Anti-coup protesters
Individual Documents
Description:
"On February 26, Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, made a sudden and unexpected move: he declared his employer – the military junta – the illegitimate ruler of Myanmar in front of the UN assembly. In an exclusive interview with FRANCE 24, the diplomat describes what went through his mind before making the fateful speech, and why targeted sanctions are needed against a junta he says is “committing crimes against humanity”..."
Source/publisher:
"France24" ( Paris)
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Human Rights and international relations, Collected resolutions of the GA on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"Journalist Ye Wint Thu was already on the run when his name and photo appeared on a wanted list broadcast by Myanmar's military junta.
For weeks, he had been documenting protests in Yangon against the military coup. But in early March, after a colleague was violently arrested in the south of the country, and the junta revoked the licenses of five prominent media organizations, his included, he got word that he should go into hiding.
"I got a call from my source saying I should run right now because they are going to arrest you tonight," said Ye Wint Thu, who is in his late 30s.
He stuffed what he could into bags — his laptops, work projects and important documents — and fled with his wife.
Since then, they have stayed with friends, family and colleagues, moving each night to evade the security forces who regularly conduct nighttime raids of suspected safe houses.
Ye Wint Thu's story is not a one-off. Journalists across Myanmar are being attacked by the military junta merely for doing their jobs. More than 80 journalists have been arrested since the coup on February 1, with more than half of those still in detention, according to a statement from Western embassies in Myanmar.
Offices of newspapers and online media have been raided. A nightly news bulletin on state TV broadcasts the names and images of those sought by the junta. Many of them, like Ye Wint Thu, are journalists.
Some have been hauled off to secretive military interrogation centers and charged with crimes under section 505a — a law amended by the military that makes it a crime punishable by up to three years in prison for publishing or circulating comments that "cause fear" or spread "false news."
Braving bullets and potential torture if they are captured, Myanmar's reporters are continuing to expose alleged atrocities by the junta against its own people. And alongside the muzzled media, citizen journalists are taking great risks to gather information, while activists secretly publish and distribute revolutionary newsletters and pamphlets.
"What's happening in Myanmar is a humanitarian crisis of the press," said Shawn Crispin, senior Southeast Asia representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists. "As global condemnation of the coup rose, it's becoming clear that the [military junta] want to suppress the news and to suppress coverage on what they're doing to the pro democracy demonstrators. And so they're going after the press."
'I could die on the street': Before the coup on February 1, Ye Wint Thu traveled around Myanmar producing and anchoring a current affairs TV program for independent media outlet Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB). Now, he said, most journalists and editors he knows have gone underground as it's too dangerous to be on the streets......"I could die on the street.: Someone could shoot at me or I could get arrested. On the streets, there's a lot of informants and a lot of people who I don't know, so I might get killed," he said.
During one crackdown in Yangon's Hledan, a district which had become a flashpoint for protests, Ye Wint Thu described running from security forces who were shooting at protesters. He sought shelter in a migrant hostel.
"I had to hide in a small bedroom because the soldiers and police were shooting and were trying to catch people on the streets," he said.
Despite knowing that he's wanted by the junta, Ye Wint Thu said he won't stop working.
"Most of the journalists are on the run, like me. They can't do their jobs freely," he said. "All I can do now is conduct interviews here and make phone calls ... We can't stop, it's really important for the people of Burma," he said, using another name for Myanmar.
In downtown Yangon, DVB's office has been sealed shut. The staff managed to recover essential broadcast equipment but the once buzzing newsroom, like most media offices in the city, remains empty. Police regularly check the premises to make sure they aren't broadcasting.
The morning of the coup, DVB was taken off the air along with all other independent TV channels. The news organization switched to broadcasting via satellite but the junta issued an order for citizens to remove the PSI satellite dishes that carried their channel.
Now, while they look for another satellite to broadcast from, DVB is relying on getting information out via its website and YouTube pages, as well through Facebook where it has 14 million followers.
"We never stopped, not even for a single day," said Toe Zaw Latt, DVB's operations director who recently fled the city......A network of safe houses: Upon seizing power, the military cut all access to mobile data and wireless broadband, and until last week completely shut down the internet each night. Toe Zaw Latt said the junta's attempt to control all media and communication has created an "information vacuum" in the country, which it attempts to fill with military propaganda.
Journalists move carefully through a network of safe houses, plotting their routes before they go out to avoid military checkpoints. If they're stopped, security forces search their phones and cameras — any images of protests or the ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi can be cause for arrest.
"Every day, once you decide to leave, you know that you may never make it back to your room or your safe house. But it is your decision," Toe Zaw Latt said. Toe Zaw Latt tells his reporters: "Don't stay long on the ground, get the story, get out. Shoot and run. Cover your identity. Don't risk your life. There will be stories all the time. If it is too risky, don't take that risk."
They operate in small networks for their safety, and there are no bylines on news articles. Even uploading footage is dangerous, as the journalists often have to find someone willing to allow them to use their network.
"You have to make the file size very small, you have to upload to a particular network to get it out of Myanmar. Then people outside will access the cloud and upload," Toe Zaw Latt said. "I had to take risk on a daily basis to get internet access. You have to share [network connection] and you cannot let them know you are uploading files, as it is very scary."
Toe Zaw Latt is part of an old guard of exiled Myanmar media workers.
For half a century, Myanmar was ruled by successive military dictators until economic and political reforms began in 2011. For years, DVB relied on a clandestine network of video journalists who would bravely sneak footage out of the country so independent news could be broadcast into Myanmar.
Following the abolishment of pre-publication censorship in 2012, exiled media organizations that operated in Thailand or Europe began slowly moving back. Once blacklisted, journalists could now interview government ministers and report openly in the country.
In 2013, daily independent newspapers were allowed to publish for the first time since military rule. From 2015, under Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian National League for Democracy government, TV news channels like DVB were granted licenses, but journalists were still targeted with colonial era laws and defamation.
Press freedom was not great, journalists said, but it was better. And there was hope it would continue to improve. Myanmar ranks 140 out of 180 in the 2021 World Press Freedom Index, dropping one place from the year before.
Now, they have been forced to go back underground. Toe Zaw Latt said four DVB journalists have been arrested since the coup.
The former exiled journalists pass down their knowledge and experience to the younger generation who have suddenly found themselves the public enemy of a murderous regime intent on wiping out the truth and replacing it with its own.
As it's too dangerous for many to be out on the streets, media workers both inside and outside the country are relying on the bravery of citizen journalists. These are normal people filming or photographing, posting on social media and sending information to reporters.
Their videos, often shot from behind windows or walls, provide evidence of the military's shootings, beatings and other human rights abuses and counter the official narrative that security forces are using "minimum force" or independent media is "fake news."
"Lots of citizen journalists know that these kind of records are really important," said Toe Zaw Latt. "The [junta has been] accused of crimes against humanity. The more remote, the more abuses because no one is watching," he said. He described one instance where a man walked for 24 hours to reach a place with network connectivity so he could send a few photos about a conflict in this home state.
"They want to take a risk to tell the stories," he said.....Sacrificing freedom to report: For some that mental and emotional toll is great. Journalists say they wrestle with guilt and grief at leaving family and partners behind, or being the reason they have to flee, potentially putting them in danger.
"The painful part is, I said I'm sorry a thousand times to my partner. If not because of me, he didn't need to go [into hiding]," said Tin, a journalist for independent online news outlet Myanmar Now, who is using a pseudonym for her safety.
"When I go to sleep I just wish I could see a different morning, another day," said Tin. "The coup happened around 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. We woke up to the coup and woke up to the news. So whenever I go to sleep I wish that tomorrow morning I can see something different."
Tin said she feels guilty thinking about her hardships when others are going through so much worse. She draws strength when she thinks of the 760 people killed by the military since the coup.
"I keep reminding myself these are not just numbers, these are lives and families behind those numbers," she said.
Known for its investigations and hard-hitting features, Myanmar Now has been a loud and critical voice publishing in Burmese and English. International media, including CNN, often rely on its reporting, which has included reports on military's finances and business dealings with cronies and foreign ventures.
That has drawn the ire of the military. In mid-March, Myanmar Now's office was raided by security forces. Along with DVB, Myanmar Now was one of five to have their publishing license revoked.
But Tin said they have adapted to the challenging environment in ways they never thought they'd have to.
"A lot of time phone calls don't work. Or in areas where security forces are shooting, you can hear loud bangs or running or shooting. It has been difficult to get information so we keep calling around midnight or 11 p.m. when we think there should no longer be shooting," she said.
Tin said journalists are now faced with two choices: "If you want to keep reporting, you have to be exiled or in a place where they can't find you," she said. "You have to sacrifice freedom to report.".....Military courts: That lack of freedom is something Brang Mai struggles with daily.
Brang Mai founded Myitkyina News Journal, an independent weekly, in 2012 with 30 employees covering the northern state of Kachin. On April 29, the military revoked the journal's publishing license.
"Everything is online. It's very dangerous to print, and we cannot find a place to work," he said.
Since the coup, three of his journalists have been arrested, and it has been a struggle to find out where they are, Brang Mai said. Once charged, trials are held, not in civilian courts, but within the prison walls, in secretive, military-run hearings.
The CPJ's Crispin said Myanmar's jails and prisons are like a "black box."
"Many just disappear inside prison, they're not given access to their families, they're not given access to lawyers, the news organizations are not allowed to contact them, so it's becoming a real black box as to what's happening to many journalists that are that are in jail," he said.
Brang Mai spends his days frantically organizing lawyers for his detained reporters, arranging security for their families and his other staff, hiring trustworthy drivers, and seeking out safe houses.
He moved back to his home town of Myitkyina to report on the country's opening up, but now fears being forced back into exile.
"We never thought that this would happen again. What we facing here is unbelievable," Brang Mai said. "All of a sudden everything vanished within a day or two. If we move out to another country, maybe we get asylum, we just have to restart from basics again.".....Rise of alternative media: While some face the prospect of going into exile, others are creating new forms of media.
Subverting the junta's internet cuts and suppression of information, Myanmar's young people are printing underground newsletters and pamphlets and secretly distributing them in the streets. Some have revolutionary names like Molotov. Others, thrown from bridges or stuck to lampposts, feature news of the coup, arrests, military abuses, and even poems.
Activists have now launched a short wave radio station to reach the public and each other. Federal FM, formed in April by a group of activist volunteers, broadcasts news and updates on the political situation.
"Radio is one of most important things for public information because we know military is cutting internet and phones and news agencies their satellite has been taken away. So I know radio is the only way to inform the public about what's going on," said Nway Oo, presenter for Federal FM who uses a pseudonym for safety.
Federal FM is broadcast on 90.2 MHz on Thursdays and Sundays in Yangon and Mandalay, and aims to expand all over the country. Set up by members of the ethnic protest group General Strike Committee of Nationalities, their mission is to educate listeners about federalism — and hold the newly formed National Unity Government to account.
"From radio we are able to criticize and express our aims or goals for a federal union," Nway Oo said. Their purpose, she said is to "support the revolution by giving people the news and the peoples' voice.".....Myanmar's journalists say they won't abandon the people: DVB's Toe Zaw Latt last month made the difficult decision to leave Yangon. The security situation there was untenable, he said. The military had re-imposed household registrations, a hangover from military rule where all house guests have to be registered so the military can keep tabs on who is staying where.
"They make it harder to hide. They know student leaders and celebrities are on the run, so it's to chase them down," he said.
Toe Zaw Latt, an Australian citizen, managed to make it to the airport and fly out last month. He is now in Australian quarantine.
"This is not over. There is a coup, there is a huge army with guns, but we are not going to give up. For journalists, of course, there is danger, we are facing huge difficulties, but we are not going to give up," he said.
For Ye Wint Thu, what's happening to his country is not new. He was four years old when his father was imprisoned for 10 years for being a democracy activist following the 1988 failed uprising against the then-military regime. This time, he believes the younger generation will not give up.
"They will keep protesting. Generation Z, they are the hope of the country of Burma," he said.
Like many journalists in Myanmar, Ye Wint Thu is determined to keep reporting.
"I can't plan at all because things are changing every day," he said. "[But] I'll stick as long as I can inside Burma, and do my job as best as I can."..."
Source/publisher:
"CNN" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-03
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, Human Rights and international relations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"As of 2 May, (765) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) compiled and documented (6) fallen heroes today. (2) from Hsipaw Town and Nawngcho Town in Shan State, (1) from Hpakant Town in Kachin State and (2) from Wetlet Town in Sagaing Region died on 2 May. (1) from Kutkai Town in Shan 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 May 2, a total of (3555) people are currently under detention; of them (82) are sentenced. 1396 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
On 2 May, across the world and inside Burma, people powerfully protested the coup regime on the Global Myanmar Spring Revolution Day. Since the ASEAN leaders meeting, junta forces continue to perpetrate violence, today was the bloodiest day since the ASEAN meeting, at least five civilians were killed in one day. This is alongside increasing arrests.
Two people were killed, and three others injured during a violent crackdown at an anti-dictatorship protest today in Hsipaw Town and Naungcho Town, Shan State. The Hpakant strike was repressed with live ammunition, mines, and hand grenades. One protester was shot dead in Hpakant, Kachin State. More than 20 people were injured and chased forcing the protestors to hide. There is great concern for these injured protesters’ access to medical treatment. Terrorists also arrested more than 10 civilians by breaking and destroying house doors in Hpakant. The junta also opened fire whilst people were gathering to begin a protest in Wetlet Town, Sagaing Region. Two men were shot dead, and eight others injured.
The terrorist troops are now wearing plain clothes, carrying combat weapons, and arresting protestors so it is less easy to be recognized by civilians. Junta forces are also hiding to ambush and shoot. Two civilians were killed and at least five others were arrested today by this way in Mandalay City. AAPP is consolidating further information to verify this.
Junta forces went to the Eain Phyu Taw spare auto parts store to allegedly buy car tires in Kutkai Town, Shan State on 1 May. The victim’s mother said the store was closed and they had stopped selling because of the ending of the fasting period. The victim’s mother was dragged into a car by the junta forces and an argument between the son and the terrorists broke out, he was then shot twice in the chest and died.
Aside from all this, today the terrorist group crackdown on protests and arrested civilians in Mogaung Town, Kachin State, Mawlamyine City, Mon State, Mandalay and Pyugyidagun Townships, Mandalay Region, Monywa City, Sagaing Region, and Hlaing, Insein, and North Okkalapa Townships, Yangon Region. Some civilians across the country were injured.
Arrests are made in plain clothes and the terrorist group has consistently used private vehicles, military trucks, and motorbikes to oppress civilians. Today, strikes were attacked using military trucks and private vehicles in Naungcho Town, Shan State, Shwebo Town, Sagaing Region and Eaindu Town, Karen State. More than 50 motorbikes were confiscated from youth protesters during the Eaindu protest.
The junta stormed a school for the blind based in the Khawel Chan, Yangon Region last April and raided a girl orphanage house on Byaing Yay Oe Zin Street on 1 May nighttime in Tamwe Township, Yangon Region. During the raid, the door of the shelter was stormed and destroyed, the young women living in the shelter were taken out one by one. As of now, it has not been confirmed regarding arrests. Although Myanmar ratified to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), these rights have been dismantled by the dictatorship, women are suffering from both mental and physical insecurity.
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:
“Our uprising must succeed”
Email : [email protected]
Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma
In Solidarity,
AAPP..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, UN (CEDAW) documents on discrimination against women, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"Myanmar has now been under military rule for three months. Here is a timeline of the major events since Feb 1.
Feb 1: Myanmar’s military seizes power in a coup claiming the 2020 November general election that brought a landslide victory to the National League for Democracy (NLD) was marred by fraud. It arrests the leaders of the democratically elected government, including President U Win Myint, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and region and state ministers.
The military announces a yearlong state of emergency and says a new election will be held and power transferred to the winner.
Feb 2: Myanmar’s people bang pots and pans to protest against the coup. This form of protest has been taking place at 8 pm daily across the country ever since.
Myanmar’s military forms the State Administrative Council (SAC) with military officers and selected civilians replacing NLD ministers.
Feb 3: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is charged under the Export and Import Law and Natural Disaster Management Law and remanded in custody.
Additional charges are later filed against her under the Telecommunications Law, sedition law and Natural Disaster Management Law in Naypyitaw. She also faces a charge under the Official Secrets Act in Yangon Eastern District. She faces a total of six charges and has not been allowed to meet her lawyers in person.
The military blocks access to Facebook, the primary means of access to the internet for the overwhelming majority in Myanmar. It is later followed by overnight internet shutdowns, which have since been lifted.
Feb 4: Led by 32-year-old Dr. Tayzar San, around 20 people took to the streets against the military regime in Mandalay. The street protests from Mandalay then spread across the country.
Feb 5: The Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), a body representing the elected NLD lawmakers from the 2020 November election, is formed.
Feb 6: Anti-regime protests begin in Yangon and other cities, followed by a total internet blackout which is lifted the following day.
Feb 8: Many civil servants come out on strike and join the civil disobedience movement (CDM). Mass protests with hundreds of thousands of protesters take place in Yangon, Mandalay, Naypyitaw and other cities. Some private banks have to close as their employees join the CDM. Myanmar’s military imposes a ban on gatherings of more than five people in Yangon and other areas.
Feb 9: Ma Mya Thwe Thwe Khine, 19, is shot in the head as police open fire on anti-regime protesters in Naypyitaw. She later dies of brain injuries.
Feb 11: People, including celebrities, stage a protest outside the Chinese Embassy in Yangon in response to alleged Chinese support for Myanmar’s military. Protests continue daily outside the embassy until Feb 20.
Feb 13: People protest outside the offices of United Nations agencies and the US Embassy in Yangon, calling on the international community to take action against the SAC.
Feb 15: In an interview with Myanmar’s media, Chinese ambassador Chen Hai says the political situation in Myanmar is “absolutely not what China wants to see” and dismisses social media rumors of Chinese involvement in the Feb. 1 coup as “complete nonsense”.
Feb 19: Ma Mya Thwe Thwe Khine, who was shot in the head in the first shooting of junta forces, dies at a 1,000-bed public hospital in Naypyitaw, becoming the first victim to be shot dead since the coup. The SAC says she was shot by fellow protesters.
Feb 22: In what the biggest day so far of defiance since the coup, large crowds of protesters joined a general strike against the junta, closing businesses and flooding on to streets across the country. The protests are referred to as the “five twos revolution”, a reference to the date 22.2.2021.
Feb 24: Facebook and Instagram ban Myanmar’s military and military-controlled state media, citing “exceptionally severe human rights abuses and the clear risk of future military-initiated violence in Myanmar”.
Feb 26: The military-appointed Union Election Commission (UEC) meets political parties in Naypyitaw during which UCE chairman U Thein Soe says the results of the 2020 general election are invalid.
Leaders of some political parties that did not win a single seat in the November poll ask the UEC to abolish the NLD.
Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations, U Kyaw Moe Tun, in his speech to the General Assembly’s informal meeting on Myanmar, called on the international community to “use any means necessary” to reverse the coup and protect the country’s people. He flashes a three-finger salute, a sign of protest, while addressing the meeting.
Feb 27: The junta announces the dismissal of U Kyaw Moe Tun, saying the envoy “betrayed the country and had spoken for an unofficial organization which doesn’t represent the country and had abused the power and responsibilities of an ambassador”. U Kyaw Moe Tun later sends a letter to the president of the UN General Assembly to say that he still holds the post.
March 3: More than 30 are killed in at least four cities in one of the bloodiest days since the coup as soldiers and police fire live rounds into crowds of protesters.
March 6: Junta forces detain ward-level NLD chairman U Khin Maung Latt in Yangon’s Pabedan Township. His dead body is returned the following day. Dozens of similar cases follow as activists and protest leaders die overnight in military custody.
March 8: The SAC revoked the licenses of five media outlets, Mizzima, DVB, 7 Days, Myanmar Now and Khit Thit Media.
Junta forces abduct U Zaw Myat Lin, manager of a vocational institute run by the NLD in Yangon’s Shwepyithar Township. His dead body is returned the following day.
March 11: Myanmar’s military regime sues The Irrawaddy for its Feb. 20 video showing the police asking for 13 million kyats (US$9,200) from relatives to release striking doctors detained at an anti-regime protest.
March 14: In another of the deadliest days since the coup, more than 50 people die in Yangon’s Hlaingtharyar Township as the security forces carry out a murderous crackdown on anti-regime protesters. Some Chinese-owned factories were set on fire in Hlaing Tharyar and Shwepyithar.
The Chinese Embassy urges Myanmar’s authorities to take measures to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens, projects and businesses.
The military council declares martial law in Hlaing Tharyar and Shwepyithar.
March 15: Martial law is declared in North Dagon, South Dagon, Dagon Seikkan and North Okkalapa townships in Yangon and five townships in Mandalay.
The junta blocks mobile internet access, the primary source of internet for the majority in Myanmar. Mobile internet access remains unavailable until May 1.
March 21: The Home Affairs Ministry declares the CRPH and its related organizations to be unlawful associations.
March 27: The military regime holds Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw.
More than 100 protesters are killed across the country on the bloodiest day of the protests to date as people fill the streets, defying a military warning that they could be shot “in the head and back”.
The UN human rights high commissioner’s office said it had received reports of “scores killed”, adding that “this violence is compounding the illegitimacy of the coup and the culpability of its leaders”.
March 31: The CRPH says it will abolish the military-drafted 2008 Constitution.
April 1: A striking policeman leads civilians to attack a police outpost in Tamu, Sagaing Region. The policeman dies in the attack that sees the four junta police officers killed.
The military regime blocks wireless internet access, making fiber internet the only means to get online in the country.
April 4: The European Union announces the suspension of all the development projects in Myanmar.
Apr 8: Eleven people die and dozens are injured as junta forces impose a violent crackdown in Taze, Sagaing Region, where anti-regime protests are gaining momentum.
April 9: At least 82 people are killed as junta security forces raid a protest camp in Bago where anti-regime protesters have rallied each day against the coup for 68 consecutive days. Many people are detained during the raid that forces more than 1,000 people from their homes.
April 10: At least eight police officers are killed as the tripartite Brotherhood Alliance of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, Ta’ang National Liberation Army and Arakan Army attacks a police outpost in Lashio, northern Shan State.
April 15: Prominent protest leader Ko Wai Moe Naing in Monywa is detained after his motorbike is rammed by junta forces in a private car. The 26-year-old activist faces 10 charges, including high treason.
April 16: The CRPH forms the National Unity Government (NUG), with President U Win Myint and State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi taking their original positions, and ethnic leaders and activists appointed as ministers.
The Home Affairs Ministry later declares the NUG to be an unlawful association. The junta also says it will blacklist striking doctors which it has sued for incitement.
April 24: In his first foreign trip since the coup, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing attends the ASEAN summit on Myanmar in Jakarta. A five-point consensus is reached on ending violence, facilitating a constructive dialogue between all parties, a special ASEAN envoy to facilitate the dialogue, acceptance of aid and a visit by an envoy to Myanmar.
Myanmar’s people express their disappointment as the leaders fail to mention the release of political prisoners.
April 26: Coup leader Min Aung Hlaing says he will carefully consider ASEAN leaders’ recommended steps for solving the crisis after the situation stabilizes.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman says: “China will maintain close communication with ASEAN and support its mediation efforts while reaching out to all parties in Myanmar in its own way, so as to secure an early ‘soft landing’ for the situation in Myanmar.”
April 29: Airbases in Magwe and Meiktila are attacked with rockets.
April 30: The Assistance Association of Political Prisoners said 759 people have been killed, 3,485 are in detention out of 4,537 detained while 1,316 warrants have been issued by the regime since the February coup..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Sub-title:
Junta forces Burmese media underground and into exile again
Description:
"An Indian court has granted sanctuary to two Burmese journalists, a colleague and some relatives a month after they fled across the border from Myanmar into Manipur state. They had been lying low in Tengnoupal district.
On April 20, the Manipur High Court granted the group safe passage to Imphal, the state capital, and protection from Indian authorities until further notice. They left for Imphal the following day.
At first glance, the two men could easily be mistaken for locals in Moreh, a bustling trading hub on the northeastern state's border with Myanmar. The town is an ethnic melting pot with cross-border familial relations that go back centuries. India has always been a friendly neighbor in peace and an ally in crisis to these people.
'Thin,' 44, is a video journalist and 'Lau,' 38, is a webmaster. Both work for Mizzima News, a Burmese media organization that was among the first to lose its operating license after Senior General Min Aung Hlaing staged his coup on Feb. 1.
Thin told Nikkei Asia that an arrest warrant had been issued against him under Article 505 (a) of Myanmar's penal code, which criminalizes the publishing or circulation of any "statement, rumor or report, with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, any officer, soldier, sailor or airman, in the army, navy or air force to mutiny or otherwise disregard or fail in his duty as such."
Thin immediately hopped on a bus in Yangon along with a 22-year-old female staff member and Lau, Lau's wife and their three kids. The journey to the Indian border took two nights and three days. They slipped across and joined hundreds of other refugees who fled after the junta, the State Administration Council, embarked on a brutal crackdown on the nationwide civil disobedience movement.
Thin and Lau declined to go into detail about their entry route into India. They said they were sheltered for a month by a network of civil society organizations representing local ethnic groups on both sides of the border.
Before fleeing, Thin was covering the street protests in Yangon. He barely slept in February, and witnessed some terrible incidents. "I saw a military armored vehicle crush a group of protesters on bicycles," he said.
With the loss of Mizzima's satellite channel and reduced access to the internet, Thin said it was becoming increasingly hard to report what was happening on the ground -- and also much more dangerous.
"The military junta indiscriminately fired at protesters and jouralists," he said. "I got used to running past dead bodies lying on the ground." According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, 759 people had been killed by heavily armed troops and police and 4,537 arrested as of April 30. At least, 71 of those in detention are journalists, according to the United Nations.
The porous India-Myanmar border is 1,624 km long and touches the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur. In March, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed that illegal immigrants found in these four northeastern states should be deported. The Manipur state government duly issued an order to the deputy commissioner of five border districts, including Tengnoupal, to "politely turn away" people seeking refuge. This prompted such a severe backlash that the order was retracted on March 30.
Despite the restrictions and border patrols, at least five hundred refugees are believed unofficially to have crossed over into Moreh and other parts of Tengnoupal.
Nikkei reached out to district authorities to confirm this, but they declined and said they were not authorized to speak.
The Manipur court noted that India is not a signatory to the Geneva Refugee Convention of 1951 or the New York Protocol of 1967. It instead based its ruling on India being signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, both declared by the U.N. in 1948 and 1966, respectively.
Thin told Nikkei that there has been no news about six Mizzima colleagues who were arrested, and their whereabouts are not known.
On April 8, Mizzima's co-founder, journalist Thin Thin Aung, was arrested with two colleagues. Soe Myint, Mizzima's editor in chief and co-founder, is still at large. He told Nikkei by email that nothing more has been heard of his colleagues. He confirmed that three of the six Mizzima staffers have been charged under Article 505 (a).
"At least one of them, we have confirmed, faced torture," Soe Myint told Nikkei. "The rest, we do not have any contact or trace of them -- we don't know whether they are being tortured or are even alive."
For Thin and Lau there is a strong element of deja vu. Both took refuge in India during a shorter prodemocracy uprising in Myanmar in 2007. Lau was 24 at that time. It took him four days to get from Moreh to Delhi, where he obtained a refugee card from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Some of his brethren from Chin state made the same journey, and ended up taking asylum in the West. Lau returned to Myanmar in 2012 and joined Mizzima.
"I'm not a journalist but with my background in computer studies, I took the webmaster job because I wanted to fight for democracy in my country," he said.
Thin started working at Mizzima in 2008, ten years after Soe Myint and Thin Thin Aung started the news service in Delhi where they were living in exile. They shifted operations to Yangon in 2013 after the government of President Thein Sein, a retired general, allowed private news organizations to operate for the first time in 50 years. Mizzima maintained a good relationship with India throughout, and in 2018 signed a content sharing agreement with Prasar Bharati, India's public service broadcaster.
Thin and Lau want to continue reporting the Myanmar crisis from Delhi, and are seeking permission to go there. News of their presence first appeared on April 15, when the All Manipur Working Journalists' Union issued a statement asking the state government to give them "safe passage" to the UNHCR.
Acording to Soe Myint, 42 Mizzima journalists are in hiding but still working inside Myanmar, with another 34 in Australia, Canada, India. Norway, Singapore, Thailand and the U.S.
"We will be back to where we were in 2011, working in exile, Soe Myint told Nikkei. "We need to work with offices set up in India and our units working underground inside the country."
Although the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw recently announced the parallel National Unity Government, there seems to be little chance of the exiled journalists being able to go home any time soon. Thin and Lau are keeping in touch with their network of sources and citizen journalists, many of whom belong to Generation Z -- born between 1995 and 2012 -- and play vital roles reporting developments on social media platforms.
"We continue to provide news and information," said Thin. "We don't know where all our colleagues are but each one of us is still working."
Soe Myint said that India's support has always been crucial in the fight for democracy and human rights in Myanmar. "We are confident that we will win this battle," he said signing off. "But we need your support and solidarity."..."
Source/publisher:
"Nikkei Asian Review" (Japan)
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Human Rights and international relations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"Protesters against military rule marched in Myanmar on Saturday three months after a coup ended a democratic transition, with several small blasts compounding a sense of crisis that a U.N. envoy warned could bring state administration to a halt.
The military has tried to end dissent and impose its authority on a people largely opposed to the return of rule by the generals after 10 years of democratic reforms that included a government led by democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi.
Despite a relentless crackdown in which at least 759 protesters have been killed, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) advocacy group, crowds come out day after day to reject the junta.
"Our cause, democracy, our cause, a federal union. Free arrested leaders," protesters chanted at one of two rallies in the main city of Yangon.
Suu Kyi, 75, has been detained since the coup the along with many other members of her party. The AAPP says more than 3,400 people have been detained for opposing the military.
People also rallied in the second city of Mandalay and the southern town of Dawei, media reported.
There were no immediate reports of violence.
Media reported several small blasts in different places including Yangon late on Friday and on Saturday. There were no immediate reports of casualties and no claims of responsibility.
A spokesman for the junta did not answer calls seeking comment. The military has accused pro-democracy activists of planting bombs.
The U.N. special envoy on Myanmar told the Security Council on Friday that in the absence of a collective international response to the coup, violence was worsening and the running of the state risked coming to a standstill, according to diplomats who attended the private meeting. read more
Christine Schraner Burgener briefed the 15-member council from Thailand, where she has been meeting regional leaders. She hopes to travel to Myanmar but the military has yet to approve a visit.
"The general administration of the state could risk coming to a standstill as the pro-democracy movement continues in spite of the ongoing use of lethal force, arbitrary arrests and torture as part of the military's repression," Schraner Burgener said, according to diplomats.
She told diplomats that reports of a continuing crackdown risked undermining momentum toward ending the crisis following a meeting of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on April 25 with the junta leader, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.
Schraner Burgener, expressing concern about rising violence, cited reports of bomb attacks and of civilians, mostly students from the urban areas, getting weapons training from ethnic minority insurgents.
U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tom Andrews, said Min Aung Hlaing had used the summit as a "propaganda ploy".
"Indeed, he tried to appear to be what he is not - a legitimate leader," Andrews said in a post on Twitter.
"The good news: Those who ARE legitimate are ready to engage: the National Unity Government."
Ousted members of parliament from Suu Kyi's party, politicians representing ethnic minorities and democracy activists set up the unity government but it has yet to win the international recognition it says it is due.
The U.N. Security Council reiterated its “deep concern” at the situation and its support for Myanmar’s democratic transition. The council has issued several statements since the coup but diplomats say Russia and China are likely to prevent any stronger council action against Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, The UN and Burma - news and commentary, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"A leading Myanmar swimmer has called for the country's Olympic committee to be expelled from the Olympic Movement, saying "genocidaires do not deserve to be in the Olympics."
In a Facebook post, swimmer Win Htet Oo said by rejecting the Myanmar Olympic Committee he had foregone any chance of competing at the Tokyo Olympic Games later this year.
Currently training in Melbourne, Win Htet Oo's Facebook profile says he's "a Myanmar swimmer dreaming about Tokyo 2020."
The swimmer has been a vocal critic of the Myanmar in recent weeks.
"I do not wish to participate in the Tokyo Games under the stewardship of a NOC [National Olympic Committee] that is tied to a regime that continues to inflict suffering on my people," said Win Htet Oo in another Facebook post on April 10.
The IOC did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment, but the organization told AFP that "'to the best of our knowledge,'" Win Htet Oo had not been selected by the Myanmar team.
World Swimming Magazine describes Win Htet Oo as one of Myanmar's "top swimmers," who swam for his country at the 2013 and 2019 Southeast Asian Games
There is no listing for Win Htet Oo on the website of swimming's governing body (Fédération Internationale De Natation).
The Myanmar Olympic Committee did not respond to CNN's request for comment.
READ: Protests and demonstrations banned at 2020 Tokyo Olympics
In February, Myanmar armed forces commander in chief Gen. Min Aung Hlaing seized power, overthrowing the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party and installing a military junta.
The following months have seen ongoing protests against his rule and the rise of a Civil Disobedience movement in which thousands of blue- and white-collar workers including doctors, teachers, civil servants and factory workers have gone on strike with the aim of disrupting the economy and unseating the general.
Security forces have brutally suppressed the protests with deadly and systematic crackdowns in which police and soldiers have shot people dead in the streets and arbitrarily detained perceived opponents.
More than 750 people have been killed by security forces since the coup, and more than 4,500 arrested, according to advocacy group Assistance Association of Political Prisoners.
On March 28, UN officials condemned "systematic" attacks on peaceful protesters and called on the international community to "protect the people of Myanmar from atrocity crimes."
"The shameful, cowardly, brutal actions of the military and police -- who have been filmed shooting at protesters as they flee, and who have not even spared young children -- must be halted immediately," said Alice Wairimu Nderitu, United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, and Michelle Bachelet, the High Commissioner for Human Rights in a joint statement.
READ: Which nation is expected to top Olympic medal table?
A UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar in 2018 called for Min Aung Hlaing to be investigated and prosecuted for genocide over his military's brutal crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority in Rakhine State in 2017.
In his latest Facebook post, Win Htet Oo said he'd been inspired "by the continued defiance to military rule in Myanmar by an intersectional movement that will never submit. Their bravery is undying."
"The National Unity Government is the only legitimate representative of the people of Myanmar and all international organisations and governments should recognise the NUG as Myanmar's government," added Win Htet Oo, who swam for New York University between 2012 and 2015..."
Source/publisher:
"CNN" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Human Rights and international relations, Genocide, Discrimination against the Rohingya, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"Myanmar security forces opened fire on some of the biggest protests against military rule in days on Sunday killing seven people, media reported, three months after a coup plunged the country into crisis.
The protests, after a spell of dwindling crowds and what appeared to be more restraint by the security forces, were coordinated with demonstrations in Myanmar communities around the world to mark what organisers called "the global Myanmar spring revolution".
"Shake the world with the voice of Myanmar people's unity," the organisers said in a statement.
Streams of demonstrators, some led by Buddhist monks, made their way through cities and towns across the country, including the commercial hub of Yangon and the second city of Mandalay, where two people were shot and killed, the Mizzima news agency reported.
The Irrawaddy news site earlier posted a photograph of a man it said was a security officer in plain clothes taking aim with a rifle in Mandalay.
Two people were killed in the central town of Wetlet, the Myanmar Now news agency said, and two were killed in different towns in Shan State in the northeast, two media outlets reported. One person was also killed in the northern jade-mining town of Hpakant, the Kachin News Group reported.
Reuters could not verify the reports and a spokesman for the ruling junta did not answer calls seeking comment.
The protests are only one of the problems the generals have brought on with their Feb. 1 ouster of the elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Wars with ethnic minority insurgents in remote frontier regions in the north and east have intensified significantly since the coup, displacing tens of thousands of civilians, according to United Nations estimates.
In some places civilians with crude weapons have battled security forces, while in central areas military and government facilities that have been secure for generations have been hit by rocket attacks and a wave of small, unexplained blasts.
There have been no claims of responsibility for the explosions.
'HANDMADE BOMBS'
Khit Thit media reported a blast outside a police barracks in Yangon early on Sunday. Vehicles were ablaze it said, but it gave no information on any casualties.
Later, it reported another blast in the city. A news portal in Shan State reported a blast outside the home of a prominent businessman.
The state-run broadcaster in its main evening news bulletin on Saturday gave details of at least 11 explosions over the previous 36 hours, mostly in Yangon. It reported some damage but no casualties.
"Some rioters who do not want stability of the state have been throwing and planting handmade bombs at government buildings and on public roads," the broadcaster said.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners advocacy group says security forces have killed at least 759 protesters since the coup. Reuters is unable to confirm the toll.
The military, which ruled for almost 50 years until launching a tentative reform process a decade ago, acknowledged in mid-April the death of 248 protesters, saying they were killed after they initiated violence.
The protests and a civil disobedience campaign of strikes have crippled the economy and raised the prospect of 25 million people sliding into poverty, the U.N. Development Programme has warned. read more
The military said it had to seize power because its complaints of fraud in a November election won by Suu Kyi's party were not addressed by an election commission that deemed the vote fair.
Suu Kyi, 75, has been detained since the coup along with many other members of her party..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Sub-title:
While the anti-coup movement is ostensibly about who rules – the military or the people – embedded in it are four tendencies that, with the world’s help, will radically remake Myanmar society for the better.
Description:
"Myanmar is in the throes of a profound political crisis, but the solution must extend beyond the question of who’s in charge of government.
The resistance to the Tatmadaw’s takeover has been spearheaded by the youth. Members of so-called Generation Z have learned from their elders in the 1988 pro-democracy movement, but this “Spring Revolution” is not like their parents’ failed revolution.
The battle is lopsided – the military has more guns and more money than the people right now – but, with action from the international community, it is entirely winnable. The prize will not only be democratic government, but a far more just, inclusive and united society, thanks to four progressive tendencies embedded in the youth-led movement.....Genuine democracy: The first of these tendencies is a demand for genuine democracy that moves beyond past compromises. The events of the past three months mean the masses are no longer willing to settle for a return to the pre-coup status quo. This revolution aims to complete, once and for all, a process stalled since 1962: the creation of a federal union and the removal of the Tatmadaw from politics.
Many people reluctantly accepted the military-drafted 2008 Constitution because they believed it would help move the country towards democracy. The National League for Democracy’s 2015 victory under that charter gave them hope for a better future.
The military unequivocally dashed those hopes on February 1. Those that weren’t already convinced now know that a “partial democracy” is a contradiction of terms, and that a power sharing agreement with the Tatmadaw is a road to nowhere.
To that end, people are striking, peacefully protesting, boycotting and performing acts of civil disobedience, hoping to paralyse the military’s ability to govern, even if it means deep personal and economic pain. They are now considering any means necessary to finally remove the military from politics. They’ve called on the international community and the United Nations to invoke the principle of the Responsibility to Protect and, despite the slim-to-zero chance that this call will be heeded, they continue collecting evidence of the Tatmadaw’s crimes against humanity, hoping to hold the coup makers accountable under global bodies of justice, such as the International Criminal Court.
Even the idea of armed revolution has become popular, with the National Unity Government declaring its ambition to establish a People’s Defence Army that would later be integrated into a “federal army” alongside ethnic armed groups already fighting for autonomy in their own states. Young people are reportedly flocking to areas under the control of ethnic armies to receive weapons training.
But the idea of an armed offensive against the Tatmadaw, however emotionally gratifying now, may be ill advised in the longer term. For one, the military has superior weapons and greater resources than all of its challengers combined, and it has survived countless armed insurrections since its founding. Additionally, the technical and practical challenges of unifying many geographically dispersed armed groups with varying political goals into a single force may prove overwhelming.
Still, the growing popularity of the idea among young and old alike – many of whom are getting a first-hand experience of the depths of the Tatmadaw’s brutality and inhumanity for the first time – is a testament to the desperate desire, shared by almost everyone, to rid the country of this notorious institution, which has impoverished its citizenry and tarnished the national image for more than half a century.....Across ethnic lines: The second critical tendency of the Spring Revolution is a desire to shatter pernicious national mythologies. Generations of Myanmar people have been conditioned to believe a distorted version of history – something this movement is helping to right.
For more than 70 years, minority ethnic groups have felt betrayed by the majority Bamar, who, instead of bringing about the democratic federal union promised in the 1947 Panglong Agreement, have continued to maintain their political and social dominance while marginalising minority voices. The military has systematically reinforced these divisions since General Ne Win seized power in 1962 through divide-and-conquer tactics. In propaganda spread through the schoolroom and state-controlled media, successive military regimes portrayed ethnic insurgent groups as bandits led by warlords who posed a threat to the nation.
Most Bamar live in regions untouched by conflict and did not understand that ethnic armed groups had taken up arms as political actors with the universal ambition of autonomy. They had little knowledge of the suffering and abuse – the abductions and arbitrary killings, the use of systemic rape as a weapon of war and subjugation – that ethnic groups have endured at the Tatmadaw’s hands.
Perhaps the most significant result of the Spring Revolution is the unprecedented unity that has developed between the Bamar and other ethnic nationalities. The use of lethal force by security forces – their indiscriminate shooting into homes and apartments, their targeting of aid workers, their looting and wanton vandalism – have helped lowland Bamar understand what their ethnic compatriots have endured for decades. Moving displays of Bamar sympathy have sprung up, and people – largely the youth – are publicly apologising for not speaking out in the past.....Toppling taboos: A third tendency of the Spring Revolution lies in its critique of religious orthodoxy and antiquated social norms. This is particularly noticeable in attitudes towards women and girls, who have been central to the protest movement, displaying just as much commitment, creativity and courage as their male counterparts – both on the frontlines and in the rooms where strategy is made.
Women have harnessed traditional beliefs to challenge misogyny and the military in creative ways, notably using the fear among many men – particularly those within the Tatmadaw – of losing their male essence, known as hpone, by passing below women’s garments. As security forces moved in to quash protests around the country, female-led groups of demonstrators hung women’s htamein (longyi) from clotheslines strung over streets and roads, knowing that superstitious, conservative soldiers would be reluctant to pass beneath them. In many cases, they were right. Junta forces often stopped to burn the garments before passing beneath them. The demands for gender equity have permeated aspirations for new government leadership as well: about half of the National Unity Government members announced on April 16 are women.
And despite the enormous respect accorded to senior Buddhist monks, young protesters have been quick to criticise monks who express support for the coup makers. After Wazipeik Sayadaw, a Shan State monk with close ties to junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, reportedly advised the senior general to “shoot protesters in the head”, portraits of the monk turned up strung alongside htamein at protests in Yangon’s Sanchaung Township. This was a challenge to the monk directly, but also to a misogynist belief that even representations of monks are too sacred to be displayed near “lowly” women’s clothing.
When Sitagu Sayadaw, a highly influential senior monk in Sagaing Region well known for his philanthropic work and Buddhist scholarship, publicly supported the coup, scores of Buddhist social media users were quick to post scathing criticisms of him online.
Western readers, accustomed to open critiques of the clergy, may find this nothing to write home about. But these moves – which even parents, senior relatives and religious leaders that do support the movement likely found deeply uncomfortable – are unprecedented, given the hierarchical relationship between laypeople and the Sangha. This revolution is changing mindsets: formerly untouchable elders are being revaluated with a critical eye, often facing social punishment campaigns from young people willing to judge them on their actions rather than their venerated status.....The Rohingya divide: The final tendency of the Spring Revolution may also be its most complex. This movement has, like nothing before it, forced a reckoning with longstanding prejudices against the Rohingya – though there are gradations to how much progress has been made in this realm.
Undoubtedly, there has been a much-needed growth in acceptance of the persecuted minority, and an overdue recognition of their plight. Social media users have tweeted what seemed like heartfelt apologies to the former United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Ms Yanghee Lee, for their past hate speech against the Rohingya “and against me personally because I used the name ‘Rohingya’ while speaking about their plight”, Lee recently wrote in Nikkei Asia. Such apologies were “unthinkable just a few months ago”, she added.
Early on in the protests, multiple demonstrators posted photos of themselves holding signs expressing support for the Rohingya, and remorse for ignoring or denying their suffering in the past.
But while unity has emerged on abolishing military dictatorship, standing with ethnic nationalities, and building a more progressive, open society, divisions remain over the Rohingya, with opinion roughly divided into four groups.
The first still regards the Rohingya as illegal immigrants with no real right to a dignified life in Myanmar, insisting on calling them “Bengali” no matter how they self-identify, or how many generations have lived here before them. People of this mind may never be convinced.
