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

Third Week of January 2023

HURFOM: As the year’s first month comes to a close, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) continues to observe and document worrying human rights violations across Southeastern Burma. Thousands have been forced to flee their villages as conflict rages, forcing them to seek safety. HURFOM remains seriously considered for their safety and well-being. Our calls to the international community remain steadfast in calling for change and accountability. The internal structures for law and governance inside Burma cannot be trusted, as the military junta has hijacked all prospects for peace. Global justice pathways and consequences for the military junta are the only possible steps forward.

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

Second Week of January 2023

HURFOM: It was another devastating week across Southeastern Burma where the junta violated international law again by deploying an airstrike in Karen State that claimed the life of a young mother and her two-year-old son. The Burma Army is encouraged to commit these atrocity crimes because they continue to face a lack of severe repercussions from the international community.

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

First Week of January 2023

A New Year has begun, but for many, the lives of innocent civilians in Burma have not changed. The junta uses violence as a tool to weaponize submission and enforce fractured laws that do nothing but make a mockery of the justice system. Fighting continues unabated as armed soldiers continue to wreak havoc, destroying all in their path.

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

Fourth Week of December 2022

HURFOM: Despite the Christmas holidays, the Burma Army has not slowed its offensives. The targeting of civilians continues in Southeastern Burma and across the country. The Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) has closely monitored the scaled-up atrocities perpetrated against unarmed residents. Offensives remain unrelenting, and the lives of the most vulnerable are increasingly at risk amid food shortages and freedom of movement restrictions.

The military junta launched a coup two years ago and denied the results of the 2020 election by dubiously claiming significant mistakes with the voter list. The junta is planning to hold an election in 2023. The Union Election Committee, which is controlled by the military, has been collecting names for a new voters’ list via the General Administration Department (GAD). According to sources within the GAD, there is little confidence the new voter list will be accurate because of corruption within the Immigration Department which has been tasked to make national registration cards and a household list of voters. Some names hold two or three different ID cards. “If corruption cannot be eliminated, the voter list won’t be accurate,” said a source close to the township GAD.

It is worth noting that the junta has also been putting pressure on small or ethnic political parties. The UEC recently informed all political parties of an amendment driven by the junta establishing new membership numbers and requiring parties to pay a fee to the UEC.

“It has been a long time since they’ve checked to see if the people in the constituency and those on the household list are the same. Many have different household lists and don’t live in the township they are registered to vote in.”

Clashes throughout the region threaten instability as hopes for a return to normalcy feels all the more distant. Conflict broke out in Padauk-Gyi Village, Thayetchaung Township, Dawei. The junta burned seven houses, opened fire with artillery weapons, and killed a young villager. On December 18 at 10 AM, fighting broke out between the local People’s Defence Forces and the junta in Padauk-Gyii Village. According to the reporters, the military council army burned seven houses and two motorcycles. In the evening after the battle, the junta and their backed militias entered the road leading to the hot springs in Pe-Dak village. A witness said they fired indiscriminately with their guns. A young man was hit in the chest. He bled to death. Due to these new armed conflicts, at least 300 families and villagers are fleeing nearby areas who fear the junta’s indiscriminate gunfire.

Meanwhile, the abductions are creating a growing atmosphere of fear. In Kaw Dut village, Ye Township, Mon State, two young people were arbitrarily arrested by the junta at 8 PM on December 20: “The junta is patrolling our village day and night. There are no People’s Defense Force soldiers here. But two young villagers, our friends, who were using their phones at the public rest house, were abducted. They did nothing wrong. Their motorbike was also seized,” according to a close friend of one of the detainees. They were sent to the Lamine Police Station, a neighboring Town of Kaw Dut village, Northern Ye Mon State. The junta frequently demands ransoms for the release of their loved ones. Human lives should not have a price tag attached to them. They must be granted their universal human rights to live with dignity and peace.

