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All Forms of Torture Must Immediately Be Put to An End in Burma

HURFOM: In target areas of the Human Rights Foundation of Monland, including Mon State, Karen State and Tanintharyi region, torture has been perpetrated by the military junta on a regular basis. HURFOM field workers have documented rising levels of fear as the junta increases their presence in civilian areas. Torture is considered a human rights violation under international law. See in full: Burmese | English

Torture in particular is a tactic which is deployed to scare and intimidate villagers. It is a way to force confessions and to exert power over unarmed, innocent populations. These acts have been committed with impunity. Villagers expressed to HURFOM that victims are denied their final death rights before they are killed. There are growing levels of frustration and uncertainty amid the current situation.

Across HURFOM areas, there have been reports of people being detained by the junta, and tortured to death in military run prisons. All political prisoners are subject to state-sponsored violence in the form of torture. Sexual violence is also considered a form of torture that robs civilians of their dignity. HURFOM has reported incidents of sexual violence against women while being interogated. Female inmates have also been deprived of food and water. Women in Burma are regularly denied their rights in military custody and are an increaed risk of being victims of sexual violence. Prison conditions are unsanitary and also deprive prisoners of their fundamental human rights.

HURFOM condemns the use of torture by any and all parties and calls for investigations to probe the unlawful deaths of civilians across the country who have been tortured to death, as well as those who have been forced to endure trauma and long term injuries as a result.

See in full: Burmese: https://rehmonnya.org/reports/TVSD-HURFOM-Bur.pdf
English: https://rehmonnya.org/reports/TVSD-HURFOM-Eng.pdf

Weekly Overview: Human Rights Situation in Mon State, Karen State, and Tanintharyi Region
Week Three, June 2022

HURFOM: Across the last week in Mon State, Karen State and Tanintharyi region, civilians were unjustly subjected to more horrors perpetrated by the military junta. The campaign of fear is emboldened by the reality that the Burma Army has never been held accountable for the crimes they commit, which are in blatant disregard of international laws. The people deserve protection, they are entitled to it as it is enshrined in their rights as civilians.

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Weekly Overview: Human Rights Situation in Mon State, Karen State, and Tanintharyi Region
Week Two, June 2022

Across HURFOM target areas, cases of abductions and arbitrary arrest continued to rise. The ongoing human rights violations speak to the inhumanity of the Burma Army and their lack of compassion for civilians. Innocent villagers are targeted in a relentless, ongoing campaign of terror. Those who have shown their support and solidarity to pro-democracy campaigns have been deliberately targeted.

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Weekly Overview: Human Rights Situation in Mon State, Karen State, and Tanintharyi Region
Week One June 2022

Weekly update on the situation in Karen, Mon & Dawei since the attempted coup:

13+ Arrested
8+ Detained
6+ Injured
3 killed

In May alone, HURFOM reported 52 medical workers were dismissed and 6 activists were sentenced to 2 to 5 years in prison.

Full Analysis:

As the month of May ended, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) released findings which found evidence of a worsening humanitarian crisis with nearly 30,000 newly displaced people across target areas. In addition, extortion, bribery and ransoms demanded by the military junta have continued to wreak economic turmoil. Livelihoods have been stunted by the General’s incompetency. Since 1 February 2021, peace has been denied to millions of civilians across the country as fighting occupies their villages. Many still dare not go home. Some have sought shelter and safety along the Thai-Burma border. However, they have largely been denied and deemed ‘illegal’ by Thai soldiers who refuse to allow them to cross. Humanitarian aid is urgently required to meet the growing needs of the sick, and vulnerable people trying to survive amid devastating circumstances.

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Weekly Update in HURFOM Targeted Areas [ Fourth Week of May 2022]

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

The targeting of innocent civilians remains ongoing. Over the last week, medics and doctors in the private sector who are affiliated with the Civil Disobedience Movement were actively sought out by investigating pro-junta health administrators in Mon State. In Dawei, the junta is also currently conducting major investigations into local money transfer services in the whole township and tracking people who are wanted by the junta, including opposition forces such as soldiers of the People’s Defense Forces, through phone numbers and addresses registered in the applications. Three people have been arrested and two local money transfer services were forced to stop their business. 

In Hpa-An, Karen State, the military is failing to ensure the safety of the local people by allowing its alliances to arm and commit daily human rights violations. According to the locals, civilians were forced to pay 20,000 to 50,000 MMK to pass the checkpoint operated by plain-clothed junta forces. 

The military’s staunch anti-democracy views have forced hundreds of civilians across the last year and a half into hiding. They are fearful of their lives, and their families. This is just one example of the climate of fear that the junta has created across the country. Tensions are running high. And yet, the military has not eased or halted their assaults on innocent lives. They are committing mass murder with impunity. 

Reporters from all three regions confirmed that they had received more than 15 cases of motorcycle confiscations. Some people were forced to pay ransoms for the release of their possessions and family members. This news comes security tollgates and checkpoints are increasing across Mon and southern Karen State. There were ten complaints at least just from Kyainnseiki, Kyaikmayaw, Mudon, and Thanbyuzayat Township of the property being unlawfully confiscated. These attacks must end.

Weekly Update in HURFOM Targeted Areas [ Third Week of May 2022]

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

Across the last week, civilians in HURFOM targeted areas faced additional levels of stress and uncertainty as the military junta raided homes, torched villages, and arbitrarily arrested innocent villagers. Their murderous and violent trajectory continues as calls for the international community to respond to the situation on the ground remain vocal and continuous.

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Weekly Update in HURFOM Targeted Areas [Second Week of May 2022]

HURFOM: 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

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Weekly Update in HURFOM Targeted Areas [Week Two: May 2022]

HURFOM: 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

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Weekly Update in HURFOM Targeted Areas [Week One: May 2022]

HURFOM: 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

In the many months which have passed since the Burma Army attempted to seize power through their failed coup, the people continue to suffer the most. In HURFOM target areas, field workers have reported rising cases of arbitrary arrest and detainment of prominent activists and rights defenders. Innocent villagers caught in the crossfire of violence have lost their lives to indiscriminate firing and shelling, as well as air and ground strikes that are unrelenting.

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Weekly Update in HURFOM Targeted Areas [Week Four: April 2022]

HURFOM: 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. Between 900 and 1200 #IDPs were forced to flee their homes across all target areas in the last week as junta violence wreaked terror.

Full Analysis:

The worsening military offensives in HURFOM target areas claimed more lives over the last week. On April 22, at 7:30PM, an innocent villager, Ko Sai Maung was shot dead by junta soldiers in a military truck. His body was taken away by the junta soldiers, according to local witnesses. He was murdered in Yan Taung village, Thayet Chaung Township. One truck stopped and parked at the Yan Taung village monastery. The other two military trucks went outside the village and parked outside. They shot and killed Sai Maung and then put his body on the truck, recalled a village witness to HURFOM. A Karen fieldworker commenting on the situation noted that the junta’s continued and illegal use of the ‘4 cuts’ strategy continues to isolate, target and terrorize innocent civilians: “They must end these systematic attacks on our people.”

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