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On World Refugee Day, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland Calls for an Immediate End to the Targeting of Civilians by the Military Junta

June 20, 2023/in Member statements, Resources

20 June, 2023 On World Refugee Day, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) condemns the military junta’s ongoing violence perpetrated against innocent civilians in Southeastern Burma. Since the attempted coup on 1 February, the Burma Army has escalated its combat operations in HURFOM-targeted documentation areas of southern Karen State, Mon State and the Tanintharyi […]

OPEN LETTER: DON PRAMUDWINAI .. “DON’T INTERFERE” “DO NOT ESCALATE VIOLENCE IN OUR COUNTRY”

June 18, 2023/in Member statements, Press Releases and Statements

June 18, 2023 We, representatives of Myanmar civil society organizations, strongly condemn the secretive meeting which includes the illegal Myanmar military junta organized by the outgoing Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai of the caretaker Government of Thailand on Sunday 18 June 2023. We demand the caretaker government cancels the meeting immediately. This is a complete affront […]

On World Refugee Day, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland Calls for an Immediate End to the Targeting of Civilians by the Military Junta

June 20, 2023/in Member statements, Resources

OPEN LETTER: DON PRAMUDWINAI .. “DON’T INTERFERE” “DO NOT ESCALATE VIOLENCE IN OUR COUNTRY”

June 18, 2023/in Member statements, Press Releases and Statements

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On World Refugee Day, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland Calls for an Immediate End to the Targeting of Civilians by the Military Junta

June 20, 2023/in Member statements, Resources

20 June, 2023

On World Refugee Day, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) condemns the military junta’s ongoing violence perpetrated against innocent civilians in Southeastern Burma. Since the attempted coup on 1 February, the Burma Army has escalated its combat operations in HURFOM-targeted documentation areas of southern Karen State, Mon State and the Tanintharyi Region, resulting in a wave of internally displaced people and conflict-affected refugees. Their presence and indiscriminate attacks have made it increasingly challenging for them to access food, according to field reports from the HURFOM mobile documentation team.

The number of displaced individuals fleeing their homes in Thaton District, Mon State, Kawkareik District, Karen State, and at least five townships in the Tanintharyi region has rapidly increased in recent months. Meanwhile, the ongoing violence by the junta has caused a profoundly concerning humanitarian crisis across southeast Burma.

At least 480,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in the region. Between 800 and 1,200 are affiliated with different rights-based groups, including the Civil Disobedience Movement. With no place to call home, they have sought temporary shelter in areas controlled by Ethic Revolution Groups, including Brigade 6 of the Karen National Union and resettlement sites under the New Mon State Party. Some have sought refuge along the Thai-Burma border and face increasing security threats and a lack of protection amid the escalating armed conflict.

Internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugees face many challenges. They live in fear and anxiety, not knowing when the next civilian-targeted attack by the Burma Army will take place. More than 400 armed clashes have broken out between the junta forces and the Karen National Liberation Army-led joint armed resistance forces since the failed coup. The junta has increasingly used aerial attacks and artillery weapons, targeting the rural villages where IDPs are sheltering in bunkers or displacement camps. Even in some mixed-controlled areas between the NMSP and KNU, such as the western part of Brigade 6, that shares the border with the eastern Mon State, have experienced unexpected airstrikes.

Between May 7 to 9, although there was no armed conflict in the area on those days, the military junta deployed airstrikes to bomb six villages. The targets were Karen and Mon ethnic villagers and those affiliated with the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) sheltering alongside locals in eastern Ye Township, Mon State. Due to this sudden aerial attack, at least three people died, and eight were seriously injured. The assault led an estimated seven-hundred villagers to flee their homes.

Along the Thai – Burma border, the situation has not improved. Many arriving on Thai soil urgently need medical attention or seek asylum in a third country. Those needing safety and protection from violence in Burma often do not have the required documents for travelling or staying in Thailand. The previous Thai government failed to condemn the coup or the junta’s violence. Community-based organizations have worked to close gaps in providing shelter, food, and water. However, many challenges remain.

