Amnesty International reports on Burma/Myanmar

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Description: Campaigns, News, Research
Source/publisher: Amnesty International
Date of entry/update: 2016-06-30
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Air strikes by the Myanmar military killed 17 civilians – including nine children – as they gathered to attend church last month, Amnesty International said in a new investigation. The strikes, at approximately 10.30am on Sunday 07 January, struck close to Saint Peter Baptist Church in Kanan village in Sagaing region, near the country’s western border with India. More than 20 people were injured. Witnesses told Amnesty International that two children were killed by the first set of explosions while playing football in front of a nearby school. Many of the other victims were trying to run to safety when the second air strike hit. The attack damaged the church and school, as well as six civilian houses. “The Myanmar military’s deadly attacks on civilians show no signs of stopping,” said Matt Wells, Director of Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Programme. “The world cannot continue to look the other way while the Myanmar military relentlessly attacks civilians and civilian targets, including churches, schools and hospitals. Countries and companies around the world must stop the flow of jet fuel to the military, to protect civilians from further catastrophe. “These attacks must be investigated as war crimes, and the UN Security Council should refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court. The perpetrators of these crimes under international law must be brought to justice.” Amnesty International interviewed four witnesses to the attacks, one person who visited Kanan after the attack and saw the bodies of those killed, and another person with knowledge of military operations in the area. The organization also analysed 99 photos and videos of the strikes and their aftermath, including images of those killed and injured. All of the structural damage caused to the school, church and nearby homes is consistent with air strikes. The combined photo and video evidence indicates at least three impact locations, with craters consistent with aircraft bombs of approximately 250kg each. Satellite imagery taken after the strike also confirms significant damage to the school, adjacent structures and nearby homes, all consistent with an air strike. The Myanmar military has denied responsibility for the attack, claiming no planes were flying in the area that morning. However, Amnesty International reviewed a video taken during the strike which shows the distinctive swept-wing silhouette of an A-5 fighter jet flying over the village. In Myanmar, only the military flies A-5 jets, which were imported from China. Amnesty International previously documented how the Tada-U military air base, near Mandalay, is often used to launch aircraft in strikes aimed at Sagaing. Satellite imagery of Tada-U, taken shortly before and after the strike, shows active A-5 operations on the airfield. In three separate postings on a group messaging channel reviewed by Amnesty International, flight spotters on the ground indicated they witnessed a fighter jet taking off from Tada-U air base at 10am; an A-5 flying northwest over Kalewa, in the direction of Kanan, at 10.26am; and then an A-5 landing from the northwest at Tada-U at 10.56am. The locations, directions and timings of these observations are all consistent with an attack on Kanan at approximately 10.30am. Sources interviewed by Amnesty International said they had been told that members of a local People’s Defense Force (PDF) – one of many local armed groups formed since the coup to oppose the military’s rule – had planned a ceremony at the village school later that day. However, based on consistent witness accounts, fighters do not appear to have been present at the time of the strikes, which killed and injured civilians only. Even if the military believed there may have been lawful targets present, it dropped several large bombs on a residential area at a time on Sunday when civilians were gathering for church, and struck again as civilians fled in panic. As such, these attacks were indiscriminate at a minimum, and should be investigated as war crimes. Last week, Amnesty International called again for the sale or transfer of jet fuel to Myanmar to be suspended after its investigation suggested the military were still importing fuel despite sanctions being placed on individuals and companies linked to the supply chain. ‘We can’t sleep when we think about what happened’ The Myanmar military has repeatedly attacked civilians and civilian objects – often destroying or damaging schools, religious buildings and other key infrastructure – in the three years since carrying out a coup. Kanan – a village of an estimated 7,000 people – is located just north of the town of Khampat in Tamu township. Most of its residents are ethnic Chin, and practice Christianity. Residents of Kanan said that, prior to these strikes, they had not directly experienced armed conflict since the February 2021 coup. However, on 07 November 2023, a coalition of resistance forces seized Khampat from the military following four days of clashes. The military attempted to retake the town with a series of ground offensives in December, but was unsuccessful and retreated after a week, according to local media reports. Witnesses told Amnesty International of the devastation caused by the air strikes on 07 January 2024. A 56-year-old community worker said he saw a jet flying overhead as he prepared to leave his home for the nearby church. Moments later, the first strike hit approximately 200 meters from where he was standing. He hid in his family’s rice storage shed with his wife and two children, just before another strike hit. Around 15 minutes later, he went to assist the injured and collect the bodies of the dead, which he described as “distressing”. Amnesty International reviewed photographs of the aftermath of the strike, which showed that one of the victim’s bodies had been dismembered, and that others had suffered catastrophic head injuries, also as described by witnesses. A 68-year-old man, who was inside the church when the first bomb struck, said: “We only knew about it when the bomb fell. We didn’t hear the plane. We were singing inside the church when it happened. The church’s ceiling collapsed and windows were broken, so people inside the church fled outside.” A 43-year-old market vendor, who was struck on the head by falling debris as he attempted to leave the church, told Amnesty International the second strike hit people who were running for their lives. He said: “Everyone was scared and fleeing and trying to get home, and the second air strike hit at that moment. There is a road behind the church, and it hit the people who were running home.” A 40-year-old man said the traumatized community remained on constant alert fearing further attacks. He said: “Even when we hear the sound of a motorbike, we are frightened thinking of a plane coming. We can’t sleep when we think about what happened… [The attack] has left emotional scars. We can’t go to church.” The damage caused, as well as fear of further attacks, forced the majority of villagers to flee, seeking refuge in nearby villages, farms and forests, or across the border with India. Many of those displaced are relying on support from relatives, local religious and charity groups, and host communities to survive. Background Since the February 2021 coup, Myanmar has experienced a severe escalation of human rights violations. Amnesty International’s May 2022 report, ‘Bullets rained from the sky’: War crimes and displacement in eastern Myanmar, found Myanmar’s military had subjected civilians to collective punishment via widespread aerial and ground attacks, arbitrary detentions, torture, extrajudicial executions and the systematic looting and burning of villages. An August 2022 report, 15 days felt like 15 years: Torture in detention since the Myanmar coup, documented torture and other ill-treatment when Myanmar’s military interrogated and detained individuals suspected of being involved in protests. A November 2022 report, Deadly Cargo: Exposing the Supply Chain that Fuels War Crimes in Myanmar, called for a suspension of the supply of aviation fuel to prevent the military from carrying out further unlawful air strikes. Amnesty International also documented an air strike on an internally displaced persons camp in Kachin State 09 October 2023, which killed at least 28 civilians, including children..."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (UK)
2024-02-08
Date of entry/update: 2024-02-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Attacks killed and displaced civilians in Rakhine State Myanmar military arbitrarily detained civilians and looted valuables Amnesty International documents military use of cluster munitions in Shan State Myanmar’s military has unlawfully killed, arbitrarily detained and stolen from civilians as it struggles to contain the heaviest outburst of armed resistance since the 2021 coup, Amnesty International said today. Drawing on interviews with 10 civilians from Pauktaw township in Rakhine State and analyses of photographs, video material and satellite imagery, Amnesty International has documented likely indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian objects as well as, in northern Shan State, the use of banned cluster munitions, all of which should be investigated as war crimes. “The Myanmar military has a blood-stained résumé of indiscriminate attacks with devastating consequences for civilians, and its brutal response to a major offensive by armed groups fits a longstanding pattern,” said Matt Wells, Director of Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Programme. “Nearly three years after the coup, the suffering of civilians across Myanmar shows no signs of easing, even as the issue has largely fallen off the international agenda.” Hostilities have significantly escalated since 27 October 2023, when three ethnic armed organizations — the Arakan Army, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army — launched coordinated attacks on military posts on the country’s northeastern border with China, in an offensive known as ‘Operation 1027’. Other armed groups fighting the military have increased their operations as well, collectively seizing territory and military posts and capturing soldiers. The fighting represents the heaviest clashes since the coup, according to the UN. As of 15 December, the UN said the violence since 27 October had reportedly killed at least 378 civilians, injured 505 more, and displaced more than 660,000 people, adding to the nearly two million already displaced across the country. ‘Everyone was struggling for their survival’ On the morning of 16 November, Myanmar’s military began firing by air into Pauktaw town, Rakhine State, after the Arakan Army captured a police station. After its morning attack, the military ordered all civilians to leave within one hour. According to Amnesty International’s interviews with nine civilians present at the time and with a monk from a nearby village, most of Pauktaw’s 20,000 residents fled immediately. But at least several hundred were unable to evacuate before the military’s attacks resumed that afternoon. One community worker, who helped people flee but was himself unable to evacuate until 24 November, said many older people and people with disabilities were left behind despite local volunteers’ efforts. He said: “Cars, motorbikes and other vehicles were no longer available for hire. Everyone was struggling for their survival.” Many civilians sought refuge within the Lawka Hteik Pan pagoda compound on the town’s outskirts. “We thought that another plane and warships were coming, so [my wife and I] fled our home,” said a 65-year-old man. “We couldn’t run far.” The military attacked again on the afternoon of 16 November, firing from inside the town and the outskirts, as well as from the air and sea, according to witnesses. Videos and photographs analyzed by Amnesty International’s weapons investigator show that Mi-24 Hind helicopters fired 57mm S-5K rockets, and ships fired 40mm high-explosive shells, into the city on 16 November. Only the Myanmar military operates those weapon systems. The use of these inaccurate weapons in populated areas raises concerns about the Myanmar military’s ability to distinguish between military targets and civilians or civilian objects. The attacks may thus be indiscriminate and, as such, should be investigated as war crimes. After the firing stopped during the afternoon of 16 November, soldiers entered the Lawka Hteik Pan compound and arrested the people who were hiding there, according to four civilians present at the time. “I was arrested at gunpoint,” said a 24-year-old woman, who had sought shelter there with her family, including a young child. “The soldiers asked me if I was a member of the AA [Arakan Army]… I couldn’t say anything because I was so scared.” During the day on 16 November, three women — two teachers and a pregnant popsicle vendor — were killed while hiding inside the Lawka Hteik Pan compound, according to one person who was also taking shelter in the compound and another person who saw the bodies. Amnesty International could not independently determine how the women were killed, but the person who saw the bodies indicated they had gunshot wounds. The same day, a 76-year-old monk was killed in the same compound. A person who saw the body told Amnesty International the monk was killed by a strike, not gunfire. The Arakan Army has reported that the monk was killed by a naval artillery shell. Amnesty International has not been able to independently verify that detail, including after reviewing photographs of the monk’s body. ‘We slept in fear’ That night, soldiers forced the more than 100 civilians at the Lawka Hteik Pan compound to stay outside in the heavy rain. “Some people’s hands were tied behind their backs,” said the 24-year-old woman arrested at gunpoint. “We all had to sit in the rain all night. At dawn the next day, they forced us to enter the temple [and] locked the door.” A 28-year-old woman who stayed in the town with her parents said soldiers from the Myanmar military discovered the place where they were hiding with two other families on the afternoon of 16 November, taking all the men and leaving the women and children behind after stealing their valuables including gold, cash and mobile phones. At dawn the next morning, another group of soldiers came and arrested the rest. Soldiers also arrested a 60-year-old shopkeeper on 17 November, along with three other people with whom he had been hiding and two other people living on his street, bringing them to the Lawka Hteik Pan compound. “They threatened that they could kill all of us,” he said. Those trapped at the Lawka Hteik Pan compound described being locked inside the prayer hall and denied food and water for two days. They also said soldiers took their mobile phones and other valuables. After two days, the soldiers selected a handful of men to go take food from the town. “Some of the arrested men were called and forced to break into the stalls in the market and take food,” said the 24-year-old woman. The arrest and detention of persons sheltering in the Lawka Hteik Pan compound amount to arbitrary deprivation of liberty. The treatment of the detained civilians, including through denial of food and water and exposure to extreme weather, violates the principle of humane treatment. Moreover, the stealing of civilians’ private property amounts to pillage, which is prohibited under international humanitarian law and constitutes a war crime. A community worker, who was trapped in the town after helping others to flee, said that for the first five nights he could hear repeated gunfire and explosions. He hid with four other men in a house where they had no electricity, and their phone batteries ran out after two days. They also ran low on food and bottled water. “Some days we didn’t eat, and we slept in fear,” he said. At dawn on 24 November, he escaped to a nearby village. “[The military] has blocked any aid for IDPs [internally displaced persons] and prices are also skyrocketing,” he said. He said there had been severe health consequences for some displaced people, especially older people and young children, as they lacked adequate shelter and blankets during the heavy rain. ‘We had to run away through those bombardments’ On 21 November, the Arakan Army drove military forces out of Pauktaw and evacuated the captives from the Lawka Hteik Pan compound. Witnesses said that, as they escaped, the military fired on the town. “We had to run away through those bombardments,” said the 28-year-old woman who had been held in the temple and is now sheltering in a nearby village. “I feel that I am safer now than before. However, we can still see our Pauktaw town burning with smoke after being bombarded.” In the following days, the military continued to fire on civilian infrastructure in Pauktaw from the sea and air. Amnesty International reviewed satellite imagery of Pauktaw, though high-resolution imagery coverage is limited. A clear image captured on 01 December 2023 shows multiple areas with extensive burning, damage and destruction, including a probable market, probable civilian homes and areas around religious sites. In addition, the false-colour, near-infrared satellite imagery shows major destruction to buildings within a hospital compound and a crater nearby. The level of destruction and the size of the nearby crater suggest this damage was likely the result of air strikes. Imagery indicates the destruction occurred between 21 and 23 November. Evidence of cluster munitions Amnesty International also documented an attack on Namkham township in northern Shan State. Late in the evening of 01 December 2023 or very early on 02 December, the Myanmar military conducted an air strike on Namkham using bombs that were most likely cluster munitions. Cluster munitions are internationally banned as they are inherently indiscriminate, and their use constitutes a war crime. Amnesty International’s weapons investigator analyzed five photographs of ordnance scrap recovered at the scene, and identified the remains of a cluster munitions dispenser. In addition, two videos provided to Amnesty International, and confirmed by the organization’s Crisis Evidence Lab as newly posted online, show the moment of the attack. After the sound of a passing jet aircraft, there are approximately 10 detonations in a line over the course of three seconds. The videos are dark, as the attack was at night, but the aircraft use and pattern of detonations are consistent with the deployment of air-dropped cluster munitions. According to a report by the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, the attack killed one local resident, injured five others, and damaged some homes. The tail kit, exposed electronics, and internal plumbing of the dispenser scrap in the photographs match the remnants of previous cluster munitions used in attacks by the Myanmar military. Amnesty International has documented the military’s unlawful use of cluster munitions in attacks on a community gathering in a school in Mindat township in Chin State on 02 July 2022, on a village in Demoso township in Kayah State on 13 April 2022, and during fighting in Kayin State on 10 April 2022. “As the world stands by, the Myanmar military is again showing the brutality it unleashes on civilians. The UN Security Council must urgently impose an arms embargo to protect civilians from further catastrophe,” said Matt Wells. “The military’s impunity must finally end. We reiterate our call to refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court and bring the perpetrators of crimes under international law to justice.” Background Since the February 2021 military coup, Myanmar has experienced a severe escalation of human rights violations. The military’s use of lethal force against nonviolent protesters in February and March of 2021 provoked an armed uprising that continues to intensify. In a May 2022 report, ‘Bullets rained from the sky’: War crimes and displacement in eastern Myanmar, Amnesty International found Myanmar’s military had subjected civilians to collective punishment via widespread aerial and ground attacks, arbitrary detentions, torture, extrajudicial executions, and the systematic looting and burning of villages. An August 2022 report, 15 days felt like 15 years: Torture in detention since the Myanmar coup, documented violations by the Myanmar security forces, including torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, when they arrested, interrogated, and detained individuals suspected of being involved in protests. A November 2022 report, Deadly Cargo: Exposing the Supply Chain that Fuels War Crimes in Myanmar, called for a suspension of the supply of aviation fuel to prevent the military from carrying out unlawful air strikes. On 09 October 2023, a military air strike followed by mortar fire on Mung Lai Hkyet, an internally displaced persons camp in Kachin State, killed at least 28 civilians including children, and injured at least 57 others..."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (UK)