The second acknowledges that the Tatmadaw committed crimes against humanity and possibly even genocide against the Rohingya in northern Rakhine State in 2016 and 2017, but still holds that most Rohingya are foreign interlopers who are not entitled to live in Myanmar. Most among this tribe also refuse to recognise “Rohingya” as a legitimate ethnic designation.
The third recognises the atrocities the Rohingya have suffered at the hands of the Tatmadaw and also accepts that many have lived in Myanmar for generations, entitling them to some form of citizenship, but only a second-class, “Bengali” citizenship, since they are not among the 135 indigenous “races” who automatically receive citizenship under the racist, military-drafted 1982 Citizenship Law.
The final group is, sadly, likely to be the smallest in size. This group accepts the Rohingya’s right to citizenship and to self-identification as “Rohingya”. These thinkers reject the arbitrary distinctions between “officially recognised” groups and others – ideas pushed on the populace by the xenophobic Ne Win, the country’s first coup maker and military dictator. They insist that Myanmar should have only one category of citizenship, free of racial distinctions.
Until this last understanding is more widely shared, we’re doomed to spawn a crippled form of democracy.....Towards a more just future: This revolution is truly unprecedented, in its demands and its sophistication, and it has the potential to transform society and deliver a new nation of more just structures, values and norms. We are confident of victory, but it will take perseverance.
More than 750 people have been killed by junta forces, according to the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners. Despite the rising death toll, people remain undaunted. When soldiers crack down in the daytime, they hold candlelight vigils at night. Instead of confronting security forces head on, people are finding new ways to resist, such as with sticker campaigns and quickly dispersing flash mobs. Civil servants and critical private-sector workers are refusing to return to their jobs, shuttering banking and payment services, hospitals, rail travel and cargo movement. Military-made products like Myanmar Beer and Red Ruby cigarettes have been targeted for consumer boycotts, tanking these brands and draining the Tatmadaw of revenue. The forms of resistance keep multiplying.
Just how long it will take may depend on the international community. Each day that justice is deferred, more will die. The movement’s goals are deeply aligned with the values and prerogatives that most Western nations espouse. If these nations can replace empty admonishments with serious moves against the Tatmadaw’s funding – more robust sanctions on extractive industries, for a start – we may be able to realise the more just future we all strive for sooner rather than later..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-02
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Rohingya (cultural, political etc.), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"As of 1 May, (759) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) has not yet confirmed any fallen heroes 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 May 1, a total of (3508) people are currently under detention; of them (82) are sentenced. 1356 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
1 May 2021 marked International Labor Day. AAPP honors the active participation of the entire labor movement, who have been on the front lines of this Spring Revolution. People across Burma continue to fight against injustice and dictatorship. Today, seven civilians, who did not even take part in the protest were arrested after the junta forces arrived in vehicles and attacked the strike in Insein Township, Yangon Region. Two civilians were ordered to stop while riding a motorcycle near 38×39, 78th Street, Mandalay City, Mandalay Region and were shot in the abdomen and knees when they did not stop, last night
The terrorist group is now repressing charities. In Myitkyina this morning a group of 11 youth involved in a free food campaign and around 30 people were arrested by junta troops in soldiers and police uniforms at gunpoint. In Mandalay Region, Mogok Town, Kyat Pyin Ward, the Ruby Yadanar clinic was looted and all medical supplies worth around 1,500,000 kyats (US$965) were taken by the junta group. Yesterday evening in Bago Region, Pyay town, two funeral vehicles belonging to the Moe Metta Funeral Service were seized. The junta does not even exempt charity and philanthropy from its violent acts.
The terrorist group is systematically targeting those who they want to arrest, and is now targeting the ward administrators and former administrators across the country. In Dawei Township, Tanintharyi Region, more than 20 former ward administrators have been detained since April 29 and some administrators from Myeik and Kawthaung have also been arrested.
On April 29, Ngaputaw Township the ward administrator of Ngup Kaung was kidnapped, On April 30, the administrator for Ward 11, Mandalay Region, Pyin Oo Lwin Township was also arrested. The terrorists are arresting and detaining influential people in society, the junta are trying to establish their administrative power in incendiary ways.
It has been 90 days since the coup and the situation inside Burma remains extremely unstable. Administration, the judiciary, legislature collapsed, media attacked. A so-called agreement at ASEAN leader meeting on Burma has not had a significant impact on the coup. A closed-door meeting was also held by the UN Security Council yesterday but likewise no specific agreement was made. People across Burma are facing brutal junta perpetrated violence on a daily basis.
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:
“Our uprising must succeed”
Email : [email protected]
Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma
In Solidarity,
AAPP..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-01
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"The European Union is ready to offer its support to all parties to help restore democracy in Myanmar, the bloc's high representative told ASEAN states on Friday.
Southeast Asian leaders said after an emergency ASEAN summit last week that they had reached consensus with Myanmar's junta on ending violence there. read more
"The European Union stands ready to support ASEAN... in facilitating a constructive dialogue with all key stakeholders with a view to bringing Myanmar/Burma back to its democratic path," the high representative said in a statement published on Friday.
An activist monitoring group says more than 750 people have been killed by security forces in Myanmar since army generals unleashed lethal force in the face of sustained protests against their Feb. 1 coup..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-01
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
ASEAN-Burma relations, European Union-Burma relations (commentary/analysis), Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"Workers associated with the civil disobedience movement have been thrown out of public housing and issued legal notices. Meanwhile, many banks are also grappling with a lack of working employees.
As the civil disobedience movement (CDM) grows in popularity in Myanmar, the military has started ramping up pressure on government employees to return to work, while businesses struggle under the weight of missing employees and internet blackouts.
Civil servants started refusing to carry out their duties, just days after the February 1, 2021, coup, when the country's military seized power. The movement has been expanding since then, with widespread support from both in and outside the country, and a 2022 Nobel Peace Prize nomination.
However, the junta has been pushing government workers participating in the movement to go back to work, using forceful tactics. In one case, government hospitals in cities began issuing letters to medical workers to come back to work. In another instance, a CDM-affiliated railway worker was forced to leave his government apartment.
Doctors pressured to return to hospitals
One doctor working at a government hospital said the junta is afraid of the CDM's power.
"The CDM is one of the most important things to stop the government mechanism," a 25-year-old assistant surgeon, who asked for his name not to be published, told DW. "That's why they try to push CDM participants back to work in various ways, like forcing railway staff to leave their government apartment if they don't come back to work."
A military spokesperson last week accused CDM-affiliated medical workers of being responsible for the deaths of people in hospitals, who could not receive proper treatment.
The surgeon, who is working at Myanmar's largest hospital — the Yangon General Hospital — disagrees with that accusation. "They want to open public hospitals again as soon as possible, and mislead people into thinking that the country is stable, and that they can get back to their normal lives. That's why they are still pushing healthcare workers to return to their jobs, by accusing them of committing genocides in the newspaper."
On Tuesday, the junta issued arrest warrants for 20 doctors who had joined the CDM against the military dictatorship, charging them with defamation.
The surgeon told DW that doctors are preparing for the worst. "I am not afraid of them. It doesn't matter, even if they revoke my medical license. I will be a part of the CDM until the end of the junta," he said.
Cash flow comes to a halt
"Businesses were hurting because of the pandemic, even before the coup. Any business would be lucky to break even, and many have closed," said political analyst Dr Khin Zaw Win, who runs an independent think-tank in Myanmar called the Tampadipa Institute.
"The movement aims to disrupt the government machinery and does not force essential services to stop operating," he told DW.
Cash flow within the country has also come to a halt, since banks have not been opening due to a shortage in staff. Many people are lining up at ATMs, mainly in the big cities like Yangon and Mandalay.
"Banks are a good example — many staff have joined the CDM, and the junta is affected. But some banks are providing services to customers with a skeleton staff," said Khin Zaw Win.
However, the Central Bank of Myanmar last week said that the private bank sector is still strong, and that customers can trust them.
"All of our work has stopped because customers don't want to spend on extra things. We can't receive payments from our customers because the banks are closed," said 36-year old businessman Hla Win, who declined to use his real name, and who runs a mobile accessories company in Myanmar.
The internet has been shut down in the country by the military in order to control the growing anti-coup movement, and mobile data has been inaccessible since March.
"No banks are open and there is no internet for people living in small cities who want to use internet banking," he told DW. "We were still able to run virtual sales before, but this coup stopped everything."
A solemn New Year
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), at least 737 people have been killed by the junta as of April 19.
As the people of Myanmar mourn the civilian deaths, many decided not to celebrate the New Year festival, also known as the Thingyan Water Festival, which took place from April 13-17.
However, social media videos showed junta members celebrating with joy, and spraying water in the capital Naypyitaw on April 14.
Elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested on February 1, triggering a wave of anti-coup protests. She is facing six charges set by the military. In addition to several deaths, over 3,200 people have been arrested, charged or sentenced for their role in the protests..."
Source/publisher:
"DW News" (Germany)
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-01
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Sub-title:
Respect Rights to Freedom of Association, Expression
Description:
" Myanmar’s military junta should immediately stop threatening the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a leading human rights monitoring group, Human Rights Watch said today. The group has documented security force abuses since the February 1, 2021 coup, including killings of protesters, arbitrary arrests and detentions, enforced disappearances, and unjust court convictions.
On April 26, the Home Affairs Ministry of the ruling State Administration Council (SAC) accused the AAPP of operating illegally because it was not registered as an organization. The junta’s announcement threatened “severe action” against the group for causing “State service personnel and public panic” that will “incite the occurrence of more riots” and “harm State stability, rule of law and restoration of law and order.”
“While the world’s media and diplomats regularly cite the AAPP’s daily updates on the military crackdown, Myanmar’s generals are desperately trying to silence the group to keep the truth from getting out,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The threats are part of the junta’s shroud of silence and censorship, targeting frontline groups like AAPP, arresting journalists, and shutting down the internet.”
The junta’s efforts to target the AAPP are illustrated in the 115-page briefing paper, obtained by Human Rights Watch, that the junta leader, Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, presented to leaders at the ASEAN summit in Jakarta on April 24. Min Aung Hlaing claimed, without providing evidence, that the AAPP uses “data” that “appeared in fake and hoax news.” He added that the junta was “very upset” that “world media and international organizations restated” that information.
Responding to the allegations, AAPP Secretary-General Bo Kyi, a recipient of the Human Rights Watch Alison des Forges Defender Award in 2009, told The Irrawaddy magazine that: “I think it is just a political move as international governments, media and UN are referencing our data … The key issue is the violence they have committed, their killing and arrests. Instead of solving those problems, they are targeting a group like ours which is revealing the true events.” The AAPP told Human Rights Watch that the military’s threats have forced them to close their office in Yangon and compelled their staff to go into hiding and work from undisclosed locations.
The junta has also arbitrarily arrested journalists to prevent reporting on the opposition Civil Disobedience Movement’s broad-based resistance to the coup and the security force abuses. UNESCO reported that the junta has arrested at least 71 journalists since the coup. The AAPP says that 48 journalists are currently known to be in detention, most in undisclosed locations without access to their families or legal counsel. Many other journalists have fled to border regions controlled by ethnic groups, or to neighboring countries.
The junta has brought charges against numerous journalists and activists under revised penal code provisions adopted on February 14. The State Administration Council inserted a new provision, section 505A, that could be used to punish comments regarding the illegitimacy of the coup or the military government, among others. The new section would criminalize comments that “cause fear,” spread “false news, [or] agitates directly or indirectly a criminal offense against a Government employee.” Violation of the section is punishable with up to three years in prison. The law arbitrarily interferes with the exercise of rights protected under international law, including freedom of expression.
The junta has also increased pressure on independent media outlets by revoking their operating licenses. On March 8, the State Administration Council announced that it had cancelled the licenses of Mizzima, Myanmar Now, 7Day News, Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), and Khit Thit Media. While these media groups have continued to report on events, they do so at great risk since journalists working for these outlets face immediate arrest if they are discovered doing their jobs as reporters.
“Groups like the AAPP and the independent media are playing a critical role holding Myanmar’s junta accountable, and they need to be able to continue their work,” Robertson said. “Governments concerned about the deteriorating human rights situation in Myanmar should be offering public support for these organizations and their brave staff members.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-01
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Sub-title:
Despite suffering the worst single-day death toll since the coup, Bago’s defenders say they are not ready to give up yet
Description:
"Nyein Maung, a native of Yangon who didn’t move to Bago until late February of this year, was still not very familiar with the city when he became a protest leader at its main defence site.
As a sailor who had spent many years at sea, he had finally decided to settle down in his wife’s hometown with her and their four-year-old son. By the time he arrived, however, Bago was already experiencing its first wave of brutal crackdowns.
It was not long before he saw for himself what the junta that had seized power on February 1 was prepared to do to crush resistance to its rule.....Nyein Maung, a native of Yangon who didn’t move to Bago until late February of this year, was still not very familiar with the city when he became a protest leader at its main defence site.
As a sailor who had spent many years at sea, he had finally decided to settle down in his wife’s hometown with her and their four-year-old son. By the time he arrived, however, Bago was already experiencing its first wave of brutal crackdowns.
It was not long before he saw for himself what the junta that had seized power on February 1 was prepared to do to crush resistance to its rule.
On February 28, just days after he moved to Bago, he watched in horror as a young man who had been shot in the stomach by regime forces was viciously beaten by five armed policemen.
After they left him for dead, Nyein Maung went to see if might have survived the attack. When he found that the man was still breathing, he put him into his car to take him to the hospital. At that point, the police started shooting at him.
Nyein Maung managed to escape with just a bullet hole in his car, but decided then and there that he had to do something to protect protesters from the junta’s relentless violence, even if it meant putting his own life on the line.
“I left my family that day and started staying somewhere else. My friends and I built a stronghold. We didn’t really have a system, but we were determined to defend ourselves with anything we had,” he said.
The 31-year-old former sailor let his wife and father know that he had joined the revolution and then left home with just 100,000 kyat in his pocket.
“I told them, ‘If a federal army is formed, I will be a part of it. If I die, just sell the car and our other possessions so you can continue living.’ Our group is made up entirely of people who aren’t afraid of losing their lives,” he said.
But it wasn’t just his life that Nyein Maung was prepared to lose. He told his father, who serves in the navy, that he had to take a clear stance on the protests.
“I said, ‘If you’re going to kill people and be involved in the crackdowns, we’re finished.’ But he told me he had nothing to do with that,” he said, adding that his father has since joined the Civil Disobedience Movement.....The main barricade: The protests in Bago started near the famed Shwemawdaw pagoda in the city centre, but spread to other areas as the military moved in to violently suppress large gatherings.
Around 140 young protesters, including Nyein Maung, formed a security team in early March. Using sandbags, they built barricades at major protest sites, such as the ones in Bago’s Ma Ga Dit, Hmor Kan and Socialist wards, where Nyein Maung was a frontline defence team leader.
The main stronghold was at Ma Ga Dit, where protests were held daily from 9am. All three of these sites were targeted for major offensives by the military.
The defence team manned the barricades in shifts. As a team leader, Nyein Maung was serious about maintaining discipline, instructing team members to refrain from consuming alcohol while on duty.
“This is no time to be joking around. One mistake and you lose your life. I told them they need to be able to make clear decisions,” he explained.
Meetings were held every day at 4pm to divide the team into groups and assign them to different wards. They also discussed the security situation as it evolved from day to day.
On March 14, team members defending the Ma Ga Dit barricade with air guns, Molotov cocktails and handmade weapons killed two police officers, marking a turning point in the conflict between Bago’s residents and the regime’s forces.
The stronghold was subsequently destroyed several times in the ensuing weeks, but was rebuilt each time. To ensure that it was never left undefended, the security team set up a camp so they could stay there around the clock.
By early April, when troops from Light Infantry Division 77, stationed nearby, started shouting threats at them, it became clear that they were heading for decisive clash that would likely end badly for them.
“They always gave us warnings at night, telling us that they would come down harder on us than they did on Hlaing Tharyar,” said Nyein Maung, referring to the massive assault on Yangon’s industrial outskirts in late March.
“They warned us to drop our weapons, and were listing charges we’d be given and all that,” he added.
But at this stage, they had no intention of giving up. Armed with improvised explosives, fireworks, and Molotov cocktails, as well as non-lethal gas-powered guns, they dug in and braced for what was to come.
“We told the people who had been feeding us that we would protect them and hold on for as long as we can,” said Nyein Maung, recalling the tense days before the final onslaught.....‘Driven by cruelty’: By this time, there were actually four barricades set up in Ma Ga Dit ward, each one numbered according to the lane off of the main road where it was located.
On the morning of April 9, when the military finally launched its attack, barricades 1, 4, 7, and 13 were all surrounded by heavily armed troops. Barricade 1 was the first to come under fire.
In an effort to hold off the forces storming barricade 1, Nyein Maung and about 30 others started firing gas guns and fireworks from barricade 4. They also lobbed explosives, which proved to be their most powerful weapon.
“We had two homemade explosives. It got four of them. I can confirm that because I threw them myself. I think we held on for about ten minutes,” Nyein Maung recalled.
But they soon found that they were no match for soldiers with weapons of war.
“At 5:10am, the military threw a grenade, and then opened fire with RPGs. That’s when stronghold 1 fell. We led another defence attack and they used two more RPGs. One fell next to me, and a lot of us were killed,” said Nyein Maung.
When they tried to retreat to barricade 4, they found that it had also been destroyed. Still coming under heavy fire from artillery, grenades, and machine guns, they fled to barricade 7 and then to 13.
“We retreated to stronghold 7. By the time we got to 13, we had to give up. Only 24 of us made it out alive,” he said.
At least 82 civilians were confirmed dead after the April 9 crackdown, although the actual number was likely much higher, as many of the wounded did not receive medical treatment, according to local residents.
“The injured and the dead were put in the compound of the Zeyar Muni pagoda. A monk there asked the military to return the bodies to their families, but they wouldn’t hand them over,” said Thurein, a local volunteer.
Those who survived escaped to the countryside, where they were pursued by troops who continued shooting in villages that were not part of the protests.
For the next two days, the regime carried out intense clearance operations in Bago and the surrounding area, rounding up anyone suspected of involvement in the resistance movement.
Now in a safe place with several other members of his team, Nyein Maung denounced the junta’s ruthless use of military might against a far smaller defensive force.
“Their rate of killing isn’t normal. They wouldn’t even kill this many in a battle. They are just driven by cruelty,” he said.
Despite this defeat, however, he remained convinced that he would be able to avenge his fallen comrades and repay those who supported their efforts.
“We apologize to the families from Ma Ga Dit and Socialist wards that fed us. We didn’t back down. We will reclaim our city of Bago,” he said..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-05-01
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Local URL:
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Description:
"As of 30 April, (759) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) has not yet confirmed any fallen heroes 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 April 30, a total of (3485) people are currently under detention; of them (80) are sentenced. 1316 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
Today, people across the country, including Yangon, took to the streets to protest dictatorship, a dawn protest was suppressed by the terrorists in Kale Town, Sagaing Region. However, the protesters were able to get away and no one was arrested. This morning, the terrorist group used a Mark-2 car to crash into a protest and beat and arrest 4 civilians in South Dagon Township, Yangon Region.
Ethnic media outlets are now being targeted as the junta focuses its oppression on arresting, prosecuting, and revoking publishing rights in main cities across the country. Family members of journalists are also being taken as hostages. Terrorists went searching for the editor-in-chief of the Hakha based Chinland Post media in his house last night in Chin State but could not find him. So instead, his brother in law was taken as a hostage. This is now a policy of the junta. Up until April 29, at least 49 people have been taken as hostages at one point since the coup. Hostage-taking is a serious human rights violation and is a proven method of terrorism.
According to the Chapter (3) of Media Law; Article (4-c) states that News Media workers shall have the right to reveal issues relating to rights and privileges lost by the citizen” and Article (7-a) declared that “he/she shall be exempt from being detained by a certain security related authority”. Yet in Burma the rule of law is disregarded by the terrorists. The junta forces use the law as they unjustly please.
Conflict between junta coup forces and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), and Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) are intensifying in the ethnic states. Conflict has been raging in Momauk Township, Kachin State since April 10.
A man was killed and a woman seriously injured in a military plane attack on April 29. In addition to this, clashes in Kachin State have forced around 10,000 villagers to flee their homes. As a consequence of a three-day bombing campaign by coup forces, more than 2,000 locals fled from Papun District to Thailand on April 28. These locals are now reportedly living in the forest without shelter. They are being granted temporary residential permission by Thai authorities. Over ten thousand people have been displaced by airstrikes in Karen State.
Burma was developing peace and national reconciliation to bring an end to the over-70 year civil war. It is ethnic people who suffer most from the atrocities, happening now again because of this military coup.
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:
“Our uprising must succeed”
Email : [email protected]
Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma
In Solidarity,
AAPP..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"As of 29 April, (759) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) compiled and documented (3) fallen heroes today. (1) from Pyapon Township in Ayeyarwady Region died on 29 April. (2) from Mandalay and Kani Township in Sagaing Region were killed 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 April 29, a total of (3461) people are currently under detention; of them (80) are sentenced. 1276 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
Today people across Burma continued to protest in different ways against the military coup despite the brutal crackdowns and repressions. This morning, plain clothes junta forces in private cars armed with guns in ShweBo Town, Sagaing Region, crashed into the main protest group. Junta forces threatened, swearing, at the protesters. Thereafter, one woman from the strike was arrested.
Arrests are being made in private cars, not military trucks or police cars. This is because the terrorists are attempting to cover up their acts of violence, and make it more difficult for civilians to report on the junta’s actions because they are using private vehicles. Last night, a night protest was cracked down on and one civilian got shot on his thigh in Pyigyidagun Township, Mandalay Region. Terrorists are committing unlawful shootings and killings day after day. Last night, a young man was shot in the abdomen and died on the spot near Zegyo Clock Tower on 84 road, Mandalay City. He was trying to run away after the military stopped him for a motorcycle check.
A local man was shot and wounded in the abdomen and arm by the terrorists in Auk Kwin Village, Pyapone Township, Ayeyarwady Region last night and died this morning. In addition to this, two civilians were arrested and detained last night, one of whom died. The junta forces are becoming more violent each day. Civilians are being treated like enemies. The junta forces were using slingshots and throwing stones at an apartment because they did not turn the lights off after 10 pm, destroying the windows in Mingalar Taung Nyunt Township, Yangon Region.
Daily lives of the civilians are being threatened by the junta through these relentless actions. A group of 50 junta troops in plain clothes and police uniform stormed the house of Ko Zin Maung Phyo’s yesterday in Thayet Chaung Township, Dawei District. The Dawei District Students Union member is evading a Penal Code 505(a) warrant. They broke into the house at night, smashing the doors and destroying everything in the house. The junta troops also seized the farm and land registration papers and all the other documents.
The junta are also targeting arrestees and brutally torturing civilians into confession. Two villagers from a village in Kani township, Sagaing Region, were arrested on April 27. One of them was told to pick up the dead body next day. The body of the fallen villager was found with wounds consistent with torture.
As long as the dictatorship does not end, the security and dignity of civilians will continue to deteriorate. Protest leaders, politicians, and activists are being prosecuted by the junta forces under several laws. Wai Moe Naing, the leader of the Monywa strike, has been charged under seven sections, including the Penal Code Section 505-a, and three more sections, including Penal Code Section 124. The junta has tried to imprison dissidents for as long as possible under various sections of the law. This is the practice of successive dictatorships.
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:
“Our uprising must succeed”
Email : [email protected]
Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma
In Solidarity,
AAPP..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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3.09 MB 979.13 KB 883.85 KB
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Sub-title:
Myanmar’s junta has effectively ignored the terms of a five-point agreement reached in Jakarta last weekend
Description:
"Nearly a week after Myanmar’s chief coup maker met with leaders of the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) last Saturday to discuss the crisis in the country, reports of abuses by the military continue.
The ASEAN meeting, held in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, reached a five-point consensus that aimed to end the ongoing violence, which has already claimed more than 750 civilian lives in less than three months.
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who made his first trip outside of Myanmar since seizing power on February 1 to attend the emergency summit, appears to have backed away from the terms of the agreement since returning to the country.
The day after the meeting, coverage of the summit in state-run newspaper The Mirror made no mention of the five points, which included plans to allow representatives of the regional grouping into the country to observe the situation on the ground.
On Tuesday, however, the regime announced that it would only move forward with this and other points in the agreement once the country had become “stable”.
Meanwhile, it continues its efforts to restore stability through brute force, killing at least seven people during and in the days immediately after the Jakarta summit, in direct violation of its commitment to end violence against civilians.....Ongoing abuses: The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which has documented the regime’s arrests and killings of protesters and other civilians, said that the ASEAN meeting had failed to achieve the desired results.
“On the night after the meeting, the junta’s armed forces continued to commit atrocities against civilians, including women, in plain sight,” it noted in a statement released earlier this week.
On the day of the summit, a young man was shot dead by plainclothes policemen in Mandalay, while a woman arrested in Myaung Mya, a town in Sagaing Region, died shortly after being taken into custody on the same day, according to AAPP.
There was also one other civilian death reported in Yezagyo, Magway Region, on Saturday, followed by two more the next day—one in Kawthaung, in Tanintharyi Region, and another in Yangon’s Insein Township, AAPP records show.
Since then, there have been at least two more fatal shootings of civilians, including one of a fried-rice vendor in Mandalay on Monday and another in Kayah State’s Demoso Township on Tuesday.
In another attack, a woman in Kayin State’s Phaya Thone Su Township sustained serious injuries last Saturday after she was shot by the military and hit with a car while she was taking part in an anti-coup motorbike rally.
Besides using lethal force, soldiers and police have kept up a steady campaign of harassment against civilians in an effort to break their resistance to military rule.
Residents of Yangon report that regime forces come into their neighbourhoods every night after curfew to prevent people from banging pots in protest against the coup.
“They came onto our street last night and started threatening anyone who dared to bang a pot. They used very vulgar language and fired at people’s houses with slingshots. It happens every night now,” said one Yangon resident who asked not to be identified.
On Sunday, a group of women in Yangon’s Mayangone Township were forced to bang their pots and dance in the street while soldiers watched and laughed.
If they stopped dancing, the soldiers hurled insults at them and threw stones at their houses, AAPP said in a statement that recounted a number of similar incidents involving attempts to humiliate civilians.
“Forcing women to hurt their dignity in public, and treating civilians as if they were enemies, are cruel acts that the military continues to lawlessly commit,” the group said in its statement.
In another incident that took place in Yangon’s Mingalar Taung Nyunt Township last Saturday, a transgender woman was forced to wear a man’s longyi and mocked by regime forces.
Many remain undeterred by this behaviour, however, as ordinary citizens continue to register their rejection of the military’s overthrow of the elected civilian government.
A resident of Yangon’s Tamwe Township who complained about the junta’s persistent efforts to disrupt the lives of civilians said that he and most of his neighbours refused to be intimidated.
“They curse at passersby, interrogate them for a while, and then let them go. When they came to my door, I closed it and they threw stones. But we will continue to demonstrate against them. We won’t be ruled by these people,” he told Myanmar Now.....Intensifying pressure: While ordinary citizens do their best to cope with the heavy military presence, those taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) are coming under growing pressure to end their efforts to deny the regime control of the state.
Among those most under threat from the junta are healthcare workers, who spearheaded the CDM in the early days after the coup. In the months since, the movement has been joined by many other public employees and emerged as a major stumbling block to Min Aung Hlaing’s ambitions.
Frustrated by its inability to break the CDM, the junta has in recent weeks stepped up its efforts to arrest the movement’s leaders and put them behind bars on trumped-up charges.
Since April 13, military-controlled television has broadcast the names of at least 20 health professionals who have been charged with incitement and issued with arrest warrants. At least 300 medical workers are now on the regime’s wanted list.
On Tuesday, a failed attempt to apprehend a doctor in Yangon’s South Okkalapa Township resulted in the arrest of her father and younger sister, according to a relative.
The doctor, Yu Sandar Moe, has since gone into hiding, the relative told Myanmar Now.
According to a statement released by the University of Medicine (1) Students Union on Saturday, a total of 46 medical workers and students, including 29 striking doctors, have been arrested since the coup.
The junta has also threatened to revoke doctors’ passports and medical licenses if they join the CDM. Private hospitals and charity clinics that accept CDM doctors will also have their licenses taken away, the junta said.
Other prominent figures in the anti-coup movement have also been targeted for arrest.
On Saturday, regime forces carried out a raid on a monastery in Sagaing Region’s Yinmabin Township in an attempt to arrest a monk who has led protests in the area.
It was the second time this month that the junta had failed to catch the monk. On April 2, soldiers surrounded the village of Thabyay Aye to arrest him, but locals fought back with homemade rifles.
Four villagers were killed in that clash, which also reportedly resulted in military casualties. At least six people were killed earlier this week during clashes elsewhere in Yinmabin.
The recent efforts to crack down on protests have also forced tens of thousands of people from 30 villages to flee as soldiers set up camp in the area.
Meanwhile, civilians armed with hunting rifles in southern Chin State’s Mindat Township claim to have killed 30 regime soldiers during four days of fierce clashes that began last Saturday.
Amid concerns that the situation in Myanmar still threatens to spin out of control, Mann Win Khaing Than, the chief union minister of the recently formed National Unity Government, called on ASEAN to ensure that the regime abides by its agreement to deescalate its use of violence..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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A frontline medic describes the dangers of trying to save lives at a time when the regime regards many health workers as criminals for serving at protests and participating in the Civil Disobedience Movement.
Description:
"On the evening of April 9, reports began emerging that security forces had killed scores of people in Bago, after they unleashed heavy weapons and grenades to disperse protesters manning barricades.
Before launching the operation in the city about 80 kilometres northeast of Yangon, the armed forces had blocked roads in Bago. This prevented ambulances from collecting the wounded, many of whom were eventually dumped in a monastery compound.
At least 80 people were killed in Bago that day, but a final death toll will probably never be known. Something else we’ll likely never know is how many of the wounded died because they did not receive treatment.
I arrived in Bago three days later to help treat the wounded. It was a difficult task –many of them were in hiding, for fear they would be arrested if they sought treatment. Witnesses also said volunteer medical workers had been detained by the security forces, following a pattern reported elsewhere in the country.
As a frontline medical volunteer, I’ve regularly witnessed the brutality of the junta’s dispersal tactics.
The first time was during a protest near Thanlyin Technological University in southeastern Yangon Region on March 9. Troops had occupied the campus, and students were protesting peacefully to demand that they leave. The soldiers suddenly opened fire with live rounds, leaving several people injured.
We began treating some of the injured in a safe house not far from the site of the protest, but we had to quickly evacuate the patients when soldiers arrived nearby. Thankfully, we managed to get them to another safe house and continue treating them.
Compounding the suffering
Not every injured protester manages to escape. Some are seized by the police and army and denied first aid, often dying as a result of loss of blood.
Even when the injured manage to evade security forces, they are far from safe. As the Bago example illustrates, accessing healthcare and medical assistance is itself a dangerous challenge for protesters, and for the medical volunteers who come to their assistance.
The best-case scenario for an injured protester is to be quickly evacuated from the scene by frontline medical volunteers and treated. But there is always a risk that the armed forces will stop the ambulance in which they travel or raid the clinic they are taken to. As a result, they are often forced to wait hours for proper treatment, or denied it altogether.
Because the regime has made state hospitals unsafe places for injured protesters, medical volunteers refer them to private hospitals or clinics run by charities. The military is notified about all admissions to government hospitals and patients can be arrested before they are discharged. Patients wanted by the authorities are also often shackled to their beds.
My team encountered one man who had suffered facial injuries after being hit with shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade. The man had been hiding at home for three days without seeking treatment because he feared arrest if spotted by soldiers. We were eventually able to take him to a safe private medical facility for treatment. He is recovering, but has suffered damage to one of his eyes.
The World Health Organization has said that from February 1 to April 30, there were at least 158 attacks on healthcare facilities, vehicles, staff and supplies, as well as patients in Myanmar, resulting in 11 deaths and 51 injuries.
Because of these incidents, volunteer teams are often forced to park ambulances some distance from protest sites to avoid attracting the attention of soldiers and police.
Equally disturbing are raids on medical treatment centres and charity rescue service offices. Raids were conducted on the intensive care unit at Yangon’s privately run Grand Hantha International Hospital on March 14, on a clinic in Mandalay on March 27 that resulted in the arrest of 26 people, including doctors and volunteers, and on a clinic at Kalay on April 7, as well as on a medical facility in Yangon’s Sanchaung Township on April 5, during which nine people were detained, including doctors and volunteers.
Medics need protection
It is a distressing time to be a medical professional in Myanmar.
Last year, we were honoured as national heroes for our role in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. But since the February 1 coup, the military has turned on government health workers due to their role in instigating the Civil Disobedience Movement. The regime now regards us as criminals rather than heroes – all doctors who are providing care to anti-coup protesters are at risk of arrest for incitement under section 505A of the Penal Code, for which the maximum penalty is three years’ imprisonment.
Tatmadaw spokesperson Brigadier-General Zaw Min Tun has even accused government doctors who’ve left state hospitals to join the CDM of committing murder. In reality, CDM doctors are helping the public in many ways, including by providing free treatment at private hospitals and charity clinics, making home visits, and providing telephone counselling.
Doctors and other healthcare professionals at state hospitals are accustomed to high workloads and low pay, but prior to February 1 they had not gone on strike to demand better working conditions. By refusing government work in solidarity with the people of Myanmar, they have sacrificed their lives, positions and prospects of a bright future.
In a cruel move, the military council said on April 20 that doctors supporting the CDM would be blacklisted and their passports cancelled. Even private and charity-run clinics have been ordered not to accept the services of CDM doctors or admit wounded protesters for treatment. Clinic owners that violate the order risk being jailed.
The cumulative effect of all this has been to deny timely and effective care to those who need it.
These are dark days for medical workers and their patients. The international community must condemn the reprehensible actions of the military regime, including its targeting of medical workers and its efforts to deny life-saving treatment to injured protesters..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Health Workers Strike, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Junta report presented to ASEAN on Myanmar's political situation revealed a tortured relationship with the bloody truth
Description:
"Myanmar’s junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing arrived at the recent Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Jakarta with justifications for his February 1 coup compiled in a neat document entitled “The Current Political Situation in Myanmar.”
Written in a first-person account redolent of a court case defense summation, the 118-page paper outlines the alleged fraud and corruption at last November’s elections that motivated the coup and subsequent responses by the military, or Tatmadaw.
The military’s electoral fraud allegations had been mounting for months since the nationwide polls, and its insistence that 10.4 million votes were fraudulent is as implausible as when the accusation was aired by military officials days before the coup, which acted to form the State Administration Council (SAC) and topple the National League for Democracy (NLD) government.
The document absurdly uses screen grabs of statements from the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, United States Secretary of State and international media to demonstrate “the election as not free and fair due to ballot rigging”, when the related statements predominantly criticized constitutional provisions preserving Tatmadaw power and the disenfranchisement of Rohingya Muslims.
It also manages to heap blame solely on the NLD for the pre-election cancellations that deprived some 1.4 million people the vote. But it is the document’s self-deluded description of the nationwide protests that erupted in response to the coup and suspension of democracy that is most glaring.
It outlines five stages of progressively severe protest to justify the military clampdown. First, as the junta sees it, there were peaceful protests led by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM). The narrative in this section almost commends protestors for their ingenuity and spontaneity, with several pages of photos of colorful demonstrations.
The second stage, however, is characterized as “riots”, the third stage “anarchistic mobs” and the fourth stage “insurrection”, with alleged provocateurs summarized as “NLD radicalist (sic), destructionists, bad guys…Federal Army idealists.”
The fifth stage slugs the protests as “terrorism…the worst stage ever.” The report outlines the alleged destruction of property with protesters “utilizing immature children as human shield.” It shrilly says “on the pretext of democracy they (NLD and demonstrators) are exercising mobocracy and tyranny of the majority.”
In a picture diagram of the supposed five stages, the document bids to justify the junta’s arrests and use of force to counter “protester actions”, but utterly and blindly fails to document its violent assault on the country and its people over the last three months.
According to the report, the list of casualties includes six dead Tatmadaw with 45 injured and five dead Myanmar Police Force (MPF) with 12 inexplicably “Fall” and 253 wounded.
From February 1 to April 15, it says 64 police stations, the majority in Mandalay, were destroyed by fire. It also claims 62 war or village administration offices, 52 offices, 16 roads, 13 banks, and 105 other buildings were destroyed. Security forces also claim to have seized 3,118 shields, 694 slingshots, 14,183 pellets, 1,114 improvised explosive devices (IEDs), 16 guns, and 4,630 “firebombs.”
Now compare this with the more credible summary of state repression compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which lists 755 protestors killed, 4,496 arrested with 3,448 still detained and an unknown number of casualties nationwide as of April 27.
This contrast in assessments has obviously irked the SAC, with the Ministry of Home Affairs this week threatening AAPP with “severe action” for its contradictory reporting. By any measure, though, contrasting the AAPP’s data with Min Aung Hlaing’s ASEAN-friendly account is an exercise in cognitive dissonance and revelation of the SAC’s inability to generate remotely credible fake news.
The military document also summarizes an ASEAN-appeasing five-part future work plan, which like the previous military regime’s “Seven Step Road Map to Discipline Flourishing Democracy” that preceded it its military-crafted 2008 Constitution, includes a “work in progress” approach that will allow the Tatmadaw to set the tempo and timetables of supposed state-building.
The five stages will include reconstituting the Union Election Commission and establishing correct voter lists; prevention of Covid-19 and a vaccination drive; the recovering of businesses affected by the pandemic; “Restoring Eternal Peace with NCA”, without acknowledging the 2015 ceasefire agreement is already dead; and finally, free and fair multi-party elections.
This section, like a lot of Tatmadaw plans, has a “Waiting for Godot” aspect. In summary, the briefing booklet evokes the metaphor of a student “passed who cheated on his exams” to decry alleged NLD meddling and corruption in the elections.
SAC propaganda also recently referenced the “Harry Tan” incident of 1956, where a seventh-grade student involved in protests was famously shot dead by police, the first student killing of the post-independence era, to perversely besmirch the NLD and its “cheating on democracy.”
Clearly, the SAC is more comfortable in a bygone era than the future as it asserts the current takeover of state power is more like the 1958 military “caretaker government” and therefore not a real coup, a word it has barred harassed local media from using. It has called on the regional bloc for “understanding the root causes and the reality of current situations, and hopes for ASEAN cooperation.”
In sum, the booklet is even more crude, shrill and unnerving than the usual lame efforts that pass for propaganda from the Tatmadaw’s True News Information Team. Rather, it is a slapdash scrapbook with all the hallmarks of a late minute submission than a serious authority seeking regional and global understanding.
Hysterical headlines and highly suspect figures of destroyed property and alleged crimes is an insight not into obtuse authoritarian bluster but sheer self-deception. The SAC issued a statement on Monday suggesting ASEAN “review the information booklet circulated at the meeting before comments are made relating to the current political situation.”
Tatmadaw propaganda has always revealed a tortured relationship with truth, but the report’s justifications for the coup and the one-sided narrative of grievance and violence is a pathological projection of a severe conscience: guilt pours over its crude pages.
The Tatmadaw leadership is likely aware most of their “news” is sheer bunk and largely designed to convince themselves and their rank and file rather than the general population and wider world.
It’s also unclear if the coup confessional is a SAC initiative or the efforts of the US$2 million funded shill Ari Ben-Menashe and his Dickens and Madson public relations firm hired by the junta to launder its global reputation.
The booklet has the legacy blend of previous military regimes’ propaganda in the early 1990s, with an obsession with “evidence” and an assembly of grievances to justify seizing state power from untrustworthy civilian politicians and unruly subjects — all designed to downplay their own extreme violence.
The booklet is useful evidence for the case against ASEAN interventions in Myanmar: it’s akin to submitting inane scribbles and scraps for a final semester assignment at university and expecting the indolent yet corruptible faculty to pass you regardless of the quality.
Clearly, the SAC realizes with cynical acuity that with ASEAN it doesn’t need to make much of an effort; mere attendance makes the grade.
The Tatmadaw also knows the game plan ahead. Indeed, they have confronted these ritualized, regional admonishments before without repercussion. ASEAN will embark on yet another limp, ineffectual engagement strategy, promising dialogue and assistance.
The West and United Nations will sigh relief that their support for ASEAN’s efforts absolves them of anything other than issuing strong statements, imposing a smattering of sanctions and be assuaged that a prolonged dialogue “process” is underway.
Urgently needed humanitarian assistance for millions of people affected by state violence then becomes hostage to these elite maneuvers.
For those in the West who actually do care about the future of Myanmar, this booklet should spark distress that the Tatmadaw is determined to drag the country back into a stone-age dictatorship, with ASEAN as its usher.
That is the real danger of the junta’s disinformation screed. By engaging with the SAC’s justifications for extreme violence, international interlocutors are inculcating the generals’ delusions. ASEAN is, as ever, the preferred prophylactic for Western inaction on Myanmar and is tantamount to selling the nation’s democratic resistance down the river.
David Scott Mathieson is an independent analyst working on conflict, peace and human rights issues on Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, ASEAN-Burma relations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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A brutal crackdown in Yangon’s Hlaing Tharyar Township in mid-March triggered an exodus of migrant workers. As protests subside, many are heading back to the big city but are finding that work is scarce.
Description:
"On April 18, the second day of the traditional Myanmar year, Yangon Region’s outer western Hlaing Tharyar Township was busier than it had been in a month. With the Thingyan holiday over, large numbers of people were entering the heavily industrialised township on motorbikes, in taxis and aboard light trucks loaded with their belongings.
They were returning to the scene of a massacre. Pitched battles on March 14 between well-armed security forces and protesters wielding home-made weapons left at least 58 protesters dead, according to a local network of volunteer medical groups, and several factories were burned down. That same day, the junta declared martial law in the township and in neighbouring Shwepyithar – a draconian new security regime, where civilians can be hauled directly before military tribunals and handed death sentences, that was later extended to four other outlying, industrialised townships in Yangon.
Fearing a wider crackdown, and with many having already lost their factory jobs amid the near-collapse of the garment sector, tens – possibly hundreds – of thousands of migrant workers fled to their home towns and villages. Hlaing Tharyar, whose population had swelled to close to a million thanks to a decade of steady migration from the countryside, suddenly resembled a ghost town.
But after more than a month away, and with protests in decline because of brutal suppression by soldiers and police, many of those who fled have begun making their way back to the commercial capital. They were largely driven to return by a lack of jobs in the countryside, but with increased factory closures and reduced output, and a steep decline in the wider economy, many are struggling to find new work and to meet the expenses of living in the city, raising the prospect of hunger and further waves of displacement.
Ma Nwet Yi Win, a former workplace union leader at a shoe factory in Hlaing Tharyar, joined the mid-March exodus and left for her home village in Ayeyarwady Region’s Ngapudaw Township, but is now back in Yangon. Returning to the city to find work was the only way for the migrant workers to survive because there are no jobs for them in the villages, she told Frontier.
“If Yangon is stable and it’s safe to live there, the people will return. They have to return if they want a job or the opportunity of going abroad to work,” said Nwet Yi Win, who lost her job at the shoe factory after it closed permanently on March 24.
Nwet Yi Win said ultimatums from factory managers to resume work or be fired had prompted some workers to return to their jobs in early April. She said many had been afraid of returning to Yangon because of the military’s “inhumane oppression”, including regular raids on homes to arrest political opponents, but were worried about losing their jobs.
However, according to Hlaing Tharyar residents, even those who still had jobs in the township’s dwindling number of operational factories largely chose not to return until after the mid-April Thingyan holiday.
Ko Aung Ye Min, who works at a noodle factory in the township, had ignored a less severe order from his bosses for employees to resume their jobs on April 1 or forfeit their Thingyan holiday pay.
“I don’t care about the money – I have to take care of my life and if I had returned to work on April 1, I might have been risking death,” he said, referring to the threat of Tatmadaw crackdowns.
Aung Ye Min said that, like him, most of the factory’s employees did not return to work until April 20, by which time a sense of stability seemed to be returning to Hlaing Tharyar.
Ko Min Min Soe, a taxi driver in Hlaing Tharyar, said migrant workers who returned to their rural homes after the violence in mid-March had to rely on motorbikes because taxis were unavailable. Taxi drivers did not want to risk their vehicles being damaged in a fresh bout of unrest, he said.
