Kone Maw, which once had 100 households, had already been attacked by the junta in June, at which time several homes were torched. The second arson assault on Tuesday resulted in the village being almost completely destroyed, according to locals.
For nearly one year, junta forces have been raiding the Taung Dwin Chaung region, an area of Mingin home to more than 35 villages. During that time, some 30 troops have been consistently present in Kyaw, which has become a base from which the soldiers provide combat training and arms to villagers who joined their militias.
“They also raided nearby villages, stole motorcycles and sold them for money and killed the cows and pigs for food,” the TDPDF’s Myint Myat Thu said. “They also seized rice and oil from the civilians, as well as other property. Five cows were taken just recently—while four of them were released, they kept one.”
The TDPDF has said that it remains outgunned by the military, and at the time of reporting, claimed to be in possession of one assault rifle, a number of daggers, and handmade muskets and mortars.
Myanmar Now News
Junta shell kills a woman and injures her husband and baby in Sagaing region
/in NewsTroops stormed another village in the same township the following day, torching houses.
A mortar shell fired by junta troops killed a woman and injured two family members when it struck their home in Wetlet township in Myanmar’s Sagaing region, according to a local who declined to be named for safety reasons.
The troops fired heavy artillery at Shein Ma Kar village on Monday night, the resident told RFA.
“Two shells hit the southeast corner of the village and two shells hit the north,” the local said. “When a shell landed on a house near the hospital and the football field, a woman … was hit and died. Her husband was also injured. Half of their child’s face was torn and she lost an eye. Their house also burned down. The shells were fired even though there was no fighting [with local People’s Defense Forces].”
The woman, 33, was identified as Ka China Ma and her husband, also in his thirties, was named as Thaung Myint Oo. The baby girl, aged around one-year-old, had not yet been named by the family.
Locals said that a military column of about 50 soldiers also raided Pi Tauk Chon village near Shein Ma Kar on Tuesday morning, set fire to houses and then returned to Wetlet township. RFA has not been able to verify their claims.
Nearly 6,000 residents from 10 villages in the township fled their homes during nearly four weeks of junta raids on Wetlet last month, according to locals.
The village attacks came as local People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) stormed the Shwe Pan Kone village police station in the western part of Wetlet township. The military fired on them from a helicopter gunship, killing a woman from a nearby village in the process.
It has been a brutal month for people living in Sagaing region. Troops killed four villagers from Monywa township during five days of fighting with PDFs at the start of November, forcing more than 3,000 villagers to flee their homes.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma)2,420 civilians have been killed by the junta since the Feb., 2021 coup.
RFA News
Elderly man, child killed as Myanmar junta launches mortar shells at Rakhine State village
/in NewsThe military is using combat drones and heavy weapons in intensifying attacks on villages in Kyauktaw Township, the Arakan Army says
An elderly man and a child were killed during indiscriminate shelling by the Myanmar military on Friday morning in Rakhine State’s Kyauktaw Township, according to locals.
They said that the heavy artillery fire was an act of retaliation in response to the Arakan Army’s (AA) ambush of two junta vessels on the Kaladan River at 9am.
The ethnic armed organisation reportedly intercepted the boats around two miles outside of Kyauktaw town. Nearby military bases then began firing heavy and light weapons into the surrounding villages along the Kaladan, residents told Myanmar Now.
Some five mortars exploded in Shwe Pyi, a village six miles northeast of the town, a local said. Maung Tu Chay, 86, and an eight-year-old boy named Aung Min Naing were killed in blasts.
“The elderly man died soon after he arrived at a hospital and the child was killed when more shells hit,” said the resident, who described the shelling as unprovoked, and insisted that no fighting had taken place near his village.
Other civilians were said to have been injured in the attack, and at least one house damaged.
“We don’t dare to go outside the village and look around. We are hiding in bunkers now,” another villager told Myanmar Now by phone on Friday afternoon.
In Kyauktaw town, schools and businesses closed due to the weapons fire, residents said.
