Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma

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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 17 August 2021)
Description: "As of 17 August, (999) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (1) fallen hero today. This (1) fallen hero from Kyauksei Township in Mandalay Region died on August 16 and was documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of August 17, a total of (5712) people are currently under detention. (255) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1984 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. Than Sein, a local villager from Kyauk Sauk Kalay Village in Kyauksei Township, Mandalay Region, who was arrested by the terrorist junta’s troop around 10 am on August 15, died on the morning of August 16 due to severe beatings. Three of his teeth fell out due to the punching, and beating with wire and bamboo sticks because Than Sein did not open his phone lock. Than Sein was beaten this way until in the evening, according to locals. Than Sein was actively involved in his community and in-hiding after the terrorist junta came to search and arrest NLD supporters. He was arrested because a junta-appointed administrator informed that he had arrived home from hiding. Kyaw Thiha, a protest leader with the Mandalay Boycott Forces Column, was hit by a private car driven by the terrorist junta’s troop wearing plain clothes yesterday. Kyaw Thiha was beaten and arrested at gunpoint at 5pm on August 16 on his way driving a motorbike. In addition to this, the terrorist junta raided houses where protestors were hiding and Pi Ti, one of the protestors in that boycott column, was arrested that day. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses: [email protected] [email protected]..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-08-17
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Size: 1.4 MB 5.5 MB 1.83 MB
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 16 August 2021)
Description: "As of 16 August, (998) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (27) fallen heroes today. (1) was an MP from Bago Township in Bago Region who died today and (26) from Dawei Township in Tanintharyi Region, Bago Township in Bago Region, Hlaing Thayar Township in Yangon Region and Kani Township in Sagaing Region were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of August 16, a total of (5711) people are currently under detention. (255) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1984 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. Nyunt Shwe, MP of Bago Region Hluttaw in constituency No. (1) of Bago Township and also executive committee chairman of the NLD in Bago Township, contracted COVID-19 in prison and died in the early morning of August 16 from the disease while at Bago Hospital receiving medical treatment. Nyunt Shwe had been charged under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code and detained in Bago Prison. A civilian named Aung Yu from Dawei Township in Tanintharyi Region, who was arrested on the night of August 11, died on August 14, three days after his arrest. His wife was informed Aung Yu died due to COVID-19, but his wife has denied that her husband caught the disease. On the night of August 14, a young man playing a game on a bench in front of a shop panicked and ran into the house in front of him when he saw a junta soldier patrol in Paya Gyi Town, Bago Township, Bago Region. The other young man in that house named Ye Htet Ko was shot dead in his left chest as the junta troops opened fire into the house with the door closed. Han Zaw Tun a.k.a Toke Pye who suffers from mental illness and lives in Pa Dan Village, was beaten by the terrorist junta’s appointed night guards and died on the spot. The incident happened in front of the Ward (20) administrator’s office in Hlaing Thayar Township in Yangon Region at 2:30 am on August 13 while Han Zaw Tun a.k.a Toke Pye was returning from his mother’s home. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses: [email protected] [email protected]..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-08-16
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.39 MB 5.82 MB 1.83 MB
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Title: Moving beyond the politics of recognition in Myanmar
Description: "Since the 1 February coup, Myanmar’s military government is attempting to gain international recognition and legitimacy while the country’s people continue to oppose it. The international community has emphasised the need for a peaceful resolution. Against the backdrop of this political impasse, the politics of recognition is taking centre stage — but is this helping anybody? The contentious situation is challenging governments if and how they should engage with Myanmar’s military regime. The international community represented by member states at the United Nations appears unable to arrive at an effective consensus towards the turmoil in Myanmar. As states navigate diplomacy and realpolitik, their engagements with Myanmar are coming under increasing scrutiny. The impasse is drawing attention to any diplomatic signs of movement in the international community towards Myanmar, such as Myanmar’s relationship with the United Kingdom, China’s position and the composition of Myanmar’s participation in April’s ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting. It boils down to the politics of recognition and who can speak on behalf of whom. In the realm of diplomacy, nuance matters. There is a diplomatic practice that countries recognise states, not governments. This practice provides countries flexibility in their diplomatic engagements, particularly when dealing with a state whose military has taken control of government and is deemed illegitimate by its own people and the international community. It is over this point that the diplomatic world and the public are diverging. Many people see any recognition of a military appointee as affording the military with recognition to run the country at the expense of its democratically elected government. Back in April, ASEAN faced this challenge over whether the presence of a military representative at the ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting would constitute the regional body officially recognising the military as the government of Myanmar. At the meeting, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing attended in his position as Commander-in-Chief but was not afforded official recognition as Head of Government. While this diplomatic ambiguity allowed ASEAN to initially agree on a regional approach to help address the Myanmar crisis, it is yet to break the impasse towards a peaceful settlement. The only agreement that the five permanent members of the UN Security Council have reached through public statements is that the international response to the situation in Myanmar should be led by ASEAN. Six months after the coup, over 900 people have been killed and over 5300 arrested, charged or sentenced by the military. COVID-19 is rampant, and many are going without the medical attention they need. Some vaccines and medical equipment are supplied by China, the European Union, Singapore and Japan, but not nearly enough for those most in need. Food prices are also rising and the devastating impact of insufficient access to necessities is taking hold. As Myanmar faces the grim consequences of dual political and pandemic crises, more questions will be raised about the ability of the international community to help people who are suffering. Pressure will continue to mount on ASEAN to act and see through the implementation of its Five-Point Consensus. So it will be for other countries like the United Kingdom that have been at the forefront in opposing the military regime. China has supplied two million vaccines to Myanmar and 10,000 to the Kachin Independence Army-controlled areas as well as the Wa autonomous region on its border. China has interests and levers to influence the military in Myanmar and concurrently engages with ethnic army-controlled areas as local authorities. How these countries will calibrate their diplomatic engagement with the military regime in Myanmar while attempting to alleviate the worsening humanitarian situation remains to be seen. Given the efforts initiated by ASEAN to break the impasse in Myanmar, the international community should work with the regional body to fulfil the Five-Point Consensus to support those most in need. The focus needs to be people-centred to engage entities that can deliver assistance directly. This means engaging established networks with access to affected people like China has done in its vaccine distribution. The international community can use trusted partners like the Red Cross Movement, relevant UN agencies and local partners. ASEAN has the potential to provide a platform for engagement to facilitate access to support these efforts. ASEAN is supported by the international community to facilitate engagement with all parties including the military, the National Unity Government, the Civil Disobedience Movement and ethnic armed groups de facto recognised in the Five-Point Consensus. The Five-Point Consensus provides the framework for action — it is time now for ASEAN to provide a supportive ecosystem to move from words to actions. While the people of Myanmar remain resilient in the face of adversity, their neighbours and the rest of the international community must focus on helping them deal with the crisis beyond the politics of recognition. While the world of diplomacy is defined largely by the nuanced positions states take for national interest, actors must balance this ambiguity with the need to invest in a more substantive and consistent agenda to find a political resolution and support the people in Myanmar. Alistair DB Cook is Coordinator of the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Programme and Senior Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Mely Caballero-Anthony is Professor, President’s Chair in International Relations and Security Studies and Head of the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore..."
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Source/publisher: "East Asia Forum" (Australia)
Date of publication: 2021-08-14
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Update 14 August 2021)
Description: "As of 14 August, (971) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (3) fallen heroes today. These (3) fallen heroes from Falam Township in Chin State, Waingmaw Township in Kachin State and Myaung Township in Sagaing Region were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of August 14, a total of (5604) people are currently under detention. (255) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1984 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. A woman called Lang Pyung was shot by the 58th Infantry Battalion after returning from purchasing groceries from Waingmaw on the evening of August 13 when their motorbike passed through a road in front of the 58th Infantry Battalion, her husband managed to escape. The couple, from Wu Yan village in Waingmaw Township, Kachin State. Lang Pyung died at Waingmaw Hospital from a gunshot wound from left to right rib. On August 12, Joshua from Parmun Chaung village in Falam Township, Chin State, was arrested by the terrorist junta’s troop, and shot dead in the back of the head. On the night of August 10, the terrorist junta’s troop raided Kyi Kone village in Sagaing Region’s Myaung Township and beat unprovoked a local villager called Nyi Nyi Latt. The junta soldiers shot him to death when he then ran away. The body of Nyi Nyi Latt was found in a port in the village with many injuries on his body, and gunshot injuries to the neck and head, according to locals. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses: [email protected] [email protected] ..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-08-14
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.37 MB 5.35 MB 1.82 MB
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Title: Myanmar: The woman who jumped to her death while fleeing police
Sub-title: Even after six months of horrifying news from Myanmar, it is an incident that's shocked the country - five people who chose to jump from a building they were hiding in, some to their deaths, rather than face arrest.
Description: "The police have condemned the group as terrorists, but the husband of one victim tells the BBC she was a compassionate wife and mother who felt she was working to alleviate the people's suffering. This is the tale of her untimely death. It was on Tuesday afternoon that eight young activists found themselves trapped by a police raid. The military had seized power months earlier in February, throwing the country into turmoil as millions protested against the coup. At least 900 people have been killed by the military's violent response, and thousands more arrested. Wai Wai Myint was one of those caught up in the movement opposing the military junta. She was one of the five who jumped off a commercial building in downtown Yangon as the police charged in, falling onto a concrete pavement. She and at least one other person died at the scene. The other three have been taken to a military-run hospital. In the first photograph of Wai Wai Myint that began circulating on social media after news of her death, she stands ramrod straight, looking defiantly at the camera. Her fingers are raised in the three-finger Hunger Games salute that has become the trademark gesture used by young dissidents in South East Asia. The military authorities have described the group she was with as terrorists who were planning to plant bombs. They have published confessions by two of the activists who did not jump and were arrested there, and photographs of what they say were ingredients for explosives. But that is not the image painted by her husband, Soe Myat Thu. He had to say goodbye to Apple, as he calls her, at a military-organised mass cremation for her and four other people, including the young man who died with her when they jumped. No photographs were allowed, and the families were not permitted to take away the ashes. The military junta in Myanmar has been trying to restrict the funerals of those killed in the uprising against the coup, as they often turn into anti-military demonstrations - sometimes cremating bodies in secret rather than returning them to their relatives. Soe Myat Thu held up a flower for her, and took that back home in place of her remains. The move towards politics They were a comfortably middle-class couple, both ethnic Chinese, with a six year-old daughter. Soe Myat Thu is a dentist, and Wai Wai Myint was a gems and jewellery trader. She had been brought up by two aunts, he told the BBC, and always had plenty of money to enjoy life. Photographs of her show a well made-up young woman posing in stylish clothes. She liked going out clubbing with girlfriends, he says, but had a strong social conscience, regularly donating money to poorer neighbours or to animal welfare groups. He said the couple had not been interested in politics at all, with Wai Wai Myint even saying that they should stay away because it could be dangerous. When the coup happened, she did not react much at first. But she was kind-hearted, he says, and became upset when the first protester to die, a young woman called Mya Thwe Thwe Khaing, was fatally shot in the capital Nyapyitaw a week after the coup. Her death was widely mourned and triggered further anger against authorities. The shooting of a young protester Wai Wai Myint donated money to Mya Thwe Thwe Khaing's family, and began posting on her Facebook page about other victims of the increasingly violent military response to the civil disobedience movement. He said the couple both knew they could not change things themselves, but when she saw people being shot by the military she became more outspoken in her comments. He describes her as a bold character who was more ready to take risks than he was. Soe Myat Thu says she was arrested once during a protest, and he had to negotiate to get her out of custody. She was very angry about that, he remembers, because of the way she had been kicked and beaten. He had then warned her not to go to any more protests, reminding her that she had a daughter to care for. After that, he believed that his wife was no longer involved with the opposition. It has evolved from a non-violent protest movement in the weeks after the coup to an underground resistance which today uses handmade guns and bombs, and is believed to be behind the assassination of officials who co-operate with the military. He says he knew the other activists who were caught with Wai Wai Myint, in the building where they were staying on 44th Street in downtown Yangon, not far from their home. They were all members of the Pzundaung Botahtaung Young Strike Committee, one of many groups formed in Yangon in the first days after the coup to resist it. She used to hang out with them, he says, and sometimes brought them to their house to eat and use their internet. "I admired and felt sorry for them as they were prepared to go out and face danger when I would not," he said. But he had no idea she was going to join them in their hideout on Tuesday; she had only told him that she was going out for a little while, and left the house without changing her clothes and putting on make-up, as she usually did. It is not clear what Wai Wai Myint's role was in the group, or whether she was even a member. It was possible that she was only paying the rent and offering other kinds of material support. Activists opposing the coup in Myanmar have to keep moving from place to place to avoid arrest. Soe Myint Thu believes it was what she felt about the suffering of the people, and her determination not to accept the military junta, that eventually drove her to her fate..."
Source/publisher: "BBC News" (London)
Date of publication: 2021-08-14
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 13 August 2021)
Description: "As of 13 August, (968) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (2) fallen heroes today. These (2) fallen heroes from Myingyan Township in Mandalay Region and Minkin Township in Sagaing Region were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of August 13, a total of (5571) people are currently under detention. (255) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1984 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. A young girl around one-years-old was shot in the head and stomach and died on the spot in the morning of August 12 at Myingyan Township in Mandalay Region when the terrorist junta’s soldiers opened fire on three young men on motorbikes near the child’s house. In addition to this, Nyein Chan, father of the child, was shot twice in the arm, and the mother was also shot in the leg. On August 5, junta soldiers and the Pyu Saw Htee detained five Than Pauk villagers near Obo village in Sagaing Region’s Minkin Township allegedly for being involved in the anti-coup revolution. A 26-year-old was beaten to death, called Hlaing Wai Oo, right in front of the detained persons at a school in Pan Sat village. Two sons had taken their mother to Yar Village which is close to Pan Sat village because she was suffering from illness. A total of five people including two sons and their mother and two other men were arrested while returning together. Hlaing Wai Oo was killed in front of his mother. A few days later, three of the villagers were released, but nothing has yet been heard about the one remaining villager. Win Zaw was arrested when terrorist junta troops wearing plain clothes did not find his son when they searched his home in Dawei, Tanitharyi Region on the morning of August 12. Myint San, MP of Magwe Region Hluttaw in the constituency No. (2) of Pauk Township and also NLD party member, who was charged under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code and had a warrant issued against her, was arrested in Nattalin Town in Bago Region on the night of August 11 by local junta police. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses: [email protected] [email protected]..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-08-13
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.36 MB 5.38 MB 1.81 MB
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 12 August 2021)
Description: "As of 12 August, (966) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (1) fallen heroes today. This (1) fallen hero from Botahtaung Township in Yangon Region was killed on August 10 and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. In relation to the apartment raid by the terrorist junta on 44th street in Botahtaung Township, today, AAPP added Wai Wai Myint a.k.a Apple to our fatality list as we confirmed she had died then. AAPP will continue to verify and report information regarding this incident. As of August 12, a total of (5562) people are currently under detention. (255) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1984 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. At least five philanthropists including Naing Lin and Jue Mar were arrested on the morning of August 11 whilst they were planning to provide rice to the poor in Wakema Town, Ayeyarwady Region. A local said it is unknown why they were arrested. On the evening of July 31, Poe Ei Khaing, the wife of Aung Kyaw Htet and his one-year-old daughter were arrested as hostage when the terrorist junta did not find Aung Kyaw Htet from Mandalay who is accused of having relations with the PDF. Poe Ei Khaing was suffering from an illness when she was arrested. The one-year-old daughter was released on August 2 two days after her arrest. The day his one-year-old daughter was released, the police station announced they would allow part-time breastfeeding, but they did not end up allowing this the next day, at which point they said Poe Ei Khaing contracted COVID-19. After this, he did not hear anything about his wife, according to Aung Kyaw Htet. The nephew of Nay Myo named Myat Noe Lwin was detained as a hostage when the junta did not find Nay Myo, NLD Ward and Village Secretary of Kyauk Gyi Su Ward in Bago at home on the night of August 5. Nay Myo is charged under Section 505 of the Penal Code. In addition to this, the parents and son of Han Tun were detained as hostages when the junta did not find Han Tun, NLD campaigner of Pyan Kya Village in Sagaing Region’s Tabayin Township on the afternoon of August 8. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses: [email protected] [email protected] “Our uprising must succeed”..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-08-12
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.36 MB 5.33 MB 1.82 MB
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Title: More Than 80 Civilians Killed by Myanmar Forces in Sagaing Township
Sub-title: Fighting has raged between junta troops and Peoples Defense Forces in recent months, with police and soldiers storming villages after every clash and arresting and killing local residents.
Description: "More than 80 civilians have died during clashes in nearly four months of fighting between local militia members and junta forces in one strife-torn township in northwestern Myanmar’s Sagaing, said the local militia in a statement that accused regime troops of killing 46 in three massacres. Fighting has raged between junta forces and the Kani People’s Defense Force in Kani township in recent months, with police and soldiers storming nearby villages after every clash and arresting and killing local residents, local sources say. Junta forces also set fire to homes, take away valuables, farming tools, and agricultural produce, and slaughter cattle, sources say. A total of 82 township residents have lost their lives, the Kani People’s Defense Force said on Aug. 8 on its Facebook page. Of these, at least 46 people were killed in three separate massacres by Myanmar troops, including 31 members of the militia, it said. There have been 35 clashes in 31 different places in which 31 of our comrades were killed, and there were three massacres of civilians by the military in which 51 died,” one militia member said. “The clashes took place on both sides of the Chindwin River in our township,” he told RFA, speaking on condition of anonymity. At least 50 Kani residents have also been arrested in the past four months, he said. Since the beginning of the fighting in April, junta forces have set up checkpoints along the Monywa-Yargyu-Kalewa road in Kani township and are closely monitoring all passing pedestrians and motorbikes, local sources say. “While we were fleeing the fighting, all incoming and outgoing traffic was blocked, and it became very hard to find food,” one township resident said, adding that access even to medicines used to fight fever had been cut off. “There is no way to buy even a single pill of paracetamol for when you are sick, and cash and over donations from wellwishers can only be carried in small amounts on a motorcycle,” he said. “We have had to share food for the past several days.” “If this situation continues for much longer, there will be famine. Even now, many people are just eating rice porridge, and some have not been able to cook anything now for a day or two,” he added. Locals also said that they are fleeing the war during the rainy season, which is usually the farming season, and that this could lead to even more food shortages during the coming winter. Fear of famine One villager in Kani township said that some villages lying west of the Chindwin River will face famine in the next one to two months. “We are facing different difficulties at all levels,” he said. “People from the western part of the Chindwin River are coming to the eastern villages to ask for food. Most of them are day laborers and bamboo traders, and in the next one or two months they will find it very hard to survive.” “Some people have had to carry their elderly relatives on their backs because the military were setting fire to the villages. How can you not hate them?” he asked. “The only reason people are suffering like this is because they are helpless.” “If I could, I would give my life to end all their suffering,” he said. At the end of July, villagers found the body of a man hanging from a tree in a forest outside of Kani town center, and that a closer investigation revealed four graves containing the remains of at least 10 people. On July 11 and 12, residents of Kani township found the hog-tied and severely beaten bodies of at least 15 people scattered in the jungle, days after a government military unit left the area. On Feb. 1, Myanmar’s military overthrew the country’s democratically elected government, claiming voter fraud had led to a landslide victory for Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD party in the country’s November 2020 election. The junta has yet to provide evidence of its claims and has violently suppressed nationwide demonstrations calling for a return to civilian rule. According to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, at least 966 civilians were killed by police and soldiers between Feb. 1 and Aug. 12..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
Date of publication: 2021-08-12
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Two Myanmar Activists Die, Three Injured in Jump From Building While Fleeing Police
Sub-title: The father of one of those who died said witnesses told him his son survived the fall and was beaten to death by police.
Description: "Two pro-democracy activists died and three others were seriously injured in Myanmar when they jumped from a building in Yangon to avoid capture by junta authorities, witnesses said Wednesday, while the father of one of those killed said he was told his son survived the impact and was beaten to death by police. Ye Min Oo and a woman, Wai Wai Myint, also called Pan Thee, lost their lives Tuesday night when they and three friends jumped from the roof of a building as junta forces stormed their apartment in Botahtaung township in Myanmar’s largest city. The three who survived the jump—Wai Phyo Aung, Thiha Kaung Set, and Poe Kyaw Kyaw—were arrested by police and taken with the bodies of those killed to a military hospital in Mingaladon township in northern Yangon. Tin Zaw—the father of Ye Min Oo, who died Tuesday—said he was told by witnesses that his son was still alive after the fall. "Immediately after the fall, my son was dying, not dead. Then police officers beat them up, and my son died after the beating,” he told RFA in an exclusive interview. “I got that information from witnesses and residents.” A neighborhood resident told RFA on Wednesday that two of those who jumped called out three or four times for water and then died, while the other three remained motionless after they hit the ground. “Because they fell from a height, they must have broken their limbs,” he said. The neighbor, who spoke on condition of anonymity for safety reasons, told RFA the fleeling activists apparently got trapped on the rooftops of the old buildings. “You could climb up to the roof, and the kids must have thought they could run across the rooftops. But there were only four buildings you could run across like that,” he said. “There was a five-storey building blocking their path on one side and an eight-storey building on the other, and they must have run this way and that, and finally when they couldn’t escape they must have jumped,” he said. Dead and injured taken to hospital Military forces ordered community service workers to take both the two who died and the three survivors to a 1,000-bed military hospital in Mingaladon, a member of the Lin Let Social Welfare Association told RFA. “The two who died were dead when we got there,” the charity worker said. “We were sure they were dead because we made all the necessary checks required to see if they were still alive,” she said. “One of the injured had a broken leg, and another had a head injury and had to be taken to the hospital’s neurology center.” Soe Myat Thu, the husband of 29-year-old Wai Wai Myint, said he hopes the military will give him back his wife’s body so that he can bury her according to her own request. “I’m trying to get my wife’s body back, but we are under the rule of a military coup, so what can I do?” he asked. “If they refuse to release her body, there is nothing we can do about it.” “She always said, ‘Don’t cremate my body when I die. Please bury me in a grave,’ and I want to fulfill that last wish. I don’t care about anything else,” he said. A police report now circulating on social media says the raid on the activists’ apartment was carried out by a team led by Tactical Commander Col. Soe Tun of the ruling Military Council, while a military press release on Wednesday confirmed that two had been killed and three injured in the operation, with hand grenades and bomb-making materials recovered during the raid. An independent scout Ye Min Oo, who was born in 1994, was not connected with Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government (NUG), People’s Defense Force (PDF), or any other formally organized group, his father said. Instead, he had worked independently with friends in a scouting unit gathering intelligence on pro-junta informers and other military targets, Tin Zaw said. “He never expressed any political opinions, but after the February coup, he became actively involved in anti-coup protests, and although I did not forbid this as a parent, I warned him to be mindful and careful,” he said. “My son stood and fought for his beliefs, and now he has fallen in the fight,” he said. Tin Zaw said Ye Min Oo’s fate was the outcome of the military overthrow of the country’s democratically elected government on unfounded claims of voter fraud in the country’s November 2020 election. The junta has yet to provide evidence of its claims and has violently suppressed nationwide demonstrations calling for a return to civilian rule. According to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, at least 948 civilians were killed by police and soldiers between Feb. 1 and Aug. 10. “These kids were pushed into the struggle by the Feb. 1 coup. They were pure and innocent youths. I am very proud of my son,” Tin Zaw said..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
Date of publication: 2021-08-11
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: At Least 252 Reported Attacks and Threats to Health Care in Myanmar During Six Months of Military’s Crackdown
Description: "At least 252 attacks and threats against health workers, facilities, and transports have been perpetrated in Myanmar from February 1 to July 31, 2021, according to an analysis based on open-source reports conducted by Insecurity Insight, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), and Johns Hopkins University Center for Public Health and Human Rights (CPHHR). The country’s armed forces and police reportedly committed the vast majority of attacks amid ongoing protests against the military coup. In addition to the military’s attacks on civilians and demonstrators, health workers have been targeted for providing medical care to injured civilians and other health workers have been attacked for their participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), which is protesting the military takeover. Violence against health care is increasingly derailing Myanmar’s COVID-19 response and vaccine roll-out, the research brief finds. Within the 252 total incidents that took place across Myanmar during the first six months of the military’s coup and crackdown (February 1 to July 31, 2021), Insecurity Insight, PHR, and CPHHR highlight reports of: 190 health workers arrested 37 health workers injured 25 health workers killed Hospitals raided at least 86 times Hospitals occupied at least 55 times 17 incidents impacting COVID-19 response measures The incidents referred to are based on the dataset 01 February – 31 July 2021 Violence Against Health Care in Myanmar Data, which is available on the Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX). For the purposes of this research brief, one incident can comprise multiple types of violence or threats such as those above. For example, in one reported incident in Kyauk Kone township in Yangon city on February 27, 20 health workers were arrested and four were injured. The brief does not include incidents of violence against patients. While the vast majority of attacks and threats against health care have been perpetrated by Myanmar’s armed forces, non-state actors also reportedly committed violence against health care in May and June. Of the 252 total incidents, 234 are attributed to Myanmar’s armed forces (State Administrative Council/SAC or the Tatmadaw) and 15 to non-state actors. The increase in attacks by non-state actors was driven in part by escalating conflict between the military and local ethnic militias in recent months, particularly in the Chin and Kachin states. The research brief highlights reports that staff from the World Health Organization , non-governmental organizations (NGO), and international non-governmental organizations have been threatened and forced to return to work by the military council. Most of them were either working from home or had stopped working due to the current security situation. There are reports that the SAC is trying to replace NGO workers believed to be close to the CDM with government appointees. “Myanmar’s COVID-19 response is on life support – yet another consequence of the military’s unconscionable violence against health workers and facilities,” said Jennifer Leigh, an epidemiologist serving as PHR’s Myanmar researcher. “Six months into the coup, the military’s war on medics rages on. By brutalizing medical professionals during a pandemic, Myanmar’s junta is escalating its COVID-19 catastrophe and violating long-standing international principles of protection of health care, including the obligations of health professionals to care for the sick and wounded without interference.” The research brief highlights a range of violence that has marred the country’s COVID-19 response. For example, personal protective equipment and oxygen supplies were confiscated for exclusive use by the military in Chin, Kayin, and Yangon. Throughout July, the military reportedly assaulted four civilians for transporting an oxygen tank in Mandalay, arrested three civilians retrieving oxygen and nine volunteers assisting with fills, and killed one civilian in search of oxygen. In one incident on July 13, 2021, security forces opened fire on crowds of civilians queuing in line for oxygen cylinders in Yangon. COVID-19 centers have been raided and, at least two, closed down. A COVID-19 facility in Mandalay was raided and its medical equipment seized for alleged COVID-19 violations. Two COVID-19 treatment centers in Sagaing were destroyed by military shelling. “Tragically, Myanmar has endured more reported attacks and threats against health care in 2021 than any country on Earth,” said Christina Wille, director of Insecurity Insight. “Myanmar’s surging COVID-19 crisis increasingly threatens other countries in the region and the global community. We call on all United Nations (UN) Member States to act to ensure the full implementation of Security Council Resolution 2286 and adopt measures to enhance the protection of and access to health care in situations of armed conflict. All people in Myanmar should benefit from unhindered delivery and distribution of COVID-19 vaccinations, medication, and supplies.” Insecurity Insight, PHR, and CPHHR used an open-source methodology to compile incidents noted in local, national, and international news outlets, online databases, and social media reports. The incidents reported are neither a complete nor a representative list of all incidents. Most incidents have not undergone verification by Insecurity Insight, PHR, and CPHHR. Data collection is ongoing and data may change as more information is made available. However, the data offers a snapshot of how Myanmar’s military is persecuting health workers and targeting facilities amid its broader crackdown on dissent. The research brief makes several recommendations to UN Member States, urging the international community to ensure the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2286, adopted May 2016, which strongly condemns attacks on medical personnel in conflict situations..."
Source/publisher: Physicians for Human Rights (New York)
Date of publication: 2021-08-10
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 11 August 2021)
Description: "As of 11 August, (965) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. Today there were no confirmed fallen heroes. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. In relation to the terrorist junta’s raid of the apartment on 44th street in Botahtaung Township, Yangon, some media outlets have said five people died, others that six died. It is without doubt there were deaths, but we are continuing to inquire and confirm the exact figure and identities. As of August 11, a total of (5550) people are currently under detention. (255) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1984 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. Terrorist junta’s troops entered Htauk Kyant village in Sagaing Region’s Kalay Township on the afternoon of August 10 and arrested the father-in-law and mother-in-law of Maung Phyu when they did not find Maung Phyu living in that village. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses: [email protected] [email protected] “Our uprising must succeed”..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-08-11
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.37 MB 5.3 MB 1.83 MB
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Title: Myanmar army attacks medics, hampering COVID response, rights groups say
Description: "Aug 10 (Reuters) - Myanmar's army carried out at least 252 attacks and threats against health workers since a Feb. 1 coup, killing at least 25 medics and hampering the response to a resurgent outbreak of COVID-19, a report by rights groups said on Tuesday. More than 190 health workers have been arrested and 86 raids on hospitals carried out since the coup, said the report by Insecurity Insight, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), and Johns Hopkins University Center for Public Health and Human Rights (CPHHR). They identified 15 incidents in which the response to the COVID-19 outbreak had been obstructed - including confiscation of personal protection equipment and oxygen supplies for the exclusive use of the army. Some COVID-19 care centres were forced to close, it said. "Health workers have been forced into hiding for fear of being arrested or after having arrest warrants issued against them," said the report. "In some cases, their family members were arrested instead." Reuters was unable to reach spokespeople for the junta or health ministry for comment on the report. Myanmar's healthcare system has largely collapsed since the army overthrew elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, with many medical workers joining a Civil Disobedience Movement in strikes to protest against junta rule. The military authorities have appealed to doctors to return to work and have called for public cooperation to try to curb the latest outbreak of coronavirus, by far the most serious to hit the country of around 54 million people. An average of nearly 300 people have died a day from COVID-19 over the past week, according to official figures that medics believe to be underestimates because of a lack of testing. The outbreak was being brought under control to some extent because of the efforts of officials and the public, junta leader Min Aung Hlaing was quoted as saying by the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar. The report by the rights groups said that while the army had been behind most of the attacks on medical workers, some had been carried out by armed groups opposing the junta - including bomb blasts near hospitals and an attack on a military convoy that was reported to be carrying medicines..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
Date of publication: 2021-08-11
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 10 August 2021)
Description: "As of 10 August, (965) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (3) fallen heroes today. (1) from Falam Township in Chin State was killed today and (2) from Myaing Township in Magway Region and Myanaung Township in Ayeyarwady Region were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of August 10, a total of (5534) people are currently under detention. (255) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1984 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. 60 year-old Pi Ngeih Tling was shot dead in the chest at home in an unprovoked shooting by the terrorist junta’s soldiers on the morning of August 10 at Falam Township in Chin State. On the afternoon of August 9, three junta police wearing plainclothes entered Pike Thin village and opened fire because a protest leader San Ko from Pike Thin Village escaped from arrest when three junta police tried to arrest him at a COVID-19 checkpoint. Aung Zay Ya, a villager from Pike Thin village in Magway Region’s Myaing Township, was dragged into their car because he was holding a slingshot when he went out of the house to look. When junta police arrived near a pond at the top of the village, they told Aung Zay Ya to get out of the car and told him to run towards the pond. While Aung Zay Ya was running, they shot him from his back. Aung Zay Ya died on the spot from this gunshot injury, according to a local. A family was informed that San Win from Tha Pyay Kone village in Ayeyarwady Region’s Myanaung Township, who was arrested by Tha Pyay Kone Village Police Station in the morning of August 7 for questioning, died at the hospital at 2 pm that day due to severe injuries. It is reported there were beatings all over his body consistent with torture. Win Tun and Aung Myint Oo from Tha Pyay Kone village were arrested with him and were released the same day. On the morning of August 9, local police Kyaw Kyaw Maung and a person wearing plain clothes came to his family to settle the case for 3 million kyats. It is reported that his family members will not accept this negotiation. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses: [email protected] [email protected] “Our uprising must succeed”..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-08-10
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.36 MB 5.31 MB 1.78 MB
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Title: EUROPE/ITALY - A Mass for Myanmar in memory of the protest of 8-8-1988
Description: "Belluno (Agenzia Fides) - The resistance of the Burmese people to the military junta continues inside and outside the country while, six months after the military coup of February 1, the "State Administration Council" (Sac, as the military junta is defined) declared itself a "provisional government" with General Min Aung Hlaing as Prime Minister. Abroad, the Burmese diaspora remembered Sunday, August 8, a historic date, known by its 4 numbers: 8.8.88. It was on that date, August 8, 1988, that students from the Yangon University of Arts and Sciences and the Rangoon Institute of Technology began to demonstrate against General Ne Win's regime. The student protests spread throughout the country with the massive participation of hundreds of thousands of monks, professionals and people of all classes and conditions. On September 18, the protests were bloodily suppressed by a military coup that imposed the "State Council for the restoration of Law and order". To commemorate that date, as well as the current situation, demonstrations were held in many countries where the Burmese diaspora is spread. In Italy, the "Special Day for Myanmar" was held in Auronzo di Cadore, a town in the northern province of Belluno. The Catholic Church was at the side of the Burmese with a "special Mass for Myanmar" celebrated at 11 am in the church of Santa Giustina, parish of Villagrande (diocese of Belluno-Feltre). "It is a Mass that we wanted to celebrate given this difficult situation in Myanmar. For this reason, we welcomed the initiative of the Burmese community in Italy", said parish priest Fr. Renzo Roncada to Fides. Thuzar Lin, spokesperson for the Community residing in Italy, explains: "In the past we organized global days held simultaneously all over the world, in Italy it was held in Rome, Milan and Venice. On this occasion, each community has decided to independently celebrate this date that commemorates 8.8.88". The choice of Auronzo di Cadore is not accidental: "The Municipality of Auronzo di Cadore has been with the people of Myanmar since the beginning of the coup d'etat", explains Thuzar, recalling the official declaration of the civil authorities for the release of the leaders and political prisoners and to end violence. In addition, the photo of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese leader whose charisma emerged during the tragic events of 1988, was posted in the town hall. "Now - concludes Thuzar - the community of Auronzo di Cadore has given us the opportunity to organize this day for Myanmar and we are infinitely grateful to them". The day was also an occasion to demand the release of political prisoners and to appeal to the international community to intervene more firmly. The dramatic health situation in Myanmar and how the coup military is exploiting the coronavirus pandemic as a weapon to stay in power was also put on the table. In the Church of Santa Giustina, a sale of items donated by Burmese living in Italy was carried out, the proceeds of which will go to humanitarian initiatives for Myanmar. (MG-PA) (Agenzia Fides, 9/8/2021)..."
Source/publisher: Agenzia Fides
Date of publication: 2021-08-09
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Myanmar Political Prisoners Stage Protest in Mandalay’s Obo Prison
Sub-title: Beatings of prisoners are reported though the government says no injuries were inflicted during the rare protest.
Description: "Political prisoners in Myanmar’s second-largest city Mandalay staged a rare protest marking the anniversary of an Aug. 8, 1988 uprising against military rule, singing and shouting slogans in a demonstration that ended with reports of beatings and gunshots heard behind the walls, sources said. The prisoners are among the more than 5,500 people arrested in the suppression of the opposition to the Feb. 1 military overthrow of the country’s elected government, a violent crackdown that has killed 962 civilians, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). The protest at Mandalay’s Obo Prison began at around 9:00 p.m. on Sunday, one city resident living near the prison told RFA’s Myanmar Service on Monday. “At about 9:15 p.m. I heard chanting and shouts coming from behind the prison walls,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons. “When I came out of my house, I heard gunshots, and I heard nothing more after that,” he said. “Then, at about 10:30, I saw three military vehicles and four passenger cars coming out of the prison. They left Aung Chanthar Ward and headed towards the GTC School,” the source said, referring to Mandalay’s Government Technical College. “Some people said some prisoners had been beaten up,” he said. Reached for comment, Prisons Department Deputy Director Chan Aye Kyaw said that authorities were now trying to identify the leaders of the protest. “Last night, inmates at the Mandalay Central Prison started shouting slogans when the lights-out alarm sounded at 9:00 p.m.,” he said. “Around 30 to 40 people began chanting slogans and singing songs. We couldn’t stop them, so we informed the officer-in-charge, and he and his team arrived and the shouting stopped.” None of the protesters was injured, and no one was put in solitary confinement, the official said. “We are trying to find out who was involved in the shouting and singing, that’s all,” Chan Ay Kyaw said, adding that protest leaders when identified would be punished according to prison regulations. 'A lot of people got beaten up' A member of the Mandalay University Students’ Union told RFA that despite official statements that no beatings had been inflicted, “according to reports we got, there were a lot of people who were beaten up, and some were put into solitary confinement.” “We don’t have any details yet,” he said, adding, “It all started in Block 3 where young people and students are kept. It could have been about the 8888 anniversary, and it could have been about COVID.” Myanmar’s 8888 uprising was launched on Aug. 8, 1988 by students in Yangon, then the country’s capital, as a protest against one-party rule by Gen. Ne Win, who had ruled the country since 1962. Protests across the country were finally suppressed by the army on Sept. 18, with about 3,000 people reported killed. The Students’ Union issued a statement Monday calling for an end to the violent crackdown on prisoners in connection with the incident, for the release of political prisoners “unjustly detained” amid a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, and for political prisoners’ full access to medical care, including COVID prevention. “After hearing about the protest in the prison, our family was worried,” said a resident of Maha Aungmyay township, two of whose family members were arrested after authorities found a sword and a National League for Democracy (NLD) banner in their home. “We heard that a few inmates were shot dead in the prison, and we were really worried when we heard this. We asked out lawyer about this, but he didn’t know anything,” he said. As news of the Obo Prison protest spread on social media at around 10:00 p.m., a group of young people in Monywa city in Myanmar’s Sagaing region staged a protest near the Monywa Prison to demand the release of political prisoners and an end to the country’s military dictatorship. At least 20 student leaders of the All Burma Students’ Union (ABSU) detained in Yangon’s Insein Prison are now being held in solitary confinement in connection with a prison protest there on July 23. On Feb. 1, Myanmar’s military overthrew the country’s democratically elected government, claiming voter fraud had led to a landslide victory for Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD party in the country’s November 2020 election. The junta has yet to provide evidence of its claims and has violently suppressed nationwide demonstrations calling for a return to civilian rule, killing at least 962 people over the past six months..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
Date of publication: 2021-08-09
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 9 August 2021)
Description: "As of 9 August, (962) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (2) fallen heroes today. (1) from Myingyan Township in Mandalay region died today and (1) from Mandalay died yesterday. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of August 9, a total of (5526) people are currently under detention. (255) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1984 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. Doctor Maung Maung Nyein Tun, lecturer of surgery of University of Medicine of Mandalay, who is involved in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), was arrested on June 13 and sued three counts of charges, died on August 8 at Mandalay General Hospital due to COVID-19. It is reported that he was contracted COVID-19 while detained in the Interrogation Center of Mandalay Nandwin. At first, it is heard that the terrorist junta did not transfer him to the hospital and detained him at the No.9 police station for two weeks. He was transferred to the Mandalay General Hospital when his condition was worse as he did not receive sufficient medical treatment in the cell. Maung Htay from Kywe Chan Village in Myingyan Township in Mandalay Region, who was arrested on July 10 allegedly because he kept youth protesters and charged under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code, died in Myingyan Prison on August 9. According to a friend of his family member, although the Prisons Department said Maung Htay died due to atherosclerosis and hypertension, his body was covered and only allowed to look at the face. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses: [email protected] [email protected] “Our uprising must succeed”..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-08-09
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.35 MB 5.29 MB 1.78 MB
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 7 August 2021)
Description: "As of 7 August, (960) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (12) fallen heroes today. These (12) fallen heroes from Kani Township in Sagaing Region were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of August 7, a total of (5512) people are currently under detention. (255) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1984 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. Khun Nyein Chan, Khun Bay and Khun Phoe O, living in Kayan Tharyar Village in Kayah State’ Loikaw Township, were arrested by the terrorist military at the Kayan Tharyar checkpoint in Loikaw on August 6. They were arrested on suspicion of an alleged connection to the PDF after inspecting their phones. Wai Yan Tun a.k.a Myo Myo, a dance teacher, who was arrested on June 24 for allegedly being a protest leader in Mohnyin Town, Kachin State, was charged under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code on July 31. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses: [email protected] [email protected] “Our uprising must succeed”...."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-08-07
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.34 MB 5.33 MB 1.78 MB
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 6 August 2021)
Description: "As of 6 August, (948) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. Today there were no confirmed fallen heroes. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of August 6, a total of (5502) people are currently under detention. (255) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1984 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. Peter Aung, Pyithu Hluttaw MP for Hpei Hkon Township, Shan State and also NLD member Maung Lwat, Zin Thaw Hein, Sai Lu, Maung Thet, were arrested by the junta at a checkpoint in Shan State’s Nant Hsan Township on July 30. Nan Sandar Win and Nan Hsu Paing Phue, 4 th year students of Mawlamyine University, living in Sin village in Mon State’s Paung Township, were arrested by the terrorist junta on August 3, and charged under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code then sent to Mon State’s Kyeikmaraw Prison on August 4. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses: [email protected] [email protected] “Our uprising must succeed”..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-08-06
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.33 MB 5.21 MB 1.79 MB
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Title: Bi-weekly situation update by the Karenni Civil Society Network, July 19-Aug 1, 2021: Summary of SAC violations in Karenni State and Pekhon Township - ကရင်နီလူမှုအသင်းအဖွဲ့များကွန်ယက်၏ နှစ်ပတ်တကြိမ် အခြေအနေ တင်ပြချက် ဇူလိုင် ၁၉ ရက် – သြဂုတ် ၁ ရက်၊ ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် – ကရင်နီပြည်နယ်နှင့် ဖယ်ခုံမြို့နယ် အတွင်း စစ်ကော်စီ၏ ချိုးဖောက်မှုများ အကျဉ်း
Description: " People arrested In Karenni State the total number of people arrested since the coup has increased from 132 to 135 during the past two weeks. The three arrested, including a young woman, were aid volunteers, who were on the way to provide assistance to one of the IDP camps on July 30, 2021.  Ongoing military aggression The SAC troops have been continuing clearance operations in the areas where KNDF and IDPs are staying, so on July 23 the KNDF issued a statement that fighting could occur at any time. On July 19, SAC troops who had set up a camp near Kalilyah village, Nan Peh village tract, in Bawlake township fired artillery into the village. On the same day, SAC troops based in Bawlake town also shelled artillery into Nan Peh village, about 10 kilometers away After the shelling, SAC troops in civilian clothes patrolled around the villages of Taw Khu, Kalilyah, Nan Peh and Tah Leh. Most of the villagers of Kalilyah and Nan Peh have now fled to hide in the jungle. On July 20, 2021, the SAC shelled into Pruso town for no apparent reason. Residents of Pruso suddenly heard loud explosions of shells, but luckily no one was injured or killed. On July 22, 2021, at 4 pm, KNPP troops and KNDF troops ambushed a convoy of SAC trucks transporting rations and troops near Kayan Thayar village and Kyauk Kone village in Loikaw township. On July 31, 2021, at 11:45 am, KNPP troops and KNDF troops clashed with SAC troops near Pah Tima village and Daw Muklah village in Loikaw township. The SAC troops, from LIB 261 and LIB 250, were heading to IDP camps in Kayan Thayar village tract and Pakyeh village tract in Loikaw township, on the instructions of the Eastern Regional Command and Loikaw-based military command.  Situation of IDPs and humanitarian aid The new displacement of 812 villagers from Kalilyah and Nan Peh villages in Bawlake township, due to ongoing SAC artillery attacks on civilians, has raised the total numbers displaced to almost 120,000 in all townships of Karenni State and Pekhon township. This has increased the need for food, medicine and shelter for the IDPs. Some villagers have risked returning to their original villages to try and farm their lands, but dare not bring their children with them in case fighting breaks out again. They therefore leave their children in the IDP camps, where makeshift schools have been set up..."
