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Children make up nearly 40% of Myanmar’s 3.4 million displaced: UN

November 22, 2024/in News

The junta and related groups have killed more than 670 children since the 2021 military coup. Children make up nearly 40% of the more than 3.4 million people displaced in Myanmar due to the civil war, UNICEF said Thursday. The findings from United Nations Children’s Fund came as an organization that monitors conflict in Myanmar […]

Nearly 500 cases of sexual assault against women in Myanmar’s conflict

November 7, 2024/in News

Rights groups say that the data reflects only cases they have verified and the true number is likely to be much higher. Nearly 500 cases of sexual assault have been documented against women during Myanmar’s civil war, although the true number is likely much higher, women’s rights groups said Wednesday. In the aftermath of the […]

Children make up nearly 40% of Myanmar’s 3.4 million displaced: UN

November 22, 2024/in News

Nearly 500 cases of sexual assault against women in Myanmar’s conflict

November 7, 2024/in News

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Children make up nearly 40% of Myanmar’s 3.4 million displaced: UN

November 22, 2024/in News

The junta and related groups have killed more than 670 children since the 2021 military coup.

Children make up nearly 40% of the more than 3.4 million people displaced in Myanmar due to the civil war, UNICEF said Thursday.

The findings from United Nations Children’s Fund came as an organization that monitors conflict in Myanmar said the ruling junta and affiliated groups have killed more than 670 children since the military seized power in a February 2021 coup d’etat, sparking the conflict.

In a statement on Thursday — a day after World Children’s Day — UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban said that the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar is “reaching a critical inflection point,” with escalating conflict and climate shocks “putting children and families at unprecedented risk.”

He said that approximately 1 million people have been affected by the country’s war, which was sparked amid public opposition to the military takeover, and devastation caused by late September’s Cyclone Yagi — Southeast Asia’s worst storm of the year.

Chaiban said that during a recent trip to Myanmar’s embattled Kachin state, he saw children “cut off from vital services, including healthcare and education, and suffering from the effects of violence and displacement.”

“[I] saw firsthand how vulnerable children and other civilians are in conflict-affected areas and the urgent need to uphold international humanitarian law to protect them from such brutal attacks,” he said.

Chaiban noted that minors account for 32% of the more than 1,000 people injured and killed by landmines and other explosive devices since the start of the conflict.

“The increasing use of deadly weapons in civilian areas, including airstrikes and landmines hitting homes, hospitals, and schools, has severely restricted the already limited safe spaces for children, robbing them of their right to safety and security,” he said, adding that “the situation is dire.”

Chaiban called for all stakeholders in Myanmar to guarantee safe and unhindered aid, especially for children and families in conflict zones, to remove administrative barriers and ensure minimum operating standards and to protect children from grave violations.

“International humanitarian law must be upheld, with a focus on protecting civilians and civilian infrastructure – including schools and hospitals – and ensuring safe passage for those fleeing from violence,” he said.

Additionally, he urged the international community to increase its support for the country’s children through funding and advocacy.

“The cost of inaction is far too high — Myanmar’s children cannot afford to wait,” he said.

Hundreds of children killed

Also on Thursday, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners – Burma reported that, as of Nov. 20, the junta and its affiliate groups had killed at least 671 children in Myanmar since the coup nearly four years ago.

The group said that the number showed a year-on-year increase in child mortality rates, attributable to the conflict.

In 2021, AAPP said, 101 children under the age of 18 were reported killed, followed by 136 the following year. By 2023, the number had increased to 208 and, by the end of 2024, had reached 226 child fatalities.

In one of the worst incidents since the coup, the junta bombed Konlaw village in Kachin state’s Momauk township on Nov. 15, killing nine displaced people, including seven children, the group said.

Amid an escalating toll of child casualties caused by airstrikes, Naw Susanna Hla Hla Soe, the shadow National Unity Government’s Minister of Women, Youth, and Children’s Affairs, called for urgent measures to ban the sale of aviation fuel to Myanmar’s military.

“We urgently request the cessation of aircraft fuel sales to the military regime, as it is being used to carry out brutal attacks that result in the killing of children,” she said during remarks delivered at a World Children’s Day event in Myanmar on Wednesday.

Attempts by RFA to reach junta spokesperson Major General Zaw Min Tun for comment on the situation facing children in Myanmar went unanswered Thursday.

According to the AAPP, junta authorities have killed at least 5,974 civilians since the military coup.

RFA News

Nearly 500 cases of sexual assault against women in Myanmar’s conflict

November 7, 2024/in News

Rights groups say that the data reflects only cases they have verified and the true number is likely to be much higher.

Nearly 500 cases of sexual assault have been documented against women during Myanmar’s civil war, although the true number is likely much higher, women’s rights groups said Wednesday.

In the aftermath of the military‘s Feb. 1, 2021, coup d’etat, civilians have been caught in the crossfire of battles between the junta and ethnic armies or community-led defense groups.