However, the reduction in protests and return of migrant workers since Thingyan is keeping him and other taxi drivers busy. “I already have three orders for trips to bring back migrant workers from Kyaiklat [Township, Ayeyarwady Region], Ahpyauk [town in Yangon Region’s Taikkyi Township] and Kawhmu [Township, Yangon Region],” he said.
“Each trip is worth about K50,000. Three or four workers are pooling their money and hiring my car together,” he said.
But even if some of the township’s bustle has returned, the landlords of dormitory blocks – where much of the migrant workforce is housed – say Hlaing Tharyar’s population is still well below pre-coup levels.
U Aung Hlaing Win, 55, who owns four hostels in Shan Kyaung ward in eastern Hlaing Tharyar, said about half his rooms were vacant.
“Before Thingyan, some of my hostels had no tenants. I have begun receiving tenants since April 18, but the situation is totally different to before the coup. My hostels used to be full and I had to turn people away,” he told Frontier.
Aung Hlaing Win added that the ward was still quiet with many shops closed because their owners were yet to return to Yangon.
“Most of the migrant workers in our ward are from Rakhine State and Ayeyarwady Region. They come here to work in factories or run small businesses like shops. It seems that some are still wary about returning to Yangon because they think it is not safe yet, but they might return by the end of April,” he said.
Labour activist Nwet Yi Win also expects many more workers to return to the township because they will need jobs to support themselves and their families. But most will likely be disappointed, she believes, and will find themselves no better off than in their rural homes.
“After the military coup, many [garment] factories closed permanently because of a lack of orders from abroad, so I don’t know how those people will find another job,” she said. “Because of the COVID-19 situation, we also cannot go to neighbouring countries to find work.”
Despite losing her job at the shoe factory, Nwet Yi Win still makes some money from reporting labour issues to non-government organisations, but she mainly relies on financial support from her family.
Jobs are harder to find because even factories that have continued operations have downsized their staff, as orders and income have plummeted.
Ma Su Myat Nwe has been looking for work since she was laid off from a Hlaing Tharyar garment factory in February. After more than two months, she is thinking of giving up the search and leaving Yangon for good.
“I might go to Lashio where my parents work at a restaurant,” she said. “Although I don’t have to pay for accommodation because I’m staying at my brother’s home [in Hlaing Tharyar], it’s not going to work in the long term.”
Those lucky enough to keep factory jobs have meanwhile seen their earnings reduced thanks to the 7pm curfew imposed under martial law. Although only an hour earlier than a nationwide curfew that has been in place since February, it deprives factory workers of the opportunity to earn overtime pay in the evenings. This supplementary income enabled them to not only meet the expenses of living in Yangon but also send money to their families and maybe save some for the future.
“If we don’t work overtime, we will receive only K150,000 a month, but if we work overtime our salaries rise to about K220,000. Every factory worker wants to find a job that includes overtime,” said garment factory worker Ma Thida. Her workplace now closes at 4:30pm each day, she said, to ensure workers have time to return home before curfew.
However, labour activist Nwet Yi Win said that, even without a curfew, there would likely be few opportunities to work overtime. Orders have plummeted because the garment sector, which dominates Hlaing Tharyar’s industrial zones and was already severely weakened by the economic fallout from the pandemic, relies heavily on demand from European countries that have strongly condemned the coup, she explained. Some companies, such as H&M and Benetton, have already stopped sourcing from Myanmar.
Factory worker Ma Thida said she was relieved to still have a job, despite not being able to earn overtime, but was no longer able to support her family in her home village. She had been sending her family K100,000 a month before the coup, she said.
Meanwhile, creeping inflation is making it harder to even support herself. “My income is lower than before, but the prices for basic commodities have risen. It’s harder to make ends meet,” she said. “I don’t expect the situation to be good, but I hope it won’t get worse.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-30
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups, Rural development in Burma/Myanmar, Urban development, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"Ethnic minority Karen insurgents attacked a Myanmar army outpost near the Thai border on Tuesday in some of the most intense clashes since a military coup nearly three months ago threw the country into crisis.
The Karen National Union (KNU), Myanmar's oldest rebel force, said it had captured the army camp on the west bank of the Salween river, which forms the border with Thailand.
The Myanmar military later hit back against the insurgents with air strikes, the KNU and Thai authorities said.
The fighting took place as the junta, in a setback for diplomatic efforts by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said it would "positively" consider the bloc's suggestions to end the turmoil in Myanmar but only when stability was restored.
The ASEAN leaders said after meeting on the weekend with the junta chief that they had reached a consensus on steps to end violence and promote dialogue between the rival Myanmar sides.
The outbreak of hostilities near the border shifted the focus of opposition to the junta away from the pro-democracy protests that have taken place in cities and towns across the country since the coup on Feb. 1.
The military overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, detained her and other civilian politicians, then cracked down with lethal force on anti-coup protesters.
Security forces have killed more than 750 civilians in the demonstrations, an activist group says.
The Karen and other ethnic minority forces based in frontier regions have supported the largely urban-based pro-democracy opponents of the junta......PRE-DAWN ATTACK: In Tuesday's fighting, villagers on the Thai side of the river said heavy gunfire started before dawn.
Video posted on social media showed flames and smoke on the forested hillside and KNU forces had captured the outpost, the group's head of foreign affairs, Saw Taw Nee, told Reuters.
The Myanmar military later mounted air strikes, Saw Taw Nee said. There was no word on casualties and 450 Thai villagers were moved away from the border to safety, the Thai military said.
The Myanmar army made no comment. It has historically portrayed itself as the one institution that can keep together the ethnically diverse country of more than 53 million people.
The KNU agreed to a ceasefire in 2012, ending its struggle for autonomy that began shortly after Myanmar’s independence from Britain in 1948.
But its forces have clashed with the army since it seized power, ending a decade of democratic reforms that had also brought relative peace to Myanmar's borderlands.
Fighting has also flared in the north and west, where the Irrawaddy news site reported 13 government soldiers were killed in clashes in Chin State over the past few days.
About 24,000 people are sheltering in the jungle after being displaced in recent weeks by violence near the Thai border, including military air strikes, Karen groups say.....'CAREFUL CONSIDERATION': Elsewhere in Myanmar, there have been few reports of bloodshed since the weekend meeting between the junta chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, and Southeast Asian leaders to try to find a way out of the crisis.
The junta, in its first official comment on the meeting, said it would give "careful consideration to constructive suggestions ... when the situation returns to stability".
The suggestions would be "positively considered" if they facilitated the junta's own "roadmap", and "serves the interests of the country", it said in a statement.
The junta did not refer to what ASEAN called a five-point consensus, issued at the end of the meeting, to end the violence and initiate talks.
ASEAN's points included appointing an envoy to visit Myanmar for talks with all sides. But Min Aung Hlaing, in comments reported in state media, said: "The visits to Myanmar proposed by ASEAN will be considered after stabilising the country."
U.N. Special Rapporteur Thomas Andrews called on Min Aung Hlaing to make a commitment to live up to the ASEAN plan.
"The people of Myanmar...need and deserve to know if it is your intention to honour this commitment," Andrews said in an open letter.
Activists have criticised the plan, saying it helped to legitimise the junta and fell far short of their demands.
In particular, it did not call for the release of Suu Kyi, 75, and other political prisoners. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners advocacy group says more than 3,400 people have been detained for opposing the coup.
Suu Kyi's party won a second term in November. The election commission said the vote was fair but the military said fraud at the polls had forced it to seize power.
Protesters against the junta were out in several places on Tuesday including the main city of Yangon, where hundreds surged down a street in a “flash mob” march, images on social media showed..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-29
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Armed conflict in Karen State - general articles and reports, Karen National Union (KNU), Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, ASEAN-Burma relations, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"In the early hours of February 1st, 2021, the Myanmar military known as the Tatmadaw seized power of the country. The coup led to the ousting of democracy icon, Aung San Suu Kyi and brought Myanmar's decade long experiment with democracy to a crashing halt. A mass uprising soon broke out across the country. The security forces responded by launching a brutal crackdown against the protesters, turning some areas of the capital, Yangon into battle zones.
But why did the army stage a coup and shatter the hopes and dreams of many of its citizens? Will the violence and protests in the streets help restore democracy in Myanmar?..."
Source/publisher:
"CNA Insider" (Singapore)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-29
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, The 2020 General Elections in Burma/Myanmar, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups, Political History
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"The pro democracy unity government in Myanmar which includes members of Aung San #Su Kyi's party, says it will not enter talks until the junta releases all political prisoners. Souteast Asias regional bloc has been holding talks with the leaders of the miltiary who seized power on February 1st. Since then massive protests have been held against the coup, hundreds of civilians have been killed and many more arrested.
Wai Hnin Pwint Thon campaigns officer at #Burma Campaign UK, and the daughter of a man currently serving a 65-year jail sentence in Myanmar for his part in the 2007 protests gave us her talke on the current situation. She says negotiations will have to happen but that talking with the #Myanmar military is futile..."
Source/publisher:
"France24" ( Paris)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-29
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, National Unity Government (NUG), Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Discrimination against the Rohingya, Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, Various groups, Several Groups, International Criminal Court
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"Myanmar’s parallel government on Wednesday rejected holding talks with the junta that seized power in early February until the military regime releases more than 3,000 political prisoners, rebuffing a plan by the country’s Southeast Asian neighbors.
Leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met last Saturday and signed a “five-point consensus” on resolving the crisis by halting army violence against civilian protesters and holding talks.
Members of the pro-democracy National Unity Government (NUG), formed on Apr. 16, said they will not engage in dialogue until detained leaders from the previous civilian-led government, including deposed State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint, are freed. They also want ASEAN members and other nations to recognize the NUG as the legitimate government of Myanmar.
“In order to have a meaningful dialogue, it is very clear that it is only possible if our leaders who are being detained are freed,” Kyaw Moe Tun, Myanmar’s permanent representative to the United Nations, told RFA, speaking for the NUG.
“We believe that only when they are freed will the talks be fair and meaningful,” he said.
Many leaders, other officials, and lawmakers from the National League for Democracy (NLD) were arrested by the military during and after the Feb. 1 coup, while those who evaded arrest have formed the NUG.
Political leaders and analysts in Myanmar said ASEAN’s stance on the crisis was unfair to pro-democratic forces and would prolong the current military dictatorship. They also said that the release of the more than 3,400 people who are being detained by junta forces is a key condition for resolving the crisis.
Security forces, including police, have conducted violent crackdowns on anti-coup protesters in cities and towns nationwide, at times using deadly force. More than 750 people have been killed since the coup began, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a Thailand-based human rights group.....Proposal deserves support: Nandar Hla Myint, spokesman for the military-proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), said ASEAN’s proposal deserves support.
“I believe ASEAN is serious about the situation of individual countries in the region, and at the same time it adheres to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of another country, so it came up with something acceptable to both sides,” he said.
The five-point agreement calls for an ASEAN envoy and delegation to visit Myanmar to meet with concerned parties, but junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has said that the visit would be considered only if there was internal stability.
A political analyst who declined to be named said the regime leader’s comment could mean that the crackdowns will continue and that the visit will be put off.
“None of the five demands in the agreement calls for the release of detained leaders,” he said. “Min Aung Hlaing has no intention of releasing them. Who are they going to negotiate with, then, if the unlawfully arrested leaders are not released? There is no need to hold discussions with anyone.”
Myint Oo, an NLD lawmaker from Bago region who won a seat in the November 2020 elections, said the political crisis could not be solved by ASEAN’s recommendations and that the grouping’s suggestions were an insult to people protesting peacefully for democracy.
“Look at the way ASEAN said that both sides should cease violence, as if it was the peaceful protesters who were using violence. This fact alone is offensive to the gentle and peaceful citizens who are staging this Spring Revolution,” he told RFA.
Thein Tun Oo, executive director of the pro-military think tank the Thayninga Institute for Strategic Studies, said he believed the military council would comply with ASEAN’s points if the demands were in line with a law enacted in the national interest.
“We believe we can do everything we can in the national interest within a legal framework.” he said. “We certainly see it will move forward step by step. It might not move as speedily as they would expect, but each of the five demands could be implemented at appropriate times.”.....Junta outlaws AAPP: Continuing its drive to cut off the flow of information about killings and arrests in the crackdown, the junta outlawed the AAPP after accusing the group of producing biased information and incorrect data that hurt the stability and rule of law in Myanmar.
The Ministry for Home Affairs under the State Administration Council, as the junta government is known, announced on Monday that it would take action against the AAPP for releasing what it said was inaccurate data to intimidate and cause anxiety among civil servants and the public, which could be interpreted as inciting violence.
The AAPP publishes daily updates on the numbers of people killed, arrested, and released by the military and police in connection with anti-junta. The statements have been cited frequently by foreign governments, media, and other international organizations.
Pro-army pundit Thein Tun Oo agreed with the junta’s move, saying AAPP reports are “weak in background checks or references, and the numbers get inflated.”
The AAPP, however, said it has compiled lists of detainees since the day of the military coup along with the names of the dead, places where the attacks occurred, dates of deaths, and causes of death.
“Everything is recorded with photos and video recordings and the data published daily,” the organization said in response to an RFA query.
The military regime is attacking the AAPP because it is recognized by the U.N., foreign governments, and rights groups as a credible source of information about political prisoners in Myanmar, said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
“They are trying to silence a very important organization that is doing a very difficult job. It is an attempt to keep the outside world from hearing what is happening in Burma,” he said.....More protests, arrests: Sporadic demonstration in support of the NUG and anti-junta protests continued to be held in townships in Yangon, Mandalay, Sagaing, Bago, and Tanintharyi regions as well as in Shan and Kachin states.
The AAPP said the death toll as of Wednesday was 756 and that 3,449 people were arrested, while another 1,237 people were in hiding while facing charges.
At least two people were killed and 15 were arrested amid protests and clashes between demonstrators and security forces on Wednesday, witnesses said.
In Sagaing region, a military corporal was killed during a brief clash between the Tamu People’s Defense Force and Myanmar soldiers Tuesday evening near the Indian border, residents said.
Soldiers took away the body of Corporal Aung Aung, a local soldier who had joined the Civil Disobedience Movement of striking workers in March, they said.
In the Sagaing town of Monywa, where residents have been holding daily anti-junta protests, soldiers took away nine people from three neighborhoods Tuesday night, locals said.
“Nine got arrested,” said a resident who declined to be named. “They were accused of communicating with underground forces. There had been a series of explosions in the area recently, so their arrests could be connected to that.”
An explosion on a bridge in Kachin state Tuesday night caused the structure’s foundation to crack and some rafters on nearby railroad tracks connecting the towns of Myitkyina and Mandalay to catch fire, said a resident of Hopin where the blast occurred. It is not clear who was behind the bombings..."
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"Radio Free Asia (RFA)" (USA)
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2021-04-29
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"Ministry Investigates Sexual Violence in Detention: 1. We strongly condemn the serious allegations of sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls in unlawful detention committed by the military-led State Administrative Council and its security forces. We have received many disturbing reports of women being tortured, verbally and
sexually assaulted, severely beaten causing serious injuries, including a case of a woman being raped during an interrogation by the security forces. Some detained women have also reportedly been humiliated in public, forced to dance in the streets to entertain the security forces, while others have been groped and manhandled during arrests. One woman miscarried while in detention as a result of mistreatment.....2. These cases are indicative of the wider pattern of sexual and gender-based violence committed by Myanmar’s military that has persisted for years with impunity, particularly against ethnic minority
women and girls in armed conflict areas. In 2019, the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission (IIFFMM) found that the military committed "widespread and systematic" gender-based violence against ethnic communities, employing tactics such as rape, gang rape, sexual slavery and other forced sexual acts against women, girls, boys, men and transgender people. According to the IIFFMM, such violations could amount to crimes against humanity and
grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. The military’s use of rape as a weapon of war to terrorize ethnic communities has been widespread and systematic, particularly in ethnic conflict-affected
areas, and has been widely documented by the local ethnic women organizations and the international community.....3. We are deeply troubled that the State Administrative Council appears to have set aside the Joint Communique that was signed by the Government of Myanmar and the United Nations in 2018. This agreement was adopted under the framework of United Nations Security Council resolution 2106 (2013) and requires Myanmar’s military to implement specific time-bound commitments that include the issuance of clear orders through chains of command prohibiting sexual violence
and accountability for breaching these orders, as well as timely investigation of alleged abuses.....4. We appeal to the international community to immediately investigate the allegations of widespread
sexual and gender-based violence being committed by the military junta so that all perpetrators, regardless of seniority or rank, can be held accountable for their actions. Furthermore, we
believe that immediate action is needed to end the ongoing intensification of nationwide attacks against civilians by the military, that includes widespread allegations sexual and gender-based
violence. We therefore urge the UN Secretary-General to use his good offices to deter further grave violations from taking place. This could include an official visit to Myanmar by the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Myanmar, with the goal of stopping the military terror and violence and securing the safety of the people of Myanmar.....5. We are committed to a zero-tolerance policy for crimes of sexual and gender-based violence, in line with Myanmar’s obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law, including
UN Security Council resolution 1325 and related resolutions, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. We call on the UN, including the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary- General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, the Special Rapporteur on human rights situation in Myanmar, Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, ASEAN Commission
on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children, and the international community to work with our Ministry to protect the rights of women, youth and children and stop and prevent further violence. We all have a responsibility to hold the perpetrators of such heinous crimes to account and to address the needs of survivors through a survivor-centered approach, including provision of necessary services such as medical care and psychological support. The ministry will continue investigate these allegations and document the incidents in order to bring justice for all victims. Our Ministry stands with the victims and survivors of sexual and genderbased
violence and commits to ending violence against women, youth and children and to ensure justice and accountability....Ministry of Women, Youth and Children's Affairs National Unity Government..."
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National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-29
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National Unity Government (NUG), Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Discrimination/violence against women: reports of violations in Burma, Women's rights, Articles, reports and sites relating to women of Burma, Women and Politics in Burma/Myanmar, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma
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"Unidentified attackers launched assaults on two Myanmar air bases on Thursday, with blasts reported at one base and rocket fire seen at another, media and a witness said.
The attacks come after three months of turmoil in Myanmar triggered by a Feb. 1 military coup. There was no claim of responsibility or any confirmation of any casualties in the attacks.
A military spokesman did not answer calls seeking comment.
In the first attack on Thursday, three blasts went off at an air base near the central town of Magway in the early hours, the Delta News Agency reported in a post on Facebook.
Security checks were stepped up on roads outside the base after the blasts, the news portal said.
Later, five rockets were fired at one of the country's main air bases, at Meiktila, to the northeast of Magway, reporter Than Win Hlaing, who was near the base at the time, said in a post.
He also posted a video clip that included the sound of what appeared to be a rocket flying overhead followed by a blast. Reuters could not verify the clip.
Since the ouster of an elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, pro-democracy protests have rocked cities and towns, and the military has cracked down with lethal force, killing 756 people, according to an activist group. Reuters is unable to confirm the casualty toll.
Fighting between the military and ethnic minority insurgents has also flared since the coup with the military launching numerous air strikes in border lands in the north and east.
While the armed forces have been battling insurgents in frontier regions for decades, attacks on such high-profile military facilities in central areas have been rare.
HOPE FADES: The growing insecurity comes as hope fades for a bid by Myanmar's Southeast Asian neighbours to find a path out of the crisis.
The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) held a meeting on Saturday in the Indonesian capital with the junta leader, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, and later said they had reached a "five-point consensus" on steps to end violence and promote dialogue between the generals and their civilian rivals.
But the junta has declined to accept the proposals, saying it would consider them "when the situation returns to stability" and provided the recommendations facilitated the military's own roadmap.
Myanmar's pro-democracy unity government, formed to oppose the junta, ruled out talks on the crisis until all political prisoners are released.
In an indication of the military's determination to crush dissent, state television announced late on Wednesday that authorities were seeking to charge one of the main leaders of the pro-democracy protests with murder and treason.
Wai Moe Naing, 25, was arrested on April 15 when security men rammed him with a car as he led a motorbike protest rally in the central town of Monywa.
The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported that Wai Moe Naing's group was linked to several explosions of "homemade grenades" in Monywa.
"In addition, they also tortured and brutally killed two police officers ... on March 26," the newspaper said.
It is unclear if Wai Moe Naing has a lawyer...."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-29
[field_licence]
Type:
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Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"Just under six months ago, the people of Myanmar delivered a landslide victory to Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy Party. It was the 75-year old's second election win, and it made the military so furious that it seized power in a coup on the first day the new parliament was due to sit.
Since then hundreds of people opposing the military regime have been shot dead and thousands have been arrested. South-East Asia correspondent Mazoe Ford reports, and a warning, her story contains some distressing images..."
Source/publisher:
ABC News (Australia)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-29
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Human Rights and international relations
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"Three months after the coup, four brothers tell how they joined protesters fighting the junta before fleeing for the border. The young men only had a moment to study the river before rushing into the waist-deep water. The brothers – ranging in age from 15 to 21 – were unfamiliar with the border area and afraid of being seen. On the run from Myanmar’s military, they pushed on into the Thaunggin River.
After just a few minutes of wading, they stumbled into no man’s land. Moments after crossing the river, three smugglers dressed in military fatigues met them. After handing over 6,000 Thai baht (US$200) and exchanging a few words, the smugglers led them deeper into the woods and then to safety in Thailand.
Three months after the military coup on 1 February, four Burmese brothers have told the Guardian of how they were inspired to join the fight against the military – and how their involvement in protests in Yangon that turned violent eventually forced them to flee at the end of March.
Safely outside the country, the brothers have given an account of brutal military repression and their decision to take the fight to the military in a bid to prevent further violence. Their journey would take them from peaceful protest in Yangon to petrol bombing police stations and running for their lives.
Lin*, 21,the eldest of the four brothers, said he had watched the coup unfold from his home in western Thailand, close to the border. Seeing the death toll mount amid growing military brutality he felt compelled to join the resistance movement, and soon his three younger brothers and two cousins from different parts of Myanmar followed him to Yangon.
At 15, Za* is the youngest of the brothers. He said he took part in the resistance because he wanted to stop the violence on the streets. “Look at how many people they have killed in the past two months. If we don’t do anything and just let it happen so many more innocent people will die,” Za said.
Joining the protests: The men met up in Yangon and for the first few days joined the peaceful protests. Soon, they became part of a nightwatch team protecting residential neighbourhoods from night-time raids by security forces. Armed with sticks and swords they say they helped women, children and the elderly move around safely.
As they continued to demonstrate, some teams of frontline protesters began discussing the possibility of hitting back, Lin says. “People started saying we need to fight back. But they didn’t know how, and they were scared.” Lin says he was concerned it was just what Myanmar’s military, also known as the Tatmadaw, was hoping for.
They told how they joined a small minority of protesters on the frontlines squaring off against security forces, using molotov cocktails and slingshots in what they said they believed was a legitimate form of self-defence against the military’s automatic weapons. But it was not without cost. During one attack on a police station, Lin says one of the team died after being hit in the head by a rubber bullet. He was in his 50s.
“I don’t want my children to grow up in the situation that my generation and the older generations did,” says Moe*, 18, another of the brothers.
The first attack: It was about 11pm when the group carried out its first attack on a police station.
Lin describes how they moved towards the building, with more people joining the group as they got closer. Some were carrying molotov cocktails, others were armed with slingshots and swords, he says. But when the men edged near to the police station, the group hesitated.
Lin says: “At that time I was aggressive, I was mad, no one was willing to throw the cocktail bomb. “I came back [to Yangon] thinking I was going to be a peaceful protester … but if I needed to be another thing, then I will be that, too,” Lin said. “So I took the molotov and went up to the [overpass] bridge.”
The bottle landed right on top of a pile of rubbish leaning against the building. Flames started to shoot upwards towards the roof, Lin says. “We wanted to scare them,” he says of the Tatmadaw. “You make us feel unsafe, then we want you to feel unsafe too.”
Lin says a truck full of Tatmadaw soldiers arrived, and the group started retreating. Footage seen by the Guardian shows teargas rounds whizzing past them as they fled. The group could hear the sound of people celebrating in their homes as they sprinted past. “It was like we were coming back from war.”
Over the next few days, the brothers, along with a handful of other teams, targeted multiple police stations. Lin says he doesn’t believe they injured anyone in the attacks. They were unsuccessful in burning down the buildings. He says the attacks were psychological warfare and the men felt they had to show some degree of force to counter the military.....‘We had to run’:The campaign continued until the day Lin says they heard one of their friends had been abducted by security forces. “They contacted us and said he died. They tortured and killed him,” he recalls.
“We all had to run at that point. They said, ‘One of our guys is gone. We are on the run now. You should too.’” They agreed it was time to leave. The brothers woke up early to begin their trip east to Hpa-An, the capital city in Karen state, close to the border with Thailand. The day after they left their apartment in Yangon, a neighbour told them police had searched it.
After laying low in Hpa-An for a few days, they finally got the call to leave. They would have to make the cross near Myawaddy, a town known for its casinos and entertainment venues. After just a few minutes of wading through the river, they stumbled into no man’s land. Moments after crossing the river, three smugglers dressed in military fatigues met them.
The smugglers demanded their payment upfront before they moved the brothers to a secret location. After paying the troops, the group hiked for another 20 minutes in the dark to a bunker where they were told to wait.
“We were afraid of them because they were strangers with guns and we were in their place,” says Htet*, 18, another of the four brothers. “If they wanted to do something they could’ve and we didn’t have anything to stop that.”
At around 3pm they were told it was finally time to go. They walked along a dirt path that would lead to a paved road, their guide told them. After more trekking on their own, they found their way out of the woods. They had made it.
The group crossed the border at a time when Myanmar’s military had killed more than 550 people and detained nearly 3,000, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
“It was a hard decision to make to come here. Even though we are safe and comfortable, we want to be back there. But it was just too dangerous,” Lin says.
“But the good thing was I had my brothers. I wouldn’t have been able to handle it alone.”
*Names have been changed to protect identities..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-29
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2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians
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"As many as 15 Myanmar soldiers were killed in western Chin state Monday by a newly formed ethnic militia, one of whose fighters vowed to “inflict damage” on the junta that ousted the country’s elected government, witnesses and a local rights group said.
Monday’s ambush by the Chinland Defense Force in Chin state, a mountainous, impoverished area near the border with India and Bangladesh, came amid sporadic protests across Myanmar that were met by violent repression by security forces, and heavy-handed efforts to halt citizens’ donations to the anti-junta movement.
“As many as 15 Burmese soldiers have reportedly been killed in a firefight with local civil militia in Mindat, southern Chin state,” the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) said on its Facebook page. A truck was also seen burning in the town, the group said.
The CHRO said about 10 of the slain soldiers were in a convoy of three trucks sent as reinforcements from the army’s Tactical Operations Command headquarters in nearby Matupi town, while five other troops were reported killed in Mindat, a town of 10,000 people.
“Sources further said the army is sending more reinforcements in another convoy of five army trucks from Pakokku,” the social media post said. Pakkoku is a city of 400,000 people in central Magwe region.
A member of the Chinland Defense Force, formed on April 4 by anti-coup protesters, said that the group aims to end the military dictatorship, abolish a constitution imposed by the army to entrench its power, and establish a federal union.
“We cannot say right now what the strategy will be, but we plan to inflict damage on them,” he told RFA.
“If the threats and violence do not end, we, the CDF, will use all available weapons and other means. We have tumee rifles and other weapons to confront them,” said the Chin fighter, referring to homemade hunting rifles that people in western Myanmar have used to fight off junta troops.
“Currently, we have no casualties on our side,” he told RFA Monday night. “Casualties are only on their side.”.....Three other soldiers dead: At least three soldiers died in a similar battle in Mindat on Sunday night, the CHRO said on Facebook.
Another member of the CDF from Mindat said more people from Chin state will join the militia to fight Myanmar forces.
“In the long run, other townships will join us to fight them, to protect the Civil Disobedience Movement [CDM], and to protect their own people,” he said. “There might be fear and concern among the people, but we need to end the military dictatorship.”
RFA could not reach junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment on the clashes in Chin state.
Kyaw Saw Han, a national security researcher, said militias across the country, including the Chin forces, could form a collective national force and use guerrilla tactics to defend their areas.
“I don’t think these groups are formed to directly confront the military,” he said.
“Their strategy is not clear, but it can be assumed that they will strive to defend their region,” he said. “They could launch attacks on military bases and other state-owned structures like police stations.”
Twelve weeks after troops overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi and her elected civilian government, sporadic anti-junta protests continued to erupt across the country of 54 million people, resulting in violent crackdowns and clashes between security forces and protesters.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a Thailand-based rights group, said that as of Monday, 753 people had been killed in the violence since Feb. 1, while 4,484 others had been arrested.
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Attacks by an Ethnic Militia Kill Some 15 Junta Troops in Myanmar’s Chin State
2021-04-26
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Attacks by an Ethnic Militia Kill Some 15 Junta Troops in Myanmar’s Chin State
Myanmar protesters flash a three-finger salute of defiance while holding a banner during a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon, April 26, 2021.
RFA
As many as 15 Myanmar soldiers were killed in western Chin state Monday by a newly formed ethnic militia, one of whose fighters vowed to “inflict damage” on the junta that ousted the country’s elected government, witnesses and a local rights group said.
Monday’s ambush by the Chinland Defense Force in Chin state, a mountainous, impoverished area near the border with India and Bangladesh, came amid sporadic protests across Myanmar that were met by violent repression by security forces, and heavy-handed efforts to halt citizens’ donations to the anti-junta movement.
“As many as 15 Burmese soldiers have reportedly been killed in a firefight with local civil militia in Mindat, southern Chin state,” the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) said on its Facebook page. A truck was also seen burning in the town, the group said.
The CHRO said about 10 of the slain soldiers were in a convoy of three trucks sent as reinforcements from the army’s Tactical Operations Command headquarters in nearby Matupi town, while five other troops were reported killed in Mindat, a town of 10,000 people.
“Sources further said the army is sending more reinforcements in another convoy of five army trucks from Pakokku,” the social media post said. Pakkoku is a city of 400,000 people in central Magwe region.
A member of the Chinland Defense Force, formed on April 4 by anti-coup protesters, said that the group aims to end the military dictatorship, abolish a constitution imposed by the army to entrench its power, and establish a federal union.
“We cannot say right now what the strategy will be, but we plan to inflict damage on them,” he told RFA.
“If the threats and violence do not end, we, the CDF, will use all available weapons and other means. We have tumee rifles and other weapons to confront them,” said the Chin fighter, referring to homemade hunting rifles that people in western Myanmar have used to fight off junta troops.
“Currently, we have no casualties on our side,” he told RFA Monday night. “Casualties are only on their side.”
myanmar-protesters-defiance-salute-yangon-apr26-2021.jpg
Myanmar protesters flash a three-finger salute of defiance while holding a banner that reads "Yangon strike will defeat all enemies" during a demonstration against the military coup in Yangon, April 26, 2021. Credit: RFA
Three other soldiers dead
At least three soldiers died in a similar battle in Mindat on Sunday night, the CHRO said on Facebook.
Another member of the CDF from Mindat said more people from Chin state will join the militia to fight Myanmar forces.
“In the long run, other townships will join us to fight them, to protect the Civil Disobedience Movement [CDM], and to protect their own people,” he said. “There might be fear and concern among the people, but we need to end the military dictatorship.”
RFA could not reach junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun for comment on the clashes in Chin state.
Kyaw Saw Han, a national security researcher, said militias across the country, including the Chin forces, could form a collective national force and use guerrilla tactics to defend their areas.
“I don’t think these groups are formed to directly confront the military,” he said.
“Their strategy is not clear, but it can be assumed that they will strive to defend their region,” he said. “They could launch attacks on military bases and other state-owned structures like police stations.”
Twelve weeks after troops overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi and her elected civilian government, sporadic anti-junta protests continued to erupt across the country of 54 million people, resulting in violent crackdowns and clashes between security forces and protesters.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a Thailand-based rights group, said that as of Monday, 753 people had been killed in the violence since Feb. 1, while 4,484 others had been arrested.
Restrictions on cash flows: In a new tactic to derive the CDM of funds to oppose the junta and support a fledgling parallel government launched in mid-April, security forces are stopping and searching people in the streets and warning them against carrying large sums of money.
“The junta has made restrictions on cash flows because they fear a normal cash flow will help support dissident groups and civil servants who had joined the CDM movement,” said a member of the parallel government in exile representing a group of lawmakers ousted in the coup.
A woman from Sagaing region, told RFA that she was stopped by security forces on her way to town to go shopping carrying 1.8 million kyats (U.S. $1,270).
“I used to go to town with a lot of cash like that because there were no inspections before, [but] the other day when I went to town, they stopped me on the way and asked what I had in my handbag,” she said, adding that security forces told her to carry no more than 50,000 kyats (U.S. $35) in public.
With nearly all banks closed since shortly after the coup when their employees left their jobs and joined the anti-coup movement, and the internet shut down by the junta, the cash restrictions are hurting businesses that already have been struggling after a year of coronavirus closures and political turmoil.
“Some of the companies we were dealing with use online mobile money transfers,” said a businessman in Monywa, Sagaing region. “They deposit money through the online payments, and then we send it to the merchants. Now, the companies in Yangon are not accepting mobile transfers—only cash — so we are stuck.”
Hundreds of people continued protesting on Monday in the regions of Yangon, Mandalay, Bago, and Magwe region, as well as in Shan and Kachin states.
A small bomb exploded near a Yadanabon Bank office in Myanmar’s second-largest city Mandalay, and a local resident said there was clash between the junta’s forces and local protest defenders who demanded the release of six detainees grabbed by military forces on Sunday.....Aung San Suu Kyi’s latest court hearing: Deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, under house arrest in the capital Naypyidaw, attended a virtual court session Monday on a charge against her for allegedly violating the Official Secrets Act in Yangon, Khin Maung Zaw, the leader of her defense team told RFA, adding “the reason is still unknown.”
The lawyers on Monday submitted an application for the transfer of power of attorney required for the defense for the most recently added charge against Aung San Suu Kyi, but the prosecutors said the police are waiting for further instructions from higher authorities, said defense attorney Min Min Soe.
“Mother Suu said it has been so long already, and more and more charges have been added since the first case,” Min Min Soe said. “She said it is imperative that the client meet her defense lawyers.”
The 75-year-old Aung San Suu Kyi faces other charges for alleged incitement and sedition, violating the telecommunication law, possession of unlicensed walkie-talkie radios, and violating the Natural Disaster Management Law for breaching COVID-19 pandemic restrictions during the 2020 election campaign.
Detained President Win Myint and Naypyidaw Council Chairman Myo Aung also attended video-conference hearings on Monday. The next hearing date for all three is May 10.
Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Kyaw Min Htun and Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin..."
Source/publisher:
"RFA" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-28
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Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Chin State, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"As of 28 April, (756) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) compiled and documented (1) fallen heroes today. This (1) fallen hero from Tedim Township in Chin State was killed last night 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 April 28, a total of (3449) people are currently under detention; of them (79) are sentenced. 1237 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
Since the ASEAN leaders meeting on 24 April at least 6 people have been killed by the junta. The junta’s pledge to “refrain from violence” should never have been believed by ASEAN. There is only “one party” exercising violence in Burma. Despite the junta’s ongoing violence on a daily basis, the Spring Revolution intensified across the country, including in Yangon and Mandalay.
On April 28, the Yadanarbon and Mandalay University student strikes were attacked by military vehicle and people arrested in Mandalay City, Mandalay Region. Six civilians were arrested, and ordered to raise their hands under the hot sun. The numbers of injured have not been confirmed yet. Since the terrorists arrested Wai Moe Naing, the protest leader of the Monywa strike, by crashing his motorbike, junta forces have continued to crackdown on protests using vehicles and motorbikes. Arrests have continued both day and night using private cars.
A 20-year-old young man was shot dead around 10pm last night in Tedim Township, Chin State and his body has not yet been returned to his family from the hospital. The terrorist group is using different forms of repression to put pressure on public servants involved in the CDM movement. If they can not arrest CDM staff, they take family members as hostage; force them to move from the government housing; firing; or charging and issuing warrants under various laws. Teachers from universities, colleges and management level have been forced to come back to work on 3 May at the latest. Families of Budalin Hospital CDM staff members were forced to move from staff housing in Sagaing Region. CDM participation by the civil servant is having a significant impact on the day-to-day running of the administration mechanism of junta. This is why CDM staff are being targeted.
The junta coup lifted the FTTH fiber-optic 1 am to 9 am blackout enforced for 72 continuous nights, on 27 April. However, all other internet services are still cut off and the information flow remains restricted. Some social media and news are still banned, for 83 days now. The terrorist group is restricting the flow of information because of the fear civilians will get accurate information and opposition even stronger. The junta is also using Myawaddy TV (MWD) and Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV) broadcasts to spread its propaganda. The violation to freedom of press is emblematic of the diminishing human rights in the country.
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:
“Our uprising must succeed”
Email : [email protected]
Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma
In Solidarity,
AAPP..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-28
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"As of 27 April, (755) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) compiled and documented (2) fallen heroes today. (1) from Demoso Township in Kayah State died on 27 April. (1) from Mandalay 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 April 27, a total of (3448) people are currently under detention; of them (79) are sentenced. 1200 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
On April 27, people across the country remained on the streets to protest the dictatorship despite atrocities of shooting and torturing by the terrorists. Today, anti-military protests and repression escalated in Yangon. Although the coup leader agreed to end violence at the ASEAN leaders meetings days ago. In reality, junta forces have been violating human rights abuses on a daily basis.
Today a man was killed and at least four civilians injured in Demoso Township, Kayah State during a crackdown on the people-made barricades, the terrorist group used live ammunition on civilians like in a conflict. Also, a man was killed and two others injured in an unprovoked shooting in Mandalay last night.
Recently, the terrorist group has been cracking down on media and trying hard to cover up the news. This morning, the Mandalay based editor-in-chief of Voice of Myanmar (VOM) and a journalist were arrested. On the night of April 25, a former journalist of the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) was arrested and taken to an interrogation center.
According to UDHR Article 19, everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. The terrorist group has cut off information flow between the media and public in order to delay access to accurate information.
At the same time, the junta are trying to cover up their violence and crimes to both international and domestic audiences. It is for those reasons that journalists are being persecuted. At present, the terrorist group is not only openly looting but also kidnapping civilians. Some arrested villagers from Win Kone village, Yinmabin Township, Sagaing Region were released on April 24 only after locals paid junta forces an amount they demanded.
Today, terrorists raided the house of a protest leader in Mogok, Mandalay Region and looted items in the house. Last night, a fisherman was beaten and interrogated by the junta forces in a village that is located in Kangyidaunt Township, Ayeyarwady Region. His old watch and 1000 kyats were confiscated.
On the morning of April 25, the junta forces raided someone’s house who is working for the funeral service society in Myingyan Town, Mandalay Region. They destroyed his house and looted his antiquity collections, money and crafts.
The terrorist regime commits various forms of violence leaving people insecure and fearful mentally and physically. The civilians are facing daily threats and their basic human rights are being violated. The only way to achieve democracy, human rights, and internal peace is not through negotiations but to eradicate dictatorship in Burma.
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:
“Our uprising must succeed”
Email : [email protected]
Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma
In Solidarity,
AAPP..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-28
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"The 19-year-old's eyes are so swollen he cannot open them properly. His face is marked with big purple welts and bruises. Etched into his shoulders and back are long, dark lacerations that have yet to heal over -- wounds, he said, that were inflicted when Myanmar military officers who had detained him whipped him repeatedly with cable wires.
"I thought I would die," the teenager, who did not want to be named for safety reasons, said of his three-day stint in a military detention camp, while showing a photo of his wounds.
He is one of more than 4,400 people detained by Myanmar's security forces since the military seized power in a coup on February 1, according to advocacy group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. The round-up, part of a systematic and bloody crackdown on any perceived opposition to the takeover, has ensnared politicians, protesters, journalists, striking workers, celebrities, and even children and bystanders.
Many people have been taken in terrifying nighttime raids or abducted off the streets and held in secretive facilities out of contact from their families. Little is known about the conditions they are kept in.
But the accounts of those who have been released, as well as from defectors from the military and family members, detail brutal acts of violence and torture.
The teen was traveling back to Yangon from Bago on his moped when he said he was stopped at a military checkpoint on April 9. It was a long drive, and it was already getting late. That day had seen one of the deadliest crackdowns on protesters, with more than 80 killed by security forces in the town, according to AAPP.
Searching his bag and phone, soldiers found images of him with a shield at protests.
The 19-year-old said he was taken to a military compound, where his hands were tied and he was repeatedly beaten by the guards, who used cables, the butts of guns, and glass bottles.
"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) hit my head with a glass bottle, beat me up, pointed at me with guns but the bullets did not come out. He used the gun to threaten me as soon as I got to their station. Then he let his fellow soldiers beat me up that night," he said.
The soldiers accused him of giving money to the Civil Disobedience Movement, in which doctors, workers and civil servants have gone on strike to cripple the economy and bring down the junta, led by Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.
"They beat me with a cable wire, they used a big cable wire and they braid it with two cable wires to make it bigger. They forced us to be on our knees, with our backs straight, and punched and kicked us. When we fell on the ground they hit us with the cable wire. It hurt so much. I even told them to kill me instead of torturing me it was that painful," the teenager said.
Three weeks after his ordeal, he remains in hiding. His wounds are healing, he said, but he still has difficulty walking and can't properly fasten his buttons.
During the beatings, one thing kept him going. "I thought I was about to die but I have to stay strong, I couldn't eat what they gave to me but I forced myself to eat to stay alive, we have to be released and when we get released we can participate (in the protests) again," the 19-year-old said.
His scars, both physical and mental, are a constant reminder of the military's grotesque cruelty and lack of regard for the civilians they claim to rule over.
The 19-year-old said he was detained after soldiers found images on his phone of him at protests.
More than 750 people, including large numbers of children and young people, have been killed by security forces since the military junta seized power, AAPP has documented. A growing number of those killed are injured protesters who were detained by the military and denied medical attention. Others, including ousted members of the democratically elected National League for Democracy, have died in custody, their bodies bearing the marks of torture.
"People arrested by the security forces are more likely to be subjected to torture or ill treatment in detention," said Zaw Win, human rights specialist with rights group Fortify Rights. "Our team has documented cases of arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, and beatings since February 1. The military tactics of arrest and ill treatment are creating an environment of terror and anxiety among the public. Yet, protesters are still going to the streets to call for an end to military rule."
Torture was widespread and well documented during the previous military regime, which began transferring power to a quasi-civilian government in 2011. Despite the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy being in power since 2014, the United Nations Convention Against Torture was never signed.
The AAPP said torture in Myanmar is still commonplace during interrogation and imprisonment to extract confessions or further degrade and humiliate detainees.
CNN has reached out to Myanmar's military for comment. In state media, the junta has said it is acting with restraint in handling what it has described as demonstrations by "riotous protesters" whom it accuses of attacking police and harming national security and stability.....Barely recognizable: Despite claims of restraint, the military junta has shown no shame in its acts of cruelty -- if anything, it's made efforts to publicize those acts as a warning to anyone who dares to speak out.
Every night at 8 p.m. local time, neatly coiffed news anchors announce a list of people wanted for arrest on junta-controlled TV. The broadcasts have included actors, musicians, journalists and doctors who have gone on strike to protest the coup -- their photographs and social media profiles beamed across the country.
On April 18, the military aired the images of six people it had arrested and accused of being in possession of homemade bombs following a series of deadly blasts in the Yangon suburb of Yankin on April 17. The faces of the four men and two women bore severe signs of abuse.
One of the women, 31-year-old dance teacher Khin Nyein Thu, was barely recognizable, her mother said. Her face was swollen and bloody. Her mother, who did not want to be named for security reasons, said Khin Nyein Thu was picked up in a nighttime raid and she is concerned about her welfare in an interrogation center, where she is now believed to be held.
An undated photo of dance teacher Khin Nyein Thu.
Her mother managed to catch a glimpse of her daughter when she was first taken to the police station. "She was clearly in pain, she was walking unsteadily and when I called her she turned around to look at me. It was at this point I could tell that her face was very swollen," she said.
"I was told by someone who was released that she has been hit in the face, I understand she has cuts on her face and lips, and bruised eyes, and lost a tooth."
She described Khin Nyein Thu, her only child, as a creative, artistic person who loved to dance, paint, kickbox, and share what she knows with others.
Though detained on April 17, Khin Nyein Thu has not been charged or taken to prison, her mother said. Instead, she believes she has been transferred to another interrogation camp.