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

Third Week of December 2022

HURFOM: Over the last week, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) reported increasing cases of arbitrary arrests and abductions. The terror tactics deployed by the military junta have resulted in thousands fleeing for safety. Civilians continue to be fired at indiscriminately and lack access to protection pathways. A hijacked justice system has failed to uphold international rights and freedoms. HURFOM fieldworkers on the ground have reported a growing sense of fear and insecurity. 

Hundreds of residents who fled conflicts in their native villages in Bokpyin Township, Tanintharyi Region,  since the last week of November, have not been able to return to their homes, according to reporters in that region. Families are suffering from food shortages. A HURFOM reporter said that between December 4 and 10, the junta forcibly relocated another 400 local villagers living in Yadanap (Mining) village to the Myanmar-Thailand border. Now the number of people is about 700, including children and the elderly, who face risks to their survival as they cannot access medicine and nutritional food.

HURFOM also reported on the rising challenges facing people with disabilities who struggle to find work and secure their livelihoods. Due to political instability, businesses are reducing staff and stopping work, according to those assisting people with disabilities. He added they are working in connection with vocational training institutes to provide employment opportunities for people with disabilities, but it is not practical. In addition, people with disabilities who have been stopped from work face difficulties in making a living. It is improbable that the military junta will support those struggling during these times. HURFOM has reported dozens of cases of the military extorting people through ransoms and confiscating possessions. The number of disabled people increased after the military coup due to excessive landmine injuries and other conflict-related wounds.

Travel in Southeastern Burma has also become much more restricted and high-risk. Since the beginning of December 2022, the Junta Administrator of Pu Law Township, Myeik District, Tanintharyi Region, has required all passengers or travellers to show their recommendation letter (travel authorization) at checkpoints. The junta persecutes anyone who has failed to deliver the letter. A recommendation letter costs at least 5,000 Myanmar Kyat, which is exceptionally high for some families, given the financial struggles amid the ongoing political and economic crisis. Since 1 February 2021, administrators appointed by the junta has made extra money by extorting villagers.

One of the reasons so many have remained fearful in their villages is that the junta has not hesitated to fire into civilian areas if they feel provoked or are suspicious of opposition forces hiding. An innocent civilian was shot dead by Junta LIB No. 406 troops in Wagone village, Dawei; according to local sources. Ko Chit, age 35, was found with gun wounds outside the village. The incident occurred on December 11, 2022, at 8:00 PM. A local who spoke to HURFOM said a group of soldiers and their alliances’ militias arrested Ko Chit by tying his hands behind his back and then he started hearing gunshot sounds. They fled and left the body.   The deceased was just an ordinary villager and had no history of being involved or linked with armed groups. 

HURFOM condemns the ongoing violence being perpetrated against innocent civilians. The junta has advanced their attacks because they have yet to be accountable. The people cannot trust the authorities to protect them, which has only added to the anxiety that residents face daily. There must be justice for lost lives and reparations to families. This is only possible through international accountability mechanisms which demand global intervention.

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

Second Week of December 2022

HURFOM: The brutality and scaled-up attacks by the junta across the last week in Southeastern Burma are evidence of the regime’s devastatingly rampant impunity. On Human Rights Day, marked on 10 December, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) issued a statement daring to ask how many more bullets would need to be fired before the international community awoke to the injustices being perpetrated daily against innocent civilians. HURFOM continues to condemn the ongoing attacks and emphasizes our calls for swift action and accountability. People’s lives are quite literally on the line.

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

First Week of December 2022

HURFOM:

By the end of November 2022, the number of those arrested, detained, killed, and injured only continued to increase. Since the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) began documenting the atrocities being perpetrated by the junta following the attempted coup, thousands have faced unjust sentences and civilian life under the regime has only deteriorated further. Safety and security concerns are rising across Southeastern Burma, where the Burma Army has used excessive force to strip communities of their homes, livelihoods, and possessions. Their endless pursuit of power comes at the cost of humanity as over one million people are displaced throughout the country.