2023-12-21
Date of entry/update: 2023-12-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "On 14 May 2023, Cyclone Mocha slammed into western Myanmar and hit other parts of Myanmar and Bangladesh with wind speeds of up to 250 kilometres per hour – making it one of the strongest cyclones to ever make landfall in Myanmar. Cyclone Mocha destroyed homes and infrastructure in affected regions, most severely in the Rakhine State townships of Rathedaung and in Sittwe. While the death toll is difficult to verify independently due to lack of access, at least one hundred Rohingya people living in internment camps in Sittwe were said to be killed by the cyclone, with the number likely to be much higher. Many were also injured..."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (UK)
2023-06-14
Date of entry/update: 2023-06-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Ahead of Meta’s Annual Shareholder Meeting on Wednesday (31 May 2023), Pat de Brún, Head of Big Tech Accountability and Deputy Director of Amnesty Tech, said:  “It is way beyond time that Meta fulfilled its responsibilities and provided an effective remedy to the Rohingya people of Myanmar. It is reprehensible that Meta still refuses to repair the harms it contributed to despite the overwhelming evidence that the company played a key role in 2017’s ethnic cleansing.  “The Rohingya people were killed, tortured, raped, and displaced in their thousands as part of the Myanmar security forces’ campaign of ethnic cleansing. In the months and years leading up to the atrocities, Facebook’s algorithms were intensifying a storm of hatred against the Rohingya, which contributed to mass offline violence. “Today, the vast majority of Rohingya survivors remain stranded in squalid refugee camps and internment camps under conditions of severe deprivation. Pat de Brún, Amnesty Tech “Today, the vast majority of Rohingya survivors remain stranded in squalid refugee camps and internment camps under conditions of severe deprivation. Meanwhile, Meta continues to reap enormous profits from the same toxic business model that contributed to so much destruction for the Rohingya.   “Meta shareholders should utilise this shareholder meeting to demand that Meta’s leadership fulfils its responsibility under international human rights standards to provide reparations to the Rohingya.   “Meta shareholders should also insist that the company overhauls its overall approach to human rights, lest the company yet again be implicated in the recurrence of violence and atrocities elsewhere. As a first step, it should undertake a comprehensive review of human rights due diligence, including by mainstreaming human rights considerations throughout all its platforms’ operations, especially in relation to the development and deployment of its algorithmic systems. “It is shameful that Meta’s board has recommended that shareholders reject proposals to improve human rights oversight and transparency in the company. We are calling on Meta shareholders to defy these recommendations and do their part to ensure the protection of individuals and communities across the world who remain at risk from Meta’s reckless business practices.”    Amnesty International is handing in a petition demanding Meta pays the Rohingya community reparations. The petition has been signed by thousands of Amnesty International members and supporters.  Background Meta’s annual shareholder meeting will take place on 31 May 2023. A number of shareholder resolutions have been filed, which challenge Meta’s business practices, including several seeking to enhance the company’s human rights oversight practices. One resolution calls for an independent human rights impact assessment on Meta’s use of targeted advertising and another resolution cites Meta’s failure to publish its human rights impact assessment on India.  In September 2022, Amnesty International found that Meta’s dangerous algorithms and reckless pursuit of profit substantially contributed to the atrocities perpetrated by the Myanmar military against the Rohingya people in 2017.   In November 2019, Amnesty International released a report outlining how the surveillance-based business model of Big Tech companies such as Meta is inherently incompatible with the right to privacy and poses a systemic threat to a range of rights including freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of thought, and the right to equality and non-discrimination..."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (UK)
2023-05-29
Date of entry/update: 2023-05-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Aviation fuel shipments to Myanmar have continued despite the military’s ongoing war crimes, Amnesty International and Global Witness said today, after they identified more companies involved in the supply chain. “We have traced new shipments of aviation fuel that have likely ended up in the hands of Myanmar’s military, which has consistently conducted unlawful air strikes. These attacks regularly kill civilians, including children, yet planes can only take off if they have fuel,” said Montse Ferrer, Amnesty International’s Researcher and Advisor on Business and Human Rights. “Since the military’s coup in 2021, it has brutally suppressed its critics and attacked civilians from the ground and the air. Supplies of aviation fuel reaching the military enable these war crimes. These shipments must stop now.” Hanna Hindstrom, Senior Investigator at Global Witness, which helped conduct the research, said: “We urge anyone involved in this trade to put people before profits and to cease supplying the fuel that facilitates these atrocities. We call on more states to enact or reinforce controls to prevent these supplies.” Montse Ferrer said: “It is troubling that the Swiss-registered multinational fuel company Puma Energy, which committed to withdraw from Myanmar in October 2022, decided to sell its aviation fuel assets to a Myanmar business group which has imported fuel for the military.” Deadly Cargo – Companies fuelling Myanmar’s military On 3 November 2022, Amnesty International published Deadly Cargo, a report on the country’s aviation fuel supply chain that links national, regional and global companies to the Myanmar military. Amnesty International, Global Witness and Burma Campaign UK have now identified other companies involved in aviation fuel transactions, which are likely to have reached the military in recent months. One shipment involved the oil tanker Prime V, which sailed from Sikka in India on 28 November 2022. On or about 10 December, Prime V offloaded Jet A-1 grade aviation fuel at the former Puma Energy Aviation Sun Co. Ltd. (PEAS) terminal in the port of Thilawa in Myanmar. One of the companies involved in this transaction is Reliance Industries Ltd of India, which owns the terminal from which Prime V departed. Sea Trade Marine, a Greek company, is the beneficial owner of Prime V, while Japan’s P&I Club provided the protection and indemnity (P&I) insurance. Amnesty International contacted the companies, yet only Japan P&I Club responded, saying that it complied with applicable sanctions at the time, and that its insurance cover may be terminated if a vessel is involved in illegal activity. There is no suggestion that the Prime V broke applicable laws in this delivery. Details of an October shipment have also been obtained recently, showing that the tanker Big Sea 104 left the Bangchak Oil Refinery in Bangkok Port in Thailand on or about 8 October 2022.It arrived at Thilawa about a week later and offloaded 12,592 tonnes of Jet A-1, according to data from Kpler, a commodities information company, at the former PEAS terminal. The refinery from which the ship departed is owned by publicly listed Thai company Bangchak Corporation Plc. Prima Marine Plc, another Thai company, is the beneficial owner of Big Sea 104, while Luxembourg-based The Shipowners’ P&I Club provided the insurance. None of these companies responded to Amnesty International’s letters. “Each of these companies played a role in ensuring the Myanmar military continues to have access to aviation fuel to conduct unlawful air strikes. This has to end. All companies should stop their involvement in the aviation fuel supply chain to Myanmar,” said Montse Ferrer. Sale of Puma Energy assets in Myanmar raises human rights concerns At the time these two shipments arrived, the port terminal was controlled by the Myanmar subsidiary of Swiss and Singapore-based Puma Energy. In October 2022, Puma Energy said it was withdrawing from Myanmar after selling its assets to what it called a “locally owned private company” from which it claimed to have obtained undertakings to comply with “Human Rights laws” and not use assets to commit human rights violations. Amnesty International has established that this buyer is Shoon Energy, formerly called Asia Sun Aviation, and that the sale was completed in December 2022. Shoon Energy is part of a Myanmar business conglomerate, called Asia Sun, which imported aviation fuel on behalf of the military and distributed it to air bases. Following Puma Energy’s departure, this conglomerate now manages the main aviation fuel terminal in Thilawa port, Yangon, and, jointly with military-controlled Myanmar Petroleum Products Enterprise, the import and distribution of aviation fuel across the country. Last month the UK and EU imposed sanctions on individuals and companies behind the Asia Sun group for their ties to the provision of aviation fuel to the Myanmar air force. Ahead of these sanctions, however, the Asia Sun conglomerate changed several of its companies’ names to Shoon Energy. Montse Ferrer said: “Puma Energy has stated that the buyer of its Myanmar assets has undertaken to ‘comply with Human Rights law’. However, given the close relationship between Shoon Energy and the Myanmar military we are concerned this assurance is essentially meaningless.” International community must act Since companies continue to export aviation fuel to Myanmar, even while knowing the role that it plays in enabling war crimes being committed by the military, the international community must act. Amnesty International and Global Witness have previously laid out a path forward: countries should suspend the export and transport of aviation fuel to Myanmar. Importantly, they should also suspend the provision of third-party services such as insurance, shipping or financial services to vessels involved in the shipment of aviation fuel to Myanmar. Hanna Hindstrom said: “The international community has the tools in place to enact these restrictions. We should do what is in our power to reduce the Myanmar military’s capacity for terrorizing civilians.” Background According to the Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security, the military conducted 104 air strikes in 2021, and 243 in 2022. On 1 February 2023, the second anniversary of the military coup in Myanmar, Canada and the UK announced measures to prevent aviation fuel from reaching the military, including targeted sanctions on Myanmar companies and individuals. On 20 February 2023 the EU sanctioned Asia Sun group and associated entities Asia Sun Trading and Asia Sun Energy. In response to Amnesty International’s investigations for Deadly Cargo, the global shipping company Wilhelmsen said it would cease providing shipping services to any vessel transporting aviation fuel to Myanmar. Korean Pan Ocean has also stated it would no longer allow its vessels to transport aviation fuel to Myanmar, and Thai Oil said it would put on hold any shipments of aviation fuel to Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: "Amnesty International" (UK)
2023-03-01
Date of entry/update: 2023-03-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Beatings, gender-based violence and arbitrary arrests documented Myanmar must immediately free all those unjustly detained Profound psychological trauma experienced upon release Authorities in Myanmar’s prisons and interrogation centres routinely subject people detained for resisting the 2021 military coup to torture and other cruel or degrading treatment, Amnesty International said today in a new briefing, more than a year and a half after the power grab shattered the country’s halting transition to civilian rule. Based on 15 interviews carried out in March 2022 with former detainees, lawyers of prisoners and experts, as well as a review of over 100 news reports, the briefing, 15 Days Felt like 15 Years, documents the horrific experiences of individuals from the moment they are arrested, through their interrogation and imprisonment, and after their release. Since the 1 February 2021 coup, Myanmar’s military has arrested more than 14,500 people and killed more than 2,000, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). From showing up without an arrest warrant and forcing confessions through torture or other ill-treatment, to enforceable disappearances, reprisals against relatives, and holding detainees incommunicado from family and legal counsel, military authorities flout the law at every stage of the arrest and detention process. This was horrifically demonstrated in the unlawful execution of four men in July, including a prominent pro-democracy activist and former lawmaker, following their death sentences by a military court. The executions were the first to be carried out in more than 30 years. More than 70 people remain on death row in Myanmar while 41 have been sentenced to death in absentia, according to AAPP. “Myanmar has stooped to unimaginable new lows in its vile and brutal treatment of detainees as part of an overall strategy intended to break their spirits and compel people to give up any resistance to the 2021 military coup,” said Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnes Callamard. “But it is having the opposite effect. The Myanmar people remain unbowed even after the litany of violations, including most recently the shameful and despicable executions of Kyaw Min Yu – also known as Ko Jimmy – Phyo Zeya Thaw, Hla Myo Aung and Aung Thura Zaw.” “As a matter of urgency, Myanmar’s military must free thousands of people languishing in detention simply for exercising their rights, and let them return to their families. The United Nations Security Council must increase the pressure on the Myanmar military with a referral to the International Criminal Court, a global arms embargo and targeted sanctions.” Tased and beaten Amnesty’s research reveals how prison officials kicked and slapped detainees, and also beat them with rifle butts, electrical wires and branches of a palm tree. Detainees allege they were psychologically tortured with death and rape threats to force confessions or extract information about anti-coup activities. One person was presented with a parcel delivery that contained a fake bomb. Several former detainees interviewed by Amnesty International observed that other detainees had visible injuries on their bodies, including blood, broken limbs, and swollen faces. “When they [the police] found us sleeping, they beat us. When they caught us sitting, they beat us…They pointed G3 rifles at our foreheads and threatened that they could kill us anytime,” said one student arrested in the central Magwe Region. During the interrogation, whenever I used feminine pronouns for myself, they said you are gay, so you must like this and exposed their male genitals in front of me. One woman heard security forces plunging the head of another detainee in a bucket of water and using a taser on the person several times during interrogation. A student activist told Amnesty International that he saw police bang his friend’s head against the wall. Police also used a taser on his genitals and threatened to blow them up with a grenade. Ma Kyu, who was arrested in Karenni State for protesting the coup, told Amnesty what a police officer told her after she was detained: “We can just kill you after the arrest. We do not even need to put you in jail. We can simply shoot you.” ‘They took off my clothes’ Interrogators also committed sexual and gender-based crimes. Saw Han Nway Oo is a transwoman who was arrested and detained in September 2021 by the military on suspicion of having attended self-defence training. She was taken to the Mandalay Palace interrogation centre, which has become notorious for reports of torture. Over three days, she was interrogated at the palace centre and at a police station. She said the interrogators scratched her knees with sharp objects and sprayed methylated spirit over the bleeding wounds. She was not given food or water for three days. “During the interrogation, whenever I used feminine pronouns for myself, they said you are gay, so you must like this and exposed their male genitals in front of me.” They also looked at messages with her doctor and asked if she had had a sex-change operation. They then took off her clothes, looked at her naked body and mocked her. Other LGBTI people also experienced thorough body checks of their private body parts to ‘‘ensure whether they are males or females,” according to one detainee. Humiliating and invasive body searches may constitute torture or other ill-treatment, particularly for transgender detainees. Blindfolded and cut off Arrests are typically conducted during the night. During these night raids, soldiers and police break down doors, beat residents, ransack houses, confiscate electronics such as phones and laptops, and occasionally take valuable items such as jewellery. Protest leader Ma Win was arrested while travelling on a passenger bus in Mandalay Region. She was slapped in the face, handcuffed, blindfolded and driven to an unknown location. During an interrogation lasting more than 24 hours, security forces wearing heavy boots beat and kicked her and repeatedly threatened to kill her. Lawyers who Amnesty International spoke to described facing difficulties when trying to discover their clients’ whereabouts. At times, they resorted to paying bribes to get basic information. The prison facilities are crowded, with one person describing staying with 50 people in a cell meant for 10. Detainees also found dead insects and worms in their food. Though the experience of detention has exacted a profound psychological toll on those who have survived it, many activists are determined to keep resisting. “We will never give up,” Saw Han Nway Oo told Amnesty. “We are like phones, we will recharge once we run out of batteries.”..."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (UK)
2022-08-02
Date of entry/update: 2022-08-02