"I could not sleep all night and I had a choking feeling of fear. The worst was thinking I could not follow her," the mother said of the night her daughter was taken. Desperate to hear from her daughter, she added, "I want to see her. I want her to get medical treatment as soon as possible."
'They will kill anyone they want':Even among the lower ranks of the military, there are soldiers disgusted with the violence they are being ordered to carry out against their fellow countrymen and women.
From the safety of neighboring India, a 23-year-old former army cadet said he defected from the military, haunted by his experiences on nighttime raids. CNN has agreed not to name him for his safety.
He described a culture of intimidation and brainwashing within the military, known as the Tatmadaw, where from day one new recruits are told the country can only be at peace if the army is in charge.
Freshly graduated from military training in March, the 23-year-old was posted to Yangon's Mingaladon township, where he was ordered to join the nightly raids and arrest suspected protesters or opponents of the coup.
He said every night they would deploy with two rounds of ammunition, assault rifles, detailed maps of neighborhoods and names of protest leaders from their informants.
"They order us to shoot when the person we want to arrest is escaping from the house," the former cadet said. "At one point we went to arrest two leaders, one got arrested and one was trying to escape and we shot him on the spot." He said the person who was shot managed to escape, so they arrested his daughter who was also in the house.
"The orders depend on the commanders of the group, if they told us shoot then we have to shoot right away," he added.
A former army cadet from Myanmar's military who defected across the border to India after being ordered to take part in raids and beatings of protesters.
The former cadet claims he intentionally broke his rifle that night so it wouldn't fire, but he couldn't avoid participating in the beatings. His account gives a harrowing insight into the military's operations, as reported by countless protesters and family members of those detained.
"They were crying when we raid their houses and beating them. The neighbors knew too but on one dares to come out at night. If someone looks at us through their windows, we asked them to come out and beat them too. The military will find fault at every house they raid and will beat them," he said.
The culture of fear within the ranks means he cannot complain. "I cannot say anything even if I do not like what they are doing," he said.
Anyone found outside after curfew at 8 p.m. local time is interrogated and beaten. If they run, military orders are ordered to shoot them, the former cadet said. No one is spared this treatment, including women and children.
"The youngest one I saw was around 10 or 11 years old, a boy," he said.
"If someone talks back to us, we will hit them with the back of the gun -- and some bleed. I feel sad every night as I have to watch when they are beating people in the house, including children, and I couldn't say anything to them. I feel sad every night."
The former cadet also described what many family members and activists have reported -- that injured protesters are being denied medical care while in custody. Some pass away in detention from their wounds, left to die with no aid to ease their suffering.
"When people got shot and got arrested they didn't get any treatment. Some were still alive when they got shot but because they didn't get any treatment, they died in the morning because they lost too much blood. Then the military gave the dead body back to the family," he said.
The former cadet said that at the military barracks, soldiers are not allowed to leave the base and are only allowed to watch the military TV channel.
"They brainwash us by telling us that it's only because of the Tatmadaw's existence the country is peaceful. They told us the ethnic armed groups are smuggling drugs and trafficking people and that is why the Tatmadaw has to fight them. If the Tatmadaw do not exit, the civilians will not be able to live peacefully anymore," he said.
Previous atrocities perpetuated by the military have shown the indoctrination to be nationwide and decades old. Human rights abuses by the military, including beatings, torture, extrajudicial killings, forced labor and sexual violence, have been long documented by the UN and rights groups in ethnic areas such as Kachin and Karen states.
In 2017, the military's campaign of killing and arson against the Rohingya community in Rakhine state forced more than 740,000 people to flee to neighboring Bangladesh. A genocide case against the military and coup leader Min Aung Hlaing is ongoing at the International Court of Justice.
Now, the military has brought its ruthless war tactics from the jungles and borderlands to the towns and cities. Soldiers, like the young former cadet, are turning their guns on people who could be their neighbors.
The former cadet said it was the cruelty to the families of the protesters that finally broke him, so he decided to escape and made the long journey from Yangon to the Indian border.
"I have to go out every night and I don't want to do this anymore, I cannot keep seeing people got beaten every night," he said.
"They will kill anyone they want kill, that's what I know of them."..."
Source/publisher:
"CNN" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-28
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, Discrimination/violence against women: reports of violations in Burma, Women's rights
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"The coup is not the answer (Khine, from the field): On the 1st February 2021, my aunt woke me at 6am. She told me, “Min Aung Hlaing is conducting another military coup.” I woke up immediately, confused. “Is this a nightmare or is it really happening?”, I thought to myself, shocked by the news.
I have been facing down Myanmar’s military junta since I was in my mother’s womb in 1988. Born in 1989, I am now 32 years old, the same age as my parents during the 1988 uprising. But our battle for democracy and human rights goes on.
My first response to the emergency was to go out and buy essentials: rice, oil, a torch, a radio, candles, and batteries. From past experience, we knew exactly what we would face under military rule. When I finished, I felt blank. I struggled hard to focus on staying calm and coming to terms with the situation. I knew that if I could achieve this fundamental step, I would be equipped to focus on what to do next.
The voice of the people is a fundamental element within a democratic political system. As an independent researcher in spatial design and participatory place-making, I believe in listening to people’s voices. I understand that compassionate listening is a priority in every project; it is the best way to find comprehensive solutions for a better living environment. Inspired by this approach, I decided to express my voice as an individual citizen through writing. On the 3rd day of the coup, I decided to write, to make my voice heard as a citizen.
On the 28th day of the coup, I finished this draft and handed it over to my co-authors overseas. I felt relieved and satisfied with what I had accomplished. I saw it as the first strike in a long battle.
However, later the same day, my optimism disintegrated. News reached me that my father had been detained due to his involvement in the uprising. I felt as though the sky had fallen on me. He has now been detained in prison for more than a month without charge, in violation of his human rights. At his first trial, on 8 April, they did nothing but postpone the trial for another date.
My involvement in the uprising against the military coup began when I was just a fetus in 1988. Now, at 32, I am the same age as my parents during the 1988 uprising. Now, father and daughter fight side by side.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), as of 23rd April 2021, there are already 745 people killed (more than 40 are underage), 3371 people detained (like my father, thousands are still awaiting trial, and are being abused in the meantime) and more than 1118 arrest warrants (under 505-a) for speaking out against the coup. The figures are still increasing, and there are ongoing deadly attacks and arrests against unarmed civilians. Those events are obvious proof of how our battle for democracy and human rights remains unfinished. Like us, many other fathers and daughters, mothers and sons are now working to resist the military’s deadly crimes against humanity.
As Ermonela Jaho, the Albanian-born soprano, said in her interview for Global Woman Diva Program, “live every day to the fullest and you have already made the future a reality.” We are struggling for our right to live every day to the fullest. Under a dictatorship, there is no room for people to create their own destiny. I owe it to myself to design my life and live fully. For that reason, I cannot accept living in a dictatorship.
This time, I believe we will win because we must.....How We Have been Suffering: Perpetrating an unjust military coup in the middle of global pandemic clearly demonstrates that the power-starved military in Myanmar has no empathy for civilians. We have been suffering a combined health, economic and social crisis resulting from Covid-19 for over a year. We are awaiting the arrival of the vaccines and preparing for Myanmar’s recovery. Even so, with whatever strength we have left, the people are non-violently resisting the coup-makers in spite of our fear of Covid-19 and the deadly attacks against us.
Myanmar society has suffered the trauma of living of under an oppressive regime for more than 50 years. We are all tired of being attacked by those who act against morality and humanity. The putschists will never stop on their own! Now, it is the civilians’ duty to stop them.
Though we know we will win this battle, Myanmar still risks facing further political, economic, and social crises. With each subsequent crisis, recovery becomes harder than ever.
The following are the major political and socio-cultural issues impacted by this selfish and egotistical act on the part of the military in Myanmar.
(1) Changing the Constitution
This coup poses a major threat to the reform of the 2008 Constitution.
To accelerate the peace process and ensure federal democracy in Myanmar, the 2008 Constitution has to change. This constitution was drafted by the dictators and designed to safeguard the interests of the former authoritarian regime.
To allow room for justice, fairness, inclusion and respect, the values of diverse civilians from all ethnic groups should be reflected in the constitution of Myanmar. But, in reality, the views of civilians were ignored and the 2008 Constitution does not represent the will of the civilians.
Under the dictatorship governance, the citizens’ voices will be silenced even further.
Recently, on 31 March, the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) declared the abolition of the 2008 Constitution. This is the first step towards federal democratic state-building. Despite the challenges facing us, this is a ray of hope among the ruins.....(2) Freedom of Expression and Democratic Knowledge:Our experience clearly reminds us that there is no room for democracy in a land governed by a dictatorial regime.
We grew up without being educated about how to claim our rights. We were not taught tactics to identify what we really want as a society, what we want to change and how to make changes as a collective.
Military rule has failed to provide us with tools for (a) developing self-awareness, the ability to question and search for one’s true self; (b) knowing and valuing one’s own existence, and knowing how to respect others; (c) building self-confidence; (d) developing critical thinking skills that account for different perspectives; (e) building understanding and trust; (f) knowing how to conduct constructive arguments and knowing how to share, communicate, collaborate and commit to engaging with one another, in order to transform our thoughts into actions.
Without these key tools for self-searching, expression, communication and collaboration, we could not fully develop our self-awareness, self-esteem, and self-management. We became weak and were easily manipulated and brainwashed. The dictators conditioned us to have a “fear of expression” rather than “freedom of expression”.
We learned that the right way to live in Myanmar is to follow and obey our parents, our teachers, our elders, our religious leaders, and our government. Asking questions, arguing, or refusing to do as we are told is considered rude, even evil. The elders used to say, “We are older than you, we have lived longer than you and so we know you better than you know yourself. It is better that we manage your life than you manage your own.”
The prevalence of this type of thinking shows how the junta has shaped our psychology, since our elder’s time. Military rule has transformed our independence so much that conservative behaviors became the norm. What started with the junta using fear to oppress, nowadays operates as a kind of conservatism that claims to protect ‘culture.’ In reality, this ‘culture’ controls even our slightest social freedoms.
During the last five years, our dreams started to come true: we acquired much greater freedom of expression and the opportunity to put our thoughts and desires into action. However, rather than reconstructing the country, our time was wasted fixing problems caused by failures of understanding, communication and collaboration. Without the key tools mentioned above, we failed to see things from different perspectives, and we tended to express prejudices in a very subjective way.
Ego also plays too much of a role in the way that our people act and overwhelms our ability to communicate and collaborate. We believe that this egocentrism, a lack of openness to understanding, and an unwillingness to build trust are the root of the conflicts happening in Myanmar. Expressions from egocentric points of views provoke unconstructive hate speech and inhibit the potential to develop just and balanced solutions, such as can be seen in the Rohingya crisis and any other conflicts amongst the different ethnic groups in Myanmar. Our ingrained “fear of expression” caused us to underestimate the value of diversity.
We understand that five years is not enough to build a seamless democratic country, but ceasing conflict and instead making efforts to collaborate would greatly increase the speed at which we can see a difference. To acquire true democracy in Myanmar, we cannot rely solely on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi; we should look to ourselves too. If we do not have the societal and interpersonal habits required for a constructive dialogue, we will never see the beneficial outcomes brought about by democracy. Participatory democratic practices must be performed with urgency in reconstructing a Myanmar adapted to our personal and societal needs of today’s world. To make this a reality, Myanmar needs to cultivate democratic knowledge and practices.
Our battle for freedom and democracy is not yet won. We are only just beginning to realise the problems we have to tackle. But, again, today, the democratic transformation of Myanmar is being undermined by the unthoughtful, unjust, and disloyal act of the military coup.....(3) The Right to a Better Living Environment: Jane Jacobs writes that “cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.”1
Indeed, it is only through people’s participation that we are able to develop better places for people, that respond to the problems and needs of each neighborhood. No outsider knows better than the local community.
Are government officers, mayors, and general administrators ready to set up the democratic governance necessary to manage cities, districts and townships with a participatory approach, working with the inhabitants and place-makers as stakeholders?
Myanmar is not yet in a position to give a satisfactory answer for this question. Even under the civilian democratic regime, Myanmar still needed to cultivate democratic knowledge and practices to ensure the participatory governance. However, the Myanmar Sustainable Development Goals include achieving the right to a safe and better living environment. Myanmar was figuring out the most comprehensive methods to bring more people into the process of creating people-led urban governance and development strategies.
The right to the city can be fulfilled only by means of democratic city governance that gives more space to people to participate. The dictators do not believe in participatory democratic governance. Thus, under the dictatorship, our dream for safe and better living environments for the well-being of the people will remain out of reach.....How We Fight for our Freedom: “Sing loud. You shall hear other ears hearing.
Look high. You shall see other eyes looking.
Beat loud. You shall know that other blood is pulsing.”
–Rafael Alberti (Spanish Poet)2
We are making our voices heard through our uprising. We hold hands firmly and are working together to end the dictatorship and fulfill our own destiny.
We create a battle symphony with the sound of pots and pans!
We raise our three-fingered salute!
We march!
We stage creative uprisings through various forms of collaborative performance!
We help each other and show global solidarity!
We support the Civil Disobedience Movement!
Driven by our strong determination, we remain resilient against the deadly attacks.
There is a hidden gem in this battlefield that we can take advantage of to turn everything around. It will help us not only to defeat the military, but also achieve the federal democracy we dream of. It will determine the end result – who will pay and who will gain.
This key is the “synergy” born out of trust and cooperation between our diverse civilians
across the country, pro-democratic political parties and activists, the CRPH (The Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw), the EAOs (The Ethnic Armed Organizations) and pro-democratic supporters across the world. The coup-makers underestimate the power, resilience, and intelligence of the people.
In addition, the coup shows who our real friends, enemies and frenemies are. Because of this coup, we have begun to question the presence of China in Myanmar. Discussions about China’s purported support for the military makes us mistrust the country.
In order to achieve our collective dream for a functioning federal democracy, we first need to defeat the current military coup, then end ongoing attempts to reestablish a dictatorship. In the place of the existing military, we demand a trustworthy, faithful and responsible federal defense force in Myanmar.
Victory in this battle means a lot for civilians; not only the failure of the coup and the end of the dictatorship regime, but to end, once and for all, attempts to interrupt the process of building a federal democratic state.
We have only one another – our solidarity is our only weapon. We will never give up our rights to live freely and fully.
(Featured image courtesy of Phyo)
Khine (pseudonym) is a designer living in Yangon. She is passionate about exploring artistic ways of expressions and communications. Her focus is to take part in projects developing intercultural understanding and communication through design and artistic creations.
Nway Oo (pseudonym) is a researcher in Language Sciences based in Europe.
Peter (pseudonym) is an architect and film maker. He has led research, academic and curation activities in Alger, Addis Ababa, Istanbul, Yangon and Paris..."
Source/publisher:
"Tea Circle" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-28
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"As of 26 April, (753) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) compiled and documented (2) fallen heroes today. These (2) fallen heroes from Kawthaung Town in Tanintharyi Region and Insein 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 April 26, a total of (3441) people are currently under detention; of them (79) are sentenced. 1179 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
Today marked 85 days since the attempted coup and over 700 civilians, including women and children, have been killed, and many injured. The number of detentions similarly escalates, it is equally worrying that the accurate condition of detainees is unknown. Protests in defence of democracy continued to erupt across the country.
On April 25, six civilians were beaten and arrested in Mindat Town, Chin State. In response to this, there was a clash between junta forces and civilians, some were killed and injured.
Terrorists have been brutally repressing women and now reportedly oppressing the LGBTIQ communities. On the night of April 24, Yangon Region, in Mingalar Taungnyunt Township, a transgender women was reportedly beaten during her arrest. They were forcing her to wear a Longyi (male dress) whilst mocking her at the same time, AAPP is awaiting confirmation on further details. One’s sexual orientation is their personal choice. Rights and everyone’s existence must be respected. We are worried that LGBTIQ will not only be discriminated but also treated worse compared to others during their arrests because of the barbarity committed by this terrorist group during the coup. We can expect further torture and repression.
The terrorist group has been viciously cracking down on local villages defending themselves, then forcing residents to flee their homes. Thousands of people from around 20 villages in Kani and Yinmabin Township, Sagaing Region have fled their homes due to the terrorist groups’ actions. Such as arbitrary arrests, detentions, and violent repression. Junta forces were also stationed at monasteries, schools, and villages. Villagers were forced to flee their homes and villages because the military entered the local villages and started arresting, beating, and killing. Some of the villagers who were already sick died while running away from the military.
Burma will be in an even more critical situation if effective action is not taken to combat the crisis. The terrorist group has oppressed people across the country in order to maintain its power. Peace will remain elusive without democracy. There must be a focus on defeating dictatorship in Burma.
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:
“Our uprising must succeed”
Email : [email protected]
Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma
In Solidarity,
AAPP..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-27
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"As of 25 April, (751) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) compiled and documented (3) fallen heroes today. These (3) fallen heroes from Mandalay City in Mandalay Region, Yesagyo Town in Magwe Region 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 April 25, a total of (3431) people are currently under detention; of them (79) are sentenced. 1159 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
Today, people across Burma continue to protest against the dictatorship in different ways despite intense repression. The ASEAN leaders meeting vaguely asked for an “immediate end to the violence” – it was an unclear and general statement. During the meeting there were discussions and requests, some stern, but the statement does not include what the civilians are asking for – respect for their basic human rights, democracy and peace , neglected in the statement. People in Burma are not asking for humanitarian aid, but for the international community to stand for the truth. The statement does not deter terrorist atrocities against unarmed civilians on a daily basis with both combat zone weaponry.
Yesterday after the ASEAN leaders meeting finished, even on that same day, the terrorist group violated the dignity of civilians including women. Human rights abuses committed openly in public. The statement did not stop the violence against innocents.
Last night in Mayangone Township, Yangon, people ‘banging pots and pans were arrested. They were made to play drums on the streets and the women forced to dance whilst the junta forces openly mocked them. If they stopped playing or dancing they were beaten. The junta troops also threw stones at houses who protested by making noise with pots and metal boxes.
After this, young men were detained and tortured on the road. Assaulting women with weapons who expressed outrage over the immodesty of the public ridicule – the junta treats people like enemies, committing crimes without any restraint. Yesterday in Karen State, at Three Pagoda town, a junta car crashed into motorcycle protesters and they were shot at 6 times. Five protesters were later arrested in a car crash and one woman was seriously injured.
In Thapyay Aye village, Yinmarbin Township, Sagaing Region the junta came to crackdown the monastery and arrest the head monk. After this they destroyed one building and they seized 20 laptops from the monastery. The terrorist group troops openly loot, but it is being resisted. In order to stay in power, the junta is creating internal unrest. On the evening of April 24, Sagaing Region, in Myaung Township, a woman was arrested and died minutes later from illness, yet it is the detention of innocent civilians which is having these consequences.
Civilians are already suffering on a daily basis through the atrocities of this junta. Compromise or negotiation with the terrorists will not be possible. Compromise will be used to prolong junta rule. Action which does not allow the terrorist to continue committing atrocities must be sought so that innocent civilians suffer no more.
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:
“Our uprising must succeed”
Email : [email protected]
Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma
In Solidarity,
AAPP..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-27
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
A letter from a jail cell: Dear Father,
the River, whose stomach
was cut open,
has declared war
on our tiny house on the bank, hasn’t she?
Right in front of the house
you must be looking out for someone
who will help you with
embankment poles
to straighten the river,
to fill her holes with
sandbags.
In the murky water,
which rises like a bamboo lance,
you must be gazing at
the sesame plantation —
laden with fruits
ready for harvest.
You must be thinking
a fistful of rice in your mouth
is about to be fingered out.
Maybe you will find solace
in religion, contemplating
our five foes.
Maybe you will
think of the void
a son’s labour can fill.
One son, two daughters and one son;
The eldest is a poet in prison,
the first daughter, a school teacher,
the second, a graduate in the kitchen,
the youngest, a student.
Your poet son,
is he even employable
as the dah you use to clear weed?
Forgive nothing, Father.
Nothing!
“Son, Pho Chan,
why do I hear noises behind you?”,
you asked on the phone.
“I am at the bus stop
to post a manuscript to a journal,” I lied.
From your liar son in the dock
to thugs who sweeten you
with the tips of their tongues,
“To our benefactor peasants … ”,
because they want to have you from behind,
hate them all, Father.
Hate them all.
A thief is
unarmed.
A thug is
armed to the teeth.
If thieves are ungovernable,
if thugs are ungovernable,
what’s the point of government?
Whatever happens to the jungles
whatever happens to the mountains
whatever happens to the rivers
they don’t care.
They love the country
just the way they love to grate a coconut,
from inside out,
for coconut milk.
Plinth by plinth, to make their throne taller,
they will point their guns at the urna
on the Lord Buddha’s forehead.
Their class is that crass.
To cuss at that class
if your religion forbids you
allow me to lose that religion.
I will turn the air blue
on your behalf.
Maybe you don’t know yet.
your son was
set up
for demanding the so-called police
not to harm ordinary citizens.
Someday
your son, who is not a thief
nor a thug
will become employable,
good as your dah that clears weed.
For now, Father,
keep gazing at the plantation
you’d ploughed with your naked shoulders.
Keep singing
the anthem of
The Peasant Union.
Yours ever,
K Za Win
Cell 1, Section 10
Thayawaddy Prison.....
"Poet name – K Za Win (1982–2021)
Birth name – Chan Thar Sway
K Za Win was born from a peasant family, in Letpadaung village, Sarlingyi township, Sagaing region. His father’s name is U Kyaw Swe and his mother’s name is Daw Win May. He is the eldest son with three other siblings. He started to write poems from the
age of 16. In 2004, his poems were published in magazines such as Thaung Paung Htway Lar Comedy magazine with the poem titled ‘The End’, and in First Eleven Sports Journal. From 2009-2010, he continued to compose poems and political essays under
different pseudonyms. He produced his own collection of poems with the title ‘Reply letter to Ramón’. In 2015, as he was about to leave for Japan as a migrant agricultural worker to build a new life with his fiancé, he was arrested in Letpadaung for supporting
the democratic education movement led by the students, and was jailed in Tharyarwaddy prison. After he was released, he lived in Monywa and worked as a volunteer Myanmar language teacher. He was an active member of the West-North Plains Poet group as
well as the All Burma Youth Poet Union. He never failed to meet his student union comrades who were being detained in prisons. He contributed to political mobilizations as much as he could. Since the Spring Revolution began, he has shown immense bravery
by taking part in Monywa protests, and lost his life as the demonstrations faced a violent crackdown from the military on March 3rd 2021..."
Source/publisher:
The Journal of Peasant Studies via Routledge (London)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-27
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"At least 109 attacks and threats against health workers, facilities, and transports have reportedly been perpetrated in Myanmar from February 11 to April 12, 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 attacks are uniformly reported to have been committed by the country’s armed forces and police 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.
Within the 109 total incidents that took place across Myanmar between February 11 and April 12, Insecurity Insight, PHR, and CPHHR highlight reports of:
97 health workers arrested
32 health workers injured
10 health workers killed
Hospitals raided at least 49 times
Hospitals occupied at least 36 times
The incidents referred to are based on the dataset 11 February – 12 April 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.
In another reported incident on April 5 in Saunchaung township in Yangon, four medical staff were arrested when a charity clinic was raided by soldiers and police. In one reported incident on March 9 in Heho town, Shan state, soldiers occupied the Heho General Hospital. Local residents protested the occupation, resulting in the arrest of 36 people. The detained individuals were sent to Taunggyi Prison.
“The Myanmar military’s persecution of health workers is taking many horrifying forms: ambulances shot at, clinics taken over by armed forces, medics killed,” said Jennifer Leigh, an epidemiologist serving as PHR’s Myanmar researcher. “By attacking the health system, the junta is terrorizing the population and cutting off access to life-saving care in the middle of a pandemic.These are gross violations of human rights, and threats against long-standing international principles of protection of health care, including the obligations of health professionals to care for the sick and wounded without interference.”
“Attacks on health care are a global phenomenon, experienced in many conflict settings but also fueled by the pandemic,” said Christina Wille, managing director of Insecurity Insight. “Tragically, Myanmar has emerged as a major hotspot for violence against health care, as the military brazenly assaults health workers and attempts to control the country’s health infrastructure.”
The research brief highlights reported incidents of violence against health workers, facilities, and transport in Myanmar between February 11 and April 12, 2021. It does not include information on violence against patients.
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 United Nations (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.
Earlier this month, PHR and 20 other organizations sent an open letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, urging the Biden administration to take immediate additional actions to address the public health and human rights crisis in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
Physicians for Human Rights (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-26
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Health Workers Strike, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Public Health
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"Myanmar's front-line medical workers are finding themselves in a precarious position, torn between their patients and working for a military government enforcing a brutal crackdown on the country.
Moe* is 53 years old and has stage three breast cancer.
She used to go for radiotherapy treatment every three weeks at the state-run Mandalay General Hospital in northern Myanmar.
But the day after the military deposed Myanmar's elected government in a coup on 1 February, the hospital closed its doors. Doctors, nurses and other medical workers all walked out in protest and have not returned.
Now Moe cannot afford the roughly $700 (£502) she would need to complete her remaining cycles of treatment at a private hospital.
Without it, she believes she has around a year to live.
Nevertheless, she does not blame the doctors: "It's the fault of the military," she told the BBC.
"Even if I die with cancer, I can accept it. The rest of the people in Myanmar deserve democracy.".....'Near collapse': Myanmar's healthcare system has been one of the worst-affected sectors in the aftermath of a coup on 1 February which saw the military seize control of the country, sparking widespread protests.
Thousands of doctors have joined the country's civil disobedience movement which has seen public employees and other state officials refusing to work under the new military regime.
Myanmar coup: What is happening and why?
The TikTok loving teen and others killed in Myanmar
Myanmar's public healthcare system accounts for around 80% of all hospitals and clinics and provides heavily subsidised care to the country's 54 million people.
This virtually vanished overnight - and in the midst of a global pandemic.
"It's a grim situation," says Dr Mitchell Sangma, who is on the ground for humanitarian organisation Medicins San Frontiers (MSF) in Myanmar's main city Yangon. "The public health system is near collapse."
But doctors feel they have little choice.
"For as long as the military junta stays in power I will not return to work," says Kyi Kyi* a doctor in Mandalay who has been on strike for nearly three months.
"I do not want to recognise their authority in any way."
For the first few weeks after the coup, Kyi Kyi offered free consultations at private sector hospitals.
But she quickly realised this was too dangerous: "We started seeing soldiers stationed around the hospitals, waiting for us to arrive."..."
Source/publisher:
BBC News (London)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-26
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Health Workers Strike, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Public Health, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Summary:
"Protests continue despite a death toll of over 700. Resumption of widespread ethnic separatist violence sees thousands held at Thai border. Increased tensions with China and India.
This document...
Description:
"Protests continue despite a death toll of over 700. Resumption of widespread ethnic separatist violence sees thousands held at Thai border. Increased tensions with China and India.
This document provides an analysis of the current situation in Myanmar and the implications for aid agencies working in the area. Watch the Vigil InSight video.
SUMMARY
International focus remains on the continued protests against the military coup, which are becoming increasingly violent.
A significant increase in violence has been seen, linked to the country’s various ethnic separatist insurgencies, particularly along the Thai and Chinese borders.
This has led to rising numbers of displaced persons and pushbacks of them by Thai authorities though India is now letting them through.
Chinese troops have been deployed to the border, likely to secure gas supplies..."
Source/publisher:
Insecurity Insight via "Reliefweb" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-26
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Health Workers Strike, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, National Unity Government (NUG), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Sub-title:
ASEAN leaders called on the Myanmar junta to end violence against citizens. At the Jakarta summit, the regional group agreed to appoint an envoy to tackle the deadly crisis.
Description:
"Myanmar's neighbors will appoint a special envoy to try to resolve the political crisis sparked by the military coup in the country, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Saturday.
The ASEAN regional grouping agreed on the move during crisis talks in Jakarta, attended by leaders from the 10 Southeast Asian member states.
ASEAN to send a delegation to Myanmar
Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing made his first trip abroad since the coup on February 1 to take part in the talks. He did not make a formal statement. However, the organization said it had reached a consensus on sending a delegation and the envoy to Myanmar.
"The first requested commitment is for the Myanmar military to stop the use of violence and that all parties there at the same time must refrain so that tensions will be reduced," Widodo said. "The violence must be stopped and democracy, stability and peace in Myanmar must be restored."
"An inclusive dialogue process must be started. Political prisoners must be released immediately," he said, adding that a special envoy from ASEAN needed to be appointed to push for such dialogue.
Widodo also said Myanmar's military must open access to humanitarian aid.
Malaysia leader hails progress 'beyond our expectation'
Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said Myanmar accepted the proposal to stop violence against civilians, according to state news agency Bernama. He called the meeting a success: "We have succeeded. It's beyond our expectation in getting the outcome from today's meeting."
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called on Myanmar to allow an ASEAN delegation and the United Nations special envoy to visit the country, in comments carried by Channel NewsAsia.
The junta has launched a bloody crackdown on protests which has left more than 700 people dead. The United Nations estimates that about 250,000 people have been displaced..."
Source/publisher:
"DW News" (Germany)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
ASEAN-Burma relations, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Burma/Myanmar's Foreign relations, general
Language:
Local URL:
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Description:
"The terrorist leader attended the ASEAN leaders meeting today, claiming legitimacy to the international community whilst killing and injuring peaceful protestors and innocent civilians. The release of political prisoners was not included on ASEAN ‘five points of consensus’ released late evening. All of the arbitrarily detained must be released. At least 1 activist was killed on the day of this meeting, and violations have been systematically perpetrated this past week. If the illegal military does not stop terrorizing its people, then what will ASEAN do.
As of 24 April, (748) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) compiled and documented (3) fallen heroes today. (1) from Pyinmana in Naypyitaw died on 24 April. (2) from Loikaw Town in Kayah State and Pyay Town in Bago 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 April 24, a total of (3389) people are currently under detention; of them (79) are sentenced. 1138 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
In Naypyidaw today, a young man was killed during a motorcycle demonstration in Pyinmana Township. This morning in Mandalay, plainclothes terrorists were seen using motorbikes looted from civilians to chase after and shoot protestors, a young man was shot in the abdomen.
Also in Mandalay, a young man who set fire to tires was shot in the head and dragged into a car when he could not move. In Dala, Yangon Region, some police and military vehicles chased away youths participating in a motorcycle demonstration.
On 23 April night, in Thaton Town, Mon State. Two men were shot dead for no reason. Yesterday afternoon, in Thapye Aye village close to Myingyan Town, Mandalay Region, the junta went looking to arrest and shoot people, five villagers were injured and one is in critical condition. In Htigyaing Town, Sagaing Region, yesterday afternoon an anti-military activist was arrested and there was a clash between civilians and the junta, two women were injured in the clash.
Persecution is a pattern of this terrorist group, civilians are persecuted daily, in various ways. On 22 April, in Pyay Town, Bago Region, three youths were arrested, the terrorist group returned the dead body of one with wounds across the body consistent with torture. Civilians are being made into an enemy in detention, increasing numbers killed day after day. The right to security and liberty have disappeared under this junta. The terrorists care only about their interests and power.
So-called police and soldiers take property from civilians like bandits. On the night of April 22, in Mogok, Mandalay Region, junta forces looted 7 million kyat and threatened the neighborhood that whoever posted the case on social media would get shot. On the evening of April 23, they entered a household goods store (which sold fire extinguishers and equipment), in Mandalay and looted.
The post-coup period is getting long, the terrorist group is robbing, destroying property, killings are only intensifying. All sectors of the economy have begun to collapse in response to the political deterioration. People continue to call for meaningful action against the terrorist group, but are still being ignored. The situation for ordinary people is worse than ever.
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:
“Our uprising must succeed”
Email : [email protected]
Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma
In Solidarity,
AAPP..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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910.04 KB 921.59 KB 3.27 MB
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Sub-title:
The world’s action – or inaction – will have an impact far beyond Myanmar’s own borders.
Description:
"With Myanmar’s post-coup crisis dragging into its third month, security forces commanded by the coup leader Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing show no sign of abating in their brutal suppression of the anti-coup protests that have erupted across the country since early February. Despite their massive numbers, protestors have been highly disciplined and peaceful. It was only after the security forces began using excessive and lethal force that a small pocket of them resorted to handmade weapons such as Molotov cocktails and outdated hunting guns to defend themselves, with many more realizing that armed resistance was their only remaining option.
If the security forces have shown troublingly little respect for international norms in their treatment of civilians and activists, no less troubling has been the response from the international community in the face of what is fast becoming a “bloodbath,” in the words of Christine Schraner Burgener, the United Nations special envoy to Myanmar. In other words, although the people of Myanmar are the ones at the receiving end of all these atrocity crimes, the fact that they are ongoing and the perpetrators remain undeterred points to a collective failure on the part of the international community to uphold the norms to which it has committed itself, and sends a very dangerous message to current and would-be strongmen. As many have now warned, with the ever-more-real possibility of the country being plunged into a full-fledged civil war, the kind worse than what we have seen in the past 70 years, time is fast running out for the international community to act.
The international community must wake up to the depth and extent of the reign of terror Min Aung Hlaing has unleashed in his ruthless attempt to crush opposition and assert his illegal and unconstitutional rule. His security forces have been given a free pass to kill unarmed civilians, to arrest and torture people at will, and to loot and destroy private property.
According to the monitoring organization the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), as of April 21, the junta’s security forces had killed at least 739 civilians, some murdered in the most horrific manner. Among those killed are 50 children; the latest victim was a 7-year-old girl, who was shot dead at her home in Mandalay. As reported by the investigative journal Myanmar Now, there have been several documented cases in which an activist arrested overnight has turned up dead the next morning. In yet another but definitely not isolated incident, an armed police officer made a passer-by crawl on his hands and knees in a disturbingly dehumanizing manner.
So far, at least 3,331 people, including State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint and other elected MPs, politicians, student leaders and human rights activists, remain under detention, some in undisclosed locations. On March 27 alone, at least 114 civilians in 44 towns across the country were killed by the junta. Junta forces have gone so far as exhuming and dragging away bodies. On March 28, they burned a man alive.
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Before the coup, U.N. investigators had found a genocidal intent in the crimes committed against the Rohingya people by the security forces commanded by the same general Min Aung Hlaing. During their so-called “clearance operations” in August 2017, at least 6,700 were killed, mass rapes and arson were committed, and more than 700,000 people were forced to flee to Bangladesh.
Furthermore, the U.N. Fact Finding Mission reported in September 2018 that the military has likely committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Kachin, Shan, and Rakhine states, and in April 2020, the U.N. Special Rapporteur reported that “possible war crimes and crimes against humanity were ongoing in Rakhine and Chin States.” Myanmar is today facing charges of genocide for the violence at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands.
Due to ongoing aerial bombing and offensives targeting civilians and their facilities across the country, thousands of Karen people are fleeing to neighboring Thailand, where there has arisen an urgent humanitarian situation.
All this is to say that Min Aung Hlaing and his State Administration Council (SAC) are fast turning Myanmar into a “human rights ground zero.” From mass murder to torture to arbitrary arrests to killing children to shooting at medics providing emergency care to the wounded, almost every article in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is being violated or is under threat. In the borderland areas where ethnic armies have been fighting for their right to self-determination for the past 70 years, aerial bombings by his forces are deliberately targeting civilian populations and facilities, adding to the war crimes and crimes against humanity against minority peoples, and the genocide or ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya people that the military has already committed.
For those foreign states claiming that they have a policy of working with only “states” as opposed to “governments” – if they mean by any chance that the SAC is the state in question – they must get their facts right. The SAC cannot even fulfil its basic duty as a state, namely, to provide security to its people. Nor can it provide basic services like healthcare with many civil servants having joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) to protest the military’s illegal, illegitimate, and increasingly bloody coup.
So far as Ming Aung Hlaing’s coup regime is recognized as Myanmar’s de facto or de jure government, it must also be recognized that it is actively committing mass atrocities against its own population. Therefore, for foreign nations to recognize the SAC as the “state” would make a mockery of their commitment to uphold human rights and international law, as the latter is showing absolutely no respect for these. On the other hand, the newly formed National Unity Government, which it is imperative for the international community to recognize as the legitimate government for no other reason than that it receives overwhelming support from the people, cannot yet protect the people.
Thus, the onus is now on the international community to protect the civilian population in Myanmar before the forces of SAC commit further atrocities against them, and sink the country deeper into chaos. What is lacking for urgent international intervention, whether in the form of R2P or otherwise, is not evidence on the ground but political will at the U.N. and in the capitals of the most powerful nations on earth.
As part of their “statement diplomacy,” foreign missions based in Myanmar have joined a chorus of other diplomatic voices in calling for restoration of democracy among other things in the country. With so much emphasis being put on restoration of what existed before the coup, it should be clear that what the pro-democratic forces inside Myanmar want is not a status quo ante in which the military enjoys a privileged role in politics without being accountable to the people or any elected body. Differently put, what we had pre-coup was a military dictatorship with some democratic characteristics. In the meantime, as another massacre in Bago in which junta’s forces have killed more than 80 protesters shows, Min Aung Hlaing is in no way backing down. Furthermore, letting the generals off the hook for the most atrocious crimes would make a farce of global justice, and more importantly, would utterly fail the people of Myanmar in their search for justice.
Meanwhile, the pro-democracy protesters remain as determined as ever to see the end of Min Aung Hlaing’s illegal and brutal reign. Many of those we have spoken to have told us that they are prepared to fight until the end using every means at their disposal. Sanctions, with their ineffectual record from the past, imposed by the U.S., U.K., and EU on the junta’s top generals and its economic complex are failing to deter them. As Min Aung Hlaing’s forces continue to commit mass murders and carry out summary arrests at the sites of urban protest and his bombs rain down on villages in the borderlands, friends of the Myanmar people might have to prepare themselves to contemplate more coercive measures, such as arming the resistance movement, including the ethnic armed organizations that are already in the fight. As the former U.S. ambassador to Myanmar Scot Marciel wrote recently on his Twitter account, “the Tatmadaw is beyond reason. I see no value in dialogue with them until and unless they recognize they cannot win and make clear they are looking for a way out.”
The people of Myanmar have shown their bravery, but will the rest of the world rise to the occasion? The clock is ticking..."
Source/publisher:
"The Diplomat" (Japan)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-25
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Individual Documents
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Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Human Rights and international relations, Arakan (Rakhine) State - reports etc. by date (latest first), Discrimination against the Rohingya, International Relations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Group seeks recognition as 'legitimate government'; ASEAN summit rumblings intensify
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"Myanmar's military on Feb. 1 detained State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint in the country's first coup since 1988, bringing an end to a decade of civilian rule.....The Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy had won a landslide in a general election in November. But the military has claimed the election was marred by fraud. For all our coverage, visit our Myanmar Coup page.
Read our in-depth coverage:
-- Myanmar junta taps Russian air power to bomb ethnic rebels
-- Failed state: Myanmar collapses into chaos
-- Myanmar junta efforts to restore calm 'unworkable': ex-Japan envoy
-- Myanmar junta reaps millions in gem sales as economy crumbles
-- Myanmar coup presses Japan to retreat from Abe-era business push
-- Taiwan takes tougher line against Myanmar regime
-- How Myanmar's post-coup violence is transforming a generation
-- Who is Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing? 5 things to know
-- Myanmar: Inside the coup that toppled Aung San Suu Kyi's government..."
Source/publisher:
"Nikkei Asian Review" (Japan)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-25
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Individual Documents
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Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Human Rights and international relations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, National Unity Government (NUG)
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"Southeast Asian leaders said they had agreed on a plan with Myanmar's junta chief on Saturday to end the crisis in the violence-hit nation, but he did not explicitly respond to demands to halt the killing of civilian protesters.
"It's beyond our expectation," Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin told reporters after the leaders' meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that was also attended by Myanmar's Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.
"We tried not to accuse his side too much because we don't care who's causing it," Muhyiddin added. "We just stressed that the violence must stop. For him, it's the other side that's causing the problems. But he agreed that violence must stop."
ASEAN leaders wanted a commitment from Min Aung Hlaing to restrain his security forces, which an activist monitoring group says have killed 745 people since a mass civil disobedience movement erupted to challenge his Feb. 1 coup. They also wanted the release of political prisoners.
"He did not reject what was put forward by me and many other colleagues," Muhyiddin said.
According to a statement from group chair Brunei, a consensus was reached on five points - ending violence, a constructive dialogue among all parties, a special ASEAN envoy to facilitate the dialogue, acceptance of aid and a visit by the envoy to Myanmar. The five-point consensus did not mention political prisoners, although the chairman's statement said the meeting "heard calls" for their release.
"He (Min Aung Hlaing) said he heard us, he would take the point in, which he considered helpful," Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told reporters.
"He was not opposed to ASEAN playing a constructive role, or an ASEAN delegation visit, or humanitarian assistance."
But Lee added the process had a long way to go, "because it is one thing to say you will cease violence and release political prisoners, it is another thing to get it done".
It was not clear why Lee referred to the release of political prisoners when this was not in the five consensus points.
There was no immediate comment from Min Aung Hlaing.
A regular nighttime news bulletin on the military-run Myawaddy TV reported his attendance of the meeting and said Myanmar would closely cooperate with ASEAN on various issues, including "the political transition in Myanmar, and the process that will be implemented in the future".
Charles Santiago, head of the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights group, called for the release of Myanmar's political prisoners and a timeline for an end to violence.
"ASEAN must now act swiftly and set a clear timeline for Min Aung Hlaing to deliver on ending the violence, or stand ready to hold him accountable," he said.
'RESTORE DEMOCRACY'
The ASEAN gathering was the first coordinated international effort to ease the crisis in Myanmar, an impoverished country that neighbours China, India and Thailand, since the coup that overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government. Myanmar is part of the 10-nation ASEAN, which has a policy of consensus decision-making and non-interference in the affairs of its members.
Myanmar's parallel National Unity Government (NUG), comprised of pro-democracy figures, remnants of Suu Kyi's ousted administration and representatives of armed ethnic groups, said it welcomed the consensus reached but said the junta had to be held to its promises.
"We look forward to firm action by ASEAN to follow up its decisions and to restore our democracy," said Dr. Sasa, spokesman for the NUG.
It was unusual for the leader of a military government in Myanmar to attend an ASEAN summit - usually the country has been represented by a lower-ranked officer or a civilian.
The leaders of Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Brunei were at the meeting, along with the foreign ministers of Laos, Thailand and the Philippines.
While ASEAN's non-interference policy makes it difficult to tackle contentious issues, the body is seen by the United Nations, China and the United States as best placed to deal with the junta directly.
"We in the [@UN] Security Council eagerly await the outcome of the @ASEAN meeting on Burma, which deserves serious and immediate attention," U.S Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield tweeted..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-25
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"Leaders of nine Southeast Asian countries on Saturday called for an immediate end to the violence in Myanmar, where the military government has cracked down violently on the enormous protests over its February coup.
At an emergency summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations held in Jakarta, Indonesia's president called the situation in Myanmar "unacceptable."
"The violence must be stopped and democracy, stability and peace in Myanmar must be restored," President Joko Widodo said.
Hundreds of thousands of pro-democracy protesters have demonstrated in the months since Myanmar's military seized full control of the country from the democratically elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi.
In response, the military has imposed Internet blackouts, arrested thousands and fired on protesters. At least 748 people have been killed and 3,389 are being detained, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a Burmese human rights group based in Thailand.
The official statement released Saturday by ASEAN leaders makes five demands of the military junta, including an "immediate cessation" of the violence and a peaceful solution to the situation via "constructive dialogue," mediated by a special envoy appointed by ASEAN. The leaders also demanded that Myanmar's military government allow the arrival of humanitarian assistance.
The military's leader, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who was in attendance, did not make a public statement. The summit was his first trip outside Myanmar since the coup.
The invitation of the general was criticized by opponents of the coup, including the new National Unity Government in Myanmar, formed earlier this month by pro-democracy politicians who have named the deposed democratic leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi, as their leaders.
The National Unity Government argued the general's invitation risked legitimizing the military coup and had called on Interpol to arrest General Min Aung Hlaing upon his arrival in Jakarta.
In a statement released after the summit, the group's spokesperson, Dr. Sasa, praised ASEAN's actions.
"We welcome the encouraging news that ASEAN leaders have reached consensus that the military violence in Myanmar must stop and political prisoners released," Sasa said. "... We look forward to firm action by ASEAN to follow up its decisions and restore our democracy and freedom for our people and our region."
ASEAN has traditionally defaulted to a more hands-off approach to the internal affairs of its 10 member nations. In the days after the coup in February, the bloc issued a statement urging a "return to normalcy" but stopped short of explicit condemnation.