Source/publisher: Karenni Civil Society Network
Date of publication: 2021-08-04
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 5 August 2021)
Description: "As of 5 August, (948) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (2) fallen heroes today. These (2) fallen heroes from Ye Township in Mon State and Minkin Township in Sagaing Region were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of August 5, a total of (5497) people are currently under detention. (255) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1984 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. Pyay Thein, who was arrested while protesting in Ye Township, Mon State on March 22 and charged under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code and detained at Kyeikmaraw Prison, died on August 4 in prison. Even though police said he died from diabetes, Pyay Thein had never suffered from diabetes according to his family’s friend. Myo Chit, a member of Minkin PDF of Sagaing Region’s Minkin Township, who was trapped and arrested along with over 50 members of Minkin PDF on July 28 at Taung Phyu Village in Sagaing Region’s Minkin Township, was killed on August 3 in an interrogation center in Kalay Town. Thet Htar Hnaung, MP for Kachin State Hluttaw of No (1) Constituency of Mohnyin Township, Kachin State and also NLD member, was arrested and beaten around 2am of August 4 by junta soldiers and those wearing plain clothes. Approximately six people were arrested along with her at the home. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses: [email protected] [email protected] “Our uprising must succeed”..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-08-05
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Size: 1.32 MB 5.57 MB 1.8 MB
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Title: Civilian Dies in Myanmar Junta Custody
Description: "A civilian detained by the junta for his alleged involvement in bomb attacks has died in military custody, according to relatives of the victim. The August 1 issue of regime-controlled newspapers claimed that the 23-year-old victim Ko Htet Ko Oo was arrested with two other people and a homemade gun and explosives at a warehouse in Yangon’s Dagon Seikkan Township on July 20. Ko Htet Ko Oo’s family said that he left his hometown of Pyapon in Ayeyarwady Region on May 15 along with friends to work in Yangon. They learned of his arrest only after it was reported in newspapers. “Those who arrested him have told us nothing. But we have been told by a reliable source that he is dead. We can confirm that he is dead,” a family member told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday. The regime had accused Ko Htet Ko Oo of having undergone military and explosives training in Karen State in territory controlled by the Karen National Liberation Army’s (KNLA) Brigade 5. The KNLA is the armed wing of the powerful ethnic organization, the Karen National Union. Relatives said that they want justice for Ko Htet Ko Oo. The military regime’s spokesperson has not yet responded to The Irrawaddy’s question about his death. Dozens of people, including members of the National League for Democracy, are feared to have died in military custody since the junta’s Feb. 1 coup. Among the dead are Ko Soe Moe Hlaing, a veteran pro-democracy activist and the younger brother of Lieutenant General Than Hlaing, the junta’s deputy home affairs minister and police chief. As of Tuesday, 946 people, including children, have been killed by junta forces since the coup. 5,478 people have been detained and arrest warrants issued for another 1,964 people, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication: 2021-08-04
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 4 August 2021)
Description: "As of 4 August, (946) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. Today there were no confirmed fallen heroes. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of August 4, a total of (5495) people are currently under detention. (255) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1984 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. Khin Mar Lin, a chair of Myittar Lay Nyin Social Association of Nan Mar Town in Kachin State’s Mohnyin Township, was arrested at 1am on August 4 by the terrorist junta. Other people were arrested along with her. In addition to this, Min Min Tun, a political activist from Pyay Town and NLD member of Pyay Township in Bago Region, was arrested on the morning of August 3 by the terrorist junta when his father’s funeral ceremony was being held. Nan Sandar Win and Nan Su Paing Phue, 4th year students of Mawlamyine University, living in Sin Village in Mon State’s Paung Township, were arrested at their homes by the terrorist junta in the evening of August 3. Moreover, Thinzar Tun, third year student of University of Nursing, living in King Ma Village in Magway Region’s Pauk Township, was arrested on the way from King Ma Village to Kan Ma Village on August 2. Three youths from King Ma Village were also arrested with Thinzar Tun. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-08-04
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Size: 1.32 MB 5.47 MB 1.77 MB
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Title: Myanmar military leader declares self PM, pushes back elections | DW News
Description: "Southeast Asia's top diplomats are meeting to discuss the ongoing violence in Myanmar. The foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are also hoping to finalize an emergency plan to help control the pandemic there. On Sunday Myanmar's military leader declared himself prime minister and extended military rule until August 2023. As we report, some protesters are determined to keep fighting back despite the risks. A warning to our viewers - you may find some of the footage in this report disturbing. Big protests have become too risky. In their place, flash mobs - often lasting only a few minutes - have been breaking out in Yangon and other cities. They yell "Down with the dictatorship, we must overcome" - a brief battle cry before they disappear into the back streets. Six months after the coup, Myanmar has become a full-fledged military state. Its leader and self-declared Prime Minister, Min Aung Hlaing has extended the state of emergency, and pushed back long-promised elections until August 2023. Likely to be missing from the list of candidates: Aung San Suu Kyi. The deposed leader is facing a slew of charges in what many observers are calling a sham trial. Adding to the political and economic turmoil, the country is seeing a sharp spike in COVID-19 cases - pushing the health care system closer to the brink of collapse, as people wait in line to get oxygen. With many medics part of the civil disobedience movement, they've become a target of violent abuse by the military. Human rights organizations are calling on the international community to act. Activists say they will never be able to trust the military. That's a sentiment echoed by many around the country. Six months after the coup, Myanmar increasingly looks like a tinderbox waiting to explode..."
Source/publisher: "DW News" (Germany)
Date of publication: 2021-08-02
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Two New Deaths in Custody Bring Total to 32 Since Myanmar Coup
Sub-title: Police once again blame COVID-19, despite the bodies exhibiting signs of severe trauma.
Description: "Two more people have died under suspicious circumstances while undergoing interrogation by security forces in Myanmar, bringing to 32 the total number of such deaths since the military seized power in a coup d’état six months ago. In nearly all the cases, authorities have blamed the deaths on COVID-19, despite markings on the bodies of decedents that are consistent with torture. Family members have also been given limited access to view the remains of their loved ones before they are cremated or buried. The latest to die in police custody was Htet Ko Oo, who was arrested on July 19 in connection with the bombing of the Shwe Nandaw (Golden Palace) jewelry shop in Myanmar’s largest city Yangon. The July 8 incident was the second in less than a month targeting a business owned by Thet Thet Khine, the junta’s minister for social welfare, relief and resettlement. According to Burma VJ, a website formed by a group of citizen journalists that documents human rights abuses by Myanmar’s military, Htet Ko Oo died on July 31 after being severely beaten during an interrogation session. The website said that authorities never informed his family members of his death and that they only learned of it after seeing a report on social media. RFA was unable to contact Htet Ko Oo’s family for comment on Tuesday. Lan Ko Thang, a resident of Sagaing region’s Kalay township, was arrested along with a friend on July 29 while returning home from the Chinese border, where he had labored as a migrant worker for nearly a year. Police had set up a checkpoint to control the spread of the coronavirus following a surge in cases in China and claimed to have “found weapons” on him after stopping the bus he was riding on for an inspection. Lan Ko Thang died a day after his arrest at an area interrogation center and his family was informed that the cause of death was COVID-19, even though his body exhibited signs of heavy trauma, a relative told RFA’s Myanmar Service, speaking on condition of anonymity citing fear of reprisal. “When we asked how he died, the military said he died of COVID, but our brother had a lot of injuries all over his body,” said the relative. “There was a big wound on his head and one of his legs and one of his arms were broken. There were beating marks on his back and leg. There were also marks on his neck, as if he had been strangled. We are furious.” RFA was unable to verify police reports that Lan Ko Thang was armed, but a resident of Kalay called him “calm and quiet,” adding that it was “totally impossible” that he would have had any weapons on him. Lan Ko Thang is the fifth person to die from suspected torture while in custody in Kalay since the military ousted Myanmar’s National League for Democracy (NLD) government in a Feb. 1 coup. Government troops have engaged in a major offensive in the region with members of the People’s Defense Force (PDF) militia, formed to protect the public from the military. A resident of Kalay, who declined to be named, said the rise in arrests and deaths from torture during interrogation has made residents “very insecure.” “These days, many houses are being raided and people are being arrested. It’s not safe even on the streets in the afternoon. People are always scared,” they said. “I don't know where [the troops] are getting all their information. They search any house they want without a warrant. Most of those arrested were kept in detention without any reason. Troops have been stationed at the city gates for some time. People have been arrested there too.” Veteran lawyer Kyee Myint told RFA that any death that occurs during an interrogation should be considered wrongful and families of victims are entitled to file a lawsuit seeking compensation. Family members have said they were unaware of how to file a complaint against the military and questioned what kind of justice they could expect if they did. Seeking accountability On Feb. 1, the military overthrew Myanmar’s democratically elected government, claiming voter fraud had led to a landslide victory for Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party in the country’s November 2020 election. The junta has yet to provide evidence of its claims and has violently suppressed nationwide demonstrations calling for a return to civilian rule, killing 946 people over the past six months. Last month, the family members of those killed or maimed by junta soldiers urged the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court (ICC) to prosecute those responsible for the death or dismemberment of their loved ones. They say the military’s leadership must be held to account for its actions, which they believe fall under the court’s jurisdiction according to its founding treaty, the Rome Statute. Under the statute, the ICC can accept cases related to four main crimes—genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression. The actions by the junta would most likely fall under crimes against humanity—which include murder, rape, imprisonment, enforced disappearances, and torture as part of a large-scale attack against any civilian population. Aung Myo Min, human rights minister for the shadow National Unity Government (NUG), recently told RFA that torturing someone to death and not providing the actual cause of death is “a grave violation” of a person’s right to life. He said the NUG is systematically collecting data on extrajudicial killings and plans to bring the perpetrators to justice at the ICC. Before the ICC will investigate a case, the Office of the Prosecutor must determine whether there is sufficient evidence of crimes of sufficient gravity falling within the ICC’s jurisdiction, whether there are genuine national proceedings, and whether opening an investigation would serve the interests of justice and of the victims. After gathering evidence and identifying a suspect, the prosecution requests that the ICC judges issue an arrest warrant or summons against a suspect and—based on summations presented by the prosecution, the Defense, and the Legal representative of victims—the judges decide if there is enough evidence for the case to go to trial. Attempts by RFA to contact junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment went unanswered Tuesday..."
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Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
Date of publication: 2021-08-03
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Junta Massacres 40 People in Myanmar Resistance Stronghold During July
Description: "The bodies of around 40 people killed by junta soldiers were found in the resistance stronghold of Kani Township in Sagaing Region in July, according to residents. “Junta troops raided our villages. We fled and found corpses when we came back to the villages. Nearly 40 bodies were found in July. Most recently we found 12 charred bodies in Taung Pauk,” a Kani resident told The Irrawaddy. Kani on the Chindwin River is around 50km from Monywa, the regional capital. The township has seen several massacres as the junta scaled up military operations against the resistance. The onslaught forced more than 7,000 residents from at least four villages to flee their homes. In the junta’s latest massacre, 12 bodies, including that of a 14-year-old boy, were found in Taung Pauk village on July 30. “The other victims included three brothers and people from Thayet Taw and Kho Twin. The bodies were seriously disfigured,” said another resident. Only some bodies have been retrieved for burial because the military is still active in the area, he added. The bodies were found four days after junta troops entered Taung Pauk and Thayet Taw villages and detained male villagers suspected of helping the People’s Defense Force (PDF) resistance. All the 12 victims were reportedly detained by the junta on July 26. Some bodies were burned and some were rotting but they were all badly bruised and exhibited signs of torture, said residents. This is the third time in less than a month that numerous bodies were found near villages in Kani. The bodies of 16 civilians were found scattered in the jungle surrounding Yin village tract on July 11 and 12 after villagers fled junta raids on July 8. Witnesses said some were shot dead by junta soldiers chasing them. Seven bodies were discovered on July 28 and five more were found on farms near Zee Pin Twin village on July 29. One of them was a disabled man and another was in his 60s. Some had apparently been hanged. Residents said some bodies might be PDF fighters because they were not residents. The military has not yet responded to questions about the killings in Kani. “The military regime might say they were armed rebels but they were not shot in shootouts. They all bore signs of torture and the bodies were intentionally hidden. It is a war crime,” said a lawyer. Kani overwhelmingly voted for the National League for Democracy in the 2020 general election. All the NLD candidates won in Kani with each securing more than 83 percent of the vote. It was one of the first towns to take to the streets after the coup in February. Residents soon started using rudimentary hunting rifles and homemade guns and blowing up junta vehicles. The junta responded with raids and detentions in Kani’s villages. The resistance formed the Kani Township PDF on May 10 attacking junta troops, including on the Chindwin River..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication: 2021-08-03
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 2 August 2021)
Description: "Updated 2 August 2021: As of 2 August, (945) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (5) fallen heroes today. These (5) fallen heroes from Mandalay in Mandaly Region, Kalay Township and Kani Township in Sagaing Region were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of August 2, a total of (5474) people are currently under detention. (255) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1964 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. Sai Ye Yint a.k.a Myo Chit Thu, who was shot in the groin and detained when the terrorist junta raided a home where youth protesters were staying in Patheingyi Township, Mandalay Region in the morning of July 31, died that same morning. The body was not returned to his family. Moreover, the condition of Khaing Tun who was shot in the leg and detained remains unknown, as with Sai Ye Yint a.k.a Myo Chit Thu initially. Lam Khant Htan and Lar Kein from Thar Yar Kone Village in Sagaing Region’s Kalay Township were arrested on July 30 on suspicion over weapons allegedly found in a private car they were passengers in when they arrived at the entrance of Kalay Town returning home from work in China. His family was informed on July 31 that Lam Khant Htan died due to COVID-19. However, it is reported his leg and hand were broken, with many injuries to the head, back, leg and neck. Lar Kein who was detained along with Lam Khant Htan is still being detained. 12 men who were arrested by terrorist junta’s troops on July 26 and July 27 in Sagaing Region’s Kani Township, were later found killed with injuries consistent with torture. These men included three brothers named Aung Myint Thu, Chin Twin Maung, and Phyo Kyaw Aung from Kani Town, seven men including a 14 year-old child from Thayet Taw Village, and two men from Kho Twin Village. Their bodies were found in the forest near East Taung Pauk Village in Kani Township on July 31. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-08-02
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Size: 1.52 MB 5.38 MB 1.74 MB
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Title: Kani villagers find more bodies of civilians murdered by junta forces
Sub-title: A total of 40 corpses, most showing evidence of torture, have been discovered in the area over the past month
Description: "A dozen bodies were discovered near a village in Sagaing Region’s Kani Township on Friday, offering further evidence of atrocity killings by regime forces operating in the area. The 12 bodies, including one of a 14-year-old boy, were found in a wooded area near the village of Taung Pauk on the afternoon of July 30, local sources said. Days earlier, military forces entered Taung Pauk and other nearby villages and began arresting male residents suspected of involvement in the anti-coup resistance movement. A search party was later formed to locate the detained villagers, all of whom appear to have been tortured and murdered on the day of their arrest. “The bodies were very badly bruised. They had also started to decompose, to the point that you couldn’t pick them up. They were killed on the 26th or 27th, so that was understandable,” said a local activist who spoke to members of the search party. Some of the bodies had been kept under a burned hut and were covered by a sheet, he added. All 12 of the victims have been identified as villagers who were in the custody of the military at the time of their death. Two were from the village of Kho Twin and seven—including the 14-year-old—were from Thayet Taw, another village in the area. The other three were residents of the town of Kani who were staying with relatives in Thayet Taw. None of the bodies have been taken away for burial because the military is still active in the area, local residents told Myanmar Now. This is the third time in less than a month that bodies have been found dumped near villages in Kani Township. A total of at least 40 have been discovered so far, most of them showing signs of torture. On July 11 and 12, the bodies of 15 people were found scattered in a forest near Yin, a village that had been raided along with several others the day before. At least 13 more bodies were discovered last week near the village of Zee Pin Twin following clashes between the military and the local People’s Defence Force (PDF). The mass killings appear to be aimed at weakening support for the resistance movement, according to PDF fighters who insist that the regime’s brutal tactics are backfiring. “People are joining us now to avenge their dead loved ones, even if they didn’t want to fight before. The military’s attempt to terrify people into submission doesn’t work anymore,” said one PDF member who didn’t want to be named. Meanwhile, thousands of villagers have been displaced since the second week of July as clashes in Kani continue. Most have been forced to seek refuge in forested areas due to fears that crowding into camps or other villages could lead to dangerous levels of exposure to Covid-19 amid a recent surge of the disease. “We can’t make camps because of the pandemic. But we don’t have suitable shelter in the forest, which we need because it has been raining a lot. Aside from Covid-19, seasonal flu has been pretty bad,” said one displaced villager..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2021-08-02
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Military kills another protester in Mandalay and refuses to return the body to his family
Sub-title: Ye Yint, 22, died after he was shot in the pelvis and captured by junta forces on Saturday
Description: "A 22-year-old anti-coup protester who was shot and injured before being detained during a raid in Mandalay on Saturday morning has died in military custody, two protest organisers have told Myanmar Now. Ye Yint was among nine protesters who were detained when about 30 soldiers and police raided a house they were staying in in Patheingyi Township’s Nan Oo Lwin neighbourhood. He was shot in the pelvis while another young protester, 22-year-old Khaing Tun, was shot in the leg during the raid. “Two kids tried to run in panic and one was shot in his leg,” said one of the protest organisers. “The other one got shot in the back and the bullet went cleanly through his pelvis.” The detainees were brought to Mandalay Palace, which houses the military’s Central Command headquarters, and Ye Yint’s family was told at around 4pm that he had died, the second organiser said: “His wife told us.” As of 8pm, the family still had not been able to retrieve his body, the organiser added. Myanmar Now was unable to reach his relatives for comment. Three other protesters were detained in Mandalay on the morning that Ye Yint and Khaing Tun were shot. They were captured in Mahar Aung Myay Township after a military-owned vehicle rammed into their motorcycles as they rode back from a march led by Mandalar University students. One of those detained, Zin Myo Khant, is 17 years old. Late last month Thu Thu Zin, 25, was shot in the head and killed at a protest near the Mahamuni pagoda in Mandalay. Her family had to hold her funeral without her body because the military would not let them retrieve it..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2021-08-02
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Myanmar: Coup Leads to Crimes Against Humanity
Sub-title: 6 Months After Takeover, Urgent Need for Targeted Sanctions, Arms Ban
Description: "Myanmar’s military junta has committed numerous abuses against the population that amount to crimes against humanity in the six months since the February 1, 2021 coup, Human Rights Watch said today. Since the military takeover, millions of people have taken to the streets across the country and peacefully protested for a return to a democratically elected civilian government. As part of a widespread and systematic attack on the population, security forces have repeatedly fired on and otherwise used excessive force to disperse and harm protesters. Police and soldiers have killed over 900 protesters and bystanders, including about 75 children, forcibly disappeared over 100 persons, and tortured and raped an unknown number in custody. Several thousand people have been arbitrarily arrested and detained. “Myanmar’s junta has responded to massive popular opposition to the coup with killings, torture, and arbitrary detention of people who merely want last year’s election results to be respected and a government that reflects the popular will,” said Brad Adams, Asia director. “These attacks on the population amount to crimes against humanity for which those responsible should be brought to account.” The concept of crimes against humanity dates to at least 1915 and was part of the 1945 Charter of the International Military Tribunal that created the Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders. Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), crimes against humanity are a series of offenses that are knowingly committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population. The offenses of Myanmar’s junta against those opposed to the military coup have been both a widespread and systematic attack against the population, Human Rights Watch said. The nature of the response, broad-based and frequently consistent, reflects government policy rather than the actions of individual security personnel. Apparent crimes against humanity committed since February 1 include murder, enforced disappearance, torture, rape and other sexual violence, severe deprivation of liberty, and other inhumane acts causing great suffering. Human Rights Watch previously found that Myanmar’s military had committed crimes against humanity against the ethnic Rohingya population in 2012-2013 and again in 2017 as part of campaigns of ethnic cleansing. The authorities are committing crimes against humanity of apartheid, persecution, and severe deprivation of liberty against Rohingya currently living in Rakhine State. The UN-backed Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) is “closely following” events and is collecting evidence of possible crimes committed following the coup. The IIMM is also mandated to build case files to support efforts to hold individuals responsible for such crimes in criminal proceedings. The United Nations, regional bodies, and governments, including the European Union, United States, and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), should respond to the continuing crimes against humanity in Myanmar by supplementing, strengthening, and coordinating international sanctions against the military and the State Administration Council (SAC) junta leadership under Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing. Actions should include targeted sanctions on individuals, a global arms embargo, and financial restrictions that would reduce the junta’s revenues from extractive industries. Governments should act to reduce the junta’s gas revenues, which are the military’s largest source of foreign currency income, adding up to about US$1 billion annually in duties, taxes, royalties, fees, tariffs, and other profits. The US, EU, UK, and others should block payments to the junta and state-owned enterprises from foreign-financed oil and gas projects, such as those operated by PTT, Total, and Chevron. Such measures can be designed to target the junta’s access to foreign accounts while allowing for the continued production of gas and electricity in the country. Since the coup, concerns about vetoes by China and Russia have deterred the United Nations Security Council from adopting resolutions to address the human rights crisis in Myanmar. The Security Council should urgently take measures against the junta, including by referring the situation in the country to the International Criminal Court (ICC), Human Rights Watch said. The court’s prosecutor is currently investigating the crimes against humanity of deportation and persecution following the 2017 ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya, as those crimes were completed in Bangladesh, an ICC member. The council should follow the June resolution of the UN General Assembly with its own resolution to impose a legally binding arms embargo and targeted sanctions on junta officials and key military leaders. The Security Council and UN member countries should end the pretense that ASEAN will place sufficient pressure on the junta to restore a democratically elected civilian government, release political prisoners, and hold those responsible for abuses to account, Human Rights Watch said. Since its summit meeting on April 24, ASEAN has failed to appoint a promised special envoy and has taken no meaningful steps to press the junta to address grave human rights concerns in Myanmar. “The international response to the Myanmar junta’s crimes against humanity has been stymied by fears of Security Council vetoes, ASEAN’s feckless leadership, and the EU’s hesitance to target foreign gas companies,” Adams said. “The Security Council and influential countries, notably the US, EU, Australia, Japan, India, and Thailand, should apply coordinated sanctions to pressure the junta to end its brutal repression.” Alleged Crimes Against Humanity Since the February 1 Coup The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court defines crimes against humanity as one of several offenses “committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.” “Widespread” refers to the scale of the acts or number of victims. A “systematic” attack indicates a pattern or methodical plan. Crimes against humanity can be committed during peacetime as well as during armed conflict. The statute defines “attack” as a “course of action involving the multiple commission of acts … pursuant to or in furtherance of a State or organizational policy.” The “attack” does not need to be a military attack as defined under international humanitarian law. Furthermore, “the term ‘population’ does not require that crimes against humanity be directed against the entire population of a geographical territory or area.” The ICC statute’s Explanatory Memorandum states that crimes against humanity “are particularly odious offenses in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human beings. They are not isolated or sporadic events but are part either of a government policy (although the perpetrators need not identify themselves with this policy) or of a wide practice of atrocities tolerated or condoned by a government or a de facto authority.” Myanmar is not a party to the ICC, but the UN Security Council could refer the situation in the country to the ICC. The Myanmar military’s killing of numerous protesters, enforced disappearance of opposition supporters taken into custody, torture and rape of many of those detained, and mass political detentions throughout Myanmar since the coup indicate that these abuses are widespread. The authorities have made statements that suggest that the response to the protests has also been systematic. On February 21, the State Administration Council stated in the government’s Global New Light of Myanmar: “Protesters are now inciting the people, especially emotional teenagers and youth, to a confrontation path where they will suffer the loss of life.” On March 26, the state MRTV news channel announced that demonstrators “should learn from the tragedy of earlier ugly deaths that you can be in danger of getting shot to the head and back” and warned that “parents should also talk their children out of it [joining protests], let’s not waste lives for nothing.” This language was widely interpreted to signal that the security forces were planning to respond with force to planned protests the next day, Armed Forces Day. In a May 8 statement, the junta formally designated the opposition National Unity Government (NUG), its parliamentary committee, and their offshoot militias as “terrorist groups” for alleged acts of incitement against the junta, seemingly to justify a broad suppression campaign. The junta said that the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) – composed of members of the majority party from the 2020 elections of the national parliament – and the NUG “constantly incited Civil Disobedience Movement participants to commit violent acts.” The following alleged crimes against humanity should be independently and impartially investigated: Murder Since the February 1 coup, the State Administration Council junta has responded to massive protests with excessive and lethal force. The police and military have killed over 900 people, most of whom were protesters and bystanders in many cities and towns across Myanmar, including Yangon (Hlaing Thayar, North Okkapala, and other townships), Mandalay, Bago, Monywa, and other townships in Sagaing region, Mindat township in Chin state, and other locations. International human rights standards permit law enforcement officials to use lethal force only as a last resort when there is an imminent threat to life. But in numerous cases reported in the media, and by the UN, Human Rights Watch, and other human rights organizations, the security forces fired on demonstrators who were unarmed and posed no apparent threat. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on April 13 denounced “yet another weekend of coordinated bloodshed in many parts of the country.” She said that “[t]he military seems intent on intensifying its pitiless policy of violence against the people of Myanmar, using military-grade and indiscriminate weaponry.” The UN Human Rights Committee, in its General Comment No. 37 on the right of peaceful assembly, has stated that “[f]irearms are not an appropriate tool for the policing of assemblies, and must never be used simply to disperse an assembly.… [A]ny use of firearms by law enforcement officials in the context of assemblies must be limited to targeted individuals in circumstances in which it is strictly necessary to confront an imminent threat of death or serious injury.” The crime against humanity of murder has been defined by ad hoc international tribunals as “the death of the victim which results from an act or omission by the accused, committed with the intent either to kill or to cause serious bodily harm with the reasonable knowledge that it would likely lead to death.” There have been a number of reports of large-scale shooting of protesters by the security forces. The UN reported that security forces killed 18 people on February 28. On March 3, security forces across the country fired live rounds at protesters, killing at least 38 and wounding more than 100, the UN reported. Killings were also reported in one day in Monywa, Sagaing region; Myingyan and Mandalay, Mandalay region; Salin, Magway region; and Mawlamyine, Mon state, according to media reports and local analysts. Human Rights Watch investigated incidents in which security personnel appeared to deliberately kill individuals. On March 3 in Yangon, at least 10 security force personnel were captured on video pushing a man ahead of a group of detainees and then fatally shooting him in the back at close range. Medical doctors told Human Rights Watch that security forces prevented them from reaching wounded protesters, some of whom died from blood loss. Doctors working in mobile clinics during protests said security forces used live rounds interspersed with rubber bullets and that many of the fatal injuries were from bullet wounds to the upper body. On March 13, the authorities killed at least nine protesters, including five in the Sein Pan area of Mandalay, when security forces reportedly shot into a crowd. On March 14 in Hlaing Thayar township, Yangon, security forces killed an estimated 58 people. On March 17, police pursuing protesters forced their way into Sandar Linn Shein’s family home in Bayintnaung, Mayangone township. She said they accused the family of sheltering protesters and began shooting indiscriminately, killing her older sister instantly and wounding her older brother in the chest and then arresting him. On March 27, Armed Forces Day, the day after the MRTV news channel announced that demonstrators “should learn from the tragedy of earlier ugly deaths that you can be in danger of getting shot to the head and back,” security forces carried out violent crackdowns on protesters in at least 40 towns and cities, killing dozens, Fortify Rights reported: “Eyewitness photographs and videos filmed [on March 27] show dead bodies, including children, and soldiers firing weapons street-level, dragging lifeless victims away, and brutally beating people.” In one case, security forces shot and wounded Aye Ko during a night raid in Mandalay. Local media reported that security forces dragged him away and then set him on fire. Residents said soldiers threatened to shoot anyone who tried to help him. In a another widely publicized incident on March 27, a video shows soldiers shooting and killing Kyaw Min Latt at close range as he drove by them on a motorcycle. On April 9, military personnel killed an estimated 82 people in Bago in a dawn assault on protesters’ barricades and encampments, according to media reports. On May 26, the Associated Press, in conjunction with the Human Rights Center Investigations Lab at the University of California, Berkeley, published an extensive and detailed report documenting killings. The AP and Human Rights Center alleged that the junta was using the killings, including by dragging bodies through the streets and returning mutilated corpses to families, to terrorize the population into ending the protests. They identified more than 130 instances in which “security forces appeared to be using corpses and the bodies of the wounded to create anxiety, uncertainty, and strike fear in the civilian population.” Enforced Disappearances Since the coup, Myanmar authorities have taken into custody and forcibly disappeared more than 100 politicians, election officials, journalists, activists, and protesters, and refused to confirm their location in violation of international law. Enforced disappearances are defined in the ICC statute as the arrest or detention of someone by the state or their agents followed by a refusal to acknowledge that deprivation of freedom or to give information on the fate or whereabouts of the person, with the intention of “removing them from the protection of the law for a prolonged period of time.” Family members and friends of arrested anti-junta protesters told Human Rights Watch that not knowing where the person was being held heightened concerns about their safety and well-being. In many cases, families only received information informally about the location of their family member, such as when newly released detainees notified others that they had seen another person who had been detained. Some families believe that because a prison accepts a package for their family member, it is most likely the place where their relative is being held. However, there is no factual basis for this conclusion, and it does not relieve the authorities of their obligation to provide information on a detainee’s whereabouts, produce a detainee in court within 48 hours as provided by Myanmar law, and promptly allow access to counsel and family members. Torture Many of those detained for taking part in pro-democracy demonstrations said after their release that that security personnel tortured and otherwise ill-treated them and others in custody. Methods of torture reported include beatings, mock executions with guns, burning with cigarettes, and rape and threatened rape. While torture by police in criminal cases has long been a problem in Myanmar, coup opponents taken into custody have been at risk of routine beatings, torture, and gender-based violence, indicating that the mistreatment has been part of junta efforts to suppress the political opposition. One 19-year-old man told the media that on April 9 he was taken to a military compound on the outskirts of Bago after a deadly day of protests. He said the security forces used cables, the butts of guns, and bottles to beat him on his hands. “The commander tied my hands from the back and used small scissors to cut my ears, the tip of my nose, my neck and my throat,” he said. “[He] hit my head with a glass bottle, beat me up, pointed at me with guns but the bullets did not come out.” Protesters in Myeik, Tanintharyi region, said after their release that on March 9, security force members beat about 70 protesters detained during demonstrations with belts, rifles butts, pipes, wooden sticks, and chains. On April 19, the junta created a public outcry when it aired on MRTV the images of six young detainees who bore marks of torture suffered while they were detained. A 17-year-old boy told Human Rights Watch that he had been beaten for days while blindfolded, then forced into a pit and buried up to his neck in a mock burial. He said he and others arrested with him were denied food and water for four days and drank toilet water to survive. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) said that since the coup, at least 22 people have been tortured to death during custody. Human Rights Watch investigated the case of Khin Maung Latt, 58, a ward chairman in Pabedan township in downtown Yangon. On the evening of March 6, witnesses saw soldiers and police forcibly enter Khin Maung Latt’s home, beat and kick him in front of his family, and then take him away at gunpoint. The next morning, after notification by the authorities, Khin Maung Latt’s family recovered his body from a hospital. The body had severe wounds to the hands and back and was covered in a bloody shroud, a witness said. Rape and Other Sexual Violence The UN special representative of the secretary-general on sexual violence, Pramila Patten, condemned alleged sexual violence by the Myanmar authorities. She called for an end to the abuses and for unimpeded access for an independent investigation. In a June 25 statement she said: Night raids, arbitrary arrests, sieges of townships and neighborhoods, torture and deaths in detention, attacks on locations and sites where civilians are gathered or have fled, and reports of sexual violence in detention sites, particularly sexual assault, torture, physical and verbal abuse, and intimidation, have become an alarming feature of daily life. Mary Lawlor, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, noted in a July 19 statement on Myanmar that “[w]omen human rights defenders are particularly at risk in remote rural areas and are often beaten and kicked before being sent to prison where they can face torture and sexual violence with no medical care provided.” The opposition National Unity Government reported that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people have been particularly vulnerable to sexual violence in custody. One transgender woman recounted after her release that she was raped in custody with an object, tortured, and severely beaten. Human Rights Watch investigated the case of a woman whom the police arrested on April 17 and accused of involvement in a series of bomb attacks against security forces in Yangon. Local media reported that police in Yankin township severely beat the woman, including on her genitals, causing vaginal bleeding, during interrogation at the police station. They beat her again at an interrogation center in Shwe Pyi Thar township, making it difficult for her to eat or urinate. Her cellmate said she herself was molested, threatened with a gun, and slapped during interrogation at another police precinct in Sanchaung township. On March 3 in Yangon, the authorities arrested two journalists, Han Thar Nyein and Nathan Maung, during a raid of their Kamayut Media office. Nathan Maung, who has been released, said the police beat them for days at an interrogation center and that Han Thar Nyein, who is now in Insein prison, was also burned with cigarettes and threatened with rape. Imprisonment or Other Severe Deprivation of Liberty in Violation of International Law On February 1, the military arrested State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint, and several dozen other senior officials in early morning raids in the capital, Naypyidaw. They remain in detention. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) has reported that since the coup, security forces have arrested 6,990 people, of whom 5,442 remain detained. In some instances, security forces have arrested and detained family members and friends of activists, protesters, and opposition members as a form of collective punishment. The AAPP said that at least 119 people, including an infant, have been arrested during raids when security forces were unable to find the person they sought to arrest. At least 83 of them remain in detention and some family members have been sentenced to prison terms. The junta has particularly targeted members of the media for arrest. Since February 1, the authorities have arrested 98 journalists, 46 of whom are currently in detention, according to the AAPP. Six journalists have been convicted, including five for violating section 505A of the penal code, a new provision that makes it a criminal offense punishable by up to three years in prison to publish or circulate comments that “cause fear” or spread vaguely defined “false news.” Other Inhumane Acts Causing Great Suffering or Serious Injury The junta has harassed, arbitrarily arrested, and attacked medical professionals, sometimes as they treated injured protesters. Many healthcare workers were early leaders of the opposition Civil Disobedience Movement and refused to work in government hospitals as a form of protest. Since the coup at least 260 healthcare workers have been attacked while trying to administer medical aid, and 18 killed. The AAPP said 76 remain in detention and up to 600 medical professionals have outstanding arrest warrants against them. Many have been forced to work underground in makeshift mobile clinics or have gone into hiding to evade arrest. The UN Country Team in Myanmar has said that the attacks on medical workers have jeopardized the Covid-19 response. CCTV footage released online shows at least six police officers removing three workers from an ambulance of the Mon Myat Seik Htar (MMSH) volunteer rescue team, then beating the workers with their guns and batons and kicking them. The MMSH volunteers were subsequently arrested and released on March 24, Myanmar Now reported..."