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Description: "Inherently indiscriminate landmines kill and injure civilians Military laid landmines in homes, on farming lands and on church grounds Myanmar increasingly isolated globally in its use of antipersonnel landmines The Myanmar military is committing war crimes by laying antipersonnel landmines on a massive scale in and around villages in Kayah (Karenni) State, Amnesty International said today after an on-the-ground investigation in conflict-affected parts of the state. Antipersonnel landmines are inherently indiscriminate and their use is internationally banned. The landmines laid by the Myanmar military have killed and seriously injured civilians and will have significant long-term consequences, including on displaced people’s ability to return home and to farm their lands. “The Myanmar military’s use of landmines is abhorrent and cruel. At a time when the world has overwhelmingly banned these inherently indiscriminate weapons, the military has placed them in people’s yards, homes, and even stairwells, as well as around a church,” said Matt Wells, Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Deputy Director – Thematic Issues. The Myanmar military’s use of landmines is abhorrent and cruel. Matt Wells, Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Deputy Director – Thematic Issues “The world must urgently respond to the military’s atrocities against civilians across Myanmar. Countries around the world must cut off the flow of weapons to Myanmar and support all efforts to ensure those responsible for war crimes face justice.” From 25 June to 8 July, Amnesty International researchers interviewed 43 people in Kayah State’s Demoso, Hpruso, and Loikaw Townships. These areas have been at the centre of fighting between the military and Karenni armed groups since May 2021, when conflict in Kayah State re-ignited following the military coup. The organization interviewed landmine survivors and other witnesses, as well as health professionals who treated landmine injuries and people who had discovered and deactivated landmines in villages. It also visited several recently demined villages. The Myanmar military is laying several types of landmines that it manufactures itself. These include the M-14, which typically blows off the victim’s foot at the ankle, and the more powerful MM-2, which often blows off the victim’s leg at the knee and causes injuries to other parts of the person’s body, with severe risk of death due to blood loss. Antipersonnel landmines, including the M-14 and MM-2, are inherently indiscriminate and their use is banned under customary international humanitarian law, as well as the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which 164 states have joined. According to Landmine Monitor, Myanmar’s military is the only state armed forces confirmed to have used antipersonnel landmines in 2020-21. Civilians killed and injured Lu Reh, 62, and his family were displaced from Daw Thea village in Demoso Township in late February 2022 after a Myanmar military air strike killed two people in a neighbouring village. On 10 June, he and others returned to collect things from their property. As he walked along a dirt path to collect jah fruit, Lu Reh stepped on a landmine that ripped off his right leg just below the knee, leaving the bone exposed at the calf. According to a witness and another person with direct knowledge of the incident, it also wounded his left leg and right hand and caused significant blood loss. Lu Reh died on the way to the hospital. The Myanmar military has controlled that area since February 2022 and soldiers from the 66th Light Infantry Division (LID) have based themselves out of several nearby villages. The Karenni Human Rights Group (KnHRG) has documented at least 20 civilians killed or seriously injured by landmines in Kayah State since June 2021. According to activists, local aid workers, and people without formal training who have tried to demine villages, the military’s use of landmines there has soared in recent months, especially as they retreat from certain areas. In early April 2022, Rosie, 52, and her daughter Ma Thein Yar Lin, 17, were trying to return to their home in Loikaw town after being displaced by fighting in January. Rosie parked their motorbike near a rocky path, and Ma Thein Yar Lin walked a short distance away to go to the bathroom. I heard the explosion, then I looked and saw a lot of smoke. I heard my daughter yelling, ‘Mama, Mama,’ and I went to look and saw her lying on the ground…my daughter had no leg anymore. Rosie, whose daughter was injured in a landmine incident “I heard the explosion, then I looked and saw a lot of smoke,” Rosie recalled. “I heard my daughter yelling, ‘Mama, Mama,’ and I went to look and saw her lying on the ground.” “I noticed that my daughter had no leg anymore… I went searching for [her leg], but the man who [was passing by and stopped] to help us said, ‘Stop! There will be another landmine. The most important thing is to stop the bleeding.’” Ma Thein Yar Lin lost her right leg from the mid-calf down and had landmine fragments throughout her left leg. She now uses a wheelchair donated by a friend. She and her mother cannot return to their home partly because the house and bathroom are not accessible. She told Amnesty International that she wants to continue her studies; she had reached Grade 11 before the Covid-19 pandemic and the coup stopped her schooling. She said she also wants to ensure her leg recovers so that she can be fitted with a quality prosthetic. Attack on a church On 27 June 2022, Amnesty International researchers visited St Matthew’s church in Daw Ngay Khu village in Hpruso Township. The military had planted at least eight landmines on church grounds in mid-June, when there was fighting in the area. Amnesty International photographed areas where landmines had been removed, including along the main entrance path and behind the church. People involved in demining the church believed there were more landmines there that had yet to be discovered. On the afternoon of 15 June, soldiers also burned down the church and the priest’s house next door. When Amnesty International researchers visited 12 days later, the grain stored in the priest’s house was still smouldering. A 41-year-old woman from Daw Ngay Khu told Amnesty International: “That church was the centre of our village. We worried about our things [when the military started coming], so we brought them to the church to keep [them] there. We thought the Myanmar military would not attack the church, that it was a hallowed place.” Researchers saw a discarded uniform of the 66th LID on the church grounds, along with bullet casings and a used round from a 40mm grenade launcher. Amnesty International previously implicated the 66th LID in war crimes and likely crimes against humanity in Kayah State, in a report published in June 2022. In addition to the church, Myanmar soldiers laid landmines in and near homes in Daw Ngay Khu village, according to six people who lived there as well as people who had demined parts of the village. Other areas of Daw Ngay Khu likely remain contaminated. Widespread displacement and fear Amnesty International received credible information that the Myanmar military has laid landmines in at least 20 villages in Hpruso, Demoso, and Loikaw Townships in recent months. There are likely many more contaminated villages across Kayah and southern Shan States. The military appears to be systematically laying landmines near where it is based as well as in areas from which it retreats. The region along the main road between Moe Bye in southern Shan State and Hpruso town in Kayah State is particularly contaminated. The military systematically burned homes in the same area from February to April 2022, as Amnesty International reported previously. Soldiers have placed landmines in people’s yards, at the entrance of homes, and outside toilets. In at least one documented case, soldiers boobytrapped a house stairwell with a trip-wire improvised explosive device (IED). They have also placed landmines on paths to rice fields, and credible evidence indicates that at least one civilian was seriously injured recently from stepping on a landmine when going to their field. Displaced civilians across these areas of Kayah State told Amnesty International that fighters from ethnic armed groups had warned them about the military’s use of landmines in their villages and said they should not go back. The warnings have helped to limit civilian casualties so far, but many people are desperate to see their property and to work their fields during the planting season. Paulina, 20, a teacher from Daw Ngay Khu village, said her house was damaged by a military mortar during fighting and that soldiers then based themselves in the village. She said: “Last year we could move back and forth and get things from our village. But this year we dare not go back… We are worried about landmines, because they plant them anywhere.” Limited demining is overwhelmingly being undertaken by members of armed groups, who do it by hand with only rudimentary equipment and without any professional training. Contamination remains widespread. The threat to lives and livelihoods posed by landmine contamination remains an issue in other parts of Myanmar where the military has engaged in conflict with armed groups. In 2017, Amnesty International documented several incidents of landmines injuring Rohingya women, men and children along the border of Myanmar’s Rakhine State and Bangladesh. The military’s depraved use of landmines in homes and villages will continue to have devastating effects on civilians in Kayah State for years to come. Rawya Rageh, Senior Crisis Adviser at Amnesty International “The military’s depraved use of landmines in homes and villages will continue to have devastating effects on civilians in Kayah State for years to come. We know from bitter experience that civilian deaths and injuries will mount over time, and the widespread contamination is already blocking people from returning to their homes and farmland,” said Rawya Rageh, Senior Crisis Adviser at Amnesty International. “Myanmar’s military leadership should immediately end its use of landmines and join the majority of the world in supporting the Mine Ban Treaty, which includes provisions for demining and victim assistance. “There is an urgent need for a scaled-up humanitarian response that addresses rising food insecurity and ensures proper rehabilitative, psychosocial, and other needed care for landmine survivors, as well as adequate planning for and resourcing of post-conflict demining operations to clear contaminated areas.”..."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (UK)
2022-07-20
Date of entry/update: 2022-07-20
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Description: "Post-coup military assault in Kayin and Kayah States includes war crimes and likely crimes against humanity More than 150,000 displaced, with entire villages emptied and burned Amnesty International interviewed almost 100 people and visited border area Myanmar’s military has been systematically committing widespread atrocities in recent months, including unlawfully killing, arbitrarily detaining and forcibly displacing civilians in two eastern states, Amnesty International said today in a new report. The report, “Bullets rained from the sky”: War crimes and displacement in eastern Myanmar, found that Myanmar’s military has subjected Karen and Karenni civilians to collective punishment via widespread aerial and ground attacks, arbitrary detentions that often result in torture or extrajudicial executions, and the systematic looting and burning of villages. The violence in Kayin and Kayah States reignited in the wake of last year’s military coup and escalated from December 2021 to March 2022, killing hundreds of civilians and displacing more than 150,000 people. “The world’s attention may have moved away from Myanmar since last year’s coup, but civilians continue to pay a high price. The military’s ongoing assault on civilians in eastern Myanmar has been widespread and systematic, likely amounting to crimes against humanity,” said Rawya Rageh, Senior Crisis Adviser at Amnesty International. “Alarm bells should be ringing: the ongoing killing, looting and burning bear all the hallmarks of the military’s signature tactic of collective punishment, which it has repeatedly used against ethnic minorities across the country.” Alarm bells should be ringing: the ongoing killing, looting and burning bear all the hallmarks of the military’s signature tactic of collective punishment, which it has repeatedly used against ethnic minorities across the country. Rawya Rageh, Senior Crisis Adviser at Amnesty International Post-coup surge in violence For decades, ethnic armed organizations in Myanmar, including in Kayin and Kayah States, have been engaged in struggles for greater rights and autonomy. Fragile ceasefires in place in both states since 2012 broke down after the February 2021 coup, and new armed groups have emerged. In its operations, the military has relentlessly attacked civilians. Some attacks appear to have directly targeted civilians as a form of collective punishment against those perceived to support an armed group or the wider post-coup uprising. In other cases, the military has fired indiscriminately into civilian areas where there are also military targets. Direct attacks on civilians, collective punishment, and indiscriminate attacks that kill or injure civilians violate international humanitarian law and constitute war crimes. Attacks on a civilian population must be widespread or systematic to amount to crimes against humanity; in Kayin and Kayah States, they are both, for crimes including murder, torture, forcible transfer, and persecution on ethnic grounds. Unlawful strikes In its ongoing operations, Myanmar’s military has repeatedly fired explosive weapons with wide-area effects into populated civilian areas. Dozens of witnesses told Amnesty International about barrages that lasted days at a time. The organization documented 24 attacks by artillery or mortars between December 2021 and March 2022 that killed or injured civilians or that caused destruction to civilian homes, schools, health facilities, churches, and monasteries. For example, on 5 March 2022, as families were at dinner, the military shelled Ka Law Day village, Hpapun Township, Kayin State, killing seven people, including a woman who was eight months pregnant. A close family member of four of the people who were killed said he had to sit in his house all night looking at the bodies, for fear of being injured by further shelling, before burying them in the morning. Many people described the military’s use of fighter jets and attack helicopters as particularly terrifying. Witnesses described not being able to sleep at night out of fear of air strikes, or fleeing to seek shelter in bunkers and caves. Amnesty International documented eight air strikes on villages and an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in eastern Myanmar in the first three months of 2022. The attacks, which killed nine civilians and injured at least nine more, destroyed civilian homes and religious buildings. In almost all documented attacks, only civilians appear to have been present. In one case, at around 6pm on 23 February 2022, a fighter jet fired on Dung Ka Mee village, Demoso Township, Kayah State, killing two civilian men and injuring several others. Amnesty International interviewed two witnesses and a relative of one of the deceased as well as an aid worker who responded after the attack. They said there was no fighting that evening and that the nearest armed group base was a mile or more away. A local resident, a 46-year-old farmer who witnessed the attack, said the military aircraft made three passes, firing guns and a rocket: “When that fighter jet was flying toward us in a nose-down position, I was numb… When they fired the rocket, I got myself together and realized I had to run [to a bunker]… We were shocked to see the dust and debris come towards us… There is a two-story building… The family lives upstairs and the downstairs is a mobile phone store. This building collapsed and it was also on fire.” Another witness, a 40-year-old farmer, saw the remains of a neighbour’s body: “We couldn’t even put them in a coffin, we put them in a plastic bag and buried them. People had to pick up the body pieces and put them in a bag.” In another incident, the military carried out an air strike on Ree Khee Bu IDP camp at around 1am on 17 January 2022, killing a man in his 50s as well as 15- and 12-year-old sisters. We couldn’t even put them in a coffin, we put them in a plastic bag and buried them. People had to pick up the body pieces and put them in a bag.” A 40-year-old farmer who witnessed an air strike. Extrajudicial executions The report documents how Myanmar’s military carried out arbitrary detentions of civilians on the basis of their ethnicity or because they were suspected of supporting the anti-coup movement. Often, detainees were tortured, forcibly disappeared or extrajudicially executed. In one of many cases where soldiers extrajudicially executed civilians who ventured out from displacement sites to collect food or belongings, three farmers from San Pya 6 Mile village in Kayah State went missing in January 2022. Their decomposed bodies were found in a pit latrine around two weeks later. The brother of one of the victims said he identified the men by their clothes and the state of their teeth. Soldiers fired on him and others as they tried to retrieve the bodies; they could only return to finish the burial a month later. In a massacre that prompted rare international condemnation, soldiers near Mo So village in Kayah State’s Hpruso Township reportedly stopped at least 35 women, men and children in multiple vehicles on 24 December 2021, and then proceeded to kill them and burn their bodies. Doctors who examined the bodies reportedly said many of the victims had been tied up and gagged, bearing wounds suggesting they were shot or stabbed. Amnesty International maintains that the incident must be investigated as a case of extrajudicial executions. Such killings in armed conflict constitute war crimes. Witnesses also described Myanmar’s military shooting at civilians, including those attempting to flee across a river along the border with Thailand. Looting and burning Following a pattern from past military operations, soldiers have systematically looted and burned large sections of villages in Kayin and Kayah States. Witnesses from six villages reported having items including jewellery, cash, vehicles and livestock stolen, before homes and other buildings were burned. Four men who fled Wari Suplai village, on the border of Shan and Kayah States, said they watched from nearby farmland as houses went up in flames after most villagers fled on 18 February 2022. They told Amnesty International that the burning went on for days, destroying well over two-thirds of the houses there. “It’s not a house anymore. It’s all ashes — black and charcoal… It’s my life’s savings. It was destroyed within minutes,” said a 38-year-old farmer and father of two young children. Amnesty International’s analysis of fire data and satellite imagery shows how villages were burned, some of them multiple times, in parts of Kayah State. The burning directly tracks military operations from village to village in February and March 2022. A defector from the military’s 66th Light Infantry Division, who was involved in operations in Kayah State until October 2021, told Amnesty International that he witnessed soldiers looting and burning homes: “They don’t have any particular reason [for burning a specific house]. They just want to put the fear in the civilians that ‘This is what we’ll do if you support [the resistance fighters].’ And another thing is to stop the supply and logistics for the local resistance forces… [Soldiers] took everything they could [from a village] and then they burned the rest.” They don’t have any particular reason [for burning a specific house]. They just want to put the fear in the civilians that ‘This is what we’ll do if you support [the resistance fighters].’…[Soldiers] took everything they could [from a village] and then they burned the rest. A defector from the military’s 66th Light Infantry Division. The violence has caused the mass displacement of more than 150,000 people, including between a third and a half of Kayah State’s entire population. In some cases, entire villages have been emptied of their populations; at times, civilians have had to flee repeatedly in recent months. Displaced people are enduring dire conditions amid food insecurity, scant health care — including for the conflict’s enormous psychosocial impact — and ongoing efforts by the military to obstruct humanitarian aid provision. Aid workers spoke of growing malnutrition and increasing difficulties in reaching displaced people due to the ongoing violence and military restrictions. “Donors and humanitarian organizations must significantly scale up aid to civilians in eastern Myanmar, and the military must halt all restrictions on aid delivery,” said Matt Wells, Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Deputy Director – Thematic Issues. “The military’s ongoing crimes against civilians in eastern Myanmar reflect decades-long patterns of abuse and flagrant impunity. The international community — including ASEAN and UN member states — must tackle this festering crisis now. The UN Security Council must impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Myanmar and refer the situation there to the International Criminal Court.” “The military’s ongoing crimes against civilians in eastern Myanmar reflect decades-long patterns of abuse and flagrant impunity. The international community — including ASEAN and UN member states — must tackle this festering crisis now. The UN Security Council must impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Myanmar and refer the situation there to the International Criminal Court. Matt Wells, Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Deputy Director – Thematic Issues Methodology The report is based on research carried out in March and April 2022, including two weeks on the Thailand-Myanmar border. Amnesty International interviewed 99 people, including dozens of witnesses or survivors of attacks and three defectors from Myanmar’s military. The organization also analysed more than 100 photographs and videos related to human rights violations — showing injuries, destruction and weapon use — in addition to satellite imagery, fire data, and open-source military aircraft flight data..."
