Weekly Overview: Human Rights Situation in Mon State, Karen State and Tanintharyi Region

November 6, 2023

HURFOM, First Week of November

Civilians continue to be caught in the crossfire of violence deployed by the military junta. By the end of October 2023, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) reported that at least 68 civilians had been arrested, five detained, four injured, and 15 killed. The fieldworkers based in HURFOM target areas of Mon State, Karen State and Tanintharyi region are reporting on the daily horrors committed by the junta with impunity.

On November 1st, an eighth-grade student who was being treated for medical treatment after being hit with artillery fire attacked by the military junta in Tanintharyi Township died two weeks after he was struck. Around midday on October 14th, without any fighting, the military junta troops stationed on Lay Thar Mountain in Taninthayi launched artillery weapons. One of the shells hit a 16-year-old, eight-year-old grade student, Mg Pyae Day Won, and a male family member from Tamok Choung.

Mg Pyae Day Won, who was seriously injured, was taken to Myeik Hospital, and died at the hospital on October 28th: “He was at school. It was mid-afternoon when the attack hit him while he was having lunch,” said a local man.

The body of the deceased Mg Pyae Day Won was buried in Tamok Choung village cemetery on October 29th. On October 16th, Artillery Battalion No.306 of the military junta based in Maw Tone in Tenasserim Township recklessly launched artillery weapons, and a 20-year-old young man named Ko Lar Phi Din, who lives near the battalion, died in the spot of the attack.

In another case where civilians were targeted in attacks, locals and social relief organizations reported that two women, including an 85-year-old woman, were injured when artillery weapons exploded in ward No. 2 of Kawkareik Town, Karen State.

On the morning of November 2, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) joint forces attacked the military junta’s Infantry Battalion No. 97 based in Kaw Ka Rate. During the battle, artillery shells exploded in the house of 85-year-old grandmother Daw Nway Than.

As a result of the explosion, the elderly woman and her 40-year-old daughter, Daw Aye Yi, were injured by the shells.

“After hearing the gunshots outside the city, we heard the sounds of artillery weapons. After that, we learned that the shell hit Grandma Daw Nway Than’s house. Both of them were sent to Kawkareik Hospital,” said an official of the social relief organization.

Due to the fighting between the two sides, the local villagers of Kawkareik hid inside their houses, and they only moved slightly when the fighting began to cease later that day. As the KNLA joint forces are attacking the military junta camps in Kaw Ka Rate, there is growing concern among the local people that the battle between the two sides will intensify.

Last month, on October 13th, a student was killed, and three others were injured when the artillery weapons exploded in front of the Basic Education High School in ward No. 2 of Kawkareik, according to residents.

Unfortunately, the international community has still not dared to go far enough in holding the junta accountable for their vast atrocity crimes.

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under Analysis, News