But ahead of Saturday's summit, pro-democracy advocates and organizations urged ASEAN to take a stronger stand.
"This is not an internal matter for Myanmar but a major human rights and humanitarian crisis which is impacting the entire region and beyond," said Emerlynne Gil of Amnesty International ahead of Saturday's summit.
Myanmar's deposed ambassador to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, who drew international praise for denouncing the coup in a remarkable speech before the U.N. General Assembly in February, pleaded with ASEAN to prioritize civilians.
"Whatever the decision made by the leaders of the ASEAN, they should take into account the saving lives of innocent civilians in Myanmar and providing humanitarian assistance to the people in need," Kyaw Moe Tun said in an interview with Al-Jazeera ahead of Saturday's summit.
In Myanmar, protests have mostly quieted in recent weeks due to the crackdowns. According to The Associated Press, some 150 protesters gathered Friday in Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, but dispersed quickly when police arrived..."
Source/publisher:
National Public Radio (Washington, D.C.)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
ASEAN-Burma relations, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Anti-coup protesters, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Some 60 percent of protesters against the military coup are women who fear their hard-won rights hang in the balance.
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"Every day at sunrise, Daisy* and her sisters set out to spend several hours in the heat cleaning debris from the previous day’s protests off the streets of Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city.
Protests have erupted around the country since the military seized control of the government after arresting democratic leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, on February 1, and declared a year-long state of emergency.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), a non-profit rights organisation formed by former political prisoners from Myanmar and based in Thailand, 715 civilian protesters have been killed and more than 3,000 people have been charged, arrested or sentenced to prison for taking part in protests. March 27 marked the deadliest day of the anti-coup protests so far, with more than 100 deaths in a single day.
Daisy, a 29-year-old elementary school teacher, has been out of work since the first week of February, because schools have been closed as a result of the protests, but is the sole earner and carer for her two younger sisters, aged 15 and 13. Despite this, she spends a portion of whatever money she has left to help feed hungry protesters.
The military makes use of dalans – local people who are forced to spy on their neighbours and, in particular, to target women living alone whose homes are easy targets for looting and harassment. As a result, Daisy and her sisters have been forced to move home three times and are now in hiding with relatives.
“The military are preying on vulnerable women, breaking in and raiding where we live to seize our belongings and lock us up for no reason,” Daisy says.
But despite having little financial security, Daisy continues to help with the protests. “As women, we are the most at risk under the military but however large or small, our place is in the revolution.”.....Outrageous displays of ‘profanity’: Across Myanmar, women protesters have lined the streets with vibrant traditional women’s clothing and undergarments in the hope of challenging a long-held taboo around women’s clothing.
“Htaimein – Burmese for sarongs and intimate women’s wear – are perceived as ‘unclean’ in traditional Buddhist belief and thus considered inferior in Burmese society,” explains 25-year-old Su, an activist and university student who does not wish to give her full name for fear of reprisals. Su is originally from Dadaye, a town in the Ayeyarwady region of southwest Myanmar. “Coming into contact or walking under these is believed to bring bad luck, reducing one’s hpone – masculine superiority – in Buddhist belief.”
She says hanging up sarongs has been an effective deterrent to keep the military from attacking the protesters as their staunch beliefs will not allow them go anywhere near the orchestrated clothing lines.
Women are also using their sarongs to create flags and hats for men to parade alongside banners that read “our victory, our htaimein” to celebrate wielding a degrading superstition about women as a successful defence strategy.
In a similar vein, women have been hanging sanitary towels drenched in red paint to emulate blood over photos of the military general, Min Aung Llaing. “For a society where men, including Min Llaing, detest the idea of menstruation, smearing his face with what he finds the dirtiest is unimaginably humiliating,” Su explains. “Sarongs and sanitary napkins are symbolic of the women in Myanmar and how they are regarded as inferior to men in society.”
By weaponising these displays of “profanity”, women say they are reclaiming their status against the same patriarchal attitudes that perceive them as lesser in society.....Civil disobedience as a means of resistance: The Women’s League of Burma, an organisation which seeks to increase women’s participation in public life in Myanmar (which was formerly called Burma), estimates that 60 percent of those protesting are women, while the AAPP says women make up almost 40 percent of those arrested.
The Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) has brought the country’s public services, including healthcare, schools and banks, to a halt. It is also behind efforts to deprive the military of its income by boycotting military-owned services and products such as tobacco, alcohol, coffee and oil, and refusing to pay government taxes.
Chit*, a 26-year-old doctor-in-training from Yangon, has been part of a group of female medical volunteers tending to the wounded during the protests. She believes providing medical care to protesters is a duty for all doctors. She says she has heard of one female doctor who was shot by the military while trying to aid a patient. “As women, we are expected to stay in ‘safe’ areas of the protests but we know our place is wherever help is needed.”
Female lawyers and bankers have formed an informal group to offer legal and financial advice to civilians, especially those trying to flee the country. “We want to offer our services to those in general need of legal routes or financial advice. We know the public have been put in a compromising position given a pandemic then a coup so free verbal consultations, advice, and going through documents with them is an extension of our efforts against the military,” explains Min Thwaw, a private lawyer practising in the capital, Naypyidaw.
“Many white-collar workers have lost their jobs and those females workers continue to be threatened by authority figures but the military need us [the workers] more than we need them. Without us, the banking system will collapse soon and economic crisis will remain irreversible – a price we are willing to pay to cripple the military,” she adds.
Economic uncertainty caused by the military takeover is likely to have a negative effect on the country’s $6bn garment and footwear industry. As a result, thousands of garment workers, predominantly young women, have taken part in demonstrations, urging the multinational companies they work for to denounce the coup and protect workers from being fired or even killed for protesting.
While some Western brands have remained silent over the military takeover in Myanmar, The Benetton Group, H&M, Primark and Bestseller all suspended new orders from factories there until further notice, following pressure from within and outside Myanmar. Despite this, trade unions in Myanmar stress companies are not doing enough and are demanding more “concrete action” like documenting and addressing human rights abuses with their respective governments and committing to partial payments of orders.
Many garment workers have left their family homes for the safety of other family members in order to participate in the strikes. They include 27-year-old Jasmine (who did not wish to give her full name) and five of her colleagues. They live together in a 250-square-foot flat in Yangon, surviving on food donations from the wider community as well as community money handouts – funds raised by local and international supporters of the CDM to finance the movement from afar – a portion of which they need to send back to their home villages to support their families as well.
These young women march defiantly together in large human chains with arms interlocked. Jasmine says this is an effective tactic adopted by garment workers who are protesting to ensure the police do not separate them from each other. “They yank protesters away to break the chain then abuse those they capture in jail or publicly.”
On February 18, about 1,000 garment workers producing clothes for Primark were reportedly locked in GY Sen Apparel Company’s factory for taking part in the protests by supervisors who sympathised with the military.
Upon breaking free after several hours, many of them were fired. Jasmine also says that she and her colleagues have been intimidated with verbal abuse by factory owners, who confront the women physically, they say, and who have been trying to fire them for protesting. For now, Jasmine still has her job, although many of her colleagues have been laid off. “These are the challenges we are faced with on top of a coup; borderline starvation and no pay. We need the companies we work for to denounce these heinous acts, recognise what we are going through and protect us,” she says.
Since the women live together, they have been easy targets for the military and factory owners. During the day, the workers liaise with activists to gather information about locals collaborating with the military by providing details about people’s whereabouts and public gatherings. This way, they can find out about potential morning break-ins into workers’ homes and abductions by the military and police carrying out military orders. As the evening sets in, workers quietly gather in one house to make plans for the next day’s protests. The military blacks out the internet every night from 1am to 9am and has banned all social media to stop protesters from informing each other about arrests or possible military targets. It is meticulously tracking telecommunications. It also imposes a strict overnight curfew and deploys soldiers with orders to shoot on sight anyone who breaks it.
Jasmine and her friends have heard frightening rumours about people being shot or abducted if they are found to be breaking curfew. The women, therefore, move carefully on foot from one house to another in the dead of night to relay crucial information regarding potential break-ins, abductions and to make plans for protests.
“We cannot afford to risk brushing off anything heard through the grapevine as hearsay. Nobody is here to protect us but ourselves,” says Jasmine.....The LGBTQ community: The LGBTQ community has also participated in the protests, marching with rainbow flags. “We know they despise our identity so we offer them the highest form of indignation, standing united and proud in the skin we feel most comfortable [in],” says 30-year-old trans woman Diamond.
Diamond believes that the LGBTQ protests have encouraged more people to come out as gay or trans.
“People come up to join marches then disclose this is their first time being publicly trans or gay because it is an opportune time to be true to who they always have been.”
However, the LBGTQ protest efforts were cut short at the start of March when the military began a crackdown on the community by raiding homes and detaining members.
Out of fear of surveillance and arrests, Diamond and several of her friends from the transgender community have either fled the country or gone into hiding.
“As a trans woman, I want the future generation of Myanmar to know the LGBTQ community risked everything and stood valiant against the military,” she says.....Sexual violence as a military tactic: Protests against a male-dominated military that has no women at all in its senior ranks and very few (0.2 percent) in the rank and file, have come at a great cost to women. Activists say that military and police have manhandled, groped and sexually harassed female protesters.
“If you’re leading a large crowd, they will try to grope your breasts from behind to physically remove you or, at the very least, will try to unbutton your blouse with their baton,” says Daisy. “Women who have gone into custody have been subjected to unnecessarily prolonged strip and search, as well as groping.”
Sexual violence is nothing new in military operations in Myanmar. It has been used to crack down on the Rohingya Muslim population since 2017. Instances of gang rapes by soldiers, forced public nudity and humiliation, and sexual slavery in military captivity have been reported by the Rohingya population, according to investigations by the UN.
With violence against protesters escalating – and no sign of the protests stopping – Daisy says she fears the military will use mass rape tactics “as a last resort tool any moment now”.Nandar, a 26-year-old feminist activist from Shan State, claims Myanmar is culturally a deeply patriarchal society where the military sees itself as the “father” of the nation, assuming the “dominant and masculine role”.
“By nature of a patriarchal system, social hierarchies are formed through hyper-masculinity and deeply conservative views that consider women subservient,” she says.
The lack of women in the senior military ranks, she says, indicates the absence of women’s voices in the political sphere and further marginalises them, reinforcing stereotypes and transferring a woman’s importance in the political space to passive social roles instead.
Nandar, who does not wish to give her full name for fear of reprisals, says: “The progress feminism made [under democracy] allowed women to see the value of their participation in every sector, moving the country forward. But under a misogynistic military which renders women entirely invisible, we will enter a dark future. Democracy took us one step forward but returning to dictatorship is taking us five steps back.”
Despite all the odds, women have used their momentum to vocalise their opposition to patriarchal control and the lack of democratic freedom in the country. They have been the backbone of the protests and are promising not to back down..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Women's rights, Women and Politics in Burma/Myanmar, Burmese women's organisations, Articles, reports and sites relating to women of Burma, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Discrimination/violence against women: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Working class communities may have been among the hardest hit by the coup, but despite their struggles many remain determined to see the military overthrown.
Description:
"Among the wood, bamboo and tin homes that sprawl over several acres in one of Shwepyithar Township’s largest slums, Ko Kyaw Thu Htet begins to weep silently as he contemplates life under a military dictatorship.
“Many lives have been sacrificed, including innocent children,” he says. “The democracy that we want is very expensive – we have to sacrifice a lot to get it.”
Kyaw Thu Htet has seen this sacrifice first-hand. The 24-year-old bricklayer has been a regular member of frontline protest teams in the northern Yangon township since shortly after the coup, and on March 3 security forces shot and killed a man in his 30s standing near him.
The death occurred during a confrontation with police and soldiers outside Sein Gay Har shopping centre in Hlaing Township; Kyaw Thu Htet was one of 128 people arrested that day. Despite initially facing a charge of incitement under section 505(a) of the Penal Code, he was released on March 24, together with 97 others arrested three weeks earlier.
The arrest didn’t deter him. Shortly after returning home, Kyaw Thu Htet and his wife, a 24-year-old garment worker, immediately re-joined the protests, stopping only when it became impossible to evade the growing number of police and soldiers on the streets.
Kyaw Thu Htet has vowed not to return to work until the revolution succeeds. For now, he’s relying on his wife and his father, who is also a bricklayer, in order to eat. Life is much more difficult, but Kyaw Thu Htet said he would dedicate every waking hour of his remaining life to the protest movement.
“We just want to get democracy back. We hate the military dictator,” he told Frontier, referring to Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.
From Shwepyithar to Hlaing Tharyar, North Okkalapa to South Dagon, Yangon’s working-class neighbourhoods have been among the most resistant to military rule. Scores have been killed, with security forces deploying battlefield weapons to subdue street-level opposition. Since mid-March, these industrial townships have been under martial law, with a stricter curfew than elsewhere in the city and many criminal cases heard at military tribunals.
These townships have also been among the most affected by the economic fallout from the February 1 coup, which prompted the World Bank to last month downgrade its forecast for Myanmar’s economy in 2020-21 to a 10 percent contraction. Others are warning of a contraction as large as 20pc, and possible economic collapse.
Many households in these areas were already struggling due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, after the National League for Democracy government ordered two stringent lockdowns last year.
“With savings already drained, many poor households have been forced to reduce consumption to cope,” the World Bank warned. Combined with “existing welfare challenges”, the impact of the coup would “likely result in a sharp increase in poverty, heightened food security risks, and deeper destitution for those already poor”. Since mid-March, hundreds of thousands of migrant workers have left Yangon due to lack of work and security concerns, returning to rural areas where there are very few jobs and they are reliant on the support of relatives.
Much of this economic fallout has been self-imposed, in an effort to deny legitimacy and revenue to the junta. The Civil Disobedience Movement has shuttered banks and disrupted trade, while street protests have prompted many businesses to lock their doors. The closure of government facilities, particularly healthcare, has also disproportionately affected the poor.
Frontier spoke to a number of people living on the outskirts of Yangon, who before the coup typically worked in insecure, low-paid jobs. Despite the hardship they faced, they said their support for the revolution remained undiminished, and they lay the blame for the economic crisis squarely on the military for illegally toppling the NLD government.
Ma Hla Witt Yee, 25, lives with her husband and their four-year-old son in Nya ward of Shwepyithar.
They run a small business making pillows using leftovers from the township’s many factories. Hla Witt Yee said that even at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, sales were not as slow as they have been post-coup. Previously, they could bring in about K50,000 a day – about a third of which was profit – but that figure has dropped to K10,000 since February, the couple said.
Like other interviewees, Hla Witt Yee said her financial problems could only be resolved through a political solution to the country’s crisis – for her, that means the release of detained NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the end of military rule.
“We’re not just hoping for our business to recover,” she said. “No matter what happens, if the country remains under the military, our desire for democracy will not change.”
Hla Witt Yee’s cousin, Ma Thiri Mon, 24, also works in the pillow-making business in Shwepyithar. A single mother, she lives there with her brothers and now her parents, who moved in after the coup because of their own financial difficulties. Like her cousin, Thiri Mon is also facing economic disaster and had been unable to pay the interest on a debt owed to a moneylender since before the coup.
But Thiri Mon said she was more concerned about the impact military rule would have on her daughter and future generations.
“Our children’s education has already been delayed because of COVID-19,” she said, referring to the year-long closure of schools due to the pandemic. “I’m very concerned for my child’s future.”
She said children could only thrive in a democracy, where they have access to information and freedom of expression. “If not, they won’t be able to express what they believe,” she said.
Many have made sacrifices to contribute to the resistance. They include a 42-year-old woman, also from Shwepyithar, who requested anonymity due to fears for her safety.
A single mother and a businesswoman, before the coup she lived in a large, comfortable two-storey home. Shortly after the military takeover she got involved in the anti-coup movement, not only joining protests but also providing cash and in-kind support to demonstrators and striking workers.
She was arrested in Tarmwe Township on March 3 during a large-scale crackdown on protesters and sent to Insein Prison in northern Yangon. Since her release three weeks later, she has moved to a slum in Shwepyithar, where she has resolved to live and support grassroots communities until the revolution prevails.
“Do you know why I’m so determined? Only when we win will those arrested be able to go back home. Most of them are from the working class,” she said.
“Wealthier people are more afraid than grassroots workers … most of those who are really willing to make sacrifices for democracy are from the grassroots.”
Across the Hlaing River from Shwepyithar, the industrial suburb of Hlaing Tharyar has seen many of its factories close temporarily or permanently since the coup, due to lack of orders, raw materials or workers. Several Chinese-run and other foreign-owned factories were also set alight shortly after security forces massacred more than 50 people in the township in March.
About two-thirds of its residents, many of whom are first-generation migrants to Yangon, have since left for other parts of the country, according to labour rights groups and residents.
Those who remain face a struggle to survive.
Ma Thin Thin Aye, 35, a resident of Hlaing Tharyar’s 20 ward, gave birth to her third child a few days after the coup. A former leader of a local labour movement, she was unable to join the resistance because she was looking after her young daughter.
In November she left her job at a garment factory in Mingaladon Township to open a tailor shop at her home because she wanted to run her own business. Until February, she earned a healthy income of about K300,000 per month sewing dresses, but now brings in just K50,000. Her husband, a construction worker earning a daily wage, has also struggled to find work since the coup.
The couple spend K60,000 per month on rent, leaving them little to get by on each month. But unlike many of her neighbours, Thin Thin Aye has stayed in Yangon because, she said, life would be even more difficult in her Ayeyarwady delta hometown of Mawlamyinegyun.
“If we go back there, our lives will be worse than they are now because we won’t have any income. We just wish to get back Mother Suu. We’ll only be able to live peacefully when we get her back,” she said.
Although some tentative signs of an economic recovery are evident, Ko San Yu Maung, the general secretary of Action Labour Rights, said the factories that had reopened were operating well below their full capacity.
“Since the military coup, people have found it really hard to earn a living. They are all in a state of fear. They go to work today despite feeling under threat from security forces because if they don’t work, they won’t have any money for food tomorrow,” he said.
Business owners, too, have been badly affected. One small business owner from South Dagon Township, who is also a member of local resistance group the South Dagon People’s Guards, said that prior to the coup he had been hoping to expand his business, but the military takeover had crushed these plans. Instead, he’s been forced to lay off his workers temporarily.
“I sent all my employees back to their villages,” said the man, who didn’t want to reveal the type of business.
He said his business – and the economy more broadly – would only recover when the political situation improves.
“Politics is the foundation of a country. Without a good and stable foundation, everything will suffer – not just the economy, but also thinks like education and healthcare,” he said. “So we just have to survive as best we can for now – we can’t expect a good economy until we are successful [in gaining democracy].”
Ma Zin Mar Win, 22, is another migrant worker who has remained in Yangon. She’s managed to keep hold of her job in a factory in South Dagon that processes preserved fruit. She works there with her two sisters, aged 24 and 28, to support a young brother and their mother.
The family is originally from Pyapon in Ayeyarwady Region, about 125 kilometres southwest of Yangon, and moved to the commercial capital six years ago in search of work. Until the coup, they had been slowly but gradually building a better future for themselves, putting away some of the K600,000 they earn each month so they could one day buy their own home.
But the periodic closures of the factory since February 1, either due to a lack of raw materials at the factory or difficulties reaching their workplace, mean the sisters now only take home about K400,000 a month. Although this is enough to survive on, Zin Mar Win said the coup had robbed them of a better future. “We were trying to improve our lives, but how we can do that in this situation?”
Safety is a major concern in these outlying townships. Residents are scared of the security forces, and some days there’s either no transport available to take them to the factory or they are too afraid to make the journey.
Zin Mar Win said she fears every day for herself and her family.
“We’re not safe during the day or at night because they [security forces] are shooting recklessly. We’re terrified of being hit, whether at home, on the street or at work,” she said. “We want to get back the peace we once had.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-25
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Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Various rights: reports of violations against several ethnic groups, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Asean says consensus with junta was ‘beyond expectations’, but there is no timeline or explicit commitment to stop violence
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"Human Rights Watch has told south-east Asian leaders not to “pat themselves on the back” for getting Myanmar’s military rulers to agree to end deadly violence, saying a consensus reached by Asean lacks specifics and makes no mention of freeing political prisoners.
Nearly 750 protesters have been killed since the military seized power in a 1 February coup. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations announced after a summit on Saturday that the head of Myanmar’s junta had agreed to stop the violence. The Malaysian prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, who attended the meeting, said the outcome was “beyond our expectation”.
But Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch said: “Asean cannot paper over the fact that there is no agreement for the Myanmar junta to release the more than 3,330 political prisoners currently in detention in the country, including senior political figures who presumably would be involved in any negotiated solution to the crisis,” he said.
“Not only were the representatives of the Myanmar people not invited to the Jakarta meeting but they also got left out of the consensus that Asean is now patting itself on the back for reaching.”
Robertson said Asean had to ensure the agreement was honoured, and called for further sanctions against the junta leaders.
“The lack of a clear timeline for action, and Asean’s well known weakness in implementing the decisions and plans that it issues, are real concerns that no one should overlook,” he said.
A statement released by Asean – whose meeting marked the first concerted international effort to find a resolution to the crisis – said it was agreed there should be constructive dialogue and an immediate end to violence.
The group would also provide humanitarian assistance, and a special envoy would be appointed to meet with all concerned parties.
On Saturday, as Myanmar’s military leader Min Aung Hlaing attended the meeting in Jakarta, soldiers and police fired on protesters near Myanmar’s capital, Naypyidaw, according to reports by Agence France-Presse. One 50-year-old protester was held by the police and shot dead by a soldier, an eyewitness told the news agency.
Tom Andrews, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, said he was anxious to work with Asean’s special envoy and monitor the results of the summit.
“The result of the Asean summit will be found in Myanmar, not a document,” he said. “Will the killing stop? Will the terrorising of neighbourhoods end? Will the thousands abducted be released? Will impunity persist?”
Charles Santiago, head of the Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights group, also stressed the need to ensure the commitments were implemented urgently.
“How willing Asean is in responding seriously to the Myanmar crisis is dependent on them holding Min Aung Hlaing to account, ensuring he does not take them for a ride, and delivers on the agreed points. We must not see a scenario where Min Aung Hlaing endlessly delays action, or controls who they talk to and deliver aid to,” said Santiago.
Asean’s decision to invite Min Aung Hlaing to its meeting in Jakarta attracted criticism from Burmese activists and rights experts, who said it risked legitimising the coup.
Since seizing power on 1 February the junta has killed 748 civilians, according to an advocacy group, Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in Burma. This includes dozens of children. At least 3,389 people are currently in detention or have been sentenced, including Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party won the November election in a landslide victory.
“We tried not to accuse his side too much because we don’t care who’s causing it,” Muhyiddin said of the junta chief, according to reports by Reuters. “We just stressed that the violence must stop. For him, it’s the other side that’s causing the problems. But he agreed that violence must stop.”
Dr Sasa, spokesman for Myanmar’s national unity government, which was set up by pro-democracy politicians and includes elected officials who have been detained, said he welcomed the agreement, adding: “We look forward to firm action by Asean to follow up its decisions and to restore our democracy and freedom for our people and for the region.”
Military-controlled Myawaddy TV reported Min Aung Hlaing had attended the meeting, and said Myanmar would closely cooperate with Asean on various issues, including “the political transition in Myanmar, and the process that will be implemented in the future”.
The leaders of Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Brunei were present at the meeting, along with the foreign ministers of Laos, Thailand and the Philippines..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-25
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
ASEAN-Burma relations, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Human Rights and international relations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"Myanmar's military commander has traveled to Indonesia for an emergency summit of regional leaders. It's the first time General Min Aung Hlaing has left Myanmar since the army seized power from the civilian government at the beginning of February. Other leaders are set to press for an end to the violent crackdown on pro-democracy activists.According to rights groups, hundreds of people have been killed during protests. But demonstrators say they refuse to back down until their elected leaders are freed.More than 700 people have been killed since the military seized power in a coup on February first. In spite of the danger, demonstrators take to the streets almost daily to protest against the military regime - and demand a return to democracy. The country's deposed civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, remains in detention, as do thousands of political prisoners rounded up by police.Last week, opposition groups and ethnic minorities joined forces to form a new 'National Unity Government.'In addition to deaths and arrests, the crackdown has also displaced an estimated quarter of a million people. The UN says the situation in Myanmar poses a regional security risk, and is urging ASEAN countries to take action.Pro-democracy activists have been calling for a tougher international response to the coup. The ASEAN summit will be a test of what Myanmar's neighbors are willing to do.Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/user/deutsche..."
Source/publisher:
"DW News" (Germany)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-24
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
ASEAN-Burma relations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports
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Description:
"• The crisis following the military takeover on 1 February is likely to have a severe impact on the physical and mental wellbeing of children and will exacerbate existing humanitarian needs of 450,000 children.
• Peaceful protests and a civil disobedience movement (CDM) against the military takeover continue across the country despite violent and arbitrary crackdowns by security forces. Military occupation of hospitals and universities has been reported in almost all states and regions, limiting access to critical life-saving services, with particularly serious implications for vulnerable populations.
• There are continued disruptions to communication, transportation and supply chains, and shortages of cash for operations due to limitations on banking services. Despite these challenges UNICEF continues to provide a package of interventions in Health, Nutrition, Child Protection, Education, WASH and Social Protection.
• The current situation calls for emergency assistance outside the current Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) locations.....Funding Overview and Partnerships: UNICEF is currently appealing for US $61.7 million to support 424,000 people, including 224,000 children, to access essential basic services in the areas of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), nutrition, health, education, child protection and social protection and improved hygiene practices to prevent COVID-19 infection. However, these reflect pre-February needs, given the increasingly deteriorating situation across the country with loss of access to basic services due to the protests and CDM, and agencies turning to costly alternatives in programme implementation outside national systems, we expect these needs to increase.....Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs: Humanitarian needs in Myanmar are driven by multiple factors including armed conflict, inter-communal violence, and vulnerability to natural hazards (HNO 2020). Even before 1 February 2021, nearly one million people in five states, including 336,000 IDPs, were in need of humanitarian assistance. Fighting between the Myanmar Armed Forces and Arakan Army in 2020 had displaced 81,245 people to 185 informal settlements in Rakhine and 236 in Chin, adding to the needs of 130,000 people already displaced since 2012 and in deteriorating and overcrowded camps. UNICEF’s appeal aligns with the sectoral needs of the 2021 Humanitarian Response Plan in five states: Rakhine, Chin, Kachin,
Shan and Kayin.
The political situation has deteriorated in the country since 1 February 2021, with continuous demonstrations across most of the country and the imposition of martial law. As the crisis escalates, there is an urgent need to ensure the continuity and functionality of services and thereby enable a rapid scale up of emergency assistance outside current HRP locations. Challenges are being faced in the movement of humanitarian supplies sparking fears of potential supply shortages due transportation and supply chains, and shortages of cash for operations due to limitations on banking services.
Children are being killed, wounded, detained, exposed to tear gas and stun grenades and are witnessing terrifying scenes of violence. The continuing use of force against children by security forces, including the use of live ammunition, is taking a devastating toll on children in Myanmar.
Since the crisis began on 1 February, at least 35 children have been killed and many more seriously injured. Arbitrary detentions of children are also continuing to occur – indeed almost half of all persons detained are children or young people. UNICEF estimate that almost 1,000 children and young people have been arbitrarily detained. And while many of those detained have subsequently been released, many are still being held without access to legal counsel, in violation of their human rights. In some areas, hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced, cutting off tens of thousands of children from their relatives, friends, communities and traditional means of support.
On 14 March, martial law was imposed in 11 townships across the country. The establishment of complete military control in those areas poses significant risk for children given the risk that standard legal safeguards provided for under the Child Rights Law (CRL) may be suspended. This is of concern since the military justice system, unlike the civilian justice system, does not include any special measures or considerations for children.
Life-saving humanitarian services such as maternal, newborn and child health, emergency care and emergency obstetrics and neo-natal care have been disrupted nationwide for a number of reasons, including the participation in the CDM by civil servants and other service providers. Disruption of provision of essential services such as communication, banking, logistics and transportation are observed.
Learning has been disrupted for almost 12 million children in Myanmar due to widespread school closures since March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This has been further exacerbated by the lack of alternative learning programmes. This lost learning opportunity has affected not only school-aged children who would normally be enrolled in government formal schools, but also those children seeking continuous learning opportunities in non-formal education centres, which have been closed. Prolonged disruptions to learning not only keep children out of school but also serve to create more out-of-school children after schools eventually reopen.
As of 19 March, security forces have reportedly occupied more than 60 schools and university campuses in 13 states and regions. In at least one incident, security forces reportedly beat two teachers while entering premises, and left several others injured. Other public institutions including hospitals have also been occupied.
Since 1 February, COVID-19 testing has been very limited in Myanmar, with the result that the true burden of COVID19 cases is not known. It is likely that the mass gatherings associated with demonstrations will have led to an increase in incidence. Prior to February 2021 an average of around 20,000 tests were being conducted on a daily basis. In February and March, the rate has dropped to fewer than 2,000 tests per day..."
Source/publisher:
UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) (Myanmar) via Reliefweb (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-24
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund), Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group
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"This evening I got information that the apartment in Mandalay in which I used to live has been raided twice by a group of soldiers, policemen, and plainclothes agents. Some sources said that it was already third time. They've known the exact address of this apartment for a while.
They broke down the locked door and destroyed the whole apartment. Before destroying it, they took everything they could in small bags like termite ants. There was nothing of value there. I regret only books being destroyed. It took me time to stock them and some have been beautiful. Luckily, few favorite ones are on other place. Hopefully they will survive, for better days.
I do not understand why they destroyed books and other small things in the apartment. Most of the stuff in the apartment is not my property. Actually, all I own is books. My sister's guitar is among things they stole from the apartment. How is the guitar related to the revolution against the dictatorship I'm doing? Hard to grasp.
Actually, what we called "army" is a thief and a robber gang. How sad it would be for the General Aung San, the founder of the Tatmadaw army, if only he would found out that his child has become robber gang. General Aung San requested from the army to be the “Mother and Father of the People”.
Would he now reverse that motto? This Burmese (Bama) army is the killer of the people. Actually, Tatmadaw has been been a big gang of thieves and robbers for years. Over 70 years similar crimes have been committed on regular basis in other non-Bama ethnic regions where Tatmadaw’s war against civilians never stopped.
We the Bama, majority ethnic people have a clear view of the inner workings of this murderous and robbery army during the current 2021 Spring Revolution. We are experiencing it first-hand and in front of our own eyes. It is now becoming obvious to everybody in the country who is the common enemy. Who is the main obstacle to the establishment of a peaceful and prosperous federal democracy. It is in a plain sight that the only obstacle for the peace and prosperity in our country is a terrorist military regime. Clarity of this fact is the biggest gain in our current revolution.....ဒီနေ့ ညနေနဲ့ ညဦးပိုင်းမှာ မန်းလေးက ကျနော် နေခဲ့ဖူးတဲ့ တိုက်ခန်းလေးကို အကြမ်းဖက်စစ်ကောင်စီ လက်ပါးစေ စစ်သား၊ ရဲ၊ အရပ်ဝတ်အစုံ အင်အားအလုံးအရင်းနဲ့ နှစ်ကြိမ် လာသွားတယ်လို့ ကြားသိရပါတယ်။ အချို့သတင်းတွေကလည်း သုံးကြိမ်လို့ ဆိုပါတယ်။ ဒီတိုက်ခန်းလေး လိပ်စာအတိအကျကို သူတို့သိထားတာ ကြာပါပြီ။ ဖေဖော်ဝါရီလလယ်လောက်ကတည်းက မန်းလေးမြို့လူထုက စရဖလို့ ယူဆရသူတစ်ယောက်ကို ကျနော့်အိမ်လိပ်စာပါတဲ့ စာရွက်ကလေးနဲ့အတူ လက်ပူးလက်ကြပ် မိထားဖူးပါတယ်။ ဒါ့ကြောင့် အဲ့ဒီမှာ ဘယ်သူမျှ မနေတော့တာလည်း ကြာလှပါပြီ။ ကျနော့်အတွက် အရေးကြီးပစ္စည်းလည်း အဲ့ဒီမှာ ဘာမျှ မထား၊ မရှိပါဘူး။
သူတို့က သော့ခတ်ထားတဲ့ တိုက်ခန်းတံခါးကို ဖျက်ဖွင့်ပြီး တစ်အိမ်လုံး မွေနှောက်ဖျက်ဆီးသွားကြပြီး တွေ့သမျှ တန်ဖိုးရှိ၊ မရှိ၊ ဘာသောညာသောမရွေး အကုန်လုံးကို အိတ်ကြီးအိတ်ငယ် အသွယ်သွယ်နဲ့ အဓမ္မ ယူဆောင်သွားကြလေသတည်း။
ပစ္စည်းသင်္ခါရ လူသင်္ခါရသဘောပေမို့ ကျန်တာတွေတော့ သိပ်မနှမြောပါဘူး၊ စာအုပ်တွေတော့ နှမြောလှတယ်ဗျာ။ ကို့ယ်အကြိုက် လက်ရွေးစင်လေးတွေချည်း အိမ်မှာ စုသိမ်းထားတာမို့ပါ။)
သူရို့က ကျနော့်ကို ရဲစခန်းပေါင်းများစွာမှာ စွဲဆိုထားတဲ့ ပုဒ်ထီးပုဒ်မတွေရှိတယ်လို့တော့ ကြားသိပါရဲ့။ ဒါပေသိ၊ ဒီစာအုပ်တွေ၊ အခြားပစ္စည်းတွေကို အဓမ္မလုယူသိမ်းဆည်းရတဲ့ အကြောင်းရင်းကို ကျနော့်တော့ ဉာဏ်မမှီ၊ စဉ်းစားလို့ မရပါ။ အဲ့တိုက်ခန်းမှာ ရှိတဲ့ပစ္စည်းတွေကလည်း အကုန်လုံးက ကျနော့်ဥစ္စာပစ္စည်း မဟုတ်။ ကျနော် ပိုင်ဆိုင်တာက စာအုပ်တွေပဲ ရှိတာ။ သူရို့ အိမ်က သိမ်းယူသွားတဲ့ ပစ္စည်းတွေထဲမှာ ကျနော့်နှမတစ်ဦးရဲ့ ဂစ်တာလေးဝောာင် ပါသွားသေးပါသတဲ့။ ကျနော်လုပ်နေတဲ့ အာဏာရှင်တော်လှန်ရေးနဲ့ ဒီဂစ်တာလေးနဲ့က ဘယ်လိုများ ပတ်သတ်တာပါလိမ့်၊ ဆန်းကြယ်လှပါဘိတောင်း။
အိမ်း၊ “တပ်မတော်” လည်း သူခိုး၊ ဓားပြဂိုဏ်းအကြီးစားကြီး လုံးလုံး ဖြစ်နေပါပေါ့လား။ တပ်မတော်ကို စတင်တည်ထောင်ခဲ့သူ ဗိုလ်တေဇ (ဗိုလ်ချုပ်အောင်ဆန်း) သာ ဒီအကြောင်းတွေ သိမယ်ဆို ဘယ်လောက် စိတ်မကောင်း၊ ဝမ်းနည်းဖြစ်နေမယ်မသိဘူး။ သူ့ပြည်သူတွေအတွက် သူရင်နာလို့ ဆုံးရှာမှာ မဟုတ်ဘူး။ တပ်မတော်အတွက် ဗိုလ်တေဇာမှာခဲ့တဲ့ စကားက “ပြည်သူသာ အမိ၊ ပြည်သူသာ အဖ” တဲ့။ အခုတော့ သူရို့က ဒီဆောင်ပုဒ်ကို ပြောင်းပြန်လုပ်ထားပါပေါ့လား။
တကယ်တော့ ဒီ ဗမာ (မြန်မာ) စစ်တပ်ဟာ သူသတ်၊ သူခိုး၊ ဓားပြအုပ်စုအကြီးစားကြီး ဖြစ်နေတာ နှစ်ပေါင်းများစွာ ကြာခဲ့ပါပြီ။ အထူးသဖြင့် ဗမာမဟုတ်တဲ့ ကျန်တိုင်းရင်းသား လူမျိုးတွေဒေသတွေ၊ ပြည်တွင်းစစ်ဖြစ်ပွားရာဒေသတွေမှာ ဒီလိုမျိုး ရာဇဝတ်မှုပေါင်းများစွာကို နေ့စဉ်နဲ့အမျှ၊ အချိန်နဲ့အမျှ ကျူးလွန်လာတာ နှစ်ပေါင်း (၇၀) ကျော် ကြာခဲ့ပါပြီ။
“ကျောချမှ ဓားပြမှန်း သိ” ဆိုသလို ကျနော်တို့ ဗမာတိုင်းရင်းသားတွေကတော့ ဒီစစ်တပ်ရဲ့ အတွင်းသရုပ်မှန်ကို အခု ၂၀၂၁ နွေဦးတော်လှန်ရေးကြီးမှာ ကွက်ကွက်ကွင်းကွင်း၊ ရှင်းရှင်းလင်းလင်း၊ မျက်မြင်ကိုယ်တွေ့ သိရှိခံစားလိုက်ကြရတာပါပဲ။ ငြိမ်းချမ်းပြီး သာယာဝပြောတဲ့ ဖက်ဒရယ်ဒီမိုကရေစီနိုင်ငံတော်တစ်ရပ်ကို တည်ထောင်ဖို့ အဓိကအနှောက်အယှက်ပေးနေတဲ့ ဘုံရန်သူဟာ ဒီအကြမ်းဖက်စစ်အုပ်စုပဲဆိုတာ လယ်ပြင်မှာ ဆင်သွားသလို့ (ဗမာတွေကိုယ်တိုင်က) ထင်ထင်ရှားရှား သိမြင်သွားကြတာပေါ့ဗျာ။ ဒါသည်ပင်လျှင် တော်လှန်ရေးထဲက အမြတ်ကြီးတစ်ခုလို့ ကျနော်ကတော့ ခံယူမိပါတယ်။
အဖိနှိပ်ခံ ပြည်သူတစ်ရပ်လုံး သွေးစည်းကြလော့။
ဘုံရန်သူကို တိုက်ခိုက်ကြလော့။
ဘုံပန်းတိုင်ကို ရှေးရှုကြလော့။..."
Source/publisher:
Tayzar San via Igor Blazevic
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Health Workers Strike, Spring Revolution, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"As of 23 April, (745) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) compiled and documented (6) fallen hero today. These (6) heroes from Mogok Town in Mandalay Region and Pakokku Town in Magwe Region were killed on previous days but 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 April 22, a total of (3371) people are currently under detention; of them (79) are sentenced. 1118 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
Nowadays in Burma the terrorists are brutally assaulting anyone who stands against the junta. Women are not spared against the brutality. Females are being systematically tortured, (physically and mentally) sexually assaulted with intent. A 17 year old girl who was released from Shwe Pyi Thar interrogation center, Sanchaung Township, Yangon, said so-called police from no.24 police station verbally assaulted and touched her inappropriately on shoulder then threatened her with his gun. Two other women detained at the same interrogation center in relation to the bombings from Yankin Township where also brutally beaten. One of these women was treated worse and assaulted with a metal pipe. The so-called police sat on her shoulder, pulling her hair, hitting her female organs, she was not given medical treatment. These crimes are a clear violation of human rights, the terrorist group is cruelly torturing women. The junta is not using female officers but mostly male soldiers during questioning. After torture they are not given adequate medical treatment, putting their life at risk even further. The junta is putting the mental and physical security of the female arbitrarily detained at risk of sexual assault at any time. It is creating a climate of fear, sexual assault could happen at any time at these male-only interrogation centers
Burma has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Dictrimaton Against Women (CEDAW). It is an international tragedy that these violations are happening inside Burma. The UN Women Organization, human rights groups, including the international community must not ignore us. They should take immediate and stern action for violating CEDAW and protect all women in Burma.
In Bago Region, Pantaung Police Station was set on fire. On 22 April early morning, the junta arrested a 2-year old child, his father and grandfather. So-called police tortured the father and grandfather in front of the 2-year old child, forced to confess to the arson. After this forced confession, the mother came to collect the 2-year old. The mother was then arrested as a conspirator. Some local villagers were also detained and forced to confess through beatings in interrogations.
On 22 April, in Tamu City, Sagaing Region, a male employee of Kanbawza Bank was followed by the junta. When they found 4 walkie talkies in his hut, they brutally beat him to the face, broke his wrist, so that his bone was showing, and lost excessive amounts of blood. He was told to only wear underwear while they threatened him with his life.
Now the terrorist group is torturing and committing increasingly brutal violence, children are not safe, they can be taken as hostages. The junta is trying to break our dignity through violations of human rights, with no rule of law. They commit criminal acts. All civilians including children, women, and the elderly, could be detained. Civilians are helpless, there is no security inside Burma. These are the conditions of life inside Burma under the junta.
Early morning April 23, Kayah State, Loikaw Township, Shan Ward, the junta crackdown on a dawn protest, one man who was running away had to jump into the stream and is currently missing. On April 23 there was also a gunfire clash in Magway region, in Thayet Township, between the terrorists and the people.
The coup leader will attend the 24 April summit. The National Union Government (NUG) has informed Interpol to arrest the coup leader. To bring the continued brutality by this junta to an end, the international community must take immediate action to arrest the terrorist leader.
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:
“Our uprising must succeed”
Email : [email protected]
Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma
In Solidarity,
AAPP..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Summary:
"When Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders meet in Jakarta to discuss the worsening political crisis in Myanmar on April 24, it will mark the first time that the regional...
Sub-title:
Bloc's extraordinary Myanmar crisis meeting on April 24 could be the last diplomatic chance to prevent a regional catastrophe
Description:
"When Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders meet in Jakarta to discuss the worsening political crisis in Myanmar on April 24, it will mark the first time that the regional organization holds a highest-level meeting to address a specific situation of concern involving one of its members.
Non-interference in domestic affairs has traditionally been one of ASEAN’s basic operating principles, along with decision-making by consensus. As such, Saturday’s summit is seen as a test of the grouping’s code of constraint as regional leaders find themselves under mounting pressure to engineer a workable, face-saving resolution before the crisis spirals further out of control.
To be sure, the situation in Myanmar is on a knife’s edge. Its ruling military junta has intensified a brutal campaign of suppression in defiance of world condemnation. The cycle of protests and bloody crackdowns has left at least 738 people dead, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) monitoring group.
Inflexible repression by the Tatmadaw, as Myanmar’s military is known, has pushed segments of the urban-based protest movement into using low-level guerrilla warfare tactics, while escalating hostilities with ethnic armed forces in the north and east threaten a wider war on multiple fronts in the country’s borderlands.
The fear within ASEAN is that the worst is yet to come. As the region copes with a resurgent Covid-19 pandemic that continues to thwart broad-based economic recovery, the bloc faces the prospect of Myanmar’s civil strife escalating into a protracted Syria-like civil war and a humanitarian emergency that sends huge numbers of refugees over its borders.
The threat of a failed state emerging within mainland Southeast Asia has added impetus and imperative to ASEAN’s diplomacy. Should the regional grouping fail to act meaningfully, analysts say outside powers including the United States and China could be compelled to intervene, raising the possibility of Myanmar becoming a proxy theater for great power contestation.
Saturday’s meeting is expected to set the parameters for ASEAN taking on a mediating role in the crisis. “ASEAN will engage with all parties in Myanmar, but under what conditions will be made clearer at the summit this coming weekend,” said Alistair D B Cook, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.
Following weeks of planning, the talks are seen as primarily aimed at seeking de-escalation and establishing conditions for dialogue between Myanmar’s military and the ousted civilian government led by the National League for Democracy (NLD), whose leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior figures remain in detention.
However, it’s not clear that a negotiated settlement would be acceptable to either side at this stage, with neither camp apparently willing to accept a compromise or return to the status quo ante. The Tatmadaw has shown no willingness to talk to members of the elected government it ousted, having ratcheted up its brutality despite appeals from its neighbors to refrain from violence.
At least seven ASEAN leaders are expected to attend the summit in Indonesia’s capital, with Thailand and the Philippines opting to send their foreign ministers. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, chairman of the junta’s State Administration Council (SAC) and architect of the February 1 coup d’etat, is expected to travel to Jakarta to participate in the face-to-face meeting. “The fact that there will be an ASEAN summit meeting on the crisis and that General Min Aung Hlaing will attend it is an important but only tentative step forward,” said Choi Shing Kwok, director of the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore and head of its ASEAN Studies Centre.