Cross-border aid is vital to ensure that those suffering from the daily horrors of war can have their basic needs met with dignity. Therefore, HURFOM calls upon international donors, government bodies, policymakers, and UN agencies to act with clear, coordinated action and compassion by providing humanitarian assistance through cross-border channels. Aid distributed through urban routes in Burma, such as Yangon, is very high-risk. The junta has intercepted aid repeatedly, and the likelihood that these aid convoys will reach those in need is often unsuccessful. Cross-border support is the most effective, trusted, and reliable as border-based organizations have been doing so for decades.

HURFOM also calls upon neighbouring countries like Thailand and India to open their borders to those fleeing persecution in Burma, grant them food and protection, and promote accessible pathways so first responders can reach those in need.

The international community must support ethnic health organizations and their respective departments. This includes the Backpack Health Worker Team in Karenni State, Karen State, Mon State, and the Tanintharyi region, who have provided life-saving services for over three decades in each representative area for the refugees and IDPs.

And for ASEAN – as a collective civil society community, HURFOM has continued our calls to the current Chairperson, and the ASEAN Coordinating Center for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre(, the ASEAN arm of humanitarian aid, to explain the failure to deliver humanitarian assistance inside the country. Our key message is that any help facilitated through the AHA-Center, will not be able to effectively provide material or monetary aid as needed, especially with the support going through the junta. The AHA Center must revert its assistance through the cooperation and involvement of ethnic resistance organizations, service providers and NUG affiliates on the ground. Doing so otherwise risks further weaponization of humanitarian aid amidst their campaign of terror.

We want to encourage the international community and UN agencies to keep supporting these conflict-affected communities, ensure their fair treatment under international humanitarian law, and enable them to access urgent assistance such as through UNHCR.

As a human rights organization and documentation team, HURFOM remains committed to documenting human rights violations and advocating for international action in Burma. We believe in the fight to secure the rights of internally displaced people and refugees on the international stage to continue living with hope, which aligns with this year’s theme: “Hope Away from Home.”

Media Contact
Nai Aue Mon, HURFOM Program Director
Email: auemon@gmail.com
Signal: +66 86 167 9741

HURFOM was founded by exiled pro-democracy students from the 1988 uprisings, recent activists and Mon community leaders and youth. Its primary objective is restoring democracy, human rights and genuine peace in Burma. HURFOM is a non-profit organization, and all its members are volunteers with a shared vision for peace in the country.

OPEN LETTER: DON PRAMUDWINAI .. “DON’T INTERFERE” “DO NOT ESCALATE VIOLENCE IN OUR COUNTRY”

June 18, 2023/in Member statements, Press Releases and Statements

June 18, 2023

We, representatives of Myanmar civil society organizations, strongly condemn the secretive meeting which includes the illegal Myanmar military junta organized by the outgoing Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai of the caretaker Government of Thailand on Sunday 18 June 2023. We demand the caretaker government cancels the meeting immediately.

This is a complete affront to the people of Myanmar who have sacrificed their lives to resist the Myanmar military’s attempt to seize power through years-long terror campaign against the whole nation. The military junta has never been a legitimate government of Myanmar, nor has it acquired effective control over the country’s territories.

This secretive initiative of the outgoing Thai Foreign Minister is in blatant contradiction with the ASEAN consensus on non-invitation of representatives of the military junta in high-level meetings. We are outraged that the Foreign Minister Don stated in his invitation to ASEAN Member States that ASEAN should “fully re-engage Myanmar at the leaders’ level”. This decision was never agreed upon by ASEAN Member States, nor did the Indonesian Government, the incumbent Chair of ASEAN, initiate this meeting. In organizing this meeting, the caretaker Government of Thailand is acting without the mandate and any consultation with the ASEAN Chair. As a member state of ASEAN, Thailand must not deviate from the bloc’s agreement, and must halt this meeting at once.

The caretaker Thai Government’s unilateral move further goes against the United Nations Security Council resolution 2669 on 21 December 2021.

