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The Human Rights Foundation of Monland Releases a New Report, “We Dare Not Return,” Displacement and the Denial of Human Rights in Southeastern Burma

March 7, 2023/in Member statements

For Immediate Release 7 March 2023: Today, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) releases a new report, “We Dare Not Return,” Displacement and the Denial of Human Rights in Southeastern Burma. The report includes an analysis of the current situation in our respective target areas of Southeastern Burma throughout 2022. The findings draw on interviews with emergency […]

4 of every 5 townships in Myanmar impacted by conflict since coup: UN agency

March 6, 2023/in News

The UN Human Rights Office calls for ‘urgent, concrete action’ to end a humanitarian crisis in the country. Nearly four out of every five townships in Myanmar has been impacted by conflict in the two years since the military coup, according to the United Nations, prompting calls by civil society for “immediate action” to end […]

The Human Rights Foundation of Monland Releases a New Report, “We Dare Not Return,” Displacement and the Denial of Human Rights in Southeastern Burma

March 7, 2023/in Member statements

4 of every 5 townships in Myanmar impacted by conflict since coup: UN agency

March 6, 2023/in News

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The Human Rights Foundation of Monland Releases a New Report, “We Dare Not Return,” Displacement and the Denial of Human Rights in Southeastern Burma

March 7, 2023/in Member statements

For Immediate Release

7 March 2023: Today, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) releases a new report, “We Dare Not Return,” Displacement and the Denial of Human Rights in Southeastern Burma. The report includes an analysis of the current situation in our respective target areas of Southeastern Burma throughout 2022. The findings draw on interviews with emergency response teams, survivors, and witnesses of the attacks. The Burma Army committed all the crimes documented in the report with complete and total impunity. They are widespread, systematic and indicative of a worsening pattern of violence.

Between 1 January 2022 and 31 December 2022, HURFOM reported that at least 146 people were killed, including 26 women and children. In addition, more than 480 were injured, and nearly 1500 were arbitrarily arrested and detained. The Burma Army continued to target opposition forces, including members of pro-democracy groups. This subsequently led to over 85 cases of enforced disappearances. Dozens of human rights defenders remain in exile for their safety. HURFOM also documented 750 houses burned, including 58 villages. The humanitarian crisis caused by the junta’s destruction has led to over 150 000 people being forcibly displaced in Southeastern Burma.

Throughout the reporting period of 2022, the conditions on the ground caused civilians to feel unsafe. Many villagers that HURFOM spoke to said they ‘dare not return’ to their homes out of fear that they would be arrested, tortured or even killed by the military junta. There are economic and social struggles as villagers cannot work, study or support their families because the presence of the regime has deterred them. On multiple occasions, HURFOM documented Burma Army soldiers indiscriminately firing into villages.

The situation in the third year since the failed coup has not improved. The rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in southeastern Burma requires urgent and immediate attention as more lives are caught in the crossfire daily. International actors and UN bodies must support and enact a no-fly zone in Burma, a global arms embargo, and an urgent and immediate referral of the situation in Burma to the International Criminal Court.

And yet, a sentiment of hope, determination and adversity is still prominent throughout the country as rallying forces join together to defeat and dismantle the junta. The people on the ground in Burma are brave in their unwavering commitment to see an end to military rule. The international community must not let their struggle be in vain. They must use their diplomatic tools and resources to engage meaningfully with civil society organizations and the National Unity Government.

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.

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4 of every 5 townships in Myanmar impacted by conflict since coup: UN agency

March 6, 2023/in News

The UN Human Rights Office calls for ‘urgent, concrete action’ to end a humanitarian crisis in the country.

Nearly four out of every five townships in Myanmar has been impacted by conflict in the two years since the military coup, according to the United Nations, prompting calls by civil society for “immediate action” to end the junta’s crimes against its own citizens.

A new report published on Friday found that 255 of Myanmar’s 330 townships, or nearly 80%, had been impacted by armed clashes between the military and anti-junta forces between Jan. 31, 2023, and the Feb. 1, 2021, takeover as the regime’s generals have “embarked on a scorched earth policy in an attempt to stamp out opposition,” U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in a statement accompanying the findings.

“Tragically, regional and global efforts for peace and restraint have largely fallen on deaf ears,” Türk said.

“The military, emboldened by continuous and absolute impunity, has consistently shown disregard for international obligations and principles,” he said. “Urgent, concrete action is needed to end this festering catastrophe.”

SLIDER LEFT 20201117_CNES_Airbus_Kone Ywar village, Sagaing.jpg

SLIDER RIGHT 20230304_Planet_Kone Ywar village, Sagaing copy.jpg

JuxtaposeJSKone Ywar village, Yinmarbin township, in Myanmar’s Sagaing region is seen Nov. 17, 2020 [left] and March 4, 2023. The second image was taken days after junta troops torched the village. Credit: Google Earth CNES/Airbus [left] and Planet Labs

The report documents a long list of human rights violations from Feb. 1, 2022, to Jan. 31, 2023, alone amid what it said was a “sharp rise in violence” over the past year – particularly in the country’s northwestern and southeastern regions.