On Wednesday, Thailand‘s Women’s League of Burma, or WLB, said that women have endured some of the worst treatment since the takeover, including arrest, torture, sexual assault and even murder.

“Incidents of sexual violence are also on the rise, with women being abused in front of their husbands and family members — situations marked by extreme inhumanity,” said WLB Secretary General Moon Nay Li. “Some women are gang-raped by soldiers, while others are killed.”

The WLB said that between Feb. 1, 2021, and June 2024, it had documented 492 cases of sexual assault against women, including at least 13 cases where women were raped and then killed.

It said that its data reflect only the cases the group was able to verify and that the true numbers are likely to be much higher — potentially twice the rate reported prior to the coup.

WLB‘s report came weeks after a column of more than 100 junta soldiers attacked villages in war-torn Sagaing region’s Budalin township on Oct. 23, including Sai Pyin Lay village, where more than 50 young female hostages were allegedly sexually assaulted over the course of three days, according to a source familiar with the incident.

“During those three days, the soldiers summoned each woman repeatedly, subjecting them to rape and sexual assault,” the source told RFA Burmese, adding that the alleged perpetrators were soldiers from the junta’s No.33 and No.77 Light Infantry Divisions.

Zu Zu May Yoon, the founder of the Women’s Organization of Political Prisoners, told RFA that women arrested for protesting the coup have also faced sexual assault during interrogation.

“In interrogation centers, women are subjected to severe abuse, including being penetrated with batons in their private areas,” he said. “During interrogations, junta authorities reportedly burn pens with matches to release scalding ink and then apply it to these areas. Such acts reflect the extreme brutality of the military.”

Women who are assaulted rarely report the abuse due to shame and various threats, he added.

As a result, some women suffering from severe physical and mental trauma ultimately feel forced to flee their communities for safety elsewhere.

RFA has been unable to independently verify reports of sexual assaults by the military. Attempts to reach Major General Zaw Min Tun, the military junta’s authorized spokesperson, for comment went unanswered Wednesday.

Civilians and People’s Defense Forces

A resident of Sagaing told RFA that the junta has “increasingly targeted women” in the region with “threats, rape and killings.”

“Women face daily intimidation, and in Sagaing, numerous cases of rape have been reported since the [conflict] began, averaging at least one incident per month,” said the resident who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.

But sources in the region told RFA that it isn’t just junta soldiers who are committing crimes against women.

In August, a 14-year-old student was raped by a resident of Sagaing’s Yinmarbin township, according to a family member of the victim who said that while a case was filed with authorities, the perpetrator has yet to face punishment.

“In terms of law enforcement, I must say that it is very weak,” said the family member, who also declined to be named. “The incident took place two months ago, but hasn’t been prosecuted or brought before the Department of Justice. Victims of these crimes are like orphans, unsure of who to turn to for help.”

Displaced people from Palaw township, Yinmabin district, Sagaing region, are seen on Nov. 21, 2023. (Anyar Pyit Tine Htaung Lay Myar via Facebook)

According to a list compiled by the Ministry of Women, Youth and Children Affairs of the shadow National Unity Government, or NUG, there have been 258 reported cases of sexual assault against women since the coup, with more than half of them committed by junta troops.

“Of the 258 reported cases, 148 were committed by the military junta’s troops,” said NUG Minister Naw Susanna Hla Hla Soe. “We have meticulously documented these cases and are collaborating with the United Nations to ensure justice. The remaining cases include 89 committed by civilians and 33 by [armed opposition groups].”

The minister added that in cases where members of the People‘s Defense Force of civilian paramilitary groups aligned against the junta under the shadow government are responsible, the NUG’s Ministry of Defense “will take action under martial law,” while crimes committed by civilians will be addressed under civil law.

However, she acknowledged that in some areas controlled by the armed opposition, instability has “led to delays in the legal process.”

Non-conflict abuse

Meanwhile, women’s rights groups warned that the threats faced by women are a concern “not only in war zones,” but also in non-conflict areas, and that “perpetrators must be prosecuted and held accountable.”

Last month, international labor group the Business and Human Rights Resource Center said in a report that abuse against women is far from rare in Myanmar’s manufacturing sector, as a deteriorating economy leaves them more vulnerable to sexual exploitation, abuse and violence.

The group documented 155 cases of abuse in Myanmar factories, linked to 87 international companies, between Dec. 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024, with 37% of them gender-based incidents including “verbal, physical and sexual abuse and harassment, often for not meeting unreasonable production targets.”

An economy in free-fall since the military ousted an elected government has exacerbated the problem of exploitation for many in Myanmar as factory owners and supervisors know that employees are increasingly desperate for cash as inflation erodes living standards, labor activists told RFA.

At least 1,853 people have died in military custody, including 88 children and 125 women, since Myanmar’s military coup – many after being tortured – a U.N. report on the situation of human rights in the country said in September.

Sexual violence is also common in detention, the U.N. report said, “including rape, and sexualized torture or ill-treatment, including forced nudity in front of others.”

RFA News

Spring Revolution

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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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