By trying to “fully re-engage” the illegal military junta, representatives of ASEAN Member States will stand in contradiction with the will of the people of Myanmar for the end of military tyranny and for a federal democratic Myanmar. Participation in this secretive meeting, and the failure to cut all ties with the illegal military junta would only be “part of the initial steps” of another failed peace process. Rather, this step sends the signal to the military junta that ASEAN will recognize it despite its commission on heinous crimes. This will only further embolden the military junta to continue its crimes and atrocities, to burn villages, to displace civilian population from their homes and land, to weaponize humanitarian aid and to try to impose its tyrannical rule against the will of the people.

We condemn the secretive initiative of Don Pramudwinai in strongest terms. We demand the caretaker Thai Government cancels this meeting immediately.

We call upon invited states to not attend the meeting, as this meeting will only fuel more violence in our country and undermine other genuine attempts by the international community to address the worsening crisis in Myanmar.

For further information, please contact:

Saw Alex. +48 728 027 952
Ko Ye. +66 816 490 228

Signed by 316 organizations including 235 organization who have chosen not to disclose their name;

Action Committee for Democracy Development ACDD
Ah. La. Ka (12) Hta Khwe. Primary Education Student Union
All Arakan Students and Youths Congress
All Religions Strike Column
Association of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters
Athan
Aung Myay Thar Zan Education Schools Strike Column
Aung Pin Lae Main Strike Column
AYN Ayeyarwady Youth Network
BCC စစ်ကိုင်းတိုင်း
Blood Money Campaign
Blooming Padauk
Burma Civil War Museum (BCM)
Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN)
Burma Support
CDM Support Team Mandalay (CSTM)
Chan Mya Thar Si Township People Strike Column
Chin Farmer Network (C.F.N)
Committee Representing Mandalay Region Hluttaw
Cooperative University Student Strike Column
Daung Sit Thi
Democratic Party for a New Society
Education Family (Anti – Fascists Education Strike Columns Coordination Committee)
Ethnic Youth General Strike Committee
Freedom and Labor Action Group
Future Light Center
Future Thanlwin
General Strike Committee of Nationalities (GSCN)
Generation Wave
Grass-root People
Human Rights Foundation of Monland
India for Myanmar
Inlihtan Peninsula Tanintharyi
Karen Environmental and Social Action Network
Karen Peace Support Network
Karenni Human Rights Group
Keng Tung Youth
LGBTIQ Strike of Mandalay
MAGGA Initiative
Maha Aung Myay Township People Collective Strike Column
Mandalar University Student Strike Column
Mandalay Alliance Strike Collective Column
Mandalay Based People Strike Column
Mandalay Civil Society Organizations
Mandalay Engineer Group
Mandalay Engineer United Force
Mandalay University Student Alumni Union
Mandalay Wholesale Strike Column
Mandalay Youth Strike Column
MATA စစ်ကိုင်းတိုင်း
Medical Family – Mandalay
MIIT Student Strike Column
Muslim Youth Union
Mya Taung Strike Column
Myanmar Cultural Research Society (MCRS)
Myanmar Railway, Region (3) CDM Strike Column
National League for Democracy (Mandalay Region)
Network for Human Rights Documentation Burma (ND-Burma)
No 7 State High School Alumni Strike Column
NRFF- New Rehmonnya Federated Force
Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica
Pan Pa Wash People Strike Column
Phayagye Peace Strike Column
Private Pre-school Teachers Association
Progressive Voice
Pyi Gyi Ta Gon Strike
Sangha Samaga Strike Column
Save and Care Organization for Ethnic Women at Border Areas
Sein Pan Strike Column
Shan MATA
Sisters 2 Sisters
Southern Dragon Myanmar
Southern Youth Development Organization
Strike Column of Representatives of Arbitrarily Arrested People
Strike Column of Teachers from Universities and Degree Colleges of Mandalay
Synergy – social harmony organization
Taekwando Sport Association
Tai Youth Alliance (Myanmar, Japan, Thailand, South Korea)
Tanintharyi MATA
Thapaynyo News Letter
အထက်အညာလွင်ပြင်ရပ်ဝန်း

Download open letter in English | Burmese

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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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