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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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Monthly Overview: The Response to the Rapidly Deteriorating Human Rights Situation in Burma Demands Action and Accountability 

HURFOM

Prospects for peace in Burma feel distant for civilians living in conflict-affected parts of the country. With over one million people displaced, the sentiment on the ground is discouraging. Battles waged by the military junta happen daily and routinely force people from their homes. The conditions have deprived children and youth of education, and families cannot access their livelihoods. The regime has targeted communities to deter any support for the pro-revolutionary forces, including People’s Defense Forces (PDFs), Ethnic Revolution Organizations (EROs), the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), and others. 

The Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) continues to document the extensive and ongoing crimes being committed. Among the most concerning for civilians is the airstrikes by the junta, which happen without warning, even when conflict is not active. The attacks from the air are difficult to survive. Homes, clinics, and schools are among those targeted. In August 2023, HURFOM condemned the ongoing targeting of civilians, including internally displaced people sheltering from the violence. Download Report in Eng

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Monthly Overview: International Engagement with the Military Junta, Including United Nations Affiliates, Undermines the Pro-Democracy Movement 

HURFOM

While the human rights situation in Burma continues to deteriorate, civil society organizations, including the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM), remain committed to the success of the pro-democracy movement. Engagement with local communities, respected leaders and refugee-led organizations and committees are critical to ensuring the response to the humanitarian crisis is rooted in an approach of ‘do no harm.’ This effort can be strengthened with the international community’s support, which can allocate funds and resources to displaced people and conflict-affected refugees.

Further, the Commanders of the junta have repeatedly issued orders that threaten civilian safety. The situation has worsened in Mon State, Karen State, and the Tanintharyi region, where HURFOM fieldworkers report daily abuses. Indiscriminate firing displaces families and significantly undermines their survival and access to education and work. 

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Monthly Overview: The first Anniversary of the Execution of Four Political Prisoners and Ongoing Arrests and Death Sentences Demands Immediate Action as Impunity Thrives in Southeastern Burma and Nationwide

Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM)

Escalating violence in Southeastern Burma remains a threat to the survival of civilians. Indiscriminate firing, forced relocation, destruction of property, arbitrary arrest, and unlawful detainment are among the human rights violations that continue destabilizing the country. The soldiers of the Burma Army perpetrate these crimes with impunity. The silence and lack of action beyond condemnation by the international community only embolden them to commit more atrocity crimes. Civilians have suffered immensely as they are forced to flee their homes and seek safety and shelter wherever they can.

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