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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.

For decades, the military junta has evaded accountability for their crimes against women and girls. Protected by military courts under the 2008 Constitution and a lack of transparency or investigation into any crime related to conflict-related sexual violence, survivors have suffered from trauma and a lack of accountability. Every quarter, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) releases an update titled ‘Voice Up,’ which provides documentation and analysis on the violations perpetrated against women and girls in target areas of Mon State, Karen State and the Tanintharyi region. 

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

Series of Landmine Explosions in Local Villages Leave Several Injured

In recent weeks, the number of landmine-related injuries has surged in target areas of the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM), including Mon State, Karen State and the Tanintharyi region. Landmines continue to be a hazard for civilians, causing death and injury. Unseen often before it is too late, the junta intentionally places landmines in civilian areas. Burma has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty, despite an initiative launched by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines in 2003.

In Thanbyuzayat Township of Mon State, several residents suffered severe injuries and life-threatening wounds. These incidents, occurring near the Eon Saw Mon rubber factory and surrounding areas, underscore the growing danger posed by landmines in the region.

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

Junta Attacks Cause Communication Disruptions in Southeastern Burma

The Burmese military is continuing to target civilians in Southeastern Burma. As part of its notorious ‘four-cuts strategy’ in which the junta aims to cut off food, funds, recruits and information, there are widespread communication outages nationwide. Several townships lack reliable Internet or mobile connections in the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) target areas, including Mon State, Karen State, and the Tanintharyi region.

The military junta has been deliberately disrupting communication networks in these areas, severely impacting daily life. A villager from Kyone Ka Nyar in Ye Township reported that their village has been without a phone signal for an entire month, making it impossible to contact family members. Similar cutoffs have affected other villages in Southern Ye Township, including Mee Tie Dat, Mi Htaw Hlar Lay, Mi Htaw Hlar Gyi, Ma Gyi, and Ma Gyi Chaung Wa, since June 2024.

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Forced Conscription Drive Takes Toll on Local Communities

In response to record losses of Burma Army soldiers by the opposition forces and defections of soldiers and commanders, as well as economic turmoil and rising poverty as a result of nationwide conflict, it was declared that the 2010 People’s Military Service Law, mandating conscription, would be enforced for the first time since it was passed.

Since this announcement, young men and women have fled to neighboring countries for their safety. However, countries like Thailand have enforced stricter screening mechanisms for Burmese citizens entering. For those remaining inside Burma, the junta has taken additional steps to prevent young people from leaving by denying individuals between the ages of 23 and 35 the opportunity to depart from Yangon by air. This action follows a similar enforcement in May when the military junta temporarily banned all men from working abroad.

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Junta Targets Political Opposition Members

During the second week of August, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) reported on several cases of civilians continuing to be targeted in the offensives perpetrated by the junta. The same criminal acts of terror are being used by the Burma army to evoke fear and uncertainty. This has included the targeting of opposition members. These politically motivated arrests speak to the deep and long-held concerns of members of the regime who fear democracy more than bullets.

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

Flooding in Southeastern Burma Adds to Daily Challenges for Locals

HURFOM: Now, more than halfway through the year, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) continues to report worrying increases in the widespread crimes being perpetrated against innocent civilians by the junta. By the end of July, HURFOM’s June monthly overview numbers had doubled. The reported figures are as follows: 107 people were arbitrarily arrested, 52 were injured, 110 were mistreated, and nearly 60 were killed. In addition, 75,000 people were forced to leave their homes due to violence by the junta as they intensified their offensives in local areas, with 120 homes damaged in July alone.

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

Aerial and Ground Bombardments Threaten Civilian Security

The Burma Army continues daily mass killings nationwide. HURFOM noted disturbing cases of civilians killed in junta bombings. The assaults, both aerial and ground, persist unchecked and demand urgent international intervention.

HURFOM reported an alarming increase in attacks in Mon State, Karen State, and the Tanintharyi region. Locals are being killed while in their homes and tending to their livelihoods. Recently, on July 20th, a farmer from Nyaung Zin village was fatally shot by military junta forces at the Shwe Gu bridge checkpoint in Tha Yet Chaung Township, Dawei District.

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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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