Source/publisher: Human Rights Watch (USA)
Date of publication: 2021-07-31
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-31
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Title: Myanmar Humanitarian Update No. 9 | 30 July 2021
Description: "This regular update, covering humanitarian developments from 24 June to 27 July, is produced by OCHA Myanmar in collaboration with the Inter-Cluster Coordination Group and UNHCR and WHO. The next update will be issued towards the end of August 2021. HIGHLIGHTS • An estimated 170,200 people remain displaced in south-eastern parts of Myanmar due to violence, armed clashes and insecurity since 1 February. This includes around 121,400 people displaced in Kayah State and neighboring townships of southern areas of Shan State following an escalation of clashes since 21 May. • In Chin State, clashes continued in and around Mindat Township over the course of July and more than 18,100 persons remain internally displaced in over 100 sites in Chin State and in neighboring Magway and Sagaing regions. • In Shan State, population movement remains fluid, with new displacements and small-scale returns recorded during the reporting period. A total of 22,000 people have been displaced across north and southern parts of Shan State since the beginning of 2021; about 7,000 of them remain displaced across 33 temporary sites. • Continuous rains resulted in floods affecting several townships across Rakhine State and parts of south-eastern Myanmar. A number of fatalities have been reported and several thousand people were affected or displaced, according to initial reports. • An Interim Emergency Response Plan has been developed and seeks US$109 million to reach an additional 2 million people with prioritized emergency humanitarian response activities beyond the scope of the 2021. • More funds have been secured for humanitarian response in Myanmar and as of 29 July, 42 per cent of the US$276.5 million requested under the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) has been funded, according to the FTS. However, strengthened donor support is necessary to address the over 50 per cent funding gap. SITUATION OVERVIEW 3 MILLION PEOPLE NEED HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE IN MYANMAR: About 3 million people need humanitarian assistance and protection services across various parts of Myanmar. This includes about 1 million people living in conflict-affected areas in Chin, Kachin, Kayin, Mon, northern Shan and Rakhine identified at the start of 2021 in the HRP. An additional 2 million people are targeted for humanitarian assistance and protection services, as part of the recently developed Interim Emergency Response Plan. The Plan mainly focuses on people in urban and peri-urban areas in Yangon and Mandalay, as well as those displaced or otherwise affected in Chin and Kayin states since 1 February. The Plan will ensure a coordinated approach to respond to people’s food and nutrition needs, water, sanitation and hygiene, education, shelter, health and a wide range of protection services, such as Child Protection and prevention and response to Gender-Based Violence (GBV). The Plan will integrate COVID-19 related prevention and response in its programming. The Interim Emergency Response Plan aims to complement the existing HRP and ensures an operational planning framework for humanitarian partners to coordinate response. The Plan identifies an additional US$109 million in emergency humanitarian programming to be implemented until the end of 2021. These requirements are in addition to the $276.5 million requested through the 2021 HRP. As of 30 July, US$7.8 million has been received against the total requirements under the Interim Plan, which represents 7 per cent of funding. FLUID POPULATION MOVEMENT IN THE SOUTHEAST: The security situation in south-eastern Myanmar remains tense, with sporadic clashes between the Myanmar Armed Forces (MAF) and Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs) or the “People’s Defense Forces” (“PDFs”) reported in Kayah, Kayin and Mon states and eastern Bago and Tanintharyi regions. In Kayah State, about 5,000 people from 11 villages in Loilen Lay Town in eastern part of Loikaw Township have been displaced on 12 July, following clashes between the MAF and the “Karenni Nationalities Defense Force”, a coalition of the “Karenni Army” and the “PDFs”. UNHCR estimates that about 170,200 persons have been internally displaced since 1 February in south-eastern Myanmar. This includes some 121,400 displaced in Kayah and southern areas of Shan states (Hsihseng and Pekon townships), about 47,700 in Kayin State, including 7,000 people who had returned after having fled to Thailand between April and May but who remain internally displaced, and a further 1,100 in Mon State. According to public sources, 69 civilians have been killed, about 160 houses and 8 churches destroyed in Kayah and southern areas of Shan states due to the hostilities that have erupted in May. Details of these incidents could not be verified due to access challenges and security concerns. The humanitarian situation in the area remains dire, as the majority of displaced populations, who are unable to return due to ongoing hostilities, continue to experience significant challenges in accessing basic needs due to various constraints, including limited humanitarian access. Humanitarian partners continue to make efforts to provide food, non-food-items, medical assistance and shelter materials as well as protection services to the newly displaced and otherwise vulnerable populations. In tandem with increasing needs, humanitarian organizations, are mobilizing funds and finalizing a contingency plan to respond to the emerging situation in the area. Critical needs for food, medicines and shelter have been reported, while a wide range of protection services and other humanitarian needs of affected communities – especially children, women and elderly persons – remain to be fully addressed. OVER 18,000 PEOPLE REMAIN DISPLACED IN CHIN STATE: The security situation in Chin State and neighbouring two regions remains unpredictable, as hostilities between the MAF and the “PDFs” picked up again in several townships. Intermittent clashes have been reported in Mindat in Chin State as well as in Saw in Magway and Kale and Tamu townships in Sagaing regions throughout July. Increased deployment of troops and continued road blockages and checkpoints have been reported in and around Mindat Township with the temporary ceasefire between the “Chinland Defense Force-Mindat” and the MAF not extended beyond 14 July. In Magway Region, several rounds of artillery were reported in Saw Township on 15 July. In Sagaing Region, clashes in several villages in Kale and Tamu townships in mid-July resulted in a reported number of civilian casualties. As of 19 July, more than 18,100 persons remain internally displaced in over 100 displacement sites in Chin, Magway and Sagaing. Most of the displaced persons are in four townships in Chin State, where they have been displaced since mid-May. This displacement is in addition to some 9,850 people who remain displaced across 27 sites in Paletwa Township in Chin State due to the earlier conflict between the MAF and the “Arakan Army”. Access to affected areas remains substantially constrained, although two partners were able to deliver essential assistance to the people in need in certain locations in Mindat Township, including food items for two weeks, medicines, surgical masks and hand sanitizers targeting about 2,000 people. A UN agency also distributed non-food items, including tarpaulins, mosquito nets, mats, blankets, kitchen sets, solar lamps and protective medical equipment in Mindat. RECURRENT POPULATION MOVEMENT IN NORTH AND SOUTHERN SHAN: Armed clashes between the MAF and EAOs and among EAOs in north and southern areas of Shan State continued between late June and mid-July. On 30 June, some 860 persons from 11 villages in Kyaukme Township in northern Shan were displaced following a series of clashes between the “Restoration Council of Shan State” (RCSS) and the allied forces of the “Shan State Progress Party” (SSPP) and the “Ta’ang National Liberation Army”. In Muse Township, more than 400 people in Man Yang Village Tract fled their home on 6 July due to armed clashes between the MAF and the “Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army”; the displaced families were able to return only on 17 July. In Hsipaw Township, about 300 persons from two villages fled their home on 16 July due to clashes between the RCSS and the SSPP. In southern areas of Shan State, partners confirmed the displacement of over 2,900 persons in Kyethi and Mongkaing in mid-July. As of 22 July, some 7,000, out of the 22,479 persons who have been displaced across 14 townships in Shan State, remain displaced across 33 temporary sites in Kyethi and Mongkaing townships in the south and in Hsipaw, Kyaukme and Kunlong townships in northern parts of Shan State. Humanitarian partners and local communities are complementing locally led responses to the newly displaced persons through the provision of food and non-food; however, displaced people remain in need of food, mosquito nets, blankets and COVID-19 prevention related support. FLOODS AFFECT TOWNSHIPS IN RAKHINE STATE AND PARTS OF SOUTH-EAST: Continuous monsoon rains caused flooding in lowland areas in Rakhine State and certain parts of south-eastern Myanmar, including Kayin and Mon states and Tanintharyi Region. Initial reports indicated that some 3,000 people have reportedly been affected, with 100 households evacuated from their homes in Hlaingbwe Township in Kayin State. In addition, more than 1,400 people in several wards in Myawaddy Town in Kayin State were evacuated to 10 relief camps on 26 July and received rice assistance from local communities and structures. Additional people, whose exact number could not be ascertained, have also been affected in several townships in Mon State, including in Mawlamyine and Ye. In Rakhine, initial reports indicated that Kalar Chaung Monastery displacement site, hosting about 1,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in Mrauk-U Township has been flooded on 25 July. This has affected approximately 24 out of 142 shelters within the displacement site. In Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Rathedaung townships, over 600 households in several villages have been affected, while roads connecting communities have been blocked and power supply disrupted in Thandwe Township since 26 July; water levels on the roads have reached up to nine feet. Some 200 households in the township’s affected areas have been evacuated to safer locations by local volunteers; they are expected to return to their places of origin soon. In Kyaukpyu Township, Kyauk Ta Lone IDP camp, at least 27 families have had their temporary shelter damaged, and dozens of sanitation facilities damaged or destroyed due to the floods. The affected people are taking refuge in the higher sections of the camp, hosted by relatives. Operational partners are currently collaborating with local aid groups and volunteers to better understand the situation and collect information on people’s needs. According to multiple sources, many people in affected locations and other areas where precipitation had been forecasted need support with evacuation. Those who have been evacuated or otherwise affected by floods require assistance in food, emergency shelter, health care and medical supplies, according to initial reports. Local volunteers have managed to evacuate the affected people and have provided initial assistance in terms of food and WASH as well as some COVID-19 awareness raising activities. The response, however, is likely to be impacted by access limitations, including those related to the current COVID-19 prevention measures. COVID-19: Available figures suggest that COVID-19 testing is taking place in States and Regions from both the public and private sectors, with the variants Alpha, Delta, and Kappa identified across the country, according to a report from 15 June, but not the extent to which any single variant dominates infections. Current figures show that the Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) cases have rapidly accelerated, as has the demand for hospitalization. Because the data is limited, it is not possible to confirm how these figures reflect the real situation, but it indicates a rapidly increasing number of infections in the country. From 1-28 July, a total of 126,822 cases were reported from 382,125 tests with a test positive ratio of 33.18 per cent; daily test positive ratio is reaching 40 per cent. A total of 4,876 deaths attributed to COVID-19 were reported during the same period, with Bago, Yangon and Sagaing regions heavily affected. A stay-at-home order have been imposed in over 80 townships across the country, and public holidays in July have been extended in an attempt to reduce the movement of people. This situation is unfolding in a context where access to health facilities is extremely limited. Partners are working to re-operationalize testing and surveillance activities, while COVID-19 treatment centres are being established with available resources and capacities. The full operationalizing of clinical management of cases is planned as soon as possible..."
Source/publisher: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (New York) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of publication: 2021-07-30
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-30
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Title: The Tatmadaw's Attempts to Legalize Its Human Rights Violations : The Karen Human Rights Group's position on the legality of a selection of the State Administration Council's amendments under international human rights law
Description: "The Tatmadaw, led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, initiated the military coup on February 1, 2021 which forcibly seized power from the democratically elected National League for Democracy and pushed Myanmar into the current state of nationwide political instability marked by ongoing impunity for human rights violations and an exacerbating humanitarian crisis. Since then, security forces have been employing extremely violent tactics against the general populace in major cities –– tactics which have been regularly used to persecute ethnic minorities even before the coup, especially in the peripheries of the country. From the outset, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar warned that the atrocities committed by the junta since the coup could amount to crimes against humanity.[1] Some of these atrocities entail the disproportionate use of force against demonstrators and strikers;[2] killings of at least 884 people;[3] arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances of thousands of people including journalists, activists and others opposed to the coup;[4] raids of homes without warrants to arrest and detain those suspected of being in opposition to the coup;[5] and torture of detainees.[6] In conjunction with these acts of violence against civilians is the Tatmadaw’s unlawful use of article 419 of the 2008 Constitution to form the State Administration Council (“SAC”) [7] through which it then enacted several amendments to Myanmar’s domestic laws which have encroached upon the fundamental freedoms of the people of Myanmar. Specifically, article 419 permits the Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Services (“Chief of Defence Services”) to form a body to exercise powers of the executive, legislature, and judiciary after the President declares a “state of emergency” (article 417) and transfers all branches of the government to the Chief of Defence Services (article 418).[8] Experts on Myanmar’s Constitution have pointed out, however, that the Tatmadaw’s February 1 declaration of a “state of emergency” under article 417[9] is absent of any legal basis, as it is impossible for allegations of voter fraud during the November 2020 elections ­to amount to a “state of emergency”. According to experts, article 417 relates to a situation in which the sovereignty of the country is threatened through “violent and wrongful forcible means” which involves the use of force.[10] Further, the Tatmadaw’s declaration of a “state of emergency” is unconstitutional as the Constitution only gives the President, who was arrested and detained by the Tatmadaw since February 1, the power to declare a state of emergency.[11] It is manifest that the SAC is an illegal entity and that any powers it exercises (executive, legislative, and judiciary) including the amendments it enacts are invalid under the Constitution. 2. PURPOSE AND SCOPE The amendments the SAC enacted in the weeks following February 1 also bear adverse consequences for the protection of the fundamental rights of the people of Myanmar under international human rights law. Therefore, this brief examines the legality of some of the amendments in accordance with some of Myanmar’s legal obligations under international human rights law. Taking note that Myanmar is not a state party to some international human rights treaties such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“ICCPR”),[12] this brief also identifies relevant non-binding principles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (“UDHR”) and ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (“AHRD”). At the same time, this brief demonstrates the SAC’s attempts to legitimize its human rights violations by using its illegitimate authority to enact invalid amendments to Myanmar’s domestic law to institute a climate of impunity for its human rights violations. Finally, it includes some recommendations on actions that ASEAN, the National Unity Government, and states can take to protect and promote the fundamental rights of the people of Myanmar. The analysis of this brief is limited in scope. The four amendments examined in this brief, outlined in Section 3 (Overview of Selected Amendments), were selected based on their prominence in the news at the time that the concept of this brief was conceived in early March 2021. Similarly, the scope of analysis in Section 4 (Applicable International Law) and Section 5 (Analysis) is a non-exhaustive account of the relevant international human rights standards applicable to Myanmar. The examined human rights laws and principles focus on night raids, arbitrary arrests and detentions, and restrictions of social media platforms and internet shutdowns as these featured most prominently in the news within the period of February to April 2021 during which the concept of this brief was under discussion. In recent months, more of the SAC’s atrocities have come to light particularly its perpetration of sexual and gender-based violence against girls, women, and members of the LGBTIQ community.[13] In this regard, further research could focus on a gender-analysis of the coup which could, for instance, include some of Myanmar’s relevant human rights treaty obligations such as the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. Ultimately, we hope that this brief would serve as a resource for civil society and community-based organizations to conduct further advocacy and research aimed to raise awareness on the SAC’s use of its illegitimate authority to enact “laws”[14] to encroach on the human rights of the people of Myanmar. 3. OVERVIEW OF SELECTED AMENDMENTS AC Law No. 3/2021 enacted the Fourth Amendment of the Ward or Village-Tract Administration Law. In particular, the amendment to section 17 requires any person living in a ward or village-tract to inform the ward or village-tract administrator of the arrival and departure of any overnight guests not listed in the family unit and not residing in the same ward or village-tract.[15] Violation of section 17 leads to a “fine not exceeding ten thousand kyat”, or a prison term not exceeding seven days if the person defaults on the fine.[16] SAC Law No. 4/2021 enacted the Amendment of Law Protecting the Privacy and Security of the Citizens. The SAC suspended rights protected in sections 5, 7, and 8 of the Law Protecting the Privacy and Security of the Citizens.[17] By suspending these provisions, authorities are permitted to enter into homes and private properties without a warrant for purposes of search, seizures, and arrests (section 5); to detain a person without a warrant for more than 24 hours (section 7); to intercept all forms of communications without a warrant (section 8); and to collect and seize all information and data gathered from intercepts (section 8). SAC Law No. 5/2021 enacted the Law Amending the Penal Code. Amongst other changes to the Penal Code is the amendment of section 505 (a). Section 505 (a) has been broadened to allow authorities to prosecute individuals, inter alia, for causing or intending to cause “fear to a group of citizens or to the public”; for spreading “false news”; or for “affect[ing], hinder[ing], damag[ing] the motivation, discipline [or] health” of a civil servant.[18] SAC Law No. 7/2021 enacted the Law Amending the Electronic Transactions Law. Relevant to this brief is the inclusion of section 38 in the amendment to the 2004 Electronic Transactions Law (“ETL”).[19] Section 38 (b) imposes criminal sanctions on a broad range of conduct regarding the handling of digital information. Specifically, a person (A) could be sanctioned for obtaining, disclosing, using, destroying, modifying, or disseminating any personal data of another person (B) without B’s approval. Section 38 (c) imposes criminal sanctions on anyone who creates “misinformation and disinformation” in the digital space with the intent of “causing public panic, loss of trust, or social division.” Section 38 (d) imposes criminal sanctions on a broad range of cybercrimes perpetrated with the intent to threaten national sovereignty, national security, and the rule of law, notions which are undefined in the provision. Some of these cybercrimes include preventing unauthorized access into one’s own digital platforms such as networks, computers or digital data (supposedly if a person takes measures to prevent authorities from conducting unlawful surveillance); and attempts to hack into digital platforms. Section 38 (e) imposes criminal sanctions on a range of cybercrimes committed with the intent to “deteriorate” Myanmar’s foreign relations with other states. These cybercrimes include vague and unclear language such as “attempts of unauthorized access and hacking cyber sources”. 4. APPLICABLE INTERNATIONAL LAW A. Prohibition Against Arbitrary or Unlawful Interference with Privacy, Family, Home or Correspondence Myanmar ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (“CRC”) in 1991. Article 16 (1) of the CRC imposes a legal obligation on Myanmar to ensure that “no child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his or her honor and reputation.”[20] Further, article 16 (2) also requires Myanmar to enact laws to protect the child from the prohibitions set out in article 16 (1).[21] Finally, Myanmar has a non-derogable obligation to “respect and ensure”[22] these rights under article 16 by making the best interest of the child a primary consideration,[23] through undertaking all appropriate measures including legislative and administrative.[24] Myanmar is also a signatory to the UDHR. Specifically, article 12 provides that “no one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with [their] privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.”[25] In a similar vein, article 21 of the AHRD holds a similar provision to article 12 of the UDHR, even going a step further to explicitly protect personal data from arbitrary interference.[26] B. Prohibition Against Arbitrary Deprivation of Liberty Legally binding on Myanmar is customary international law’s absolute prohibition of arbitrary deprivation of liberty, wherein no derogation is permitted under any circumstances.[27] According to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the content of the prohibition under customary international law includes arbitrary arrest and detention of a person which include measures such as house arrest and secret and/or incommunicado detention.[28] Further, an arrest and detention can be considered “arbitrary” even if authorized and enforced by law if “premised upon an arbitrary piece of legislation or is inherently unjust.”[29] C. The Right to the Freedom of Expression Under article 19 of the UDHR, the right to the freedom of expression constitutes the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”[30] A similar provision can be found in article 23 of the AHRD.[31] While Myanmar is not a party to the ICCPR, the scope of the freedom of expression under the UDHR may be understood through the Human Rights Committee’s[32] (“HRC”) interpretation of article 19 of the ICCPR, as the ICCPR is a codification of the same protections provided for in the UDHR. The HRC noted that the freedom of expression includes the right to express and receive communications of every form that is capable of transmission.[33] As regards to legitimate restrictions to the right, it may only be restricted for the protection of the rights or reputations of others, of national security or public order, or of public health or morals.[34] Further, restrictions must fulfill three cumulative requirements to be legitimate (also referred to as the three-part test): 1) They must be “provided by law” meaning they have to be formulated with sufficient precision so as to allow individuals to regulate their conduct;[35] 2) be “necessary” for a legitimate purpose;[36] and 3) be “proportionate” to the interest they serve to protect.[37] 5. ANALYSIS A. The Facilitation of Impunity for Arbitrary Raids, Arrests and Detentions Part of the SAC’s tactic to stifle dissent in efforts to assert total control over the country has been to arbitrarily arrest and detain people suspected of being in opposition to its rule by encroaching on privacy. Security forces have been arbitrarily arresting and detaining people after finding any shred of evidence considered to be offensive to the junta through arbitrary inspections of mobile phones. Further, security forces without warrants have been entering into homes and offices to arrest and detain people aligned with the anti-coup movement such as protestors, members of the opposition party, healthcare workers, and lawyers.[38] The SAC has even gone so far as to arbitrarily arrest and detain children. As of March 22, Save The Children alone reported that it had responded to a total of 146 cases of child arrests and detentions, of which 17 are still in detention.[39] Meanwhile, UNICEF reported on March 4 that its partners estimated that since the coup more than “500 children have been arbitrarily detained. Many of those arrested or detained are being held incommunicado.”[40] To evade arrest and detention by security forces, those aligned with the anti-coup movement including protestors, activists, and members of the Civil Disobedience Movement, have sought refuge in the homes of relatives, friends, and other local residents.[41] Security forces, however, have issued threats against residents warning that they too would be arrested if found harboring those they deem as fugitives.[42] Recent reports indicate that security forces have resorted to arresting and detaining family members and friends of those they sought to arrest but were unable to locate during raids, effectively taking hostages.[43] Former detainees have reported being tortured by security forces. Accounts of torture include beatings, being placed in stress positions, and even mock burials.[44] Some detainees were even tortured to death.[45] Further, reports indicate that security forces use sexual and gender-based violence as a form of torture.[46] In one account, security forces stripped naked a transgender woman and raped her by penetrating her with a bottle.[47] These acts of torture, raids, and arbitrary arrests and detentions are accompanied by the SAC’s enactments of the Fourth Amendment of the Ward or Village Tract Administration Law and the Amendment of Law Protecting the Privacy and Security of Citizens. The contents in the provisions suggest that the SAC issued the amendments to enable its security forces to conduct raids as well as to arbitrarily arrest and detain anyone with impunity, as illegitimate as these “laws” may be. At the same time, these amendments contravene Myanmar’s international legal obligations under treaty law protecting children against the arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home or correspondence; and under customary international law protecting against arbitrary arrest and detention. These amendments are also incompatible with the same principles in the AHRD and UDHR. i. Section 17 of the Fourth Amendment of the Ward or Village-Tract Administration Law violates Myanmar’s obligations under the CRC and are incompatible with the UDHR and AHRD The SAC’s amendment of section 17 of the Fourth Amendment of the Ward or Village-Tract Administration Law requiring the registration of overnight guests, violates Myanmar’s obligations under article 16 of the CRC. The enforcement of the amended section 17 against children constitutes an “arbitrary interference” of their privacy, family or home under article 16 (1) of the CRC.[48] The Human Rights Committee’s interpretation of the meaning of “arbitrary interference” in article 17 (1) of the ICCPR is relevant to Myanmar’s violation of article 16 since article 16 (1) of the CRC protects the same rights as that of article 17 (1) of the ICCPR,[49] ­ the difference being that article 16 (1) focuses specifically on children. In particular, it states that the meaning of “arbitrary interference” includes laws that counter “the provisions, aims and objectives” of the protections afforded to a person’s privacy, family or home.[50] It follows then that the amended section 17 amounts to an “arbitrary interference” within the meaning of article 16 (1). Further, amended section 17 –– permitting such sweeping and arbitrary encroachment on the prohibition against arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home or correspondence –– contradicts article 16 (2) which guarantees that children have “the right to the protection of the law against such interference.”[51] Moreover, the amendments are incompatible with the principles enshrined in article 12 of the UDHR, as well as article 21 of the AHRD. Containing a similar provision to article 12 of the UDHR,[52] article 21 of the AHRD states “every person has the right to be free from arbitrary interference with his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence.”[53] ii. Suspension of sections 5 and 8 of the Law Protecting the Privacy and Security of the Citizens contravenes prohibition against arbitrary interference with the right to privacy, family, home or correspondence The SAC’s suspension of sections 5 and 8 of the Law Protecting the Privacy and Security of the Citizens[54] contravenes Myanmar’s non-derogable obligations[55] under the CRC to “respect and ensure” rights,[56] including article 16, are applied to every child within its jurisdiction by adopting all appropriate measures; and by placing the best interest of the child as a primary consideration in all matters.[57] Further, the amendments violate article 16 (1)’s prohibition of arbitrary interference with the child’s “privacy, family, home or correspondence, [and] to unlawful attacks on his or her honor and reputation”,[58] as it permits authorities to interfere, without a warrant, in virtually all aspects of the private lives of any citizen. At the same time, it is incompatible with article 16 (2) as it denies children within its jurisdiction of their right to protection from arbitrary interference with, or attacks on their rights enshrined in article 16 (1).[59] In a similar vein, the suspension of sections 5 and 8 are inconsistent with the principles in article 12 of the UDHR and article 21 of the AHRD, which declared that every person within its jurisdiction has the right to be free from arbitrary interference with their privacy, home, or correspondence,[60] including personal data.[61] iii. Suspension of section 7 of the Law Protecting the Privacy and Security of the Citizens contravenes the prohibition against the arbitrary deprivation of liberty under customary international law The SAC’s suspension of section 7 enables security forces to arbitrarily arrest and indefinitely detain[62] individuals it considers as threats to its rule, including opposition political leaders, anti-coup protestors, and human rights defenders. It breaches Myanmar’s obligations under customary international law prohibiting the arbitrary arrest and detention of any individual and under any circumstances,[63] which includes laws that authorize “automatic and indefinite detention without any standards or review.”[64] B. The Infringement on the Enjoyment of the Right to the Freedom of Expression The digital space has been a platform for the people of Myanmar ­­to organize themselves domestically and to mobilize international support against the coup. Equally, it serves as a medium for journalists, citizen journalists, and other activists to criticize the SAC, as well as to document and expose human rights violations perpetrated by security forces. The SAC’s response, particularly in the early months of the coup, was to restrict access to social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as well as to enforce regular nationwide internet blackouts.[65] Part of its strategy to stifle dissent has also been through the amendment to section 505 (a) of the Penal Code, as well as the amendment to the ETL. The amended provisions curtail the enjoyment of the right to free expression by criminalizing an array of conduct under, inter alia, dubious pretexts of national security and public order which are incompatible with the standards required to constitute permissible restrictions to the freedom of expression under international human rights standards. i. Section 505 (a) fails the “necessity” test making it an illegitimate form of restriction to the freedom of expression Section 505 (a): Imposes a prison term of a maximum of 3 years, or a fine, or both on any person that: (i) causes or intends to cause “a member of the Defence Service or any civil servant” to disobey or to be disloyal to the government by hindering or damaging their motivation, discipline or health; or (ii) causes or intends to cause “fear to a group of citizens or to the public”; or (iii) intends to spread or spreads “fake news when knowing or believing that the news is false”; or (iv) commits or intends to commit a criminal offence against a member of the civil service.”[66] The SAC’s use of section 505 (a) to prosecute individuals and to sue news agencies who have reported on the coup and exposed human rights violations[67] is incompatible with legitimate restrictions to the freedom of expression. Under international human rights law, restrictions to free expression must be “necessary” for the protection of the “rights and reputation of others”, or protection of “national security or of public order, or of public health or morals.”[68] Contrary to this standard, the SAC has been regularly prosecuting journalists for reporting on the facts of the coup.[69] Additionally, it has also charged and prosecuted ordinary citizens voicing their opposition to the coup on social media, celebrities supporting anti-coup protests, as well as youths involved with the anti-coup movement.[70] ii. The ETL amendments fail the “provided by law” and “proportionality” tests to constitute permissible restrictions Section 38 (b): “Any person, if convicted of obtaining, disclosing, using, destroying, modifying, disseminating or sending personal data of a person to another without approval, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of 1 to 3 years […].”[71] Even supposing that the purpose of section 38 (b) is for the protection of privacy, the language is overbroad such that it is incompatible with the principle of proportionality which requires that restrictions be the least intrusive of measures to prevent jeopardizing the exercise of the right to the freedom of expression.[72] Under the amendments, “personal data” is defined as any information associated with a person.[73] In turn, the formulation of the amendment could impose criminal sanctions on anyone who, for instance, discloses or sends information on individuals responsible for human rights violations to international criminal or human rights investigative organizations. Under human rights standards, restrictions to free expression “may never be invoked as a justification for the muzzling of any advocacy of multi-party democracy, democratic tenets and human rights.”[74] Section 38 (c): “Any person who is convicted of creating misinformation and disinformation with the intent of causing public panic, loss of trust or social division on cyberspace shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of 1 to 3 years […].”[75] The vague and undefined terms, “misinformation and disinformation” and “public panic, loss of trust or social division”, are incompatible with the meaning of “law” under human rights standards. Restrictions must be formulated with sufficient precision such that individuals are able to regulate the content that they produce and publish in the digital space.[76] The current formulation would allow authorities “unfettered discretion”[77] in using the law to retaliate against journalists, activists and academics who expose the SAC’s human rights violations.[78] Section 38 (d): “Any person who is convicted of [cybercrimes] such as preventing or making it difficult to access a cyber resource; or attempting to hack into a cyber source without permission; or using more than permitted; and inserting or installing dangerous malware with the intent to hurt someone; [or] with an intent to threaten or disturb national sovereignty, security, peace and stability, rule of law, and national solidarity, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of 2 to 5 years […].”[79] Section 38 (e): “Any person who commits acts of cyber-attack on cyber resources which have been kept confidential for reasons of national or international security, such as attempting to access without authorization into or hacking into such cyber resources, with the intent to deteriorate the relationship between the country and other foreign countries, or on behalf of the interest of a foreign country, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term of 3 to 7 years […].”[80] The provisions in section 38 (d) and section 38 (e) criminalize a wide range of conduct in the digital space by employing justifications of “national sovereignty, security, peace and stability, rule of law, national solidarity”, as well as the protection and preservation of Myanmar’s foreign relations.[81] Chiefly, these imprecise and overbroad exceptions under the pretext of national security are in non-conformity with human rights standards requiring that restrictions be “provided by law”[82] and be “proportionate”.[83] In turn, these “amorphous” notions of national security serve as a weapon for the SAC to curtail the enjoyment of legitimate free expression.[84] For instance, it is unclear what types of conduct section 38 (d) covers when it criminalizes “preventing or making it difficult to access a cyber resource […] or using more than permitted”[85] under the pretext of national security. Free Expression Myanmar has suggested that the provision could be used to prosecute journalists and activists for using a VPN to bypass the SAC’s internet restrictions or for using encryption when working to expose and report on the SAC’s human rights violations.[86] 6. RECOMMENDATIONS The grim reality is that unless the SAC steps down from power it will continue to perpetrate atrocities against the people of Myanmar and oppress the country with these illegitimate “laws”. This reality signifies the need for relevant actors to stand with the people of Myanmar in their resistance to the SAC. To this end, we have identified measures that ASEAN, the National Unity Government, and states can take to validate the human rights of the people of Myanmar through the international human rights protection regime. Recommendation to ASEAN: In addition to pursuing the Five-Point Consensus,[87] member states in their engagements with the SAC must make the promotion and protection of human rights provided for in the AHRD a central part of their diplomatic efforts. Notwithstanding the non-binding nature of the AHRD, the enshrined principles including those identified here are minimum human rights standards afforded to the people of Myanmar that member states have a stake in promoting and protecting should the AHRD be recognized as a credible regional human rights instrument. Recommendations to the National Unity Government: Declare that the SAC’s amendments following the events of February 1 are null and void as a matter of domestic law. As an illegal entity under Myanmar’s constitution, the SAC is unauthorized to amend or enact laws. At the same time, the SAC’s “laws” contravene Myanmar’s human rights obligations under treaty law and customary international law. Commit to ratifying the outstanding international human rights treaties beginning with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Commit to ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court as a first step to pursuing accountability for past and present alleged international crimes including crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes. Recommendation to states: Adhere to the principle of non-refoulement under international law. Meaning that anyone who faces a real risk of being arbitrarily detained, tortured, or murdered by the SAC should not be involuntarily returned, expelled, or extradited to Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group
Date of publication: 2021-07-30
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Dozens of Myanmar Resistance Fighters Seized in Sagaing Region
Topic: civil disobedience movement, civilian deaths, Coup, crackdown, Democracy, Human Rights, junta, military in politics, military regime, Min Aung Hlaing, Mingin Township, National League for Democracy, National Unity Government, November 8 general election, PDF, People’s Defense Force, Political Prisoners, Rule of Law, Sagaing Region, Spring Revolution, State Administrative Council, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Tatmadaw
Topic: civil disobedience movement, civilian deaths, Coup, crackdown, Democracy, Human Rights, junta, military in politics, military regime, Min Aung Hlaing, Mingin Township, National League for Democracy, National Unity Government, November 8 general election, PDF, People’s Defense Force, Political Prisoners, Rule of Law, Sagaing Region, Spring Revolution, State Administrative Council, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Tatmadaw
Description: "Almost 60 civilian resistance People Defense Force (PDF) fighters in Mingin were detained while they tried to attack a Sagaing Region village on Wednesday. At about 5am on Wednesday, civilian resistance fighters attacked Pan Set and Taungbyu villages, which are strongholds of Pyu-Saw-Htee military allies who are armed with automatic rifles by the junta, according to the PDF. According to residents, junta troops and Pyu-Saw-Htee raided have villages and attacked the resistance in the township over the past month. A resistance fighter in Mingin told The Irrawaddy on Thursday they attacked villages on Wednesday to prevent junta attacks with the Phyu-Saw-Htee on villages in the south of the township. During the firefight at Taungbyu village, the 57 resistance members were seized by the Pyu-Saw-Htee, according to the PDF. “Our fighters were detained by a trap after entering the village as the Pyu-Saw-Htee said they would surrender,” said a member of the PDF. Another 12 resistance fighters outside the village escaped. The resistance fighters trying to save the detainees were forced to retreat by junta reinforcements. After the firefight, the military regime used a helicopter to supply ammunition, residents said. “We have learned our members were detained at the Taungbyu village and some of them were slain,” said the PDF member. The Irrawaddy was unable to independently confirm the killing of PDF detainees. U Maung Myint, a former lawmaker for Mingin Township who is a central executive committee member of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), posted on Facebook on Wednesday that the PDF members were captured because of military tactics. The former military officer said one villager was killed and three injured during fighting in Pan Set village. During the firefight, five resistance fighters were injured, according to the PDF. Also on Thursday, troops and Pyu-Saw-Htee members raided Konyin village and tortured villagers, a PDF member said. Residents of three villages nearby have fled their homes to avoid junta raids. Clashes between the resistance and junta in Mingin Township began in June. More than 10,000 residents from Twin, Linponeyi and Zee Pin Twin villages in Kani Township, Sagaing Region, have fled their homes due to junta raids. The bodies of 12 villagers buried by junta troops on Monday were found near Zee Pin Twin on Tuesday, according to residents..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication: 2021-07-29
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Junta-Run Public Hospitals Rejecting Even Myanmar’s Sickest COVID-19 Patients
Sub-title: The alternatives are home care or private hospitals, where treatment is costly and questionable.
Description: "The sickest COVID-19 patients in Myanmar are now being denied admittance to military junta-run public hospitals, family members and relief workers said Thursday, as the country’s healthcare system has been pushed to the brink of collapse during a poorly managed third wave of the coronavirus. The number of COVID-19 infections rose Thursday to a total of 284,099 since Myanmar’s first recorded case in March last year. The official monthly infection rate has jumped from around two percent of those tested in April 2020 during the first wave to 23 percent earlier this month, and at least 8,210 have died. The country’s public hospitals are operating at maximum capacity and had been turning away all but the most seriously ill, while others were forced to settle for treatment at home amid shortages of basic medical necessities, including oxygen supplies critical to mitigating hypoxia. But sources told RFA’s Myanmar Service that as of Thursday, even the worst afflicted patients are being rejected from hospitals—including those operated by the military regime—that had pledged to accept people infected with COVID-19, often with deadly consequences. Charity groups said that when patients are sent to hospitals, they will not be accepted without a referral letter from the township health officer. But even with a referral letter, they said, patients are generally refused admittance because of high body temperature. Other hospitals reject patients on the grounds that there are not enough doctors or beds. Myint Aung, 66, of Yangon’s South Dagon township, died at his home on July 9 after being refused a bed at an area hospital earlier that day, according to a family member who spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity. “A chest x-ray was taken on arrival, and nothing was found in his lungs, so he was sent home as just a ‘suspected patient,’” the family member said. “He was told to go to Yangon General Hospital or to North Okkalapa Hospital, but we knew they wouldn’t accept him either, so we took him back home. If they had taken him into the ICU at the time, he might still be alive.” The circumstances surrounding Myint Aung’s death are becoming increasingly common. A video recently went viral on social media in which a crying young man claims that his sister exhibited severe COVID-19 symptoms and was rushed to a public hospital but was denied treatment and died. Soaring costs The alternative for COVID-19 patients is to go to a private hospital, but the cost of treatment is exorbitant, and the quality of care is questionable, sources said. “To get into a private hospital, you need to make a deposit of 100,000 kyats (U.S. $61), but even then, there is no guarantee you will get enough oxygen,” said Ma Khine Za from Yangon’s Shwepyithar township, adding that few people can afford the cost because many have lost their jobs during the pandemic. If you can afford the deposit, “you still have to bring your own oxygen cylinder, and it seems they have no guidelines for COVID-19 treatment,” she said. Ma Ei, who works for a charity group, said that for COVID-19 patients in Yangon that require treatment at home, the cost of nursing had risen from 80,000-100,000 kyats (U.S. $49-61) in mid-July to 120,000 kyats (U.S. $73). “Additionally, the patient’s family has to provide PPE (personal protective equipment) and other equipment, as well as a separate bedroom for them to live in,” she said. Meanwhile, oxygen prices have doubled in the past week, and even the cost of traditional medicines is on the rise, sources said. In Yangon, where COVID-19 infections are rising dramatically, aid workers told RFA that patients are dying every day without access to medical care and oxygen. There are currently five charity groups in Myanmar’s largest city that are providing oxygen to the infected because clinics are refusing to treat patients with fever and hypoxia. Among them, the Cetanar Shin Charity Association said that every day it treats 40-60 patients who need emergency oxygen because they were turned away from hospitals and clinics. Wai Phyo Aung, Cetanar Shin’s chairman, said that “two or three patients die each day” while receiving emergency oxygen from his group because they did not have access to proper medical treatment earlier. Min Din, chairman of the Yangon-based Metta Thingaha Free Funeral Association, which provides medical transportation and burial services for the less fortunate, told RFA that a growing number of COVID-19 patients are dying at home. “We are now taking on funerals only, beginning on July 10. We couldn’t transport COVID-19 patients anymore because the hospitals aren’t accepting them,” he said. “Recently, we’ve been picking up more bodies from people’s homes. Most of the corpses have oxygen canisters by their side [indicating that they were being treated for COVID-19].” Arrests continue Efforts to control the spread of COVID-19 in Myanmar were dealt a serious blow when the country’s military seized power on Feb. 1, claiming that a landslide victory by the NLD in the country’s November 2020 ballot was the result of voter fraud. The junta has provided no evidence to back up its claims and has violently responded to widespread protests, killing 936 people and arresting 5,425, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). Tens of thousands of people, including many healthcare professionals, have left their jobs to join a nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) in opposition to junta rule. Many have faced arrest for voicing criticism of the regime. More than 4,600 people have died from COVID-19 over the past two months, according to the junta’s Ministry of Health and Sports, although the actual number is believed to be substantially higher, based on reports by charity groups that provide free burial services. Dr. Than Naing Soe, a spokesman for the junta’s Ministry of Health, said the country’s hospitals are overburdened due to a shortage of health workers. “For various reasons, only about 50 percent of the staff are working in some cases. Those who are working are exhausted, but more and more people are being infected,” he said. “For every 100 people infected, 20 need to be hospitalized and, of them, five need to go to intensive care.” Than Naing Soe said he was saddened by reports that patients are being turned away from hospitals due to staffing issues. He also urged people to stay home to reduce the risk of infection. But a doctor who declined to be named dismissed attempts by the military to appease the public, saying the situation would continue to worsen for as long as authorities continue to arrest people who joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), a walkout of medical and other professionals against military rule. “Doctors and other health workers continue to be arrested and tortured during this third wave … So, naturally, the healthcare they are providing is going to get worse,” he said. The doctor told RFA that the military has been too concerned with maintaining its grasp on power following the coup to effectively deal with the COVID-19 outbreak. Meanwhile, he said, doctors in the CDM continue working to provide public health care, despite the risks they face. Earlier this week, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, called on the U.N. Security Council and its members to pressure the junta to immediately end the arrests of health workers at a time when the country’s death toll is rising. On Thursday, Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward warned that half of Myanmar’s 54 million people could be infected with COVID-19 in the next two weeks as Myanmar’s envoy called for U.N. monitors to ensure an effective delivery of vaccines..."
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Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
Date of publication: 2021-07-29
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Burma Condemns Myanmar’s Handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in new briefing paper: “How the Myanmar Junta is Violating Humanitarian Principles in their COVID-19 Response”
Description: "Since seizing power in a coup on 1 February 2021, the people of Myanmar have been forced to defend themselves amid the growing instability and state chaos. The COVID-19 pandemic is the latest battle civilians are facing. In a new briefing paper, “How the Myanmar Junta is Violating Humanitarian Principles in their COVID-19 Response,” the Network for Human Rights Documentation-Burma (ND-Burma) finds that the junta is failing to respond effectively to the pandemic, and have violated humanitarian principles meant to ensure effective remedies during emergencies. The military cannot be trusted to allocate funds or resources to the general public. Rather than work to meet the needs of the thousands of COVID-19 patients who are dying in their homes and in crowded hospitals, the junta is arresting healthcare workers and denying life-saving medical supplies in urban and rural areas. The pandemic response has been complicated further by internal conflict fueled by the military junta. Ceasefires have been violated and urgently needed aid is being intercepted by junta soldiers. Their behavior is in direct violation of the humanitarian principles, which refer to healthcare as a human right. In failing to adhere to principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, the junta is failing the people. ND-Burma calls on the junta to relinquish their illegal hold on power. Combined with a lack of will power and intention, the junta has proven they cannot be tasked with coordinating an inclusive humanitarian response. With lives quite literally on the line, there is no time to waste. The international community must act swiftly by intervening to ensure the most vulnerable are protected and that health workers can do their jobs safely, and with dignity..."
