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
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- Myanmar children, monks among dozens killed in heavy airstrikes
- UN chief: Discussing humanitarian aid corridor from Bangladesh to Myanmar
- Rodrigo Roa Duterte makes first appearance before the ICC: confirmation of charges hearing scheduled for 23 September 2025
- Myanmar junta troops massacre 11 villagers, most too old to flee, residents say
Weekly Update 12 July – 17 July 2022
/in HR SituationTerrorist-in-Chief, Min Aung Hlaing, who leads an army guilty of committing war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, visited Russia as ties deepen between the two authoritarian countries. Following the coup-leader’s trip to Moscow, Russian officials announced that it sought to deepen their defence cooperation with Myanmar. This declaration is extremely worrisome given Russia’s own troubling trajectory of suppressing human rights.
Nearly 50 members of Myanmar’s deposed government have been killed since coup
/in NewsThe military says party members are not targeted, but statistics suggest otherwise.
Nearly 50 members of Myanmar’s deposed National League for Democracy (NLD), including three former members of Parliament, have been killed and more than 900 NLD lawmakers have been arrested in the 17 months since the coup, according to a group within the party that documents rights abuses under military rule.
Kyaw Htwe, spokesman for the NLD’s Human Rights Record Group, told RFA Burmese that among the 48 killed, 11 died during detention, eight died in prison, and 29 — including the former MPs — were killed “for no reason.”
“In many villages in Sagaing and Magway regions, we heard reports that [pro-junta forces] set fire to houses of not only NLD members, but also those who had supported the party,” he said of the two areas where junta troops have encountered some of the fiercest resistance to military rule by the armed opposition.
“Residents also say people are getting killed simply for being accused of being members of the party.”
Among the 48 killed, five were women, the NLD group said. Two of the victims were from Kachin state, one from Shan state, 11 from Yangon region, 14 from Mandalay region, seven from Bago region, four from Tanintharyi region, and the remaining nine from Sagaing and Magway regions and Mon state.
The eight people who died in prison included Nyan Win, a long-time member of the NLD who served as the party’s secretary.
One of the three MPs killed was Kyaw Myo Min, who represented Bilin township in the Mon State Assembly. His body was discovered on July 6 near Min Saw village in Kayin state’s Hpa-An township, not long after his arrest.
A colleague of Kyaw Myo Min, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons, told RFA that the military did not even bother to inform the MP’s family of his death.
“His body was found with his hands tied behind his back and the head was separately buried in the mud by the side of the creek,” the colleague said.
“They were so inhuman. It looked like the body was not even buried properly — it seemed as if they just left it there. I think that his head was thrown into the creek and it was covered in mud and leaves during recent heavy rains.”
The other two lawmakers who died were Nyunt Shwe, a member of the Bago Region People’s Assembly and Tin Yi, of the Kyunsu Township People’s Assembly in Tanintharyi region. Nyunt Shwe died in prison of COVID-19 and Tin Yi, who was over 70 years old, died while fleeing arrest.
The 29 people killed “for no reason” included veterans, anti-junta activists and NLD party officials who died at the hands of the pro-military Thway Thauk militia, allegedly composed of ultra-nationalists and members of the military proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party.
Bo Bo Oo, vice chairman of the NLD in Yangon region’s Sanchaung township, told RFA that junta leader Snr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing bears full responsibility for the deaths.
“They targeted the party’s executive members, but ordinary party members and those they accused of being party members, as well as ordinary activists, were also harmed with a vengeance,” he said.
“All this happened because the leader of the military regime is a thug who encourages terror. We are hearing things [about what is happening] that we don’t want to hear. For Myanmar, it is very shameful.”
Bo Bo Oo said it is impossible for any NLD member — from the central level to the village level — to remain at home peacefully amid the current situation.
Hundreds of arrests
According to the NLD’s Human Rights Record Group, at least 920 of the party’s MPs who won seats in Myanmar’s November 2020 general election have been arrested since the coup, including the three who were killed and 109 who remain in custody.
The group’s spokesman, Kyaw Htwe, said around 20 NLD MPs have made pledges to the junta to give up politics, while the remainder of those no longer detained have “fled to safety” — mostly to Myanmar’s remote border regions — because they fear being rearrested and tortured.
Repeated attempts by RFA to contact junta Deputy Minister for Information Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun went unanswered Monday. In response to an RFA inquiry on Oct. 6, 2021, he said the military was “not targeting the NLD,” but that the party’s MPs and other members had been arrested and prosecuted because they were “linked to violence.”
