Junta’s troops commit crimes against humanity in Tenasserim Division

May 16, 2023

HURFOM: Dawei residents are reporting that t junta’s troops are committing crimes against humanity in the Tenasserim Region by arresting local civilians and using them as human shields during armed conflicts.

The use of human shields is forbidden by Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions. It is also a specific intent war crime as codified in the Rome Statute, which was adopted in 1998.

According to a field report from the northern Dawei District, junta forces and their allied militias entered the village with about 50 troops and arrested nearly 30 local workers. They were then used as human shields on the morning of May 8, 2023.

Local sources confirmed that those detained and used as human shields worked in a plantation located near Wet Chaung village, Pagaw-Soon village tract, Yehyu Township.

“What we learned is that around 30 innocent villagers who were working on the farms of Wet Chaung Village and the surrounding areas were arrested at gunpoint by junta soldiers. The junta had more than 50 troops,” explained a 34-year-old male villager from Pagaw-Soon.

The Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) was informed by residents that of the 30 captured and used as human shields, 6 were women. About 20 people were from Wet Chaung Village in Yebyu Township, and the remaining 10 were confirmed to be from Kha Mout Chaung Village, Yebyu Township #Dawei.

“The local farm workers were arrested in the morning of May 8th when they left for work. After that, the junta forces took 30 villagers to serve as their human shields. The detainees were all taken with hands tied in the back,” said an anonymous source from the administrative area of KNU 4rth Brigade.

The junta troops also broke into some houses in the village and looted valuables and livestock.

An eyewitness to the events said, “The first junta battalion is a joint unit of Infantry Battalions No.273 and Infantry Battalion No.406. They captured about 20 people from Wet Chaung village and started to use them as human shields. Another junta military column entered the nearby Kha Mout Chaung and seized properties belonging to the locals. They took another 10 villagers from Kha Mout Chaung when they left the village. So about 30 people were forced into being human shields.“

Eventually some of those captured were able to escape while they were housed at a school in Kha Mout Chaung village.

A spokesman for the People’s Defense Forces active in the area condemned the junta’s actions.

“The use of innocents as human shields is a war crime. No other armed conflict has done such a despicable act in this age. We will not fight if there is a possibility that the people will be affected by the fighting. The junta military is taking advantage of this and attacking our forces in this area,” he continued.

Junta forces have routinely been arresting local residents and using innocents as human shields when they patrol villages in northern Dawei Township.

On April 26, when the military troops marched towards the villages of Ra-nge and Waerik villages in Thayet Chaung Township, Dawei District, nearly 100 local people were arrested and released two days after demanding ransom payments.

“Those who can be redeemed with money are released quickly,” said a villager.

Written by Modinator · Filed Under News