Source/publisher: Network for Human Rights Documentation - Burma
Date of publication: 2021-07-28
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: HEALTH IS A HUMAN RIGHT - ကျန်းမာရေးသည် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးပင်ဖြစ်သည်။ မြန်မာစစ်အာဏာရှင်များအနေဖြင့် ကိုဗစ်-၁၉ ရောဂါကို တုန့်ပြန်ရာတွင် လူသားချင်းစာနာမှုဆိုင်ရာ အခြေခံမူများကို ချိုးဖောက်နေခြင်း
Description: "နိုင်ငံရှိ စစ်တပ်၊ ရဲအစရှိသည့် လက်နက်ကိုင်တပ်ဖွဲ့များက လူ့အခွင့်အရေးချိုးဖောက်မှုများကို ပြင်းပြင်း ထန်ထန် ကျူးလွန်နေသည်။ ထို့အပြင် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအတွင်း လူအသေအပျောက် များပြားလာခြင်းဖြင့် ကိုဗစ်-၁၉ ကပ်ရောဂါကလည်း ခြိမ်းခြောက်နေပြန်သည်။ ကိုဗစ်-၁၉ ကပ်ရောဂါ ထိန်းချုပ်နိုင်ရေးနှင့် လူနာများကို ကုသပေးသည့် ကျန်းမာရေး လုပ်သားများအား စစ်အာဏာရှင်များက ဖိနှပ်ချုပ်ခြယ် ထိန်းချုပ်ထားသည်။ ကျန်းမာရေးလုပ်သားများ၏ ကျွမ်းကျင်မှုက ပြည်သူလူထု၏ အသက်ကယ်ဆယ်ရေးအတွက် သေ ရေးရှင်ရေးတမျှ အရေးကြီးသည်။ တိုင်းပြည်၏ သူရဲကောင်းများဖြစ်သည့် ကျန်းမာရေးနယ်ပယ်တွင် ကျွမ်း ကျင်သူများ ကို ကူညီရမည့်အစား စစ်တပ်သည် ၎င်းတို့၏ အကျိုးစီးပွားကိုသာ ရွေးချယ် ဦးထိပ်ပန်ဆင် လျှက်ရှိသည်။ ဖေဖော်ဝါရီ ၁ ရက် အာဏာသိမ်းချိန်မှစပြီး စစ်တပ်၏ တရားမဝင် ထင်ရာစိုင်း အုပ်စိုးမှုကြောင့် ပရမ်းပတာ၊ ဝရုန်းသုန်း ကားဖြစ်နေသည်။ စစ်အာဏာရှင်များသည် လူ့အသက်ပေါင်းများစွာကို တန်ဖိုးမထား လျစ်လျူရှု ပြီး လူသားမျိုး နွယ်အပေါ် ဆန့်ကျင်သည့်ပြစ်မှု (CAH) ကျူးလွန်ကြသည်။ ၎င်းတို့ အာဏာတည်မြဲရေး အတွက် လုံခြုံရေးတပ်ဖွဲ့များက စစ်အာဏာသိမ်းချိန်မှစပြီး အပြစ်မဲ့ပြည်သူ ၉၀၀ ကျော်ကို အညှာအတာ ကင်းမဲ့စွာ သတ်ဖြတ်၊ ညှဥ်းပန်းနှိပ်စက်ကြသည်။ စစ်အာဏာရှင်များက လုပ်ငန်းကျွမ်းကျင်သူ ဆရာဝန်ကြီး များကို ဖမ်းဆီး ထိန်းသိမ်းထားပြီး သတင်းလွတ်လပ်မှုနှင့် နိုင်ငံသားအခွင့်အရေးလှုပ်ရှားသူများကို ကြောက် ရွံ့စေရန် ဖန်တီးထားသည်။ ကပ်ရောဂါ၏ ခြောက်လှန့်မှုနှင့် ပြည်သူလူထုအပေါ် ဆိုးကျိုးသက်ရောက်မှု တို့က “အားအပြင်းဆုံး မုန်တိုင်းတခု” ပမာဖြစ်သည်ဟု ကုလသမဂ္ဂက ပြောဆိုသည်။ လတ်တလောတွင် ကိုဗစ်-၁၉ အတည်ပြုလူ နာ ၂၀၀,၀၀၀ ကျော်ရှိနေပြီး ကူးစက်ခံရသူ အရေအတွက်မှာ တိုးလာနေသည်။ အာဏာသိမ်း စစ်အာဏာရှင်များသည် တိုင်းပြည်၏ အချုပ်အခြာ အာဏာအလုံးစုံအား ထာဝရယူလိုသည် ကလွဲ၍ ပြည်သူလူထုအကျိုးအတွက် ဆောင်ရွက်ခြင်းမရှိသဖြင့် လူထုမှာ အောက်စီဂျင်နှင့် တကိုယ်ရေ အ ကာအကွယ်သုံး ကျန်းမာရေးပစ္စည်းများအပါအဝင် အသက်ကယ်ဆယ်ရေး အထောက်အပံ့များကို လက်လှမ်းမီ ရယူနိုင်ခြင်း မရှိပေ။ ကျန်းမာရေး အထောက်အကူပြု ပစ္စည်းများ ပိုမိုလိုအပ်လာသည့်အတွက် ဈေးမှာလည်း ထိုးတက်သွားပြီး မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ ကျန်းမာရေးဝန်ဆောင်မှု အခြေခံအဆောက်အအုံအပေါ် နောက်ထပ် ခြိမ်းခြောက်မှု ဖြစ်လာ သည်။ တိုင်းပြည်အနှံ့ရှိ ပြည်သူများမှာ ဆေးဆိုင်များရှေ့တွင် အကိုက်အခဲပျောက်ဆေး၊ ချောင်းဆိုးပျောက် ဆိုးနှင့် ဗစ်တာမင်စုံဆေးတို့ကို တန်းစီဝယ်သူနေကြပြီး ဆေးများမှာ အချိန်တိုအတွင်း ရောင်းကုန်သွား၍ ဈေးမှာလည်း နှစ်ဆခန့်တက်သွားသည်။ မျက်နှာဖုံးများမှာလည်း လုံလောက်မှုမရှိပဲ သာမန်ပြည်သူများ ဝယ် ယူနိုင်သည့် ဈေးထက်ကြီးမြင့်နေသည်။ သုဿာန်နှင့် မီးသဂြိုလ်စက်များတွင် ရာနှင့်ချီသည့် အလောင်းများ ကို နာရေးကူညီမှုအသင်းများက နေ့စဥ်မှတ်ပုံတင်၍ သဂြိုလ်ပေးနေရသည်။ သေဆုံးသူအများစုမှာ အောက် စီဂျင်ပြတ်လတ်၍ သေဆုံးကြခြင်းဖြစ်သည်။ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ (NUG) က စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့ ၏ ကိုင်တွယ်ဆောင်ရွက်မှုနှင့်ပတ်သက်ပြီး “ကိုဗစ် တတိယလှိုင်းကို ရင်ဆိုင်ကြုံတွေ့နေရသည့် မြန်မာပြည် သူများ၏ ကျန်းမာရေးစောင့်ရှောက်ပိုင်ခွင့်ကို စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့ က ငြင်းပယ်နေသည်”ဟု ထုတ်ပြန်ခဲ့ သည်။ ND-Burma မှ ယခုစာတန်းငယ်တွင် ကျန်းမာရေးစောင့်ရှောက်မှုသည် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးဖြစ်သည်ဆိုသည့် လူသားချင်းစာနာ ထောက်ထားမှုဆိုင်ရာ အခြေခံမူ ၄ ချက်အပေါ်တွင် အခြေခံ၍ သုံးသပ်တင်ပြထားသည်။ မြန်မာစစ်တပ်၏ အားနည်းချက်များကို မီးမောင်းထိုးပြထားပြီး ကပ်ရောဂါအပေါ် ၄င်းတို့၏ တုန့်ပြန်ဆောင် ရွက်မှု မရှိခြင်းကြောင့် လူ့အသိုင်းအဝိုင်းအတွင်း အထိခိုက် အနစ်နာအလွယ်ဆုံးသူများကို ကျောခိုင်း ဥပက္ခောပြု ချန်လှပ်ထားသည်။ စစ်ကောင်စီသည် လူသားချင်းစာနာသည့် အကူအညီပေးရေးအဖွဲ့ မဟုတ် သော်လည်း ၎င်းတို့လက်ထဲတွင် အရေးပေါ်ကူညီ ကယ်ဆယ်နိုင်သည့် ပစ္စည်းကရိယာနှင့် အရင်းအမြစ်များ ရှိနေသည်။ ကျန်းမာရေးသည် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးဖြစ်သော်လည်း မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင်မူ ကျန်းမာရေးစောင့် ရှောက် ပိုင်ခွင့်၊ ကုသခံပိုင်ခွင့်နှင့် အန္တရာယ် တစုံတရာမရှိပဲ အရင်းအမြစ်ရရှိခွင့်တို့ကို စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့က ထိန်းချုပ်ဖယ်ရှားနေသည်။..."
Source/publisher: Network for Human Rights Documentation - Burma
Date of publication: 2021-07-28
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-28
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Title: HEALTH IS A HUMAN RIGHT How the Myanmar Junta is Violating Humanitarian Principles in their COVID-19 Response
Description: "In addition to a vengeful campaign of human rights violations committed by state-backed forces, the COVID-19 pandemic is threatening to increase the death toll in Myanmar. Health care workers working to control the spread of the pandemic and treat patients are being locked up by the junta. Myanmar needs health care workers now more than ever. Their expertise is critical to providing life-saving solutions. Yet, the military is choosing to preserve their self-interests instead of helping the country’s heroic health professionals Since the military junta seized power in a coup on February 1, disorder and chaos set the tone for their illegitimate rule. The junta’s disregard for life amounts to crimes against humanity. In their pursuit for power, security forces have ruthlessly killed and tortured over 900 innocent civilians since the military coup. They have arrested and detained senior health officials and created a climate of fear for press freedom and civil rights. The growing threat of the pandemic and its impacts on civilians is being described as the ‘perfect storm’ by the United Nations.1 There are currently over 200,000 cases of COVID-19 in Myanmar, and the numbers continue to rise daily. Aside from the ever-present tyranny of the state, citizens do not have access to life saving supplies, including oxygen and personal protective equipment. The demand for health supplies has also driven the market price up, posing yet another threat to Myanmar’s overwhelmed health care infrastructure. Civilians across the country are lining up in front of pharmacies waiting to purchase painkillers, cough medicine and multivitamin pills, all of which are in short supply and have nearly doubled in price. Face masks are in low supply with prices ‘beyond the reach of everyday people.’2 Funeral services are overwhelmed as hundreds of bodies are being registered daily at cemeteries and crematoriums. The majority are dying from a lack of oxygen.3 The National Unity Government expressed concern at the junta’s approach in handling the increase in cases in a statement which stated, “Myanmar people who are now going through the third wave of the pandemic, are seeing their health entitlements being denied by the regime.”4 In this short briefing paper, the Network for Human Rights Documentation (ND-Burma) will draw upon the four humanitarian principles which refer to healthcare as a human right. In this context, the failings of the military junta will be highlighted. In their lack of response to the pandemic, they are willingly leaving behind the most vulnerable in society. While the military council is not a humanitarian agency, they’re still equipped with the tools and resources to respond with concerned urgency. Health is a human right. But in Myanmar, the junta is stripping this right to access healthcare, treatment, and resources...."
Source/publisher: Network for Human Rights Documentation - Burma
Date of publication: 2021-07-28
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Myanmar: Expert calls for “COVID ceasefire”; urges new UN resolution
Description: "The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar called on the United Nations Security Council and Member States to push for an emergency "COVID ceasefire" today in light of an explosion of COVID-19 infections and deaths in Myanmar even as the State Administrative Council (SAC) escalates its attacks against health care workers. UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews stressed the urgent need for Member States to use all the tools of the UN, including passage of resolutions demanding that the SAC immediately cease all attacks, especially against health care professionals who are desperately needed to fight the COVID-19 pandemic that continues to devastate Myanmar. "Too many in Myanmar have needlessly perished and too many more will die without action by the United Nations," Andrews warned. "The UN must act immediately to halt the military junta's attacks, harassment, and detentions in the midst of a COVID-19 crisis. "Member States of the United Nations cannot afford to be complacent while the junta ruthlessly attacks medical personnel as COVID-19 spreads unchecked. They must act to end this violence so that doctors and nurses can provide life-saving care and international organisations can help deliver vaccinations and related medical care," Andrews said. "Member States with influence on Myanmar's State Administrative Council must follow passage of a UN resolution by urging an immediate cessation of attacks." The junta has murdered at least 931 people and is holding at least 5,630 in arbitrary detention where they are in danger of being infected with the virus. Another 255 people have been sentenced for trumped up crimes, with 26 of them - two of whom are minors - sentenced to death. According to the UNHCR, there are 570,320 internally displaced persons currently living in Rakhine, Chin, Kachin, Shan, Kayin, Mon, and Bago states. Junta forces have engaged in at least 260 attacks against medical personnel and facilities, claiming the lives of at least 18 people. Over 600 health care professionals are currently eluding outstanding arrest warrants and at least 67 are being held by junta forces. In February, the UN Security Council passed a strong resolution demanding ceasefires in all States experiencing conflict. Resolution 2565 demanded "all parties to armed conflicts engage immediately in a durable, extensive, and sustained humanitarian pause to facilitate the equitable, safe and unhindered delivery and distribution of COVID-19 vaccinations in areas of armed conflict". The Council further called for "full, safe, and unhindered humanitarian access, without delay, for humanitarian personnel and medical personnel, their equipment, transport and supplies, in order to facilitate, inter alia, COVID-19 vaccinations, as appropriate". It also demanded the "protection, safety, and security of such humanitarian and medical personnel…" "This resolution represented a principled framework to address the outbreak of COVID-19 in States experiencing unrestrained violence. Given this escalating crisis, these demands must now be focused specifically on Myanmar. Doing so will save untold numbers of lives." Andrews concluded: "Of course the best outcome would be for the junta to stand down so that a legitimate civilian government can lead a coordinated response to the COVID-19 crisis. But in the immediate term, the junta's relentless attacks and detentions must end. For this to be possible, the people of Myanmar need the UN and its Member States to step up with strong, principled action."..."
Source/publisher: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (Geneva)
Date of publication: 2021-07-27
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-28
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Title: Student Unions’ Statement to Urge Stronger and Immediate International Action
Sub-title: ပြည်တွင်း၊ ပြည်ပ ဒေသအသီးသီးမှ ကျောင်းသားသမဂ္ဂများမှ မြန်မာ့အရေးအတွက် ပိုမိုထိရောက်သော နိုင်ငံတကာအရေးယူမှုများ နှင့် ဆောင်ရွက်မှုများ ချက်ခြင်းအကောင်အထည်ဖော်ရန် တောင်းဆိုချက် (မြန်မာဘာသာပြန်)
Description: "We, the undersigned Student Unions from all across Burma and in the diaspora, release this statement to call for immediate and strong action by the international community in their fight against the military junta and the COV ID-19 pandemic. Students and student unions have historically been at the forefront of the struggle against illegitimate rule and oppression in Burma - from Burma’s independence movement, to the 1962 protests against Ne Win’s coup d'etat, the U Thant funeral uprising, the 1988 uprising, the 1996 protests, and 2007 Saffron revolution, to today's Spring Revolution, thousands of students have given their lives for the country’s freedom. As we write this statement, many of our fellow student leaders remain in jail, some facing extreme torture in the interrogation centers. Since the illegal military coup on Feb 1, Burma has been in deep political turmoil. As the military cracked down on peaceful demonstrations, over 920 people have been killed nationwide, with thousands detained and tortured. Additionally, hundreds of thousands in the ethnic areas have been displaced due to artillery attacks and air strikes. To make matters worse, the COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating the crisis, affecting millions that are already vulnerable from the violence of the coup. Hundreds, potentially thousands, of people are dying every day as the virus ravages the country. Meanwhile, the junta - in addition to upending the pandemic control efforts and vaccine rollout plans by the previous civilian government - has been cutting off critical lifesaving resources for the people. It has militarized hospitals and healthcare facilities and continues to threaten, arrest, and kill frontline doctors and nurses, making it impossible for the healthcare sector to function adequately. The junta is also shutting down oxygen plants and hoarding oxygen for their own use, while the civilians face an oxygen shortage, failing to save their loved ones. The brutality of the Burmese military is outrageous and beyond comparison. Yet, for far too long, the international community has allowed them to enjoy impunity, even as they continue to commit mass atrocities against their own people. Many statements of "deep concern" released from various international entities not only are unsupportive but even undermine our struggles that many of our friends have sacrificed their lives for. For decades, the people of Burma have been conveying their message loud and clear that the military has no support in the country. We have written our revolution with blood and bones that the military can never, ever rule us. It is about time the international community must start listening. Hence, we, the undersigned Student Unions, urge for immediate and strong international action and demand the following: • Impose a global arms embargo on the military junta since restricting arms flows to the military is critical in ending their impunity. • Recognize and support the National Unity Government (NUG), including keeping Ambassador U Kyaw Moe Tun as the legitimate representative of Myanmar at the UN General Assembly in September. • Immediately dispatch humanitarian aid and COV ID-19 relief to Myanmar, channelled through cross-border mechanisms, international organisations, local CSOs, the NUG, and the Ethnic Health Organisations. • Pressure the ASEAN and neighbouring countries to take similar steps instead of relying on them to take actions on their own against the junta; ASEAN's five-point consensus has proven to be weak and futile, and thus, the larger international community needs to step up with stronger, more vigorous measures. • Sanction the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise to deplete the military of a sizable portion of its revenues, which the military has allegedly been using to procure arms and military equipment.....ပြည်တွင်း၊ ပြည်ပ ဒေသအသီးသီးမှ ကျောင်းသားသမဂ္ဂများမှ မြန်မာ့အရေးအတွက် ပိုမိုထိရောက်သော နိုင်ငံတကာအရေးယူမှုများ နှင့် ဆောင်ရွက်မှုများ ချက်ခြင်းအကောင်အထည်ဖော်ရန် တောင်းဆိုချက် (မြန်မာဘာသာပြန်) နိုင်ငံတကာအသိုင်းအဝန်းမှ လက်ရှိ မိမိတို့မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတွင်း အာဏာရှင်စနစ်တိုက်ဖျက်ရေးလှုပ်ရှားမှုများနှင့် ကိုဗစ်-၁၉ ကပ်ရောဂါအခြေနေများအားစပ်လျဉ်း၍ စစ်အာဏာရှင်အား ပိုမိုပြင်းထန်ထိရောက်သော အရေးယူဆောင်ရွက်မှုများကို ထပ်တိုးဆောင်ရွက်ပေးပါရန် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတဝန်းမှ ကျောင်းသားသမဂ္ဂများ နှင့် ပြည်ပရောက် မြန်မာကျောင်းသားသမဂ္ဂများ စုပေါင်း၍ ဤသဘောထားကြေငြာချက်အား ထုတ်ပြန်တောင်းဆိုလိုက်သည်။ ကျောင်းသားများ၊ ကျောင်းသားသမဂ္ဂများသည် မတရားအုပ်ချုပ်မှု၊ ဖိနှိပ်မှုများကို ဆန့်ကျင်ပုန်ကုန်သည့် ခေတ်အဆက်ဆက်တော်လှန်ရေးများကို ရှေ့ဆုံးမှဦးဆောင်လှုပ်ရှားခဲ့ကြသော သမိုင်းအစဉ်အလာကြီးမားသည့် တော်လှန်ရေးအင်အားစုများဖြစ်ကြသည်။ မြန်မာ့လွတ်လပ်ရေးလှုပ်ရှားမှုမှ အစပြု၍ ဦးနေဝင်းအာဏာသိမ်းမှုကို ဆန့်ကျင်ခဲ့ကြသည့် ၁၉၆၂ ဆန္ဒပြပွဲများ၊ ဦးသန့်အရေးအခင်း၊ ရှစ်လေးလုံးအရေးတော်ပုံ၊ ၁၉၉၆ ဆန္ဒပြပွဲများ၊ ၂၀၀၇ ရွှေဝါရောင်တော်လှန်ရေး တို့အပြင် ယနေ့ နွေဦးတော်လှန်ရေးအထိတိုင် ထောင်ပေါင်းများစွားသော ကျောင်းသားအာဇာနည်တို့သည် တော်လှန်ရေးအတွက် ၎င်းတို့၏ အသက်၊ သွေး‌၊ ချွေးတို့အားပေးဆပ်ခဲ့ပြီးကြပြီဖြစ်သည်။ ယခု ဤသဘောထားထုတ်ပြန်ချက်အားထုတ်ပြန်သည့်အချိန်တွင် ကျွန်ုပ်တို့၏ ရဲဘော်ရဲဘက် ကျောင်းသားခေါင်းဆောင်အချို့မှာ အကျဉ်းထောင်အသီးသီးတွင် ဖမ်းဆီးထိန်းသိမ်းခံထားရပြီး၊ အချို့မှာ စစ်ကြောရေးစခန်းများတွင် လူမဆန်စွာ ရက်ရက်စက်စက် နှိပ်စက်မေးမြန်းခံနေရသည့် အခြေအနေရှိသည်။ စစ်အကြမ်းဖက်အုပ်စုက ပြည်သူ့အစိုးရထံမှ မတရားအာဏာသိမ်းခဲ့သည့် ဖေဖော်ဝါရီ ၁ ရက်နေ့မှစ၍ မိမိတို့ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံသည် နိုင်ငံရေးမတည်ငြိမ်မှုများကို ရင်ဆိုင်ကြုံတွေ့နေရသည်။ ငြိမ်းချမ်းစွာဆန္ဒပြမှုများကို စစ်အုပ်စုမှ မတရားအကြမ်းဖက်ဖြိုခွင်းမှုများကြောင့် အပြစ်မဲ့ပြည်သူပေါင်း ၉၂၀ ကျော် သေဆုံးခဲ့ပြီးဖြစ်ပြီး လူပေါင်းထောင်ချီ ဖမ်းဆီးအကျဉ်းချခံထားရသည်။ ထို့အပြင် စစ်အုပ်စု၏ လက်နက်ကြီးပစ်ခတ်မှု၊ လေ‌ကြောင်းတိုက်ခိုက်မှု စသည်တို့ကြောင့် တိုင်းရင်းသားဒေသများတွင်လည်း စစ်ဘေးရှောင်ပေါင်းသောင်းချီ၍ နေရပ်စွန့်ခွာ ထွက်ပြေးတိမ်းရှောင်နေရသည်။ ယခုကဲ့သို့ စစ်အုပ်စု၏ မတရားအကြမ်းဖက်မှုများကြောင့် ထိခိုက်ဆုံးရှံးမှုများစွာရင်ဆိုင်နေရပြီးဖြစ်သော သန်းပေါင်းများစွာသော ပြည်သူလူထုကို ကိုဗစ်ကပ်ရောဂါသည် ဆင်းရဲဒုက္ခတွင်းထဲသို့ ဆတိုးတွန်းပို့နေသည်။ နိုင်ငံတွင်းတွင် နေ့စဉ်နှင့်အမျှ ကိုဗစ်ကပ်ရောဂါကြောင့် ရာထောင်ချီသေဆုံးမှုများရှိနေသည်။ မြန်မာစစ်တပ်သည် ယခင်ပြည်သူ့အစိုးရ၏ ကိုဗစ်ကာကွယ်ဆေးဖြန့်ဝေရေးအစီအစဉ်များကို ပျက်စီးစေယုံမျှမက လက်ရှိအခြေအနေတွင် ပြည်သူလူထုအရေးတကြိးလိုအပ်သော အသက်ကယ်ဆယ်ရေးအရင်းအမြစ်များကို လိုက်လံဖြတ်တောက်နေသည်။ ဆေးရုံ၊ ဆေးခန်းများအား စစ်သားများမှဝင်ရောက်စီးနင်းထားခြင်း၊ ဆရာဝန်များ နှင့် ကျန်မားရေးဝန်ထမ်းများအား ပစ်မှတ်ထားခြိမ်းခြောက်ခြင်း၊ ဖမ်းဆီးခြင်း၊ သတ်ဖြတ်ခြင်းတို့ကို လုပ်ဆောင်နေကြသည့်အတွက် ကျန်းမာရေးကဏ္ဍသည် ပြိုလဲပြီးအခြေအနေတစ်ရပ်တွင် ရှိနေသည်။ ထို့အပြင် မြန်မာစစ်တပ်သည် အောက်စီဂျင်စက်ရုံများ နှင့် အောက်စီဂျင်ဆိုင်ရာထောက်ပံ့ရေးပစ္စည်းများကို ပြည်သူများ မရရှိနိုင်စေရန် ပိတ်ပင်တားဆီးမှုများပြုလုပ်နေပြီး စစ်တပ်နှင့် အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီအသိုင်းအဝိုင်းအတွက်သာ အောက်စီဂျင်သိုလှောင်မှုများပြုလုပ်နေသည့်အတွက် ပြည်သူများစွာ အချိန်မသင့်ပဲ သေဆုံးနေကြရသည်။ မြန်မာစစ်တပ်၏ ရက်စက်ကြမ်းကြုတ်မှုများသည် တုနှိုင်းစရာမရှိလောက်အောင်ကို လွန်စွာအကျည်းတန်လွန်းလှသည်။ သို့ပါလျက် နိုင်ငံတကာအသိုင်းအဝန်းသည် ပြည်သူလူထုအား အစုလိုက်အပြုံလိုက် တိုက်ခိုက်သတ်ဖြတ်မှုများ ကျူးလွန်နေခဲ့သည့် မြန်မာစစ်တပ်အား ထိရောက်သည့်အရေးယူမှုများ မပြုလုပ်ခဲ့သည့်အတွက် လက်ရှိအခြေအနေတွင် စစ်အုပ်စုသည် ဘေးမဲ့ရထားသည့်အလား ထင်တိုင်းရမ်းကားနေခြင်းဖြစ်သည်။ လွန်စွာမှ စိုးရိမ်ပါကြောင်းဖော်ပြထားသည့် သဘောထားထုတ်ပြန်ချက်များသည် ထိရောက်သည့်အကူအညီမဖြစ်လာသည့်အပြင် ကျွန်ုပ်တို့၏ သွေးချင်းသူငယ်ချင်းများ အသက်ပေးပုန်ကန်နေသည့် တော်လှန်ရေးကို လျှော့တွေးသဟန်ဖြစ်နေသည်။ စစ်အုပ်စုအား နိုင်ငံတွင်း ထောက်ခံမှုမရှိကြောင်း မြန်မာပြည်သူများသည် ဆယ်စုနှစ်များစွာ ပြတ်ပြတ်သားသား အသိပေးကြွေးကြော်ခဲ့ပြီးဖြစ်သည်။ စစ်အုပ်စုလုံးဝအုပ်ချုပ်၍မရစေရကြောင်း ကျွန်ုပ်တို့၏ သွေး၊ချွေးတို့ဖြင့် တော်လှန်ရေးအတွင်း ရေးသားထားပြီးဖြစ်သည်။ နိုင်ငံတကာအသိုက်အဝန်းအနေဖြင့် မြန်မာလူထု၏အသံအား နားထောင်လုပ်ဆောင်ချိန်တန်ပြီလည်းဖြစ်သည်။ သို့ပါ၍ ပြည်တွင်းပြည်ပ ဒေသအသီးသီးရှိ လက်မှတ်ရေးထိုးထားသော ကျောင်းသားသမဂ္ဂများသည် မြန်မာ့အရေးအတွက် ပိုမိုထိရောက်သော နိုင်ငံတကာအရေးယူမှုများ နှင့် ဆောင်ရွက်မှုများ ချက်ချင်းအကောင်အထည်ဖော်ရန် အောက်ဖော်ပြပါအချက်များကို တောင်းဆိုလိုက်ပါသည်။ -အာဏာသိမ်းစစ်ကောင်စီ၏ အကြမ်းဖက်မှုများကိုရပ်တန့်ရန်ဆောင်ရွက်ရာတွင် ၎င်းတို့ထံသို့ လက်နက်စီးဆင်းမှုများကို ဖြတ်တောက်နိုင်ရေးသည် ပဓာနကျသည့်အလျောက် မြန်မာစစ်တပ်အပေါ်တွင် အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာမှ လက်နက်ပိတ်ဆို့မှုဝါဒ ချမှတ်ပေးရန်။ -အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရကို တရားဝင်အစိုးရတစ်ရပ်အဖြစ်အသိအမှတ်ပြုပြီး ပံ့ပိုးမှုများဆောင်ရွက်ရန်။ စက်တင်ဘာလတွင်ကျင်းပမည့် ကမ္ဘာ့ကုလသမဂ္ဂအထွေထွေညီလာခံ၌ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံဆိုင်ရာသံအမတ်ကြီးနေရာတွင် သံအမတ်ကြီး ဦးကျော်မိုးထွန်းကို ဆက်လက်ခန့်ထားရန်။ -လူသားချင်းစာနာမှုအထောက်အပံ့များနှင့် ကိုဗစ်ကပ်ရောဂါဆိုင်ရာ ကယ်ဆယ်ရေးအကူအညီများကို နယ်စပ်ဒေသယန္တရားများ၊ နိုင်ငံတကာအဖွဲ့အစည်းများ၊ ဒေသခံ အရပ်ဘက်အဖွဲ့အစည်းများ၊ အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရနှင့် တိုင်းရင်းသားဒေသကျန်းမာရေးအဖွဲ့အစည်းများမှ တစ်ဆင့် ချက်ချင်းအမြန်ဆုံး ဖြန့်ချိပေးရန်။ -အာဆီယံနှင့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ၏ အိမ်နီးချင်းနိုင်ငံများအား မြန်မာစစ်တပ်အပေါ်တွင် ထိရောက်သောအရေးယူမှုများပြုလုပ်ရေး ဖိအားပေးမှုများပြုလုပ်ရန်။ အာဆီယံ၏ ငါးချက်သဘာတူညီမှုသည် အားနည်းပြီး အချည်းနှီးသာဖြစ်ကြောင်း ပြသပြီးဖြစ်သည့်အတွက် နိုင်ငံတကာအသိုက်အဝန်းအနေဖြင့် အာဆီယံကိုသာအားကိုးမနေပဲ ရှေ့တိုး၍ ပိုမိုပြင်းထန်ထိရောက်သော လုပ်ဆောင်ချက်များကို ဦးဆောင်ချမှတ်ရန်။ -မြန်မာစစ်တပ်၏ လက်နက်ဝယ်ရာတွင်သုံးစွဲနေသော ဝင်ငွေအရင်းအမြစ်အား ကန့်သတ်ရန်အတွက် မြန်မာ့ရေနံနှင့် သဘာဝဓါတ်ငွေ့လုပ်ငန်းအား စီးပွားရေးပိတ်ဆို့မှုစာရင်းသွင်းရန်။ ပြည်တွင်းပြည်ပကျောင်းသားမဂ္ဂအဖွဲ့များ (၁၇၈) ဖွဲ့မှ ပူးပေါင်းထုတ်ပြန်သည်။ (ပူးပေါင်းထုတ်ပြန်သောအဖွဲ့အစည်းများစာရင်းအား English Version တွင်ကြည့်ရှုပေးပါရန်)..."
Source/publisher: Student Union Representatives Committee - SURC
Date of publication: 2021-07-27
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: With tales of torture, campaign seeks to divide armed resistance
Sub-title: Pro-military Facebook accounts are seeking to drive a wedge between ethnic armed groups and civilian resistance with disinformation, but are struggling to break the unity of the anti-coup opposition.
Description: "As pro-democracy activists embrace armed revolution to remove the Myanmar military from power, alliances with ethnic armed groups have emerged as key to any potential long-term success. Groups like the Kachin Independence Army, Karenni Army and Karen National Liberation Army have sheltered dissidents, trained would-be revolutionaries, and even fought alongside civilian militias against the junta. Reflecting the importance of these partnerships, pro-military social media users have responded by spreading disinformation in an apparent attempt to cause rifts between the groups or discourage other prospective trainees from entering ethnic-controlled territory. Many Facebook posts viewed by Frontier have accused ethnic armed organisations of killing or in some way mistreating civilian trainees. The posts provide no evidence to support the allegations, and both People’s Defence Forces trained by armed groups and the armed groups themselves have denied the incidents. A wave of disinformation The posts began proliferating around the same time in late June, suggesting a coordinated campaign. On June 28, a Facebook user who claims to be a doctor in Mandalay posted that members of the overthrown National League for Democracy had asked the military to help rescue “Gen Z” members – a term many use to refer to protesters and members of newly formed armed resistance groups regardless of their actual age – who were trying to flee from training camps in KIA territory. According to Tu Hkawng, an ethnic Kachin member of the parallel National Unity Government, this post was later also shared by a pro-military social media influencer named Shwe Yupar Oo. Screenshots posted by Tu Hkawng show that Shwe Yupar Oo’s post received over 5,200 reactions. Frontier was unable to independently verify these posts, as the Shwe Yupar Oo account has since been deleted. But a new account under the same name was created in early July and encouraged followers to join a Telegram channel, where the person controlling the account continues to post disinformation, including claims of KIA members killing PDF trainees. On June 27, a video of soldiers in the woods beating civilians to death began circulating online. Pro-military users claimed it showed members of the Karen National Defence Organisation killing PDF trainees. The KNDO, which is part of the Karen National Union, has been accused of massacring construction workers in late May and early June; it did not deny the killings, but claimed they were Tatmadaw soldiers disguised as construction workers. The KNU is investigating the incident. This video was also shared by the Shwe Yupar Oo account, according to Tu Hkawng’s Facebook post. Frontier could not verify the authenticity of the video, or the identity of either the perpetrators or victims. Also on June 27, a user named Kwee Kyaw posted that the KNDO killed three civilian fighters and the KIA killed 15. The post received over 1,100 reactions and was later copied and pasted by other pro-military users, like Hnin Maung, who has nearly 5,000 followers and often shares content from the ultra-nationalist Myanmar National Post. Another post, by a pro-military user with more than 10,000 followers, claimed on June 29 that there was “video evidence” that Gen Z members are being killed by the KNU and KIA, but did not link to any video. “They worshiped NUG and CRPH as gods. They danced when the media promoted them. Now that they are being brutally killed in the jungle, what do you see NUG saying?” he wrote, questioning why the media and the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners did not report these deaths. This post received over 1,400 reactions and was shared more than 500 times. These claims have also been shared in a closed pro-military group called National Force, which has over 31,000 members. On June 30, a member named Kal Gyin repeated the unsubstantiated claims of ethnic armed groups killing trainees. While state media has not yet adopted these narratives, it urges youth who have gone to ethnic-controlled areas to return home. The notice, which is posted in Global New Light of Myanmar nearly every day, notes that some people have fled to ethnic rebel territory due to “incitements and intimidation” by the NLD and its “extremist followers”. It says these youths “face no security guarantee” and “wish to return to their native lands”. ‘A unity that has never been achieved before’ A spokesperson for the Mandalay PDF said that no civilian trainees had been killed or mistreated by ethnic armed groups, and accused the military and its supporters of trying to cause a “blood feud” between the two sides. “The young people and the EAOs have a unity that has never been achieved before,” he said, explaining that the time spent with ethnic armed groups has led them to “understand each other more and more, overcoming difficulties together, regardless of age or religion”. He dismissed the disinformation campaign as toothless. “The Mandalay PDF and EAOs laugh at their conspiracy theories,” he said, adding that he doesn’t think it will deter trainees from heading to ethnic territory in the future. While the PDF fighter might not fear disinformation, those behind the disinformation campaign may be seeking to capitalise on a series of dark events that followed the 1988 uprising, when hundreds of young people fled to ethnic territory to fight the military regime. Calling themselves the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front, that civilian armed group also received training from and fought alongside both the KNU and KIA. The group was marred by ignominy when leaders of its Kachin branch, apparently fearing they had been infiltrated by Military Intelligence, detained 106 of their own members. Many were tortured and at least 35 executed on suspicion that they were government spies. But resistance fighters claim this time is different. A man who works as a recruiter for civilian defence forces also denied that any trainees have been killed, tried to flee, or been influenced by the disinformation. “There are no consequences. The young people who went to the armed areas have already reached an understanding with their parents,” he said. The man has helped send new recruits to train with ethnic armed groups after which they have served in the Chinland Defence Force, the Mandalay PDF and the Tanintharyi PDF. “No one fled from the KIA or KNU. However, there are some who had to return due to ill health,” he added. KNU spokesman Padoh Saw Taw Nee likewise dismissed the rumours, saying the “terrorist military council” is trying to “mislead and undermine trust among those who are fighting the common enemy of the military dictatorship”. Taw Nee appeared to be more concerned by the threat of divisive disinformation than the PDF member, though, repeatedly saying “we have to be careful”. His caution stems from experiences under previous military dictatorships. “Not so long ago, in 1994 and 1995, General Khin Nyunt and others, who were so dirty and filthy, incited religious divisions” among the Karen people, he said, referring to the former junta’s spymaster. Taw Nee was referring to an old schism within the armed group, when Buddhist fighters split from the predominantly Christian-led KNU and formed the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army in late 1994. The DKBA subsequently fought alongside the Tatmadaw and helped capture the KNU’s headquarters. Taw Nee said the disinformation campaign reflects the junta’s fear of an alliance between PDFs and armed groups, which is why they are “working full time to create problems between us and our friends who came to seek refuge”. The Mandalay PDF member refused to say where he trained or with which ethnic armed group, but given the geographic proximity and other reports, the Mandalay PDF is likely supported by the KIA. He said he trained for two-and-a-half months in rebel territory before returning to Mandalay. “We received a full basic military training course as well as small arms and light weapons,” he said. “I had to study urban guerilla warfare with specific courses. In addition, we learned about jungle battles.” While life in the training camps was rough, he remembered it fondly. “We were tired there, but it was fun. Every day we eat tofu. For two and a half months, we ate only eggplant curry. We were very happy with that curry,” he said. At the end of a training course, the instructors rewarded their trainees with a roast pig. “The training period was tiring, but for all of us, the memories were lovely. There are so many things to miss. We used bamboo sticks to drink water. We built our own tent. We dug a bomb shelter. We dug our own toilet … Our instructors trained us to keep our guns ready. Even if we went to the toilet, we would not leave without a gun. If we left the gun, we had to do some jumping for punishment when the teacher found it.” He called the instructors “very lovable”, saying they were like “a brother” to him. Trainees even cried when some instructors were deployed or reassigned to another camp, he said..."
Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2021-07-28
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: ကိုဗစ်-၁၉ ကပ်ရောဂါ အား တုန့်ပြန်ရာတွင် စစ်အာဏာရှင်များက လူသားချင်းစာနာထောက်ထားမှုဆိုင်ရာ အခြေခံမူများ ကို မည်သို့ ချိုးဖောက်နေကြောင်း
Description: "၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် ဖေဖော်ဝါရီ ၁ရက် စစ်အာဏာသိမ်းပြီးချိန်မှစပြီး တိုင်းပြည် မတည်ငြိမ်မှုနှင့် ပရမ်းပ တာ ဖြစ်နေချိန်တွင် ပြည်သူလူထုသည် မိမိတို့ဘာသာ မိမိတို့ ကာကွယ်နေရသည်။ ကိုဗစ်-၁၉ ကပ် ရောဂါသည် ပြည်သူများ နောက်ဆုံးတိုက်ပွဲဝင်နေရသည့် ရောဂါဖြစ်သည်။ “ကိုဗစ်-၁၉ ကပ်ရောဂါ အား တုန့်ပြန်ရာတွင် စစ်အာဏာရှင်များက လူသားချင်းစာနာထောက်ထား မှုဆိုင်ရာ အခြေခံမူများ ကို မည်သို့ ချိုးဖောက်နေကြောင်း” အသစ်ထုတ်ပြန်သည့် စာတန်းငယ်တွင် စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့သည် ကိုဗစ်-၁၉ အား ထိရောက်စွာ တုန့်ပြန်မှု မရှိကြောင်းနှင့် အရေးပေါ်ကာလအတွင်း ထိရောက်စွာကု သပေးရန် ကျိန်းသေစေမည့် လူသားချင်းစာနာထောက်ထားမှုဆိုင်ရာ အခြေခံမူများကို မည်သို့ချိုး ဖောက်နေကြောင်းကို ND-Burma မှ တင်ပြထားသည်။ စစ်အာဏာရှင်များအနေဖြင့် ပြည်သူလူ ထုအား ကျန်းမာရေးအတွက် အရင်းအမြစ်နှင့် ငွေကြေးခွဲဝေပေးမည်မှာ ယုံကြည်စရာ မဟုတ်ပေ။ နေအိမ်များနှင့် လူနာများပြွတ်ကြပ်နေသည့် ဆေးရုံများတွင် သေလုမြောပါး ခံစားနေရသော ထောင်နှင့်ချီသည့် ကိုဗစ်-၁၉ လူနာများ၏ လိုအပ်ချက်နှင့်အညီ ကုသပေးရမည့်အစား စစ်အာဏာ ရှင်များသည် ဆရာဝန်နှင့် ကျန်းမာရေးလုပ်သားများအား ဖမ်းဆီးထိန်းသိမ်းနေပြီး မြို့ပြနှင့် ကျေး လက်များသို့ အသက်ကယ်ပစ္စည်းများ ပေးဝေရန် ငြင်းပယ်နေသည်။ အပစ်အခတ်ရပ်စဲရေး မှာလည်း ချိုးဖောက်ခံနေရပြီး အရေးပေါ်အကူအညီများမှာလည်း စစ်အာဏာရှင် တပ်များ၏ ကြားဖြတ် လုယူခံနေရသည်။ ကျန်းမာရေးစောင့်ရှောက်မှုသည် လူ့အခွင့်အရေးဖြစ်သည်ဆိုသည့် လူသားချင်းစာနာထောက်ထားမှု အခြေခံမူများကို စစ်အာဏာရှင်များ၏ အပြုအမူတို့က တိုက်ရိုက် ချိုးဖောက်နေသည်။ လူသားခြင်း စာနာထောက်ထားခြင်း၊ခွဲခြားမှု မရှိခြင်း၊ ကြားနေခြင်း၊ လွတ်လပ်ခြင်း စသည့် လူသားချင်းစာနာထောက်ထားသည့် အခြေခံမူများကို လိုက်နာစောင့်ထိန်းရန် ပျက်ကွက်ခြင်းဖြင့် လူထုအပေါ် ပျက်ကွက်နေသည်။ စစ်အာဏာရှင်များအနေဖြင့် တရားမဝင် အာဏာရရယူထားမှုကို စွန့်လွှတ်ရန် ND-Burma မှ တောင်းဆိုသည်။ ရည်ရွယ်ချက်ရှိရှိ လုပ်ဆောင်ခြင်းနှင့် လူထုအတွက် ဆောင်ရွက်ပေးလိုစိတ် မရှိခြင်းတို့ ပေါင်းစပ်ထားခြင်းဖြင့် စစ်အာဏာရှင်တို့သည် ပြည့်စုံကုံလုံသည့် လူသားချင်းစာနာမှု ဆိုင်ရာ တုန့်ပြန်ဆောင်ရွက်နိုင်စွမ်းမရှိသည်ကို ပြသနေသည်။ လူ့အသက်များ ကယ်ဆယ်ရေးမှာ သေရေးရှင်ရေးတမျှ အရေးကြီးနေပေရာ ထိခိုက်နစ်နာ အလွယ်ဆုံးသူများအား ကာကွယ်စောင့်ရှောက်ပေးရန်နှင့် ကျန်းမာရေးလုပ်သားများ ကုသရေးလုပ်ငန်းများကို လုံခြုံဘေးကင်းပြီး ဂုဏ်သိက္ခာရှိရှိ ဆောင်ရွက်နိုင်ရန် နိုင်ငံတကာ အသိုင်းအဝိုင်းမှ အလျင်အမြန် ကြားဝင်ဆောင်ရွက်ရမည် ဖြစ်သည်။..."
Source/publisher: Network for Human Rights Documentation - Burma
Date of publication: 2021-07-28
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Myanmar: Junta Escalates Media Crackdown
Sub-title: Release Journalists Wrongfully Detained, Sentenced
Description: " Myanmar’s military junta should stop prosecuting journalists and end its assault on independent media, Human Rights Watch said today, releasing a video about the media crackdown. Since the February 1, 2021 coup, Myanmar’s junta has arrested 98 journalists, 46 of whom are currently in detention, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). Six journalists have been convicted, including five for violating section 505A of the penal code, a new provision that makes it a crime to publish or circulate comments that “cause fear” or spread “false news.” “Fake news” appears to be any news that the authorities do not want to reach the public. “Myanmar’s junta has made the mass arrest of journalists and control over the media a key component of its seizure of power from a democratically elected government,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director. “The junta’s intensifying surveillance, harassment and detention of journalists is rapidly turning Myanmar into one of the region’s most dangerous places to be a journalist.” On June 30 the Ministry of Information issued a warning to journalists to stop describing the military-appointed State Administration Council as a “junta” or face prosecution. It also warned foreign news agencies to cease using the terms “military council” or “military junta,” and to stop “disseminating false news to global people.” The order threatened that “action will be taken against them under the existing laws if they apply wrong usages, quote and exaggerate fake news, and disseminate false information.” Those sentenced under section 505A are: Kaung Myat Hlaing, from Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), who was arrested at his home in Myeik, Tanintharyi Region, and sentenced to two years in prison. Min Nyo, from DVB, who was arrested while reporting on a protest in Pyay Region, and sentenced to three years. Thet Naing Win, from DVB, who was arrested in Bago Region and sentenced to three years. Zaw Zaw, a freelance reporter who was arrested while covering demonstrations in Myeik, Tanintharyi Region and sentenced to two years. Htoo San, a freelance photographer in Myeik, Tanintharyi Region, who was sentenced to three years. Another DVB reporter, May Thwe Aung, was sentenced to one month in prison under penal code section 188 for disobeying a public servant. She had learned on March 16 that the authorities had arrested her husband, Min Min Aung, who is a reporter for The Voice Daily. When she arrived at the police station in Oakkan township in Yangon region to try to find him, the police detained her, ultimately leading to her being charged and prosecuted. The crackdown on journalists is part of the junta’s larger effort to suppress independent media coverage of the situation in Myanmar, and to deny the serious rights violations the military is committing across the country, Human Rights Watch said. “If the situation becomes worse, then it becomes not a safe place for us and the only choice would be to leave the country,” one local reporter told Human Rights Watch. On May 4 the authorities arrested the US journalist Danny Fenster, the managing editor of Frontier Myanmar, at the Yangon International Airport as he prepared to leave the country. On June 18 the authorities charged Fenster under penal code section 505A in a closed hearing inside Insein prison. The basis for the charge against him is not clear. On March 9 the police arrested the Kamayut Media founders Nathan Maung and Han Thar Nyein at their office in Kamayut township in Yangon. Nathan Maung, who has since been released and left the country, said both endured days of torture including routine beatings and sleep deprivation. Han Thar Nyein remains in detention. “Although I am free, my aim now is to make sure Han Thar and the others are also released,” he said. “They are journalists, not criminals.” The many arrests and prosecutions of journalists have had a severe chilling effect on independent journalism in Myanmar. On March 8 the junta stripped media licenses of five local outlets: DVB, Khit Thit Media, Mizzima, Myanmar Now, and 7Day. On May 4, the authorities banned 2 other outlets, the Kachin-based 74 Media and the Shan-based Tachilek News Agency. They also banned satellite television on May 4, extending strict censorship restrictions. Mobile internet restrictions imposed on March 15 remain in place. International human rights law prohibits arbitrary restrictions on the rights to freedom of speech and expression, including by detaining journalists and banning media outlets. “The military’s sustained crackdown on independent media and the arrests of journalists, combined with tightening censorship, threatens to isolate Myanmar’s people with only junta propaganda,” Robertson said. “The junta should immediately and unconditionally drop all politically motivated charges against journalists, reinstate the licenses of banned media outlets, and revoke abusive laws used against members of the media.”..."
Source/publisher: Human Rights Watch (USA)
Date of publication: 2021-07-27
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: At an impasse: How decade-long dictatorship, systemic oppression and social conservatism empowered (or fueled) discrimination and, stigma towards LGBTI people in Myanmar
Description: "Executive Summary: This study shows that many LGBTIQ persons are subject to violations of human rights set forth in Universal Declaration of Human Rights – mainly “freedom from discriminations”, “freedom from torture and degrading treatments”, “right to recognition as a person before the law”, “right to equality before the law”, “freedom from arbitrary arrest and exile”, “right to marriage and family”, “freedom of belief and religion”, “right to desirable work”, “right to education” and “right to participate in the cultural life of the community”. Despite domestic legal frameworks enacted to implement international human rights conventions such as CEDAW and CRC, many LGBTIQ persons in Myanmar also do not enjoy the rights enshrined in those conventions including those mentioned under other international human rights law such as ICCPR and ICESCR. Homophobia and transphobia are deeply rooted and are often followed by a range of physical, emotional, sexual violence and economic abuses against LGBTIQ youths. An online survey conducted by LGBTIQ organizations showed that the rate of domestic violence and family violence exponentially escalated during the unprecedented times of the COVID-19 pandemic. Transgender and gender-queer persons are also discriminated against and mistreated in public and private services and functions. In the economic sector, many LGBTIQ people are not granted equal rights, opportunities, or remuneration like any other employees. LGBTIQ people are verbally, physically and sexually assaulted by their supervisors and fellow colleagues, and their employment institutions fail to defend their rights. In the education sector and learning institutions, LGBTIQ students are oppressed, bullied, excluded, or neglected by their fellow students and learners – mainly based on the grounds of their SOGIESC. These acts can include physical and psychological violence, verbal abuse and sometimes, sexual harassment and exploitation. These practices have negative impacts on their physical and psychological well-being and social lives. In the healthcare sector, LGBTIQ individuals, especially transgender persons and LGBTIQ people living with HIV who are stigmatized and assumed as “spreaders of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.” They are mistreated especially by the caregivers – doctors, nurses and aides and other staff – in healthcare/medical institutions or facilities such as private, public, or governmental hospitals and clinics. Furthermore, LGBTIQ people living with HIV do not have sufficient access to clinics and physicians and HIV medications in rural and remote areas. Clergypersons and other religious community members exhibit behaviours of rejection against LGBTIQ people, especially trans people in their religious activities and even on religious grounds in some cases. Some are treated as inferior sub-humans or are forced to conform to cisgender norms. In some other cases, discrimination in the religion or belief sector is associated with “conversion therapy” that aims to cure homosexuality or bisexuality to return to the state of heterosexuality. The dimension of lobbying activities of LGBTIQ organizations in Myanmar primarily diverges on legal reforms and implementation; leading the advocacy for the amendment of section 377 of the Penal Code, along with other LGBTIQ organizations across the country. Some organisations would engage directly with international human rights mechanisms. These include submission of shadow reports to UNHRC’s UPR mechanism, submission of thematic reports to CEDAW committee, and collaboration with UN agencies in Myanmar – such as UNICEF, UN Women and UNDP – to support LGBTIQ-related data and information. Myanmar’s major emerging LGBTIQ organizations are established on a voluntary basis and informal settings. Despite that the needs required to form a stronger alliance have been identified, varying capacities and experiences of LGBTIQ organizations remain a barrier to form stronger alliances. Respondents from the research also firmly believe that the National Youth Policy, which has defined “LGBTIQ youth” as “groups to be prioritized”, is a beacon that will lead to more government accountability and public awareness on sexually diverse minorities. The increased popularity of LGBTIQ social media influencers, celebrities and icons have opened the eyes of the public on sexual orientation and gender identity. Respondents also mentioned that increased tolerance and acceptance of the general public on LGBTIQ people in urban populations would create more flexibility to advocate for LGBTIQ rights in the future..."
Source/publisher: Asian Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association
Date of publication: 2021-07-26
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-26
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Size: 5.64 MB 5.2 MB
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Title: Pregnant woman among three reported injured by naval attacks in Sagaing
Sub-title: Soldiers rode boats along the Chindwin river and fired guns and artillery at villages along its banks, residents said
Description: "Junta soldiers injured three people, including a pregnant woman, and destroyed several houses during attacks on villages in Sagaing Region last week, locals told Myanmar Now. Troops travelled down the Chindwin river on boats during a two day assault in Kani Township, coming ashore to fire guns and heavy artillery at villages sitting along the riverbank. Locals said soldiers from nine military boats attacked the villages of Sar Pho Gyi, Nat Gyi, Yinyein, and Thit Khat on Friday and Saturday. The pregnant woman, who is 30 years old, was shot in the leg trying to escape when soldiers fired guns at one village, said a Kani local who volunteered to help rescue those injured. “The military started shooting at the shore. The pregnant lady got shot in the leg while trying to flee. She’s seven month pregnant now,” the volunteer said. The volunteer and another local said a house and three motorcycles were burned down in the town of Kani, while two houses in Yinyein and a house from Thit Khet were hit with artillery shells. There were also reports that two men were injured when soldiers came on land and rampaged through Nat Gyi on Saturday morning, and the village was hit with around 20 shells, the residents said. The attacks were likely a response to ambushes by People’s Defence Force fighters against military boats, said a Kani-based political activist. “There were some occasions where People’s Defence Force troops shot at the military vehicles from the shores of the Chindwin river. I think the military was trying to scare off the civilians on the shore,” he said. Thousands of people living along the riverbank have fled their homes since the attacks and are in need of food, medicine, and shelter, the residents said. The junta has not commented on the attacks. Earlier this month villagers found the bodies of 15 men in Kani who appear to have been the victims of a military massacre after they were captured and tortured by soldiers. Kani emerged as a hotspot for anti-coup protests after the military’s February power grab, and some of its residents have since taken up arms in response to murderous crackdowns by the junta..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2021-07-26
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-26
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 24 July 2021)
Description: "Updated 24 July 2021: As of 24 July, (931) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. Today there were no confirmed fallen heroes. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of July 24, a total of (5360) people are currently under detention. (255) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1963 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. On July 17 in Magway Region’s Pwintbyu Township, Min Wai from Pay Taw Village, Soe Naing from Kywel Di Village, Tin Htay Aung from Thamin Chan Village and Myint Myint Htwe from Kan Pyae Village were arrested by many terrorist junta troops, due to informers alleging they were in possession of weapons. Myint Myint Htwe is pregnant and was arrested as a hostage when the junta did not find her husband Nyunt Win, in Kan Pyae Village. On the night of July 23, Kyaw Moe, who has COVID-19, was arrested while he was banging pots against dictatorship in North Dagon Township, Yangon Region. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-07-24
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Size: 1.29 MB 5.17 MB 1.87 MB
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Title: The deeply disturbing situation in Insein Prison once again shows the brutality and cruelty of the genocidal military junta’s regime in Myanmar - အင်းစိန်ဗဟိုအကျဉ်းထောင်မှ လွန်စွာစိုးရိမ်ထိတ်လန့်ဖွယ်ရာကောင်းသော အခြေအနေများသည်၊ လူမျိုးတုံးသတ်ဖြတ်နေသည့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိစစ်အာဏာရှင်၏အကြင်နာမဲ့ ရက်စက်မှုများကို တဖန်ပြန်လည် ပြသနေခြင်းဖြစ်သည်။
Description: "The deeply disturbing situation in Insein Prison once again shows the brutality and cruelty of the genocidal military junta’s regime in Myanmar. While the whole world is fighting to protect humanity from Covid-19, which has no respect for international borders, political affiliations, colour nor culture, race nor religion, yet instead the military junta in Myanmar, led by failed coup leader Min Aung Hlaing, are doing just the opposite. Before it becomes too late to stop the spreading across international borders, and onto the whole world, the International Community must come together and unite to fight this uncontrolled third wave of the Covid-19 Delta Variant which is surging across the prisons - the concentration camps run by the military junta in Myanmar - and across the Nation.....အင်းစိန်ဗဟိုအကျဉ်းထောင်မှ လွန်စွာစိုးရိမ်ထိတ်လန့်ဖွယ်ရာကောင်းသော အခြေအနေများသည်၊ လူမျိုးတုံးသတ်ဖြတ်နေသည့် မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိစစ်အာဏာရှင်၏အကြင်နာမဲ့ ရက်စက်မှုများကို တဖန်ပြန်လည် ပြသနေခြင်းဖြစ်သည်။ ကမ္ဘာတဝှမ်းလုံးသည် လူသားမျိုးနွယ်အား၊ နိုင်ငံတကာ နယ်နိမိတ် စည်းများအပေါ် လေးစားမှုမရှိသော၊ နိုင်ငံရေးနှင့်ပတ်သက် ဆက်နွယ်မှုလည်းမရှိသော၊ အသားအရောင်၊ ဓလေ့ထုံးစံ၊ လူမျိုးရေး၊ဘာသာရေး စသည်တို့ကို သိရှိနားလည်ခြင်းနှင့် လေးစားမှု အလျင်းမရှိသည့် Covid-19 ရောဂါမှ ကာကွယ်နိုင်ရန်အတွက် အပြင်းအထန်တိုက်ခိုက် နေရချိန်တွင်၊ ရှုံးနိမ့်နေပြီဖြစ်သော အာဏာသိမ်းစစ်ခေါင်းဆောင် မင်းအောင်လှိုင် ဦးဆောင်သည့် အာဏာသိမ်း စစ်တပ်သည် ကမ္ဘာတဝှမ်းလုံး၏ ဆောင်ရွက်ချက်များနှင့် ဆန့်ကျင်စွာပြုမူ လျက်ရှိသည်။ အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ နယ်နိမိတ် များမှတဆင့်၊ ကမ္ဘာတဝှမ်းသို့ ရောဂါကူးစက်ပြန့်နှံ့ မှုများမဖြစ်ပွားမီ ဆောလျင်စွာ အချိန်မလင့်နောက်မကျခင် တားဆီးထိန်းချုပ်ရန်လိုအပ်ပါသည်။ အာဏာသိမ်းစစ်တပ်၏ အုပ်ချုပ်မှုအောက် ကျရောက်နေသော မြန်မာနိုင်ငံရှိ နိုင်ငံရေး အကျဉ်းသား များထားရာ အကျဉ်းထောင်များတွင် ကူးစက်မှုနှုန်းမြင့်တက်လျက်ရှိပြီး ကမ္ဘာတဝှမ်းလုံး အရှိန်အဟုန်နှင့် ကူးစက်ပြန့်ပွားနေသော မထိန်းချုပ်နိုင်သေးသည့် Covid-19 Delta မျိုးကွဲ တတိယလှိုင်းကို အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ အသိုင်းအဝိုင်းများ အနေဖြင့် အတူတကွပူးပေါင်း၍ ညီညီညွတ်ညွတ် တိုက်ထုတ်ကြရမည်ဖြစ်သည်။..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of International Cooperation Myanmar
Date of publication: 2021-07-24
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Bi-weekly situation update by the Karenni Civil Society Network, July 5-July 18, 2021 Summary of SAC violations in Karenni State and Pekhon Township - ကရင်နီလူမှုအသင်းအဖွဲ့များကွန်ယက်၏ နှစ်ပတ်တကြိမ် အခြေအနေ တင်ပြချက် ဇူလိုင် ၅ရက် ဇူလိုင် ၁၈ရက်၊ ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် – ကရင်နီပြည်နယ်နှင့် ဖယ်ခုံမြို့နယ် အတွင်း စစ်ကော်စီ၏ ချိုးဖောက်မှုများ အကျဉ်း
Description: "Killing: The number of documented killings by SAC security forces has increased from 76 to 82 during the past two weeks, although the actual total death toll is higher as this does not count the number of decomposed bodies of unidentified civilians that have been found. The six recently killed were civilians who were accused of being informers.....Ongoing military aggression: On July 12, KNPP plus KNDF troops had four armed clashes with SAC troops from LIB 530 and Infantry Division 66, who were carrying out clearance operations and entered into a KNPP controlled area in northern Loikaw township. The four clashes were: 1) at 8 am northeast of Nan Kwe village; 2) at 12 pm near Thiree Dah Wan Kai village; 3) at 4:15 pm near Daw Tahay village; 4) at 6 pm near Daw Tahay and Payapyu villages. The SAC troops fired artillery in the vicinity of Loile Lay town and Tee Lon village tract but retreated from the area when 14 of their soldiers were killed. During their operation. the SAC troops killed local villagers’ livestock, including chickens and pigs, for food. As a result of the fighting, 20 villages with a population of around 8,000 have been displaced as IDPs. On the same day, July 12, KNPLF, KNLP and Kayaw Ni troops found several unidentifed decomposed dead bodies in a ditch next to house No. 3-27 in San Pya 6-mile village of Demawso township where the SAC troops from Infantry Division 66 had been based for two months. The SAC troops had moved out during a troop rotation on July 10. The KNPLF troops helped to burn the dead bodies. On July 16, at 2:45 pm, joint KNPP and KNDF troops had a 30-minute clash with about 50 SAC troops from Infantry Division 66 near Nan Peh village of Bawlake township, where the KNPP and KNDF have been operating. The number of SAC casualties is not known, but the SAC then brought in about 200 more troop reinforcements to continue their clearance operation. On July 18, SAC troops from Bawlake town launched artillery attacks into Nan Peh village tract in Bawlake township, and ground troops entered Nan Peh village and continued to patrol into Taw Kho village tract in Pruso township. As a result, around 2,629 villagers from 7 villages in Taw Kho village tract and Nan Peh village tract have fled their homes to hide in the surrounding jungle. The SAC troops also entered Nan Peh village and broke windows and front doors of villagers’ houses Due to the ongoing offensives carried out by SAC, the KNDF has announced that they will cooperate with local ethnic armed organizations and fight against the SAC, meaning that the temporary cease-fire agreement has failed and there will be more fighting.....Covid situation in Karenni State: As in other areas of Burma, the third wave of the Covid 19 pandemic has also spread to Karenni State. From June 15 to July 17, there were 157 Covid cases, 3 of whom died. Most of the cases were Loikaw town residents. The fast spread of the disease has caused increased worry among the IDPs, who are already facing health problems and insufficient health care. Local communities have set up their own Covid 19 screening points at village entrances, but there is a shortage of experienced health personnel and equipment. The SAC’s mismanagement of the country and collapse of the health care system are fuelling fears that the pandemic will become much worse.....Situation of IDPs and humanitarian aid: Due to the rainy season, it is difficult for the IDPs to shelter from the rain. Some IDPs have plastic tarpaulins, but due to wear and tear, they need to use two tarpaulins instead of one to protect themselves from the rain. However, during heavy rain, even double tarpaulins are insufficient to keep dry. Some IDPs have nothing, no tarpaulins or even thin plastic sheets. Moreover, due to lack of clean water for drinking and cooking, and lack of nutritious food, the IDP children and pregnant women have been suffering from diarrhea and skin diseases, such as scabies. The lack of hygienic toilets is also causing diarrhea. As it is the rainy season, flu and malaria are becoming more prevalent too. There is an acute shortage of medicines to treat these diseases. In some sites, they only have paracetamol. Local civil society groups and church based groups under the Karenni IDPs Support Network (KISN)and Karenni Humanitarian Team (KHT) have been helping the IDPs to receive rice, cooking oil, salt, beans, noodles and other dried food. Mosquito nets, tarpaulins and school materials have also been distributed. However, the aid received has been inadequate to meet all the IDP needs. It is unclear whether international agencies such as Save the Children, UNHCR, Mercy Corps, NRC, ACF, MAG and IRC, who used to have a presence in Karenni State, are still operating there. They have not been seen giving assistance to the local Karenni people..."
Source/publisher: Karenni Civil Society Network
Date of publication: 2021-07-22
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 23 July 2021)
Description: "As of 23 July, (931) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. Today there were no confirmed fallen heroes. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of July 23, a total of (5358) people are currently under detention. (255) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1963 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. On July 17, four youths named Ye Myint, Htet Wai Min, photography enthusiast Kyaw Zin Win and another youth (name still unconfirmed), who all are from Lashio Town in Shan State, were arrested at their homes by junta police and soldiers for being accused of associating with the PDF. In the evening of July 21, workshop owner Soe Aung who was filling oxygen at Myingyan Industrial Zone in Mandalay Region and his 26 years old son, two others from the workshop, and a person who arrived to fill oxygen were arrested by the terrorist junta wearing plain clothes with five private cars. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-07-23
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.29 MB 5.31 MB 1.85 MB
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Title: Anatomy of a Massacre: How Myanmar’s Military Killed Dozens of Pro-Democracy Protesters
Sub-title: The death toll in Bago was the biggest one-day total for a single city since mid-March. It had a chilling effect on the pro-democracy movement.
Description: "Running through alleys or hiding in terror at home, they feared for their lives as friends were picked off one by one. Many were never heard from again. It started in the early morning on April 9, as people in Myanmar woke up to graphic social media posts about military operations unfolding in the city of Bago, just 55 miles northeast of the country’s biggest city Yangon. But this was no normal operation. As blasts and gunfire lit up the predawn darkness, heavily armed forces launched an unprecedented assault on pro-democracy protesters in the medium-sized city studded with pagodas. After security forces arrested leader Aung San Suu Kyi and seized power in a Feb. 1 coup, Bago emerged as a flashpoint in the nationwide demonstrations sweeping Myanmar. Local civilian protesters set up barricades in the eastern part of the city, establishing a level of autonomy signaling resistance to junta rule. But in just 24 hours in Bago, human rights groups and residents say soldiers hunted down and killed more than 80 people there, many of them young activists. The government downplayed the crackdown and blamed protesters for the violence, but witnesses tell a different story of nearly being killed and losing friends. According to human rights monitor the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which keeps a running database of confirmed deaths and detentions, more than 900 protesters and bystanders have been killed by the military since February. The death toll in Bago was the biggest one-day total for a single city since March 14. It had a chilling effect on the pro-democracy movement and forced many activists to flee into the borderlands of Myanmar to join guerrilla resistance groups. It was just before sunrise, when troops encircled the “safe” zone established by protesters in the city, then stormed the encampment, using rifle grenades to destroy barricades on main cross streets and firing live rounds indiscriminately. “Some of us who were taking cover behind that barricade lost their lives. But we couldn’t go to pick up their bodies,” said Myo Ko, a protest organizer who had spent the previous night with his friends guarding barricade number 7 on the city’s Magadit Road. “While the road and the streets were filled with smoke, they started shooting at any moving thing or shadows they saw with a machine gun.” “Some of us who were taking cover behind that barricade lost their lives. But we couldn’t go to pick up their bodies.” In a matter of minutes, protesters on Magadit Rd were trying to defend themselves with homemade airguns, slingshots and fireworks against encroaching troop movements. While Myo Ko took cover with friends, “Thiri” could see what was happening on the street from her home. “We all heard the sound of shelling. We heard the noises continuously,” she said. “From the next streets we heard the machine guns. We heard the screams ‘run!’” Her real name is not being used out of fear of reprisals from security forces, who have arrested more than 5,000 people since the coup, according to monitors. With little effort, the army had taken over Magadit Road. Soldiers moved east to San Daw Twin Road to reinforce units attacking protesters there. That’s where another protest organizer going by the name of Kay was trapped. “Some of my friends were killed and many others were also arrested,” Kay said. In just over an hour, the last barricade on San Daw Twin Rd fell. The military had full control of the city. But the bloodshed was just beginning, as soldiers went door to door as people cowered in whatever safe place they could find. “We felt like we could die anytime,” said Thiri, who hid in an old storage room for 24 hours. She remained in utter silence and did not open the door until the next morning. “We felt like we could die anytime.” Myo Ko survived by fleeing south through alleys and fields, but his cousin wasn’t so lucky. “My cousin, he got shot in the leg and was hidden in a neighboring house. When the soldiers got into that house, he tried to run away and was shot from behind,” he said. Residents reported seeing soldiers stack dozens of bodies at the Zeyar Muni pagoda near Magadit Road. They said the injured were slumped over the dead. By the next morning, most of the bodies had disappeared, according to residents, along with much of the evidence of the military’s massacre. Only three bodies of victims were recovered by families in the days that followed the massacre, according to human rights organizations and sources on the ground. The next day, residents picked up shells, bullet casings and other remnants of the bloody day that littered the streets of Bago. Used mostly in remote border areas to fight rebel insurgents, the rifle grenades stood out in the urban environment. The message to the people of Myanmar was chilling: if you rise up against the army, you will pay. The junta disputes the allegations, claiming only one person was killed, even as AAPP has confirmed the deaths of 82 people. But the day marked a turning point in the protests. Months later, many protesters have given up on the idea of mass demonstrations and strikes, taking up arms with a People’s Defense Force as a last resort. “We will keep on fighting any way possible,” Myo Ko said, from an undisclosed location. “The youths are gathering to fight, to end this military dictatorship.”..."
Source/publisher: "VICE" (New York)
Date of publication: 2021-07-22
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 22 July 2021)
Description: "Updated 22 July 2021: As of 22 July, (931) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (2) fallen heroes today. These (2) fallen heroes from Minkin Township and Shwebo Township in Sagaing Region were killed yesterday and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of July 22, a total of (5333) people are currently under detention. (255) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1963 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. On July 21, terrorist junta’s troops raided Kun Seik Village in Sagaing Region’s Shwebo Township and shot dead local villager Thein Tint a.k.a Jit Leik, when he was running away in fear. Khin Mar Yi a.k.a Phwar Cho, former chairman of Sagaing Region’s Minkin Township Development Committee, who was arrested and charged under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code since March for involvement in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) and protesting, suffers from chronic diabetes. She died on July 21 in a Minkin detention cell due to diabetes and heart failure as she was not allowed to receive medical treatment at hospital while detained. On the night of July 20, Mya Wunn Yan, chief editor of Than Lwin Thway Chinn News Agency based in Shan State’s Taunggyi City, and her two daughters, Nan Khin Hphone Thwe and Su Myat Noe, who are also reporters, were arrested at home in Taunggyi by the terrorist junta. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-07-22
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.29 MB 5.28 MB 1.62 MB
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Title: KHRG’s Statement on Mass Killing in Dooplaya District
Description: "Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) stands firmly for human rights and is concerned by the news of 25 men found killed in Waw Lay, Ka Nae Lay area, Kaw T’ree Township, Dooplaya District in June 2021. In interviews with The Irrawaddy and Karen Information Center (KIC), the Karen National Defence Organisation (KNDO) justified the killings, claiming that these men were spies working for the military junta, and adding: “we have had to do what we are supposed to do as we are fighting a war.” KHRG strongly condemns this mass killing. Extrajudicial executions constitute “willful killings” and are thus in serious violation of the Geneva Conventions, specifically Common Article 3, which addresses non-international armed conflict, and which the KNU has formally committed to abiding by. Also, under the International Human Rights Law, the prohibition of the arbitrary deprivation of life, the right to humane treatment, and the right to a fair trial applies to everyone including those alleged to be spies. KHRG welcomes the announcement by the Karen National Union (KNU) of a full investigation into this incident. Given KNDO is an armed wing of the KNU, KNU has a responsibility to conduct an impartial investigation. KHRG will watch for the results of the KNU’s investigation into this case and calls on the KNU to hold accountable those found to be responsible for this crime and to take appropriate judicial action against the perpetrators. KHRG is committed to the defense of human rights and the need to end impunity for violations, regardless of who the perpetrators may be. KHRG calls for accountability for all human rights violations and abuses committed by any actor during the present military coup and under past regimes..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group
Date of publication: 2021-07-22
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Myanmar: Junta Tribunals Impose 65 Death Sentences
Sub-title: Secretive Military Trials Violate Fair Trial Standards
Description: "The Myanmar junta’s military tribunals have sentenced 65 people to death following unjust trials since the military coup on February 1, 2021, Human Rights Watch said today. State media and local groups have reported that 26 of those sentenced are currently detained, while 39 were convicted in absentia. Military tribunals handed down the death sentences in areas of Yangon where the junta declared martial law in March. In imposing martial law, the junta transferred all executive and judicial power to the head of the relevant regional military command and instituted the death penalty as a possible sentence for 23 crimes. “The Myanmar junta has added to its mass shootings of protesters on the streets by having military tribunals hand down several dozen death sentences after egregiously unfair trials,” said Shayna Bauchner, Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Apparently aimed to chill the anti-coup protest movement, these death sentences should serve as a stark warning to foreign governments that urgent action is needed to show the junta that there will be a reckoning for its crimes.” On March 14 and 15, the State Administration Council (SAC) junta declared martial law in 11 townships in Yangon and Mandalay, following a weekend in which security forces killed an estimated 120 people during anti-coup protests. The Yangon commander, Maj. Gen. Nyunt Win Swe, was granted oversight of all administrative and judicial powers in the designated Yangon townships. The martial law orders lay out 23 categories of crimes to be charged in military tribunals in the designated townships, all of them carrying a potential sentence of capital punishment. The designated offenses include several put in place by the junta since the coup. The majority are not capital crimes in civilian courts. The 65 death sentences have been imposed for murder charges under penal code sections 302, 396, and 397. The martial law regulations require the SAC chair, Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, to approve all execution orders. They also state there is “no appeal for decisions or convictions handed down” by a military tribunal. The only option for defendants sentenced to death is to apply to the SAC chair within 15 days of the conviction to reverse the decision. Min Aung Hlaing has the authority to overturn the decision, change the sentence to a lesser penalty, or approve the decision. The applications can only be filed through prison officials, not lawyers, Radio Free Asia reported. The execution orders were issued in six batches between April and June. The rushed and concealed legal proceedings, carried out against civilians by military courts not properly convened according to law, have gravely deprived detainees and those convicted in absentia of their basic fair trial rights. Military tribunals in Myanmar have long been conducted behind closed doors inside Yangon’s Insein Prison, where the rules of evidence and procedure applicable in civilian courts do not apply. Those on trial before military tribunals face almost certain conviction regardless of the validity of the charges against them, while the trials are held outside the scrutiny of the public or the international community. In the first death penalty case brought by the junta, state media reported that 18 men and a woman were sentenced to death on April 8 for allegedly attacking two military officers riding a motorbike, one of whom later died, in North Okkalapa township in Yangon on March 27. The 19 people were sentenced under penal code sections 396 and 397 for murder and robbery. Another man was sentenced to death on April 28 for the same incident. Three of those sentenced are in custody; the remainder were convicted in absentia. A Yangon military tribunal sentenced two women and five men to death on April 12 under penal code section 302(1)(b) for their alleged involvement in the murder of a woman in Hlaing Tharyar township who had reportedly supported the military. Four are detained; three others were convicted in absentia. On May 24, Insein prison’s military tribunal sentenced 18 people – 15 men, a woman, and 2 teenage boys – to death under penal code section 302(1)(c) on charges of allegedly killing a supporter of the military on March 29 in South Dagon. Seven are in hiding; eleven have been detained. The two teenagers, ages 17 and 15, were detained on April 17. State media reported that they were transferred to a juvenile court. Four of the detained men are brothers. Five men were sentenced to death on May 27, four of them in absentia, under penal code section 302(1)(b) for the alleged fatal attack of a man living in Shwe Pyi Thar township. In the latest reported convictions, a military tribunal sentenced 15 people – 13 men and 2 women – to death on June 21, charged under penal code section 302(1)(b) for allegedly killing an informant and two of his sons on March 15 in Shwe Pauk Kan Myothit, North Okkalapa township. Seven are detained; eight were sentenced in absentia. Since February, the junta and security forces have responded with increasing violence and repression to the nationwide anti-coup movement. State security forces have killed over 900 people and detained an estimated 5,300 activists, journalists, civil servants, and politicians. The martial law orders also allow for death penalty sentencing for treason and related offenses, several of which were put in place or expanded by the SAC to broadly criminalize protest activity and the Civil Disobedience Movement. Under the expanded treason provisions, it is unlawful to “excite disaffection against” the defense forces, effectively making any criticism of the military treasonous. The military courts have also been assigned to hear charges used to stifle dissent, including Penal Code section 505A, a new provision put in place by the junta that makes a criminal offense comments that “cause fear,” spread “false news” or “agitate directly or indirectly a criminal offense against a government employee.” Some detainees on death row reported being beaten by police in prison. Myanmar security forces have subjected many detainees arrested since the coup to torture and other ill-treatment, including routine beatings. Detainees are frequently kept incommunicado, unable to contact relatives or legal counsel. The victims, among them a 17-year-old boy who spoke to Human Rights Watch, described beatings, burnings from lit cigarettes, prolonged stress positions, and gender-based violence. Other sources interviewed said security forces often transported detainees to police precincts or military interrogation facilities, where they would be beaten and forced to stand, kneel, or lie in stress positions for hours. Myanmar has not carried out judicial executions of prisoners since 1988, although Myanmar law still retains the death penalty, and courts have continued to sentence people to death. Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty under all circumstances because of its inherent cruelty and irreversibility, and has long called on Myanmar to ban all capital punishment. “These bogus military tribunals are handing down unfair and unappealable death sentences under direction from a commander sanctioned by the European Union, United States, and others for committing the worst crimes under international law,” Bauchner said. “The United Nations, EU, US, and other governments should be demanding the release of all those wrongfully imprisoned and ramping up pressure so the junta knows that what they do – even behind prison doors – is being watched.”..."
Source/publisher: Human Rights Watch (USA)
Date of publication: 2021-07-21
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 21 July 2021)
Description: "Updated 21 July 2021: As of 21 July, (929) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (7) fallen heroes today. These (7) fallen heroes from Momauk Township in Kachin State, Htandabin Township in Bago Region and Kalay Township in Sagaing Region were killed the previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of July 21, a total of (5323) people are currently under detention. (255) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1963 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. On July 20, Su Su Htay, a 2nd-year university student Kaung Myat Naing, and an 8th-grade student May Htoo Naing. The wife, son and daughter of Kyaw Soe Naing, MP for Nganzun Township of Mandalay Region, were arrested at Shwe-Kyar-Inn Monastery in Myittha Township when the terrorist junta could not find Kyaw Soe Naing there. Moreover, San San Maw, who is involved in Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), and lived with the family, was also arrested. In addition to this, Chit Naing, a 1st-year distance education student majoring in Geography at Dawei University, was followed and arrested by the terrorist junta wearing plain clothes in Dawei City, Tanintharyi Region on July 20. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-07-21
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.52 MB 5.39 MB 1.62 MB
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Title: PROTESTS PERSIST ACROSS MYANMAR DESPITE ONGOING ARRESTS, TORTURE AND KILLINGS BY JUNTA
Description: "Protests have continued in Myanmar, more than five months after the Myanmar military junta seized power in a coup on 1st February 2021 and arrested the civilian leaders of the national and state governments. According to the latest data from human rights group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), as of 20th July 2021, 922 individuals have been confirmed killed by the military and a total of 5,315 people are currently in detention. The military junta has also continued its attacks against ethic armed organisations and the People’s Defence Forces (PDF) in various regions including in Kayah and Mon states, Kachin and Shan, Chin and Rakhine states, leaving at least 230,000 civilians displaced as of 24th June 2021. The People's Defence Forces formed by the underground National Unity Government and aimed to protect civilians from security forces has been mobilised against the junta. On 19th June 2021, the UN General Assembly issued a resolution condemning the coup and demanding that the military “immediately stop all violence against peaceful demonstrators”. However, it stopped short of calling for a global arms embargo against Myanmar’s military, even as it took the rare step of urging member states to “prevent the flow of arms” into the country. It was approved by 119 countries, with 36 abstaining including China, Myanmar’s main ally. Only one country, Belarus, voted against it. It was sponsored by some 60 countries. Human rights groups have continued to call on the UN Security Council to impose an arms embargo. On 26th June 2021, Pramila Patten, the U.N. special representative of the secretary-general on sexual violence in conflict, described an “extremely concerning” pattern of sexual violence by Myanmar’s military. Patten focused particularly on reports of sexual violence against women in detention centres. On 7th July 2021, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, called for the urgent formation of an “Emergency Coalition for the People of Myanmar” to stop what he described as the military junta’s “reign of terror” in the country. He added: “It could reduce the junta’s ability to attack its citizens, save the lives of those in acute crisis, and gain political leverage so that the crisis in Myanmar might come to a just and permanent conclusion”. Andrews highlighted the extreme human rights abuses committed by the junta, which he described as crimes against humanity. Various countries have continued to impose sanctions on the military junta. On 21st June 2021, the EU implemented new sanctions on top officials in Myanmar's ruling military junta, including travel bans and asset freezes on eight officials, and also targeted four "economic entities" tied to the Myanmar military. The UK also added three Myanmar economic entities to its sanctions list including a state-owned pearl firm and a timber company. The United States also imposed fresh sanctions on 3rd July 2021, on 22 individuals including four Myanmar government ministers. The sanctions target Myanmar’s minister of information Chit Naing, minister for investment Aung Naing Oo, labour and immigration minister Myint Kyaing, and Thet Thet Khine, the minister for social welfare, relief and resettlement. Three members of the powerful State Administrative Council were also hit with sanctions, as were 15 spouses and adult children of officials. On 8th June 2021, Japan's lower house adopted a resolution condemning the coup and urging the country to return to democracy. The resolution, adopted in a House of Representatives plenary session, described the military coup as an "act to trample on efforts and expectations for democratisation" and called on the Japanese government to "make full use of all diplomatic resources and every effort to realize" the restoration of democracy in Myanmar. However, the country has yet to impose sanctions. Human rights groups have continued to criticise ASEAN for its failure to address the human rights violations in Myanmar and for shielding the Myanmar military from international pressure and accountability. On 4th June 2021, 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 but reported little tangible progress. ASEAN members also tried to block a UN General Assembly draft resolution calling for a global arms embargo on the junta. In a positive development, the Human Rights Council (HRC) postponed the adoption of the outcomes of Myanmar’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR). This came after 414 Myanmar and international civil society organisations urged the HRC to postpone the session and reject the Myanmar military junta representatives at the UN Offices in Geneva and recognise the National Unity Government (NUG). Over the last month, the junta has targeted artists, medical workers, lawyers, LGBTIQ activists and their families, youths and others. Some have been sentenced for ‘incitement’ (Section 505a) and ‘unlawful assembly’ (Section 145) while others have been tortured or killed by the junta with impunity. Nearly half of the 87 journalists arrested by Myanmar’s junta in the five months since it staged a coup remain in detention. An investigation by the rights group Global Witness found that Facebook is promoting content that incites violence against Myanmar’s coup protesters and amplifies junta misinformation..."