Political analyst Than Soe Naing told RFA that the military wants to “wipe away the NLD party from Myanmar’s political scene forever.”
“Those responsible for the deaths must have been told that it did not matter if NLD party leaders or members died. That’s why we are hearing all these lawless, tragic stories of people being killed with no restraint,” he said.
“I think [the junta is] operating with a policy to arrest, imprison and kill NLD leaders and hardcore members so that it’d be impossible for the party to re-enter Myanmar’s political stage.”
The military seized power in a Feb. 1, 2021, coup, claiming voter fraud led to a landslide victory for the NLD in the country’s November 2020 election. The junta has yet to provide evidence of its claims and has violently suppressed nationwide protests calling for a return to civilian rule.
According to the NLD’s Human Rights Record Group, in addition to the killing and arrest of NLD members, the military has killed 2,636 people and arrested at least 9,469 anti-junta activists since the coup.
https://flo.uri.sh/visualisation/10670978/embed
RFA News
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Military launches airstrikes after soldiers defect to resistance
/in NewsThousands of people were forced to flee as their villages in eastern Depayin Township came under attack last Thursday
Myanmar’s military carried out airstrikes on several villages in Sagaing Township’s Depayin Township last week following the defection of three soldiers, according to local sources.
Thousands of people have fled their homes since Thursday, when the eastern Depayin villages of Mayakan, Nyaung Hla, Namyar, Yin Kyay and Nyaungbintha all came under attack, residents said.
People living in neighbouring Khin-U Township, which is on the eastern side of the Muu River, opposite the area targeted by the airstrikes, said the offensive began at around 1:30 and lasted more than 40 minutes.
“Two helicopters were used to drop soldiers into the area, while two more fired relentlessly. It was brutal, and very loud,” said a resident of Muu Thar, a village on the eastern bank of the river.
Another Khin-U villager told Myanmar Now that the helicopters carrying the reinforcement troops landed in Namyar and Yin Kyay, while Mayakan bore the brunt of the aerial assault.
“They launched an air attack on Mayakan, even though there hasn’t been any recent fighting there,” said the resident of Tataing, a village on the eastern side of the Muu River.
“The soldiers who were transported into the area immediately started attacking the villages nearby,” he added.
The attacks appeared to have been prompted by the recent defection of soldiers stationed in the area.
According to the leader of a local defence force, the incident occurred a week after two soldiers turned themselves in and a day after another defected.
“Three junta soldiers have surrendered to us. One brought his weapons with him, but the other two didn’t,” said Kaung Kin, the leader of a Depayin-based resistance group.
“They said they were forced to torch civilians’ houses for no reason and arrest and execute people without proper evidence that they had done anything wrong. They said they didn’t want to do those things anymore,” he added.
According to a support group for displaced civilians, at least three people, including two children, were injured as they fled the attack. More complete casualty figures were not available, however, as many villagers were still on the run, they added.
Myanmar Now attempted to reach junta officials for comment on the airstrike, but did not receive a response.
Myanmar’s military regime routinely denies targeting civilians in its efforts to crush resistance forces, despite abundant evidence that it does so on an almost daily basis.
The junta also declines to comment on defectors. According to the shadow National Unity Government, nearly 3,000 soldiers have deserted from the military since last year’s coup, with many joining the side of the country’s anti-regime resistance forces.
Myanmar Now News
As many as 15 anti-regime teachers arrested in Myanmar
/in NewsThey include the founder of an online school for students boycotting classes.
Myanmar’s military junta has been rounding up teachers who are members of the Civil Disobedience Movement (CMD) and have been giving online lessons at a school linked to the shadow National Unity Government (NUG).
Kaung for You was set up to educate pupils who are boycotting classes or have been unable to attend school. It offers online education by CDM teachers for around 20,000 children across the country.
“We heard that up to 15 people were arrested in Yangon, Mandalay, Shan state and Thanintharyi region,” a member of the Myanmar Teachers’ Federation (MTF) told RFA on Monday.
“The parents of the students are so worried. I warned Kaung for You school to be careful before the arrests. Anything can happen at any time when [the school] is public,” said the MTF member, who declined to be named for safety reasons.
The arrests took place between July 13 and July 18 and included Kaung for You founder Kaung Thaik Soe, the assistant director for education at Myitthar township in Mandalay region.
