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

Increased Surveillance and Privacy Rights are Under Attack

Last week, the junta banned the well-known messaging application Signal. Signal has strong end-to-end encryption that keeps communication completely private. Activists, organizations, and human rights defenders in Burma commonly use it to carry out their activities safely. The Burma Army has tried to censor the flow of information many times in the past to prevent witnesses to the horrors they are committing and, therefore, attempt to shield themselves from consequences. 

Promptly after the attempted coup, the Burma Army moved to ensure access to Facebook was no longer accessible to stop organizing efforts. The terrorist regime has continued to block social networks also to hide the crimes they are violently committing against innocent people. 

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

A weekly update by the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) on the situation on the ground. Summary data includes Mon State, Karen State and Tanintharyi region.

As the military junta in Burma continues to commit widespread human rights violations, civilians are constantly fleeing to seek shelter and protection. Worryingly, the Burma Army has also intensified its surveillance tactics and is adding checkpoints to critical routes and then extorting those trying to pass. This comes amid rising inflation, including rice prices, which have left families struggling to survive.

At least thirteen villagers have been arrested, with some killed and others missing. Over the past week, junta troops entered Yebyu Township, capturing and killing several villagers while leaving others unaccounted for. Residents from the Zar Dee village tract, located in the Kan Bauk area and Dawei Special Economic Zone, reported the abductions and subsequent killings. Locals discovered the bodies of the captured and killed villagers.

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

Throughout the first week of July, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) observed worrying patterns of violence against women and girls in target areas of Mon State, Karen State and the Tanintharyi region.

At the end of June, HURFOM’s latest volume of ‘Voice Up’ also presented evidence of the rise in targeted gendered attacks. Further, a new report released by the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar on the gendered impacts of the coup found, “The threat of sexual and gender-based violence is a dark shadow that follows women, girls, and LGBT people throughout Myanmar.”

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

Political Prisoners Protest Denial of Care and Neglect

Life for the people in Burma continues to be increasingly challenging. However, the junta’s terror tactics have not silenced or deterred the ongoing movement in the country for peace and democracy, including in the target areas of the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM), including Mon State, Karen State, and the Tanintharyi region. Even in the junta-run prisons where thousands of political prisoners remain unjustly detained, they continue to demand their rights and freedoms.

On the evening of June 12th, protests erupted inside Kyaikmayaw Central Prison in Mon State due to the denial of care for an injured prisoner who was ordered to perform welding work on a two-story building during a rainstorm. The inmate was electrocuted, fell, and lost consciousness.

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

Insecurity Caused by the Military Junta Undermine Education Pathways

The impacts of the ongoing conflict in Southeastern Burma continue to devastate communities and separate families. The junta’s forcibly enacted Conscription Law has only contributed further to the worsening state of unrest and uncertainty. In target areas of the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM), including Mon State, Karen State, and the Tanintharyi region, local people are fearful of indiscriminate firing, including air and ground attacks, as well as landmines and the possibility of escalated tensions. In the Burma Army’s bid to lose control, they are increasingly targeting innocent people. The impacts have been consequential, including delays to student education pathways.

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

Attacks by the Junta Worsen in Southeast Burma as Civilians are Targeted

​​In the first week of June, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) reported that artillery and airstrikes by the military troops in Bilin and Thaton townships, Mon State, destroyed 12 houses, including a monastery. This information was reported by the Karen National Union (KNU) Central Committee on June 6. In addition, at least fifteen residents were arrested in Kyike Hto Township from May 31 to June 5, 2024.

More than five artillery shells were fired by the 310th Artillery Battalion, causing further damage. Although civilians had to flee their homes, no injuries were reported. On June 3, the 9th Light Infantry Battalion, based in Thaton, fired artillery shells into Yay Wai village, destroying two religious buildings within the village monastery.

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

Escalation of Conflict in Rakhine State Calls for Support of Targeted and Vulnerable Groups

No one is safe in the presence or custody of the Burma Army. As the situation worsens in Rakhine State, crimes against civilians are being committed by the military junta and Arakan Army. The Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) joined a statement signed by 195 civil society and revolutionary organizations to condemn and oppose any ethnic armed groups, including Rohingya armed groups, that are collaborating with the terrorist military junta and abusing the public.

HURFOM has witnessed and documented the brutality of the Burma Army in our target areas of Mon State, Karen State and the Tanintharyi region. We stand to defend all of those who have been oppressed by all military forces. Ethnic revolution organizations, in particular, have a moral obligation to protect their communities from the violence deployed by the junta. The Arakan Army is no exception.

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HURFOM Weekly Update: Targeting of Civilians by the Junta Increases in Tanintharyi Region

HURFOM, Third Week of May 2024

The Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) is deeply concerned over the escalation of attacks by the Burma Army against civilians in the Tanintharyi region. In the last week alone, aerial and ground attacks increased in Yebyu and Tha Yat Chaung, which forced more than 100 people to flee, including pregnant women and children.  
 
In areas like Kanet Thiri, Gone Nyin Sate, Thae Lan, Chaung Wa Pyin, Sone Sin, and Se Taw, where revolutionary forces are fighting to take control, the junta has launched marine and air strikes, forcing thousands of residents to flee.

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

HURFOM, Second Week of May 2024

A weekly update by the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) on the situation on the ground. Summary data includes Mon State, Karen State and Tanintharyi region.

Analysis

Arbitrary arrests and abductions by the military junta continue to threaten the local livelihoods of innocent people. The surge in enforced disappearances comes amid the forced conscription enactment across the country. Since the Burma Army announced the People’s Service Law would go into effect, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) has found ongoing rights violations being perpetrated in target areas of Southeastern Burma.

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

HURFOM, First Week of May 2024

The military junta continues to commit widespread human rights violations. In target areas of the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) in Mon State, Karen State and the Tanintharyi region, civilians are feeling increasingly unsafe as the Burma Army shows threatening behaviour and actions. In the wake of the newly enacted Conscription Law, arbitrary arrests and forced abductions have been on the rise. As the regime continues to forcibly enlist recruits at all costs, HURFOM is concerned that the human rights situation will worsen.

On April 29th, the military deployed six vehicles and a bulldozer to strategically destroy and block the road between Kan Bauk and Nabu Lae. The operation commenced around noon when they used the bulldozer and an excavator to sever the road, creating ditches and piling up soil to obstruct passage. This disruption occurred near a bridge on the Zadi-Khaung Pyan road, a crucial connection between Kan Bauk Township and Nabu Lae village.

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