Source/publisher: Civicus (Johannesburg)
Date of publication: 2021-07-21
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 20 July 2021)
Description: "Updated 20 July 2021: As of 20 July, (922) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (3) fallen heroes today. These (3) fallen heroes from Sanchaung Township and Hlaing Tharyar Township in Yangon Region and Kyaukdaga Township in Bago Region were killed the previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of July 20, a total of (5315) people are currently under detention. (255) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1963 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. Nyan Win, NLD Secretary, who contracted COVID-19 while he was detained in Insein Prison, and only then transferred to Yangon General Hospital due to his severe condition because he did not receive adequate medical treatment in prison, died on July 20 in hospital. Likewise, Win Kyaing, NLD executive member of Western Hlaing Tharyar Township of Yangon Region, died on July 20 due to COVID-19 having been detained in Insein Prison. Aye Hla, Vice Chairman of NLD of Kyaukdaga Township of Bago Region, died on July 19 at Daik-u (Kyaik Za Kaw) Prison due to injuries consistent with torture during interrogation. He was arrested on June 16 having been accused of providing training to PDFs and allegedly in possession of weapons, when the junta did not find his son Linn Linn Kyaw, MP for Kyaukdaga Township of Bago Region. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-07-20
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.51 MB 4.96 MB 1.62 MB
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Title: IFEX calls on Myanmar junta to drop all charges under new censorship legislation, free all protestors and journalists, and restore media licenses
Description: "IFEX is calling for the restoration of media licenses to IFEX member Mizzima News and other media outlets who have played an essential role in shedding light on the violence inflicted by the junta against their own people. 897 people have been killed and over 6500 arrested, charged or sentenced since the coup in February. IFEX, the global network of over 100 organisations dedicated to promoting and defending the right to freedom of expression and information, is calling on Myanmar’s military junta to drop all charges under its repressive censorship legislation, Penal Code section 505A, and to immediately release all protestors and journalists detained under section 505A and other laws. IFEX is also calling for the restoration of media licenses to IFEX member Mizzima News and other media outlets who have played an essential role in shedding light on the violence inflicted by the junta against their own people. 897 people have been killed and over 6500 arrested, charged or sentenced since the coup in February. Shortly after seizing power, the junta amended section 505A to criminalize comments that supposedly “cause fear,” spread misinformation, or incite crimes against government employees. Offences under section 505A are non-bailable and subject to arrest without a warrant, with a guilty charge punishable by up to 3 years in prison. Legal experts have highlighted how the legislation has been used widely against opponents of military rule. “This legislation is typical of how repressive regimes the world over seek to silence critics, limit civic space and threaten the safety and freedom of expression of journalists and media outlets,” stated IFEX Executive Director Annie Game. “With the junta continuing to perpetrate violence against their own people, access to reliable information has never been so important. All charges under section 505A should be dropped, all protestors and journalists freed, and media licenses restored so that our colleagues at Mizzima News and other outlets can operate freely.” Addressing a recent session of the UN Human Rights Council, Thomas H. Andrews, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Myanmar, described how the military junta continues to stifle freedom of expression, including by “using criminal defamation charges to target journalists, human rights defenders, and civil society leaders.” Speaking at the same session, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet labelled the situation in Myanmar as a, “multi-dimensional human rights catastrophe,” that requires immediate action. She pointed to the silencing of civil voices, the arrests of journalists, and the shuttering of media outlets, and highlighted “multiple reports of enforced disappearances; brutal torture and deaths in custody; and the arrest of relatives or children in lieu of the person being sought.” Mizzima News has been one of the many targets of these attacks. Since the coup, Mizzima has been outlawed and their offices raided. Despite these threats, the organisation has continued to operate, oppose the coup, and call for the restoration of democracy. In response the military junta has charged 18 Mizzima staff members and journalists under section 505A, including Ko Zaw Zaw, Mizzima’s Myeik-based freelance reporter who was sentenced to two years in prison. Women human rights defenders and journalists have been at particular risk of arrest under the legislation. On April 8, Thin Thin Aung, co-founder of Mizzima, was arrested in Yangon along with James Pu Thoure, a Mizzima staff member. Her house was ransacked, her computer seized and the entirety of her and her news outlet’s funds taken away. Both of them were taken to Mingalardon interrogation center (Yay Kyi Aing) for two weeks, before being transferred to Yangon’s Insein prison on April 21. Thin Thin Aung remains in prison to this day, charged under section 505A. Her next court hearing is scheduled for July 28. There have been numerous calls for her release, including from a group of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, with concerns being expressed over her health and high risk of torture. IFEX member organisations across the Asia-Pacific region and the globe have expressed their strong condemnation of the coup and support for those struggling for their rights. Updates from the developing situation in Myanmar are available on the websites of IFEX and Mizzima..."
Source/publisher: International Freedom of Expression Exchange
Date of publication: 2021-07-21
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Around 5,000 Sagaing Villagers Flee Myanmar Junta Raid
Description: "Over 5,000 residents from three villages in Shwebo Township, Sagaing Region, fled their homes after junta raids on Sunday. Shootouts occurred outside Pa Lai village on Sunday evening when resistance fighters used homemade rifles against large numbers of advancing junta troops. “They came with informants. At first, there was only a truck of them but more troops followed in smaller vehicles. We were outnumbered and they fired artillery at the village. All the villagers have fled into the forest,” said a Pa Lai villager. Junta troops set a National League for Democracy ((NLD) supporter’s house in Pa Lai on fire. The two-story building, along with four silos and harvesters, was destroyed. The financial loss was estimated at more than 100 million kyats (US$61,000), said another resident. About 16km from Shwebo, Pa Lai is a large village with a population of more than 3,000. Nearby villages Kantha and Gontan have a combined population of over 2,000. “All the villagers fled. We can’t yet return because they are stationed at a monastery in the village. Some houses were damaged by shelling. I don’t know yet if anyone was injured,” said a resident. Junta troops also reportedly ransacked the house of a former NLD chairman in Kantha village and detained three villagers. Personnel have also reportedly raided villages adjacent to Kantha and Gontha. “We are still in the forest and having troubles. Some of us are elderly and children. They are raiding one village after another. I heard a woman was shot by a sniper. I don’t know if she died. Many of us ran as soon as they entered the village. All the villagers followed after they started firing artillery,” said a villager. Four residents were killed in a shootout between a neighborhood watch group and junta troops in Seik Khun village on Saturday..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication: 2021-07-19
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 19 July 2021)
Description: "Updated 19 July 2021: As of 19 July, (919) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (5) fallen heroes today. These (5) fallen heroes from Bago Township in Bago Region and Shwebo Township in Sagaing Region were killed the previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of July 19, a total of (5293) people are currently under detention. (255) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1963 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. The family was informed that political activist Naing Linn Soe a.k.a. Ye Gyi from Bago Township in Bago Region, who was detained and interrogated by Infantry Division No.77 in Bago since June, was sent to hospital on July 17 due to COVID-19, and died on July 18. He was arrested after his wife was detained as a hostage on June 14, and forced to show his hiding place to the terrorist junta. On the night of July 17, junta troops raided Seik Khun village in Sagaing Region’s Shwebo Township and shot four youths to death unprovoked while they were guarding the village. These youths are Thet Soe, Htay Hlaing Win, Aung Paing Htwe and Aung Hein Kyaw. Activist Tin Htut Paing and Aung Min Oo were arrested at an apartment in Yangon Region’s Hlaing Township by junta forces on the night of July 18. In addition to this, on the night of July 18, Lin Htin Soe, Mandalay Region’s Chairman of the Takhon Farmer Federation for Burma, living in Pyin Oo Lwin Township in Mandalay Region, was arrested at his home by the junta, the junta forces also confiscated some money and a car from his home. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-07-19
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.44 MB 5.31 MB 1.59 MB
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 17 July 2021)
Description: "Updated 17 July 2021: As of 17 July, (914) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (2) fallen heroes today. These (2) fallen heroes from Sinbaungwe Township in Magwe Region and Minkin Township in Sagaing Region were killed yesterday and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when.. As of July 17, a total of (5281) people are currently under detention. (254) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1963 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. In the morning of July 16, Tin Ohn from Ayekayit village in Magwe Region’s Sinbaungwe Township, was shot over 15 times by the terrorist junta and died while he was working at sesame field when the junta did not find his son Yan Myo Aung, MP of No (1) Constituency of Sinbaungwe Township of Magwe Region, who was evading arrest because he did not sign to not support CRPH and NUG. On July 16, the terrorist junta raided nearby villages including Inpinhla Village in Sagaing Region’s Minkin Township and shot Zwe Ko Ko from Inpinhla Village to death. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-07-17
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.26 MB 5.14 MB 1.6 MB 1.76 MB
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Title: Father of NLD MP shot dead by junta soldiers in Sinbaungwe, Magwe Region
Sub-title: Villagers say the 60-year-old farmer was killed while tending to his sesame field
Description: "The father of a National League for Democracy (NLD) regional parliamentarian was shot dead in Sinbaungwe Township, Magwe Region by the junta’s soldiers on Friday morning. Two locals confirmed to Myanmar Now that the troops shot and killed Tin Ohn, a 60-year-old farmer, in his field at 10am. He was the father of elected regional MP Yan Aung Myo. A villager from Tha Ngar village, where Tin Ohn lived, said he was working in a sesame field when he was killed. “According to the sound of the gunfire, they shot about 20 rounds,” the villager said. “The soldiers knew where [Yan Aung Myo’s] family members were because of information given to them by military informants.” He added that some villagers reportedly saw Tin Ohn's body being taken away by the army on a three-wheeled motorcycle. Villagers have been unable to contact Tin Ohn’s other family members since his death, the villager said. “We can’t call them. They have not picked up the calls,” he said. Myanmar Now is continuing to gather information surrounding Tin Ohn’s killing. A Sinbaungwe resident said that at around 2pm on Friday, the junta announced that Tin Ohn’s body could be retrieved from the township hospital. A village administrator and clerk were reportedly going to claim it. Villagers from Tha Ngar made a grave to bury Tin Ohn on Saturday. Parliamentarian Yan Aung Myo, Tin Ohn’s son, lived in Aye Ka Rit village near Tha Ngar, but he had been on the run since April, the Sinbaungwe resident said. Yan Aung Myo contested and won the 2020 general election as an NLD candidate in Magwe’s regional parliament for Sinbaungwe’s Constituency 1..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2021-07-17
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Myanmar: Acts of torture while in custody against Man Zar Myay Mon
Description: "The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Myanmar. New information: The Observatory has been informed about the acts of torture while in custody and the ongoing judicial harassment against Man Zar Myay Mon, an environmental and land rights defender, member of the Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and Accountability (MATA) [1] and of the Subnational Coordination Unit (SCU) of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) [2] in Sagaing Region. According to a family member, Man Zar Myay Mon had his fingers broken during interrogation at the headquarters of the Tatmadaw’s Northwestern Command in Monywa, Sagaing Region, where he was detained following his arrest on June 8, 2021. At the time of publication of this Urgent Appeal, Man Zar Myay Mon was detained in Monywa prison, Sagaing Region. On July 7, 2021, Man Zar Myay Mon appeared for his third hearing in the Monywa prison court. During this hearing, he was able to meet with his lawyers in person for the first time since his arrest. Man Zar Myay Mon is facing five charges of “incitement” under Article 505(a) of the Penal Code. Among those charges, it is unclear to which alleged actions by Man Zar Myay Mon the charges are related. The Observatory recalls that Man Zar Myay Mon has worked for many years to promote accountability of the extractive industries for the benefit of local communities. He led a regional mining investigation and helped inform the development of mining legislation in Sagaing Region. Throughout this process he helped uncover many instances of corruption among government officials. He was also active as one of the community leaders in the Letpadaung mine protests in Sagaing Region [3]. Since February 2021, he led non-violent anti-coup protests in Chaung-U Township, Sagaing Region. Since his arrest, the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights Defenders and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar expressed deep concern about Man Zar Myay Mon’s arrest. The Observatory expresses its utmost concern regarding the torture to which Man Zar Myay Mon has been subjected during his detention and alerts on the high risk of further acts of ill-treatment and torture he is facing while in military custody. The Observatory urges the military junta to immediately release Man Zar Myay Mon, put an end to all acts of harassment - including at the judicial level - against him, and guarantee in all circumstances his physical integrity and psychological well-being..."
Source/publisher: International Federation for Human Rights
Date of publication: 2021-07-16
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Nearly Two Dozen Killed Amid New Clashes in Myanmar’s Beleaguered Sagaing Region
Sub-title: The deaths included 19 military troops, two militiamen, and two civilians, sources said.
Description: "At least 19 troops loyal to Myanmar’s junta and two members of a militia formed to protect residents from the military were killed during a firefight in Saigaing region’s war-torn Kalay township, sources said Friday, as fighting drove some 3,000 civilians to flee for safety in the nearby mountains. Fighting broke out between the military and members of the Kalay People’s Defense Force (PDF) around 2:00 p.m. on Thursday as junta soldiers began a raid on the villages of Doe Nwe and Ashaysee, around 30 miles south of downtown Kalay, a member of the PDF told RFA’s Myanmar Service, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. “The battle went on for six hours … and only ended after 8:00 p.m.,” the source said in recounting the fighting that killed the 19 people. “Additionally, two [civilian] men from Tin Thar [village] who were on their way to Doe Nwe village on a motorcycle were killed when soldiers fired at them. Myint Thein and Tun Naung actually were ordinary villagers and not our fighters,” the militiaman said. After a relatively quiet night, fighting resumed early on Friday morning, the PDF member said. “They have been firing at us with heavy weapons since about 5:00 a.m. We are also hitting them back with Tumee [traditional flintlock] rifles and handmade rockets. They have not been able to get out of the village since yesterday. Our PDF teams have surrounded the village and attacked them. There are only injuries on our side. No deaths. Hold on, a rocket is coming our way. I'll call you back in a moment. " PDF members later told RFA that two of their group had been killed and claimed that the military was “using drones” to track down their fighters. Residents of the area confirmed to RFA that they had heard the sound of “hundreds of shells” beginning at 5:00 a.m. on Friday and said more than 3,000 people from nine of the surrounding villages had fled into the mountains beginning the previous night, when junta troops began conducting surprise checks and arrests. “They were checking the cellphones of anyone they encountered, so we decided to leave,” said one villager, who declined to be named. “Along the way, we saw many people from other villages fleeing the area too. There are four villages near Ashaysee village. A lot of men are among those who fled.” A resident of Doe Nwe village said the region is currently dealing with an outbreak of COVID-19 infections and that many of those who fled lack access to medicine. A Tin Thar villager told RFA that nearly everyone from the surrounding area had left. “We are worried [the military] might set fire to the houses,” the villager said. “Only some elderly and some family members of COVID-19 patients are left behind. Everyone believes the army will launch an all-out offensive against us. I’m in the forest myself now.” Attempts by RFA to contact junta Deputy Information Minister Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun about the fighting in Kalay went unanswered Friday. There have been at least seven clashes between the PDF and the military in Kalay since the junta ousted Myanmar’s democratically elected government on Feb. 1, the last of which was on June 27. Junta troops remain stationed in the villages of Kyaukphu and Ashaysee and the Kalay PDF has warned residents to exercise caution.....Military murders: Myanmar’s military says its takeover was warranted because former State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory in November 2020 general elections as the result of voter fraud. The junta has provided no evidence to back up its claims and violently responded to widespread protests, killing 912 people and arresting 5,277, according to the Bangkok-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). Amid nationwide turmoil, the military has stepped up offensives in remote parts of the country of 54 million that have led to fierce battles with several local militias. According to the United Nations and aid groups, conflict in Myanmar’s remote border regions has displaced an estimated 230,000 residents since the junta coup. They join more than 500,000 refugees from decades of conflict between the military and ethnic armies who were already counted as internally displaced persons (IDPs) at the end of 2020, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, a Norwegian NGO. Reports of the clashes in Kalay came as sources told RFA that at least 23 villagers in Sagaing’s neighboring Kani township have been murdered by the military in the past 16 days, including 16 villagers who were discovered with their hands bound behind their backs and appeared to have been shot from behind, execution-style. A resident named Tittar told RDA that junta troops entered the villages of Yin and Kone Thar on July 9 and 10 so that they could surveil Kani township from afar. “When they were about to enter the villages, they started firing with heavy weapons. Four houses in our village were destroyed by the shelling. One house was set on fire. All the villagers fled in fear into the jungle as the army arrived. Some took their elderly on carts, motorcycles and tractors, he said. “The soldiers followed into the forests and hunted the refugees down. Those who were found were tied with ropes and some were cut down with machetes. We also found trails of some who were tied to ropes and dragged away. The bodies were no longer recognizable as they were all bruised and mutilated.” Tittar said people were killed and left in the forest, still bound, while others were “tied to small tree trunks and dragged along” to their deaths. “Some of the bodies were piled up. All of them were simple farmers. None of them were PDF members,” he said, adding that several were people who couldn’t leave their elderly parents. There were those who couldn't leave behind their parents who couldn’t run. Some were people who were asked by their parents to stay with them. People who were murdered ranged from a 63-year-old to a 21-year-old ... Some were tied and dragged. All of their clothes had been torn off and some of them no longer had pants on.” In addition to the killings, residents said, junta troops destroyed more than 60 motorbikes, and burned down food storage containers and crops. Another villager named Moe Thee said the men were shot dead by soldiers from behind. “They didn’t kill them immediately after the arrests, the victims were tortured and killed,” he said. “It looks like these people had their hands tied behind them and told to run and then shot from behind, like in the movies. It was totally inhumane.” Other deaths included four villagers killed on July 1 whose bodies were discovered “in close proximity, with their heads blown off,” a resident said. “They must have been shot at close range. The tops of the heads were gone. Only the mouth remained,” the resident said. “We couldn’t collect the bodies and had to set them on fire.” The military has yet to comment on the allegations.....Children at risk: Also on Friday, the United Nations’ Child Rights Committee (CRC) issued a statement noting that since the coup, about 75 children had been killed, while around another 1,000 were arbitrarily detained and countless others deprived of essential medical care and education. The group warned that children’s rights are facing an onslaught that “risks leaving an entire generation damaged,” the agency said. “Children are exposed to indiscriminate violence, random shootings and arbitrary arrests every day. They have guns pointed at them and see the same happen to their parents and siblings,” said Mikiko Otani, chair of the CRC. The CRC said it is “profoundly concerned” at the major disruption of essential medical care and school education in the entire country, as well as access to safe drinking water and food for children in rural areas. According to UNICEF, the U.N. children’s agency, a million children in Myanmar are missing key vaccinations. More than 40,000 children are no longer getting treatment for severe acute malnutrition. “As a result of the military coup and conflicts, children’s right to life, survival and development have been repeatedly violated,” said Otani. “If this crisis continues, an entire generation of children is at risk of suffering profound physical, psychological, emotional, educational and economic consequences, depriving them of a healthy and productive future.” The CRC called for immediate action to resolve Myanmar’s political crisis and called on the country’s leadership to safeguard and promote children’s rights to the utmost degree..."
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Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
Date of publication: 2021-07-16
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 15 July 2021)
Description: "Updated 15 July 2021: As of 15 July, (912) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (1) fallen hero today. This (1) fallen hero from Pyi Gyi Dagun Township in Mandalay Region was killed on the previous day and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of July 15, a total of (5269) people are currently under detention. (254) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1963 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. Sithu, 16 years old, was shot dead as the terrorist junta opened fire into the crowd arguing among each other in Pyi Gyi Dagun Township, Mandalay Region on July 14. Htwe Htwe Myint, NLD member of Aye Thar Yar Town in Shan State’s Taunggyi Township, was arrested at home under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code on July 12 by the terrorist junta for allegedly writing on Facebook criticizing the junta. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-07-15
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Military blames Covid-19 for deaths of detainees during interrogations
Sub-title: Junta authorities have attributed multiple detainees’ deaths to Covid-19, a designation that loved ones say is a final attempt to cover up the abuse they endured in military custody
Description: "Protesters Soe San and Zaw Lin were not home when some 30 junta troops raided their homes in Te Su village, in Mandalay Region’s Wundwin Township, at midnight on June 28. Unable to locate the men, the soldiers initially arrested Zaw Lin’s wife, then released her. Maintaining their innocence and fearing the further terrorisation of their families, Soe San and Zaw Lin went to the hospital in the Wundwin Township village of Pindale the following afternoon to meet with the regime authorities stationed there. “They didn’t do anything wrong, so they decided to meet with them to clear the air so that they would leave their families alone,” a local man from Te Su who was familiar with the arrest told Myanmar Now on the condition of anonymity. After spending less than one day in the junta’s custody, 44-year-old Soe San, who was also the chair of the National League for Democracy party's office in Te Su, was declared dead. “I think they went too far with the interrogation and killed him,” another resident of Te Su village said. Strangely, the local said, Soe San’s body was presented to his family sealed in plastic—the standard practice for a patient infected with Covid-19, but not a man who had died in police custody. Soe San’s face was reportedly the only part of his body exposed at the funeral. He was one of multiple people who have died in military custody since the February 1 coup and whose bodies were later concealed from their families under the junta’s claim that they had Covid-19 and were still contagious. If they could examine the victims, family members of the deceased say they believe their bodies would exhibit clear signs of torture. “I think they went too far with the interrogation and killed him." According to data released by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) on Wednesday, there have been at least 911 civilians who have died at the hands of the military council since the coup. Of these, at least 30 died in detention. The military council has repeatedly dismissed the AAPP’s figures as being exaggerated. No Covid-19 tests are known to have been carried out in the junta’s interrogation centers, which are frequently outside of prisons. Those who have been imprisoned and released since the coup have reported that Covid-19 tests were not carried out in the prisons, either.....Interrogation at the hospital, police station: Soe San and Zaw Lin’s families were only notified that the men had been sent to Pindale police station at around midnight, after they had been interrogated at the hospital all afternoon and evening. Soe San was reportedly sent back to the hospital after passing out at the police station. The following morning, June 30, Soe San’s family was notified at 11am that he had died. Their attempts to claim his body were in vain, the first Te Su villager said. While the military council allowed them to hold a funeral for Soe San at the Wundwin cemetery on the afternoon of July 1, they forbade the family from taking photos of the body or posting about the ceremony on social media. “They wrapped his body in plastic with just the face exposed. They didn’t directly tell the family that he died of Covid-19, but word got out,” the villager said. Only 10 family members were allowed to attend the funeral, accompanied by around 30 heavily armed troops, including soldiers from the air force and military engineers. Zaw Lin, who turned himself in along with Soe San, was released on bail on July 3. Residents of Wundwin said he was severely injured to the point that he was not able to dress himself. Myanmar Now tried to contact the Pindale police station for comment on the arrests, death and allegations of torture, but the calls went unanswered.....A pattern of deaths: The military’s handling of Soe San’s death was reminiscent of that of 19-year-old Mai Nuam Za Thiang, in Kalay, Sagaing Region on June 23. She was shot by troops while riding on the back of a motorcycle and died shortly after arriving at the hospital. “Their post-mortem report said that the girl died of excessive bleeding. However, the body was sealed and returned to us with the claim that she had Covid-19,” a family member of Mai Nuam Za Thiang told Myanmar Now in June. Again, citing a Covid-19 infection, the military forced her family to cremate her immediately. “I think they wanted to hide something, so they used that label [of Covid-19]. We could see only the report they gave us, and her face, so we were forced to accept what they said,” her relative said at the time. “Their post-mortem report said that the girl died of excessive bleeding. However, the body was sealed and returned to us with the claim that she had Covid-19." Just two days later on June 26, 26-year-old farmer Salai Van Tha Cung, also known as Zaw Htet, was arrested for unknown reasons at the hostel where he was staying. He died within 24 hours in detention. Salai Van Tha Cung was cremated immediately, again due to the claim that he was positive for Covid-19, despite showing no symptoms of the virus before his arrest, according to a close relative. The relative added that the victim had not been involved in the anti-coup movement. Chin State-based media reported that on May 9, a 59-year-old farmer from Haka Township, Pu Tale Lein, was arrested by the military and died after two days in detention. Although a local church asked that his body be returned for burial, the junta authorities told them that he had already been cremated because he had been infected with Covid-19. One of the earliest known examples of the junta blaming Covid-19 for the death of a detainee was in the case of 26-year-old Yar Zar Aung, who was shot in a crackdown on a protest in Mandalay and then taken into military custody on February 20. Four days later, his family was informed that he had died in detention, allegedly from Covid-19. Only four of his family members were allowed to attend his cremation, and from afar. His wife, Phyu Phyu Win, told Myanmar Now on the day of the funeral that she did not believe Yar Zar Aung’s cause of death was the coronavirus, and felt that he had died as a result of injuries inflicted by the junta. “We were only able to look at him from a distance, as they said he had died of Covid-19. When we attempted to take his body [from the hospital], they wouldn’t let us,” she said. “I’m upset. I’m not going to let this go.”..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2021-07-15
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Situation Update on 30 June Prison Releases
Description: "On 30 June, the junta prison department announced the release of over 2000 protestors arbitrarily detained since the coup. AAPP began to diligently monitor and record these releases amid that disorder. However, in the 2 weeks since 30 June only around 400 of the releases have been identified. These supposed releases were immediately hampered by the hostility of the junta. There were not as many releases across the prisons on 30 June, and in the days since many of the supposed released remain in a torturous prison system. The junta only announced how many prisoners were released by region or state but not how many were released from each prison, making it difficult to trace the exact number of prisoners released. The process was also beyond transparent, the junta deliberately spread misinformation about which day the prisoners would be released. It is because of the deliberate attempt to complicate oversight that there is discrepancy in the figure of recent releases. Misleading information is a practice of this junta, in their submission to ASEAN leaders on 24 April in Jakarta, the terrorist-like SAC group alleged “A total of 9,948 persons detained from February 1 to April 15… As of now, we have 4,511 released, 5070 charged, and further 367 charged in near future”. This was below AAPP’s identified figure as of 15 April that 4483 had been arrested since the coup and 3459 were actively under detention. Yet, AAPP has consistently identified our data as ‘at least’, detained or killed, and that our figures “will be likely be much higher” because of the conditions which led to so many of arrests across the country. The documentation process is currently tough because of the situation on the ground, impact of COVID-19 is also deteriorating with limited access to information. The military cancelled prison visits and special court hearings by reason of COVID-19, including lawyers visits to their clients, making it difficult for them to understand conditions inside prison. The junta has also banned media and civil society organization including our organization AAPP. This intends to restrict access to accurate information simultaneously as the junta is spreading misinformation about our organization. AAPP’s documentation includes precise names and other relevant data, as such our release lists can only be updated if the specific data is obtained. Those who were released on 30 June were primarily youths, civilians and journalists, AAPP maintains that those who remain behind imprisoned will be tortured even more severely. The organization believes with evidence of past experience that those released have been tortured and intimidated from engaging with independent media and civil society. In Solidarity, AAPP..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-07-15
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 14 July 2021)
Description: "As of 14 July, (911) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (5) fallen heroes today. These (5) fallen heroes from Seikphyu Township in Magwe Region, Minkin and Kani Townships in Sagaing Region were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of July 14, a total of (5257) people are currently under detention. (254) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1963 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. On July 12, Lun Maung, a local palm farmer from Thayet Pin Village in Seikphyu Township in Magwe Region, was shot dead unprovoked by local junta police. Locals from nearby villages including Zin Kalal village in Sagaing Region’s Minkin Township are fleeing the terrorist junta raids on villages. San Win from Zin Kalel Village, one of the villagers fleeing, was killed by the terrorist junta while he was returning to the village to bring rice on July 11. According to a local, his hands were placed behind his back and there were injuries on his face and heads from beatings consistent with torture. In addition to this, Myint Swe from Than Pauk Village in Minkin Township was killed by the terrorist junta on July 13. On July 12, three teachers from Thar Ya Mae Village in Tanintharyi Region’s Myeik Township, who are involved in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), were arrested on the night of July 12 by the terrorist junta wearing plain clothes. These three teachers are primary school teacher Nyo Mar Lwin from Pa Htet Kyun Su High School, primary school teachers Zin Mar Lwin and Than Ei Ei Nyein from Sub Shwe Du Middle School. In addition to this, Naing Linn, a hundred households administrator from Thar Ya Mae Village, was arrested on the same night. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-07-14
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.26 MB 4.93 MB 1.5 MB 1.74 MB
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 13 July 2021)
Description: "Updated 13 July 2021: As of 13 July, (906) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (4) fallen heroes today. These (4) fallen heroes from Sub-MyoThit Township in Tamu District in Sagaing Region were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of July 13, a total of (5239) people are currently under detention. (252) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1963 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. Two teenagers were shot dead on spot, three arrested and one managed to escape when the terrorist junta opened fire on the six teenagers from Naungket village in Sub-MyoThit Township, Tamu District, Sagaing Region who were returning home from visiting a nearby village at 10pm on July 10. One of the three arrested teenagers was shot in the stomach and released on July 12. The two others were tortured to death in detention, it is not yet confirmed if they were the teenagers under-18. The four fallen teenagers were Ngam Chin Pso, 23 years old, Dou Kho Lel, 16 years old, Mang Gou, 17 years old, and Pao Gin Mang, 18 years old. The bodies were not returned to the families. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-07-13
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.25 MB 4.98 MB 1.52 MB 1.75 MB
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Title: All Burma Federation of Student Unions: Announcement No.7/2021 - ကြေညာချက်အမှတ် ၇ / ၂၀၂၁: ဆဲဗင်း ဂျူလိုင် ၅၉ နှစ်ပြည့် ဗကသများအဖွဲ့ချုပ်၏ သဘောထား ထုတ်ပြန်ကြေညာချက်
Description: "ကြေညာချက်အမှတ် - ၇ / ၂၀၂၁ နေ့စွဲ - ၇ / ၇ / ၂၀၂၁ ယနေ့ ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ်၊ ဇူလိုင်လ ၇ ရက်နေ့သည် ဗကသများအဖွဲ့ချုပ်မှ ဦးဆောင်၍ စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ်ကို ပြတ်သားစွာ ဆန့်ကျင်ဖွင့်ချ တိုက်ခိုက်ခဲ့သော ၅၉ နှစ်မြောက် နှစ်ပတ်လည်နေ့ ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ဆဲဗင်း ဂျူလိုင် (၇၊ ၇၊ ၁၉၆၂) အရေးတော်ပုံကြီးသည် ဗမာပြည်စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ်ကို ပထမဦးဆုံး စတင်တိုက်ပွဲဆင်ခဲ့သည့် အရေးတော်ပုံ ဖြစ်သည်။ ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ်၊ ဖေဖော်ဝါရီလ ၁ ရက်နေ့တွင် မင်းအောင်လှိုင်ဦးဆောင်သည့် စစ်အုပ်စုမှ တိုင်းပြည်အာဏာကို အဓမ္မနည်းဖြင့် တကျော့ပြန် ပေါ်ပေါ်ထင်ထင် သိမ်းပိုက်ခဲ့သည်။ ပြည်သူလူထု၏ စီးပွားရေး၊ လူမှုရေး၊ ပညာရေး များသည် ယခင်ကထက် နိမ့်ကျခဲ့ရပြီး ဒီမိုကရေစီ အခွင့်အရေးများလည်း ဆိတ်သုဉ်းခဲ့ရသည်။ ဖက်ဆစ်စစ်တပ်နှင့် လက်ပါးစေများမှ ပြည်သူလူထု၏ အသက်အိုးအိမ်စည်းစိမ်ကို အကြမ်းဖက်၍ နေ့စဉ် ထိပါး စော်ကား သတ်ဖြတ်နေသည်။ စစ်အစိုးရ၊ စစ်အုပ်စု၊ စစ်ဗျူရိုကရေစီယန္တရား (စစ်သုံးစစ်) ကို အမြစ်ဖြတ်ချေမှုန်း သုတ်သင်ရန်မှာ ကျွန်ုပ်တို့ ဖိနှိပ်ခံလူမျိုးပေါင်းစုံ ပြည်သူလူထုတရပ်လုံး၏ အဓိက တာဝန်တရပ်ဖြစ်သည်။ ပြည်သူလူထု၏ သွေးများဖြင့် စွန်းပေနေသော ဖက်ဆစ်စစ်တပ်ကို အမြစ်ဖြတ်ချေမှုန်းပြီး လူထုအာဏာတည်ဆောက်ရမည်။ ထို့ကြောင့် စစ်သုံးစစ်ကို အဖိနှိပ်ခံလူမျိုးပေါင်းစုံ ပြည်သူလူထု တရပ်လုံးက ထိရောက်မှန်ကန်သည့် နည်းလမ်းပေါင်းစုံဖြင့် အုံကြွဆန့်ကျင် တော်လှန်ကြပါရန် ကျွန်ုပ်တို့ ဗကသများအဖွဲ့ချုပ်က တိုက်တွန်းနှိုးဆော်အပ်ပါသည်။ ကျွန်ုပ်တို့ ဗကသများအဖွဲ့ချုပ်သည်လည်း အဖိနှိပ်ခံလူမျိုးပေါင်းစုံ ပြည်သူလူထုတရပ်လုံးနှင့်အတူ စစ်သုံးစစ်ကို အမြစ်ပြတ်ချေမှုန်းနိုင်သည်အထိ ပြင်းပြင်းထန်ထန် တိုက်ပွဲဝင်သွားမည် ဖြစ်သည်။ ဆဲဗင်းဂျူလိုင်စိတ်ဓာတ် ကိုင်စွဲတိုက်ပွဲဝင်ကြ စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ်ကို ရရာနည်းနဲ့ အမြစ်ပြတ်ချေမှုန်းကြ ဗဟိုအမှုဆောင်အဖွဲ့ ဗမာနိုင်ငံလုံးဆိုင်ရာကျောင်းသားသမဂ္ဂများအဖွဲ့ချုပ်..."
Source/publisher: All Burma Federation of Student Unions
Date of publication: 2021-07-07
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 12 July 2021)
Description: "Updated 12 July 2021: As of 12 July, (902) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (3) fallen heroes today. These (3) fallen heroes from Chan Aye Tharzan Township in Mandalay Region, Kani Township in Sagaing Region and Thongwa Township in Yangon Region were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of July 12, a total of (5203) people are currently under detention. (249) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1963 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. Hla Po, Yin Village in Sagaing Region’s Kani Township, who was arrested by the terrorist junta on July 8, died on July 9 due to torture in detention. According to locals, there were bruises from beatings on the whole body of Hla Po. Khant Ko Ko Maung, a CDM policeman from the traffic police force in Chan Aye Tharzan Township in Mandalay Region, who was evading arrest in Kyi Kone village, Patheingyi Township, was shot dead from the back in the evening of July 10 when the terrorist junta opened fire while arresting him soon after a woman active in helping the CDM movement was detained. Phoe Sal died due to with beatings consitent with torture on July 10 after his arrest by the junta on July 10 while he was searching for oxygen to help treat COVID-19 at Thongwa Township, Yangon Region. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-07-12
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.24 MB 5.04 MB 1.74 MB 1.52 MB
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Title: Oral Statement for the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar
Sub-title: Item 4: Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar
Description: "Madam President, Mister Special Rapporteur, FIDH and its member organizations ALTSEAN-Burma and Women Peace Network welcome this oral progress report. We are troubled by ongoing reports of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, sexual violence, torture, and prosecutions of human rights defenders, National League for Democracy members, and junta critics and opponents. It is even more troubling that women and children have continued to be deliberately targeted by the junta’s security forces. Last week’s release of more than 2,000 prisoners charged under Article 505(a) of the Penal Code is welcome, but they shouldn’t have been detained in the first place. This cynical tactic to avoid criticism ahead of high-profile international meetings like this one does not negate the fact that scores of people have been charged with the capital offence of treason and 65 have been already sentenced to death. Several thousands more political prisoners remain behind bars and must be immediately released. We welcome the National Unity Government’s public commitment to uphold human rights and establish accountability for abuses, including those committed against Rohingya and other ethnic groups. In light of this, we urge the NUG (National Unity Government) to review the recommendations made by UN member states during the Universal Periodic Review of Myanmar in January 2021 and to submit its response to these recommendations ahead of the next Human Rights Council’s session. Thank you..."