Source/publisher: "Amnesty International" (UK)
2022-05-31
Date of entry/update: 2022-05-31
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Description: "As leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meet in the United States for a two-day summit, Amnesty International urges them to spotlight the violence and human rights violations in Myanmar. “The Five-Point Consensus is a failure and did not stop the Myanmar military from perpetrating more human rights violations against the Myanmar people following the 2021 military coup,” Emerlynne Gil, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Research, said. “The ASEAN must concede that the human rights violations in Myanmar have now become a regional concern. The Myanmar military’s violence against its own people has not only made people feel unsafe but it has also led to the deterioration of the country’s economy. Right now, thousands of people are fleeing or attempting to flee to neighboring countries like Thailand and Malaysia not only to seek safety, but also to find work and feed their families. “ASEAN Member States should formulate a more detailed blueprint to hold Myanmar’s military accountable for human rights violations and address urgent needs, including committing to non-refoulement of refugees fleeing violence, facilitating desperately needed humanitarian assistance, and adding their voices to calls for a global arms embargo. ASEAN Member States should also act bilaterally to achieve these goals if consensus within the bloc cannot be reached. “As host of the summit, the Biden administration should center discussions on the ongoing human rights violations in Myanmar and in the region more broadly. The regional trends we’ve seen in recent years – escalating repression, constraints on civil society, and intolerance for political dissent – are antithetical to the free and open Indo-Pacific to which the US government is purportedly committed to supporting and will never be realized if human rights are ignored.” Background: Almost all leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are expected to attend the 12-13 May summit in Washington, which will mark 45 years of US-ASEAN relations. Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing, who seized power in the 1 February, 2021 coup, was not invited as part of efforts to distance the bloc from the senior general, who has not implemented the Five-Point Consensus he agreed to in April 2021. The Consensus was mainly aimed at stopping the violence against protesters, supplying humanitarian aid, and increasing dialogue. Since it was adopted, the situation in Myanmar has further spiraled out of control. Since the start of this coup, Myanmar’s military has killed more than 1,800 people, according to one monitoring group, and detained more than 10,000. Armed resistance groups have also sprung up in response to the bloody crackdown, while peaceful protests, though much smaller than at the beginning of the coup, have continued despite grave risks. Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was ousted in the pre-dawn hours of the coup, has been hit with an array of bogus charges and convictions, as have many of her allies..."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (UK)
2022-04-12
Date of entry/update: 2022-05-12
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Description: "Responding to reports that the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to announce that Myanmar’s military has committed genocide and crimes against humanity during its violent campaign against the Rohingya minority, Erwin van der Borght, Amnesty International’s Interim Regional Director, said: “Nearly five years after 740,000 people were driven from their homes at gunpoint in 2017, Rohingya families and survivors have yet to receive justice for the unimaginable horrors inflicted upon them. Momentum for international justice must be accelerated to end the rampant culture of impunity in Myanmar, where no senior figures have ever faced the consequences of their appalling campaign against the Rohingya people. “Without accountability, Myanmar’s military will continue to believe it has a blank check to murder innocent people, bomb their homes, and destroy their families. Amnesty International supports the call for the investigation and prosecution of senior military officials for crimes under international law in Myanmar, which include crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. “The same generals who implemented the authorities’ brazen campaign of bloodshed against the Rohingya seized power in a 2021 coup. In response to a nationwide protest movement, they then turned their weapons on youth protesters in Myanmar’s biggest cities, deploying violent tactics previously used to target ethnic minorities for decades.” Background: The administration of US President Joe Biden is set to formally declare on 21 March that the Myanmar military’s 2017 campaign against the Rohingya amounted to genocide and crimes against humanity. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to make the announcement at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Myanmar’s military drove out more than 740,000 Rohingya from Rakhine State into Bangladesh in a brutal campaign of extrajudicial killings, arson and sexual assault. An estimated one million Rohingya refugees now live in Bangladesh, and many of their homes back in Rakhine State have been wiped from the map. The UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar previously called for Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and other senior officials to be investigated and prosecuted for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Min Aung Hlaing seized power in a coup in the early hours of 1 Feb. 2021. There are multiple international efforts to provide justice to the Rohingya people, including a genocide case brought by The Gambia against Myanmar in the International Court of Justice (ICJ). A separate case is ongoing in Argentina under the concept of universal jurisdiction. Amnesty International has called on the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court. In 2017, Amnesty International’s research in Rakhine State detailed a vicious system of institutionalized discrimination and segregation that severely restricted the human rights of the minority Rohingya Muslims. This system – amounting to apartheid – threatens and undermines freedom of movement, ability to access adequate food and healthcare, and right to an education..."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (UK)
2022-03-21
Date of entry/update: 2022-03-21
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Description: "If the international community continues to drag its feet on the grave human rights violations including lethal violence targeted at protestors that we have seen in Myanmar this past year, many more people will suffer and this human rights crisis could worsen, Amnesty International said today ahead of the one-year anniversary of the 1 February, 2021 coup. “Enough is enough, the 55 million people of Myanmar cannot afford another year of wavering and sitting on the sidelines by many governments around the world. Concrete action aimed at holding the military accountable and preventing their access to weaponry used to commit widespread human rights abuses must be taken now or the shocking death and misery that have defined life in Myanmar since the coup is likely to persist,” said Ming Yu Hah, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns. “As the anniversary of the coup draws near, the military has launched indiscriminate air strikes that have killed civilians in the southeast, blocked life-saving aid, and kept up a bloody campaign against activists and journalists, who have been detained and killed in custody. Too many governments continue turning a blind eye to all these atrocities, as they did following the gross violations of human rights against the Rohingya people. As a result, the military has been increasingly brazen, acting with impunity in its efforts to wipe out any resistance to its rule. “The Myanmar people are desperate and have become disillusioned about help from the international community. But there are clear steps that need to be taken to prevent the Myanmar military from maintaining its dystopian campaign of terror and persecution. The UN Security Council must stop dragging its feet, and instead impose a global arms embargo and targeted sanctions against military leaders, and urgently refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court. “In addition, all local and foreign companies in business partnerships with the military or military-owned businesses need to responsibly disengage, cutting the flow of funds that the military uses to prop up its lethal operations. “Closer to home, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) must present a unified front on Myanmar and demand the military to immediately stop the violence against civilians. The ASEAN should also exert pressure on the military to stop blocking humanitarian access and expand on and implement with a clear timeline its five-point consensus adopted last year, which has proved a failure. “The new year must bring new approaches to Myanmar, placing human rights for the people of Myanmar, accountability, and a zero tolerance to human rights violations and abuses at the forefront.” Background: Myanmar’s military seized power in a coup in the early hours of 1 February, 2021. Since then it has killed more than 1,400 people and arrested more than 11,000, with over 8,000 currently in detention, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. The shocking violence fits into a long history of well-documented crimes under international law against ethnic minorities in the country, including the Kachin, Shan and Rohingya. The UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar has previously called for Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and other senior officials to be investigated and prosecuted for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The former civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been sentenced to six years on bogus charges and faces more than 100 years if convicted on all the counts against her. Many of her closest allies, including President Win Myint, have also been convicted on similarly trumped-up charges. Following the violent crackdown on peaceful protesters, some opponents of the military authorities have established the armed People’s Defense Force, which claims to have killed hundreds of soldiers through shootings, bombs and ambushes. On top of the chaos that has gripped major cities and towns across the country in the aftermath of the coup, economic and food insecurity as well as pandemic-related challenges have caused millions to face hunger. Hundreds of thousands have also been internally displaced while thousands have fled across the border to Thailand..."
Source/publisher: "Amnesty International" (UK)
2022-01-27
Date of entry/update: 2022-01-27
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Description: "As Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen prepares to visit Myanmar on 7-8 January, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Research Emerlynne Gil called on him to prioritise human rights action over empty gestures: “Hun Sen’s rogue diplomacy may do more harm than good by breaking ranks with ASEAN’s response to the Myanmar crisis and sending mixed messages to Myanmar’s coup leader General Min Aung Hlaing, who has been blocked from recent high-level ASEAN meetings in a rare rebuke.” “If Hun Sen truly wants to help, he should cancel this trip and lead ASEAN to strong action to address the country’s dire human rights situation rather than indulge in empty gestures that will likely result in little more than a self-congratulatory photo op.” “As the incoming chair of ASEAN, Cambodia should help revive the five-point consensus adopted in April last year that called for an immediate end to violence and work to expand it further to protect human rights and ensure accountability for abuses.” If Hun Sen truly wants to help, he should cancel this trip and lead ASEAN to strong action to address the country’s dire human rights situation rather than indulge in empty gestures that will likely result in little more than a self-congratulatory photo op. Emerlynne Gil, Amnesty International's Deputy Regional Director for Research “The nightmare has continued for the 55 million people of Myanmar. Last month security forces were accused of killing and burning more than 30 civilians, including two staff members of the humanitarian aid organization, Save the Children, in eastern Karenni State.” “The international community cannot rely on ASEAN alone when it has repeatedly demonstrated that it is unable to take meaningful action to prevent such atrocities from recurring. The UN Security Council must urgently refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court and impose targeted sanctions and a global arms embargo.” Background Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is set to visit Myanmar on 7-8 January, the first head of state to make an official visit to the country since the military seized power in a coup on 1 February 2020. The trip comes as Cambodia takes over as chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which rotates each year to one of the bloc’s 10 members. Cambodia was last chair in 2012. ASEAN’s five-point consensus, adopted in April 2021, calls for an immediate end to violence, dialogue among all parties, aid access, the appointment of a special envoy from the bloc, and a visit by an ASEAN delegation. However, it fails to mention the need to protect human rights or call for accountability for violations. There has been little progress on the consensus, which was limited in scope even then. Since seizing power, Myanmar’s military has killed more than 1,400 people and arrested or detained more than 10,000, many of them peaceful protesters. It has also unfairly tried many of Myanmar’s top civilian leaders who were ousted in the coup and sentenced them to lengthy prison sentences. Former de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to four years in December in one of many bogus cases against her..."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (UK)
2022-01-06
Date of entry/update: 2022-01-06
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Description: "A slam poet imprisoned in Myanmar, an NGO worker arrested in Burundi, Pride protestors detained in Turkey, a sixteen-year-old sentenced to death in Nigeria. All these people faced terrible injustices, and all are now free – a handful of the hundreds of lives changed by the Write for Rights campaign. In October 2001, a small group of Amnesty members met in Warsaw, Poland to plan activities for Human Rights Day on 10 December. Little did they know that 20 years later their ‘simple plan’ would change the lives of innumerable people around the world. In 2001, activists in Poland wrote letters to authorities for 24 hours straight and every letter aimed to end a human rights injustice – and with those 2,326 letters, Write for Rights was born! In 2002, the campaign went global, with activists from 18 other countries joining those in Poland. By 2005, the campaign got even bigger, with 37 countries taking part. Starting at midday on 10 December in Japan and Malaysia, crossing to Mongolia and Nepal, then onto countries in Europe, Africa and the Middle East and ending in the Americas. At the culmination of the 24-hours, over 80,000 letters had been written. From small seeds, mighty trees grow and what started as a group of friends taking part in a 24-hour ‘letter writing marathon’, has now become the biggest human rights campaign in the world. By 2019, the 24 hours had become two weeks of activities, with over 100 countries taking part and 6.6 million letters, emails, SMS’ and Twitter actions collected. From music concerts in Burkina Faso, to theatre shows in Morocco, speakers’ tours in Norway, art exhibitions in Brazil and over 700 schools in Poland, Write for Rights has grown and morphed into something truly amazing. As the campaign has grown in numbers, so too have the successes. The impact of Write for Rights has been life changing for those featured. In 2019, student activist and poet, 24-year-old Paing Phyo Min, was arrested after performing satirical poetry criticizing the military in Myanmar. The charges against him included “incitement”; the authorities claiming that the poetry performance would encourage military officers to abandon their duties. Paing Phyo Min was sentenced to six-years behind bars. Over 300,000 letters and cards, signatures and Tweets were collected on behalf of Paing Phyo Min. A few months after the campaign, in April 2021, Paing Phyo was released from prison. On 30 June 2021, Burundian human rights defender Germain Rukuki was released after serving more than four years in prison. He should never have been imprisoned in the first place – Germain was arrested, prosecuted and convicted simply for his human rights work. During Write for Rights, supporters from around the world took more than 436,000 actions calling for Germain’s freedom. Germain’s wife Emelyne Mupfasoni shared her thanks with all those who acted, “From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you all to have mobilized and made it possible for Germain to soon reunite with us…” Eighteen students and one member of faculty were on trial for more than two years for organising a Pride event at the Middle Eastern Technical University (METU) in Ankara, Turkey, in 2019. Over 445,000 actions were taken on behalf of the METU Pride defendants, who faced up to three years in prison if found guilty. Melike Balkan and Özgür Gür, two of the 19 defendants, wholeheartedly joined the campaign, taking part in many activities. While the Covid-19 pandemic prevented travel, they joined over 20 online meetings with Amnesty members and students across the world. On 8 October 2021 they were acquitted of almost all charges. Melike and Özgür have gone on to form their own NGO, advocating, campaigning and defending the rights of young LGBTI+ people and students in Turkey. Melike and Özgür aren’t the only people featured in Write for Rights to take an active role in campaigning. During Write for Rights 2014, hundreds of thousands of people around the world called for the release of Moses Akatugba. In 2005, Moses was just 16 years old when he was accused of stealing three mobile phones, tortured by the police into ‘confessing’ and sentenced to death. In June 2015, after over 800,000 messages were directed to the Governor of Nigeria’s Delta State, Moses was pardoned. When Moses finally left prison, he expressed his huge gratitude to all those who had written on his behalf, stating: “I want to assure them that this great effort they have shown to me will not be in vain, by the special grace of God I will live up to their expectation. I promise to be a human rights activist – to fight for others.” And fight he did. In December 2019, Moses travelled to the European Parliament in Brussels to take part in Write for Rights actions for fifteen-year-old Magai Matiop Ngong from South Sudan, who featured in the campaign that year. Like Moses, Magai had been sentenced to death when only a child. Moses used his unique experience to campaign on behalf of Magai. Following more than 700,000 letters, tweets, postcards and messages, the Court of Appeal in South Sudan repealed the death sentence imposed on Magai, noting that he was a child at the time of the crime. From Moses to Melike and Özgür, these inspiring people represent just a handful of those who have been released over the past 20 years, thanks to your incredible work. Nothing compares to the power of people and Amnesty International’s campaign shows how writing a letter, sending a tweet or signing a petition really can change a person’s life..."
