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Weekly Update in HURFOM Targeted Areas [Week Three: 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.

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Weekly Update in HURFOM Targeted Areas [Week Two: April 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 violence by the military junta is fueling a refugee crisis. In Karen State, airstrikes and heavy artillery fire has led to over more than 600 internally displaced people in Kawkareik township, Karen State. Those fleeing are in desperate need of food, shelter, medicine and life-saving materials. However, the situation is worsened by the fact that the Thai authorities are blocking pathways to aid and turning back displaced people directly back into a conflict zone.

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Weekly Update in HURFOM Targeted Areas [Week One: April 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

By the end of March 2022, HURFOM had documented a total of 12,177 people who have been displaced due to indiscriminate firing and shelling by the Burma Army in Kawkareik Township, alone. According to end of month summary documentation, there were at least 67 civilians arrested, 50 detained, 23 injured and 8 killed in target areas of Mon State, Karen State and Dawei.

This week violence perpetrated by the junta, which targeted civilians, killed two boys in Thaton Township Kamar Sai Village. Artillery shells were fired during clashes with the Karen National Liberation Army on the morning of March 29 near the Rangoon-Mawlamyine highway, locals said. A forty-year old man was also shot in the abdomen. Over the week, civilians once again were caught in the crossfire of fighting in Taungkyainn village, Kawkareik Township. The homes of local people and a temple, including a monastery, were damaged by heavy artillery shelling by the military. HURFOM contacted some villagers, requesting the destruction of house information in Taungkyainn village on April 1 morning. Many homes are affected. The junta opened fire toward the village, and some motor shells smashed the monastery.

No one feels safe or secure in Burma, especially amid the lingering of pro-junta forces, such as plain-clothed police officers and informers. Fighting across all of HURFOM’s target areas of Mon and Karen States and the Tanintharyi region reflect the military junta’s lack of sincerity to any kind of peace building initiative. As HURFOM documented in our December 2021 report, the Burma Army is undoubtedly on a ‘trajectory of terror.’ Civilians are regularly abducted, extorted and deprived of the most basic of human rights.

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

Indiscriminate firing last week led to the death of a 17yr old Karen teenager as civilians continue to be targeted. Consequences await the junta.

Full Analysis:

As the month of March comes to an end, in HURFOM targeted areas there continues to be ongoing threats to survival and civilian safety and security. The war being forced upon innocent people has led to hundreds of thousands displaced across the country leaving many in crippling levels of poverty. Inflation has crippled households who are struggling to provide for their families with the bare minimum. Civil society organizations have attempted to fill these gaps, however, the ongoing blocks of aid and humanitarian assistance have made basic provision of services and delivery extremely difficult, and high risk.

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Weekly Update in HURFOM Targeted Areas [Week Three: March 2022]

HURFOM: Weekly update on the situation in Karen, Mon & Dawei since the attempted coup:
13+ Arrested
9+ Detained
9+ Inured
4+ Killed

Civilians are unlawfully being targeted & charged in military-backed courts where justice has been delayed, denied, and dismissed.

Full Analysis:

In HURFOM target areas of Mon and Karen States, as well as Tanintharyi region, civilians have experienced mounting terror and intimidation tactics by the unlawful junta. Innocent people continue to be unlawfully arrested and charged in courts that are closed to the public which evokes the very spirit of authoritarian rule and judgment.

A school teacher involved in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) in Khok Khwar village, Kyaninseki Township, Karen State was sentenced to 17 years in prison on three counts. Ko Hein Htet Aung was a primary school teacher who had joined the CDM. His court hearings were finalized on 9 March by a military junta backed court in Hpa-An, Taung Kale Prison. The court decision also included hard labor. The charges include Section 505 of the Penal Code, and Section 52a of the Anti-Terrorism Law. Two young activists in Dawei have also been sentenced to 12 years in prison each by the junta-backed Dawei prison court on March 14. These two strike leaders and activists, Ko Pai Khant Zaw, 19, and Ko Set Mai Soe, 24, were arrested in Dawei and detained since May last year.

In Mon State, a young man only 21 years old, along with his friends were stopped, searched and arbitrarily abducted by the junta near Ye Township highway station on 14 March. They were alleged to be affiliated with local civilian defense forces. Midnight raids in Ye Township, Mon State in particular are ongoing. On 16 March at 10:30 PM, Ko Yi Htay and another two residents from Yan Gyi Aung Ward were abducted after their homes were raided. A couple days there on 18 March, former National League for Democracy (NLD) Chairman, U Kyaw Moe Aye had his home and property seized by the junta in Ye township. His relatives, including his brother and nephew were arrested. Among the unlawful arrests this week, an elderly 80 year old man, who is well known and experienced in the community, was also abducted in Ye township, despite not having an arrest warrant or any grounds to do so.

