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June 2024: Monthly Overview of the Human Rights Situation

Women and Children Face Ongoing Risks to their Safety and Security Amid Increasing Attacks by the Military Junta

Women & Children Targeted by Junta Attacks

According to the latest Internal Displacement Monitoring Center estimates, nearly 3 million people are displaced across Burma. Local organizations report even higher approximations, including the Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People (CIDKP), whose recent data show over one million people displaced in Karen State alone. These numbers reveal a situation of extreme devastation for local people who have had their lives uprooted by conflict fueled by an illegitimate and corrupt military.

Data collected by the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) also reveals distress and uncertainty. As the armed resistance movement increasingly gains more ground, Burma Army soldiers are scaling up attacks that have targeted local populations. Women and children are being killed in their homes, places of worship, hospitals and schools.

At the beginning of the month, an explosion occurred on June 4th at a basic education primary school in the Eain Shwet Pyin ward of Dawei Town. The blast resulted in the death of one third-grade student and injuries to 26 others, according to local sources.

The explosion, believed to have been caused by a bomb, happened around noon during the lunch break. Among the injured were eleven male students and fifteen female students. Tragically, a nine-year-old third-grade boy lost his life.

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Second “Voice Up” Update: Gendered Human Rights Overview in Southeastern Burma (March-May 2024)

Introduction

This short report is the second in a series of quarterly updates and analyses, which combines data collected from the ground by the Women and Child Rights project of the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM). Before the attempted coup in Burma, we had published similar content in a bulletin-style format under the title, ‘Voice Up.’ 

The Women and Children’s Rights project seeks to monitor the situation of women and children in Mon areas and southern Burma about the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Field staff collect and distribute information and data to our local and international networks. The findings also empower and educate women and children in the Mon community by providing information on their rights according to CEDAW and CRC and encouraging them to participate in the struggle to protect and enforce their fundamental freedoms. 

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May 2024: Monthly Overview of the Human Rights Situation

The Military Junta Scales Up Attacks Against Civilians Amid Forced Conscription Bid

The military junta continues to commit widespread human rights violations. In target areas of the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) in Mon State, Karen State and the Tanintharyi region, civilians are feeling increasingly unsafe as the Burma Army shows threatening behaviour and actions. In the wake of the newly enacted Conscription Law, arbitrary arrests and abductions have been on the rise. As the regime continues to forcibly enlist recruits at all costs, HURFOM is concerned that the human rights situation will worsen.

A young man, aged 30, named Min Aung Chan from Kawpalaing village in Kyaikmayaw Township, Mon State, was reportedly killed by the military. His body was discovered on April 27, a few days after his arrest. The young man was captured on April 25 after they inspected his phone during a routine search and accused him of supporting the New Mon State Party (AD) group. Along with his phone, his motorcycle was also confiscated, and he was taken into Junta’s frontline custody. Residents reported that on April 25, junta forces entered Kawpalaing village and the surrounding areas, where they continued their oppressive measures against the villagers:

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April 2024: Monthly Overview of the Human Rights Situation

Arbitrary Arrests on the Rise in Southeastern Burma as the Military Junta Targets Opposition Forces

April 2024

The Burma Army has continued to lose momentum, support and gains on the battlefield. The war against the people it once thought it could win has now been spurred into question as the people make it increasingly clear that there is no place for authoritarian rulers in the future of the country being built. The people-powered movement has not been deterred by the international community, observers and analysts, who long underestimated their capacity to defeat the long-feared and tolerated military junta. 

Local organizations and their documentation efforts have been vital to ensuring the gains on the ground in Burma. Despite the presence of international human rights organizations and the United Nations, they continue to need more access to areas that local groups are fully equipped to reach due to their decades of experience responding to emergencies. As stated in a new paper released this week titled “From Humanitarian Resistance to Resilience: Nation-building in Active Conflict,” the authors correctly state that “local organizations and administrative bodies are doing much more with less.”  

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March 2024: Monthly Overview of the Human Rights Situation

Injustices in Southeastern Burma are Ongoing as Enforced Disappearances Increase Alongside the Junta’s Illegal and Unjust Forced Conscription Law

Young people and their families in Burma awoke to devastating news in February 2024 following the junta’s announcement that it would begin enforcing mandatory military service for all men aged 18-35, and women aged 18-27 must serve for up to two years. The declaration followed a trajectory of losses by the Burma Army, notably in Karen and Karenni States as well as in Chin, Kachin and Shan States. These factors combined with the ongoing defections of high-ranking commanders and soldiers, as well as many troops surrendering to ethnic revolution organizations. The law mandating conscription was initially introduced in Burma in 2010, though it was never enforced.

