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Junta troops burn 500 homes, displace thousands in Sagaing

August 8, 2022/in News

Victims of the attacks include an 80-year-old woman found burned to death after failing to escape. Junta forces stepped up their attacks in Myanmar’s hard-hit Sagaing region in the first week of August, torching nearly 500 homes in 10 villages and causing at least 5,000 people to flee, local sources said. The attacks in Sagaing’s […]

TIME FOR THE EMERGENCE OF A NEW NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION REPRESENTING THE PEOPLE OF MYANMAR

August 8, 2022/in Member statements

Date: August 7, 2022 In recognition of the 34th anniversary of the 8888 Revolution Day on 8 August 2022, the CSO Working Group on Independent National Human Rights Institution (Burma/Myanmar)[1] (abbreviation “Working Group”) and 32 Myanmar civil society organizations signing below pay tribute to and honor people of different religious communities, ethnicities, and classes who sacrificed […]

Junta troops burn 500 homes, displace thousands in Sagaing

August 8, 2022/in News

TIME FOR THE EMERGENCE OF A NEW NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION REPRESENTING THE PEOPLE OF MYANMAR

August 8, 2022/in Member statements

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Junta troops burn 500 homes, displace thousands in Sagaing

August 8, 2022/in News

Victims of the attacks include an 80-year-old woman found burned to death after failing to escape.

Junta forces stepped up their attacks in Myanmar’s hard-hit Sagaing region in the first week of August, torching nearly 500 homes in 10 villages and causing at least 5,000 people to flee, local sources said.

The attacks in Sagaing’s Tabayin and Ayadaw townships included air raids and ground assaults and appeared especially to target large and well-built homes, but houses were burned in every village through which troops passed, one source said.

Around 180 out of nearly 200 homes were destroyed on Aug. 4 in Tabayin’s Kaing Kan village alone, one resident told RFA on Saturday, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

“Troops entered the village at 9:00 am, burning down the bigger and nicer houses as they came in. But houses have been burned down in every village that they entered,” RFA’s source said.

“They think that anti-junta resistance will stop when the people are repressed and have to struggle for their living instead of engaging in opposition activities. I believe that this repression will fail, though,” he added.

Locals said that four bodies, including the body of a woman, were discovered near a drain outside Kaing Kan village following the attack but had not yet been identified.

In Ayadaw township’s Min Ywa Gyi village, heavy shelling by junta forces preceded the burning of homes during weekend attacks, one village resident said on Monday, also declining to be named because of safety concerns.

“The [ruling] Military Council set fire to the houses. This is their usual tactic,” he said. “The troops came by helicopter, shelled the village with heavy artillery and then burned the houses.

“As far as I could see yesterday, no fewer than 200 houses had been burned down,” he added.

Myanmar military forces are at war with People’s Defense Force (PDF) units created to oppose junta rule, “but instead they are destroying civilians’ lives and homes, which isn’t fair,” he said.

Bags and books are shown left behind by schoolchildren fleeing a helicopter attack by junta troops in Sagaing’s Myinmu township, Aug. 1, 2022. Photo: Myinmu Civil Revolution Force

Woman burned to death

Local sources said that Daw Shin, an 80-year-old woman, was found burned to death in Min Yaw Gyi after failing to escape the military raid and that local defense groups were busy Sunday clearing landmines left behind by junta troops, with those displaced by the fighting seeking shelter in a nearby monastery and with charity associations.

Calls seeking comment from a Military Council spokesman rang unanswered Monday. But a member of Tapayin township’s People’s Defense Force told RFA that the more junta forces repress the local people, the more the people will fight against junta rule.

“We are not scared by these brutalities,” he said. “If there were 100 people resisting before, 300 people will come out now, and the more violent the junta troops become, the more the people will rise up against them.”

Also speaking to RFA, Nay Zin Lat—a regional MP from Kanbalu township for the National League for Democracy, which was overthrown in a Feb. 1, 2021 military coup—said that military leaders are trying to rule Myanmar’s people through fear.

“They are limited in their ability to attack the PDF forces on the ground, so when they find they can’t do it, they just torture the local civilians, who have nothing to do with the PDFs.

“By doing this, they are trying to cut local contacts with the PDFs and spread fear among the people so that they will end their support for the fighters. This is the cruelest treatment imaginable,” he said.

RFA News

TIME FOR THE EMERGENCE OF A NEW NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION REPRESENTING THE PEOPLE OF MYANMAR

August 8, 2022/in Member statements

Date: August 7, 2022

In recognition of the 34th anniversary of the 8888 Revolution Day on 8 August 2022, the CSO Working Group on Independent National Human Rights Institution (Burma/Myanmar)[1] (abbreviation “Working Group”) and 32 Myanmar civil society organizations signing below pay tribute to and honor people of different religious communities, ethnicities, and classes who sacrificed their lives for federal democracy and human rights in Myanmar, and it is time to establish a new human rights commission that will uphold, protect and promote human rights in line with international standards.