It cited credible sources as having confirmed the military’s killing of at least 2,940 civilians and arrest of 17,572 others since the coup. The Assistance Association of Political Prisoners (Burma), an NGO based in Thailand, puts the numbers higher, with at least 3,110 killed and 20,167 arrested.

Central to the military’s impact on Myanmar’s civilian population is its so-called “Four-cuts approach” against the armed resistance, the report found. This included indiscriminate airstrikes and shelling, razing of villages, and denial of humanitarian access as part of a bid to “cut off” anti-junta forces from access to food, finances, intelligence and recruits.

The military launched 301 airstrikes in 2022, compared to 125 a year earlier, fired heavy artillery shells 756 times, compared to 376 times in 2021, and burned civilian villages 1,355 times – a staggering five-fold increase from its 282 arson attacks the prior year.

The report singled out the systematic and widespread burning of villages and dwellings as one of the military’s most frequently used tactics, noting that nearly 39,000 houses across the country have been burnt or destroyed by junta troops since February 2022 alone – a more than 1,000-fold increase from a year earlier.

Of the country’s regions, Sagaing was the most affected, with more than 25,500 homes destroyed by military arson, the U.N. said. The military razed nearly the entire village of Ah Shey See in Sagaing’s Kale township, burning 621 structures to the ground, the report found, based on an analysis of satellite imagery.

Civilians in the crosshairs

The military’s indiscriminate airstrikes do more harm to the civilian population than its enemies, the commander of an anti-junta People’s Defense Force paramilitary group in Chin state’s Kanpetlet township told RFA Burmese, speaking on condition of anonymity out of security concerns.

“The military airstrikes target our bases but they often misfire and hit civilian populations, causing the people to suffer,” he said.

A resident of Kawkareik township in southeastern Myanmar’s Kayin state told RFA that not even civilians who flee attacks on their villages are safe from the military.

“People fleeing to the jungle have no shelter and have to live with what little they can carry, under [makeshift] roofs made of leaves,” said the resident. “The military troops still target and shoot at them, as if [the shelters are] an enemy base.”

The U.N. report also documented at least 24 mass killings by junta troops of five people or more in 2022 alone.

The reported increase in the targeting of civilians comes despite numerous claims by junta Deputy Information Minister Major Gen. Zaw Min Tun during interviews with RFA that the military does not target noncombatants or commit arson attacks.

Meanwhile, Myanmar’s economy has foundered as the result of military mismanagement, doubling the country’s poverty rates from March 2020.

The U.N. Human Rights Office said in its report that nearly half of the population now lives in poverty, while rural populations risk starvation amid military restrictions in conflict zones. Some 17.6 million people are being denied access to crucial humanitarian aid, it said.

ENG_BUR_UNReport_03062023.3.jpeg — Junta troops torched Kone Ywar village, Yinmarbin township, in Myanmar’s Sagaing region on March 1, 2023. When the flames finally died down by Wednesday morning, they methodically set fire to whatever was left standing. Credit: Citizen journalist

Commissioner Türk accused the military of creating a “perpetual human rights crisis” in Myanmar since the coup.

“Across Myanmar, people are continuously exposed to violations and crimes, including killings, enforced disappearances, displacement, torture, arbitrary arrests, and sexual violence,” he said.

“There are reasonable grounds to believe that the military and its affiliated militias continue to be responsible for most violations, some of which may constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes.”

The U.N. report called for an immediate halt to the violence in Myanmar, the release of those arbitrarily detained, accountability, and unhindered humanitarian access.

Call for immediate action

Speaking to RFA, Nay Phone Latt, the spokesperson for the office of shadow National Unity Government Prime Minister Duwa Lashi La, welcomed the U.N. report, but called for immediate and concrete action to stop the junta.

“This is a situation where tens of people are killed by the junta every day, and their homes and property are being destroyed on a daily basis, as well,” he said.

“Time is of the essence. The longer action is delayed, the more innocent civilians will suffer. That’s why we need to determine the root causes, choose the right methods to deal with them, and implement them quickly.”

Kyaw Win, director of the Burma Human Rights Network told RFA that the military’s human rights violations do more than “constitute” crimes against humanity, calling them even worse than what is documented in the U.N. report.

“What the Myanmar military is carrying out are crimes against humanity … because it has systematically committed such crimes everywhere using the same pattern and methods,” he said.

Other sources said they were unsurprised by the U.N.’s findings, noting that the military has become increasingly brutal over the two years since the coup.

“If such atrocities continue to happen every month, the people will be in serious trouble,” said a member of the PDF in Sagaing’s Wetlet township, who also declined to be named. “The international community must join together to overthrow the military regime as soon as possible.”

RFA News

Spring Revolution

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Operation 1027 was a coordinated military attack against the junta on October 27th, 2023. It was carried out by the Northern Brotherhood, which includes the Arakan Army, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army. Several months later, the Three Brotherhood Alliance held three meetings to negotiate with China on January 11 […]
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Human Rights Violations took place in States and Regions from Sep 15 to 21, 2024 Military Junta Troop launched airstrikes and dropped bombs in Sagaing Region, Mandalay Region, Shan State, Chin State, Rakhine State, and Kachin State from September 15th to 21st. The Military Junta committed arresting, occupying the properties, threatening by using power, and […]

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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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