Weekly Update in HURFOM Targeted Areas

November 8, 2021

(First week of November 2021)

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A combination of fear mongering tactics perpetrated by the junta including but not limited to extortion, threats and verbal and physical assaults have sought to advance a military agenda of state-sponsored coercion. However, the people of Burma remain adamant to not bend to the authoritarian rule being forced upon them. Overwhelmingly, citizens have rejected the military’s power-grab and have continued to support anti-coup activities. 

HURFOM released a briefing paper called Under Attack, which highlighted the increase in human rights violations committed by the military junta in Mon State, Karen State and Dawei region. The assaults on fundamental freedoms are ongoing. The junta security troops arrested two local civilians without having no arrest warrants after raiding a house in Tha-Baw-Seik-Pyin Village, Long Lon Township, Dawei Region. The two men they arrested were not the ones they wanted, but they were taken away as hostages. When they left the village, they forcibly took three Honda motorcycles, a tank of oil and also robbed three million Kyats from the villagers. 

Alongside, the abductions are growing numbers of civilians fleeing their villages. According to HURFOM network members, approximately 300 more IDPs from four villages in eastern Dawei have fled their homes after the junta vowed retribution against the civilian armed resistance, and those involved in the guerrilla attacks that killed and injured security troops in the last two weeks.

Local villagers said they were worried about being killed, arrested, abducted and/or used as human shields by the junta, or be subjected to sexual harassment. Many have fled in fear.

Leaders on the global stage have a moral responsibility to meet the moment of crisis that civilians have been confronted with

Only 10% of students return to school

November 8, 2021

HURFOM: The military junta desperately wants to demonstrate their bureaucracy is running smoothly. This includes starting the 2021-22 academic year at any cost.  Vaccinations for those 12-year-old and above have been prioritized, and they have announced that schools will be open on November 1, 2021.

However, COVID-19 still threatens communities and there is an active people’s armed revolution opposing the military dictatorship gaining momentum across the country.   These developments have led parents to keep their children at home, rather than registering for school.

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Hotels to close in Mon State

November 6, 2021

HURFOM: Due to COVID-19 and the country’s on-going political crisis, hotel and tourism in Mon State has hit rock bottom.  Hotel owners are now considering closing their properties.

Most of the economic sectors in Mon State are facing a severe crisis due to COVID-19 and the military coup.  Many business owners are  now planning to close their enterprises.

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Junta’s Ministry of Education withholds salaries of ethnic language teachers

November 3, 2021

HURFOM: The Junta controlled Ministry of Education is planning to reopen schools in November, 2021,  but ethnic language teachers in government schools do not know if they have their old jobs.

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Weekly Update in HURFOM Targeted Areas (October: Week Four)

November 1, 2021

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 Dawei Region.

Across the month of October, HURFOM fieldworkers reported on a series of widespread, systematic human rights violations committed with impunity by the Burma Army. The regime continues to carry out crimes against humanity through targeted assaults on civilian lives and property. The junta soldiers have showed no mercy. Villagers from Ywa Thit, Kawkareik Twsp reported that they had unearthed a disabled villager killed and buried by the junta soldiers. U Aung Myint had physical handicaps. While the battalions were operating in his village, he could not run. The soldiers killed him for no reason.

Family members also continue to be taken as hostages. On October 23 in Dawei at about 8 PM, a group of junta security forces entered into the house of Daw Mar Mar Thet and abducted her. They came and looked for Ma Pan Ei Phyu, one of the daughters of Daw Mar Mar Thet. But Pan Ei Phyu was in hiding, and they arrested her Mom as a hostage. The next day, junta troops arrested another three people, including a 7-year-old child who are family members of Daw Mar Mar Thet and Ma Pan Ei Phyu. They’re all residents of Daung Ngu Ward, Dawei.  

Young people are also being indiscriminately targeted. Two young civilians from No. 2 Ward, Hpa-an Township, Karen State were just abducted and brought to prison. Military intelligence grabbed a young woman and man from Ahmat Hnit ward. The troops came with three trucks into Ward No.2, arrested them after checking their mobile smartphones. They were about 20 years old and are likely being held at Hpa-An prison in Karen State. 

Murderous acts are ongoing as junta troops killed two young civilians who were detained on October 23. Ko Htet Wai Naing, 23, and Ko Than Soe Oo, 23 were the residents of Ottaran Ward, Dawei. They were killed on Yay-Wai street. Both bodies had gunshot wounds. Families were informed to claim their bodies on the 24th.  

Meanwhile, abductions and arbitrary arrests of anyone the junta deems suspicious have resulted in rising levels of fear. Thousands have been forced to flee their homes for safety and security reasons.

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