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Kachin Communities Worldwide Demand United Nations Security Council Urgently Refers Burma to the International Criminal Court

April 30, 2018/in Member statements

23rd April 2018 The Burma military broke the ceasefire with the Kachin Independence Organisation in 2011. Since then, residents of the Kachin region have endured various forms of human rights violation as well as denial of humanitarian assistance by Burmese military. Their daily lives have also become dictated by the ebb and flow of armed […]

Kachin Relative of Slain IDPs Flees After Tatmadaw Opens Case Against Her

April 26, 2018/in News

By LAWI WENG 25 April 2018 A Kachin woman has gone into hiding after accusing the Myanmar Army (or Tatmadaw) of killing two of her family members, apparently fearing detention by the military, according to local sources in Kachin State. Kaw Awng, 45, is already the subject of legal action by the Tatmadaw. She has been charged […]

Kachin Communities Worldwide Demand United Nations Security Council Urgently Refers Burma to the International Criminal Court

April 30, 2018/in Member statements

Kachin Relative of Slain IDPs Flees After Tatmadaw Opens Case Against Her

April 26, 2018/in News

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Kachin Communities Worldwide Demand United Nations Security Council Urgently Refers Burma to the International Criminal Court

April 30, 2018/in Member statements

23^rd April 2018

The Burma military broke the ceasefire with the Kachin Independence Organisation in 2011. Since then, residents of the Kachin region have endured various forms of human rights violation as well as denial of humanitarian assistance by Burmese military. Their daily lives have also become dictated by the ebb and flow of armed conflict in their area. Recent developments in the Burma/Burma Army military campaign in the Kachin region have forced thousands of civilians to flee their villages and many are currently trapped in conflict areas.

Our people have been subject to numerous violations of international law, including executions, torture, forced displacement, forced labour, rape and other forms of sexual violence, confiscation of property, arbitrary arrest and detention, and denial of humanitarian assistance.

These types of human rights violations are not new to the Kachin people or to other ethnic groups in Burma. The Burma military has used these tactics to instil fear and control in their attempts to destroy our ethnic identity, destroy our religion, colonise our lands, and steal our natural resources.

Despite their obligations, the international community, including members of the United Nations Security Council, have failed in their duty to uphold international law. As a result, calculating that the international community is too weak to enforce the law and hold them to account for their crimes, the Burma military is escalating attacks against ethnic groups in the country, including in Rakhine State, Kachin State, Shan State and most recently breaking the ceasefire in Karen State.

In recent weeks the Burma military has killed three Kachin civilians and one Karen environmental community worker.

On April 11th, Npawp Naw Ring (aged 22) was killed by a 105 mm howitzer fired by Burma Army’s Danai-based Regional Operations Command at Awng Lawt village in Danai township.

On April 11th, Shan Naw San, a seasonal banana plantation worker from Laiza, was hit and killed by an artillery shell from 23 rounds of heavy artillery fired by BA forces stationed at Hka Ya Bum and Bum Re Bum toward Lang Ta Bum where KIA Battalions 23 & 40 are stationed.

On 14th April the military fired heavy artillery at Dumbung village and killed U Kyaw Myint Oo.

These are war crimes, but not one country has condemned these killings and promised to take action in response.

Residents of the Lai Nawng Hku are now in Man Wai, they are under constantly surveillance of Burma Army and are restricted from further movement. Pajau villagers have fled to the Chinese boarder, and Kasung villagers to Namti due to intensified fighting, over past weeks. During last week, over 2,000 villagers from Awng Lawt, Sut Ra, and Sut Ring Yang fled their villages to escape incessant artillery fire from the Burma Army. Now, at least 1,200 are trapped in the jungle.

We do not expect the condition of these civilians to improve anytime soon, as local sources report of continuous arrival of Burma Army infantry troops to the Kachin region. Kachin community and religious leaders have appealed to the authorities for permission to evacuate the trapped civilians to safety. However, they have not been successful in their appeal. It is also important to note that even when this specific episode of humanitarian crisis subsides, another one will arise because the armed conflict is ongoing.

As the Burmese military’s culture of impunity remains unchecked, Burmese government is unable to exercise rule of law or capacity to protect life of its citizens. We are once again appealing to the international community to hold perpetrators of war crimes and crime against humanity held to account before current conflict spills over to bordering regions.

The United Nations should move ahead with the appointment of the Special Envoy to Burma and immediately dispatch the envoy to Kachin areas and negotiate free movements and humanitarian access.

We would like to see China, India, United States, and ASEAN serve as mediator to seek sustainable resolution to prolonged civil war in Kachin region. This agreement should be upheld by an international or regional peacekeeping mission to Kachin Region to enforce repositioning of troops and protect security of civilian populations.

There is no shortage of evidence of violations of international law committed by the Burma military. The United Nations has been documenting these crimes for decades. A detailed assessment in 2016 stated that what may amount to war crimes were being committed in Kachin State and Shan State. The United Nations has also stated that human rights violations against northern Rakhine State may constitute crimes against humanity and even amount to elements of genocide.

At the same time the government and military in Burma continue to commit human rights violations, deny human rights, cover up human rights violations, and arrest and jail those who seek to expose them. There is no prospect of any genuine process of accountability for violations of international law taking place within Burma, and the international community should not hide behind more false investigations announced by the government of Burma as an excuse not to uphold their responsibilities.

