Human Rights Abuses and Violations Remain Unreported in Mon Community

June 9, 2015

Nai Ji Joon, a member of the Mon Youth Educator Organization (MYEO), knows that it is too uncommon for human rights violations to be reported in Mon communities and so has enacted a plan to address this issue by arranging a public forum to promote and discuss human rights education.

“We have planned six forums for human rights education throughout all of Mon State and these will happen before the upcoming election,” Nai Ji Joon said. “It is clear that there are human rights violations in our current Mon situation, but it is very rare for these to be reported because Mon people do not have enough confidence to present these violations to human rights organizations or news outlets.”

Therefore, Nai Ji Joon intends to educate the Mon public about their rights and how to report rights violations. “We want the public to know their rights, and we need to empower them to report on any violations to local and national governments and news organizations. We will address this through our discussion forums,” he revealed. “Moreover, we will present the public with current cases that are happening in local areas, which will raise community-to-community awareness of current violations.”

Nai Ji Joon believes that rarity of human rights violations reporting can be traced to a lack of communication between Mon citizens and government representatives and news organizations. One intended outcome of the public forums is to build channels through which Mon citizens will be able to report violations to governmental and news outlets.

He used the recent actions of citizens in other areas of Burma as an example of what to do when citizens are unhappy with ongoing human rights violations. “In other regions, there are always demonstrations if violations and abuses occur,” he said. “But in our Mon area, there are never demonstrations. People are not aware of their rights nor the situation throughout the State. Many people are not even interested in our upcoming political election. Therefore, people need to be educated about important topics like human rights and laws so that they are knowledgeable and will participate. We need educational forums that are organized not only by CSOs (civil society organizations) but also the New Mon State Party (NMSP).”

Echoing these sentiments was Nai Hong Sar, who in a recent 18-minute sit-down with Guiding Star, a Mon-language new journal, said: “I have also struggled to raise awareness for human rights and the critical situation of abuses and violations across Mon State. From my perspective, everyone must cooperate to increase activism on these issues. To overcome conflict, we must be a coalition of activists and we must have peace, support and understanding within us to power toward our bright future.”

Although many citizens are not familiar with the greater human rights situation across their homeland, some villagers are becoming more open in voicing their displeasure with what they see as violation. Nai Din, a 47 year old villager from Kyaikmayaw Township, discussed with HURFOM the need to raise activists in his community. “My view is that we need more activism among Mon people because at this time, massive investment is coming to our region. Business investors usually only look for their economic profit while ignoring human rights abuses, environmental costs and cultural impacts.”

In Nai Din’s opinion, a lack of activism is allowing violations to continue. “Local activists play an important role in leading communities for positive social change,” he told HURFOM. “If there are not enough local activists, civil society is weak and this allows for the rise of perpetrators and violators. For example, there is not enough awareness and there are not enough activists in Pyar Taung, in Kyaikmayaw Township. Therefore, the cement company Mawlamyine Cement Limited (MCL, also known as Siam Cement Group in Thailand) has been able to purchase more and more land for its cement industry. No one will go against them. Now people from this area suffer from health related issues because of environmental problems.”

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under News