“I expect ASEAN leaders to focus first on convincing Min Aung Hlaing to take a few short-term steps, including curtailing the violence against unarmed civilian protesters and exercising restraint in its dealings with its opponents,” he said. “Without such a break in the escalation in violence, no reconciliation of the political forces within the country is possible.”
Critics of the military takeover have condemned the general’s planned attendance at the summit, with some observers viewing the invitation to sit alongside other ASEAN leaders as tantamount to lending legitimacy to his regime’s democracy-suspending putsch, particularly in light of the recent establishment of a parallel authority by pro-democracy forces.
“The invitation to Min Aung Hlaing must be handled with extreme caution, and ASEAN must make it abundantly clear that he is not there as a representative of the Myanmar people, who totally reject his barbaric junta,” said Charles Santiago, chairperson of advocacy group ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR).
Deposed members of Parliament, leaders of anti-coup protests and ethnic minority organizations announced on April 16 a National Unity Government (NUG), which says it is the country’s legitimate interim authority and has requested international recognition and an invitation to the ASEAN meeting in place of the junta leader.
Figures associated with the NUG, which previously referred to itself as the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), have said they were not consulted over the planned summit. Some regional foreign ministers and officials are known to have held back channel talks with Myanmar’s ousted lawmakers since the coup, however.
“ASEAN cannot adequately discuss the situation in Myanmar without hearing from and speaking to the National Unity Government. If ASEAN’s purpose really is to strengthen democracy, as stated by its Charter, they must give them a seat at the table,” said Santiago in a statement. “After all, they are the embodiment of democracy in Myanmar.”
Analysts expect ASEAN’s diplomats to continue their quiet diplomatic outreach with the NUG in the weeks ahead, but some say that the Tatmadaw’s leader may have refused to attend the regional summit if representatives of the parallel authority, which the junta regards as treasonous and unlawful, were also in attendance.
“The call by the CRPH for ASEAN not to meet with MAH [Min Aung Hlaing] is an attempt to gain the diplomatic upper hand over the SAC, but acceding to it will be tantamount to an abandonment of any meaningful role by ASEAN,” said Choi, echoing the view that any practical de-escalation of the situation requires direct engagement with the military’s leader.
“The formation of a NUG is still in its early stages and it remains to be seen if the other opposition forces in the country will accept it as the legitimate political authority. Should it be able to establish this in due course, ASEAN will certainly have to take its views and participation into account in any future reconciliation process,” Choi added.
Proposals being considered for the summit reportedly include a humanitarian aid mission that would entail a pause in hostilities and delivery of medical supplies needed to counter Covid-19 as well as food aid. The appointment of a special envoy who would negotiate with the military junta and members of the deposed elected government is also reportedly under consideration.
Naypyidaw has thus far refused to allow the United Nation’s special envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, to visit the country. Burgener will reportedly be in Jakarta to engage ASEAN leaders on the sidelines of Saturday’s summit.
While still regarded as the best hope for a diplomatic solution, the 10-member grouping’s record in tackling regional human rights crises has been abysmal. ASEAN states are already clearly divided on Myanmar’s crisis, with some of its members describing the junta’s bloody consolidation of power as an “internal matter.”
Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and, more recently, the Philippines have censured the junta in uncharacteristically strong terms and called for the release of Suu Kyi and other political detainees, a step that the bloc itself has eschewed.
Others have taken a more ambiguous position. Thailand, which shares a porous border with Myanmar and clearly fears a fresh influx of refugees, hasn’t openly criticized the coup but has tellingly said it is “gravely concerned” about escalating bloodshed and has more recently called for dialogue between the Tatmadaw and NLD.
Hunter Marston, a PhD candidate at the Australian National University, said he anticipates that the summit will expose rifts within ASEAN on democratic and autocratic lines. “I do not expect a univocal response strong enough to convince Min Aung Hlaing that his regime has gone too far and will be held to account.”
By ignoring the NUG’s entreaty to attend the summit, ASEAN has put itself in the awkward position of “effectively treating Min Aung Hlaing as the representative of Myanmar’s government even as certain members call for the release of elected leaders and a return to democracy in the country,” he added.
Marston said some ASEAN states at least appeared reluctant to recognize the senior general as the legitimate leader of Myanmar. The Canberra-based academic said outside powers such as the United States, the European Union and others could soon opt to extend diplomatic recognition to the NUG, but aren’t ready to do so yet.
The NUG aims to establish a federal democratic system, but isn’t yet materially able to support a nationwide parallel administration. Outside powers are thus “waiting to see how much of a following [the NUG] have, what resources they’re able to command, and whether they can effectively claim to govern Myanmar given the current state of chaos,” said Marston.
Elina Noor, director for political-security affairs and deputy director at the Asia Society Policy Institute in Washington DC, said there will be pressures on, but also an inclination by, Western liberal democracies, in particular, to recognize the NUG as Myanmar’s legitimate government, which could allow it to access country funds now punitively frozen in overseas banking systems.
The US, for one, is now holding over US$1 billion worth of Myanmar state funds.
“If this happens, ASEAN will be in an even more difficult position since the UN and ASEAN’s own dialogue partners have all expressed support for the grouping’s key role in this crisis. ASEAN centrality will be further questioned if a split on recognition happens in the international community,” she told Asia Times.
ASEAN centrality refers to the notion that the regional grouping and its associated mechanisms should serve as the core institutional platform through which disputes are managed and wider diplomacy with outside powers is advanced. That centrality, observers argue, risks being undermined by ASEAN’s inability to manage affairs within its region.
“If the violence can be stopped and some interim mechanism of dialogue can be agreed upon involving the NUG, then ASEAN can help play a constructive, bridging role in charting a more sustainable roadmap ahead for Myanmar,” Noor said.
In a recent op-ed published by the Jakarta Post, Noor said that while ASEAN must deal with the military junta as the de facto party in power in order to realistically address the situation, Myanmar’s suspension from ASEAN should be a consideration, particularly if the regime remains intransigent and rebuffs regional efforts to reach a solution.
While suspending Myanmar from the bloc at a time of worsening violence could seem unconstructive and cause ASEAN to lose its leverage with the junta, Noor said Southeast Asian governments could be better off continuing their engagement with the Tatmadaw outside rather than within the ASEAN framework.
“The solution may be to unshackle ASEAN member states from the constraining formalities of organizational bureaucracy while still working closely behind the scenes plurilaterally, as is effectively the case now,” she said.
Noor added that engagement, rather than isolation, would in any case help to affirm ASEAN centrality and stave off external interventions.
“If Myanmar teeters on the brink of civil war or if there is protracted bloodshed, there is a risk external powers will feel compelled to intervene and not completely for altruistic reasons, either,” she said. “This would be a worst-case scenario, in which major powers would carve out spheres and territories of influence in Myanmar as well as in the region.
“That is why it is imperative for ASEAN to set the stage this weekend by demonstrating effectiveness, even if it’s just to stop the ongoing violence so that mediation can begin. It won’t be enough for the people of Myanmar who voted in a different government, but it will be a necessary precondition for some kind of change on the ground.”
Should the crisis in Myanmar escalate and ASEAN’s attempt to broker a solution falter, analysts believe it is possible that the case for external military intervention, potentially in the form of missile strikes against military targets, could be seriously considered by Washington and its allies in a bid to pressure Naypyidaw to the negotiating table.
The possibility of such an escalation is still seen as remote given that Washington has so far been broadly content to leave the crisis to ASEAN. The situation in Myanmar, moreover, isn’t deemed as being of critical strategic importance to the US, and military intervention would almost certainly spark divisions among the Washington-led Quad alliance.
“The appetite for and effectiveness of foreign military intervention by the major powers is very much in question today,” said ISEAS’ director Choi. “With the Tatmadaw being fiercely independent and having the option to play one major power off against another, it is highly questionable what kind of effective intervention any power could mount.”
ASEAN’s approach, “whatever it may be called, therefore remains an attractive option for the international community to rally behind, though its ability to deliver is not guaranteed,” Choi added.
He expects “only modest progress” at the weekend’s summit, with the main aim being to persuade Min Aung Hlaing to accept a process towards a mediated reconciliation, which could also include the involvement of other international stakeholders.
“The situation in Myanmar is at a point where it could get a lot worse before it gets better,” Choi lamented. “ASEAN’s record in the past has been to continue engaging rather than to close doors when there is still hope for improvement. Having said that, the situation is so open-ended that I believe anything is possible and nothing can be ruled out.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
ASEAN-Burma relations, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Human Rights and international relations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, National Unity Government (NUG)
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"On principle, the meetings that can contribute to a solution to the deepening crisis in Myanmar are welcome, meetings that exclude the people of Myanmar but include murderer in chief Min Aung Hlaing who is murdering the people of Myanmar are unlikely to be helpful.
The legitimate representatives of the people and country of Myanmar, the National Unity Government (NUG) stands ready to engage and attend any ASEAN meeting on Myanmar, including the one scheduled for April the 24th that starts in less than 24 hours. We firmly believe that a meeting on Myanmar should not include illegal, illegitimate military junta unless the following serious conditions are met. The military junta must meets the following conditions and demonstrates that it is adhering to them. This is the only way to restore democracy, stability and prevent the great civil war that will end in genocide.
1. Stop murdering civilians. The junta has killed over 740 Myanmar civilians since the coup and the number of its victims increase daily;
2. Stop systematically attacking neighborhoods and randomly discharging weapons into civilians' homes that have claimed the lives of many civilians, including children;
3. Stop bombing and shelling villages, which has caused significant casualties and has led to tens of thousands of civilians being displaced;
4. Stop preventing those who need medical care from receiving it, including agreeing to immediately stop: (i) occupying medical facilities, (ii) arresting and attacking medical personnel, and (iii) preventing emergency medical personnel from reaching victims;
5. Unconditionally release the over 3,300 political prisoners detained since the coup and stop arbitrarily detaining protesters, CDM members and others who are exercising
their fundamental right to the freedom of expression.
6. End the coup, end all violence and return the power to elected Government of Myanmar- t he National Unity Government -NUG
We once again express our sincere appreciation to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) willingness to help Myanmar address the crisis that has gripped our nation, and
indeed our region, following the illegal coup d'etat on 1 February.
Dr.Sasa Union Minister of International Cooperation and Spokesperson National Unity Government of Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
Dr. Sasa via National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-23
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Type:
Individual Documents
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ASEAN-Burma relations, National Unity Government (NUG), Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Summary:
"On April 24, ASEAN is set to hold an emergency meeting in Jakarta on the political crisis in Myanmar. On February 1 the Myanmar military, led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, took over the country...
Description:
"On April 24, ASEAN is set to hold an emergency meeting in Jakarta on the political crisis in Myanmar. On February 1 the Myanmar military, led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, took over the country’s government after alleging there were irregularities in last November’s elections.
There is no evidence of mass voter fraud and since taking power the military has imposed draconian measures to silence resistance to the takeover, including curfews, internet blackouts and bans on social gatherings.
Amid waves of mass protest, security forces have also killed over 700 people—a number the military disputes. With a global spotlight on the situation, ASEAN’s meeting is an attempt to work towards a resolution of the political impasse.
In the runup to the meeting, however, there has been considerable handwringing by activists and observers as to the role ASEAN is prepared to play in the conflict.
Activists aligned with Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement are concerned that by inviting Min Aung Hlaing to the summit, ASEAN legitimizes the military’s actions on the international stage, including its use of deadly force against its own population.
They also argue that by ignoring Myanmar’s shadow government, an organization called the National Unity Government (NUG) made up of the country’s duly elected leaders, ASEAN is dismissing the stakeholders that have a legitimate say in the country’s future.
With that said, despite the injustice and authoritarianism of the military government, not inviting them to the meeting would likely make Myanmar’s political situation worse.
Although disinviting Min Aung Hlaing would be a snub to the military government—and a cathartic moment for activists—the reality is that the junta holds power in Myanmar.
Without his attendance at the meeting, ASEAN leaders would be abandoning an opportunity to apply direct diplomatic pressure.
Instead of decrying the attendance of junta leaders at ASEAN’s meeting, pro-democracy advocates should focus on the way the bloc interacts with Myanmar’s military government when the meeting takes place.....ASEAN needs to walk a fine line given democratic norms in the region: The metaphorical elephant in the room regarding ASEAN’s dealings with Myanmar’s junta is that a significant portion of the bloc is made up of countries with authoritarian leaders, who in some cases circumvented or altered the democratic process to gain power.
Cambodia’s Hun Sen, the Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte and Thailand’s Prayuth Chan-ocha are the most glaring examples. After Thailand’s military took power in 2014, for instance, ASEAN’s response was muted and leaders in the region generally treated the coup as an internal matter.
Noninterference is a guiding principle of the bloc, as stated in ASEAN’s charter. This arguably gives the junta more confidence coming into the summit and they will doubtlessly claim that the crisis is a domestic issue that does not warrant outside interference.
One of the main issues following the coup in Myanmar, however, is the ongoing violence coupled with widespread international attention. This has put added pressure on ASEAN to help find a resolution to the crisis.
Amid the controversy surrounding the meeting, Thailand’s Prayuth announced that he would not be attending personally and instead would send his foreign minister, saying that other countries are also doing the same.
So far, only the Philippines has confirmed it intends to follow Thailand’s lead in sending its foreign minister. The heads of state of Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia, meanwhile, confirmed they would be attending.....ASEAN must engage the junta but that doesn’t mean they should treat it as a normal government: Although engagement with the junta is necessary, that doesn’t mean leaders can’t take steps to make the summit a meaningful step towards resolving the crisis in Myanmar. Short of inviting NUG leaders, ASEAN leaders could take smaller steps to ensure the military government doesn’t think the meeting is business-as-usual.
As suggested by pro-democracy activists, leaders in the region could express their position on the coup by ignoring the international titles of junta officials, such as foreign minister, in favor of referring to them as delegates of the military’s governing body, known as the State Administration Council (SAC).
Another idea is to allow member states to make their own official statements after the meeting instead of issuing only a single joint statement by ASEAN’s Chair. This would give member states a chance to clearly voice their disagreements with the junta.
Most importantly, despite ASEAN’s potential disagreements over the situation in Myanmar, the bloc must convey to Min Aung Hlaing and his government that the SAC’s actions not only push the region into further political disrepute but also threaten regional stability.
Alongside the language of noninterference in ASEAN’s charter is a commitment to adhere to the “principles of democracy…respect for and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
ASEAN has a duty to push for stable democracy, peace and security for the people of Myanmar. Directly engaging with those in charge on the ground in Myanmar, in a tactful and careful manner, is the best way to increase the likelihood that this happens..."
Source/publisher:
"ASEAN Today" (Singapore)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
ASEAN-Burma relations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, National Unity Government (NUG), Spring Revolution, Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports
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Sub-title:
A major who abandoned LID 99 says a culture of fear has long stopped soldiers from leaving the army, but now feels that may change
Description:
"An army major who recently broke rank has described Myanmar’s military as an institution rife with rank- and class-based discrimination, a reality that he said had made soldiers consider defecting prior to the February 1 coup.
Major Hein Thaw Oo, of the Meikhtila-based Light Infantry Division (LID) 99, was the highest-ranking known defector from the military at the time of reporting.
He abandoned the military after 20 years and joined the anti-junta Civil Disobedience (CDM) on March 24.
A native of Magwe Region and a 2002 graduate of the 48th intake of the Defence Services Academy, the major had been stationed on the frontline in Lashio, northern Shan State. There, LID 99– whose soldiers are among the military’s “shock troops”– is known to have engaged in brutal clashes with ethnic armed organisations based in the region.
“In the military, for whatever reason, you’re always scared of anyone who has a higher rank than you,” Hein Thaw Oo told Myanmar Now.
The major said that the military “alienated” anyone who questioned the institution or its practises.
“It’s not just now, it has always been this way. If they don’t get along with you, you’re pushed aside. Not only that, you get in trouble,” he explained.
Those who, like him, have defected from the military and police are largely sheltering in areas controlled by ethnic armed organisations.
Hein Thaw Oo insisted there are more who want to defect, “from sergeants on upward.”
“If you don’t believe it, go ask them. If you ask them if they want to get out, they’d get out, dancing,” the major said.
The major said that he planned to undertake a temporary monkhood, and would later join a federal army to fight against the junta’s armed forces.
At least 739 civilians have been killed nationwide by the military regime during Myanmar’s anti-dictatorship Spring Revolution since the February 1 coup, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a group which has been monitoring the violence.
On April 9 alone, more than 80 civilians who were protesting peacefully in Bago were murdered during a crackdown by the junta’s armed forces that involved the use of heavy artillery.
Hein Thaw Oo told Myanmar Now that the suppression of public opposition at these demonstrations has been directly ordered by military strategists from the junta’s Ministry of Defence in Naypyitaw.
Military officers consider protest sites to be battlefields, and ignore when lower ranking soldiers loot homes or commit robberies and extortion, he explained.
“I assume they’re giving these orders so that they can let the soldiers on the ground just roam freely and do what they want,” the major said, adding that this was how the military treated conflict areas.
Dr. Lian Hmung Sakhong, the federal union affairs minister with the newly formed interim cabinet of the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), recently said that he believed there were more officers who would leave if given the chance.
The cabinet, known as the National Unity Government (NUG), urged military and police to defect and stand with the public at an NUG press conference on April 16.
Dr. Lian Hmung Sakhong invited military officers he came to know during his work on peace negotiations between the Myanmar army and ethnic armed organisations to join the CDM.
“Don’t follow [military chief] Min Aung Hlaing, follow justice and truth,” he said at the press conference, addressing those still serving in the regime’s armed forces. “Join us in building a society where everyone treats each other with humanity.”
Although there are soldiers who are dissatisfied with the military coup, chances of a mutiny depend on the NUG’s governing capacity, Major Hein Thaw Oo told Myanmar Now.
Captain Htun Myat Aung, a 15-year veteran of Myanmar’s military and another recent defector, said the same. He was among those whom Myanmar Now spoke to who speculated that other soldiers were waiting to see the NUG’s next moves before abandoning the armed forces.
“The military has been broken for a while. But they’ve instilled so much fear [in soldiers] that it would take a big spark that could combat this,” he said..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Political role of the Tatmadaw, Inside the Tatmadaw, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, The Military's political role, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Sub-title:
A monk was also injured in the attacks, a rescue worker said
Description:
"A 14-year-old girl and a 30-year-old man were injured when the coup regime’s troops stormed residential areas in at least three townships in Mandalay on Wednesday night and shot at people who were outside their homes, rescue workers said.
The girl was shot in the right hand and the man was shot in the thighs and in the back, one of the workers told Myanmar Now.
The military came into neighborhoods in Mandalay’s Chanmyathazi township at around 9pm and began shooting, a resident said.
The attack happened after residents heard an explosion near a ward administration office where the troops were stationed.
“They have been setting off sound bombs every night to scare people so no one thought they would come into the neighborhoods and start shooting at them. People were just staying in front of their homes,” the resident said.
The girl was shot while she was washing herself in front of her house. She had to undergo surgery for the bullet wound on Thursday after the arteries in her hand were damaged, according to a relative.
“She is unable to move two of her fingers,” the relative said. “The arteries were damaged. Last night even the family could not bear to look at it. The flesh is coming out.”
Myanmar Now was unable to gather further details about the man who was shot.
The troops continued to shoot their guns and intimidate people until midnight, the resident said.
Eyewitnesses said two teenagers were also arrested after the attacks.
“My child was crying, but I had to shut his mouth forcefully. We had to sleep in immense fear the whole night,” another Chanmyathazi township resident said.
Soldiers also raided a monastery in Maha Aungmyay township and shot a monk with rubber bullets.
“He was shot in the back. I was told that they stormed into the monastery and started firing. I can’t say the name of the monastery due to security reasons,” said a rescue worker who helped injured people at the monastery.
The armed forces also attacked residents in Pyigyitagon township on Wednesday night and reportedly arrested one person, locals said.
At least 10 residents were reportedly arrested across the three townships.
Myanmar Now was unable to verify the number independently. The military’s spokesperson could not be reached for comment.
The troops also carried out raids inside the Mya Yi Nandar housing complex in Chanmyathazi township on Thursday morning, witnesses said.
Despite constant attacks against protesters and civilians, Mandalay’s residents continue to stage daily anti-coup rallies.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group said at least 739 civilians have now been killed by Min Aung Hlaing’s regime..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma
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Sub-title:
While the world gasps at the Myanmar military's brutal crackdown, there is little hope for a soldier-led mutiny or countercoup
Description:
"A military coup that overthrows a democratically elected government and sparks three months of nationwide protests and strikes. More than 700 people including children as young as five shot and killed as security forces fire into crowds of anti-military demonstrators.
Thousands of people, among them not only politicians, activists and journalists but also some of the nation’s best-known singers, movie stars and celebrities arrested on various trumped-up charges. An economy on its knees with non-performing banks and foreign investors running for the exits.
Such a litany would normally be enough to bring down any coup-installed government through a counter-coup or some other action by a military’s top brass who could see the self-defeatism of trying to cling to power when nearly the entire population is opposed to your takeover and rule.
But not in Myanmar. Instead, the military and its controlled police seem prepared to do whatever it takes to preserve its democracy-suspending power grab.
So far, there have been no signs of substantial cracks or divisions within the security establishment apart from a handful of policemen who have fled to rebel-held territories near the Thai border or across the border into neighboring northeastern India.
But is Myanmar’s military truly full of spineless, mindless yes-men, or is there something else that holds the institution together in the face of massive local resistance and rising international condemnation?
The simplistic explanation, put forth mostly by foreign security analysts, is that the Myanmar military, known as the Tatmadaw, is a battle-hardened force that has been fighting against an array of political and ethnic rebels continuously for more than 70 years.
Myanmar’s civil wars broke out shortly after independence was achieved from Britain in 1948. Before that, an army founded by independence hero Aung San had fought alongside the Japanese military against the British and then, at the end of World War II, allied themselves with the British and turned against the Japanese.
Consequently, the Tatmadaw sees itself as the true defender of the nation’s independence and the only force that can hold the ethnically diverse and politically divided country together.
But that analysis misses the enigma of military power in Myanmar. Although Aung San’s daughter and coup-toppled democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi once referred to the Tatmadaw as “my father’s army”, the military force which fought during World War II had little in common with the army that emerged after independence.
Because of post-war agreements with the British, most of the old fighters were demobilized and turned into a militia known as the People’s Volunteer Organization (PVO) which, in turn, resorted to armed struggle against the government because it saw independence as a sham that perpetuated colonial rule.
By then, Aung San had been assassinated and of the legendary “Thirty Comrades” who had followed him to Japan to receive military training before the Japanese invasion of Myanmar in 1942, only three remained in the Tatmadaw in the 1950s, including army chief General Ne Win, who eventually seized power in a 1962 coup, the first absolute military-takeover in Myanmar, then known as Burma.
By the 1950s, Myanmar’s civil wars were more or less over, with the rebel Karen National Union (KNU) and Communist Party of Burma (CPB) pushed back into remote areas. Persistent internal political turmoil, though, led to the formation of a caretaker government led by Ne Win, which was in power from 1958 to 1960.
Rather than fighting the rebels, Ne Win and his 4th Burma Rifles spent the latter part of the 1950s building up a power base — and a business empire that in many ways endures today — centered around their regiment.
In 1958, it published a document called “The National Ideology of the Defense Services” which strikingly resembles the dwifungsi, or dual function, doctrine of the Indonesian army that stated that the military has both a defense and social-political role.
Ne Win also established an entity called the Defense Services Institute. (DSI), which soon controlled vital sectors of Myanmar’s economy. It had its own retail stores in Yangon and elsewhere it controlled the lucrative importation of coal for the railroads, electric supplies and inland water transport.
DSI even established an external shipping line, the Five Star Line, and took over an English-owned bank and renamed it the Ava Bank. A newspaper, the Guardian, and a publishing house were also controlled by DSI. Meanwhile, the once-tiny Myanmar Army, perhaps as few as 2,000 men in 1949, grew steadily in strength and importance. By the late 1950s, Ne Win had more than 40,000 soldiers under his command.
The army was becoming a state within the state, but few Myanmars, the vast majority of whom had faith in the nation’s then democratic system, constitution and rule of law, paid much attention until New Win seized power in 1962.
Significantly, the junta that overthrew a democratically elected government introduced a new economic system called “the Burmese Way to Socialism.” But rather than establishing a socialist regime reminiscent of those in Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union or China, Ne Win’s rendition meant that everything was nationalized and taken over by 23 military-run state corporations.
Military coups were not uncommon in Asia at that time, but the difference in Myanmar was that the military seized not only political but also economic power. While the economies of Thailand and Indonesia, for instance, blossomed because the military entered into marriages of convenience with indigenous plutocracies, Ne Win took Myanmar in a completely different direction.
The old business community, which was mainly of Indian and Chinese origin, had their properties and assets seized by the military, driving hundreds of thousands out of Myanmar into India, Southeast Asia or Taiwan.
But if the 1962 coup had been meant to squash what was left of the insurgents, it turned out to be counterproductive. A rebellion broke out among the Kachin in 1961 in areas of northern Shan state. After 1962, it spread to Kachin state and the Kachin Independence Army took over most of the state.
An even smaller rebellion among the Shan, which broke out in 1958, escalated into full-scale war as several bands grouped together to form the Shan State Army in 1964. The Burmese Way to Socialism had, hardly surprisingly, led to economic collapse — and a flourishing black market with neighboring Thailand.
The KNU, which controlled the border areas, collected taxes on that trade, and was able to buy modern guns from the Thai black market. And, most devastatingly, China decided to give all-out support to the CPB, including modern, sophisticated weaponry of kinds that the old forces in central Myanmar never possessed.
Thus, the new power structure that emerged in Myanmar after 1962 had more to do with preserving an order that hugely privileged the military in an otherwise collapsing society than the fact that officers had seen fierce combat.
That new order had a very narrow base, consisting of men from Ne Win’s own regiment, the 4th Burma Rifles. And Ne Win himself was probably the least battle-hardened senior officer in the Tatmadaw as he arguably spent more time gambling at horse races than on the battlefield.
Actually, the country’s most battle-hardened officers – among them the popular Brigadier Kyaw Zaw, who was purged in the late 1950s, later joined the CPB and ended his life in exile in China, and General Tin Oo, who fought in several frontier areas and in 1988 became one of the leaders of the then newly-established National League for Democracy (NLD) – did not become killers of civilians.
Rather, it was Ne Win loyalists who opened fire on demonstrating students in 1962, on students and workers in the mid-1970s, and then the massacres in 1988, when thousands of pro-democracy protesters were gunned down in the streets of Yangon and elsewhere.
Ne Win and his men from the 4th Burma Rifles remained in power until after the events of 1988, when somewhat younger officers took over. Ne Win’s legacy was finally dismantled in 2002, when he died and his relatives were purged allegedly for plotting against the then-military government. But the system he created lives on today.
The military became the ruling class, which enjoyed privileges denied ordinary citizens. It had its own schools and hospitals and it was rare for someone who did not come from a military family to get a job in the government.
The new army that emerged after 1962 also included a series of Light Infantry Divisions, which became notorious for their brutality when fighting rebels and suppressing civil movements in urban areas, as they did in 1988 and are doing once again in the wake of the February 1 coup.
The Burmese Way to Socialism was abolished after the 1988 uprising, but the military retained an important role in the semi-capitalist system that succeeded it. While Ne Win had his DSI, Myanmar’s new military leaders established powerful companies like the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings and the Myanmar Economic Corporation, which currently have vast holdings across the economy.
As such, the very concept of the 1958 declaration and the 1962 coup has not been abandoned but rather reshaped: the military should have a defense function as well as playing social, political and economic roles.
Whether Suu Kyi and her NLD aimed to roll back those roles and holdings in a second elected term is an open and important question.
Suu Kyi largely refrained from challenging the Tatmadaw’s political and economic power in her first term, but the NLD’s overwhelming election win last November – which coup-makers claim without evidence was fraudulent – gave her a strong mandate to push for more democratic change.
Top brass leaders also likely feared the risk of retribution for their many crimes. All senior Tatmadaw officers know where the skeletons are buried of past atrocities, both in ethnic minority areas and now also in urban centers home to the middle class.
The current commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, is now widely loathed across the population for his regime’s ruthless post-coup clampdown. He and his associates know by now that they either maintain power or land in prison — or worse.
But it is a combination of those fears, deeply entrenched economic interests and a dual-function ideology that holds the Tatmadaw so tightly together, not some underlying sense of patriotism or because officers have been hardened through battles in the field.
And that explains why no cracks have or are likely to emerge in the Tatmadaw, despite the brutal, irrational and seemingly self-defeating orders being handed down by officers and carried out by unswervingly obedient foot soldiers..."
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Politics, Government and Governance - Burma/Myanmar - general studies, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Political History, The Communist Party of Burma (CPB), Various groups
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With bullets, beatings and arrests, the junta is trying to scare volunteer rescue workers from treating its victims, and are breaking international humanitarian law to do it, charity groups say.
Description:
"When the three-member team of volunteers from Mandalay’s Payaheta Darri charity rescue service arrived, the found they couldn’t get their ambulance close enough to get the 18-year-old victim onto a stretcher and wheeled to safety.
Friends had brought the teenager, who had been shot in the back, inside a home on 76th Street between 34th and 35th streets in in the city’s central Chan Aye Thar Zan Township. With security forces continuously firing live rounds. The closest the ambulance could get was about three blocks down 34th Street. Ko Htet Myat, 21, a volunteer with Payaheta Darri since the group’s founding in 2015, set out on foot.
He moved cautiously past young protesters huddled behind sandbag barricades and woven bamboo strips, turning onto 76th Street, which he described as a “battlefield”. Inside the home, he pulled the victim onto his back, the teenager’s arms slung over Htet Myat’s shoulders.
Htet Myat slouched forward and began making his way back to the ambulance. On 76th Street three bullets whizzed by – the last terrifying close to his head – before he turned back down 34th. He finally loaded the teen into the ambulance and took him to a nearby hospital. It was about 1pm on March 27.
At about the same time, in Nay Pyi Taw, strutting columns of garlanded troops paraded before junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing to mark the 76th anniversary of Armed Forces Day. Meanwhile, throughout Myanmar that day, forces under Min Aung Hlaing’s command killed more than 100 civilians in crackdowns on protests.
Htet Myat is among thousands of volunteer ambulance and rescue workers in Myanmar, who are increasingly being targeted by the junta with both bullets and the law. Earlier that morning, outside of a branch of state-owned Myanma Economic Bank, junta soldiers fired several shots at his ambulance as it took another gunshot victim to a hospital.
Since the crackdowns began, there have been at least 28 attacks on hospitals and health workers, according to the United Nations, which has condemned the junta’s deliberate targeting of rescue workers and their vehicles.
“Attacks against health volunteers and against ambulances are preventing life-saving help from reaching civilians wounded by security forces,” UN spokesperson Mr Stéphane Dujarric told reporters in New York on April 6.
The junta has raided the offices of several charity organisations doing rescue work, and the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners says that at least 18 medical volunteers have been arrested, charged or sentenced for attempting to save lives.
Most of the organisations are small, local entities working independently, but even volunteers for the large, government-affiliated Myanmar Red Cross Society have been injured and arrested, with some of them still in custody.
MRCS general secretary Dr Htin Zaw Soe said that Geneva Conventions signed by Myanmar in 1949 recognise volunteers and vehicles bearing the Red Cross flag and logo as symbols of protection, making it a violation of international humanitarian law to target them.
“They [security forces] may not be aware of this [law],” he said. “We plan to raise awareness among the public so this is more widely known.”
For Htet Myat in Mandalay, the moral calculus is clear without bringing in international humanitarian law.
“It is just inhumane of them [the security forces] to prevent us from helping the injured,” he told Frontier. “If protesters have been shot and badly injured, the junta’s security forces should allow us to retrieve them [and] save people’s lives.”
‘There is no guarantee for our safety’
The targeting of rescue workers did not begin with the Armed Forces Day slaughter. One of Payaheta Darri’s four ambulances was shot 15 times while parked outside the team’s office in Mandalay’s Chan Aye Thar Zan Township on the night of February 17.
U Ye Myint Win, aka Nickey Diamond, a Myanmar human rights specialist with the international watchdog group Fortify Rights, believes the junta considers the charity groups to be anti-coup partisans.
“The military junta assumes these charity groups support the protesters, and that is why they are also cracking down on them,” he said. “One of their objectives is to prevent injured protesters from being rescued and treated.”
On February 28, junta forces beat two Red Cross volunteers as they were administering first-aid to injured protesters in Mandalay’s Chan Mya Tharzi Township, and damaged two of their ambulances.
The day before, three other volunteers from the Pakkoku branch of the Red Cross in Magway Region were arrested while providing aid. Htin Zaw Soe said the organisation does not know why the arrests were made or if the volunteers have been charged with a crime, but that they are still in custody. It is lobbying local police for their release.
In Mandalay, at least 26 members of the Payaheta Darri and Payaheta Min Khaung charity rescue groups, including two medical doctors and one nurse, were arrested and taken to Obo Prison for treating injured protesters on March 27, then charged with incitement under section 505-A of the Penal Code, according to an official with Payaheta Min Khaung.
Also among the arrested was the Payaheta Darri team leader, a spokesperson told Frontier, adding that the group has since suspended its service “due to insecurity”.
In Yangon, the highly-respected Free Funeral Service Society has suspended all operations since March 4, after security forces launched a midnight raid on its North Okkalapa Township office.
During the raid, security forces brutally assaulted staff and volunteers, leaving at least three injured, and seized computers and other equipment, though they made no arrests.
Two days prior to the raid, FFSS chair U Kyaw Thu had gone into hiding. Hours after the office was raided, the junta charged him in absentia with incitement under section 505-A of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum three-year year sentence.
Daw Myint Myint Khin Pe, FFSS finance officer and Kyaw Thu’s wife, was charged with incitement on February 25, after the society voiced support for the Civil Disobedience Movement and pledged not to assist police or military personnel with medical or funeral service, according to a March 4 broadcast on state news.
Military-run media has also accused the couple of “misusing” donations, including raising more than K316 million in donations for CDM participants between February 10 and March 3, and of distributing to about 2,000 CDM participants between K100,000 and K200,000 each.
“All of our staff are now in hiding,” an FFSS employee who asked not to be named told Frontier on April 2. “The military is hunting us.”
On March 3, CCTV footage that was shared on Facebook captured security forces savagely beating three male volunteers with the Mon Myat Sate Htar rescue charity who had been detained that day by security forces in Yangon’s North Okkalapa Township, where the group is based. The AAPP says a fourth was also detained, but was separated and harassed before the camera began rolling.
The three volunteers in the video, clad in construction hard hats, are forced to kneel before being kicked in the head and beaten with batons and rifle butts by police, who had also shot out the windows of their ambulance. All four suffered injuries and were reportedly treated at Insein Prison, where they were detained for several weeks. The AAPP says they were also slapped with 505-A charges, but Mon Myat Sate Htar could not confirm this, and they were all released on March 24.
After their release, all four returned as volunteers to the frontlines of demonstrations. But Mon Myat Sate Htar president U Hla Kyaing said he fears the incident will deter others from volunteering as the need increases.
U Zin Moe, vice president of the Mawlamyine Rescue Organisation, said volunteers were being forced to gamble with their own lives. “We want to help people, but there is no guarantee for our safety,” he said.
On April 2, in the Mon State capital, soldiers and police dragged three volunteers from an MRO ambulance that had been called to assist people injured in a motorcycle accident at around 7pm. Police interrogated and humiliated the three on the street, though they made no arrests that night, Zin Moe said, adding that the nationwide 8pm-to-4am curfew in place since February has made it impossible to operate rescue services at night. The curfew has no medical exceptions, he said.
‘The injured just piled up’
The deadly consequences of the security forces’ targeting of medical workers was on full display during the April 9 mass slaughter in the city of Bago, where many victims died from excess blood loss after the military prevented rescue workers from getting to them. That day, police and soldiers reportedly killed more than 80 people.
An official from a Bago rescue group who requested anonymity told Frontier that nearly every rescue group in the city was unable to tend to the wounded because of an unending torrent of junta gunfire.
“The injured just piled up,” he said. “Even nearby residents couldn’t get to them. We wanted to save them, but our teams couldn’t run straight into a barrage of gunfire.
The UN issued a statement the following day condemning the crackdown.
“The UN in Myanmar is following continued escalation of violence in Bago with reports of heavy artillery being used against civilians and medical treatment being denied to the injured,” it said. “We call on the security forces to allow medical teams to treat the wounded.”
Among the dead was at least one medical worker. U Thiha, a volunteer from the Pyae Wa charity group, was killed in Bago’s Ponna Su ward while helping to arrange a funeral when security forces arrived and opened fire.
Witnesses told Thiha’s mother, Daw Yamin Oo, 52, that the 32-year-old was shot in the thigh as he tried to flee by scaling a wall. After he fell, soldiers approached and savagely beat him. Ponna Su residents told Frontier they later saw Thiha being dragged behind a police motorbike through the rock-strewn streets, screaming at first until his body became limp.
“When I saw my son’s dead body, his head was dented and his chest was also bruised, and there was no skin at all below his knees,” Yamin Oo told Frontier. “How inhuman!” she said, going momentarily silent before breaking into a wail and calling out her son’s name.
Ye Myint Win from Fortify Rights believes the savagery of such attacks is meant to send a message to protesters.
“They want to instill fear in the people, so protesters know they will be helpless if they are shot or injured,” he said.
Yamin Oo offered a similar, if more pointed, assessment of an institution whose power depends on fear.
“My son was brutally murdered,” she said. “Soldiers and police are not security forces who protect the public – they are terrorists!”..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-23
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Health Workers Strike, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, National Unity Government (NUG)
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"As of 22 April, (739) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) has not yet confirmed any fallen heroes 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 April 22, a total of (3370) people are currently under detention; of them (76) are sentenced. 1099 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
Today, people across Burma continued to protest the dictatorship. In Myingyan, Mandalay Region on April 22, the main strike was fired upon by the junta forces. The terrorists then detained protestors in Myingyan Town. Last night in Chanmyathazi Township, Mandalay Region a 14 year-old girl and a man were shot and injured in the neighborhood for no reason.
Reports of the junta reportedly calming down on crackdowns. Is nothing of the sort. The junta has continued to repressively try to shut down the internet across the country, and in rural areas where information is now especially difficult to ascertain and document, the junta’s violence is continuing at its normal brutality. This is most likely because of the upcoming ASEAN summit on 24 April, it wants to avoid condemnation and accountability and so is moderating its violence and terror in the more easy to document urban areas.
Terrorist groups continue to arrest political party members, student activists, striking CDM workers, and youth protesters. Warrants are increasing, the junta is putting any and everyone who is against this junta on this list. In Magwe Region, over 100 CDM oil workers were threatened by the junta into returning back to work. If they did not return to work on April 22 they will be charged under 505(a) of the Penal Code. 2 private hospitals (Sein Thitsar and Sawn Metta) in Bhamo City, Kachin State were threatened by the junta if the 4 doctors involved in CDM give medical treatment there, then the hospital’s license would be revoked. Through the propaganda media MRTV, the junta said doctors will be prosecuted.
On April 20 evening two CDM teachers from Hpa-An Township were detained in a village they were hiding in. The junta is changing tactics, the terrorists are threatening civilians and civil servants because they realise they cannot govern the country. Civil servants from many and various departments are now being detained, just as the junta is also increasingly issuing arrest warrants. Just like in the 2007 Saffron Revolution, the terrorists are violently arresting monks to maintain power. In Mandalay Region, Mogok, Sayadaw U Yewata (former chairman of ABSFU, formerly called Ye Yint Paing) from Yepu Monastery was beaten and detained last night.
Journalists are now being charged under different sections of the law. In Ayeyarwady Region, a freelance journalist from Myaungmya was arrested last night. In addition, from yesterday the Monywa Gazette announced on their website they will stop operating. The terrorist group is trying to shut down the internet to hide the evidence of their atrocities, again. Information is being suppressed, and yet the media continues to work hard and document the truth to inform Burma’s people.
Last night in Monywa Township, no.3 light infantry battalion chased 3 petrol trucks who passed them by, one driver was shot dead. After 6pm in Mon State, Billin and Thaton Township, the so-called police and military were shooting at anyone who passed by their camps. Civilians are too frequently injured and killed in Burma nowadays, after nearly 3 months the people continue to endure atrocities. If this dictatorship gets stronger, democracy will disappear. We must end the history of dictatorships in Burma to ensure democracy and human rights for all. For this movement to succeed we must have internal strength but also more substantial international support.
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:
“Our uprising must succeed”
Email : [email protected]
Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma
In Solidarity,
AAPP..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"As of 21 April, (739) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) compiled and documented (1) fallen hero today. This (1) hero from Myaung Township in Sagaing Region was killed 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 April 21, a total of (3331) people are currently under detention; of them (76) are sentenced. 1059 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
On April 21, “Blue Shirt Day 2021”, in honour of the seventh anniversary of the death of prominent journalist U Win Tin, protesters in Burma and many and all people inside and outside of the country, wore a blue shirt to stand with all political prisoners still detained in Burma. Political prisoners, those disappeared and in-hiding continue to increase. The situation for those detainees, their access to court – medical treatment – and fair trial is deprived. On this Blue Shirt Campaign Day, AAPP urges the international community including ASEAN to take action to ensure immediate release of all the political prisoners in Burma again.
Today, sound grenades and live ammunition was used against the Dawei Strike in Tanintharyi Region. Five people including a 16-years old student were beaten and arrested. Among the arrested five, one youth was reportedly injured by a bullet shot, emergency treatment for him is clearly needed. The junta makes people who peacefully oppose them into enemies. They don’t even give medical treatment, increasingly civilians are dying from this. A main strike in Launglon town, Tanintharyi Region was also crackdown on. Two motorbikes were reportedly stolen by the junta forces, but no confirmed arrests yet.
Yesterday, 200 terrorist troops took a military base between Thee Kone village in Yinmar Pin Town and Kapine village in Sagaing Region. Local residents opposed to this troop base waged a defence clash in which five villagers were killed as initially reported, further confirmation is being investigated. The junta reportedly used drones to scout the villages before using heavy artillery.
The terrorists raid houses and take people as hostages. On April 19, two NLD members of Kyaukse Township, Mandalay Region, were searched for in their homes. The two were evading arrest. So, the junta detained both of their eldery fathers (one of whom is visually impaired). A CDM teacher charged with Section 505(a) and evading arrest in Thanbyuzayat town in Mon State was searched for on April 19, three family members were found and taken as hostages. Such hostage taking is a serious crime committed by the junta to indoctrinate a climate of fear. The terrorists oppress in many ways, unarmed civilians defy this oppression in peaceful protests/CDM – to destroy the dictator’s governance. Several innocents have sacrificed their lives. The international community must take whatever action is necessary.
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 heros in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses:
“Our uprising must succeed”
Email : [email protected]
Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma
In Solidarity,
AAPP..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Sub-title:
Opposition to the military’s coup has boosted ethnic armed groups, creating a new challenge to its lucrative jade and gems business
Description:
"Life in Myanmar’s jade-producing regions was always difficult and precarious but since the military seized power from the civilian government on February 1, it has become even more dangerous.
In Kachin State’s Hpakant township, which has the world’s largest and most lucrative jade mines, there are more soldiers and police, access to mining sites has become more difficult and local markets have stopped operating.
“Many places are dangerous to dig jade now. There are only a few places where we can dig by hand or small machine,” said Sut Naw, a local miner who preferred to use a pseudonym for security reasons.
Police and soldiers are now guarding company compounds, he added, patrolling roads day and night. They also stop people on the streets or in their vehicles, checking for jade and other valuables and searching through people’s phones for evidence of resistance to the coup.
“I have seen many zombie movies, but never realised that I would be living in a similar environment,” he said. “People don’t go out at all unless they have to.”
The military has long dominated Myanmar’s jade industry and continues to rake in immense profits. Myanmar’s annual jade and gems emporium, held from April 1 to 10, brought in $6.5m on the sixth day alone, according to state media.....Lucrative resource: In 2015, the environmental watchdog Global Witness valued Myanmar’s jade industry at $31bn and described it as possibly the “biggest natural resource heist in modern history.” Identifying the Tatmadaw and armed elites as the industry’s biggest profiteers, the exploitation of jade was “an appalling crime that poses a serious threat to democracy and peace in Myanmar,” it said.
Keel Dietz, a Myanmar policy adviser with Global Witness, told Al Jazeera that with the Tatmadaw now in total control over the formal governance of natural resources, they were likely to step up that exploitation.