Members of the United Nations Security Council must support a resolution referring Burma to the International Criminal Court.

UN Security Council members which fail to support a referral to the International Criminal Court are not making a neutral decision or simply failing to act. They are making an active decision to allow the Burma military to keep killing ethnic civilians.

We are only asking United Nations Security Council members to do their job. To uphold their responsibilities. Ending the Burma military’s sense of impunity will have an immediate impact in reducing human rights violations, and holding them to account for their crimes is essential if Burma is ever to be a country with peace, security, genuine democracy and where human rights and ethnic diversity are respected.

The signatory organizations:

1). Kachin Refugee Committee, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2). Kachin Development Networking Group -KDNG
3). Kachin Women Union (KWU)
4). Kachin Women Association Japan
5). Kachin Women Association-Burma
6). Pyoe Development Organization
7). Htoi Gender and Development Foundation
8). Kachin State Women Network – KSWN
9). Kachin National Organization (Japan)
10). Kachin National Organization (Denmark)
11). Kachin Association Norway
12). Kachin Women’ s Association of Thailand (KWAT)
13). Kachin Canadian Association, Canada
14). Kachin National Organization
15). Kachin Community UK (KCUK)
16). Singpho Youth Organization, Arunachal Pradesh, India.
17). The Kachin Relief Fund (UK charity)
18). Wunpawng Ninghtoi
19). Kachin Peace Network
20). Community Health And Development (CHAD)- Burma
21). Kachin Alliance
22). Kachin Community New Zealand
23). Kachin Community Sweden
24). Kachin Community Germany
25). Kachin Community Czech Republic
26). Kachin Community Netherlands
27). Humanity Institute (HI)
28). Kachin National Social Development Foundation
29). Kachin Litrature and Culture (JLH) Singapore
30). Shingnip Kachin Legal Aid Network
31). All Kachin Youth Union (AKYU)
32). Kachin Association Of Australia (KAA-NSW)

Media contact:

Mr. Mung Dan, Email:mangoesdam@gmail.com, Phone: +95 925 9460 650,
Ms. Khonja, Email:khonja2014@gmail.com, Phone: +95 942 5288 899
Mrs. Moon Nay Li, Email:kwat.secretariat@gmail.com, Phone: +66 855 233 791
Mr. Hkanhpa Sadan, Email:hkanhpa@hotmail.com, Phone: +44 7944 240774
Mr. Nsang Gum San, Email:gumsan@kachinalliance.org, Phone: +1 443-415-8683

Click here to download full statement.

Kachin Relative of Slain IDPs Flees After Tatmadaw Opens Case Against Her

April 26, 2018/in News

By LAWI WENG 25 April 2018

A Kachin woman has gone into hiding after accusing the Myanmar Army (or Tatmadaw) of killing two of her family members, apparently fearing detention by the military, according to local sources in Kachin State.

Kaw Awng, 45, is already the subject of legal action by the Tatmadaw. She has been charged by the Army with violating section 17 (1) of the law against unlawful association for allegedly concealing information that the slain IDPs were members of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). The charge was brought by Military Operation Command 21 based in Bamaw Township.

According to an IDP camp leader based in Mai Khaung, Mansi Township, who asked to be identified as “David”, Myanmar Army personnel have made several trips to Kaw Awng’s home intending to arrest her. It was Kachin IDP camp leaders who urged her to hide at a different location, David said. He requested the use of a pseudonym out of fear for his security, as there is a Myanmar military base near his IDP camp.

“Every time they come back to her home [in the camp] they ask us when she will be returning. The police have also come two times,” David said.

The two IDPs, Hpaugan Yaw, 65, and Nhkum Naw San, 35, from Mai Khaung camp disappeared in January. After their bodies were found in March, the victims’ family accused the Tatmadaw of killing the two men.

Not knowing which Army unit is responsible for the killings, the family asked police to investigate. According to David, the family claims the police investigation has been dropped now that the Army is taking action against it, however.

Police Major Myo Thant told The Irrawaddy that the police were no longer investigating the IDPs’ deaths, adding that in fact the police wanted to speak with Kaw Awng to conduct their own investigation into whether she violated the unlawful association law as alleged by the Army.

According to David, the Army told the victims’ family during a meeting at the township authority office in Mansi that it killed the two men, but claimed the killings were justified as they were KIA members, in the Army’s view.

David Baulk, a Myanmar specialist for the rights group Fortify Rights, which has been following the case, told The Irrawaddy, “The families of Hpaugan Yaw and Nhkum Naw San are demanding justice for their killings, and the Myanmar military is targeting them as a result. … The reality is that in Myanmar today demanding accountability for crimes involving the military will likely result in a prison stretch.”

David said that “Getting authorities to investigate and take action is difficult; they made up the story, but those two IDP were really civilians. They were not members of the KIA. We are still considering how to proceed.”

The doctor who conducted the autopsies on the two men has refused to provide the family with a report, despite repeated requests by the family and IDP camp leaders. The doctor told the family that he could only release the information in a court proceeding.

Three other IDPs from Mansi camp were killed by the Tatmadaw in a separate case last year. In that case, however, camp leaders received cooperation from and were shown evidence by medical and police officials.

In January this year, six Army personnel were sentenced to prison terms for the killings.

“They may not want more Army personnel to go to prison. Therefore, we believe that they are playing games and preventing the family of the victims from taking action against them,” David said.

Irrawaddy News

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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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