Shells.jpeg
Fragments of bombs seen after a junta drone strike in Tanintharyi Region’s Palaw Township on October 13 (Photo: Palaw K-PDF)
On Monday night, the Kyauktaw-based Military Operations Command (MOC) No. 9 also fired artillery into the area that killed a family of three, according to locals.
A Tuesday statement by the AA that the MOC and Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 374 had used heavy artillery and drones to in attacks on the township on October 28.
The following morning, AA troops clashed with those from the junta’s forces for around 20 minutes near Yoke Thar village, allegedly causing five Myanmar Army casualties. The AA said that the military then dropped bombs on the area at 2pm using drones, damaging a monastery.
Drone strikes were also reportedly carried out in Buthidaung and Rathedaung townships in January, the AA said, noting that the military’s use of the devices in Rakhine State dates back to intense periods of fighting in 2020. The group confiscated an Israeli-made Skylark I-LEX combat drone in Rathedaung in June of that year.
Other ethnic armed organisations, including the Karen National Union, have accused the Myanmar army of surveilling their bases in southeastern Myanmar with drones since 2018; drones were also seen flying over internally displaced persons camps in territory controlled by the Restoration Council of Shan State in 2020.
A military council spokesperson confirmed the armed forces’ use of the devices at a press conference on January 23.
Spy_drone.jpeg
AA members hold an Israeli-made Skylark I-LEX combat drone confiscated in Rathedaung Township in June 2020 (Arakan Army)
Myanmar Now News
Political prisoner hospitalised after beating by criminal convicts
/in NewsThe victim was also severely beaten by prison authorities after taking part in a Silent Strike protest in Insein Prison late last year
A political prisoner being held in Yangon’s Insein Prison had to have his jaw wired shut after it was shattered during a beating by criminal convicts, according to a prison source.
The prisoner, Hlaing Nyi (also known as Kyaw Thut Myint), is still being treated at the prison hospital for his injuries, said the source, who was unable to say when the incident occurred.
Hlaing Nyi, who has been in regime custody since his arrest on March 27, 2021, for allegedly attacking junta personnel with a bomb, reportedly got involved in a dispute with another inmate while they were hanging their clothes out to dry.
To resolve the issue, he went to another prisoner regarded as the leader of the prison’s criminal convicts. After he was accused of being disrespectful towards this individual, a number of prisoners started punching and kicking him, the source said.
Hlaing_nyi.jpeg
Hlaing Nyi, right, seen in a military report about his arrest on March 27, 2021
Hlaing Nyi was then moved to another cell, and only later—after several of his friends said that he was complaining of dizziness and disorientation—was he admitted to the prison hospital, said the source.
“His mouth is wrapped in wires now, so he can’t eat solid food. He has to rely on fluids,” said the source, who added that Hlaing Nyi was expected to remain in this condition for around 45 days.
Hlaing Nyi was also one of 89 Insein prisoners who were brutally beaten for taking part in a Silent Strike protest against military rule in late 2021.
Late last month, prison authorities also cracked down on 21 prisoners who offered alms in memory of four activists executed in July.
All of the prisoners were tortured, and their four leaders—Ye Yint Ko, Ye Yint Bo, Wa Thone San and Han Thar—were placed in solitary confinement and forced to do hard labour, sources told Myanmar Now.
The situation inside Insein Prison has been tense since October 19, when an explosionthere killed eight people, including prison officers and the relatives of prisoners.
On Monday, prison authorities lifted a ban on sending packages to inmates imposed in the wake of that attack, but relatives of prisoners say that strict new security measures remain in place.
In addition to having to present household registration papers and other documents before being allowed into the prison compound with parcels of food, medicine or books for prisoners, family members must now go through a second round of examinations once they get inside, relatives said.
On Thursday, hundreds of people were seen waiting outside the prison in the rain due to delays caused by the new rules, residents of the area told Myanmar Now.
Myanmar Now News