“There is a huge risk that the military, in their desperate efforts to maintain control, will look to the country’s natural resource wealth to sustain their rule, to buy weapons, and enrich themselves,” he said.
Escalating clashes between the Kachin Independence Army, the armed wing of an ethnic armed group in the resource-rich northern state and the military, known as the Tatmadaw, have raised questions over the control over the jade mines.
Before a 1994 ceasefire, the Kachin Independence Organization, which has been fighting for federal rights to self-determination since 1961, controlled most of the mines and local people were able to enjoy a share of the wealth through small-scale mining activities. The KIA is its armed wing.
The ceasefire saw most of the jade-mining region nationalised under a military government known for exploiting resources without regard for the social and environmental consequences.
The state-owned Myanmar Gems Enterprise took control over the regulation of mining activity and issuing licences, which it signed over to itself and to companies that benefitted its interests, including proxy companies, companies run by military cronies and those connected to armed actors including the United Wa State Army, which runs its own special administrative region on the China border and has a history of links to drug trafficking.
These companies levelled mountains, dug enormous trenches and dumped waste with impunity.
Hundreds of thousands of migrants flocked to the area, dreaming of digging their way to prosperity but found themselves scavenging through company waste heaps; if they found a big stone, it was confiscated by soldiers.
The natural environment was destroyed, landslides and mining accidents claimed hundreds of lives, and drug abuse skyrocketed – all while the Tatmadaw pocketed handsome profits.
Shortly after winning elections in 2015, the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi pledged to reform the industry and in August 2016, suspended the renewal of mining licences and the issuance of new ones.
But companies bypassed the suspensions with impunity, and the NLD government was widely criticised by rights groups for failing to bring meaningful changes to the jade industry. In July 2020, more than 170 people were buried in a landslide in a Hpakant jade mine.
“The government and military have never respected natural resources,” said Ah Shawng,* a land and Indigenous rights activist in Hpakant. “They extract resources as they wish and only for themselves. .. Our natural resources are all disappearing and being destroyed.”
But since the coup, resistance to centralised policies and the exploitation of ethnic people and the land and resources in their states appears to be rising.....Shifting allegiances: The 2008 military-drafted constitution, which centralised land and resource management at the union level and entrenched Tatmadaw power, was abolished on March 31 by officials forced out by the military. In its place, they put forward an interim Federal Democracy Charter.
Mainstream support for armed resistance to military rule has also increased, as the Tatmadaw arrests thousands and indiscriminately shoots civilians. Some 739 people have been killed, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which is tracking the violence.
With ethnic armed groups, including the KIO, in a position to offer protection and help fight back against the generals, ethnic minorities’ struggles for self-determination under a federal system, which were once largely ignored by the majority Bamar public, are now increasingly popular. Pro-KIA demonstrations have been held across Kachin State and even in central Myanmar, while the number of recruits is rising.
Although the KIA and Tatmadaw have been at war since the ceasefire collapsed in 2011, fighting had slowed since 2018.
But since the coup conflict has escalated. Clashes have been taking place nearly every day. The KIA, so far, appears to have the upper hand – it has taken several Tatmadaw bases and claims to have obliterated entire battalions, killing hundreds of soldiers.
Some of the most intense fighting has occurred in and around Hpakant, where Ah Shawng, the local rights activist who also prefers to use a pseudonym for her security, says most locals support the KIA.
“Now, when [junta] forces harm people, the KIA protects and stands with us,” she said, adding that the KIA had been successful in driving out some security forces from the area.
On March 28, the KIA killed about 30 policemen who had raided a jade mining site operated by the Taut Pa Kyal mining company, according to Kachin State-based media reports.
The company, according to a BBC Burmese article, is backed by the Kyaw Naing company, which has 64 licenced mining sites and failed to disclose a military crony among its beneficial owners in 2020. Days later, a photo circulated on social media of a police station, allegedly at another company jade mining site in Hpakant, bearing a white flag of surrender to the KIA. Al Jazeera contacted the KIO to verify the incidents but they declined to comment on matters related to Hpakant.
The KIA may be fighting to gain control of other areas as well – including some areas beyond Kachin State.
Local news agency Myanmar Now reported on April 15 that the KIA and Tatmadaw had clashed in Mogok, a city in Mandalay region hundreds of miles from Kachin State.
Mogok’s mines possess the world’s most valuable rubies, as well as other lucrative gemstones. On April 16, a group of youth in Mogok staged a pro-KIA march and drew a large “Welcome KIA” banner on the street. The next day, the military forces gunned down at least two people in the city.....Sanctions, import bans: The United States has already imposed sanctions on Myanmar Gems Enterprise, as well as on two military holding companies, Myanmar Economic Holdings Public Company Limited (MEHL) and Myanmar Economic Corporation Limited (MEC). This week, the European Union also added MEHL and MEC to its sanctions list.
Dietz of Global Witness told Al Jazeera that while the sanctions were “hugely important,” they were likely to have only a limited effect on the jade sector without the support of China, which serves as the primary market for Myanmar’s jade, a highly prized luminous green stone.
“Global Witness encourages the international community to place import bans on all jade and coloured gemstones coming from Myanmar,” he said. He also expressed concern that as the Tatmadaw finds itself squeezed of funds, it might try sell off resource concessions in exchange for fast cash. “The international community should make it clear to commodity trading firms and other investors in natural resources that now is not the time to be making large new resource deals in Myanmar – the military regime is not a legitimate government, and should not be allowed to sell away Myanmar’s remaining mineral wealth to sustain itself,” he said.
Tu Hkawng the Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation under the newly-formed interim National Unity Government running in parallel to the generals’ administration, told Al Jazeera that it was time to bring natural resource management back into the hands of the local people.
Appointed on April 16, he has already begun engaging with local stakeholders to reform natural resource management policy through the lens of Indigenous rights.
“We are trying to build a collective leadership … to engage more with the grassroots-level community and solve the problems together,” he said. “This is a bottom-up approach. In order to achieve it, we have to build a network with every stakeholder and collaborate.”
He hopes that by addressing natural resource governance, the civil wars that have plagued the country for the past 70 years can finally be brought to an end.
“Every ethnic group has the right to manage and benefit from the natural resources on its own land. Right now we don’t have that,” he said. “If everyone gets to govern their own land, we won’t have to fight any more.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Al Jazeera" (Qatar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems - mining and trade, Kachin State, Economic activities of the Myanmar Military, Business and the Military, Armed conflict in Kachin State - general articles, Illegal Economy - general, Anti-coup protesters, Rail Workers strike, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"Food insecurity is rising sharply in Myanmar in the wake of the military coup and deepening financial crisis with millions more people expected to go hungry in coming months, the United Nations said on Thursday.
Up to 3.4 million more people will struggle to afford food in the next three to six months with urban areas worst affected as job losses mount in manufacturing, construction and services and food prices rise, a World Food Program (WFP) analysis shows.
"More and more poor people have lost their jobs and are unable to afford food," country director Stephen Anderson said in a statement.
"A concerted response is required now to alleviate immediate suffering, and to prevent an alarming deterioration in food security."
The WFP said market prices of rice and cooking oil had risen by 5% and 18% respectively since the end of February, with signs that families in the commercial capital of Yangon were skipping meals, eating less nutritious food, and going into debt.
The agency plans to expand operations, tripling to 3.3 million the number of people it assists, and is appealing for $106 million, it said.
A Myanmar junta spokesman did not immediately answer phone calls to seek comment.
Myanmar’s army seized power from the democratically elected civilian government on Feb.1, plunging the Southeast Asian nation into turmoil and cracking down on mass protests and a nationwide civil disobedience movement with brutal force, killing more than 700 people, a monitoring group said.
The crisis has brought the banking system to a standstill, shuttering many branches, leaving businesses unable to make payments and customers unable to withdraw cash.
Many people depend on remittances from relatives abroad. Most imports and exports have been halted and factories have closed.
The World Bank forecasts Myanmar's GDP to contract 10% in 2021, a reversal of previously positive trends.
Before the coup, the WFP said about 2.8 million in Myanmar were considered food insecure.
The coronavirus pandemic took a heavy toll of the economy, which had been growing as it emerged from decades of isolation and financial mismanagement under former military governments..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
WFP (World Food Programme), Food Security and militarisation in Burma, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Summary:
"After witnessing the military regime’s continuous targeted raids on doctors and healthcare facilities treating the wounded, Myanmar Doctors for Human Rights has asked the United Nation (UN) and...
Description:
"After witnessing the military regime’s continuous targeted raids on doctors and healthcare facilities treating the wounded, Myanmar Doctors for Human Rights has asked the United Nation (UN) and international organizations to take meaningful measures against the junta.
In an open letter to Antonio Guterres, the Secretary General of the UN, Myanmar Doctors for Human Rights demanded that the UN stop the junta’s forces from intentionally targeting medical professionals providing care to the wounded and help the injured seek treatment without fear for their own safety. The group includes volunteer doctors and 15 medical students’ unions.
Since the Feb. 1 coup, the military regime has been conducting the deadly crackdowns on anti-regime demonstrations across Myanmar. Numerous atrocities have been committed against protesters and civilians by the junta’s forces during raids, arrests, and interrogations.
During the crackdowns, many wounded protesters have been arrested without being provided medical treatment. Meanwhile, in several instances the bodies of the dead have been taken away and not returned to the families.
Also, charity organizations and ambulances trying to pick up the bodies of those killed or provide medical assistance to the wounded have been fired upon or arrested by the regime’s forces.
In a shooting in Mandalay in late February, Ko Yarzar Aung, a 26-year-old protester, who was shot in the leg, died at a military hospital without being provided the proper treatment, a witness told The Irrawaddy.
A doctor from a charity group in the city, who tried to treat Ko Yarzar Aung, said that except for some minor treatment, the regime’s forces would not allow her to attend to wounded detainees before they were taken away.
The doctor said that Ko Yarzar Aung would not have died from his leg injuries if he had been treated properly.
In late March, the junta’s forces raided an office of a charity group comprised of several organizations in Mandalay giving treatment to the wounded, according to a social worker. The troops seized three ambulances and destroyed two others. They also seized clinic materials and arrested 26 social workers, including several medics.
During an attack on anti-regime strongholds in Bago on April 9, when about 82 died in a massacre, the regime’s forces closed every entrance to four wards for days.
No ambulances and social organizations giving medical assistance and free funeral services were able to go into the wards to pick up the dead or give medical treatment to the wounded.
Myanmar Doctors for Human Rights said in its open letter to the UN that the military regime’s polices and soldiers are intentionally targeting medical treatment sites, charity clinics and hospitals providing critical care to the injured.
On April 5, the regime’s troop stormed the house of orthopedic surgeon Dr. Kyaw Min Soe in Mayangone Township of Yangon and arrested the physician. They tied the doctor’s hands behind his back, and a black bag was put over his head.
The doctor, a professor at University of Medicine, Yangon, has been involved in the civil disobedience movement (CDM) and was also providing medical treatment to those injured in anti-regime protests.
On April 12, the regime’s forces arrested Dr. Maw Maw Oo, head of the Emergency Department of Yangon General Hospital, who had been providing medical care to the wounded even though he has joined the CDM.
Myanmar Doctors for Human Rights said that in some places, doctors have been forced to keep the lights off in order to prevent the junta’s forces from finding and arresting them. Working with just torchlight, they have performed life saving operations.
Since last week, the military regime has been issuing arrest warrants for doctors in the CDM each night. As of Wednesday, 179 medics in the CDM have been charged.
“It is truly agonizing for us to see our fellow countrymen taking their last breaths in front of our very eyes,” said Myanmar Doctors for Human Rights.
It also said in its letter that by many lives which could otherwise have been saved have been unnecessarily lost because doctors have been forcibly prevented from providing essential medical care to the wounded.
After receiving the open letter, Dr. Simon Adams, Executive Director of Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, tweeted on its Twitter account on Wednesday that the time for statements of concern has long passed.
“I was very moved by the letter I received from Myanmar Doctors for Human Rights,” he said.
He added now is the time for the UN to place human rights at the forefront and use every practical diplomatic tool available.
As of Wednesday, nearly 740 people have been killed by the junta’s forces during their crackdowns, raids, arrests and interrogations, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
Those killed include anti-regime protesters, bystanders, pedestrians and residents.
In spite of killing and arrests, tens of thousands of people across Myanmar continue to take to the streets to show their defiance of the military rule..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-22
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
The UN and Burma - news and commentary, Anti-coup protesters, Health Workers Strike, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Sub-title:
Southeast Asian Leaders Should Press for Return to Democratic Rule
Description:
"The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should immediately withdraw its invitation to Myanmar’s junta leader, Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, to attend its upcoming summit, Human Rights Watch said today. ASEAN has scheduled an emergency meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia, on April 24, 2021, to discuss the crisis in Myanmar.
ASEAN’s inclusion of Min Aung Hlaing lends unwarranted legitimacy to the junta’s State Administrative Council over Myanmar’s democratically elected government, which the military overthrew in a coup on February 1. Before and since the coup, the United States, United Kingdom, and European Union have imposed financial and travel sanctions on Min Aung Hlaing for his involvement in grave human rights violations as military commander-in-chief.
“Min Aung Hlaing, who faces international sanctions for his role in military atrocities and the brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, should not be welcomed at an intergovernmental gathering to address a crisis he created,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “ASEAN members should instead take this opportunity to impose targeted, economic sanctions on junta leaders and on businesses that fund the junta, and press the junta to release political detainees, end abuses, and restore the country’s democratically elected government.”
On November 8, 2020, Myanmar’s voters overwhelmingly elected members of the National League for Democracy (NLD), headed by Aung San Suu Kyi, to the national parliament. The NLD secured 83 percent of the contested seats. Myanmar’s military, the Tatmadaw, claimed that the election was marred by massive fraud but has produced no credible evidence to substantiate that charge. Both domestic and international election monitoring organizations found the elections credible and rejected the Tatmadaw’s unsubstantiated claims.
Myanmar’s generals refused to accept the massive electoral defeat of the military-linked Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and acted to deprive Myanmar’s people of their right to choose their government, a right enshrined in international law. Early on February 1, the day that the new parliament was to sit for the first time, the military arrested and detained President Win Myint and State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, along with scores of other NLD ministers, members of parliament, and regional administrators.
The state security forces have arbitrarily arrested numerous local NLD officials, at least two of whom have been tortured to death in detention. The authorities have also arrested commissioners of the national Union Election Commission and many of its state and regional offices.
Malaysia and Indonesia have publicly expressed concern about the coup, and Singapore and the Philippines have urged the Myanmar security forces to exercise restraint. However, ASEAN as a group has done little more than call on “all parties” to refrain from violence and to seek a peaceful solution through “constructive dialogue.”
This call ignores the reality that the violence has overwhelmingly been committed by state security forces against peaceful protesters, and the State Administrative Council has declared unlawful two bodies that would be likely parties to any dialogue. On March 21, the SAC declared the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, a group representing elected lawmakers, an “unlawful association.” On April 20, the SAC issued the same declaration for the recently formed National Unity Government, established by opponents to the coup.
Ongoing nationwide protests organized by the national Civil Disobedience Movement have demonstrated widespread opposition to rule by the military, which has governed the country for most of the past 60 years. The junta’s response to the largely peaceful protests has been increasingly brutal. Since the coup, security forces have killed over 700 people, including at least 45 children as young as five, and detained an estimated 3,200 activists, journalists, civil servants, and politicians. Hundreds have been forcibly disappeared, which may amount to crimes against humanity.
Over the past weeks, the military has demonstrated the callous disregard for human life that has driven its strategy for decades. In video footage from cities and towns across the country, soldiers can be seen shooting down children, brutally beating medical aid workers, and firing shotguns into crowds of peacefully protesting doctors. In the city of Bago on April 9, military and police used grenades against barricades erected by protesters, killing scores of people.
The State Administrative Council has also ordered the shutdown of mobile data and public Wi-Fi connections, resulting in the shutdown of much of the country’s internet, and placed areas of the country under martial law. In these areas, protesters, other opponents of military rule, and journalists face trials in closed military courts under unfair trial procedures, with no right to appeal. Under the council order, those convicted by military courts may be sentenced to death or hard labor for unlimited periods of time. Since the declaration of martial law, military tribunals have sentenced at least 19 people to death.
“ASEAN should be playing a constructive role in resolving Myanmar’s crisis, not providing a podium to the general most responsible for creating it,” Adams said. “ASEAN should make clear that it stands with Myanmar’s democratically elected government and will demand accountability from Min Aung Hlaing and other junta leaders responsible for the deaths of hundreds protesting for democracy.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Human Rights Watch" (USA)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
ASEAN-Burma relations, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Human Rights Watch Reports on Burma/Myanmar
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Sub-title:
US could not unilaterally invoke 'R2P' to intervene in Myanmar's crisis but that doesn't mean the military option is off the table
Description:
"Nearly 80 days and 800 deaths after the military coup of February 1, two divergent trendlines have emerged to define the future contours of Myanmar’s crisis: brutal reassertion of control by the military junta over a political and economic wasteland; or descent into civil war pitting the junta against a nascent coalition of forces fighting for federal democracy.
Less noted and earlier in the crisis dismissed as quixotic, there is also however a third wild-card scenario involving action aimed at deflecting both of those two disastrous trajectories: foreign intervention to engage Myanmar’s generals in the only language they have ever understood or respected – military power.
Impelled by the looming prospect of state collapse and humanitarian catastrophe as an inflexible Tatmadaw ratchets up its repression, the logic of external intervention in the form of US missile strikes against military targets is assuming a compelling momentum.
As one well-placed Singapore-based analyst conceded: “We’re in such dire territory now that almost nothing is off-limits.”
In the weeks following the putsch through February and into March many, including this writer, saw reassertion of control by the junta, known as the State Administration Council (SAC), as the most probable outcome. The argument was based on an assessment of four salient facets of the Tatmadaw as a military organization: its ample resources, institutional cohesion, proven ruthlessness and unblinking sense of mission. All of these characteristics had been amply demonstrated in earlier periods of popular protest.
Where the assessment fell down was in underestimating the extraordinary courage and resilience of ordinary citizens. Led by a youthful vanguard armed with modern communications technology, hundreds of thousands who saw their future being torn away by the same military that between 1962 and 2011 had reduced their country to an economic basket case took to the streets in peaceful protest.
This sustained outpouring of anger forced the military to move from relative restraint in the first weeks after the coup to a more characteristic resort to battlefield violence involving first targeted killings using rifles and finally open massacres with machine guns, grenades and rocket launchers..."
Source/publisher:
"Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Burma's economic relations with China, Economic activities of the Myanmar Military, China-Burma-US relations, ASEAN-Burma relations, Anti-coup protesters, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory
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Description:
"As of 20 April, (738) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) has not yet confirmed any fallen heroes 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 April 20, a total of (3300) people are currently under detention; of them (76) are sentenced. 1020 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
Today, protests across the country continued in resistance to the dictatorship. A seeming calm in crackdowns is actually not the case. This morning in Narnat Taw Ward, Loikaw City, Kayah State, a demonstration was attacked by junta forces, the area was then stormed and houses destroyed. This kind of violence is happening everywhere, as did many arbitrary arrests in several areas today.
Yesterday early morning in Myingyan City, Mandalay Region, one protester was shot in the thigh and detained. By the evening, the junta told his family to collect his dead body. Across Burma, wounded people are being detained, mistreated and not given adequate medical care.
In international conflicts people have a right to medical care when injured. The junta is treating anyone they see like an enemy. Injured protestors can not get treatment they desperately need. You have less chance of getting treated in junta crackdowns than in warzones seen outside our country.
On the early morning of 19 April, in Chanmyathazi Township, Mandalay City, junta forces in a white unmarked car and military truck dropped a dead body by the trash in the Mya Nandar housing complex with his head wide open, wounds on his back, face bruised and his body burnt. There is a complete lack of human rights, the junta does not inform the family or place them in a hospital, there is no human dignity given.
In Chanayethazan Township, Mandalay Region, the No.6 Police Station deputy was brutally arrested because of his involvement in CDM. The deputy has pre-existing kidney problems, he is reportedly not allowed medical care for his kidney problems. His family are worried if he can not get medical treatment, his health will further decline. The family have not been allowed to visit him, they are requesting he receive the medical treatment he urgently needs.
It is a worry scenario when those being detained need medical treatment, in detention the situation is very insecure, there is no human rights given. This is worryingly happening every day across Burma now. But this is a systematic pattern of the junta behaviour. Detainees are entitled to human rights.
The junta are targeting urban and rural areas with violence in crackdowns. In Sagaing Region, Ta Yaw Gyin village and Tha Byay Aye village in Yin Mar Bin Township; and Moe Gaung village, Chaung Ma village, Yar Gyi village, Lar Po village, and Sae Ywar village in Kani Township, locals were forced to flee because of the junta. Terrorist troops arrived and the villagers were forced to hide in paddy fields. The junta then based itself at the village, and destroyed and looted the villagers’ possessions.
Last night, in Mee Laung Phya village, Nyaung Oo Township, Mandalay Region, the junta searched people’s homes, looting gold and jewelry. 30 villagers were detained and most of the rest were forced to flee. Yesterday evening, in Letwe-Myinni village, Nwathogyi Township, Mandalay Region, the junta set fire to defensive barricades. Terrorist troops also beat some of the villagers, searching one house and looting a satellite and other goods.
All people feel unsafe because of the junta’s actions. The terrorist’s violence will only deteriorate. People will continue to have even less peace and security. ASEAN must not act like this is Burma’s internal affair, instability threatens the entire region’s economic and political interests. ASEAN must take a stronger response than at present.
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 heros in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses:
“Our uprising must succeed”
Email : [email protected]
Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma
In Solidarity,
AAPP..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Summary:
"The European Union imposed sanctions on 10 more junta members, including its ethnic minority representatives, and two military-controlled conglomerates on Monday.
The latest sanctions target nine...
Description:
"The European Union imposed sanctions on 10 more junta members, including its ethnic minority representatives, and two military-controlled conglomerates on Monday.
The latest sanctions target nine members of the State Administrative Council (SAC), the junta’s governing body, and its information minister, U Chit Naing, who is responsible for issuing military propaganda.
The EU said the sanctions include asset freezes and visa bans on those involved in decision-making, undermining democracy and serious human rights violations.
At least 739 people have been killed and 3,261 detained by the regime since the military takeover on Feb. 1, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.
The EU imposed sanctions on U Chit Naing, saying he was responsible for spreading disinformation through the state media. It said he was also “directly responsible for decisions that led to the crackdown on Myanmar media”.
After taking over the ministry, he outlawed the words “coup”, “military regime” and “junta” in the independent media. On March 8 he removed the operating licenses of Mizzima, Myanmar Now, 7Day News, Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) and Khit Thit Media, all of which had covered the protests against military rule.
Seven ethnic-minority SAC members are included on the sanctions lists.
Mahn Nyein Maung, a former Karen National Union leader and ex-political prisoner, ran unsuccessfully for the Lower House in Ayeyarwady Region’s Pantanaw Township for the Karen People’s Party in the Nov. 8 general election.
Rakhine politician Daw Aye Nu Sein was on the Arakan National Party’s policy board and the party’s spokeswoman. Kayah politician Saw Daniel was the vice-chairman of the Kayah State Democratic Party until his dismissal from the party for joining the SAC.
Dr. Banyar Aung Moe, a central executive committee member of the Mon Unity Party, was appointed to the SAC on March 17, leading to the resignation of many party members.
Shan politician Sai Lone Hseng was a Shan State speaker representing the military-proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party.
Two other members of ethnic minorities on the SAC, Jeng Phang Naw Taung and U Moung Har, also face EU sanctions.
New National Democracy Party chairman U Thein Nyunt and National Democratic Force chairman U Khin Maung Swe are on the sanctions list. Both are former National League for Democracy members who quit to take part in the military-organized 2010 general election and they served as MPs until 2015.
Myanma Economic Holdings Public Company Limited (MEHL) and Myanmar Economic Corporation Limited (MEC) have been also been sanctioned by the EU. The two conglomerates are a key source of income for the junta. They control a range of banking, trade, logistics, construction, mining, tourism and consumer goods businesses.
The EU said its decision is “a sign of the EU’s unity and determination in condemning the brutal actions of the military junta and aims at effecting change in the junta’s leadership”.
The 27-member bloc said its sanctions targeted the economic interests of the coup leaders and aim to avoid harm to the people of Myanmar.
Some are still missing
In March, the EU issued a freeze on assets and a visa ban for coup leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and nine other senior officers who are SAC members and for the new head of the election commission.
The EU’s latest sanctions on Monday target civilian members of the SAC and one minister.
Other key SAC members have evaded sanctions.
Foreign minister U Wunna Maung Lwin, a key member of the UDSP, also served as foreign minister under President U Thein Sein when he worked with his counterparts in Asean, a role he reprised on his recent trip to Thailand. He met the Thai and Indonesian foreign ministers weeks after the military coup.
Also missing is the regime’s investment and foreign economic relations minister, U Aung Naing Oo. Despite his military background, he was appointed Myanmar Investment Commission chief under the ousted National League for Democracy government. With the experience he gained under the NLD government, he is now the economics czar for the regime.
The junta’s minister for social welfare, relief and resettlement, Daw Thet Thet Khaing, was a military-friendly politician long before her ministerial appointment. Before the 2020 general election, she met Senior General Min Aung Hung to seek help if they were mistreated by the NLD during the election. She is a former NLD member.
International cooperation minister U Ko Ko Haling used to be an adviser under U Thein Sein’s government in the early 2010s. He is a staunch supporter of China and he is an adviser to Yunnan University’s Center for Myanmar Studies. He has backed China’s policies towards Hong Kong and Taiwan.
These ministers have all received severe criticism from pro-democracy supporters who have demanded western countries impose sanctions on them..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Sanctions - general, European Union-Burma relations (commentary/analysis), Burma's economic relations with the European Union, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Business and the Military
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Summary:
"Five civilians were killed and five more injured after a shootout between the coup regime’s troops and locals armed with hunting rifles in Yinmabin Township, Sagaing Region, on Tuesday.
Following...
Sub-title:
Troops used drones to track locals’ location and fired at them with long-range artillery
Description:
"Five civilians were killed and five more injured after a shootout between the coup regime’s troops and locals armed with hunting rifles in Yinmabin Township, Sagaing Region, on Tuesday.
Following the clash, rumours circulated that 10 locals had died. Myanmar Now was able to confirm one death on Tuesday evening, and four more on Wednesday morning.
“It’s not true that there were 10 deaths. We’re in touch with the leaders,” a relief worker from Yinmabin told Myanmar Now.
The five casualties were Bo San, Aung San Oo, Aung Naing, Zaw Myo Aung, and Kyaw Myo Tun. They were from the villages of Win Kone, Kapaing-Theekone and Kyobin.
The fighting with locals broke out after some 200 soldiers stationed themselves on the road to the Alaungdaw Kathapa pagoda near Kapaing village.
While the locals defended themselves using traditional hunting rifles, troops took up positions beyond their range, using drones to track the villagers’ locations and fire at them with long-range artillery.
Relief workers were only able to retrieve the body of Bo San, who had suffered multiple injuries in the shelling.
At the time of reporting, Myanmar Now was still gathering further information about the five men who were killed in Yinmabin, but due to the lack of internet access to the region, such independent verification has been difficult. The ruling junta cut off mobile internet nationwide in March.
Around 10,000 residents from at least 17 villages had fled their homes due to the clashes and were hiding in the jungle, the relief worker said.
Residents in Sagaing Region’s Kalay, Kani, Tamu, Taze and Yinmabin townships have been resisting the regime’s attacks since the military began indiscriminate crackdowns on protests across the country following the February 1 coup..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"On 8 November 2020, Myanmar had its third general election since 2010. The electorate overwhelmingly voted for the National League for Democracy (NLD). On 1 February 2021, the Tatmadaw staged a coup, alleging that the NLD had taken power by fraudulent means. President U Win Myint and State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, along with most senior NLD leaders, were immediately arrested. The remaining senior NLD leaders urged people to protest, before being arrested themselves. The people have risen to the occasion, and have sacrificed much to challenge the coup. The fate of the revolution lies in the hands of political entities and ethnic armed organizations, who must support the people before it is too late......People’s Response to the Military Coup: Under the banner of the “Spring Revolution”, Myanmar’s anti-military coup movement has generated an unprecedented level of national unity – overcoming ethnic, religious, and class boundaries. Since early February, protesters have drummed pots and pans every day at 8pm in response to the coup. They have come out to streets, turning major roads into seas of people, remaining peaceful despite the violence they endure at the hands of the military. Civil servants and private sector workers have established a national civil disobedience movement (CDM) in an unmatched attempt to cripple the military’s administrative mechanism. In response to brutal crackdowns from security forces, demonstrations are now smaller to aid escape. The protesters have also used road blockages to hinder the advancement of security forces. However, security forces have now forcefully cleared blockades at most protest sites. In some places, security forces have reportedly forced local residents (especially men) to clear them.
Protesters have also started social punishment campaigns against military families and their associates, and have called for a boycott of products produced by military’s companies. These tactics have already had significant effects. For instance, many restaurants and bars no longer sell Myanmar Beer. There are also reports of people boycotting MyTel, a mobile operator jointly owned by the Tatmadaw and the Vietnamese military.
One could argue that the public has done their part to the best of their capacities and it would be unrealistic to expect more from them. The best they could possibly do would be to continue the social punishment campaign against military leaders, their families and associates, as well as to sustain their boycott of products and services provided by the military’s companies.
Therefore, at this point, the outcome of the Myanmar Spring Revolution largely depends on the capacity of institutional leaders to consolidate various opposition forces. The elected members of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (Union Parliament), mostly from the NLD, are attempting to provide the institutional leadership by forming the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH). Thus, the outcome of the Myanmar Spring Revolution depends on the political decisions and leadership of the CRPH.....The Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH): The elected NLD members believe that their victory in the 2020 general election provides a mandate to form the CRPH, which was established so that they could perform the necessary activities and duties of an elected government. These include appointing and forming a government and making laws.....Political Visions of the CRPH: On 5 March 2021, the CRPH announced its political vision, declaring their commitment to the following: to end military dictatorship; to ensure the unconditional release of all unlawful detainees including President U Win Myint and State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi; to achieve full-fledged democracy; and to rescind the 2008 Constitution and write a new Constitution based on the federal system.
The CRPH also states that it will steadfastly work hand-in-hand with all ethnic nationalities and strive for the full realization of this vision. To pave the way for broader participation in the Spring Revolution, the CRPH removed all the ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) from the ‘unlawful organization list’ while designating the Tatmadaw as a ‘terrorist organization.’
It seems that most of the ethnic minorities welcome the political visions of the CRPH. However, many ethnic minorities also feel that the CRPH’s vision statement is only the first step. The CRPH must further show a concrete roadmap for including diverse voices within their vision. For example, the former joint secretary of the Karen National Union (KNU), Padoh Mahn Mahn, states that the political visions of the CRPH are only the beginning and that the CRPH must provide a workable plan for establishing a genuine federal union and a federal army. Likewise, the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy also points out that CRPH must declare the abolishment of the 2008 Constitution if ethnic minorities are to come onboard.
At that point, the status of the 2008 Constitution was unclear because its abolishment was only positioned as a ‘political vision.’ However, on 31 March 2021, the CRPH has declared abolishment of the 2008 Constitution and announced Federal Democracy Charter. The Charter provides further details on how the CRPH might seek to translate its visions into reality, for instance by declaring the duties of an interim National Unity Government (NUG). The list of individuals appointed to the NUG was released on 16 April 2021.....Progress of the political talks between the CRPH and the EAOs: The stated political visions of CRPH appear to have won the hearts and minds of some ethnic minority political parties and armed organizations. Since its formation, the CRPH has reportedly been negotiating with EAOs on the terms of creating a federal union. Among those involved in the talks are the Karen National Union, the Restoration Council for Shan State, and the Kachin Independence Army, as well as other groups that have signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement. By March 2021, the political talks are about 80% complete, according to Zin Mar Aung, the Acting Foreign Minister of the CRPH. These political talks contributed to the aforementioned Federal Democracy Charter and the appointment of the NUG.
According to the Charter, the interim NUG is formed with these roles: President, State Counsellor, Vice President 1, Vice President 2, ministers and deputy ministers. The NUG appointed by the CRPH shows that President U Win Myint and State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi remain in their posts despite being in detention. The NUG is perhaps the most diverse government in terms of ethnicities the country has ever had.
As an aside, it is interesting to ask why the CRPH decided to keep Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as State Counsellor instead of appointing her as the President. Some might beg an answer for the rationale of keeping the post of “State Counsellor”. The post was created to circumvent the 2008 Constitution, which bars people married to foreigners from becoming the president. One wonders why the CRPH has decided to retain the “State Counsellor” post even after declaring the abolishment of the 2008 Constitution.....Doubts over the CRPH: Ethnic minorities have two major concerns over the capacity of the CRPH to uphold the agreements and understandings that the CRPH has reached with them. The first concern relates to ethnic minorities’ perception that Bama political leaders and the majority of Bama ethnic people do not have a strong political will for federalism. This is because a delegation of power to State governments (i.e., ethnic minorities) would mean less power to the Union (Central) Government (i.e., Bama). In other words, federalism is not the top priority of the NLD and (most) Bama ethnic people.
Federalism has never been the top priority of the NLD[1] and the Tatmadaw. In the last Union Peace Conference in August 2020, they (Bama leaders) did not even agree over the terminology of “State Law” (insisted on by Bama leaders) and “State Constitution” (insisted on by NCA-signatories). Subsequently no agreement has been reached on how write a constitution or a mother law governing the ethnic states.
This time, the CRPH announced its political visions and the Federal Democracy Charter while some members of the NLD’s 21-member Central Executive Committee were still in detention. Thus, the concern is whether the CRPH will be able to convince freed NLD leaders to support and honor the agreement (i.e., political roadmap) reached with the ethnic minorities.
Another concern is whether the CRPH can convince the Bama public that federalism is the best way to address the long-standing civil war. From the start of public protests, the priorities of Bama ethnic group and non-Bama ethnic groups have been quite different. For example, the key demands of Bama protesters, who rally behind the NLD flag, have been: (1) the release of mother Suu (State Counsellor), President Win Myint and all other detainees; (2) respect the 2020 election result; (3) restoration of democracy and eradication of military dictatorship.
On the other hand, the key demands of ethnic minorities and (some groups of) Generation Z have been: (1) the eradication of the military dictatorship; (2) abolishment of the 2008 Constitution; (3) establishment of genuine federal democratic union; and (4) release of all detainees including the President and State Counsellor.
It took the CRPH a whole month to announce its ‘political visions’ statement above. It is understandable that the CRPH has hesitated to make the political decisions in the absence of all members of the NLD’s 21-member Central Executive Committee. The decision-makers of the CRPH must have worried about whether freed NLD leaders would support any political understanding or agreement reached between the CRPH and the EAOs. This author has learned that the ethnic minorities who chose to cooperate with the CRPH have the same concern.
Padoh Mahn Mahn of KNU states that if the NLD or CRPH were to betray the ethnic minorities when they regain power, that would be the end of the ethnic minorities’ aspirations to remain in the union. This would force the minorities to choose a different political path. In his interview with Voice of Myanmar, KPICT spokesperson Nsang Gum San also echoes that for the Kachin, this could be seen as the final attempt to establish a federal union, which ethnic minorities have demanded for many decades.
However, Arakan National Party (ANP) and Mon Unity Party (MUP)—two opposition political parties seeking to represent the respective ethnic groups—have decided to join the military regime’s State Administrative Council (SAC). This is clearly not helpful for the anti-coup movement as the military could argue that not all ethnic minorities are against the military’s takeover......Defeating the Coup Requires Faster Decision Making: The CRPH’s announcement on 31 March 2021 – which declared the abolishment of the 2008 Constitution and announced the Federal Democracy Charter – was certainly a huge milestone for achieving federalism in Myanmar. Ethnic minorities had been urging the CRPH to show a clear and concrete roadmap. In his interview with Irrawaddy, CRPH spokesperson said that the Charter was consulted and agreed on by at least four political organizations, although he could not name them for security reasons. It remains to be seen if the Charter is able to rally all major ethnic armed organizations.
However, since the Charter is only a general roadmap, there might be issues that require mutually understanding clarification or definition. Both sides – that is, the CRPH and EAO leaders – have to work out such issues and cooperate quickly to resolve them. Time is of the essence.
Without full cooperation from at least the major EAOs, the Spring Revolution will seem unwinnable to the public and international community. Needless to say, it is of the utmost importance that people do not lose faith in the revolution. Currently, the international community is on the side of the CRPH as they condemn the coup d’état and violent crackdowns on the unarmed and peaceful protesters. No government — not even China and ASEAN members — has publicly recognized the military junta. However, this could change if the international community begins to think that Myanmar Spring Revolution is unlikely to succeed. Therefore, having a concrete agreement between the CRPH and EAOs is key..."
Source/publisher:
"Tea Circle" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-21
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), Ethnic groups in Burma: agreements and statements, Ethnic groups in Burma: general studies and articles, Several Groups, National Unity Government (NUG), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Politics, Government and Governance - Burma/Myanmar - general studies
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Description:
"Announcement of Min Ko Naing, on behalf of the National Unity Consultative Council on formation of the National Unity Government. (With English Subtitles.)..."
Source/publisher:
Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-20
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Federalism, ethnic conflict and the politics of national reconciliation - general studies and sources, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Politics, Government and Governance - Burma/Myanmar - general studies, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"As of 19 April, (738) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) compiled and documented (1) fallen hero today. This (1) hero from Htone Bo Town in Pandaung Township, Bago Region was killed 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 April 19, a total of (3261) people are currently under detention; of them (75) are sentenced. 970 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
Today at 8pm YGN time, junta propaganda MWD said the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners was spreading fake news. AAPP is giving an accurate, verified, representation of the brutality of this illegal junta.
Despite the inhumanity of torture, the junta in Burma has done it every single day since the attempted coup. Verified photos of six youths who were tortured after being arbitrarily accused and arrested for a bombing in Yankin township, Yangon Region went viral on social media. Such overt displays by the junta’s propaganda media reveal the inhumanity and notorious persecution in clear violation of international human rights laws and conventions, but in particular it is supposed to threaten people protesting for democracy of similar fates. Medical treatment is urgently needed for these respected youths. The consequences of these interrogations by the junta is extremely worrying.
Terrorist troops passed by in front of a hotel with sailors returning to Burma, junta forces entered hotel rooms after allegedly hearing the banging of pots and pans, two sailors were assaulted, one had broken ribs, the other is reported to have gashed his eyebrows. The terrorists also robbed $1,500 from a sailors wages. AAPP strongly denounces such brutality, and we urge the UN, international community, including ASEAN, to take effective action as quickly as possible.
Today, people across Burma continued to protest against the dictatorship with various marches. At the General Dawn Strike in Mandalay City, a frontliner was attacked by a car and the General Dawn Strike shot with rubber bullets, tear gas and live ammunition. 11 people were beaten and arrested and a victim was reported to have been injured in a car attack.
This morning, two motorcycle strikes in Mandalay were rammed by a vehicle, one girl was crushed, another was injured by a bullet and more than 10 people were beaten and arrested. It is a serious situation when a terrorist group has repeatedly over the last few days been crashing into, to detain protestors in unmarked vehicles. Today, in Mohnyin town, Kachin State a strike was repressed, and two people, including a female university student, were arrested.
People-made barricades were burned down in Nanataw Ward in Loikaw Township, Kayah State and the junta opened fire with live ammunition, and two young men were arrested. In Myin Gyan Town, Mandalay Region, the most tenacious fort in Ward 6 was brutally crackdown, the junta made it like a conflict zone with surface to air missiles and heavy artillery since April 18 evening. Six people, including a 13-year-old child, were reported to have been arrested, although some local residents who resisted were not wounded.
The No.6 Ward barricade, demolished yesterday, was rebuilt by locals but then stormed again by large numbers of terrorists this morning. Two local residents were injured, one is reportedly in serious condition. The junta troops also went door-to-door searching for people; thousands of residents from No.6 Ward have fled to nearby villages. Homes and neighborhoods in Ward 3 and 4 were also violently raided, motorcycles were burnt down in No.4 Ward.
In Kani township, Sagaing Region, more than seven villages fled due to the terrorist operation by the junta. Yesterday afternoon, large numbers entered Chung ma village, in Kani township, where junta troops searched door-to-door and stole food. Military vehicles arrived last night and shot randomly, forcing children and adults to flee. As a result of the junta’s forces’ arbitrary raids and shooting, residents are no longer safe even in their communities and face danger everywhere at any time.
This morning, the junta troops opened and destroyed tombs at the Sin Phyu Kwin Cemetery, which had cremated fallen heroes from the Spring Revolution in Bago City. Bodies were removed and laid outside. A new tomb has not yet been created, terrorists have no respect for the dignity of those fallen with these disgusting acts.
Burma’s transition to democracy, supposed to promote peace, national reconciliation and democracy, was destroyed by the coup. Abolishing the junta is the only solution to building a fully democratic society for the people.
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 heros in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses:
“Our uprising must succeed”
Email : [email protected]
Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma
In Solidarity,
AAPP..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-20
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians
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Summary:
"Following the recent deadly crackdowns on peaceful protesters against the regime, more than 100 police officers have joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) so far.
From the Feb. 1 coup to...
Description:
"Following the recent deadly crackdowns on peaceful protesters against the regime, more than 100 police officers have joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) so far.
From the Feb. 1 coup to March 3, police and soldiers’ violent crackdowns against anti-coup demonstrations across Myanmar have killed around 50 people in numerous cities, including the commercial hub Yangon; Mandalay, Monwya and Myinchan in Upper Myanmar; and Mawlamyine and Dawei in the deep south of the country.
After joining the CDM, acting Police Colonel Tin Min Tun, 54, from the Yangon Police Department, said in a video message earlier this week that he had to make sacrifices in order to support the nationwide CDM launched by government staff.
He is the highest-ranking police officer to join the movement.
“I don’t want to serve the military regime,” said acting Police Col. Tin Min Tun, who has 31 years of service with the police force.
He added that the whole police force is now being misused by the military regime.
Following the lead of the senior police colonel, young officers are also joining the CDM. Police officer Kyaw Lin Oo, who finished his police training in August 2018, wrote on his Facebook page on March 2 that he would regret it in future if he failed to do something he knew should be done. “Have loyalty to the people rather than the police force. People are the main benefactor,” he wrote on his Facebook.
He and two friends, both policemen, have reportedly joined the nationwide CDM, defying military rule after being ordered to open fire on peaceful anti-coup protesters.
They are now in hiding, while their superiors hunt for them and put pressure on their families.
Also on Tuesday, seven policewomen from Tanintharyi Region in southern Myanmar joined the movement, announcing they will get back to work when the democratically elected government returns.
They said in their CDM announcements that police officers are ordered by the military regime to commit lawless acts against the people, and they cannot follow the military junta’s orders.
On Thursday, 17 police personnel from Putao Police Station in Kachin State, northernmost Myanmar and Bokpyin Police Station in Tanintharyi Region also joined the CDM.
Every day since early February, police personnel, including some higher-ranking officers in major cities in Myanmar, have joined the nationwide CDM, with the number now exceeding 100.
The movement, which was initiated on Feb. 3 by hundreds of doctors and nurses from government hospitals in many cities including Yangon and Mandalay, has gained momentum after being joined by tens of thousands of government staff and several thousand staff from essential private business sectors and military related businesses.
Since then, police personnel from many major cities across Myanmar have joined the CDM, taking part in the anti-regime demonstrations despite the risk of legal action under the Myanmar Police Force Maintenance Discipline Law, which carries a penalty of up to three years’ imprisonment for being absent from one’s duties.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), about three police members have been detained or charged under the Police Force Maintenance Discipline Law.
In Naypyitaw, more than 70 police members have joined the CDM to defy military rule, according to a BBC news report.
Early this week, about 12 military personnel in Hpapun Township in Karen State joined the CDM, taking refuge with the Karen National Union (KNU), according to a news report from Myanmar Now.
Professor Dr. Zaw Wai Soe, who was appointed by the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) as the acting minister for the ministries of Education; Health and Sports; and Labor, Immigration and Population; issued a statement appealing to those government workers who have not done so to join the CDM by the deadline of midnight on March 7 (12 a.m. on March 8).
The CRPH was set up by NLD lawmakers denied seats in Parliament by the coup. The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw is Myanmar’s Union Parliament.
He said the elected government will label those government staff failing to join the CDM movement on time as having neglected the public’s interest.