Source/publisher: "Amnesty International" (UK)
2021-11-19
Date of entry/update: 2021-11-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Responding to the sentencing of American journalist Danny Fenster to a combined 11 years in prison, Ming Yu Hah, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns, said: “This is a reprehensible outcome in a case that has been deeply flawed from the start. Danny should have never been arrested in the first place and to sentence him to a combined 11 years shows how far Myanmar authorities are willing to go to signal that they do not respect independent media in the country or the impact on family members of those wrongly imprisoned.” “Danny has done nothing wrong, but has somehow been charged with multiple alleged offences that are completely out of touch with reality and his work as an independent journalist. The court also ignored reams of evidence showing where he worked and records of his time in the country. He should be immediately and unconditionally freed and all charges dropped.” “Danny is a prisoner of conscience. His liberty was taken away from him cruelly and unjustly, solely for doing his work as a journalist and exercising his right to freedom of speech.” “His case has illustrated the enormous increase in risks and challenges faced by journalists in Myanmar since the military seized power on February 1. But despite internet blackouts, legal threats and detentions, they continue to courageously report on the dire situation in Myanmar.” Background A court in Yangon sentenced 37-year-old Danny Fenster to 11 years in prison on Friday, according to his employer Frontier Myanmar, where he is the managing editor. He was arrested on 24 May as he tried to board a flight out of the country, which has been in turmoil since the military coup earlier this year. The three charges for which he was sentenced on 12 November relate to an alleged immigration offence, incitement, and unlawful association with an illegal group. He was given the maximum sentence under each charge, according to his employer, which said there was no basis for the allegations. Since the coup the military authorities have arrested, detained, prosecuted and imprisoned dozens of journalists, stripped media outlets of their licenses, and erased years of press freedom gains. Amnesty International calls on the authorities in Myanmar to release journalists imprisoned simply for their work and the peaceful exercise of their human rights..."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (UK)
2021-11-12
Date of entry/update: 2021-11-13
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Description: "Your Excellencies, I urge you, as Member States of the United Nations, to take further urgent and concrete action to halt the ongoing human rights and humanitarian catastrophe in Myanmar and hold to account those responsible for human rights violations. I am sharing an appeal signed by over 70,000 people from 161 countries and territories to governments and businesses around the world, to unite to protect the people of Myanmar. They specifically urge governments to:  increase diplomatic pressure to stop the Myanmar military’s human rights violations and to hold perpetrators accountable;  stop the flow of all arms and other resources to the Myanmar military used to commit violations;  request ASEAN to implement its Five-Point Consensus with a clear timeline, call for the release of all individuals arbitrarily detained, and support UN actions;  increase humanitarian assistance; Additionally, local and foreign businesses are asked to fulfil their responsibility to respect human rights, including to assess the human rights impact of their operations and partnerships in Myanmar. In just eight months since the coup, the Myanmar security forces have killed over 1,100 people, and injured countless protesters, bystanders, and other civilians. More than 7,000 people remain arbitrarily detained under repressive laws, largely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly, with reports of torture in custody continuing to emerge. These rights are further curtailed with the rise of state surveillance and censorship, including continued attacks by security forces on media workers and those who speak out against the coup, blocking of websites, a ban on satellite dishes, and internet shutdowns and slowdowns. Escalating armed violence has killed or injured civilians and recently displaced over 237,000 people from their homes. The healthcare system is broken amid a global pandemic and crumbling further under attacks by security forces on healthcare workers. The economy continues to collapse with millions of people losing their livelihoods, particularly women, and millions facing hunger or expected to face hunger in the coming months. The crimes occurring in Myanmar after the coup are “widespread and systematic,” according to the latest analysis of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, which was established by the Human Rights Council in 2018 to collect, consolidate, preserve, and analyse evidence of the most serious international crimes committed in Myanmar since 2011, and to prepare files for future prosecutions. The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar has warned that these post-coup violations “amounted to crimes against humanity”; and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has urged states with influence to pressure the Myanmar military "to halt the commission of grave human rights violations and possible crimes against humanity”.....The suspected perpetrators of these crimes under international law include the coup leader and Commander-in-Chief of the military, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, and other senior military leaders and commanders, who the UN’s Fact-Finding Mission has previously called for to be investigated and prosecuted for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The renewed round of atrocities currently devastating communities across the country has been made possible because of the continued impunity enjoyed by the military. After years of diplomatic endeavours, the outgoing Special Envoy of UN-Secretary General on Myanmar has concluded that the military does not welcome an inclusive dialogue, and clearly lacks the will for a peaceful solution. In the absence of adequate and concrete actions capable of averting the onslaught of human rights violations, many people in Myanmar are taking matters into their own hands. Myanmar’s self-declared parallel government, the National Unity Government, declared “a people’s defensive war against the military junta” earlier this month, which could result in a full-blown war and a deepening of the ongoing human rights and humanitarian crisis across the country. I acknowledge and appreciate the statements and actions taken so far by the UN, including: the statement on Myanmar by the President of the UN Security Council issued in March, condemning the violence against peaceful protesters and calling on the military to exercise utmost restraint; the resolution overwhelmingly adopted at the UN General Assembly in June, calling on all member states to prevent the flow of arms into Myanmar; and the resolution adopted by consensus at the 46th Session of the Human Right Council, mandating the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to focus on enhanced monitoring, documentation, analysis, and public reporting on the human rights situation, and to follow up on the findings and recommendations of the 2019 report by the UN’s Fact-Finding Mission on the economic interests of the military. However, these statements of concern and actions have yet to lead to meaningful improvement in the lives of the over 54 million people in Myanmar, and of the hundreds of thousands who have already fled the country for their safety. Further concrete actions, in particular by the Security Council and the ASEAN, are required urgently, so that the enjoyment of human rights is a lived reality in Myanmar. Words without accompanying concrete measures do not have much, if any, impact on the conduct of the Myanmar military, particularly while governments and corporations continue to operate business as usual, providing resources and enabling the military to further commit human rights violations. “How many bodies does the UN need to take action?” asked 23-year-old Nyi Nyi Aung Htet Naing, the day before he was shot dead on 28 February, while peacefully protesting in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city. At that point, the death toll stood at 23. Today, his twin brother is in hiding, his mother is held hostage by the military, and over 1,100 people have been killed by the Myanmar security forces. The international community has a responsibility to act, to end the cycle of human rights violations and impunity in Myanmar. Failure to act has already cost Myanmar a heavy price in lost lives and liberties – and the death toll is only likely to worsen if urgent interventions are not made. Concrete measures, such as those called for by tens of thousands of people around the world, are urgently needed, including: the implementation of a comprehensive global arms embargo on Myanmar and targeted financial sanctions on senior officials; referring the situation of Myanmar to the International Criminal Court; increasing humanitarian aid; and pressuring the Myanmar military to release all individuals arbitrarily detained. I urge governments and businesses to unite to prevent further unlawful killings and repression, protect the people of Myanmar, and end decades of impunity..."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (UK)
2021-10-06
Date of entry/update: 2021-10-09
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Description: "In response to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis in Myanmar, where cases and deaths are soaring since mid-June and patients are struggling to access oxygen against a backdrop of escalating conflict, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns, Ming Yu Hah, said: “The spread of Covid-19 in Myanmar compounds the existing humanitarian and human rights crisis in the country. It's a stark example of the Myanmar military’s ruinous mismanagement and its enormous human toll.” “By relentlessly pursuing medical workers, threatening them and arresting them, the military authorities have driven the country’s already fragile healthcare system into the ground during a global pandemic. It’s unconscionable, and it was preventable.” “Community volunteer groups are engaged in the morbid task of corpse removal, and crematoriums are inundated. The military's response has been to stage photo ops and release statements saying they have this under control when it is manifestly clear that they do not. To make matters worse, the available data shows that less than 3% of the population is fully vaccinated against Covid-19.” “This is a crisis for all in the country, but we hold particular concerns for at-risk populations including prisoners. The country’s prison system now houses thousands of opponents of the military and, even under ordinary circumstances, detention in these facilities is detrimental to the right to health, as the denial of medical treatment and access to life-saving medications is commonplace.” “For the more than half a million nationwide who’ve fled conflict or remain interned in camps, it is critical that the authorities allow sustained and unfettered humanitarian access. Neighbouring states should allow cross-border aid to provide for the minority and displaced populations inside Ethnic Armed Organization-administered and contested territories.” “Unless there is swift, decisive and unified action taken by the international community, the situation in Myanmar can and will get much, much worse. Armed conflict worsens by the day, hundreds of thousands have fled fighting, shelling and airstrikes, millions have been tipped into poverty and unemployment, and food shortages are on the near-horizon. This is a perfect storm.” Background People all over Myanmar have been affected by the surge in cases of Covid-19. Amnesty International has received reports of people trying to source oxygen for their loved ones at extortionate prices, with money they simply don’t have. Moreover, media reports detail how security officials have hoarded desperately needed oxygen. Amnesty International is also concerned at reports of Covid-19 cases among internally displaced populations, including in Kachin and Rakhine States. On 1 February 2021, Myanmar’s military seized power from the elected civilian government by staging a coup. The move triggered pro-democracy protests nationwide, which in turn saw the nation’s newly emboldened security forces launch an ongoing and deadly crackdown on demonstrators. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners Burma (AAPPB), as of 13 July, the military has killed over 900 people and arrested more than 6,600 people since the coup. More than 5,200 people remain in detention. The rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly have also been drastically curtailed, including via shutdowns of media outlets, the internet and social media..."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (UK)
2021-07-30
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "All countries must stop selling arms to Myanmar following the adoption of a resolution by the UN General Assembly condemning the use of lethal force and violence in the country, Amnesty International said today. The resolution, passed by an overwhelming vote of 119 to 1 with 36 abstentions, calls on member states to prevent the flow of arms into the country. It strongly condemns the worsening crackdown on peaceful protesters and civil society, calling for the immediate and unconditional release of arbitrary detainees and an end to restrictions on freedom of expression. “Today the General Assembly, as the voice of the entire international community, joins the Human Rights Council and the UN Security Council in condemning the Myanmar military’s killing spree against its own people,” said Lawrence Moss, Senior UN Advocate for Amnesty International. “The Myanmar military must immediately meet these calls, and the UN Security Council must act to enforce them. “All countries should heed the resolution’s call to prevent the flow of arms into Myanmar, and the Security Council should immediately make this mandatory by imposing a comprehensive global arms embargo on Myanmar. “It is a helpful sign that 11 of the 15 members of the Security Council voted in support of this resolution. China and Russia, having abstained on the vote to adopt this resolution, should also now refrain from obstructing the will of the international community by vetoing a Security Council resolution to impose a comprehensive global arms embargo on Myanmar. “All states should urge China and Russia to heed the General Assembly’s call to prevent the flow of arms into Myanmar, and to cooperate in making this mandatory for all states by a Security Council resolution,” said Moss. Since the 1 February military coup overthrew the elected civilian government, 870 protesters, bystanders and other civilians have reportedly been killed, over 4983 arrested, and the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly drastically curtailed, including shutdowns of media outlets, the internet and social media. The UN resolution calls for the Myanmar armed forces to “immediately and unconditionally” release the elected civilian political leaders and all others who have been arbitrarily detained, charged or arrested, and to “end restrictions on medical personnel, civil society, labour union members, journalists and media workers and restrictions on the internet and social media.” The UN resolution also notes the ongoing International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into alleged atrocity crimes in Bangladesh and Myanmar. Amnesty International further calls for the Security Council to refer the situation in Myanmar as a whole to the ICC, and to impose targeted sanctions against the military officials responsible for crimes under international law, including the serious violations relating to repression of dissent following the 1 February coup. The text of the resolution was negotiated between nine member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and a core group from amongst over 50 states sponsoring the resolution. “After negotiating this text, the failure of four ASEAN states – Brunei, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand – to support it when a vote was called does not augur well for the success of the dialogue and mediation process the ASEAN claims to lead,” said Moss. “For eight weeks, the ASEAN has failed to implement its own 24 April consensus statement or even name its special envoy. The ASEAN has now failed to take a united stand for the release of arbitrary detainees and against the flow of arms to Myanmar. “ASEAN states must use all their bilateral and regional leverage to ensure Myanmar complies with these demands, but the international community cannot wait any longer on ASEAN alone. The UN Security Council must act to enforce the General Assembly’s calls upon Myanmar.”..."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (UK)
2021-06-18
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) must stop shielding the Myanmar military from international pressure and accountability, Amnesty International said today as the country's human rights crisis continues to worsen dramatically. With the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi having started on 14 June, the organization further urges all ASEAN member states to finally get behind calls for the release of all those arbitrarily detained in the country and support measures to stop the flow of weapons to the Myanmar military. “ASEAN’s usual commitment to non-interference is enabling the military’s deadly rampage, fuelling a human rights and humanitarian crisis that will sink both ASEAN’s credibility and the very stability it seeks to uphold,” said Emerlynne Gil, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Research. “Millions of people in Myanmar are losing faith in ASEAN. The regional bloc must change course and offer a lifeline to people in Myanmar by getting behind international efforts to protect civilians and urge the release of all those arbitrarily detained, including Aung San Suu Kyi.” Aung San Suu Kyi is currently facing a total of seven charges. If found guilty, she can face decades in prison and will effectively be barred from holding office again. Her charges include violating Section 55 of the Anti-Corruption Law, the Official Secrets Act, Section 67 of the Telecommunications Law and the Export and Import Law (possessing walkie talkies in her home). She also faces two charges under Section 25 of the Natural Disaster Management Law and “incitement” under Section 505 (b) of the Penal Code. “The military is digging deep into its arsenal of repressive laws, including those from the colonial-era, in a desperate attempt to silence Aung San Suu Kyi, opposition leaders and many other vocal critics who have been arbitrarily detained,” said Emerlynne Gil. The Myanmar security forces continue to kill, injure and arrest civilians. Since the 1 February coup, an estimated 863 civilians, including 58 children, have been killed and a countless number of people have been injured, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners – Burma (AAPPB). Reports of torture and deaths in custody keep emerging. Internet restrictions remain in place, and media freedom is severely restricted. Meanwhile, fighting between the Myanmar military and ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) and groups of protesters taking up arms is escalating and spreading across the country, killing or injuring civilians, damaging civilian properties, and displacing hundreds of thousands of women, men and children. Recent clashes, including air raids, in Karenni or Kayah State alone has displaced estimated 100,000 civilians who are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. Approximately 200,000 civilians have been displaced so far this year, adding to over 300,000 existing displaced persons reliant on humanitarian aid. High-level meeting exposes faltering ASEAN diplomacy On 4 June, a high-level delegation comprised of ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi and Erywan Pehin Yusof, the second minister for foreign affairs for Brunei, the current chair of ASEAN, met with coup leader and head of the Myanmar military authorities, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar’s capital. The high-level meeting in Nay Pyi Taw reported little tangible progress on ASEAN’s “Five-Point Consensus” on the Myanmar crisis, including calls for the cessation of violence, humanitarian access and the appointment of an ASEAN special envoy on Myanmar. ASEAN must implement a call for Myanmar to release arbitrary detainees In one welcome advance, in a statement after the meeting, the Chairman of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, Erywan Pehin Yusof, called for the release of political detainees in Myanmar. According to AAPPB, as of 13 June, 4,863 people are currently detained or have been sentenced in in the wake of the 1 February coup, including the country’s elected civilian leadership. “The belated commitment of a senior ASEAN official to the release of the political opposition is welcome and essential and we hope that this view is adopted as consensus by ASEAN,” said Emerlynne Gil. “It should also be clear that ASEAN’s mediation efforts would be all but impossible if key stakeholders are all behind bars.” “ASEAN should place top priority on demanding that the Myanmar military immediately release not only prominent political detainees, but all of the thousands of people arbitrarily detained, and call for their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly,” said Emerlynne Gil. Shocking lack of progress since ASEAN emergency summit The Five-Point Consensus was agreed at an emergency summit in Jakarta attended by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on 24 April, but the Myanmar military authorities have since repeatedly stated that it would not act upon the plan until the country had reached “stability.” Between the ASEAN summit and 13 June, 115 more people have been killed and 1,474 more people are arbitrarily detained or sentenced. "Myanmar's generals are making a mockery of ASEAN's meek efforts to lead the international response - continuing to kill, jail, and drive the country into the ground before the ink had dried on ASEAN's 'Five Point Consensus'," said Emerlynne Gil. “The regional bloc must get behind efforts at the UN to protect civilians, ensure their humanitarian needs are adequately met, urgently stop the flow of weapons to the military and secure the release of all those arbitrarily detained.” Growing calls at the UN for a global arms embargo on Myanmar ASEAN states continue to negotiate with the states sponsoring a UN General Assembly resolution to address the human rights crisis in Myanmar, of which only some of the ASEAN members are supportive of a comprehensive arms embargo. “ASEAN must support the passing of a UN General Assembly resolution calling for a halt of weapons transfers to the Myanmar military. Anything less is an abdication of ASEAN’s leadership role on the Myanmar crisis, and shows ASEAN is siding with a military that is continuing to kill and imprison unarmed protesters and other civilians. Even if adopted, a call for halting transfers by the UNGA has only moral force and may not deter the major arms suppliers to the military – including China, Russia and India. The UN Security Council must urgently then make a comprehensive global arms embargo on Myanmar mandatory for all states to stop the military's killing spree against its own people. “Whether through willful obstruction or internal disagreement, ASEAN has become the Myanmar military's shield at the highest levels of global diplomacy. Instead, ASEAN states must stand together against rampant military atrocities and urgently get behind the calls for a global and comprehensive arms embargo on Myanmar.”..."
