Weekly Overview: Human Rights Situation in Mon State, Karen State and Tanintharyi Region
September 11, 2023
HURFOM | Week One, September 2023
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 another ASEAN summit came and passed, little progress was made on the human rights situation in Burma. While the regional bloc condemns the junta’s behavior, they also enable it by permitting the murderous regime to attend meetings and training, including on anti-terrorism and security – of which the Burma Army has no place. The lives of innocent people are at risk, yet regional and global entities, including the UN, make conscious choices to stand with dictators rather than those of the pro-democracy movement.
Read moreWeekly Overview: Human Rights Situation in Mon State, Karen State and Tanintharyi Region
August 28, 2023
HURFOM | August Week 4
During the last week of August, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) continues to report increasing cases of injustice in Southeastern Burma. The situation’s urgency demands action and intervention by the international community, especially as vulnerable communities suffer from socio-economic instability. It has become extremely difficult for people to survive at the junta, which wages their offensives on largely unarmed people.
Read moreWeekly Overview: Human Rights Situation in Mon State, Karen State, and Tanintharyi Region
August 21, 2023
HURFOM | August Week Three
In Southeastern Burma, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM), the impunity of the military junta is evident in the number of cases documented daily. Across the last two and a half years, ongoing, widespread attacks against civilians have occurred. Rather than engage meaningfully with civil society organizations and take accountability pathways which hold the junta responsible, UN affiliates and others have corresponded with the military. Most recently, the United Nations Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, met with the terrorist-in-chief, Min Aung Hlaing.
Read moreWeekly Overview: Human Rights Situation in Mon State, Karen State, and Tanintharyi Region
August 14, 2023
HURFOM | August Week Two
Among the many worrying circumstances in Burma that have worsened since the attempted coup, the security of civilians’ livelihoods remains at high-risk. The Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) continues to hear testimonies from survivors of attacks on their homes and families. The situation remains volatile as pathways for justice and accountability are extremely limited. The military is trying to create an illusion of normalcy in the country, but the people on the ground know all too well the horrors occurring. Their calls for accountability and justice are steadfast and must be listened to.
Read moreWeekly Overview: Human Rights Situation in Mon State, Karen State, and Tanintharyi Region
August 7, 2023
HURFOM | August First Week
Over halfway through the year, the situation in Southeastern Burma continues to deteriorate rapidly. The Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) reports increasing violations of the rights and security of civilians targeted by the junta. Baseless accusations and a lack of rule of law have left the most vulnerable subjected to military force without accountability. HURFOM continues our calls for justice and reparations, and the international community to advocate for their protection through sanctions on aviation fuel and for a global arms embargo. The slowness and lack of urgency on the situation in Burma remain frustrating as civilians exist under increasing threats to their survival.
Weekly Overview: Human Rights Situation in Mon State, Karen State, and Tanintharyi Region
July 24, 2023
HURFOM | July Third Week
The human rights situation in Southeastern Burma is worsening as the international community and regional actors, including ASEAN, fail to respond with adequate measures to hold the junta accountable for their widespread and systematic crimes against humanity. The Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM). The junta targets women, children, the elderly and others with artillery fire, shelling and mortars. Hundreds of homes have been destroyed, and an overall longing for peace and protection has once again forced civilians to bear the burden of war.
Any opposition to the dictatorship is met with violence, torture and death. According to local sources, at 9 AM on Jul 15, after the funeral service in Kaung Mu village, Dawei, eight young villagers from the Youth Association of Kaung Mu were stopped. The military inspected their phones, and two Mon youths were arrested and severely beaten. Locals said that the arrested young men, 22-year-old Nay Lin Zaw and 17-year-old Thein Htwe, were found with the three-finger salute images on their phones and were severely beaten and detained for a day at the Kanbauk Police Station:
Weekly Overview: Human Rights Situation in Mon State, Karen State, and Tanintharyi Region
July 17, 2023
HURFOM | July Second Week
The situation in Southeastern Burma continues to deteriorate violently. Civilians have been forced to flee their homes and villages, desperately searching for refuge and protection. Even as they try to escape, the junta is relentless in firing ammunition and scores have been injured and killed while running for their lives. In addition, many suffer from preventable diseases due to the Burma Army’s ongoing blocking of aid and urgently needed resources. Civil society groups and social welfare organizations are doing their best to fill the gaps in service provisions. Still, serious risks continue undermining stability in the region and countrywide.
The Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) is committed to documenting the widespread atrocities rampant along the Thai-Burma border and in the dozens of townships across our target areas of Mon State, Karen State and the Tanintharyi region. Firing happens in Burma even when there is no conflict to provoke the regime. The attacks against civilians are indiscriminate and targeted.
Read moreWeekly Overview: Human Rights Situation in Mon State, Karen State, and Tanintharyi Region
July 10, 2023
HURFOM | July First Week
Human rights violations in Mon State continue to increase steadily. In the two and a half years since the attempted coup, military impunity is in every facet of life in Southeastern Burma. Civilians continue to carry the burden of their livelihoods being strained. Extortion is ongoing at checkpoints, and indiscriminate firing regularly threatens the safety of local people. The affiliation of the New Mon State Party (NMSP) to the junta has also caused divisions.
At the end of June, the 31st local military battalion launched indiscriminate artillery attacks on Kyouk Eye village, Khaw Zar Sub-township, Southern Ye Township, Mon State, killing a local woman. The NMSP visited the victims’ houses to offer financial support. However, local Mon people have criticized them for their conduct in this incident and are questioning their political stance with the junta:
Read moreWeekly Overview: Human Rights Situation in Mon State, Karen State, and Tanintharyi Region
June 26, 2023
HURFOM | June Week Four
As June nears an end, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) remains deeply concerned over the rise of atrocities perpetrated by the junta against civilians. Over the last week, women were targeted by the regime in a series of arbitrary arrests and abductions. The lawlessness that continues to consume the daily affairs of citizens is all the more evident that more than anything – the junta fears the people themselves who refuse to accept their dictatorship. This was especially clear following the arrest of nine women who participated in a flower strike to mark the birthday of State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Mawlamyine, Mon State. On June 19, the arrested and imprisoned State Counselor’s 78th birthday was commemorated by flower strikes.
Read moreWeekly Overview: Human Rights Situation in Mon State, Karen State, and Tanintharyi Region
June 19, 2023
HURFOM | June Week Three
As the people’s calls for justice and accountability grow, it is all the more concerning that some ASEAN countries refuse to condemn the military’s violence and gross negligence. Across the last week, it was revealed that the outgoing Thai Foreign Minister was planning secret meetings with the military junta. The Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) joined regional civil society organizations in expressing concern and frustration in further coordinating meetings that go against the people’s will. These meetings must not take place at the risk of legitimizing the junta.
While authoritarian leaders corroborate, the Burma Army continues its widespread attacks against civilians nationwide. In Southeastern Burma, indiscriminate firing by junta-backed soldiers indicates the impunity that goes unchallenged at the cost of human lives. According to residents, the junta troops shot and killed a young, internally displaced man from Ya Nge village, Thayet Chaung Township, Dawei District, on the afternoon of June 11. He fled as fighting descended upon Min Dap, Tain Kon, Ka Myaing, Ya Nge, Kyauk Kha Mauk, Kyaul Min Kon and Kanet Thiri villages.
The victim was 23-year-old Ko Wai Yan Hein, who was shot while trying to escape to a safe place with his family when the junta troops arrived. He was targeted while returning home to take medicine for his ill mother:
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- The Human Rights Foundation of Monland Condemns Reports of Extortion and Abuse of Power by Prison Authorities in Southeastern Burma
- Junta seals and seized freelance reporter’s house after arrest and killing him
- Junta shoots and kills local man in Yebyu
- Pregnant woman sustains serious injury in a shooting incident in Ah Sin village
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