Source/publisher: International Federation for Human Rights
Date of publication: 2021-07-07
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 32.1 KB
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 10 July 2021)
Description: "Updated 10 July 2021: As of 10 July, (899) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. Today there were no confirmed fallen heroes. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of July 10, a total of (5173) people are currently under detention. (249) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1963 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. In total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. 68 year old Saw Kyi and 13 year old Zay Myo Satt, the mother and nephew of protester Kan Win from Pyin Gyi Village in Tanintharyi Region’s Launglon Township were arrested in the evening of July 6 as Kan Win is evading arrest despite terrorist junta searched his home frequently for staging protests. Political activist Win Tun Naing from Pathein Township, who was evading arrest as a warrant was issued against him for his leading role in the anti-dictatorship protests in Pathein, Ayeyarwady Region, was arrested at a house in Shwepyitha Township, Yangon Region on June 28. He was interrogated at interrogation center 2 of Insein Prison for one week and then transferred on July 6 and now currently detained at Pathein Myoma Police Station. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-07-10
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.23 MB 1.51 MB 4.77 MB 1.79 MB
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 9 July 2021)
Description: "Updated 9 July 2021: As of 9 July, (899) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (1) fallen hero today. This (1) fallen hero from Myingyan Township in Mandalay Region was killed yesterday and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of July 9, a total of (5141) people are currently under detention. (249) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1963 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. Total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. Phyo Hlaing Win from Sarkhar Village in Mandalay Region’s Myingyan Township, was shot dead unprovoked while he was passing in front of the old industrial hall where the terrorist junta’s troops had camped on the night of July 8 at Myingyan City. In the early morning of July 6, the terrorist junta’s forces raided a tea shop which is located in Ohn Pin Chan Village in Mandalay Region’s Sintgaing Township and arrested tea shop owner Min Thu Tun, his 12 year old son Aung Swan Pyae, wife Tin Nwel Hlaing, the younger brother of Tin Newl Hlaing, and three waiters. Marn Zar Myay Mon, a protest leader of Chaung-U Township in Sagaing Region, who was charged with five charges of Section 505(a) of a Penal Code, was tortured and his fingers were broken during interrogation. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-07-09
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.23 MB 4.71 MB 1.51 MB 1.75 MB
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Title: Junta troops detain yet another child after shootout near Mandalay airport
Sub-title: Aung Swan Pyae, 12, was detained with his father and five others at a tea shop on Tuesday
Description: "Junta soldiers detained a 12-year-old boy on Tuesday along with six others, including his family members, after resistance fighters clashed with the military near Mandalay International Airport. Aung Swan Pyae was taken from the Shwe Kyal Zin tea shop as troops raided his village of Ohnbin Chan in Sintgaing Township. Thirty-two-year-old Min Thu Tun, who is the boy’s father and owns the teashop, was also arrested. The other detainees were Min Thu Tun’s wife, Tin Nwe Hlaing, his brother-in-law, and three of his employees, a local resident said. Early on Tuesday morning, junta soldiers exchanged fire with fighters from the Sintgaing People's Defense Force (PDF) near the airport in Tada-U, a second resident said on condition of anonymity. During the shootout, a junta soldier was killed and a PDF fighter was arrested, he said, adding that the soldiers then went to nearby Ohnbin Chan and raided a hut where someone lived. “Within half an hour of the shootout, they raided the house and a nearby tea shop. I feel sorry for those arrested, including the kid. They were not involved in the shooting,” he said. Junta forces reportedly found handmade explosives at the hut and searched the tea shop because they suspected Min Thu Tun had helped the person who lived in the hut, the first resident told Myanmar Now. The seven are being kept at a detention centre in Sintgaing and some are still being interrogated, said a lawyer representing them. Aung Swan Pyae will have a court hearing on Monday, while the trial against the adults will begin on July 16. “It is not yet known which charges they will have to face,” the lawyer said. The Sintgaing police station could not be reached for comment. The junta has repeatedly arrested young children as part of its crackdown against both peaceful and armed resistance to its rule. Last month regime forces detained a four-year-old girl along with her mother and 17-year old sister when they were unable to find the girl’s activist father in Mogok. She was released after spending her fifth birthday in detention. Dr Htar Htar Lin, the former head of Myanmar’s Covid-19 vaccine rollout, was arrested early last month along with her husband, her seven-year-old son, and the family dog. Their whereabouts are still unknown..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2021-07-09
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 8 July 2021)
Description: "Updated 8 July 2021: As of 8 July, (898) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (1) fallen hero today. This (1) fallen hero from Waimaw Township in Kachin State was killed yesterday and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of July 8, a total of (5127) people are currently under detention. (247) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1963 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. Total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. Mee from Makhawyan Village in Mainer Village Tract in Kachin State’s Waimaw Township was shot to death while she was selling fruit, when junta troops op ened fire on a car which did not stop on the evening of July 7 at Waimaw Township. On the night of July 6, Aye Min Thein, who is the father of Aung Khant Hphone, Hlegu Township student union member, was arrested when the terrorist junta did not find Aung Khant Hphone at his home in Yangon Region’s Hlegu Township. Maung Maung and Kyi Thar Maung Maung, the father and younger brother of Khin Marlar Maung Maung, Constituency 2 Regional MP of Hlegu Township in Yangon Region, were arrested by the terrorist junta on the night of July 6. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-07-08
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.23 MB 4.65 MB 1.73 MB 1.5 MB
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Title: Myanmar: Dismantling Dissent Crackdowns on Internet Freedoms
Description: "Acknowledgements: Internet freedoms are increasingly under threat, constituting part of the continuous regression in freedom of expression in Southeast Asia. Nowhere has this concerning trend been more apparent than in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, since 1 February 2021 coup d'état. Threatened by the modern and dynamic capacity of the internet to facilitate democracy, the internet was the first target of the Tatmadaw's new tenure of brutal control and censorship. In conceptualising this report and placing a spotlight on these developments, Asia Centre would like to extend a sincere thank you to the Burmese nationals currently residing in Myanmar, as well as members of the Burmese diaspora who have aided us with valuable inputs for this report. These individuals wish to remain anonymous due to security concerns. We are also grateful for the speakers and participants who contributed generously through their insights during consultations as well as a webinar, “Law and Lawlessness: Myanmar Coup and Human Rights”, on 11 March 2021, in the run-up to the drafting of the report. We are thankful and grateful to our partners, The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) and the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) for reviewing the draft of this report and providing constructive feedback. This report was led from the front, with research, drafting and editing by Asia Centre’s Executive Director Dr. Robin Ramcharan and Programme Coordinator Yawee Butrkrawee. Asia Centre’s Research Interns - Rory McAfee, Roshni Sharma and Ayman Ragab also supported the research. A special mention and thank you goes to Asia Centre’s Associate, Dr Balázs Szántó, for his help in reviewing the report. We would also like to recognise Communications Assistant Srettapong Srimekarat for designing the cover, infographics and layout of the report. For the cover page, “wire fence background” is supplied by j88DESIGN via Getty Images. We would also like to thank Centre Manager Patcharee Rattanarong for her administration of the project. Myanmar: Dismantling Dissent: Crackdown on Internet Freedoms is dedicated to the people of Myanmar, especially those leading the protests. Democracy exacts a huge price; we remember in this report those who have perished during the ongoing struggle for democracy in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: Asia Centre , The International Center for Not-for-Profit Law
Date of publication: 2021-07-01
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 3.72 MB
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Title: Telenor sells Myanmar operations to company on ‘dirty list’ for military ties
Sub-title: Telenor declares it will pull out of Myanmar and hand over its infrastructure to the M1 Group, a company on a UK advocacy group’s blacklist for its dealings with the military
Description: "Telecommunications provider Telenor announced on Thursday that it had entered into an agreement to sell its Myanmar operations to the M1 Group for US$105m. The agreement, which is pending regulatory approval, allows for M1 to acquire all of Telenor Myanmar’s licences, contracts, employees and customers. Sigve Brekke, president and CEO of the Norwegian company Telenor Group, said in a statement on Thursday that the company’s decision to leave Myanmar was based on the “increasingly challenging” context of working in the country in recent months. The announcement came days after the Telenor Group said it was considering pulling out of Myanmar. Following the February 1 military coup, Myanmar’s junta cut off mobile and internet connections nationwide and has continued to restrict access in a bid to stifle massive popular resistance to its rule. “We have evaluated all options and believe a sale of the company is the best possible solution in this situation,” Brekke said in the statement, adding that the sale to the M1 Group would “ensure continued operations.” Activist group Justice for Myanmar described the move as “a further nail in the coffin” for the “prospects for freedom of expression and the right to privacy in Myanmar,” which the group said had been destroyed in the attempted coup. “The lives of activists and journalists are put at even more risk from Telenor’s planned, irresponsible exit from Myanmar,” Justice for Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung told Myanmar Now, adding, “The people of Myanmar must now be more vigilant in regards to military surveillance and the weaponisation of telecommunications.” The M1 Group was founded and is run by Lebanon’s former prime minister, billionaire Najib Mikati, and his brother Taha Mikati and nephew Azmi Mikati. The Mikati family history, which includes corruption charges in Lebanon and a pattern of investing in telecoms infrastructure in authoritarian contexts, should be “alarming” to the people of Myanmar, Yadanar Maung said. M1 has been listed on the Burma Campaign UK’s “Dirty List” of companies with ties to the Myanmar military since August 2019. Director Mark Farmaner told Myanmar Now that M1 was included for being a major shareholder in Irrawaddy Green Towers, Ltd. (IGT)—the largest telecom towers company in Myanmar, founded in 2014—which also has links to telecoms provider Mytel, a joint venture with the military. In December 2020 it was announced that IGT would be sold to CVC Capital Partners Asia. However, the nearly $400m loan CVC Capital Partners Asia required for the acquisition was reportedly “put on hold” after Myanmar’s coup. “If M1 sold their interest in IGT, they would be removed from the list. They have not replied to our letters and emails,” Farmaner said. At least one member of M1’s leadership still serves on IGT’s board of directors, according to IGT’s website and its listing on the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration in Myanmar. During genocidal military operations against the Rohingya population of Rakhine State in August 2017, eyewitnesses reported that a tower constructed by IGT and leased to Telenor was used by Myanmar army soldiers as a sniper post from which to shoot fleeing Rohingya villagers in Alethankyaw, Maungdaw Township. Telenor is one of four telecommunications operators in Myanmar and has around 18 million subscribers. It entered the market in 2014, when the military-backed government first allowed foreign investment in the industry. The company wrote off the value of its Myanmar operation—once $782m—in May, saying the worsening security and human rights situation in the country showed “limited prospects of improvement.” ..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2021-07-08
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 7 July 2021)
Description: "Updated 7 July 2021: AAPP will not be publishing a briefing, detention, or fatality lists on Sunday’s moving forward. As of 7 July, (897) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (3) fallen heroes today. (1) from Kale Township in Sagaing Region was killed today and (2) from Hopin Town in Kachin State and Kawlin Township in Sagaing Region were killed on previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of July 7, a total of (5120) people are currently under detention. (246) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1963 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. Total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. In the morning of July 7, Aye Min, from Pauk Khone village, Kale Township in Sagaing Region, was shot dead in the head by terrorist junta’s troops who came into Hto Mar Village near Kale Town where Aye Min worked in a rice mill as a carpenter. On the night of July 6, Ba Gyan, a civilian who was returning home from a farm by driving an Ox cart in Ywar Thit Gyi village in Hopin Town, Kachin State, was shot dead in the back after being accused of not stopping his cart. In the morning of July 5, Thay Thay, a civilian, was shot in the stomach by junta troops and died on spot when she was on the bike with her son at Kawlin Township in Sagaing Region. Chit Min Hlaing, a citizen journalist based in Pakokku City, Sagaing Region, who was arrested and charged under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code in April, was sentenced to three years imprisonment on July 6. In addition to this, Poet Thway Nay a.k.a Nay Linn Htet from Tada-U Town in Mandalay Region, was sentenced to three years imprisonment under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code. Poet Thway Nay was shot and arrested when he drove protesters with his motorbike when the terrorist junta cracked down on a protest in Mandalay on March 27. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-07-07
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.23 MB 5.64 MB 2.11 MB 1.57 MB
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Title: H.E. DR. SASA’S MESSAGE ON THE 59TH ANNIVERSARY OF 1962 MASSACRE OF PRO-FREEDOM, PRO- DEMOCRACY STUDENTS BY THE GENOCIDAL MILITARY JUNTA
Description: "Today, the 7th of July marked the 59th anniversary of the massacre of the national student heroes who were brutally murdered by the cruel military junta led by murderer Ne Win. This is a day of mourning for the whole nation. We salute and will always remember the fallen heroes who sacrificed their lives for the cause of freedom from the brutal military junta. They died to bring peace and a federal democracy that, in the end, will prevail. The people of Myanmar have made it repeatedly clear that they will no longer tolerate military coups and cruel military dictatorships in Myanmar by sacrificing their lives, again and again at the hands of these cruel military dictators. Fifty nine long years of sacrificing the lives of the brave people of Myanmar have been too painful and too long for the people to tolerate any longer. From Ne Win to Min Aung Hlaing, the movement of peaceful protest against military rule has cost the lives of thousands of brave Myanmar people. These oppressive military regimes bring nothing but death and destruction to the people and country of Myanmar. Now today, once again, in this the 21st century, Min Aung Hlaing and his brutal military junta forces have murdered nearly 1,000 brave people of Myanmar who have once again sacrificed their precious lives for the cause of freedom and federal democracy. Over 6000 of our brave heroes have been illegally arrested and detained in military run concentration camps, and more than 2000 are evading illegal arrest warrants. 1.2 million Myanmar people have fled for their lives, and 6.4 million Myanmar people will be without food by the end October this year. Over 27 million Myanmar people will be living in extreme poverty within a year, compounded with the rapid resurgence of Covid-19. Under the failed military coup and regime, the economy is collapsing along with our health care, banks, education system and basic services. All this is truly the product of this genocidal military junta headed by Min Aung Hlaing. Our fallen heroes have made it crystal clear with their lives that we the people of Myanmar have no future with dictators, be it Ne Win, Than Shwe, Min Aung Hlaing or any other murderer. Therefore, no matter how long it takes, no matter how hard it becomes, we will never give up, and we will never surrender until these genocidal military dictators are defeated and eradicated once and for all from the precious soil of Myanmar. When we achieve a free and inclusive federal democratic union - the new future for all the people of Myanmar - the names of these national heroes will be lauded and respected by the nation and all generations to come. These national heroes have given their lives for the future of Myanmar where a place will be found for ALL regardless of race, religion, culture, ethnicity or background. The sacrifices they have made for us are not in vain, and today we are marching closer and closer to freedom and a federal democracy where lasting peace, prosperity and stability awaits us. Together, we are winning against the darkness, and the dawn of light will soon break upon the blood stained soil of the Golden Land. The dark blot of military control over the history of Myanmar will be forever replaced by the light of freedom, peace, self determination and democracy. Equality, respect, stability, equality intelligence and prosperity will take the place of smoking guns and the orders of murderous fools. May God bless the united people of Myanmar! Sincerely, - H.E. Dr. Sasa -..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of International Cooperation Myanmar
Date of publication: 2021-07-07
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 31.94 KB
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Title: 'My Sons Were Not Among These Who Committed That Murder': Mother of Four Youths on Death Row
Sub-title: With all of her sons whom she relied on imprisoned, San Say Aye is struggling for her own survival.
Description: "San San Aye of Dagon township in Myanmar’s Yangon region has four sons on death row in Insein prison. They were among 18 people convicted by court-martial for the alleged killing on March 29 of Zaw Min, a pro-military resident. Junta-controlled media said Zaw Min was killed by knives and machetes by a group of 40 people from the same ward, and his body was thrown into a fire pit on the street on March 29. San San Aye insists her sons are innocent. With all of her sons whom she relied on imprisoned, she is struggling for her own survival and to visit her sons regularly in prison. She described to RFA’s Myanmar Service an ordeal shared by an increasing number of mothers in the Southeast Asian country since the Feb. 1 military coup: Three cars arrived at our home on the first day after Burmese New Year. They asked for my kids. They asked if Khine Myae is home. Their father said he is. Then they entered the home. At that time, my younger son (Khine Myae) was combing his hair. They yelled, ‘Khine Myae. Come down here.’ My son said, ‘My name is not Khine Myae. It is Gold Fish.’ They said ‘Come down here. Gold Fish.’ My two other sons were asleep as they were assigned as night guards in the neighborhood. They asked them to come out. So two of them came out. They asked his name. My son said his name is Aung Myo Linn. They said, ‘Raise your arms.’ Another one said, ‘Sir. Aung Myo Linn is not included.’ They said, ‘Raise your hands anyway. I know there is another one inside. Come out, or I'll gun you down!’ Another son also came out. They asked, ‘What is your name.’ My son said his name is Soe Pyae Aung. They asked him to raise the hands the same way. They asked him to be still. I was folding clothes at that time. I was terrified by them. They entered into my home. They asked, ‘Who is it?’ I said this is my oldest son. He is not very healthy. They asked his name. He said Htet Naung Linn. They said, ‘Come down. Htet Naung Linn.’ Then, my son said, ‘I am Khine Myae who you are looking for.’ They said, ‘Come down.’ I thought they only wanted Khine Myae for interrogation. But they took all four sons in their car in handcuffs. I asked why they arrested my sons. They said they have to interrogate them. I expected they would be released after interrogation. But that didn’t happen. On May 24th, the military court at Insein prison gave them the death sentence. In the morning, the next day, I wondered why they gave them the death penalty. Article 505 does not carry a death sentence. I tried to inquire. The next day, I learned from the news that they had been charged with Article 302 for murder. They were given this sentence for a murder that occurred at Ward 56. They didn’t get a chance to defend or explain. On the day when they said the murder occurred, all of my four sons were right in front of this home on security guard duty for the neighborhood. I remember it was the day we made chicken and gourd fruit curry for my sons. When I heard about the murder in the street, I told all of my sons not to go there. The authorities had been shooting residents in the neighborhood. When everything calmed down at night, my sons went there to take a look. As a parent, I am absolutely confident in saying that my sons were not among these who committed that murder. My sons said that they will be home soon because they are not the ones who did the killing. They are not among the murderers. They did go there to see what happened. They were involved in the protests. So I said they could be charged with Article 505(A) for their activities and they will be released soon. They told me, ‘Don’t worry, Mom. We will be back.’ This death sentence is totally unexpected. My sons didn’t murder anyone. I never heard of something like that. The first time I heard of someone getting a death sentence was when my own sons got it. I don’t know what to say. This is totally unacceptable. This is not the way it’s supposed to be. My sons didn’t commit any murder. I want to appeal to the authorities that this sentence is not fair. My sons have their entire future ahead of them. My sons are young adults with a promising future. But I can’t imagine what their future will be like after they are ruined by this death sentence..."
Source/publisher: "RFA" (USA)
Date of publication: 2021-07-07
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: National Unity Government Sent Message for the 59th Anniversary of 7 July - (၅၉) နှစ်မြောက် ဆဲဗင်း ဇူလိုင် အခမ်းအနားများသို့ ပေးပို့သော သဝဏ်လွှာ
Description: "ပြည်ထောင်စုသမ္မတမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော် အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရ www.nugmyanmar.org ၇ ဇူလိုင် ၂၀၂၁ခုနှစ် (၅၉) နှစ်မြောက် ဆဲဗင်း ဇူလိုင် အခမ်းအနားများသို့ ပေးပို့သော သဝဏ်လွှာ ၁။ ယနေ့ ဇူလိုင်လ ၇ ရက်နေ့သည် ဗမာနိုင်ငံလုံးဆိုင်ရာ ကျောင်းသားသမဂ္ဂများအဖွဲ့ချုပ် အပါအဝင် စစ်အာဏာရှင်စနစ်ကို တပ်ဦးမှ တော်လှန်ခဲ့သော ကျောင်းသားလူငယ် သူရဲကောင်းတို့၏ ၇.၇.၁၉၆၂ တွင် သွေးမြေခခဲ့ရသည့် အောက်မေ့ဖွယ်အထိမ်းအမှတ်၊ (၅၉) နှစ်မြောက် အခါသမယ ဖြစ်သည်။ အမှန်တရားနှင့် တရားမျှတ လွတ်လပ်ခြင်းအတွက် ထိုကဲ့သို့ ခေတ်အဆက်ဆက် ဘဝနှင့်အသက်ကိုပေးဆပ်ကာ လက်ဆင့်ကမ်း တိုက်ပွဲဝင်ခဲ့ကြသည့် ကျောင်းသားလူငယ် တော်လှန်ရေးရဲဘော်အပေါင်းအား အမျိုးသားညီညွတ်ရေးအစိုးရက လေးစားစွာ ဦးညွှတ်ဂုဏ်ပြုအပ်ပါသည်။ ၂။ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတစ်ဝန်းရှိ အနယ်နယ်အရပ်ရပ်မှ တိုင်းရင်းသားလူမျိုးပေါင်းစုံပါဝင်သော လူငယ်များဖြင့် ဖွဲ့စည်းထားသည့် ကျောင်းသားသမဂ္ဂများသည် ကိုလိုနီစနစ်ကို ဆန့်ကျင်ရာတွင် ရှေ့တန်းမှ တိုက်ပွဲဝင်ခဲ့ကြသည်။ မြန်မာ့လွတ်လပ်ရေးနှင့် ပြည်ထောင်စုတည်ထောင်ရာတွင် အဓိကအခန်းကဏ္ဍက ပါဝင်ခဲ့သည့် ခေါင်းဆောင် များစွာကိုလည်း မွေးထုတ်ပေးခဲ့သည်။ ယင်းကဲ့သို့ သမိုင်းအဆက်ဆက် မတရားမှုကို ဆန့်ကျင်တော်လှန်ရာတွင် အစဉ်အလာရှိခဲ့သည့်အတိုင်း ၁၉၆၂ ခုနှစ် မတ်လ ၂ ရက်နေ့၌ ဗိုလ်ချုပ်နေဝင်းဦးဆောင်သည့် တော်လှန်ရေးကောင်စီက အာဏာသိမ်းပြီး ၂ ရက်အကြာ မတ်လ ၄ ရက်နေ့တွင် ကျောင်းသားသမဂ္ဂများက ကန့်ကွက် ကြောင်း ပူးတွဲကြေညာချက် ထုတ်ပြန်ခဲ့သည်။ အမှန်တရားနှင့် တရားမျှတမှုဘက်မှ ခိုင်မာစွာ ရပ်တည်ခဲ့ကြသည့် ကျောင်းသားလူငယ်များကို စစ်အာဏာရှင် တော်လှန်ရေးကောင်စီက ဇူလိုင် ၇ ရက်နေ့တွင် ရက်စက်စွာ သတ်ဖြတ်ခဲ့ရာ အပြစ်မဲ့သည့် ကျောင်းသားလူငယ် ရာနှင့်ချီ၍ ကျဆုံးခဲ့သည်။ ခေတ်အဆက်ဆက် ကျောင်းသား နိုင်ငံရေးလှုပ်ရှားမှုများ၏ အထိမ်းအမှတ်သင်္ကေတဖြစ်သည့် သမဂ္ဂအဆောက်အဦကိုပါ ဗုံးခွဲဖျက်ဆီးခဲ့သည်။ ၃။ အလားတူ ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ် ဖေဖော်ရီလ ၁ ရက်နေ့တွင်လည်း ပြည်သူ့အာဏာကို အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီက အဓမ္မသိမ်းယူခဲ့ပြန်သည်။ ထိုအာဏာသိမ်းမှုကို ရက်ပိုင်းအတွင်း ကျောင်းသားလူငယ်များက စတင်ကာ နိုင်ငံတစ်ဝန်းရှိ ပြည်သူတရပ်လုံးက ငြိမ်းချမ်းစွာ ဆန့်ကျင်ဆန္ဒပြခဲ့ကြသည်။ ၁၉၆၂ ခုနှစ် မှ ယခု ၂၀၂၁ ခုနှစ်တိုင် စစ်အာဏာရှင်အဆက်ဆက်သည် ထောင်ပေါင်းများစွာသော လက်နက်မဲ့၊ အပြစ်မဲ့ ပြည်သူများကို စစ်အင်အားသုံးကာ ရက်စက်စွာ သတ်ဖြတ်ခြင်း၊ နိုင်ငံရေးလှုပ်ရှားသူပေါင်း သိန်းဂဏန်းချီ၍ ဖမ်းဆီးချုပ်နှောင်ခြင်း၊ သန်းနှင့်ချီသော တိုင်းရင်းသား ပြည်သူများ၏ ဘဝပေါင်းများစွာကို အတိဒုက္ခရောက်စေခြင်း၊ လူငယ်များ၏ မျှော်လင့်ချက်များနှင့် အနာဂတ်များကို စနစ်တကျဖျက်ဆီးခြင်းတို့ကို ကျူးလွန်ခဲ့ကြသည်။ ၄။ ထိုသို့ စစ်အာဏာရှင်အဆက်ဆက်၏ နှစ်ပေါင်း ၆၀၊ မျိုးဆက် ၃ ခု ကြာမျှ လက်နက်အားကိုးဖြင့် ဖိနှိပ်အနိုင်ကျင့်ကာ ဘဝနှင့် အသက်အိုးအိမ်စည်းစိမ်များကို ဖျက်ဆီးခြင်းခံခဲ့ရသော်လည်း အတိတ်သမိုင်းမှ ကျောင်းသားလူငယ်များ၏ အမှန်တရားကို ချစ်မြတ်နိုးသည့်စိတ်ဓါတ်၊ မတရားမှုကို ဆန့်ကျင်တော်လှန် ရဲသည့် သတ္တိတို့သည် ယနေ့တိုင် ဆက်လက်ရှင်သန်နေဆဲဖြစ်သည်။ ယခုလက်ရှိ စစ်အာဏာရှင် ဆန့်ကျင်တော်လှန်ရေး လှုပ်ရှားမှုများကိုလည်း လက်ဆင့်ကမ်း ဆက်လက်စေ့ဆော်ပေးလျက်ရှိသည်။ လူငယ်များ၏ တရားမျှတသော၊ တန်းတူညီမျှသော ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီပြည်ထောင်စု စိတ်ကူးအိပ်မက်အား ကျောင်းသားလူငယ် အားလုံး၏ သမဂ္ဂစိတ်ဓါတ်၊ ပြည်သူလူထု၏အင်အား၊ တိုင်းရင်းသား လူမျိုးပေါင်းစုံမှ ခေါင်းဆောင်အားလုံး၏ အတွေ့အကြုံနှင့် ပေါင်းစပ်ကာ အကောင်အထည်ဖော်ဆောင်သွားနိုင်မည်ဟု မုချယုံကြည်ပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher: National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication: 2021-07-07
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 5 July 2021)
Description: "Updated 5 July 2021: AAPP will not be publishing a briefing, detention, or fatality lists on Sunday’s moving forward. As of 5 July, (892) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (2) fallen heroes today. These (2) fallen heroes from Monywa Township and Kanbalu Township in Sagaing Region were killed yesterday and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of July 5, a total of (5၀85) people are currently under detention. (240) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1964 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. Total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. On July 4 in Mandalay, four people including Myat Thu, a protest leader of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), were arrested by the terrorist junta’s troops while they were at home. Myo Min Soe a.k.a Poe Hat, a village administrator of Pein Ne Kwin Village Tract of Ayeyarwady Region’s Kyangin Township, was arrested by junta on July 1. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-07-05
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.22 MB 4.62 MB 1.28 MB
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 6 July 2021)
Description: "Updated 6 July 2021: AAPP will not be publishing a briefing, detention, or fatality lists on Sunday’s moving forward. As of 6 July, (894) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (2) fallen heroes today. These (2) fallen heroes from South Dagon Township and Hlaingthaya Township in Yangon Region were killed yesterday and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of July 6, a total of (5၀94) people are currently under detention. (241) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1964 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. Total 65 sentenced to death, in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. On the night of July 5, Khin Kyaw a.k.a Mae Gyi from South Dagon Township in Yangon Region, who is a member of the National League for Democracy (NLD), was shot dead by a pro-junta group called “Pyu Saw Htee”. Khin Kyaw’s dead body was then collected by the terrorist junta from his home. On July 4, Aung Gyi, a reporter at Myaelatt Athan News Agency, and his 80 years old father San Maung, executive member of NLD of Paungde Township, Bago Region, were arrested on July 4 in relation to the murder of a pro- junta informer in Paungde Town. Theint Sandi Soe, a third year university student majoring in Law, who was arrested as a hostage when the terrorist junta did not find his father, protest leader of Mogoke Town Soe Htay. Theint Sandi Soe suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and is not being allowed to receive medical treatment for this serious health condition. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-07-06
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Size: 1.22 MB 4.6 MB 1.28 MB
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Title: While criminals enjoy privileges, political prisoners suffer oppression, say released detainees
Sub-title: Myanmar’s junta reserves its worst treatment for prisoners who challenge its right to rule, according to those recently freed
Description: "Imprisoned activists opposed to the February 1 military takeover are being treated worse than convicted criminals, according to detainees who were released last week. Myanmar’s prison population has swollen since the coup due to the regime’s efforts to crush resistance to its rule. While hundreds rounded up over the past five months were freed last Wednesday, thousands more remain behind bars. Among them are many activists, university students, and members of the National League of Democracy (NLD) charged with incitement under Section 505a of the Penal Code. While they continue to endure harsh conditions in prison, well-connected criminals are treated very differently, former detainees told Myanmar Now. Nanda Marlar, a notorious fraudster convicted of cheating dozens of people out of millions of dollars, is the most striking example of a prisoner with special privileges, they say. Unlike most others being held in Yangon’s dreaded Insein Prison, Nanda Marlar has an 8’x12’ room of her own, complete with a bed and mattress, an air-conditioner, a TV and a radio, said one ex-prisoner. As a VIP prisoner, she also enjoys real power within the prison’s walls, according to those familiar with her circumstances. “She’s not afraid of anyone. Basically, she bullies everyone else in there,” said a recently released detainee who asked not to be identified. Meanwhile, prominent prisoners who have made a name for themselves by contributing to society are deprived of even basic necessities. Than Myint Aung, an author and cofounder of the Free Funeral Service Society, one of Myanmar’s most respected charities, was arrested on the day of the coup and still languishes in Insein Prison today. According to her daughter, who spoke to the BBC on June 30, she spent more than a month in an interrogation centre at the start of her incarceration. Now in her late sixties, she has a number of health issues, including cataracts in her left eye and deafness in her right ear. Despite this, however, the authorities have yet to respond to a request to allow her to receive healthcare. Myanmar Now attempted to contact the Department of Prisons for comment on Than Myint Aung’s situation, and about prison conditions in general, but did not receive a reply. Political prisoners in other parts of the country are not treated any better. Win Mya Mya, a veteran politician who was elected to the Pyitthu Hluttaw last year as the NLD’s candidate for Sintgaing Township in Mandalay Region, is currently being held in Mandalay’s Obo Prison. While she is confined to a small cell with a few other political prisoners, no such restrictions are placed on common criminals, said one woman who was a prisoner there until last week. “We who were detained under Section 505a face brutal oppression, but convicted criminals are free to come and go [around the prison] as they please,” the woman said. “They are allowed to keep personal possessions and have better privileges than any of us. They can move around whenever they want, while we were always locked up,” she added. What really disappointed her, she said, was the fact that some of the criminals she met in prison had committed very serious offenses, such as human trafficking and drug smuggling. Their relatively lenient treatment, when even political prisoners quite advanced in age were routinely subjected to torture, made a mockery of rule of law in the country, she said. Officials at Obo Prison declined to respond to requests for comment. While a number of journalists were among those released on Wednesday, most well-known activists and political figures are still being held pending trial. Of the hundreds of detained student council members, only one—Bhone Htet Naung, an education officer with the Yangon University Student Council—was released. According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), the junta is still holding more than 5,000 people in custody for resisting the return to military rule. As of Monday, a total of 892 Myanmar citizens have been murdered by the junta since the military seized power, according to AAPP figures..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of publication: 2021-07-06
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: MYANMAR : SERIOUS CONCERNS ABOUT THE HUMANITARIAN SITUATION AFTER THE COUP D'ÉTAT
Sub-title: Since the 1st of February, Myanmar has entered a phase of political crisis with a dramatic collapse of all services, including access to health care services and basic support for the most vulnerable within the population.
Description: "The strong rejection of the military regime by a large majority of the population has led to disproportionate use of force and the escalation of violence against the civilians. It caused a number of deaths, up to 842 until June 3rd, 5 609 persons arrested, among them 4 468 are still detained, and 250 000 people displaced since the military coup. Médecins du Monde (MdM) is increasingly concerned about the rising tolls and barriers to access health care services as the majority of public health facilities remain closed. Médecins du Monde has implemented, since 1994, programs in direction of marginalized and vulnerable groups with a continuity of services during all those years. Today, our clinic in Yangon is closed, as it has been for the past 2 months, as the safety and security of our staffs and patients, our first concern, cannot be assured. Services to our patients are largely affected, after already almost a year of challenging times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, the population no longer has access to basic survival means, including food, being unable to have money in hands, and of course access to health care, which creates a situation where most of the basic needs are not fulfilled anymore. THE BURMESE BETWEEN FEAR AND VIOLATED RIGHTS People from Myanmar are suffering and will suffer for an undetermined period of time from a regime of terror and abusive detentions. Humanitarian actors already present in the country need to be able to reach the population without barriers: this is a question of ensuring respect for fundamental human rights. People need to have unhindered access to basic health services, and humanitarian organizations that are well established in Myanmar. MdM strongly condemns all forms of violence against healthcare workers as they endanger the health and human rights of the people of Myanmar. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) global surveillance system in their three-month post-coup review, there have been 158 reported attacks on health care workers, resulting in 11 deaths and 51 injuries and more than 100 doctors have been arrested since the beginning of February. PROTECTING CIVILIANS IN MYANMAR We urge the military regime to cease all violent and repressive actions taken against the population. We also call on the international community to take unified action to protect the people of Myanmar in the best way possible, increasing humanitarian aid through international NGOs and local civil society organizations on the ground, preparing for the internal displacements and refugee crisis which will be inevitable if things continue this way..."
Source/publisher: Médecins du Monde
Date of publication: 2021-07-04
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Myanmar Activist Says His Daughter is Dying in Prison
Description: "Ma Theint Sandi Soe, a student who was detained instead of her father who is on the regime’s wanted list in Mogoke, is said to be in deteriorating health while her family is denied visits. The third-year law student was detained with her mother, Daw Kyi Kyi Khaing, and younger sister, Su Htet Wyne, on June 13 after the security forces failed to find her father, Ko Soe Htay, a leader of anti-regime protests in the Mandalay Region town. A warrant was issued for Ko Soe Htay on an incitement charge for organizing protests. He and his two sons were not at home as they had gone into hiding. Ko Soe Htay said Ma Theint Sandi Soe has rheumatoid arthritis and thus has sensitivity to cold temperatures and needs regular medical care and medicines. “I heard she was handcuffed and forced to kneel on a concrete floor for hours during interrogation,” he said. “I don’t know the details but heard that my daughter’s health condition is becoming life-threatening.” The three were not allowed to take anything with them into custody and her relatives have not been allowed to send food, clothes and medicines. “As a father, I am worried for my daughter. But several families are suffering like us and some have suffered more. To end all of this suffering, we must topple this dictatorship,” Ko Soe Htay told The Irrawaddy. The regime is increasingly detaining the relatives and friends of those in hiding. Ko Soe Htay’s wife and daughters are among around 100 people who have been detained after the security forces failed to find their target. Protesters, student union members, National League for Democracy members, journalists and striking civil servants all face arrest warrants, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). Even babies have not been spared. Ko Soe Htay’s youngest daughter, Su Htet Wyne, had her fifth birthday in custody and was released on June 30, when the regime freed around 2,000 detainees. Ko Soe Htay said his daughter is traumatized by her arrest. They moved into a new hiding place the next day to avoid the junta forces. “She told me she was hungry in custody and had to bathe in toilet water. And she hates those who ordered them to sit in the prison position,” he said. Since the Feb. 1 coup, at least 890 civilians have been killed by the regime’s forces and more than 6,400 people have been detained, according to the AAPP..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication: 2021-07-05
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Released Myanmar Journalists Tell of Junta Torture and Human Rights Violations
Description: "On June 30, the military regime released over 2,000 people who had been detained over the past five months for their involvement in the anti-junta movement. Most of those freed were civilians detained in anti-regime protests, as well as 12 journalists. The Irrawaddy has interviewed some of the freed journalists about how they were arrested and their experiences in prison.....Ko Aung Mya Than Reporter, Ayeyarwaddy Times: Eight junta vehicles surrounded my house and I was taken away for interrogation. I was beaten. They punched me in my ribs, face and mouth and slapped my face. Around eight drunken soldiers interrogated me, while accusing journalists of making false reports. I challenged [the military] in a Facebook live on the day of the coup [on Feb. 1]. So they had a grudge against me and beat me while interrogating me for challenging them. At first, I was questioned at Maubin Police Station [in Maubin Township, Ayeyarwady Region]. My face got swollen and my mouth was terribly bruised [from the beatings]. I was not allowed to sleep that night and the whole of the next day. In fact, it was a beating rather than an interrogation as I had challenged them [on Facebook live]. Seven [soldiers] beat me and they didn’t even give me water. Two days after my arrest, I was taken to Light Infantry Battalion 27 and interrogated again. I was not beaten there. After questioning, I was placed in solitary confinement at Maubin Prison until I was released. I was detained for one month and 19 days and I was kept in solitary confinement throughout my detention, except for three days in a prison cell with others. It appears that I have suffered some internal injuries. I am afraid that I will suffer from the effects of the torture later in my life. For now, I am fine except for frequent dizziness. In prison, detainees charged under 505(a) [incitement charge] were not tortured. It was only during interrogations that detainees were tortured. Even the police could not interfere. They [soldiers] were pretending to be police. Among them [those who interrogated me] were people from the special branch [of police], the military security affairs office and soldiers. Most of them were soldiers. They did the interrogations. Police could not interfere and had to do what they were told by the soldiers. They [the military] are overstepping their authority.....Ko Zin Thaw Naing Editor, Democracy Vision: I was arrested by police from Botahtaung Police Station in Yangon and was taken to the police station. I was put into a cell and then a military officer questioned me. I was beaten and punched that night while I was being interrogated. I was remanded in custody the following day and the police took me to the prison for fear that something might happen to me at the police station. I was not sent to an interrogation center. They had already filed a lawsuit against me for swearing at the coup leader before I got arrested. They got nothing from my phone when I was arrested. So they were not able to file a new charge and only charged me for swearing. Frankly speaking, as they have our personal information, they can arrest us any time they want. We were freed, but it is like moving from a small prison to a bigger one. They can arrest us at any time for any excuse.....Ko Banyar Oo Freelance Journalist: I was sent straight to prison. I was questioned by the police at the prison. I was not beaten during the interrogation. Normally, people who were interrogated [at a police station or interrogation center] before being sent to prison were beaten. The food they gave us inside the prison was not OK. It was lousy and could hardly be called rice and curry. They gave us lectures to suppress our morale and, as we refused to obey prison rules, they put us in solitary confinement. Altogether seven journalists were placed in solitary confinement and sent to the main jail. There is a room in which prisoners are forced to squat in the stress position. We were taken to that room and asked to squat in the stress position. We had an argument as we told them not to treat political prisoners that way. Then, the other political prisoners who were already squatting there joined the argument, which lead to a clash. We were then sent to a criminal prisoners’ wing as a punishment for instigating the argument. We spent 18 days there. Although we were not beaten, we were threatened with solitary confinement if we talked to each other. It was a violation of our human rights. They didn’t set conditions for our release. But we have concerns that they may arrest us if there are bomb explosions or arson attacks near our homes. So I feel unsafe.....Ko Soe Yarzar Tun Freelance Journalist: At Insein Prison the correctional department staff sat on chairs as they interrogated us, while we were told to sit on the floor. They attempted to suppress the political prisoners by doing that. There were 80 people in my cell and, around two days later, they selected four including me and put us in solitary confinement. I think I was in solidarity confinement for one day and one night. At first, I could make phone calls through the police. Then, I could not contact my family for the next two months. Later, at the trial, I could contact them by using my lawyer’s phone. We were not tortured like political prisoners were tortured in the past, but they punished us for not obeying prison rules. We didn’t have to negotiate with prison authorities to get released. The police only swore at me a little when I got arrested and did nothing to me. The following day, I was sent to an interrogation center. I was not beaten there either. The prison was too overcrowded. As more detainees came, there were more than 80 people per cell and we had to sleep on our sides as there was no room to lie flat. There were no significant human rights violations against those charged under Article 505(a). But around half of the detainees on each wing were sick. On June 28, some 15 people arrived in the prison after being interrogated. Three of them were very sick and suspected of having COVID-19. The three were placed in solitary confinement and the others were placed in a separate cell. There is a clinic inside the prison which gave out medicine. I am concerned that I might be arrested again for no reason. I have to be more careful as I was arrested even though I didn’t do anything wrong.....Ko Ye Myo Khant Photojournalist (Myanmar Pressphoto Agency): I was not beaten when I was arrested. But I was threatened and pressured to confess that I had violated journalist ethics by protesting against the coup and also that I had incited people to protest. I was sent straight to prison and was not taken to an interrogation center. There were human rights violations against political prisoners while we were in prison. [Prison staff] treated political prisoners more harshly than those who committed other crimes. Those under pretrial detention didn’t have to do labor. But those who were convicted under Article 505(a) had to do some labor at the main jail. I was not beaten in prison. Young people under 18 years were detained for a long time in prison. So were sick and elderly persons. I saw at least three people who died in prison after falling sick..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication: 2021-07-05
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Myanmar forces kill 25 in raid on town, residents and media say
Description: "July 4 (Reuters) - Myanmar security forces killed at least 25 people on Friday in a confrontation with opponents of the military junta at a town in the centre of the Southeast Asian nation, two residents and Myanmar media said on Sunday. A spokesman for the military did not respond to calls requesting comment on the violence at Depayin in the Sagaing region, about 300 km (200 miles) north of the capital, Naypyidaw. The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar said "armed terrorists" had ambushed security forces patrolling there, killing one of them and wounding six. It said the attackers retreated after retaliation by the security forces. Myanmar has been plunged into chaos by the Feb. 1 coup against elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, with violence flaring in many parts of the country of more than 53 million people. One resident of Depayin, who did not want to be identified for fear of reprisals, said four military trucks dropped soldiers at the village early on Friday. Youths from a local People's Defence Force, formed to oppose the junta, took up positions to confront them. However, they only had makeshift weapons and were forced back by the security forces' heavier firepower, the resident said. "There were people dying at farms and by the railroad. They (soldiers) shot everything that moved," said another resident, who said his uncle was among the dead. A total of 25 bodies had been collected after the fighting, both residents said. The BBC Burmese service website and Than Lwin Khet News service carried similar accounts. The Myanmar Now news service put the death toll at not fewer than 31 and said about 10,000 people had fled the area. Reuters was not able to verify the details independently. The Depayin People's Defence Force said on its Facebook page that 18 of its members had been killed and 11 wounded. People's Defence Forces have been founded by opponents of the junta in many parts of Myanmar, some of them in association with a National Unity Government set up underground as a rival to the military administration. About two dozen ethnic armed groups have fought for decades in Myanmar's borderlands, but Depayin is in the heartland of the ethnic Bamar majority, which also dominates the armed forces. Violence since the coup has driven more than 230,000 people from their homes, the United Nations says. It also says more than 880 people have been killed by security forces since the coup and more than 5,200 are in detention. The military authorities have said these figures are not true, but have not given their own estimates. The army says its assumption of power was in line with the constitution. It alleged fraud in November elections swept by Suu Kyi's party, although the accusations were dismissed by the former electoral body. In another challenge for the authorities, Myanmar reported a daily record of 2,318 COVID-19 cases on Sunday. The state health system has foundered after it was deserted by doctors and other health workers in protest at the military takeover..."
Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
Date of publication: 2021-07-04
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 3 July 2021)
Description: "From tomorrow onwards, AAPP will not publish a briefing, detention, and fatality lists on Sunday’s. As of 3 July, (890) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (2) fallen heroes today. These (2) fallen heroes from Myingyan Township in Mandalay Region were killed yesterday and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of July 3, a total of (5၀86) people are currently under detention. (233) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1964 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. Total 65 sentenced to death in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. On the night of July 2 at Myingyan Township in Mandalay Region, Moe Hein, a high school teacher at a private school, and his wife Su Su Hlaing, both were former executive members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Myingyan Township, were shot to death by a pro-junta group called “Pyu Saw Htee” Pwint Wai, a nurse, from Shan Inn Village in Sagaing Region’s Kalaywa Township, who is involved in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), was arrested by junta police in the evening of July 2. Nyein Chan Wai from Bago Weekly Journal, who was charged under Section 505(a) of the Penal Code, was also charged under Section 124(a) of the Penal Code. He was arrested at his home in Bago Region’s Letpadan Township on the night of May 14. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-07-03
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-03
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 1.24 MB 4.68 MB
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 2 July 2021)
Description: "As of 2 July, (888) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. oup. AAPP compiled and documented (3) fallen heroes today. These (3) fallen heroes from Monywa Township in Sagaing Region, Pyay Township and Shwedaung Township in Bago Region were killed on the previous days and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of July 2, a total of (5173) people are currently under detention. (233) people have been sentenced in person, of them 26 have been sentenced to death (incl. 2 children). 1964 are evading arrest warrants. 118 people have been sentenced in absentia, of them 39 sentenced to death in absentia. Total 65 sentenced to death in person and absentia. We are also continuing to verify the recently released detainees. A youth named Thiha Zaw a.k.a. Nge Lay, who helped people injured during a bomb blast at a factory in Monywa Industry Zone, Sagaing Region, was arrested on the afternoon of July 1. Thiha Zaw’s body was returned on the evening of July 1. The family was informed on July 1 that a civilian named Soe Min from Bago Region’s Pyay Township, who was arrested on the night of June 29 due to a junta informer who alleged Soe Min destroyed Mya Village School. The body of Soe Min was found with injuries consistent with torture, including bruises over his thigh and body, and electric shock wounds. In addition to this, Aung Aung Lwin, a 19-year-old, arrested on the night of June 28 due to a junta informer in Shwedaung Township, Bago Region, was tortured to death in interrogation. His body was cremated by the junta on July 1 without being allowed to be seen by the family. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-07-02
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.22 MB 1.16 MB 4.78 MB
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Title: Republic of the Union of Myanmar National Unity Government: Weekly Press Release (6/2021)
Description: "1. The National Unity Government (NUG) held a virtual press conference (2/2021) for Burmese language media on 25 June and for English language media on 28 June. 2. The Ministry of Labour of the NUG released statement 2/2021 on 26 June to confirm that the announcement made by the military junta’s Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population on 1 March 2021 was not in accordance with the law. The junta Ministry outlawed sixteen labour organisations, including federations of trade unions, and called their activities illegal. The junta threatened to take actions against such activities under existing laws. The NUG Ministry of Labour points out that Myanmar is a party to the ILO Convention concerning Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise. Therefore, every worker has the right to establish and organise to promote labour interests. The NUG also points to Myanmar’s Labour Organisation Law (2011) concerning registration. The junta has neither the right nor the authority to designate labour organisations that register under this law as unlawful organisations. The Ministry of Labour of the NUG states therefore that the announcement made by the army council violates the Geneva Convention and that the sixteen labour organisations mentioned in the junta’s announcement have the right to exist and to continue their work. 3. The web page for the Ministry of Education https://moe.nugmyanmar.org/ was launched on 27 June 2021. Biographies of Ministers, activities and the organisation of the department, announcements and contact emails are published on this page. Also included is information on how to join interim education programmes for primary and secondary levels and vocational training that are part of NUG’s Continuing Education programme. The NUG offers courses and lectures on the constitution, federalism, and human rights provided as part of its Federal Education Programme, available in Burmese and English. 4. The Ministry of Defence of the NUG has published the People’s Defence Periodical, Volume 1, No. 1. The periodical includes valuable information for local People’s Defence Forces such as Rules of Engagement, the Law of Armed Conflict, rules for members of the underground resistance network, defence and gender, the Code of Conduct for the People’s Defence Force, and the four-point oath of allegiance o f the People’s Defence Force. 5. A high-level open debate on Children and Armed Conflict under the Presidency of Estonia took place via video conference on 28 June 2021. Members of the United Nations that are not part of the UN Security Council sent statements to the event. Ambassador U Kyaw Moe Tun, Permanent Representative of Myanmar to the United Nations, sent a written statement expressing Myanmar’s ' deep concern about grave violations that affected the children in armed conflict'. His statement included these words: We are particularly alarmed by the trends o f increased attacks on schools. ...The protection of children needs to be ensured first and foremost by a legal framework that guarantees their rights and wellbeing. Regarding Myanmar, he highlighted that, Despite constitutional constraints with regard to armed conflicts, the elected civilian government led by President U Win Myint and State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, showed its strong commitment in implementing a number o f significant initiatives to enhance child protection capacity. He also confirmed that: Given the widely known brutality and inhumane acts o f the military and its total disregard for human life, the military has been relisted under Section B o f annex I o f this annual report o f the Secretary-General fo r the recruitment and use o f children. Since the illegal military coup on 1 February 2021, the military has destroyed our nascent democratic transition and has ruined the rule o f law. Justice has been taken out of reach. Violence and atrocities have been perpetrated by the military security forces on a daily basis. Nearly 900 people were ruthlessly murdered by the military. According to UNICEF, as o f 21 June, at least 60 children have been killed since February. The security forces continue to occupy many schools and hospitals throughout the country, making it impossible in enabling a safe environment fo r learning and health care. Permanent Representative U Kyaw Moe Tun appealed to the Security Council, the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict and the to Secretary-General and his Special Representative as follows: • Prevent further grave violations by military forces of killing and maiming children and rape and other forms of sexual violence against children in Myanmar. • Ensure that the military forces stop indiscriminate and excessive use of force and comply with the obligations under international law, including international humanitarian and human rights law. • End impunity and hold the perpetrators of grave violations against children accountable. • Ensure that the country task force on monitoring and reporting receives sufficient support and strengthens its monitoring, reporting, prevention and response efforts regarding all violations and abuses against children in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of publication: 2021-07-02
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 196.13 KB
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Title: Threats and Intimidation Towards Lawyers
Description: "Since the coup in Burma, even lawyers struggle to access justice. Despite being the representatives of the law, they continue to fall victim to unlawful threats and intimidation. Thousands of civilians, including monks, children, and women have been arbitrarily arrested, detained, tortured, and killed by the brutal junta on a daily basis since the coup, when power was seized from the people for a third time. Lawyers are also faced with military atrocities. Lawyers standing up for justice are suffering from unlawful threats and arrests as a consequence of the coup. According to data from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, 17 lawyers have been detained since the coup. They have been arrested and taken to prison for participating in anti-military protests, during home raids, and while assisting detainees who have faced arbitrary arrest and unfair trials. Lawyers have also been taken as hostages by the junta. Daw Ayeyar Lin Htut, an attorney representing political prisoners from Hinthada District, Ayeyarwady Region, was arrested by so-called police on the evening of May 27 during a court hearing at Hinthada District Court. She was taken to Hinthada Prison and charged under Penal Code Section 505(a). Recently, lawyer and mother Daw Wai Wai Khine, along with eight family members were abducted by the military junta as hostages in North Okkalapa Township, Yangon Division after her son, a judge involved in the CDM movement, was not found during a search. U Thein Hlaing Tun, a lawyer defending Chairman U Myo Aung from Naypyidaw Council, was arrested by the junta on May 24 after the trial when he was The junta has continued to enforce a series of arbitrary arrests and unlawful prosecutions against civilians across the country. They then threaten lawyers who have then been assisting these innocent detainees. The intensity of arrests carried out by this terrorist junta is so high that lawyers have been unable, in some areas, to represent detainees at all. Lawyers who have been defending the cases of political prisoners have been burdened with long waits to receive court hearing dates, without the precise time being given alongside them. The creation of special courts in prison has further decreased the ability to receive justice, as these courts are not public hearings. These courts also limit the ability to interact with the client and have restricted the questioning of clients. Additionally, some clients have been beaten, tortured, and forced to make confessions before the hearing, making it near impossible for lawyers to obtain a fair trial. The ability to conduct a fair trial is a huge challenge for lawyers, as these courts are kept under constant watch by the junta judiciary and so-called police. There has been a lack of coherent collaboration between the so-called police, who should be partly responsible for the rule of law, judges and prison staff. In addition to this, lawyers face clear biases against their clients, with case statements being only partially, or incorrectly presented. More importantly, the detainees’ human rights and defendants’ rights are being challenged, without any legal protection to defend themselves.In some cases, lawyers have been threatened with arrest, detention and prosecution under Penal Code Section 505(a). Many individuals who have been detained have completely lost contact with their families since the military seized power. Lawyers are vital for access to justice and in many cases are the only way the voices of those detained in horrific conditions in prisons can be heard. Even lawyers are being abducted and facing violence when trying to give essential legal services, a clear and damming violation to the rule of law. A proper trial and defence are enshrined in the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Geneva Convention. The pinnacle of international law. Then there is the ‘Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers’ passed by the UN Congress in 1990, which explicitly lays out the right of detainees to access lawyers and legal services. A right systematically denied by the junta. Lawyers are unable to see their clients, charges filed, evidence before court, or set dates for trial. One of the few international instruments which cover the legal profession, it is an adopted norm which entails obligations for a state. The junta has abrogated responsibility as a member of the international community. The Spring Revolution is supported by the entire population, and everyday civilians are being terrorized. But a methodological suppression of lawyers, teachers, and doctors, students must be understood. Lawyers fulfil an essential function in any society. AAPP believes this junta is trying to detain, torture, and kill critical thought, just as other genocidal dictatorships have done. A junta engaged in these crimes cannot be considered for a seat at the UN General Assembly in the coming session..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-07-02
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf
Size: 160.82 KB 95.69 KB
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Title: Atrocity Alert No. 259: Ethiopia, Myanmar (Burma) and Burkina Faso
Description: "Atrocity Alert is a weekly publication by the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect highlighting situations where populations are at risk of, or are enduring, mass atrocity crimes. UNILATERAL CEASEFIRE IN WAR-TORN TIGRAY, BUT ZERO ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ATROCITIES After almost eight months of armed conflict and atrocities in the northern Tigray region, the Ethiopian government announced a unilateral ceasefire on 28 June and plans to allow wider delivery of humanitarian aid. The announcement was made after a week-long intensification of fighting and major territorial gains by the opposition Tigray Defense Forces (TDF). On Monday, the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) hastily retreated from the regional capital of Mekelle, as TDF forces marched into the city. Eritrean forces, who are allied with the ENDF and have also been occupying parts of Tigray, also appear to be retreating and have left the towns of Shire, Aksum and Adwa. Despite the Ethiopian government claiming for several months that armed combat in Tigray was over, there has been a rise in clashes as well as a growing number of violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and International Human Rights Law. On 22 June at least 64 people were killed when a government airstrike hit a bustling market in Togoga. Health officials claim soldiers repeatedly blocked medical personnel from reaching the location of the airstrike. A doctor, who was traveling in a Red Cross ambulance, reported that the vehicle was shot at by the ENDF who then briefly detained the ambulance because “whoever goes, they are helping the troops of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.” The Ethiopian government’s military spokesperson denied that any civilians were harmed in the airstrike. The recent escalation of fighting has also impeded the delivery of emergency humanitarian aid to 5.2 million people – 91 percent of Tigray’s population – many of whom are at severe risk of famine. Aid workers have also continued to face harassment, intimidation and detention while attempting to carry out their duties. On 24 June three Médecins Sans Frontières staff were murdered during an attack on their vehicle. The Executive Director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Henrietta Fore, also reported that ENDF soldiers entered a UNICEF office and dismantled the VSAT communications equipment, violating IHL. Deliberate attacks on humanitarian workers and medical personnel constitute war crimes under international law. The Global Centre’s Communications and Digital Media Officer, Sarah Hunter, said, “while this ceasefire will hopefully provide desperately needed relief for civilians in Tigray, it in no way resolves the conflict. The African Union and UN Security Council have largely ignored the enormity of the crisis in Tigray. They must utilize this opportunity to push for a negotiated political solution and enable an international, independent investigation of all potential war crimes and crimes against humanity committed since last November.” MYANMAR JUNTA STRENGTHENS MILITARY TIES WITH RUSSIA On 22 June Myanmar’s military, or Tatmadaw, raided a “People’s Defense Force” (PDF) base in Mandalay – the country’s second largest city – firing rocket-propelled grenades in a civilian area and exchanging gunfire with PDF fighters. This marked the first time that significant armed clashes have occurred in a major urban area between the Tatmadaw and civilian resistance forces that have been formed in response to the military coup on 1 February. Casualties were reported on both sides. Meanwhile, the Commander-in-Chief of the Tatmadaw and leader of Myanmar’s military junta, Min Aung Hlaing, attended an international conference last week in Moscow, Russia, where he reiterated the unsubstantiated claim that the previous civilian government rigged the November 2020 election. General Min Aung Hlaing rejected international criticism of the coup, stating that, “some countries are constantly trying to influence other political systems and ideologies … they also want to interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign states on the pretext of democracy and human rights.” The trip included a meeting with Russia’s Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, who emphasized the growing military cooperation between Myanmar and Russia. At least 884 people have been killed by Myanmar’s security forces since the coup and more than 5,210 people remain detained according to the Association for Political Prisoners. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has also reported that an estimated 230,000 people have been displaced this year inside the country and require humanitarian assistance. In response to the deteriorating humanitarian and human rights situation inside the country, on 18 June the UN General Assembly passed a resolution that “calls upon all Member States to prevent the flow of arms into Myanmar.” The resolution also called on the military to “fully cooperate with and immediately facilitate a visit by the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar” and for “the immediate release of all those detained arbitrarily.” In response to the vote in the UN General Assembly, Dr. Simon Adams, Executive Director at the Global Centre, said that, “General Min Aung Hlaing has repeatedly perpetrated atrocities against the people of Myanmar, including a genocide against the Rohingya, and he orchestrated the 1 February coup. The junta he leads should not be legitimized or recognized by any country. The UN Security Council has received a clear mandate from the General Assembly and it should urgently impose an arms embargo. Not one more bullet or bayonet should be sold to the Tatmadaw.” MASSACRE IN BURKINA FASO CARRIED OUT BY CHILD SOLDIERS Earlier this month, on 5 June, an armed group perpetrated the deadliest attack in Burkina Faso in years, when more than 130 people, including children, were killed in Solhan village. The Solhan massacre also forced 7,000 families to flee the area. According to the Burkinabé government spokesman, Ousseni Tamboura, the attack was primarily carried out by child soldiers who were between the ages of 12 and 14 and who belonged to an armed group affiliated with the so-called Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimin, JNIM). On 24 June the UN Children’s Fund Representative in Burkina Faso, Sandra Lattouf, stated that “we strongly condemn the recruitment of children and adolescents by non-state armed groups. This is a grave violation of their fundamental rights. We recall that civilian populations should never be victims or targets of attacks. Families and children should be protected everywhere and at all times.” The recruitment and use of children is one of the UN’s six “grave violations” against children and, according to the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, enlisting, conscripting and using children under the age of 15 in an armed conflict constitutes a war crime. The UN Secretary-General’s annual report on children and armed conflict, released on 21 June, included information on Burkina Faso for the first time, documenting a rising number of violations against children. During 2020 the UN verified 171 grave violations against 83 children – including killing and maiming – with most violations occurring in the East, Central North and Sahel regions. An estimated ten percent of the country’s schools are also now closed, depriving more than 300,000 children of education. The risk of human trafficking and recruitment into armed groups, as well as sexual and gender-based violence, is particularly acute when children are deprived of access to education. On 29 June the Burkina Faso government announced that two suspected members of JNIM have been detained over the Solhan massacre. It is crucial that the authorities in Burkina Faso relentlessly pursue legal accountability for all those who perpetrate abuses against children, provide reparations and support to victims, and increase meaningful protection for those most at risk. The Burkinabé government should also implement its protocol on the release and handover of children associated with armed groups..."
Source/publisher: Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Date of publication: 2021-06-30
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 1 July 2021)
Description: "As of 1 July, (885) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. oup. AAPP compiled and documented (1) fallen hero today. This (1) fallen hero from Wundwin Township in Mandalay Region was killed on a previous day and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of July 1, a total of (5195) people are currently under detention; of them (233) are sentenced. 1965 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 40 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, 39 to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour and 25 to 7 years imprisonment with hard labour, 1 to 10 years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. The names of released detainees have not been immediately available to compile, we will continue to add the released names when confirmed. Soe San, NLD member in Talsu Village of Wundwin Township, Mandalay Region, who was arrested on June 29, died on June 30. It was informed that he died from COVID-19, however, Soe San had been beaten by the soldiers stationed at the Pintale Hospital. Assistant surgeon Wutt Yi Aung from Pyay Township, Bago Region, who is involved in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), was arrested in the morning of July 1. Ko Htike a.k.a Kyaw Linn Htike, who is a member of the Thukha Kar Yi Charity Association and a township Red Cross member in Bago Region’s Nattalin Township, was arrested on the night of June 29 after returning from sending back the patient. In addition to this, Maung Sein, Township NLD Information Committee Member of Taungtha Township in Mandalay Region, who was evading arrest, was arrested on the night of June 29 in Taungtha Township. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-07-01
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Format : pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.21 MB 4.8 MB 1.14 MB
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Title: Myanmar’s LGBTIQ Community Faces Death and Torture From Junta
Description: "At least 12 LGBTIQ community members have been killed by regime forces and another 73 arrested or charged since the junta’s coup for fighting against dictatorship and striving for equality, according to a report from the National Unity Government (NUG). On Wednesday, the NUG’s Ministry of Human Rights and Ministry of Women, Youths and Children’s Affairs released the situation report of the LGBTIQs after the military coup in Myanmar, in celebration of Pride Month which recognizes the valuable contributions made by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) people. LGBTIQ groups in Myanmar have actively participated in anti-regime protests since the start of the pro-democracy movement in February. The most visible sign of their participation are the rainbow flags that have been waved among the crowds at anti-coup demonstrations nationwide. As crackdowns, violence and torture against pro-democracy activists and civilians has intensified in the past few months, many LGBTIQ people across Myanmar have faced severe human rights violations, with some killed, tortured or detained by the military regime. Between Feb. 1 and June 20, at least 12 LGBTIQ people from Myitkyina, Myingyan, Monywa, Mawlamyine, Yangon, Kyaukpadaung, and Mandalay were shot dead by junta forces while participating in peaceful protests and defending protesters from military violence, the report stated. Three gay men and one transgender woman from Myingyan and Bago were also seriously injured by junta forces, according to the report. Of the 73 LGBTIQ people arrested, 65 are still being detained. Another 28 are in hiding to avoid arrest, the report stated. The NUG report noted that transgender people who have been arrested have experienced different forms of sexual harassment while in police custody, or being held in detention by regime forces, because of their visible identity as LGBTIQ people. It quoted a 50-year transgender woman in Yangon who was arrested and severely tortured by junta forces. The woman was beaten on their back, shoulders and head, stripped naked and forced to kneel down all the time. Their nipples were also burned with the tips of burning cigarettes and had paper clips attached to them, while a bottle was inserted into their anus. “After they were happy with burning my nipples and inserting a bottle in my anus, and when they were about to sleep, they made me leapfrog. The compound is very wide and I could do that and they made me hold my two hands between my thighs and made me twist around and I was kept the whole day with dust and mud on me,” the woman was quoted as saying. Those injuries took a month to heal, the transgender woman said. In addition, many of the gay and transgender detainees who are being treated for HIV with antiretroviral therapy are unable to access their medication as they are scared about revealing their health status to the officials detaining them, the report said. Civil society organizations representing LGBTIQ groups stressed that members of the LGBTIQ community actively participating in the anti-regime movement faced harsh retaliation and transphobic attacks from junta forces. However, the groups vowed that they will never give up contributing to the revolution in acquiring equality for all. The NUG has called on the international community to put pressure on the Myanmar military to immediately end the violence against all civilians, including LGBTIQ people, as well as calling for the release of all detainees and for the provision of the necessary psycho-social support upon their release. It also urged the international community to support and engage with their work on the protection and promotion of human rights for all people, including the LGBTIQ community..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of publication: 2021-07-01
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Position on International Humanitarian Assistance in Myanmar/Burma
Description: "Urgent call for responsible and ethical humanitarian assistance The NUG calls for rapid and expanded humanitarian assistance to save the lives of all people in Myanmar. The recent military coup and ongoing atrocity crimes committed by the junta have yet again plunged our people into a complex political and humanitarian emergency. The NUG’s humanitarian policy is led by the needs of our people on the ground. These needs are acute, and are the direct result of the unlawful actions of the military. Since 1 February 2021, the military has killed more than 900 individuals, including many children; it has unlawfully detained thousands, subjecting many to torture; and it has precipitated a banking crisis and rising food insecurity, with the World Food Program estimating that an additional 3.4 million people will now go hungry. This adds to the military’s decades of misrule and criminal behavior, which are the reason why Myanmar has required such high levels of international assistance. More than half a million people are now internally displaced. People across Myanmar require urgent assistance. The military is ill-equipped to manage the economy and meet the needs of our people. This same military is impeding access and recourse for life-saving humanitarian assistance to the people of Myanmar. The military continues to target the general public as well as healthcare and humanitarian workers. Humanitarian assistance should prioritize the immediate needs currently called for by communities. There are serious needs across all sectors. We echo calls for an emphasis on basic needs: food, water, medicine, and shelter, and/or direct financial support. The NUG respects and supports the basic values of humanity and impartiality in humanitarian aid, which seek to protect life and health, and ensure respect for human beings on the basis of need alone. The NUG and the people of Myanmar are struggling to free our country from military dictatorship and establish a peaceful federal democratic union. As such, we expect humanitarian agencies to respect the fundamental rights of Myanmar's citizens to determine their own political future, and to recognize and support us as we do so. The NUG also calls for all international humanitarian actors to agree to certain guiding principles to ensure that their activities do as much good as possible and avoid the risk of benefiting the military in its campaign to control the country through mass violence.....Goal: The NUG calls on all international humanitarian aid to be provided in a way that meets the needs of people most in need and is rooted in a localization approach that respects the people's democratic right to organize the delivery of their own relief.....Guiding Principles: 1. International humanitarian assistance should be provided to all those in need, without discrimination and be designed to reach the specific needs of the most vulnerable. 2. International assistance must reflect the needs and will of the local public. 3. International humanitarian assistance programs must be designed and implemented to ensure they are not used to promote or benefit the political or financial interests of the military junta. 4. International humanitarian assistance should be coordinated with and empower existing governance structures supported by the people in all parts of Myanmar, including NUG-aligned administrative bodies and CSOs/CBOs in ethnic-administered areas, for a localized humanitarian response to needs on the ground. Principles for international humanitarian assistance in Myanmar/Burma: Strong principles and conditions are required to ensure that humanitarian work does not in practice serve the harmful interests of the military. Assistance must reach those most in need and must not in any way legitimize the junta that is the cause of the people’s suffering. We urge international humanitarian actors to collectively agree to the following principles when considering the provision of assistance to areas controlled by the junta: 1 . Avoid substitution policies or undermining the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) The people of Myanmar are using their agency to peacefully oppose the unjust military coup. This involves making difficult sacrifices, including not participating in the military administration. The people do not want international actors to undermine this peaceful resistance strategy. Respect their decisions. It would be unethical to substitute international provision of services, such as healthcare, education, or others, where the CDM is actively choosing to not provide these services through the military administration. Instead, resources should be provided directly to local actors who can flexibly and creatively provide these services in ways that do not legitimize or otherwise support the military junta. By resourcing established civil society organizations and ethnic administrations, depending on the location and including to provide services through CDM professionals, international assistance can help ensure that needs are met without causing greater harm..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management - NUG
Date of publication: 2021-06-19
Date of entry/update: 2021-07-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 30 June 2021)
Description: "As of 30 June, (884) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. AAPP compiled and documented (1) fallen hero today. This (1) fallen hero from Pyigyidagun Township in Mandalay Region was killed on a previous day and documented today. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of June 30, a total of (5210) people are currently under detention; of them (222) are sentenced. 1965 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 40 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, 39 to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour and 25 to 7 years imprisonment with hard labour, 1 to 10 years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document. The terrorist junta announced that on June 30, they will release over 2000 students and civilians who were arbitrarily detained and charged in prisons across the country after the coup. The names of today’s released detainees have not been immediately available to compile, we will continue to add the released names when confirmed. In the morning of June 28, a civilian named Wai Phyo Aung was shot dead on spot by the terrorist junta when he went to look at a dispute over land in Pyigyidagun Township, Mandalay Region. His body was taken by the junta and his family was only shown a photo. On the morning of June 29 in Yangon Region’s North Okkalapa Township, eight family members including lawyer Wai Wai Khaing were arrested when the terrorists did not find his son, a judge who is involved in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), when they came and searched to arrest him at home. Police Sub-Lieutenant Jorny a.k.a Thura from Chanayethazan Township Police Station in Mandalay Region, who was arrested for his involvement in CDM, was sentenced to three years imprisonment on June 7. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-06-30
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf pdf
Size: 1.21 MB 4.66 MB 1.08 MB
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Title: H.E. Dr. Sasa Addressed to the Foreign Affairs Committee of Defenses and Armed Force of the Senate, the Parliament of France
Description: "Bonjour! Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Dear respected members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Defenses and Armed Forces of the Senate, the Parliament of France, I cannot thank you enough for giving me this great opportunity again to represent my people and country of Myanmar before the French Parliamentarians. I am so moved by seeing and hearing the strong support from the People, Parliament and Government of France for the liberation and freedom of the people of Myanmar from the hands of the military junta and for the building of an inclusive Federal Democratic Union of Myanmar for All of the people of Myanmar regardless of race, religion, gender, culture, background and ethnicities. The brave people of Myanmar and the National Unity Government of Myanmar greatly appreciate the People, Parliament and Government of the French Republic for your solidarity with us at this darkest of hours in the history of our country. I once again would like to reiterate our sincere gratitude for your leadership in the EU, UN and at G7 on behalf of the people of Myanmar. Thank you for the recognition of CRPH and NUG as representing the voices of the people of Myanmar and thank you for joining countries that have imposed an arms embargo in solidarity against the ruthless military junta in Myanmar. While the future of Myanmar is in the hands of the brave people of Myanmar, we need the strong and continued support, friendship and recognition from the people, Parliamentarians, and Government of France and its international alliance. Your support and recognition are absolutely crucial in stopping the crimes against humanity in Myanmar and ending the military General’s reign of terror against the innocent people of Myanmar who’s only 'crime' is expressing their fundamental rights as human beings. The defense and armed forces are established in the countries around the world to protect their people and to defend freedom and democracy, but the defense and armed forces in Myanmar are doing the opposite. They are using their battlefield weapons to destroy our freedom and democracy by killing the innocent people of Myanmar and bringing destruction to civilian homes, villages, towns and cities across the Nation of Myanmar. Under the hands of terrorist-turned-armed forces leader, Min Aung Hlaing and his military junta gang, the innocent people of Myanmar have been facing the crises of crimes against humanity, Covid-19 and a great humanitarian catastrophe. Under the brutality of the military junta in Myanmar, Covid-19 cases are rising rapidly and out of control - the country is quickly becoming a failed state; the economy is collapsing along with the healthcare system, education system, and all basic services in the country are failing quickly. Food insecurity is rising sharply, violence and killing continues day and night. The 54 million people of Myanmar are facing the darkness of crimes against humanity, death and destruction which are becoming both systematic and widespread. Since the failed coup was instigated on the 1st of February 2021 in Myanmar, the military junta forces have murdered over 915 people, including 72 children, unlawfully arrested and detained more than 6,200 innocent Myanmar people including our elected leaders, our State Counsellor, Daw San Suu Kyi, Mr. President U Win Myint and dozens of brave journalists, hunting down more than 2,000 innocent civilians and forcing them to flee from illegal arrest warrants. All these charges are a farce which has nothing to do with rule of law but has everything to do with the destruction of our freedom, democracy and prolonging of the military junta reign of terror in Myanmar. On the 16th of June 2021, the military junta committed another crime against humanity by burning down the entire village of Kinma (over 250 homes) and burning elderly people to death who were trapped inside their homes. This is not a first, however, as this military junta is guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing against the Rohinga our brothers and sisters, the people of Karen, Kachin, Kayah, Shan, Mon, Rakhine, Chin States which account for over 40% of the population of Myanmar. We have made our policy and position strong and clear to bring justice for our Rohingya brothers and sisters and to hold the military generals accountable for the crimes against humanity that they have committed against the people of Myanmar. There shall never again be impunity for these criminals. According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), 1.2 million civilians are currently displaced by the violence caused by the military junta’s reign of terror. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is predicting that over half of the population of Myanmar (approximately 27 million people) will be living in poverty within a year. The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) is predicting that more than 6.4 million people in Myanmar are going to face starvation by the end of October 2021. We cannot allow the normalization of 1.2 million Myanmar people being violently forced to flee from their homes because of a military dictator’s thirst for power. We cannot allow the normalization of 6.4 million Myanmar people being forced into starvation; we cannot allow the normalization of 27 million people in Myanmar being forced into extreme poverty because of the greed of military Generals in Myanmar. The brutal military junta forces are attacking civilian homes, properties, villages, towns and cities across Myanmar with heavy battlefield weapons. They have occupied churches, schools, community halls and hospitals to use as barracks and supply depots. These junta forces are replacing textbooks and pencils with the terror of fear, violence, guns and bullets; replacing Bibles and hymnals with intimidation, oppression, mortars and bombs; and replacing life-saving hospital equipment with weapons of torture, destruction and death. It is not normal that classrooms are being occupied by junta soldiers, and that the school children are being forced to flee for their lives; nor is it normal that places of worship and community centers are being occupied by the junta forces, and that the communities, pastors, monks, and leaders are being forced to flee for their lives. It is not normal that our hospitals, schools, colleges, universities, banks, and economy is crashing due to this military reign of terror..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of International Cooperation Myanmar
Date of publication: 2021-06-30
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Joint Statement in Celebration of the Pride Month
Description: "In celebration of the Pride Month, The Ministry of Women, Youth and Children Affairs and Ministry of Human Rights of the National Unity Government today releases the Situation Report of the LGBTIQs after the Military Coup in Myanmar. This report draws attention to the situation of LGBTIQ activists who are killed, arrested and tortured for their participation in the peaceful protests and some of the challenges the LGBTIQ people are facing under the ongoing violence by the military. This report is based on the first-hand testimonies the LGBTIQs as well as information provided by many sources. Since the beginning of the coup in Myanmar, LGBTIQ people have been actively participating in anti-coup protests, demonstrations and civil disobedience movement (CDM). LGBTIQ groups throughout Myanmar actively participated under rainbow flags as front-liners at every stage of the revolution. The visibility of the community leads to highlighting the diversity and inclusivity of the people against the coup. As crackdowns, violence against and torture of pro-democracy activists and civilians intensified within the past few months, many LGBTIQs across Myanmar faced severe human rights violations. The situation has severely deteriorated for the human rights defenders and activists Including LGBTIQs. Reports from LGBTIQ civil society organizations corroborate that there are (12) cases of LGBTIQ fatalities, with (73) being arrested and/or charged under 505 (a), (65) still being detained, and (28) either in hiding or having fled to non-SAC controlled areas. Reliable sources indicate that gay people and transgender women are predominantly at the top of the chart of most cases of human rights abuses and violations committed against the LGBTIQ. This report also emphasizes the barriers and challenges faced by the LGBTIQs under military rule. Documented challenges include access to justice by some LGBTIQs in areas outside of cities, access to health care, particularly Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) during detention, and shortage or cessation of service of HIV healthcare services and facilities across the country. The military coup has unreservedly shrunk civic space for most civil society organizations to operate. Despite previously existing laws not prescribing mandatory requirements of legal registrations of non-governmental organizations, LGBTIQ human rights organizations cannot conduct activities freely at all national and sub-national levels. The National Unity Government calls on governments and UN human rights mechanisms to support and engage with the NUG and recognize their work on protection and promotion of human rights for the people inclusive of the LGBTIQ community. The NUG also calls on these actors to keep amplifying the voices from Myanmar and to keep the struggle visible in the UN human rights mechanisms, including the Human Rights Council, UN General Assembly, and the UN Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Further, the NUG calls on governments to support a call to referral of the Myanmar situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and to establish a coordinated arms embargo against the Myanmar military, as well as targeted sanction against the military's businesses. Support for Myanmar LGBTIQs is also needed; we call for support in monitoring, documenting and reporting of human rights violations and gender-based violence of LGBTIQ people in Myanmar and support for general funding and technical assistance to LGBTIQ groups.....Ministry of Human Rights and Ministry of Women, Youths and Children Affairs National Unity Government Dated 30 June 2021..."
Source/publisher: Ministry of Human Rights and Ministry of Women, Youths and Children Affairs National Unity Government
Date of publication: 2021-06-30
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Press Statement on Prison Releases
Description: "This morning, the junta prison department reportedly announced the release of 2342 prisoners across the country. The junta detained innocents. Torture is used as policy by this military, detainees will suffer long-term physical and mental illness. There was no recognition of the injustice and suffering caused today, and no mention of the right to compensation. Today’s events intend to make it seem there has been a relaxation in the junta’s repression. This is not the case. In fact, the junta is planning to detain and torture even more civilians. The people who remain in prison will be tortured more severely than those released. It is a continuation of the campaign of fear relentlessly waged against Burma’s people by the terrorist so-called State Administrative Council. At least 883 peaceful protestors have been murdered, and 6421 detained since the coup. “Democracy will not be reached until all political prisoners are released, with justice and national reconciliation achieved. This illegitimate junta is not making positive changes, they are only trying to make the case to be given credentials at the UN in September”, said AAPP Secretary U Tate. “They are arresting people who should never have been detained in the first place, those released will be threatened and suffer from trauma. They will need rehabilitation and understanding of the injustice they experienced”, said AAPP Joint-Secretary U Bo Kyi, “any release must aim at real reform, including the release of Daw Aung Suu Kyi. Violence must end, and those who committed torture and murder brought to justice. The junta is releasing people whilst arrests go on. The international community must not accept this as a relaxation. Real change must apply pressure to stop the violence and release all of the political prisoners. We have been dealing with this junta for decades, they will not be removed unless there is intense pressure. Releasing some political prisoners does not mean Burma will return to a civilian government the people want” Burma’s path to democracy can only be restored if our elected leaders and all political prisoners are unconditionally released and a civilian government, elected by the people, in power. In Solidarity, AAPP..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-06-30
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Title: Daily Briefing in Relation to the Military Coup (Updated 29 June 2021)
Description: "As of 29 June, (883) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. Today there were no confirmed fallen heroes. This is the number verified by AAPP, the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher. We will continue adding as and when. As of June 29, a total of (5224) people are currently under detention; of them (222) are sentenced. 1988 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 40 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, 39 to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour and 25 to 7 years imprisonment with hard labour, 1 to 10 years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document. On the afternoon of June 28 in Puta-O Township, Kachin State, Yinn Htan Htal Yam, brother-in-law of a youth the junta police and soldiers came to detain, was arrested as hostage when they did not find the youth they were looking for due to reporting by a pro-junta informer. In addition to this, in the morning of June 28, Aye Aye Myint, wife of, and Hnin Ei Ei San, 14-year-old daughter of a civilian named Tun Wai were arrested as hostage when terrorist junta did not find Tun Wai at his home at Htauk Kyant Village in Kale Township, Sagaing Region. Aung Soe, a technology student, charged under Section 505(a) and (c) of Penal Code, was sentenced to three years imprisonment by the special court in Dawei Prison, Tanintharyi Region on June 28. AAPP will continue to keep you informed of verified daily arrests, charges, sentences and fatalities in relation to the attempted coup, and update our lists to the details of these alleged offences. If you receive any information about detentions of, or charges against CSO leaders, activists, journalists, CDM workers, other civilians and fallen heroes in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses..."
Source/publisher: Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of publication: 2021-06-29
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Size: 1.21 MB 4.68 MB 1006.26 KB
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Title: The junta overthrew the government they represented. What happens next for Myanmar's diplomats in limbo?
Description: "In a beige stone townhouse on a leafy New York street, a political coup thousands of miles away has split an office in two. Downstairs in the dimly lit building, staffers at Myanmar's Permanent Mission to the United Nations receive orders from the military junta, which overthrew the country's elected government on February 1. Upstairs, charismatic ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun is leading what is effectively an underground diplomatic corps, part of an attempt to wrestle back control of the country. His conference room is decorated with portraits of a long line of his military-aligned predecessors, reminders of what he's up against. Staffers at Myanmar's dozens of diplomatic posts around the world have been faced with a predicament since the coup. Stay in their roles and be forced to represent the military junta that has killed hundreds of pro-democracy protesters and locked up the democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Speak out and risk being fired and placing themselves and their families in Myanmar in danger. At least 21 staffers across multiple regions -- including Kyaw Moe Tun -- have decided they won't cooperate with the military-controlled foreign ministry. Instead, they are quietly using their connections and relative safety abroad to counter messaging from Myanmar's military. To many of their former colleagues, they are defectors -- people who have turned their backs on duty and the chain of command. Several diplomats who spoke to CNN insisted they are actually loyalists to the democratic government that was overthrown in February. The issue is getting other countries to see them that way. They have already had a win -- the United Nations has allowed Kyaw Moe Tun to retain his seat and rejected a military-approved replacement. That makes him the only openly anti-coup Myanmar diplomat to remain in office. That alone won't be enough. Myanmar's military rulers could try again to replace him at any time -- and the longer the military remains in power, the harder it will be for underground diplomats to secure international recognition. A military coup In Berlin, Chaw Kalyar, 49, had stayed up late to watch Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) government be sworn in. The NLD had been reelected in a landslide vote last year and February 1 was meant to be the day parliament opened. Instead, the country woke up to find men in green military uniform swarming the capital Naypyidaw. Television channels went black. In the days to come, members of Suu Kyi's government would be hunted down or arrested. It was heartbreaking, said Chaw Kalyar, third secretary at the Berlin Embassy. As a 16-year-old, she had joined the country's historic 1988 protests against military rule, and seen friends killed in the ensuing government crackdown. She joined the foreign ministry more than 23 years ago, when Myanmar was under another brutal military dictatorship. When February's coup unfolded, Chaw Kalyar immediately knew she could not cooperate with the military junta -- she remembered how much people had suffered. "We could not just sit by this time," she said. As she talked with other embassy staffers in Berlin about publicly supporting the burgeoning civil disobedience movement, Chaw Kalyar was cautious that others in the embassy may support the military. Many of the country's career diplomats took roles in the foreign service during Myanmar's half century of military rule, which plunged Myanmar -- then called Burma -- into poverty, isolationism and civil war. Just over a decade ago, the military chiefs put in place a plan that would permit the country to hold elections, liberalize the economy, and transition into a semi-democracy while still maintaining their authority. Suu Kyi's NLD election win in 2020 was only the second democratic election held since direct military rule ended. The party appeared to be leading the country, but in reality the military remained a powerful force. The diplomats and embassy staff who denounced the coup were resisting a return to past repression. Chaw Kalyar knew that if she spoke out against the coup, and the movement against the junta was unsuccessful, she would likely never be able to go home. Despite the risks, she decided to act. "It's like all our life has endured this military dictatorship," she said. "We have to join this movement, and we think this movement can bring down this military coup, and we can finally eradicate this military brutality." Thet Htar Mya Yee San, 29, a junior diplomat at the Myanmar embassy in Washington, remembers an emotional conversation with like-minded diplomats in two European cities. Although she was on her first foreign assignment, she and other young diplomats decided they should "give up everything" to support the civil disobedience movement or CDM, which has seen people across Myanmar stop going to work to prevent the country from operating as normal under its new de facto rulers. But isolated in foreign countries, fearful for their families at home and uncertain of what would come next, they didn't take action immediately. That would come after a key moment a few weeks later..."
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Source/publisher: "CNN" (USA)
Date of publication: 2021-06-29
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
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