Source/publisher: "Amnesty International" (UK)
2021-06-15
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The Myanmar military authorities should immediately drop charges against journalists, said Amnesty International today. This includes those in pre-trial detention, on bail, or those with warrants outstanding on them solely for carrying out their work and the peaceful exercise of their human rights. “Journalists are at the frontline of the struggle to expose the truth on what is happening in Myanmar today,” said Emerlynne Gil, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Research. “The brazen violence, intimidation and harassment the military authorities are levelling at them only illustrates how powerful exposing the truth can be. Individual journalists can be threatened, arrested, or even meet a worse fate, but Myanmar’s free media as a whole can never be silenced.” The ongoing persecution, intimidation, harassment and violence faced by journalists in Myanmar constitutes a clear attempt by the military authorities to suppress peaceful dissent and obscure violations committed by security forces in the wake of the 1 February coup. The nationwide crackdown has resulted in widespread denial of the rights to freedom of expression and access to information. On 24 May, American citizen Danny Fenster became the third foreign journalist arrested and detained since the coup. He was arrested by authorities at Yangon’s Mingalardon Airport while waiting to board a flight to Malaysia. He was reportedly taken to Insein Prison and, as of 25 May, no charges have been made against him. Amnesty International believes that Danny Fenster was arrested for peacefully exercising his human rights. He must be released immediately and unconditionally. As of 21 May, 88 journalists have been arrested since the 1 February coup, according to the most recent figures from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners Burma (AAPPB). More than half remain in detention, and 33 are in hiding. Two have been released on bail. Dozens have fled the country or have sought refuge in territory controlled by Ethnic Armed Organizations. Two journalists have been injured by gunshot while covering protests. 
“The arrest of Danny Fenster is a reminder of how the media in Myanmar has been targeted for trying to expose the human rights violations committed by the military in this ruthless crackdown,” said Emerlynne Gil. “Despite the severe communications blackout, what the world knows about the military authorities’ abuses is a credit to the courage of journalists.” Climate of fear: ‘We don’t want to go back to those days’ The military authorities’ crackdown on the media has resulted in a chilling effect on the press, access to information and other human rights. On 8 march, media outlets Myanmar NOW, Khit Thit Media, Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), Mizzima, and 7day had their licences revoked, in a ban that affects print, broadcast and digital platforms. By mid-March 2021, there were no privately-run daily news journals left in circulation in the country, as many suspended operations. Journalists interviewed by Amnesty International voiced concerns that the ongoing crackdown in the wake of the coup heralds a return to the darkest days of censorship, self-censorship and state-sponsored disinformation. 

“We feel everything is heading back to our childhood days … we don't want to go back to those days when we had only state-owned media, spreading propaganda,” said one Yangon-based reporter. “It's really difficult to struggle and to survive as a journalist during this period in Myanmar. It's not safe – not only for the journalists, but also their families. We are all facing this insecure situation every day. But we keep trying to report as much as we can.” After an almost five-decade state monopoly on publishing and a heavy censorship regime, in 2012, the press scrutiny and registration department suspended pre-publication censorship. In 2013, Myanmar's ministry of information began granting licences for privately-owned daily newspapers. However, recent actions by the authorities mark a significant step backward for human rights including the right to freedom of expression, and a near-total dissipation of gains made for media freedom over the previous decade of quasi-civilian rule. 

 The Myanmar military authorities should ensure the rights to freedom of expression, access to information and media freedom are respect, protected, promoted and fulfilled including by unblocking independent news media websites and social media platforms, and restoring full internet connectivity as a matter of urgency. Old laws, new amendments On 3 March 2021, Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) journalist Min Nyo was arrested while covering anti-coup protests in Pyay, Bago Region in central Myanmar. According to a statement from DVB, Min Nyo was beaten by police during arrest and sustained injuries. He was sentenced to three years’ jail time on 12 May under section 505(a) of the Penal Code. This lengthy sentence is the second handed down to a journalist since the coup, after another DVB reporter May Thwe Aung was handed a month’s jail time under Section 188.

The majority of journalists have been charged under Section 505(a) of the colonial-era Penal Code, which prohibits the publication or circulation of “statement, rumour or report … with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, any officer, soldier, sailor or airman, in the Army, Navy or Air Force to mutiny or otherwise disregard or fail in his duty”. 

 This broad provision has historically been used by the Myanmar military to target human rights defenders, journalists, and political opponents, punishing those who distributed political pamphlets or sought to report news. 

 On 14 February 2021, the Myanmar military authorities announced a series of amendments, including additions to Section 505A. These new provisions criminalize those who cause or intend to cause fear, spread false news, agitate directly or indirectly criminal offence against a Government employee, bringing the maximum sentence up to three years, and introducing fines.
 These amendments violate the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and pave the way for arrest and conviction on the basis of intent. It is not just journalists facing such charges: celebrity influencers, doctors, teachers, and other civil servants suspected of participating in the Civil Disobedience Movement general strike have had warrants issued against them under 505A, and other provisions. Section 505A of the penal code, as well as the Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law and the Natural Disaster Management Law should be repealed or amended to comply with international human rights standards.

The Myanmar military authorities must cease its assault on human rights including the right to freedom of expression and media freedom, ensure people’s rights to access information are upheld, and stop targeting journalists..."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (UK)
2021-05-27
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Responding to news of the arrest of five individuals from Myanmar, including three journalists from the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) news outlet, by the Thai authorities in Chiang Mai on 9 May, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns, Ming Yu Hah, said: “It is imperative that the Thai authorities do not forcibly return these individuals to Myanmar. To do so would place them at real risk of arbitrary arrest and detention, torture and other ill-treatment, and death. “It would also put Thailand in breach of its obligations under the principle of non-refoulement under international law. “There have long been credible reports of torture and other ill-treatment in detention in Myanmar. These have intensified since the coup. Several people detained in recent weeks have died in detention in unexplained circumstances. “For years DVB has been a leading, outspoken outlet holding the authorities to account. If returned to Myanmar, these journalists will be at exceptionally grave risk. “Thailand has long played host to displaced and exiled communities from Myanmar. Whether they are targeted for their brave journalism work, escaping air strikes or evading other forms of attacks by the military, people in Myanmar are fleeing again today. We urge the Thai authorities to give sanctuary to those seeking safety, in line with international law.”.....Background: According to a statement from DVB’s Editor-in-Chief, Aye Chan Naing, three senior DVB journalist and two activists were arrested by Thai police on Sunday 9 May in Chiang Mai (Thailand). They were reporting the anti-coup protests in Myanmar until 8 March, the day the military authorities revoked DVB’s TV license. Amnesty International has confirmed that the five are currently in police custody. Since the military coup on 1 February, the Myanmar military has also revoked media licenses of several other media outlets and dozens of journalists are currently in arbitrary detention, facing charges or fearing arrest. Many more have gone into hiding. Amnesty International opposes refoulement, which is prohibited under international law, in all cases without exception. Non-refoulement is an international legal principle that prohibits the transfer of individuals to another country or jurisdiction where they would face a real risk of serious human rights violations or abuses. It is part of customary international law, making it binding upon all states regardless of whether they ratified the relevant treaties..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (UK)
2021-05-11
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Topic: WAR CRIMES AND CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
Topic: WAR CRIMES AND CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
Description: "The catastrophic aftermath of the Myanmar coup is the biggest test in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) history, said Amnesty International today, calling on the regional bloc to prioritise protecting the human rights of people in Myanmar and prevent the situation deteriorating into a human rights and humanitarian crisis. The organization is also urging the Indonesian authorities and other ASEAN member states to investigate Senior General Min Aung Hlaing on credible allegations of responsibility for crimes against humanity in Myanmar. As a state party to the UN Convention Against Torture, Indonesia has a legal obligation to prosecute or extradite a suspected perpetrator on its territory. “The Myanmar crisis trigged by the military presents ASEAN with the biggest test in its history. The bloc’s usual commitment to non-interference is a non-starter: this is not an internal matter for Myanmar but a major human rights and humanitarian crisis which is impacting the entire region and beyond,” said Emerlynne Gil, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Research “The crisis initiated by a murderous and unrepentant Myanmar military has engulfed the country, and will cause severe aftershocks – humanitarian and more – for the entire region, particularly if the military can continue to commit serious violations and crimes with complete impunity. “Moreover, the Indonesian authorities are duty-bound to investigate Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and other Myanmar military officials who may join his delegation to Jakarta. “The extensively documented allegations against Myanmar’s coup leader, by the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, Amnesty International and many others, must be investigated. The Indonesian authorities and other ASEAN member states cannot ignore the fact Min Aung Hlaing is suspected of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole.”......ASEAN’s credibility on the line: In an open letter to ASEAN member states, Amnesty International highlights the fact that hundreds of people have been killed and thousands have been detained in the weeks following the 1 February military coup in Myanmar. The Myanmar military remains unmoved by the various calls from the international community and civil society organizations. Myanmar’s economy is on its knees and expected to contract by up to 20%, while food prices increase and banking system disruptions and limited cash availability hinder humanitarian operations. The World Food Programme has warned that up to 3.4 million people in Myanmar face hunger in the next several months. “The Myanmar military appears to be operating with the assumption of total impunity. The situation today is the direct result of a broader failure by the international community, including the ASEAN, to hold the Myanmar military to account for its past crimes. “If not stopped, the violations committed by the Myanmar military will result in escalating violence and conflict, worsening inequality, hunger and mass displacement, including into ASEAN Member States – all amid the COVID-19 pandemic. “Amnesty International urges the ASEAN and its Member States to work together and take immediate action to protect the people of Myanmar, prioritizing their human rights and to end impunity,” said Emerlynne Gil. The need to end impunity: On 10 March 2021, after examining over 50 clips from the ongoing crackdown, Amnesty International found that the Myanmar military is using increasingly lethal tactics and weapons normally seen on the battlefield against peaceful protesters and bystanders across the country. Many of these killings amount to extrajudicial executions. In a statement to the UN Human Rights Council on 11 March 2021, the UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, Tom Andrews, noted that the repression of peaceful protests since the coup likely meets the threshold of crimes against humanity. In 2018, Amnesty International released a report containing extensive and credible evidence implicating Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and 12 other named individuals in crimes against humanity committed during the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya population in northern Rakhine State. Thousands of Rohingya women, men and children were murdered – bound and summarily executed; shot and killed while running away; or burned to death inside their homes. Rohingya women and girls were raped in their villages and as they fled to Bangladesh. Over the last few years, Amnesty International has also documented war crimes and other serious human rights violations committed by the Myanmar military against various other ethnic minorities in Rakhine, Chin, Kachin and northern Shan States. Amnesty International continues to call on all states, including ASEAN Member States, to exercise universal and other forms of jurisdiction to investigate any person who may reasonably be suspected of committing crimes against humanity, war crimes or other crimes under international law in Myanmar. ASEAN should not shield perpetrators from accountability and must put an end to the years of impunity of the Myanmar military. “There is sufficient evidence to reasonably suspect that Min Aung Hlaing is responsible for crimes under international law, including torture, and this needs highlighting at every opportunity,” said Emerlynne Gil. “The deadly operations by the military since the 1 February coup only magnify the urgency of bringing Min Aung Hlaing and other suspected perpetrators to justice. The Indonesian authorities have an obligation to investigate him and must do so.”.....Background: In its open letter to ASEAN and member states ahead of the emergency summit, Amnesty International calls on the following: To the ASEAN - Unequivocally condemn all human rights violations in Myanmar and continue to call for the release of all individuals who are arbitrarily detained, and the end of the use of lethal force against children, peaceful protesters and bystanders. Direct the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) to develop a common approach to ensure that all engagement with Myanmar takes into account and addresses human rights concerns, in accordance with the AICHR’s mandate in Section 4.11 of its Terms of Reference. This common approach shall be adopted by ASEAN and shall guide the regional body in all of its engagement in Myanmar, including in relation to the situation in Rakhine State and to repression of opposition to the military coup. Support the work of independent international mechanisms, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar to investigate human rights violations in Myanmar. Urge the United Nations Security Council to refer the situation in Myanmar as a whole to the International Criminal Court. Support the call for the UN Security Council to impose a comprehensive global arms embargo against Myanmar. Support the call for the UN Security Council to impose targeted financial sanctions against officials suspected of responsibility for crimes under international law and serious violations, including in the context of the repression of opposition to the 1 February coup. To ASEAN member states - #Refrain from returning any person to Myanmar under the current circumstances, regardless of their immigration status, and continue to halt all deportations and returns until human rights protections can be guaranteed. Returning any person under the current circumstances would constitute a breach of the principle of non-refoulement, which, as part of customary human rights law, prohibits the return of any person, irrespective of migration status, to a state where there are substantial grounds to believe they would face irreparable harm upon return due to serious human rights violations. #Ensure that any future repatriations or returns of refugees are only conducted when safe, voluntary, and dignified, with explicit human rights protections in place, including the right to citizenship. States should provide an individual assessment for each person to evaluate needs for international protection. #Exercise universal and other forms of jurisdiction to investigate Senior General Min Aung Hlaing for allegations of committing crimes against humanity, war crimes or other crimes under international law in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: "Amnesty International" (UK)
2021-04-23
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Topic: UNLAWFUL KILLINGS
Topic: UNLAWFUL KILLINGS
Description: "Responding to reports that at least 91 people, including a five-year-old boy, were killed by Myanmar security forces across the country on 27 March in its ongoing brutal crackdown on protesters, Ming Yu Hah, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns, said: “This is just the latest example of the military authorities’ determination to kill their way out of nationwide resistance to the coup. These abhorrent killings again show the generals’ brazen disregard for the inadequate pressure applied so far by the international community. “This comes a day after the military announced that further protests would be met with shots to the head. “The cost of international inaction is being counted in bodies, including children shot dead in their homes. Amid the horrifying death toll is a nation of over 50 million held hostage, subjected to arbitrary arrest and sweeping surveillance, living in fear of death and torture. “The people of Myanmar continue to protest, all while they grieve more killings by the hour. The nations that participated in the military’s Armed Forces Day events today in the capital of Nay Pyi Taw, particularly China and Russia, are the same states that have shielded the Tatmadaw from accountability time and time again, supplying them with the means to carry out mass slaughter. “UN Security Council member states’ continued refusal to meaningfully act against this never-ending horror is contemptible.” Background At the time of writing, media reported that the military killed nearly 100 people in Yangon, Mandalay and other towns today, including a five-year-old boy. On 26 March, state television announced protesters were “in danger of getting shot to the head and back”. According to estimates from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) (AAPPB), the minimum death toll since the 1 February coup stood at 328 on 26 March. While a small number of protesters have armed themselves with crude homemade weaponry including molotov cocktails, slingshots and homemade air-pressure rifles, the protests have overall remained peaceful and in the incidents that Amnesty International has examined, lethal force used by the military has been unlawful and excessive. Elsewhere in the country, armed conflict is escalating between the Myanmar military and ethnic armed groups. Amnesty International has grave concerns about the potential for further mass atrocities as well as the resumption of large-scale conflict and associated mass displacement adding to the country’s existing internally displaced population of over 300,000. Amnesty is calling on the UN Security Council to impose a comprehensive global arms embargo on Myanmar, and refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court. The Security Council must also impose targeted financial sanctions against Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing (Myanmar’s military chief now in charge of the country) and other military leaders responsible for atrocity crimes against various ethnic minorities across the country, including the Rohingya. The UN Fact Finding Mission on Myanmar has previously called for Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and other senior officials to be investigated and prosecuted for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide..."