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February 2024: Monthly Overview of the Human Rights Situation

Arbitrary Arrests and Unlawful Detainment by the Military Junta On the Rise in Southeastern Burma as Women and Children Are Targeted

Three years since the attempted coup in Burma was marked on 1 February 2024. Thousands have been killed and injured, and many more remain imprisoned on falsified and unjust charges. The economic situation has spiralled due to the junta’s failed policies and has consequently led to inflation, with prices soaring far beyond the means of many households. In addition, social services, including health care and education, have been eroded through corruption and attacks.

In a statement released by the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM), calls were made to end these attacks immediately and for the international community, including donors and policymakers, to focus on what is next to support human rights defenders and pro-democracy advocates. These stakeholders must engage with local civil society organizations on what steps they can take to ensure they are on the right side of history.

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Monthly Overview of the Human Rights Situation

January 2024: Violence Against Civilians Sees No Signs of Abating as Homes are Destroyed and Indiscriminate Attacks Target Local Populations in Southeastern Burma

The human rights situation in Southeastern Burma has continued to deteriorate as civilians are routinely forced to flee. Their villages have turned into battlegrounds, and where generations of homes once settled into a safe community have now led to separated families and widespread uncertainty. In addition, unmet needs on the ground are growing daily. In target areas of the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM), including Mon State, Karen State and the Tanintharyi region, our documentation indicates that while the junta is losing significant battles and bases, they are retaliating by increasing their attacks against an unarmed, innocent population.

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December 2023: Monthly Overview of the Human Rights Situation

Military Impunity Continues to Thrive as Increased Violence Shows No End of Attacks Perpetrated Against Civilians

Across the last twelve months, the human rights situation in Southeastern Burma and many parts of the country has remained unstable and uncertain. Every day, civilians are forced to make decisions for their survival.

When conflict erupts, there is often no warning, and communities must take what little they can to seek shelter. In many scenarios, no active fighting prompts the junta to fire indiscriminately. Scores of civilians have been killed and injured while going to work, to school or spending time with their loved ones. These patterns of targeted violence by the Burma Army are not new. Still, the increase in retaliatory abuses has been heightened as the junta is now closer than ever to defeat.

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November 2023: Monthly Overview of the Human Rights Situation

Children Heavily Targeted by Military Junta During Targeted Attacks Against Civilians in Southeastern Burma 

Human Rights Foundation of Monland

Now, perhaps more than ever since the failed coup, it has become abundantly clear that the military junta is losing the war it started. Widespread opposition to the regime’s hostilities and attempted power-grab has resulted in military defections and a growing armed presence along the country’s borders. On October 27, 2023, the Northern Three Brotherhood Alliance started the 1027 military operation in Northern Shan State.  The military junta has lost many of their bases as a result.

The 1027 operation is also impacting Southern Burma, with the military junta tightening security more than usual in the Mon and Tenasserim areas, reported one resident. Combined groups consisting of soldiers, police members and security forces in civilian clothes are aggressively interrogating people at both entry and exit checkpoints to Mawlamyine in Mon State.

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October 2023: Monthly Overview of the Human Rights Situation

The Military Junta Is Increasingly Manipulating the Rule of Law in
Burma to Target Civilians and Pro-Democracy Forces

HURFOM

Throughout October, the regime routinely targeted civilians in an ongoing campaign to undermine their fundamental freedoms. The people are resilient and have not given up their fight for democracy. The Burma Army knows that they are losing the war they have waged, and in response, they have scaled up attacks to try and instill terror and fear. The Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) remains committed to documenting the assaults and attacks indicative of military impunity. 

While carrying out these horrendous attacks, they are trying to present an illusion to the international community that the situation in the country is normal when, in reality, it is anything but the contrary. The junta invited government officials, diplomats, ethnic revolution organizations, and even NGOs to an event commemorating the eighth anniversary of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA). The NCA is not a successful pathway or platform to peace in Burma, but in their attempts to appear legitimate and committed to ‘peace,’ the junta held a lavish ceremony. 

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