At the end of the week, HURFOM documented more horror. At least three innocent local villagers were killed, and seven others injured when artillery shells exploded near a pagoda in Kyauktaung village, Thaton Township, Mon State during a festival. There must be justice and accountability for those who have fallen and lost their lives to such senseless violence.

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

HURFOM received rising cases of movement & travel restrictions by the junta in target areas including 8 incidents of moto + property confiscations.

Full Analysis:
It is undeniable that the military junta is losing their quest for power. Over one year since the failed coup, and Burma Army defections are mounting alongside a growing Civil Disobedience Movement. Armed resistance from local civilians who have taken up arms are defending their homes, villages and pushing back on the junta’s assaults. In response, the military has forced the wives and children of soldiers into training, and are putting police officers on the frontlines to fight.

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Weekly update on Human Rights situation in Karen, Mon States & Tanintharyi Region since the attempted coup [First week of March 2022]

No one feels safe and secure in #Burma amid the lingering of junta backed forces, such as plain clothed police officers and informers. The people want peace.

Full Analysis:

In HURFOM areas, civilians are unquestionably continuing to reel from the aftermath of the failed coup. Economically, the country has been crippled by inflation, including rice, a staple in the local cuisine. No one feels safe and secure amid the lingering of junta backed forces, such as plain clothed police officers and informers.

On 1 March, HURFOM released our monthly findings from February 2022 which found that even a year after the failed coup, the amount of destruction caused by the junta have amounted to the most serious of human rights violations. The junta has shown no signs of easing their attacks against the people and has instead continued to spearhead their campaign of terror and illegal, inhumane acts including arbitrary arrests, indiscriminate firing and shelling, enforced disappearances, murder and many others.

In February 2022 alone, HURFOM recorded at least 65 arrests, 25 injuries and 10 deaths. Women and girls in particular were targeted with nearly 30 being arrested, sentenced and charged by the junta. Alongside the terror continues to be undisputed bravery. Protests and calls for action, including urgently dismantling the junta by cutting off their access to funds, weapons and more, are all the more active in Burma.

Junta troops are cracking down on the travelers near Hindra junction, located at Taungthone Lone Village, Metta Sub-Township, Dawei District. Stop and frisk operations were carried out on 2 March where nearly 60 military vehicles from the Metta Battalion arrived and began a rigorous operation. Approximately 30 motorcycles, six cars and the owners were arrested and confiscated. It is still unclear why the junta soldiers arrested and confiscated these vehicles. It seems like they will demand the ransom to give back to the drivers and owners.

In Karen State, on 28 February, a group of junta soldiers and officials arrived at Thang Yee Shop Road in Nyaung Wine Ward No. 5, Hpa-an, Karen and conducted guest registration and household inspections, and abducted three young men, according to the residents. The illegal activities and corruption is fuelled by a lack of accountability.

Weekly update on Human Rights situation in Karen, Mon States & Tanintharyi Region since the attempted coup [Fourth week of February 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.

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Weekly update on Human Rights situation in Karen, Mon States & Tanintharyi Region since the attempted coup [Third week of February 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.

Weekly Overview

Karen State

• On the bridge in Kaw Kyaik Village, Hpa-an Township, a group of junta security troops blocked the War-Sue Iron Bridge and forcibly stopped travellers. Young people were targeted and arrested.
• At least five civilians were accused of supporting PDFs and NUG. Their homes and properties have been seized by the junta GAD since February 16, according to the reporters in Kawkareik Township.
• Residents say at least four villages, with an estimated more than 1,000 IDPs, have been fleeing to the deeper Brigade 4 areas of the KNU.

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Weekly update on Human Rights situation in Karen, Mon States & Tanintharyi Region since the attempted coup [Second week of February 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.

Weekly Overview

Karen State

• At 8:40 PM on 9 February, junta security forces stopped, searched, and abducted six youths in front of the TB control center near the Hpa-an University traffic light.
• Junta soldiers and joint forces of the BGF indiscriminately fired ammunition and injured a man in Hpa-an. A local resident, Maung Kyaw Oo, was riding a motorcycle in front of Army camp No.1014, and was seriously injured when gunfire erupted.

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