Source/publisher: "Amnesty International" (UK)
2021-03-27
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 231.52 KB
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Topic: BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Topic: BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Description: "Responding to reports that South Korean steel giant POSCO will end the steel venture its Myanmar subsidiary shares with military-owned conglomerate MEHL, Amnesty International’s Business and Human Rights Researcher Montse Ferrer said: “POSCO’s decision to cut this tie is the latest blow to Myanmar’s military, which continues to impose its rule through murder and heinous human rights violations. Since staging a coup in February, the military has reportedly killed around 700 people, including dozens of children. “Given the scale of POSCO’s operations in Myanmar, this announcement is a major step forward. It increases the military authorities’ isolation, and adds to the growing pressure on other companies to end their business links with MEHL. “POSCO has yet to announce the full details of its plans to disengage from its steel venture and whether it will continue to pay lease payments to MEHL. The company also has yet to address its broader footprint in Myanmar in other sectors. However, this is still a warning sign to all companies and investors who have business partnerships with MEHL. All of these businesses should do the right thing and responsibly cut these links immediately. “As pressure builds on businesses, and as the military continues to commit appalling human rights violations, the UN Security Council must stop lagging so far behind. It must impose, without further delay, a comprehensive global arms embargo on Myanmar, as well as targeted financial sanctions on senior military officials responsible for atrocity crimes. The Security Council must also urgently refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court.”.....Background ...On 16 April 2021, POSCO announced that its Myanmar subsidiary, POSCO C&C, would end its relationship with military-owned Myanma Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL). This decision follows months of international pressure from Amnesty International and other organizations, who have engaged POSCO, its investors and stakeholders, calling on the company to cut ties with the Myanmar military. On 24 March 2021, the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution on the human rights situation in Myanmar by consensus, which highlighted that no company active in Myanmar or with business links to Myanmar should do business with the military (also known as the Tatmadaw) or one of their business entities, until and unless those businesses are restructured and transformed. In September 2020, Amnesty International’s Military Ltd. report demonstrated that POSCO, as MEHL’s business partner, was linked to the financing of Myanmar’s military units implicated in crimes under international law and other serious human rights violations. The Myanmar military staged a coup on 1 February 2021 and has been increasingly using lethal force, including battlefield weapons, against overwhelmingly peaceful protesters and onlookers, reportedly killing over 700 people, including dozens of children. It has also arbitrarily detained over 3,000 individuals, including government officials, human rights defenders, activists, journalists, artists, medical workers and others..."
Source/publisher: "Amnesty International" (UK)
2021-04-16
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 211.37 KB
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Description: "The Myanmar military is using increasingly lethal tactics and weapons normally seen on the battlefield against peaceful protesters and bystanders across the country, new research by Amnesty International has revealed. By verifying more than 50 videos from the ongoing crackdown, Amnesty International’s Crisis Evidence Lab can confirm that security forces appear to be implementing planned, systematic strategies including the ramped-up use of lethal force. Many of the killings documented amount to extrajudicial executions. Footage clearly shows that Myanmar military troops - also known as the Tatmadaw - are increasingly armed with weapons that are only appropriate for the battlefield, not for policing actions. Officers are frequently seen engaging in reckless behavior, including the indiscriminate spraying of live ammunition in urban areas. NEWS CAMPAIGNS EDUCATION RESEARCH IMPACT NEWS (Photo by Kaung Zaw Hein/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) MYANMAR UNLAWFUL KILLINGS SHARE Facebook Twitter Myanmar: Vast arsenal and notorious troops deployed during nationwide ‘killing spree’ protest crackdown – new research 11 March 2021, 00:01 UTC Analysis of more than 50 videos show systematic and premeditated killings amid extensive deployment of battlefield weaponry Soldiers implicated in atrocity crimes against ethnic minorities now operating in Myanmar’s cities Evidence of extrajudicial executions and killings on orders of commanders The Myanmar military is using increasingly lethal tactics and weapons normally seen on the battlefield against peaceful protesters and bystanders across the country, new research by Amnesty International has revealed. By verifying more than 50 videos from the ongoing crackdown, Amnesty International’s Crisis Evidence Lab can confirm that security forces appear to be implementing planned, systematic strategies including the ramped-up use of lethal force. Many of the killings documented amount to extrajudicial executions. These Myanmar military tactics are far from new, but their killing sprees have never before been livestreamed for the world to see. Joanne Mariner, Director of Crisis Response Footage clearly shows that Myanmar military troops - also known as the Tatmadaw - are increasingly armed with weapons that are only appropriate for the battlefield, not for policing actions. Officers are frequently seen engaging in reckless behavior, including the indiscriminate spraying of live ammunition in urban areas. “These Myanmar military tactics are far from new, but their killing sprees have never before been livestreamed for the world to see,” said Joanne Mariner, Director of Crisis Response at Amnesty International. “These are not the actions of overwhelmed, individual officers making poor decisions. These are unrepentant commanders already implicated in crimes against humanity, deploying their troops and murderous methods in the open. “For years, ethnic minorities - including the Chin, Kachin, Karen, Rakhine, Rohingya, Shan, Ta’ang and more - have borne the brunt of horrific violence meted out by the Tatmadaw. Along with other rights groups, we have called on the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court, and bring the Tatmadaw’s senior commanders, including Min Aung Hlaing, to justice. Instead the Security Council has done nothing, and today we see the same military units turn their fire on protesters. “The military authorities must immediately cease their deadly onslaught, de-escalate the situation nationwide, and release all those arbitrarily detained.” The 55 clips, filmed from 28 February to 8 March, were recorded by members of the public and local media in cities including Dawei, Mandalay, Mawlamyine, Monywa, Myeik, Myitkyina and Yangon. According to the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, the death toll from the protests as of 4 March stands at 61. This official estimate excludes additional known casualties in recent days..."
Source/publisher: "Amnesty International" (UK)
2021-03-11
Date of entry/update: 2021-03-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Responding to news that three members of the Peacock Generation poetry troupe were convicted and sentenced to six months in prison for “online defamation” today for sharing their performances on social media, Amnesty International’s Regional Director Nicholas Bequelin said: “It beggars belief that these young, brave people are behind bars for sharing videos and photos online. Their performances are all about aspirations for a better future. The fact they’ve been subjected to these outrageous trials and convictions shows just how vindictive the Myanmar military is. “The authorities would rather punish the youth than reflect on the criticisms presented peacefully through their performances. These convictions and sentences should be quashed, detained members of the group immediately and unconditionally released, and all further charges against them dropped. “With elections around the corner, Aung San Suu Kyi and the ruling NLD party are running out of time to repeal or amend draconian laws and fully protect freedom of expression. It is time to consign these laws to history once and for all.”..."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (UK)
2020-02-17
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: Myanmar Army Conflict
Topic: Myanmar Army Conflict
Description: "The decades-long conflict in northern Shan State has escalated in recent months following attacks by three ethnic armed groups on military installations and other locations in the country on 15 August 2019. The government stated that the attacks were likely to have been carried out in retaliation for recent successful anti-drug trafficking operations in the region. According to the three ethnic armed groups – calling themselves the “Brotherhood Alliance” – the attacks were launched in response to a military offensive in Rakhine State in the west of the country as well as repeated military operations in northern Shan state, despite a military ceasefire in the area. Civilians in northern Shan State, who have borne the brunt of these previous operations, looks set to endure fresh abuses, conflict, and displacement. This report examines international human rights abuses and violations of humanitarian law committed since mid-2018 by parties to the ongoing internal armed conflicts in northern Shan State. On 21 December 2018, the Myanmar military announced a unilateral ceasefire in northern and eastern Myanmar, however, as this report shows, while there may have been a reduction of the number of clashes involving the military, Myanmar soldiers have continued to commit serious violations against ethnic minority civilians. The declared ceasefire period has also seen a continuation, and in some areas an escalation, of fighting among ethnic armed groups, some backed by the Myanmar military. Amnesty International undertook research missions to northern Shan State in March and August 2019. In total, Amnesty International interviewed 88 people, including victims and direct witnesses to violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. The organization also met with local and international humanitarian officials, human rights defenders, community leaders, journalists, and political analysts, and analysed satellite imagery and photographs related to specific documented incidents. Amnesty International wrote to the Myanmar civilian government and military, and to four ethnic armed groups, outlining the organization’s findings, requesting information, and expressing readiness to discuss the situation in northern Shan State. At the time of publication, none had replied..."
Source/publisher: "Amnesty International" (UK) (ASA 16/1142/2019)
2019-10-24
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : PDF
Size: 1.25 MB (44 pages)
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Description: "“The Myanmar military is as relentless and ruthless as ever, committing war crimes against civilians in northern Shan State with absolute impunity,” said Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty International’s Director for East and Southeast Asia. “Soldiers – and more importantly commanders – are subjecting civilians to the military’s hallmark brutality in the absence of any form of accountability.” Amnesty International documented war crimes and other military violations against ethnic Kachin, Lisu, Shan, and Ta’ang civilians during two field missions to the region in March and August 2019. Civilians who spoke to Amnesty International repeatedly implicated the military’s 99th Light Infantry Division (LID) in many of the violations. Units from the 99th LID were implicated in some of the worst atrocities against the Rohingya in Rakhine State since August 2017, as well as in war crimes and other serious violations in northern Myanmar in 2016 and early 2017. “Wherever the 99th Light Infantry Division is deployed we see similar patterns of abuse and the commission of horrific crimes unfold. This highlights the urgency of international action to hold Myanmar’s military – not least its senior generals – accountable.”..."
Source/publisher: "Amnesty International" (UK)
2019-10-24
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: Myanmar, Censorship and freedom of expression
Topic: Myanmar, Censorship and freedom of expression
Description: "Five members of the Peacock Generation—Kay Khine Tun, Zayar Lwin, Paing Pyo Min, Paing Ye Thu and Zaw Lin Htut—were arrested in April 2019 after they performed Thangyat, a traditional performance art akin to slam poetry. They were wearing military uniforms and criticized the authorities. On 30 October 2019, they were convicted under Section 505 (a) of Myanmar’s Penal Code at Mayangon Township Court in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, and sentenced to one year in prison. For livestreaming performances on Facebook, Zay Yar Lwin, Paing Phyo Min and Paing Ye Thu also face charges under Section 66 (d) of the Telecommunication Act for “online defamation.” An additional member of the troupe, Su Yadanar Myint, also faces these charges. All six of them and another member, Nyein Chan Soe, also face charges under Section 505 (a) of the Penal Code at Yangon’s Botahtaung Township Court. Members of the Peacock Generation are facing the same charges in a number of other townships outside Yangon where they have performed Thangyat..."
Source/publisher: "Amnesty International" (UK)
2019-10-30
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The massacre of ethnic groups in Myanmar’s Rakhine state hasn’t ended, according to a new report by Amnesty International. Now the group wants the UN Security Council to refer the crimes to the International Criminal Court. The report claims that since January the Myanmar military has launched random attacks killing or wounding people. “The new operations in Rakhine State show an unrepentant, unreformed and unaccountable military terrorising civilians and committing widespread violations as a deliberate tactic,” says Nicholas Bequelin, regional director for East and Southeast Asia at Amnesty International. News of the killings comes just days after a report by Reuters found that the soldiers jailed for the slaughter of 10 Rohingya during a 2017 military crackdown had be set free. The military members served less than one year of a 10-year prison sentence..."
