Weekly Overview: Human Rights Situation in Mon State, Karen State and Tanintharyi Region
February 26, 2024
HURFOM, Fourth Week of February 2024
Over the last week, in target areas of the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM), women were targeted by the military junta. The escalation of violence on the ground in Burma has impacted civilians the harshest, particularly in conflict-affected areas where women and children are among the majority of those displaced.
The regime also is enforcing stricter measures on mobility while repressing rights related to freedom of expression. This comes alongside a worrying rise in arbitrary arrests and abductions, which are rooted in baseless assumptions and a lack of evidence. In Mon State alone, according to a report by the New Ramanya Federal Force (NRFF), 105 civilians were killed, and more than 900 were unjustly arrested since the attempted coup.
Read moreWeekly Overview: Human Rights Situation in Mon State, Karen State and Tanintharyi Region
February 19, 2024
HURFOM, Third Week of February 2024
Over the last week, the military junta intensified and scaled up its attacks against civilians. In retaliation for the widespread support of the resistance movement, the Burma Army is targeting innocent civilians.
Dozens have been arbitrarily arrested and detained on baseless allegations and are charged in a legal system with no legitimate basis. Many have been forced into confessions and are tortured in the process. The Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) continues to monitor the situation closely.
The number of those arrested has sharply increased since the beginning of 2024. One local who was detained in Thanbyuzayat by the Burma Army was accused of supporting the local resistance forces in Mon State on 10 February 2024. The victim, age 43 years old and a motorcycle repairman was arrested in the evening by junta forces. The regime continues to crack down on fundamental rights and freedoms, including participation in protests.
Read moreWeekly Overview: Human Rights Situation in Mon State, Karen State and Tanintharyi Region
February 12, 2024
HURFOM, First Week of February 2024
On 1 February 2024, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) issued a statement to mark three years since the failed coup in Burma. Over the past three years, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) has documented widespread suffering and evidence of crimes perpetrated by the junta. Human rights violations have steadily increased across Southeastern Burma, including in Mon and Karen States as well as in the Tanintharyi region.
HURFOM continues to call for immediate accountability for the widespread and systematic crimes committed by the Burma Army. For decades, the Generals and soldiers of the regime’s commands have violated the rights of civilians with impunity. The international community must take the criminality embedded in the Tatmadaw seriously. This includes acknowledging the pro-democracy movement and leaders and ending all engagements with the military junta. The shared oppressor of the people has no place in the future of the country’s democratic movement.
Read moreWeekly Overview: Human Rights Situation in Mon State, Karen State and Tanintharyi Region
January 29, 2024
HURFOM, Fourth Week of January 2024
As the first week of the year comes to an end, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) continues to observe an increase in the atrocities being perpetrated by the military junta across Southeastern Burma. Civilians have been attempting to return to their daily lives as much as the current circumstances permit. Still, it has been incredibly challenging, given the rising presence of soldiers in local villages. In recent months, particularly towards the second half of 2023, the Burma Army lost many military bases. In retaliation, the junta has been punishing local people with their usual tactics of isolation, fear and intimidation.
Weekly Overview: Human Rights Situation in Mon State, Karen State and Tanintharyi Region
January 22, 2024
HURFOM, Third Week of January 2024
Over the last week, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) received two devastating updates on the ill-treatment of political prisoners who died from preventable causes. Both young men died after failing to receive immediate emergency assistance. HURFOM condemned the response by the junta-backed medical staff who failed to take steps that would have saved the lives of the two victims. According to the rights monitoring group, the Political Prisoners Network – Myanmar (PPNM), seventeen political prisoners died in 2023 because their medical symptoms were ignored and treated too late by junta-staffed personnel.
Read moreWeekly Overview: Human Rights Situation in Mon State, Karen State and Tanintharyi Region
January 15, 2024
HURFOM, Second Week of January 2024
In conflict-torn Southeastern Burma, civilians are seeking refuge and urgently needed protection from the ongoing bombardments by the military junta. Across target areas of the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM), including Mon State, Karen State and Tanintharyi region, those displaced continue to rise as offensives intensify.
For example, in Mon State, nearly 3,000 local people in Thaton District, who have been fleeing the war for almost a month due to the fighting, require emergency assistance, including basic food, medicine, shelter, blankets, and warm clothes, which are urgently needed. Since December 13th, the fighting between the two sides has intensified since the joint forces of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) blocked and attacked the junta’s Win Tar Pan camp based in Bilin.
Read moreWeekly Overview: Human Rights Situation in Mon State, Karen State and Tanintharyi Region
January 8, 2024
HURFOM, First Week of January 2024
The first week of the year in Southeastern Burma saw more violence by the junta in target areas of the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM), including Mon State, Karen State and the Tanintharyi region. The situation of human rights continues to escalate, particularly in Mon State, where since 19 December, the junta has waged widespread and indiscriminate attacks against local, unarmed civilians. On 29 December 2023, HURFOM released a statement of concern after documenting the forced displacement of more than 22,000 people, the deaths of ten and nearly two dozen injured.
Read moreWeekly Overview: Human Rights Situation in Mon State, Karen State and Tanintharyi Region
December 18, 2023
HURFOM, Second Week of December 2023
It has been a very long year for the people of Burma, who have been forced to endure ongoing violence perpetrated against them with impunity. The delayed and inadequate reply by the international community has only made things more challenging for those regularly being impacted by the atrocities deployed against them. With so much injustice and no reliable pathways for accountability and justice, the war is only worsening. Against all odds, civilians have remained resilient at the cost of their survival. They are on the run constantly and refuse to see the junta as any measure of humanity.
Read moreWeekly Overview: Human Rights Situation in Mon State, Karen State and Tanintharyi Region
December 11, 2023
HURFOM, First Week of December 2023
Human Rights Day was commemorated on 10 December 2023 with the theme of Consolidating and Sustaining Human Rights Culture into the Future. The Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) has launched a report responding to the theme, “Culture in the Crosshairs: How the Junta is Systematically Targeting Human Rights Culture with Military Impunity.” Our report analyzes the current human rights situation in Southeastern Burma and how quickly it is deteriorating, particularly in Mon State, Karen State, and the Tanintharyi region. Viewed through a cultural lens, the report also exposes how the junta is targeting the culture of local people when they force them from their homes and destroy their sacred places of worship.
Read moreWeekly Overview: Human Rights Situation in Mon State, Karen State and Tanintharyi Region
November 27, 2023
HURFOM, Fourth Week of November 2023
In Southeastern Burma, violence remains targeted against civilians who are living in parts of the country where conflict is intensifying. Among the most vulnerable are women and children, who comprise the majority of those displaced, and the last week included the beginning of the ‘16 Day Campaign to End Gender-Based Violence,’ which is acknowledged by many human rights groups in Burma. During these challenging times of turmoil and uncertainty, the commitment to ending gendered violence is affirmed, and the work to spread awareness is ongoing. For example, the Karen Women’s Organization shared their theme, including a call to create a community free from violence against women.
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