The military junta has systematically and deliberately committed violent offensives and mass human rights violations against the people across the country every day since its coup attempt on 1 February 2021. Within 551 days of the attempted coup, over 2,000 innocent people, including children, have been killed by the military, with the actual number is likely to be higher. Likewise, the junta murdered four democracy activists who had been unjustly sentenced to death by its puppet court. More than 11,900 civilians have been detained by the junta for opposing the attempted coup. At the same time, residents of ethnic minority areas and central Myanmar are living in psychological and physical insecurity as a result of the junta’s airstrikes, indiscriminate shelling, unlawful arrests, unlawful killings, massacres, plunder, destruction and arson of their villages with severe violations of their right to life, right to livelihood, right to movement and right to safety. Under the junta’s control, Myanmar’s judicial system is void of independence and justice, and people need independent and fair mechanisms to inform and report rights violations.

Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC) was established as a national human rights institution under the quasi-civilian government led by U Thein Sein in 2011. Due to its failure to align with international standards, including the Paris Principles which guides national human rights institutions, and its lack of independence, the MNHRC has lost the trust of international and local human rights organizations as well as the public. Despite repeated demands by civil society organizations to denounce the military’s attempted coup since 11 February 2021, the MNHRC has ignored the demands and continues to stand with the military junta, which has committed grave human rights violations. Even worse, the MNHRC members have extorted money from the detainees during their pretentious military approved prison inspections.

The MNHRC shamelessly attends regional and international human rights forums and conferences, representing Myanmar to the international community as a propaganda tool of the junta.

In its stance, activities, and existence, the MNHRC undermines the federal democratic revolution in Myanmar. There is clearly a dire need to replace the MNHRC with a new national human rights commission that can promote and protect human rights independently and fairly in accordance with international standards. Only then a newly established national human rights commission can represent Myanmar people’s desire for human rights and federal democracy on the international stage.

A human rights commission bill was drafted by the Working Group and submitted to the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC), Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), and National Unity Government (NUG) on December 6, 2021 in order to fulfill this necessity. The members of the Working Group will continue to strive towards the establishment of the Union Human Rights Commission.

We, the undersigned civil society organizations, jointly call for the MNHRC to be dissolved and for a new Union Human Rights Commission to be established by the NUG. We call on the people of Myanmar to participate in condemning the MNHRC, one of the supporting pillars of the military junta, in order to achieve a new national human rights commission that respects and follows human rights standards.

For more information please contact:

Nang Zun Moe, info@progressive-voice.org
Ma Thinzar Shunlei Yi, thinzarshunleiyi@protonmail.com

The Statement was initiated by CSO Working Group on Independent National Human Rights Institution (Burma/Myanmar) which consists of 20 civil society organizations from diverse backgrounds. Following 32 Myanmar civil society organizations endorsed the statement.

Endorsed by

Active Youths (Kalay Myo)
All Arakan Students and Youths’ Congress
Back Pack Health Workers Team
Bama Youth Network
Basic Education Students and Youths Association
Burma Medical Association
Burmese Women’s Union
Democracy for Ethnic Minorities Organization
Democracy, Peace and Women’s Organization
Dhanu youth organization
Future ThanLwin
India For Myanmar
Kayan Women’s Organization
Keng Tung Youth
Kyaukse Students’ Union
Let’s Help Each Other
LGBT Alliance Myanmar
LGBT Community Yangon
LGBT Union Mandalay
Mandalay Regional Youth Association
Network for Human Rights Documentation Burma (ND-Burma)
OCTOPUS (Youth Organization)
Olive organization
Oway Institute
Pa-O Women’s Union
Save and Care Organization for Women at Border Areas
Second Tap Root
Shan MATA
Sister 2 Sister
Southern Youth Development Organization
Tanintharyi MATA
ပညာနန်းတော်ကိုယ်ပိုင်ကျောင်း ကျောင်းသားများသမဂ္ဂ(သီးခြားအကသ)

Additional endorsement after release of the statement

Karen Women’s Organization
Blooming Padauk
ကျေးလက်မြေ

[1] Working Group was formerly known as the CSO Working Group on Myanmar National Human Rights Commission Reform, founded in 2019. The Working Group currently consists of 20 civil society organizations from diverse backgrounds to reflect the new mission of establishing a new national human rights institution that is in line with the Paris Principles.

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