The school’s plan to move from online lessons to classroom teaching last Wednesday was halted by the arrests that day of Kaung Thaik Soe and two teachers. The junta announced the arrests three days later.
The school says its website was then hacked, allowing the military council to locate and arrest other teachers.
Students and parents told RFA they were also afraid of being arrested if their names and addresses had also been leaked.
The NUG’s Ministry of Education denounced the arrests as a violation of children’s rights to free education. It said it would offer help to the detained teachers, continue courses for pupils and open an emergency hotline to provide advice and assistance.
Aside from school boycotts, many children in Myanmar have been denied education since the coup on Feb.1, 2021 due to a surge in attacks on schools, teachers and students.
There were at least 260 attacks on schools between May 2021 and April this year, non-profit organization Save the Children said in a report last month.
In April bombs were found in four schools and there were three explosions in or close to schools. There were also 33 recorded cases of educational buildings being set on fire, 10 direct attacks on teachers and 10 schools occupied by the military.
The ruling junta says at least 40 teachers have been killed in demonstrations and fighting between troops and militias.
RFA News
Weekly Update 4 July – 10 July 2022
/in HR SituationHealth workers play an integral role in the fabric of Myanmar society. Health is a human right, and subsequently that right to life is a core principle enshrined in human rights treaties, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And yet – the military junta disregards the value of civilian lives, and has gone as far to destroy health infrastructure and violently assault health workers treating injured protesters or supporters of the pro-democracy
Tension high at Sagaing-Manipur border following murder of Indian nationals
/in NewsDespite public calls that the bodies of the two men—shot dead in Myanmar—be returned to their families in India, a junta spokesperson says they were already cremated
The international border between Sagaing Region and India’s Manipur State has been closed in the aftermath of the murder of two Indian nationals in Myanmar’s territory last week, according to local sources.
The men, P. Mohan, 28, and M. Iyanar, 32, from Manipur’s Moreh town, were killed on July 5 after crossing the border on a shared motorcycle to attend a friend’s birthday party in Saw Bwar Inn village in Sagaing’s Tamu Township.
Multiple media outlets have cited eyewitness testimony that the perpetrators were members of the junta-backed Pyu Saw Htee militia active in the area; they allegedly stopped the men on the road before executing them with gunshots to the head.
“They shot them without saying anything,” a local man from Tamu told Myanmar Now.
The civilian National Unity Government released a statement on July 8 naming at least three Pyu Saw Htee members allegedly responsible, and offering condolences to the victims’ families.
“This case is clearly one of the many issues that highlight the fact that [the] Myanmar issue is not just an internal affair but a safeguard for all, which threatens the security and peace of the countries in the region,” it said.
More than 2,000 locals in Moreh staged a protest the day after the killings, demanding that the bodies of the two men—members of the ethnic Tamil community—be returned to their families. The demonstration escalated until the mob torched and destroyed a Myanmar junta police outpost on the border that afternoon.
On July 7, one day after the retaliation by the residents of Moreh, Myanmar military council spokesperson Gen Zaw Min Tun claimed in army-run media that the Indian nationals had been assassinated by members of the anti-junta People’s Defence Force (PDF) and that an investigation was underway.
He added that the bodies of the two men had been cremated in Tamu’s cemetery at 7am that day because the military authorities reportedly could not locate their families.
Tamu Township’s PDF chapter released its own statement later that evening denying involvement in the killings and backing local claims that the Pyu Saw Htee were responsible.
Other guerrilla groups based in Tamu released similar statements condemning the murders and naming the pro-junta militia as the perpetrators.
Moreh_locals.jpeg
Indian security forces are pictured near the July 6 protest mob that demanded the bodies of the murder victims be returned to Moreh (Supplied)
Tension remained high at the border at the time of reporting, with locals barred from moving between Tamu and Moreh and trade coming to a near halt, residents said.
“We haven’t been able to do any work in the area since [the murders]. We can’t even cross the border. The Indian authorities have not been letting anyone in since July 5,” a local woman said on the condition of anonymity.
Local authorities in Moreh have reportedly issued an order banning gatherings of more than five people, leading to the closure of shops.
Those across the border in Tamu added that they were concerned about the safety of the thousands of displaced people from Myanmar staying on the Indian side of the border, having fled military raids in Sagaing.
The local man from Tamu said that there was no longer any guarantee of safety in the region.
“The Myanmar refugees staying in Indian territory don’t even dare to leave their temporary shelters. It’s very worrying,” he said.
Myanmar Now News