Creator/author: Nicholas Bequelin
Source/publisher: Al Jazeera
2019-06-04
Date of entry/update: 2019-06-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: Executive Summary: "Early in the morning of 25 August 2017, a Rohingya armed group known as the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) launched coordinated attacks on security force posts in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar. In the days, weeks, and months that followed, the Myanmar security forces, led by the Myanmar Army, attacked the entire Rohingya population in villages across northern Rakhine State. In the 10 months after 25 August, the Myanmar security forces drove more than 702,000 women, men, and children—more than 80 per cent of the Rohingya who lived in northern Rakhine State at the crisis?s outset— into neighbouring Bangladesh. The ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya population was achieved by a relentless and systematic campaign in which the Myanmar security forces unlawfully killed thousands of Rohingya, including young children; raped and committed other sexual violence against hundreds of Rohingya women and girls; tortured Rohingya men and boys in detention sites; pushed Rohingya communities toward starvation by burning markets and blocking access to farmland; and burned hundreds of Rohingya villages in a targeted and deliberate manner. These crimes amount to crimes against humanity under international law, as they were perpetrated as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Rohingya population. Amnesty International has evidence of nine of the 11 crimes against humanity listed in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court being committed since 25 August 2017, including murder, torture, deportation or forcible transfer, rape and other sexual violence, persecution, enforced disappearance, and other inhumane acts, such as forced starvation. Amnesty International also has evidence that responsibility for these crimes extends to the highest levels of the military, including Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, the Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Services. This report is based on more than 400 interviews carried out between September 2017 and June 2018, including during four research missions to the refugee camps in Bangladesh and three missions to Myanmar, one of which was to Rakhine State. The interviews were overwhelmingly with survivors and direct witnesses to crimes. Amnesty International sought out people from different ethnic and religious communities from northern Rakhine State, including Rohingya, a predominantly Muslim group; ethnic Rakhine, Mro, Khami, and Thet, all predominantly Buddhist groups; and Hindu. In addition to survivors and witnesses, Amnesty International interviewed humanitarian aid workers in Bangladesh and Myanmar; medical professionals in Bangladesh who had treated violence-related injuries among Rohingya refugees; analysts of the Myanmar military; diplomats; journalists; and local administrative officials in Myanmar, known as Village Administrators. The report also draws on an extensive analysis of satellite imagery and data; forensic medical examination of injury photographs; authenticated photographic and video material taken by Rohingya in northern Rakhine State; confidential documents, particularly on the Myanmar military?s command structure; and open source investigations and analysis, including of Facebook posts related to the Myanmar military..."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (ASA 16/8630/2018)
2018-06-27
Date of entry/update: 2018-06-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 6.13 MB
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Description: "The situation in Myanmar has deteriorated dramatically in the last year, and across the country the military has committed wide-ranging human rights violations. The severity of the situation cannot be understated. Myanmar today increasingly ? and alarmingly ? resembles the Myanmar of old. The civilian government, while holding no formal power over the military, has failed to curb the violence, and instead has often fostered rather than challenged impunity and discrimination. The country risks regressing still further unless there is a major change in course. This not only necessitates a fundamental change from Myanmar?s civilian and military authorities, but also much more effective action from the international community. At the upcoming session, the UN Human Rights Council must send a clear message to Myanmar?s leaders that human rights violations ? both past and ongoing ? will not go unpunished."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (ASA 16/7915/2018)
2018-02-16
Date of entry/update: 2018-02-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 200.76 KB
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Description: "Over the last seven months, fighting has intensified between the Myanmar Army and ethnic armed groups in Kachin and northern Shan States, areas with long-running conflicts as ethnic minorities have sought greater autonomy and respect for their rights. This report documents war crimes and other human rights violations by the Myanmar Army, including extrajudicial executions, torture, forced labour, and indiscriminate shelling. Most victims are civilians from ethnic minorities in the region, continuing a legacy of abuse that has rarely led to accountability for the soldiers or commanders responsible.".....TOPICS: Myanmar... Asia and The Pacific... Armed Conflict... Armed Groups... Child Soldiers... Impunity... Disappearances... Unlawful Killings... Internally Displaced People... Torture and other ill-treatment... Racial Discrimination... War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity... Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (ASA 16/6429/2017)
2017-06-14
Date of entry/update: 2017-06-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English (full report); Burmese & Chinese - executive summary
Format : pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.8 MB 395.37 KB 707.27 KB
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Description: "The conflict in Myanmar?s Kachin and northern Shan States has now entered its seventh year, pitting the Myanmar Army against a range of ethnic armed groups in areas near the border with China. An escalation in fighting since November 2016 has seen a rise in the Army?s violations against civilians, which in some cases amount to war crimes. Ethnic armed groups have also committed serious abuses."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International
2017-06-09
Date of entry/update: 2017-06-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: Conclusions: "Amnesty International?s latest research shows that hundreds of people close to the giant Letpadaung mine continue to face the risk of forced eviction from their farmland, and in the case of four villages, from their homes as well. In addition, thousands of people living in the area are at risk from Myanmar Wanbao?s inadequate management of environmental risk at the Letpadaung mine, which is situated in a flood and earthquake-prone area. The ESIA for the mine contains fundamental gaps and weaknesses, which Myanmar Wanbao has still not addressed. In 2015, Amnesty International concluded that the Myanmar government must halt the development of the Letpadaung mine until the human rights and environmental concerns were addressed. In May 2016 the mine began producing copper, but those human rights and environmental concerns have still not been addressed. Amnesty International is repeating its call therefore for the mine?s operations to be suspended, while these concerns are dealt with. Amnesty International is also repeating its call for the government of Myanmar to urgently act to prevent human rights abuses at the Letpadaung and S&K mines and provide effective remedy for the human rights abuses that people there have already suffered. The authorities must stop using draconian laws to charge and harass villagers participating in peaceful protests against the mine project. More broadly, the Myanmar government needs to strengthen the legal framework, to improve the regulation of large projects, such as mines, and put in place an adequate framework for land acquisition that is based on international standards on the right to adequate housing and the prohibition of forced evictions. Both the government of Myanmar and Myanmar Wanbao must also ensure an effective remedy for the human rights abuses that people there have already suffered. Foreign corporations doing business, or planning to do business, in Myanmar have a responsibility to ensure that their investments do not result in human rights abuses. All foreign corporations should conduct human rights due diligence on their planned business activities in Myanmar in line with international standards. The home state governments of companies investing in Myanmar, including China, which is the home state of Myanmar Wanbao, must ensure that their companies conduct human rights due diligence..."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (ASA 16/5564/2017)
2017-02-00
Date of entry/update: 2017-02-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English, Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
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Description: "Two labour activists are currently on trial for providing striking garment workers in Myanmar advice on their rights. Two other union leaders have already been sentenced to two years and six months in prison for their role in leading and supporting the workers. All four are prisoners of conscience who must be released immediately and unconditionally."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International
2015-09-28
Date of entry/update: 2015-09-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 143.26 KB
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Description: Executive Summary: "This report is the culmination of a one year investigation by Amnesty International into alleged human rights abuses by companies, including multinational companies, operating in Myanmar. The report focuses on the Monywa copper mine project and highlights forced evictions, substantial environmental and social impacts, and the repression, sometimes brutal, of those who try to protest. It also raises serious questions about opaque corporate dealings and possible infringements of economic sanctions on Myanmar. The report calls on the Government of Myanmar to urgently introduce strong measures for the protection of human rights, and on multinational companies and the home governments of those companies to ensure that due diligence is carried out to international standards for all investment in Myanmar...This report examines the issues in relation to one major mining operation - the Monywa project - made up of the Sabetaung and Kyisintaung (S&K) and the Letpadaung copper mines. During an extensive one-year investigation, Amnesty International examined incidents that are specific to the Monywa project as well as some of the wider structural issues ? such as the processes for acquisition of land and environmental protection ? that will affect other extractive projects in Myanmar. The organization found that, since its inception and throughout its various changes in ownership, the Monywa project has been characterised by serious human rights abuses and a lack of transparency. Thousands of people have been forcibly evicted by the government with the knowledge, and in some cases the participation, of foreign companies. Environmental impacts have been poorly assessed and managed, with grave long-term implications for the health and livelihoods of people living near the mine. Protests by communities have been met with excessive force by police...".....CONCLUSION: The Government of Myanmar is responsible for the serious human rights violations that have taken place at the Monywa project over many years. It has forcibly evicted people and has failed to put in place safeguards to protect mine-affected communities from environmental pollution which can im- pact their rights to water and health, amongst other rights. It has shown an unwillingness to monitor corporate activity or to hold companies accountable for the harm their operations cause. The companies involved also bear responsibility. Despite a history of human rights violations sur- rounding the mine, a Canadian company, and subsequently a Chinese company, have invested without undertaking appropriate due diligence to ensure that past abuses were remediated and future abuses prevented. They have profited from abuses that they knew or should have known were happening, and have, in certain cases, themselves abused rights by participating in forced evictions or failing to remediate environmental pollution. The system that enabled the transfer of the Monywa project to a business venture that involved My- anmar military interests, without any transparency as to how such a sale occurred, is emblematic of the lack of accountability that exists around allocations of concessions and contracts in the extractive industry in Myanmar. The people of Myanmar must not see a resource curse unfold as it has done in so many other countries where powerful economic interests profit from a context in which regulation is weak, the government is unwilling to hold powerful political interests accountable and there is little or no transparency. The home states of multinational corporations must ensure that these corporations do not unjustly enrich themselves at the expense of Myanmar?s poorest people. The home states of companies involved in the Monywa project ? Canada and China ? have failed to do this...".....The report also contains critical analyses of Myanmar?s land legislation.
Source/publisher: Amnesty International
2015-02-10
Date of entry/update: 2015-02-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: Amnesty International said today (Wednesday, 11 May 1988) it has evidence of serious human rights violations in Burma by army units engaged in counter-insurgency operations. The victims are mainly members of Burma?s ethnic minorities, civilian villagers living in remote and mountainous states where the Burmese army has been fighting various armed opposition groups. In a new report Amnesty International includes testimonies describing nearly 200 cases of apparent unlawful killing, torture and ill-treatment by government forces. The evidence comes from some of the thousands of Karen, Mon, and Kachin ethnic minority people who have fled across Burma?s borders in search of safety.
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (ASA 16/06/88)
1988-05-11
Date of entry/update: 2012-07-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 323.88 KB
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Source/publisher: Amnesty International (ASA 16/000/65)
1965-12-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-07-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: On 10 September 1985, six people were sentenced to death under the 1974 Narcotic Drugs Law by the Mandalay South-West Township Court No. 1. The six, named as Tun Nyan, Maung Lay (alias Tin Oo), Ma Shan Sein, Li Kya-Shin (alias Aung Pe), Ma Saw Yin and William (alias Ai Lin), were accused of trafficking in heroin. According to Amnesty International?s information, these are the first persons known to have been sentenced to death in Burma for drug offences. In view of its unconditional opposition to the imposition and implementation of the death penalty, Amnesty International is appealing for the commutation of these death sentences
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (ASA 16/02/85)
1985-11-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-07-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 31.71 KB
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Description: This report provides compelling evidence that real or imputed critics of Myanmar?s military government continue to be imprisoned for the peaceful expression of their views. It contains graphic accounts of widespread torture, both of those detained for participation in the pro-democracy movement and of people held in connection with the activities of armed opposition groups representing Myanmar?s ethnic minorities. AI?s concerns about arrest, detention and judicial procedures under martial law are also described. Profiles of the following prisoners are given: Nay Min, Nan Zing La, Ba Thaw, Ma Theingi, Dr Tin Myo Win, U Aung Khin, Tin Nain Tun, and U Than Nyunt. Testimonies from former and current prisoners, relatives, friends or associates are also included.
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (ASA 16/10/90)
1990-11-07
Date of entry/update: 2012-05-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 276.08 KB
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Description: This report describes some of the human rights violations which have taken place in Myanmar between May and September 1990, including the arrest of political activists and ill-treatment of political prisoners. It reports the continuing detention of members and leaders of the National League for Democracy (NLD), namely: Aung San Suu Kyi, Tin U, Kyi Maung, Chit Kaing, Ohn Kyaing, Thein Dan, Ye Myint Aung, Sein Kla Aung, Kyi Hla, Sein Hlaing, Myo Myint Nyein, and Nyan Paw. Three leaders of the Democratic Party for a New Society have also been arrested: Kyi Win, Ye Naing, Ngwe Oo.
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (ASA 16/28/90)
1990-11-01
Date of entry/update: 2012-05-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 9.53 KB
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Description: This document reports the repression of peaceful opponents of Myanmar?s Military Government (SLORC), including political party activists and buddhist monks. Unofficial reports suggest that some 90 National League for Democracy (NLD) members were arrested in late October, along with the entire leadership of the Democratic Party for a new Society. Amongst those imprisoned for political activities are Ohn Kyaing, Thein Dan, Kyi Maung, Chit Kaing and Nita Yin Yin May. Among the buddhist monks and lay religious supporters arrested for involvement in a boycott of the military are: U Laba, alias U Layama, Ma Khin Mar Swe, Daw Nan, Maung Aye alias Khin Maung Aye and U Soe Myint. Ill-treatment of hunger-strikers is also reported, including the death of Maung Ko.
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (ASA 16/39/90)
1990-12-01
Date of entry/update: 2012-05-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 16.25 KB
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Description: "According to evidence gathered by Amnesty International in June and July 1991, the Myanmar (Burma)1 armed forces, officially known by their Burmese name tatmadaw, continue to seize arbitrarily, ill-treat and extrajudicially execute members of ethnic and religious minorities in rural areas of the country. The victims include people who were detained or targeted for shooting because soldiers suspect they may sympathize with or support ethnic minority guerrilla groups that have been fighting the tatmadaw for many years. They also include people seized by the tatmadaw and compelled to perform porterage - carrying food, ammunition and other supplies - or mine-clearing work. Among those who allegedly have been killed or ill-treated are members of the Karen, Mon and "Indian"2 ethnic minorities, which groups include people belonging to the Christian, animist3 and Muslim religious minorities..."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (ASA 16/05/91)
1991-08-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-05-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 112.93 KB
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Source/publisher: Amnesty International (ASA 16/03/92)
1992-01-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-05-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 21.91 KB
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Source/publisher: Amnesty International (ASA 16/12/91)
1991-12-10
Date of entry/update: 2012-05-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 4.87 KB
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Source/publisher: Amnesty International (ASA 16/11/91)
1991-12-10
Date of entry/update: 2012-05-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 4.46 KB
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Source/publisher: Amnesty International (ASA 16/12/92)
1992-10-28
Date of entry/update: 2012-05-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 5.11 KB
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Source/publisher: Amnesty International (ASA 16/05/92)
1992-03-19
Date of entry/update: 2012-05-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 5.23 KB
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Source/publisher: Amnesty International (ASA 16/10/91)
1991-12-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-05-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 135.87 KB
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Source/publisher: Amnesty International
1993-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-03-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 95.89 KB
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Source/publisher: Amnesty International (ASA 13/11/91)
1991-12-12
Date of entry/update: 2012-03-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Format : pdf
Size: 40.41 KB
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Description: "Amnesty International has recently received new information about appalling conditions in labour camps and prisons in Myanmar. Unofficial sources have provided details about the treatment of prisoners, including torture, prolonged shackling, lack of proper medical care, and insufficient food. Torture techniques include beatings, sometimes to the point of unconsciousness; being forced to crawl over sharp stones; and being held in the hot sun for prolonged periods. Such practices are used by Myanmar?s security forces to punish and intimidate prisoners. Conditions in labour camps are so harsh that hundreds of prisoners have died as a result. Many prisoners who have been forced to work as porters for the army have also died as a result of ill-treatment. In the material which follows, Amnesty International has omitted details which could identify imprisoned individuals, for fear of placing them at even greater risk of torture and illtreatment. Most of the information below concerns Insein Prison, Myanmar?s largest detention facility, where at least 800 political prisoners are held along with thousands of people imprisoned under criminal charges. Insein Prison is located in the outskirts of Yangon (Rangoon, the capital). Thousands of other political prisoners are held in prisons throughout the country; however it is much more difficult to obtain information about conditions in these facilities..."
Source/publisher: Amnesty International (ASA 16/22/95)
1995-09-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-03-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 23.87 KB
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Source/publisher: Amnesty International (ASA 16/20/95)
1995-08-15
Date of entry/update: 2012-03-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 13.42 KB
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Description: "The State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), Myanmar?s military rulers, continues to commit grave human rights violations against the Burmese people with impunity. Members of political opposition parties and ethnic minorities alike live in an atmosphere of fear which pervades all areas of the country. Some improvements have been made in the human rights situation, but the SLORC has not instituted more fundamental changes which would provide the population of Myanmar with protection from ongoing and systematic violations of human rights. Amnesty International welcomes these limited improvements, but it believes that the degree and scope of human rights violations in Myanmar continue to warrant serious international concern. In the material which follows, Amnesty International?s concerns in the period from September 1992 until July 1993 are described in detail. Although over 1700 political prisoners have been released since April 1992, hundreds of others are believed to remain imprisoned after unfair trials or are detained without charge or trial. The rights to freedom of expression and assembly are still denied, although the tactics the SLORC uses to restrict them have changed. Because most perceived critics of the military have been silenced and remain behind bars, the SLORC now uses the Military Intelligence Services (MIS) to intimidate and harrass any real or impugned government critics who have been released or who remain at liberty. However, people who openly criticize the SLORC are still being arrested and sentenced to terms of imprisonment after unfair trials, and conditions of detention remain very poor, particularly for students and young people. Gross human rights violations against ethnic minority groups systematically committed by the Myanmar armed forces constitute a pattern of repression and state-sanctioned violence which has been ongoing since at least 1984. The army, known as the tatmadaw, continues to torture, ill-treat, and extrajudicially execute members of ethnic minorities, including the Karen, Mon, Shan, and Kayah groups. Whole villages are subject to being arbitrarily seized as porters or unpaid labourers where they are routinely severely mistreated or even killed by the tatmadaw. Ethnic minorities are also accused of supporting insurgent groups and have been ill-treated and extrajudicially killed on the spot in their villages or fields. For the past two years women and children have been subject to a wide range of human rights violations, including rape and murder, as they have been left behind in their villages after men have fled in the face of tatmadaw abuses..."
Source/publisher: Amnsty International USA (ASA 16/06/93)
1993-08-00
Date of entry/update: 2005-03-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 77.5 KB
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