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Weekly Overview: Human Rights Situation in Mon State, Karen State, and Tanintharyi Region
Fourth Week of November 2022

HURFOM: During the last week of November 2022 in Southeastern Burma, civilians were met with more devastation, fear and havoc by the military junta. The Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) has continued to document human rights violations in Mon State, Karen State and the Tanintharyi region. Civilians are being increasingly targeted as the Burma Army acts with no moral consciousness or concept of consequences. Soldiers lack humanity and an understanding of basic human rights norms, laws, and principles. Consequently, civilians are forced to face brutal assaults. Women, children, and the elderly are not sparred, nor are sacred sites such as religious places of worship (monasteries, churches, etc.).

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On November 19, beginning at 5 AM, an estimated 120 junta soldiers from the Costal Regiment Command, based along the Dawei to Htee-Khee highway motorway, indiscriminately fired several mortar shells at the village located beside the highway. Due to these cruel armed attacks launched by the Junta forces, at least two villagers were injured, and more than ten houses were destroyed, according to sources on the ground.

Hundreds of villagers from three villages located in the areas, such as the village from Thingan-Ton, Wa Kone, and Leik-Kyae-Pyaung, were forced to flee the artillery attacks. Villagers said that in Wakone, the Burma Army ransacked the road with artillery weapons and occupied the areas.

One villager described the scene as ‘bullets falling like rainfall.” They continued, “It seems like the junta troops attempted to fire everywhere because they believed that the soldiers of the People’s Defense Forces were located in our villages.” Two young men, Myo Nyunt and Ko Myo, working on betel nut plantations near Wakone village, were hit by artillery shells and injured in their backs and neck. 

A resident from Leik-Kyae-Pyaung village said that the junta forces opened fire with heavy weapons, entered their village, broke the ownerless houses, raided at least ten places, and stole food and clothes. Only two weeks ago, more than 30 houses in Wakone village were broken down, and their belongings and materials were stolen.

Young people are being subjected to ongoing arrests, and unlawful detainment as the Burma Army carries out its campaign of fear and terror. Since November 19, eight youths have been abducted in a series of raids and search operations of suspected organizers of the ongoing silence strikes by the junta forces in Dawei District.

Family members of those arrested complained that because they captured the suspects without specific information, irrelevant people were affected. On November 20, Ma Khin Lay Nwe, a young woman, age 26, was arrested by the military intelligence and police forces. Her family maintains her innocence, saying she has opened a beauty shop in her home. A witness, age 30, told HURFOM in light of all the arrests, he suspects the military has not been successful in finding those responsible for planning and organizing the silence strikes. HURFOM confirmed that those who were forcibly arrested are still being detained at the Long Lon police station. Families believed these young detainees were tortured by the polices and jail authorities while interrogated.

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The junta has also not hesitated to shoot with intent to kill. On 20 November, around 2 PM in Long Lon township, the Burma Army was inspecting pedestrians in front of the Public Hospital in Long Lon, when they opened fire on two young men on a motorcycle. One of them was seriously injured in his back. The other was caught and arrested. In that incident, the junta forces shot at two other innocent teenagers walking on the road. The two victims are siblings from Tha-byar Village; residents stated that 15-year-old Maung Wei Yan Aung died from a gunshot wound at the hospital.

 These attacks are further evidence of the impunity of the military junta.

Weekly Overview: Human Rights Situation in Mon State, Karen State, and Tanintharyi Region
Third Week of November 2022

HURFOM: Across the last week of November, civilians in Myanmar, particularly Southeastern Burma, were met with more violence and lawlessness perpetrated by the military junta. Soldiers who adhere to commands to assault civilians and disregard their fundamental freedoms are complicit in the demise of prospects for democracy in the country. Victims of the military’s brutal offensives know that there cannot be peace as long as weapons threaten their survival. 

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Weekly Overview: Human Rights Situation in Mon State, Karen State, and Tanintharyi Region
Second Week of November 2022

HURFOM: Across the first two weeks of November 2022, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) has already documented cases of murder, arbitrary arrests, and abductions. The first of our report on human rights violations by the junta over the last fourteen days can be viewed on a map indicating the abuse, and the location in Southeastern Burma where it took place. Civilians of all ages continue to be targeted by the military junta. The lack of accountability has only emboldened them to commit further acts of atrocity with impunity.

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