Currently, hundreds of thousands of people across Myanmar are taking to the streets daily to protest against the military regime and call for the release of State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint and others who have been detained since the Feb. 1 coup..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-20
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Local URL:
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Sub-title:
Journalists in Myanmar have put their lives at risk to tell the stories of protestors, doctors, nurses and citizens impacted by the military coup, writes Phil Thornton.
Description:
"As a freelance photojournalist, Ng Maung has worked the frontlines of the protests since Myanmar’s military coup began on 1st February. Keeping low, behind flimsy barricades of wood, corrugated tin, tyres and bamboo, he photographed the hurts police and army inflicted on pro-democracy activists.
Ng Maung told IFJ of the danger protestors and journalists are facing from heavily armed police and soldiers. “We were warned snipers were on roofs near where we were. I could hear and sense the bullets as they passed. These kids had no protection against bullets.”
Ng Maung explained his view was restricted when focusing through a camera lens at soldiers down the street. “You see what is directly in front, not to your immediate side. Bullets were getting closer. I saw a young guy on the ground with a head shot…a lot of blood. People took him on a motorbike to an ambulance, but it was too late, he was already dead.”
Ng Maung said soldiers and police are armed to kill and dressed for battle, unlike the unarmed protestors. “They’re targets are young men and women, mostly peaceful protestors, opposing the torture and jailing of elected politicians, workers, doctors, students and journalists. The only protection they have are hiding behind these barricades and running.”
In an earlier interview with IFJ in February, Ng Maung, voiced his fears about unseen army snipers when he said they made the streets dangerous to work. “If I can see them I’m not scared, but knowing they could be concealed on rooftops, water towers, behind windows…anywhere…is terrifying.”
Ng Maung’s fears became a reality on 23 March when a bullet tore through his hand as he focused his lens. “I could hear shooting. Near me three kids were using phones to take photos. I warned them to move away…take cover, as soldiers were firing.”
Ng Maung felt the force of the bullet as it tore into his left hand, pulping bones, tissue and tendon. “I was confused, my hand was burning, at first it was relief the boys were not hit. Then I was worried my hand was destroyed. It looked bad. It took about three hours to get to a clinic.”
Ng Maung is full of praise for volunteer doctors and nurses working the protests. “I’ve seen them put themselves at risk of being shot or wounded to care for the injured. I owe them a lot…they work for free…I am forever in their debt.”
Ng Maung’s smashed hand has to be rebuilt. He has had a number of operations to try to reconstruct his hand – wire implants, bone repair and skin grafts. Despite the pain and the graphic nature of the wound, Ng Maung managed to photograph the surgical procedures.
Ng Maung kept in regular contact with IFJ during the protests and after his wounding spoke of his determination to keep working as a photojournalist despite the dangers. “Everyone is in danger - the military shows no mercy - protestors, doctors, students, workers, children, citizens or journalists – we are all targets just to be shot...silenced. I feel they are no longer human and they don’t see us as human. I'm scared, really scared. As a journalist, I have no protection. I have to be very careful and secretive in getting information. It is so bad I dare not go home to sleep at night. It's very dangerous now. To report we risk our lives. I’m a photojournalist because I want people to know the truth from the pictures I take. I want to expose the brutality of the military and the brave resistance of our people to the world…I hope for international action to end the oppression.”
The revolution will not be televised…
To silence journalists, like Ng Maung, the military coup leaders ordered telecommunication companies and internet services to block social media platforms and shut down their networks to stop access to information and news.
Journalists have been arrested and charged under 505a of the penal code, which carries a sentence of three years in prison.
The licenses of Myanmar Now, Mizzima Media, Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), 7 Day News and Khit Thit Media were revoked on 8 March. The Ministry of Information shut-down the five independent media outlets and banned them “from publishing or broadcasting” or using any kind of media or technology platforms reporting “news that affects the rule of law and security of the people and supports those who commit high treason…in accordance with Article 419 and 420 of the Constitution.”
To make sure the five banned media organisations and their respective journalists got the message, soldiers and police broke into their offices, ransacked, thrashed and stole equipment. Ng Maung told IFJ “journalists are now being hunted – we’ve been put on wanted lists and they have arrested at least 42 journalists.”
The police and army have been given unfettered authority by the coup appointed State Administration Council to raid homes to search and arrest without warrants. So called ‘suspects’ can be detained for 24-hours without court permission. Other sections of the Penal Code list a range of fines and jail sentences - twenty years, ten years, seven years and three years for alleged breaches.
Faced with the danger of lethal force, nighttime raids on their homes or arrest, many journalists and media workers have been either forced into deep hiding or have left cities for remote ethnic areas in the jungle along the China, India, Bangladesh or Thailand borders.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) confirmed as of Sunday 16 April, 737 people have been killed and 3,229 arrested; 42 of those are journalists.
Ko Bo Kyi is a founder and secretary of AAPP-Burma and was first jailed in 1989 for his political beliefs by the then military regime. He explained to IFJ how the military has deliberately created and are using divisions between soldiers and civilians to maintain its reign of terror. “This military is isolated from society. Soldiers are given a different history to what is really happening in the country or outside world. The internet cuts and mobile phone data blockages are not just to prevent protestors from organising, but to stop soldiers getting real information – their news intake is restricted to media controlled by the military - radio, websites, newspapers and television channels.”
Ko Bo Kyi said despite fear of arrest, torture and jail, journalists and citizen journalists are still managing to report. “Everyday, underground reporters and civilian journalists are going out and bravely documenting human rights abuses. They’re finding ways to get verifiable and credible reports out to people inside and outside the country.”
They’ve destroyed our industry…
Zaw Myint, a senior editor, told IFJ he has been forced by soldiers and police making night raids near his home to leave his family and go into hiding, constantly changing his location. “I’m not the only journalist, many of us are now in deep hiding. It’s dangerous on the ground now. We can’t use our name on our stories. It’s getting difficult to survive as we aren’t being paid. Most of us are struggling and our families are suffering...the pressure is massive.”
Zaw Myint said finding a means to communicate is getting more difficult. “Mobile data has been cut, it’s difficult to get ADSL connected, getting caught with a pocket Wi-Fi will get you arrested. I try to hook into established Wi-Fi at hotels owned by the military’s cronies.”
With the forced closure of the independent media outlets most journalists fear their severance pay will soon be gone, Zaw Myint explains most journalist earn between US$300 and US$700 a month. “Most of us are struggling. The army has killed our industry. They’ve taken down our platforms to publish, they’ve robbed us of our salaries. They done this to silence us. It’s sad to see our industry ripped apart. There’s now no justice, only their law of the gun.”
Zaw Myint made the decision to stay in the city despite the constant fear of arrest. “There are still some of us prepared to take risks to tell what’s going on. I hope our colleagues who get to safety in other places will keep working. We’ll print on pamphlets, photocopy them and get them to the people. We’ll send our stories and footage to exiled colleagues for publishing, we’re hurting now, but we will find a way to keep reporting and broadcasting.”..."
Source/publisher:
"International Federation of Journalists" (Brussels)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-20
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Health Workers Strike, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Summary:
"One of Myanmar’s most prominent anti-regime protest leaders has escaped arrest after junta security forces failed to capture him at his home on Monday.
Soldiers and police—some in plainclothes—...
Description:
"One of Myanmar’s most prominent anti-regime protest leaders has escaped arrest after junta security forces failed to capture him at his home on Monday.
Soldiers and police—some in plainclothes—arrived at Ko Tayzar San’s apartment in Mandalay and forcibly entered by smashing down the door.
The protest leader was not there at the time of the raid as he has been in hiding elsewhere.
The failed attempt to detain the 32-year-old comes a few days after the regime seized another protest leader Ko Wai Moe Naing in Sagaing Region’s Monywa. His mother said she has lost contact with her son since then and is worried about his safety.
Ko Tayzar San has become a familiar face in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, since early February for being at the forefront of anti-regime protests. He is known for his leading role in organizing the first ever protest against the junta in Myanmar just a few days after their Feb.1 coup, while other activists in the country were still deliberating their course of action.
Following that first protest in Mandalay, anti-regime rallies started taking place across the country.
After the failed raid on his home on Monday, Ko Tayzar San wrote on his Facebook page that he had abandoned the place for some time.
“But they rampaged through the whole apartment and took everything,” he said.
The protest leader said he was upset that his collection of books at the apartment was ‘robbed’ by the regime’s troops. Ko Tayzar San is also an executive director at a free library in Mandalay.
“The Tatmadaw (Myanmar’s military) has become a gang of robbers. It would be gut-wrenching for its founder General Aung San,” he wrote. Aung San established the Myanmar military 79 years ago and was also the father of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s detained leader.
Ko Tayzar San said the raid and robbery were testaments to how Tatmadaw troops have behaved in the country’s ethnic areas, where fighting between the army and ethnic armed groups has raged for decades. Extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, arson and looting by the army have been widely reported.
“Now we have experienced it personally,” he said.
“It also proves that they [Tatmadaw] are our common enemy who have been hindering our attempt to establish federal democracy in the country,” he added.
Before Ko Tayzar San came to prominence as a protest leader, he trained as a medical doctor but worked as a librarian and NGO worker with a focus on public health, political education and youth capacity building..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-20
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"The Republic of the Union of Myanmar Union Prime Minister Mann Win Khaing Than Myanmar New Year's Speech..."
Source/publisher:
National Unity Government of Myanmar
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-20
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
National Unity Government (NUG), Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Politics, Government and Governance - Burma/Myanmar - general studies, The Military's political role
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Description:
"Sleeping by their makeshift barricades, knots of young men at Tahan in the western Myanmar town of Kale had not expected an attack in the pre-dawn darkness.
Armed with a few hunting guns made by village blacksmiths, catapults, some airguns and Molotov cocktails, they were no match for forces hardened by decades of conflict and equipped with combat weapons.
The first barrage of shots and rocket propelled grenades from Myanmar's army, known as the Tatmadaw, came around 5 a.m. on April 7, the protesters and residents of Kale said.
By evening, the one-sided battle was over, the sandbag barricades had been cleared and 13 people were dead, three people involved in the armed group told Reuters. Soldiers deployed on street corners and remain until now.
"So many people on our side were wounded that we couldn’t do anything and had to retreat," Aung Myat Thu, one 20-year-old protester in Kale, told Reuters from there by messaging app.
Although the resistance in Kale was quickly crushed, it points to a new phase of bloodshed in Myanmar after the Feb. 1 coup, with some protesters now seeking to take up arms against the junta's forces.
The junta did not respond to requests for comment.
The junta-controlled Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said 18 rioters were arrested in Kale after attacking security forces with homemade weapons. "Some of the members of the security forces were seriously injured," it said
Despite the early setbacks, disparate groups are trying to source better weapons, sharpen tactics, share intelligence and get training from some of the two dozen or so existing ethnic armed groups in Myanmar, several opposition politicians said.
"Some small defence units have been formed across the country, in the community, villages or wards," said Moe Saw Oo, a spokesman for the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), a body representing ousted lawmakers that has set up a rival national unity government.
"At the same time, we are in coordination with ethnic armed organisations about the establishment of a proper defence force," he said.
Over 700 people have been killed and more than 3,000 have been detained by security forces cracking down on the nationwide protests that have raged since the military deposed the civilian government led by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1.
Even as the fighters in Kale retreated, other groups have sprung up elsewhere. Acts of sabotage, such as the burning of administrative buildings and attacks on businesses linked to the army have broken out the in the main city of Yangon and the second city of Mandalay.
"It is a sign of the determination and the extreme violence the military has been using against protesters rather than a strategic assessment they can take on the might of the military," said analyst Richard Horsey, who recently briefed the U.N. Security Council on the threat of national collapse.
Among the new groups, the Ayeyarwaddy Federal Army announced its arrival last week in the heartland of the Bamar majority, which forms the core of the armed forces as well as Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.
"Armed revolution is the only way to return the people's power," spokesman Mratt Thu Aung told Reuters via messaging app.
He did not disclose the group's location or the size of its force and Reuters was unable to do so independently.....'IF WE DON'T FIGHT...'.....Pressure to organise an armed group in Kale began in mid-March as the army stepped up violence against protests sweeping the largely Buddhist country of 53 million.
On March 17, police opened fire on an anti-coup rally - killing four people - after chasing protesters to Myohla on Kale's outskirts, said a 36-year-old activist who was there.
"From that point, the people, especially the youth, felt that we needed to do something to defend ourselves," he said, declining to give his name for reprisals against his family.
By late March, at least three barricades were set-up around the main market in Tahan, hundreds of people joining to pile up sandbags. Young people in the town banded together to form the Tahan Civil Defence Group, local activists said.
The group then raised funds and sought out weapons - mainly rudimentary hunting guns made by local blacksmiths, they said.
"At first we had seven guns, which then increased to 15 within a short time," the 36-year-old activist said.
The group went for target practice session in a nearby forest on March 26. Two days later, the Tahan Civil Defence Group held off an assault by junta forces. Shortly after, it combined with other local groups to form the Kalay (Kale) Civil Army.
Such groups were getting help from the CRPH across the country, an official of the group said.
Several thousand young people had been given basic training in arms and fighting by at least four ethnic armed organisations, mostly in Myanmar's border areas, he said.
"More are coming," he said, declining to be named. "If we don't fight, the future of Myanmar is gone."......'DON’T UNDERSTAND THE TATMADAW'...In Kale, the little-trained fighters were emboldened by early success.
The 19-year-old fighter said he was sleeping between barricades on the main road through Tahan when gunfire woke him.
"I grabbed my hunting gun and two soldiers started shooting at me," he said. "I had one chance to shoot back, but my gun didn't work."
He sheltered behind a wall, then fled during a lull.
The Tatmadaw advanced systematically, blocking off escape routes, one resistance member in Tahan said.
"We don't understand the Tatmadaw mindset," the 43-year-old said from a safe house. "That's our mistake."
Several young fighters were among the 13 dead at the end of a day of fighting, activists said.
Survivors had now gone underground, they said.
"We were not safe in Kale anymore," the 19-year-old fighter said by phone from northeastern India, whose border is just over 100 km (60 miles away). Indian authorities declined to comment.
A local NLD lawmaker involved in forming the Kalay Civil Army said fighters had been asked to lay low for now, while equipment and training were improved across Myanmar.
“Maybe the time will come to fight with the Tatmadaw,” the lawmaker said, “For that, we will need good training.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Political role of the Tatmadaw, The Military's political role, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians
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Sub-title:
The 26-year-old activist suffers from high blood pressure, and was hit by a car before he was taken into regime custody
Description:
"The mother of detained Monywa protest leader Wai Moe Naing on Saturday requested that her son be allowed access to medical treatment after he was hit by a car and arrested by the junta’s armed forces on April 15.
The 26-year-old Wai activist has suffered from high blood pressure for six years, Moe Sandar Kyu, his mother, told Myanmar Now.
“I’m concerned because I don’t know how he’s living or if he’s being fed. He’s not a very healthy person but he’s very motivated. And that’s why he’s active,” she explained.
Moe Sandar Kyu believes Wai Moe Naing was likely injured after he was struck by a car on Thursday, and demanded that she be updated on his current state.
A photo of Wai Moe Naing in regime custody with a bruised eye and swollen face went viral on social media on April 16, suggesting that he may have been or is being tortured.
His mother told Myanmar Now that she had not seen the photo since she, like many people across Myanmar, does not have Internet access since all mobile data was cut off by the coup regime earlier this month.
“Since the time he was arrested, I’ve not been able to sleep well. [That day,] I couldn’t sleep for the entire night. On the 16th as well,” she said. “I am worried because I don’t know and I can’t see how he’s doing.”
Wai Moe Naing was chair of the Monywa University Student Union from 2014 to 2015, and is also a member of Monywa’s General Strike Committee and the Sagaing Regional Youth Committee.
He rose to prominence for his role organising daily anti-coup protests in Monywa, which sits on the eastern bank of the Chindwin River, since February 6.
After two police officers were killed in Monywa on March 25, the junta hit him and fellow activist Ta Yote Gyi with murder charges. There is no known evidence linking them to the crime, but the allegations were made by the regime authorities in what has been seen as retaliation after Monywa locals captured and detained a person suspected to be an informant to the junta.
He is also facing several other charges, including incitement and theft.
Wai Moe Naing is currently being detained and interrogated at the military’s Northwestern Regional Command headquarters.
“I don’t want the interrogation to go on for too long. For the protests and his involvement in the revolution, they’re definitely going to punish him like everyone else. But for these bizarre allegations of crimes he didn’t commit, we’ll resolve them as best we can,” Moe Sandar Kyu said, adding she has asked for legal assistance.
Wai Moe Naing’s father died when he was six years old, and he is Moe Sandar Kyu’s only child. She had recently retired after working for 20 years as a schoolteacher in Monywa.
“I only have one son, and he just has me. We’ve been surviving, just the two of us, without anyone’s help. I nurtured him as a struggling single mother. And now that it’s my turn to rest, he has been working hard to provide for me,” the 54-year-old mother said.
Young people across Monywa will continue to fight for the cause of Myanmar’s anti-dictatorship Spring Revolution even though Wai Moe Naing was arrested, she told Myanmar Now, adding that everyone protesting was doing so out of their own free will.
“He has said this since the beginning. This is the youth’s duty,” she said. “They have to fight the fight knowing that it is to oppose injustice.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Size:
111.47 KB
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Summary:
"One of Myanmar’s leading trade union leaders has been arrested as part of escalating attacks on pro-democracy figures by the military junta.
Daw Myo Aye, director of Solidarity Trade Union of...
Sub-title:
Daw Myo Aye, labour organiser and a leader of civil disobedience protests, dragged from office by army
Description:
"One of Myanmar’s leading trade union leaders has been arrested as part of escalating attacks on pro-democracy figures by the military junta.
Daw Myo Aye, director of Solidarity Trade Union of Myanmar (STUM), one of Myanmar’s largest independent unions, is a central figure in the movement for workers’ rights.
She has been one of the most prominent union leaders in the civil disobedience movement, which has been organising national strikes and protests since the military seized power from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February.
Myo Aye was dragged from her office by the army last Thursday and taken to a police station where she has been charged and detained. According to the union, she is due to be transferred to a prison in Yangon.
“We lost our pillar,” said a member of staff at STUM. “But … we are going to operate with the remaining staff. We operate within the law and we provide assistance to workers in accordance with the labour law. Our organisation will not collapse because she is not here.”
Thousands of people have been arrested and hundreds killed since protests against the military junta began. According to the latest figures from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma), 737 people have been killed by the military, and 3,229 individuals are detained or have been sentenced.
Chue Thwel, Daw Myo Aye’s daughter, said: “Since the beginning of the coup on 1 February, I thought they would come for her … I feel they arrested her to set an example.”
A spokesperson for the Worker Rights Consortium, a labour rights monitoring organisation, said: “With many labour leaders already in hiding or exile, the military’s arrest of Daw Myo Aye poses a serious challenge to the vital role of the Myanmar labour movement in the struggle to restore democracy.”..."
Source/publisher:
"The Guardian" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Labour Campaigns on Burma, All Labour Rights (violations), Freedom of Association (violations), 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Summary:
"Responding to reports that at least 91 people, including a five-year-old boy, were killed by Myanmar security forces across the country on 27 March in its ongoing brutal crackdown on protesters,...
Description:
"Responding to reports that at least 91 people, including a five-year-old boy, were killed by Myanmar security forces across the country on 27 March in its ongoing brutal crackdown on protesters, Ming Yu Hah, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for Campaigns, said:
“This is just the latest example of the military authorities’ determination to kill their way out of nationwide resistance to the coup. These abhorrent killings again show the generals’ brazen disregard for the inadequate pressure applied so far by the international community.
“This comes a day after the military announced that further protests would be met with shots to the head.
“The cost of international inaction is being counted in bodies, including children shot dead in their homes. Amid the horrifying death toll is a nation of over 50 million held hostage, subjected to arbitrary arrest and sweeping surveillance, living in fear of death and torture.
“The people of Myanmar continue to protest, all while they grieve more killings by the hour. The nations that participated in the military’s Armed Forces Day events today in the capital of Nay Pyi Taw, particularly China and Russia, are the same states that have shielded the Tatmadaw from accountability time and time again, supplying them with the means to carry out mass slaughter.
“UN Security Council member states’ continued refusal to meaningfully act against this never-ending horror is contemptible.”
Background
At the time of writing, media reported that the military killed nearly 100 people in Yangon, Mandalay and other towns today, including a five-year-old boy. On 26 March, state television announced protesters were “in danger of getting shot to the head and back”.
According to estimates from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) (AAPPB), the minimum death toll since the 1 February coup stood at 328 on 26 March.
While a small number of protesters have armed themselves with crude homemade weaponry including molotov cocktails, slingshots and homemade air-pressure rifles, the protests have overall remained peaceful and in the incidents that Amnesty International has examined, lethal force used by the military has been unlawful and excessive.
Elsewhere in the country, armed conflict is escalating between the Myanmar military and ethnic armed groups. Amnesty International has grave concerns about the potential for further mass atrocities as well as the resumption of large-scale conflict and associated mass displacement adding to the country’s existing internally displaced population of over 300,000.
Amnesty is calling on the UN Security Council to impose a comprehensive global arms embargo on Myanmar, and refer the situation in Myanmar to the International Criminal Court.
The Security Council must also impose targeted financial sanctions against Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing (Myanmar’s military chief now in charge of the country) and other military leaders responsible for atrocity crimes against various ethnic minorities across the country, including the Rohingya.
The UN Fact Finding Mission on Myanmar has previously called for Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and other senior officials to be investigated and prosecuted for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide..."
Source/publisher:
"Amnesty International" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Children, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Anti-coup protesters, Human Rights and international relations, Various rights: reports of violations against several ethnic groups, Amnesty International reports on Burma/Myanmar
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Sub-title:
Hundreds of soldiers and police crush an anti-coup defence area in the Mandalay Region town, shooting indiscriminately and arresting locals, including one child
Description:
"The regime’s armed forces crushed an anti-coup stronghold in the Mandalay Region town of Myingyan on Sunday in an afternoon attack.
The Lanmadaw protest base in the town’s sixth ward was a primary defence area from which civilians had been using homemade guns, such as hunting rifles, to resist attacks by regime troops.
Some 200 members of the armed forces assaulted the stronghold from late afternoon until 10pm, according to locals.
An estimated six people, including a 13-year-old boy, were arrested after the attacks, a resident said.
Local sources said that there were casualties on the side of the armed forces, but that no civilians had died in the assault. Myanmar Now was unable to confirm these details at the time of reporting.
A Myingan local told Myanmar Now that troops were “shooting at every person they saw… like in a war zone.”
Residents rebuilt the Lanmadaw stronghold before dawn on Monday, but it was destroyed by the troops again at around 10am.
Prior to the attack on Lanmadaw on Sunday, soldiers and police also indiscriminately shot at people near Myingan’s municipal market. At least one man was injured and in critical condition after being shot in the head, according to local sources.
He was a worker in a rice shop, and was shot by troops as he tried to close the shop’s doors as they passed by the area.
At around 4pm on Sunday, there was an explosion in front of the KBZ Bank branch in the town but no one was reported as injured. The cause of the blast is unknown.
According to local relief organisations, at least 23 people have been killed in Myingyan by the military and police in crackdowns on demonstrations since the February 1 coup.
The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, an advocacy group that has been monitoring the regime’s violence, reported that more than 730 people have been killed nationwide during the same period..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Children, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Various rights: reports of violations against several ethnic groups, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Sub-title:
As junta forces increasingly refuse to return the bodies of those they’ve slain, the pain of grieving families is being exacerbated by uncertainty.
Description:
"The morning of March 11 was surprisingly cold in Mandalay, at least by the normal standards of Myanmar’s second-largest city.
U Zaw Lin and his 19-year-old son, Ko Lin Htet, kept warm by huddling under a blanket. Lin Htet, a second-year geology student at Mandalay’s Yadanabon University, was recounting his experiences on the front lines of Mandalay’s anti-military protests when their conversation was interrupted by a phone call.
“I have to go, dad,” Lin Htet said after hanging up. He leapt from the bed, disappearing into another room to get dressed.
When he returned, he was wearing his father’s white sport shoes. “Look, your trainers fit me. Can I wear them?” Zaw Lin, 47, recalls his son asking.
Lin Htet wanted to wear the shoes because he planned to join the Mya Taung protest group, which has been marching twice-daily through Mandalay since shortly after the February 1 coup. Sensing his son’s excitement, Zaw Lin gave his assent.
Then they went their separate ways: Lin Htet to the protests, Zaw Lwin to his job at a car spraying workshop on Mandalay’s 16th street in Maha Aung Myay Township.
He was at home eating lunch when he got the phone call.
“A friend said that news was being shared on Facebook that Lin Htet had been shot,” Zaw Lin recalled, his voice trembling. “I was shocked – I couldn’t believe it at all.”
As soon as Zaw Lin saw the photos, he knew it was his son. Lin Htet was tall, standing at six foot one (about 185 centimetres), with long black hair and the blue plaid shirt he’d left home in. What stood out in the photos, though, were Zaw Lin’s white shoes.
“When I saw the photos on Facebook, I knew it was my beloved son, but I had trouble believing it – I couldn’t breathe, I was in shock,” Zaw Lin said.
He rushed to the spot where his son had been shot, on 89th Street in Chan Aye Thar San Township, but the body was already gone. All that remained was the facemask his son had worn.
Witnesses told him they had seen soldiers drag Lin Htet’s body into an unmarked black Toyota Alphard and drive away.
Zaw Lin and his wife, Daw Htay Htay Myint, went to several police stations, army camps and hospitals around the city hoping to find their son’s body, but to no avail. Two days later, Police Chief U Toe Toe from the Maha Aung Myay’s No 6 police station told them that their son had been cremated the day he died.
“I asked, ‘Why weren’t we informed?’ When I asked how they could do that without telling family members, he said they had to do it because it was their duty,” Zaw Lin said.
He was furious at the police, both for their failure to help and their lack of remorse.
“If they were unarmed, I would have fought them one by one,” he told Frontier on April 6. “But at the time, I even had to apologise to them just so I could try to get back my son’s remains for burial. Still, they shouted at us and claimed they had no responsibility to help.”
More than a month later, Zaw Lin still does not know where his son’s remains are.
Myanmar’s security forces have responded with growing brutality to the anti-coup demonstrations that have swept the country in recent months, a movement dubbed by some as the “Spring Revolution” and largely led by youthful “Generation Z” protesters like Lin Htet.
Like Zaw Lin, scores of relatives who have lost loved ones face the added pain of not knowing the fate of their remains, and not having the chance to properly farewell them. The uncertainty magnifies their grief.
On March 17, six days after Zaw Lin lost his only son, Ma Yee Mon Theint’s husband was killed in Hlaing Tharyar, an industrial suburb in Yangon’s west. Ko Thura Oo, a 25-year-old trishaw driver, was shot and killed by soldiers and police during an afternoon demonstration on Tharaphi Street in the Shwe Lin Ban Industrial Zone.
Yee Mon Theint received the devastating news that evening, shortly after returning home from her job selling fish in a local market.
“I was told by a friend who ran from the spot where my husband was shot. I tried to go to him, but because of the continuous shooting I couldn’t leave [my home] immediately. When I got there, my husband’s body was gone,” she said, crying.
A witness told Frontier they saw Thura Oo shot in the head and back, before soldiers removed his shirt and hat and dragged his body into a nearby car.
Yee Mon Theint said that when she arrived at the blood-stained spot where her husband had fallen, all that remained were his shirt and hat. Desperate to find her husband’s body, she went to Hlaing Tharyar Hospital, but they had no record of him. Later, ahe heard a rumour that his body had been dumped in a creek in the industrial zone, but her searches turned up nothing.
Despite not finding his body, Yee Mon Theint accepted her husband’s death and held a small funeral ceremony three days later, but she still hopes that his remains will one day be returned.
“Although my husband is already dead, I really want his body back. I want to bury him in a peaceful place,” she said, wiping away tears. “I have no idea where they took him.”
Estimates on the number of people killed in Hlaing Tharyar range from 70 to more than 100. The leader of a relief organisation that works in the township told Frontier that the remains of at least 12 people who have been confirmed dead have not been returned.
“Some family members are missing dead bodies although they heard information from witnesses, or [had seen evidence] that their sons and husbands had been shot during the protests,” said the leader, who asked not to be named.
In other cases, he said, his organization has retrieved the bodies of protesters who have been killed, but has been unable to locate any family members, or even identify them.
A relief worker in Mandalay, where at least 118 people have so far died, told Frontier that the bodies of three people – Lin Htet, another man and a woman named Daw Pyone – were unaccounted for in Maha Aung Myay Township alone.
Relief groups are often asked to help families try to locate missing family members, the official said.
“If the person’s body is not with the relief group, the family members then go to a police station or hospital to try and confirm if the person is alive,” he said.
While the Mandalay official said he couldn’t understand why security forces were not returning the bodies of those killed in the crackdown, the leader of the Hlaing Tharyar relief group said he believed the military was trying to cover up evidence of its brutality.
“I think it’s simply that the military wants to destroy the evidence of what they are doing,” he said. “They don’t want to hand back bodies that clearly show evidence of being shot.”
The military regime has disputed death toll figures from independent monitoring groups, such as the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. On April 9, the military regime claimed that just 248 protesters had died, less than half of the AAPP total. That same day, junta forces reportedly massacred at least 82 people in the town of Bago, and AAPP says as of April 18, 730 people had been killed since February 1.
Zaw Lin can still barely believe his son is gone. The father and son had enjoyed a close relationship, and Zaw Lin said he missed their animated conversations.
“We have been distraught since my son left. I only had one son; he was a very talented child, and I miss him so much,” Zaw Lin said, crying.
He described his son as intelligent, with a cool and calm demeanor, but said he had become angry after the February 1 coup. Lin Htet read news obsessively on social media; some days, he would sit alone and talk to himself, his father said, an indication of the profound impact the political situation was having on his son’s mental wellbeing.
But Lin Htet had also been heavily involved in the youth-led protest movement since shortly after the coup. He would join rallies and marches, and note down significant dates – such as when protests started in Yangon and Mandalay, and when the United Nations held a meeting to discuss the situation in Myanmar – on a calendar at home.
When Lin Htet’s parents tried to explain how anxious they were about him joining demonstrations, he would respond passionately, explaining why it was important for him to take part.
“I didn’t think he would be so interested in politics,” Zaw Lin said. “When I suggested that politics is not a simple topic and he should spend some time learning more about it, he responded that the time had come for the younger generation to take the lead, and that he needed to be involved.”
Zaw Lin accepts that his sone is gone – but his wife, Htay Htay Myint, believes that her son is still alive and in hiding. She prays and performs good deeds each day, hoping this will speed his return.
“Every day I have to live with anxiety and grief,” she said. “I still expect to get a call from my son, and wonder if someone with good spirits is protecting him. Until I find his body, I cannot accept that my son is dead.”..."
Source/publisher:
"Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Sub-title:
One casualty was reported in Kyaukme, in northern Shan state, while the other was in Sagaing region’s Kani township
Description:
"Two anti-coup protesters were killed in northern Myanmar over the weekend as the military continued its push to crush resistance to its rule.
One person was reported dead in the northern Shan State town of Kyaukme on Saturday, while another died during a shootout in Sagaing Region’s Kani Township on Sunday.
Aung Ko Ko Phyo, a 25-year-old government employee who had joined the Civil Disobedience Movement, was shot in the head as he was leaving the monastery where he had temporarily ordained as a monk during the Thingyan holidays.
According to local sources, Aung Ko Ko Phyo, who worked for the Department of Electrical Power, was shot near Kyaukme’s Wailuwun monastery at around 9pm on Saturday.
“He was on his way to his teacher’s home. He had just left the monkhood because it was the end of Thingyan,” a Kyaukme resident told Myanmar Now.
There were numerous witnesses to the incident, the source added, noting that it occurred in the centre of town.
A doctor who treated him said he died from a bullet wound and would be cremated on Monday.
The troops who killed him removed his body from the scene soon after the shooting. Family members were told they could collect it on Sunday.
However, according to a local news agency, his mother was forced to sign a release before she was allowed to claim his body stating that her son had been stabbed to death and that the military was not involved in his killing.
Residents of Kyaukme, a trading town located about 175km northeast of Mandalay, have held regular protests against the military since it seized power in a coup on February 1.
On Sunday, another man died after the arrest of a local man led to a five-hour confrontation between regime forces and civilians in Sagaing region.
The shootout, which occurred on the Monywa-Kalaywa-Yargyi road between Mingin and Kani townships, began at around 1pm, a resident of the area told Myanmar Now.
“[Soldiers] fired a shot and came into the village. They arrested a local and that’s when the fighting began,” said a resident of Sal Yar Chaung, the village where the arrest was made.
At least 100 soldiers were involved in the clash, according to another villager.
No further details were available about the man who died. Residents said that some of the military forces may have been injured by homemade hunting rifles and air guns used by members of a village defence team.
Residents say that hundreds of people have fled the area since Sunday, as more army troops pour in and conduct door-to-door raids targeting local civilians.
“They came into the village in the morning. There were a lot of them. They were searching every house, so we had to run. It looks like they’re setting up base,” said a resident of Chaung Ma Kyway, one of the affected villages.
The shootout on Sunday came days after a similar incident on April 15 left six civilians dead and at least 20 others missing.
Many parts of Sagaing region have been tense since late last month amid efforts by the regime to crack down on strongholds of the anti-coup movement.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, more than 730 civilians have been killed by the junta nationwide as of April 17..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-19
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Various rights: reports of violations against several ethnic groups, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"As of 18 April, (737) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) compiled and documented (7) fallen heroes today. These (7) heroes from Kani Township in Sagaing Region and Kyaukme Town in Shan State 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 April 18, a total of (3229) people are currently under detention; of them (75) are sentenced. 930 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
All across the country today, various protests against junta were carried out. On 18 April, junta crackdowns may have appeared calmer but in Myingyan City, Mandalay Region, the junta fired at young protestors, a man inside a house and shot and seriously injured.
On April 17 nighttime, in Larpo village, Kani Township, Sagaing Region, protestors defending themselves from junta forces attacks were shot at, 2 protestors were shot dead. Last night at around 9pm in Kyaukme Town, Shan State, 3 young boys riding a motorbike were fired at by the junta, one was shot dead in the head, the 2 others detained.
In Yangon, Yankin and other townships, explosions were set off yesterday. After the explosions, from last midnight up until noon today the junta raided Yankin Township, and arbitrarily assaulted and detained 30 women and youths. In most of the wards in Myeik City, Tanintharyi Region, the junta has been randomly throwing sound grenades throughout the night, attempting to continue its climate of fear.
On 16 April, the junta searched for an MP, his sister, Daw Nwel Nwel Aung (a lecturer in Botany at West Yangon University), was taken as a hostage from her home in South Okkalapa Township, because junta forces could not find her brother. The junta has continued its policy of hostage taking, just as new tactics of these terrorists emerge. People are not safe, even at home, they can be abducted any time, facing terror every single day.
This month has also seen an increase in pressure on journalists. In Kachin State, 3 journalists from the Myitkyina News Journal outlet are detained in interrogation centers. At these interrogation centers, detainees are forced to sign and confess under duress or through harsher torture. These places witness unimaginable suffering, they should not exist – but the dictatorship in Burma continues to perpetrate crimes against humanity here. Now journalists are being targeted in these interrogation centers.
The junta in Burma is killing, shooting, harassing, looting, assaulting. The generals in Burma only look out for themselves. Innocent civilians are losing their rights to security and dignity, their property is under attack. There is no rule of law, every single corner of the country is repressed. For the uprising to fully succeed, we must ensure accountability for these crimes.
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 heros in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses:
“Our uprising must succeed”
Email : [email protected]
Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma
In Solidarity,
AAPP..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"As of 17 April, (730) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) compiled and documented (2) fallen heroes today. These (2) heroes from Mogok in Mandalay Region were killed 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 April 17, a total of (3152) people are currently under detention; of them (75) are sentenced. 871 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
On the Burmese New Year, the junta released 23407 released prisoners. This however, did not include any of the political prisoners detained since the attempted coup. 9 political prisoners sentenced before the 1 February were released. They were released from Insein and Obo Prison, including 3 students from the Peacock Generation, and 6 from the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU).
However, the ABSFU students were due to be released this year anyway. The junta has released mass general prisoners only at New Years, normally they only include political prisoners who have nearly finished their sentences. There are two concerns from this amnesty. One is that the junta is doing this to clear prisons for more democracy supporters, striking workers and anyone else they arbitrarily want. The other worry is that they are trying to create instability.
Also, on February 12, the junta released a similar number of prisoners, soon after there was instability on the streets, fire rings thrown into neighborhoods, fear quickly spread. The junta is trying to show the international community they are not a terrorist group. The fact the junta is releasing such large numbers demonstrates serious concern for the near-future.
On Burmese New Year, across the country, protests endured. At a motorbike protest today in Inn Zauk Village, Launglon Township in Tanintharyi Region, plainclothes junta troops’ in a private vehicle crashed into the protestor at the back of the procession and detained him. Today, in Mandalay Region, Mogok City, the junta attacked and destroyed the barricades, 2 civilians were killed, 4 wounded. The junta commander shouted at the soldiers, caught on video saying “I only want the dead bodies”. Further demonstrating crimes against innocents, all civilians are in danger anywhere, anytime.
Everyday the junta’s violence deteriorates, it is a systematic pattern of crimes against humanity. All people under this junta are being terrorized with heavy weapons and physical assaults, threats. No-one is safe, there is no security, we are living under a climate of fear again. In ethnic areas civilians are continually targeted, including children. On April 12 early morning, a 3-year old and 14-year old were killed in Wah Thoe Kho village, Hpapun District, Karen State. The decades long civil war always has impacted locals most severely, they are made into victims in this conflict by the junta, once again enduring abuse. ASEAN and the international community must take an impactful stand against these crimes against humanity.
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 heros in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses:
“Our uprising must succeed”
Email : [email protected]
Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma
In Solidarity,
AAPP..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"As of 16 April, (728) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) compiled and documented (2) fallen heroes today. These (2) heroes 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 April 16, a total of (3141) people are currently under detention; of them (75) are sentenced. 58 people including UEC members were released today, and so removed from the under detention list. 832 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
Today, pictures on social media showed protest leader Ko Wai Moe Naing evidently beaten in detention. His human rights are being violated, he has been tortured, his face beaten and swollen – evidently since arrest. Peaceful protests are attacked, rammed by unmarked cars and detained. There is no rule of law in Burma. Executive Member of Chin National League for Democracy (CNLD), Salai Duh Hu Thang, is being tortured at a military barrack detention center in Haka, Chin State. AAPP utterly condemns the junta’s actions. International human rights organization, democratic parties, and global governments must take action and condem these human rights violations
On 16 April, around midday in Bago City, the junta crashed into motorbike protesters using private vehicles, going on to steal the motorbikes. Among this protest group, one man and one woman are missing and cannot be contacted.
In Tanintharyi Region, Kan Pauk in Yebyu Township, as a protest march came to an end, the military fired weapons at the fading demonstrations on three occasions.
Yesterday in the evening and at night, the junta brutally cracked down in Myingyan Township, Mandalay Region, and Kani Township, Sagaing Region.
In Myingyan, last night around 10.30pm until 2am, at a barricade by Ward 6, the junta fired their conflict zone weapons, two died, some injured and detained, AAPP is confirming and verifying the number.
At milestone 12 close by to Kani Township, the junta entered and crushed the village community security, 6 locals were killed, at least 20 locals are also missing, AAPP is confirming and verifying the number.
In Kachin State, Shwegu Township, junta battalion #602 arbitrarily shot at 2 youths passing-by driving one motorbike. In Mandalay Region, the junta is also targeting religious areas. Storming two well-known monasteries, one called Masoeyein Monastery, at least 20 youths living there were detained in the crackdowns
The junta is targeting NLD members, as well as taking family members as hostage. Yesterday, late evening, Salin Township, Magway Region, the junta went into the homes of NLD township executive committee member and treasurer, stealing two motorbikes and money and gasoline canisters. The junta is looting anything of value.
The junta is committing these acts all the time and it is deteriorating day by day. Yesterday at around midday, a woman was stopped on a public road and robbed of 1 million kyat in North Okkalapa Township, Yangon. Around noon yesterday in Theelone village, Shwebo Township, Sagaing Region, the junta attacked the homes of villagers involved in strikes, detaining 5 people.
On April 14, Magway Region, Taungdwingyi Township, Pyin Chaung Village, the junta raided and destroyed homes of alleged demonstrators, stealing snacks from shops, anything they saw, trying to find protestors from the day’s demonstrations. These acts, raiding religious property, committing violence – systematically taking family members hostage, destroying, looting homes and stealing from shops. These actions are serious crimes.
We should be rightly concerned about the junta’s continued use of human shields in conflict. In Putao Township, Kachin State, the junta is using local villagers as human shields on the front-line, telling them to bring the dead bodies of junta soldiers, around 50 soldiers forced local villagers to travel with them from Myitkyina to Putao.
This is forced labor, the junta in Burma is using innocent civilians to attempt to get an advantage in conflict. This is a severe violation of international law, and yet another war crime. If action is not taken, these violations will most certainly continue. Human rights are continuously disrespected by this junta, if these criminal acts are not punished it will only foster impunity for yet even further more violations.
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 heros in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses:
“Our uprising must succeed”
Email : [email protected]
Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma
In Solidarity,
AAPP..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"As of 15 April, (726) people are now confirmed killed by this junta coup. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) compiled and documented (11) fallen heroes today. (1) from Mandalay died on 15 April. (10) 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 April 15, a total of (3151) people are currently under detention; of them (75) are sentenced. 813 have been issued arrest warrants; of them 20 were sentenced to death and 14 to three years imprisonment with hard labour, who are evading arrest. We are verifying the recently released detainees and continuing to document.
A new technique of the regime of the junta is now using unregistered vehicles with fake licence plates to smash into and arrest peaceful demonstrators. Today in Saigaing Region, Monywa, Wai Moe Naing was crashed into, beaten and detained, AAPP is concerned for his access to adequate medical treatment from the crash. Across Monywa youth demonstrators were detained today. In all dictatorships in Burma, this junta has tortured and mistreated. The junta has form for using torture in interrogation centers, we are also therefore worried the lives and dignity of detainees will be violated.
In Mandalay City, in a demonstration march led by healthcare workers and families, 6 were detained. At least 20 other local civilians were also detained. Junta forces also fired guns at Sule Mosque in Maha Aung Myay Township, Mandalay City and killed one person, 2 were critically injured, 1 of those critically injured was disabled. According to Myanmar Now 5 people sleeping inside the mosque were arrested, including children aged between 11 and 16.
These religious compounds and places of worship are supposed to be protected, but this junta targets these areas, looting and openly destroying property. The junta continued with its brutal arbitrary repression in complete disrespect of the Ramadan religious festival. In conflicts across the globe killing may stop, but the terrorists in Burma continue murdering and torturing no matter any holy days.
Yesterday afternoon in other cities and towns in Mandalay Region there were also shootings and killings. In Mandalay City, three civilians were injured. Yesterday in Myitnge, Mandalay, one person was shot dead, and another was shot and reportedly tortured to death, drowned in a puddle of mud by the junta. Yesterday in Myingyan whilst riding a motorbike, one person was shot and injured, he was tied up dragged along to death, his body has not been seen since. One other woman was shot in the arm and died.
The junta is also attacking ambulances. Last night in Mandalay, a team of medics transporting injured protestors was stopped, and a woman grabbed by the hair and dragged out, three others of the medical team were detained. The junta is publicly terrorizing and violating anyone and everyone’s human rights. This evening in Yangon. The junta crashed into a taxi, and detained and assaulted the taxi driver and 3 passengers and threatened the neighbourhood with similar action.
The previous night in Thamine ward, Insein Township, Yangon one civilian beating pots and pans was assaulted and arrested by junta troops, who then threatened the rest of the neighborhood with similar action. The junta wants to create a climate of fear. Everyday celebrities are issued arrest warrants on the TV propaganda mouthpiece. Today, famous Zin Wine and Singer Po Po (who had warrant issued for arrest) were detained
In Kachin State, Momauk Township the terrorist military and KIA are engaged in heavy fighting. The junta is using artillery against civilians, who hide in bunkers, increasingly displaced and killed since the military use of airstrikes. The international community must implement a no-fly zone to stop these war crimes.
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 heros in relation to the military and police crackdown on dissent. Please submit to the following addresses:
“Our uprising must succeed”
Email : [email protected]
Facebook : https://web.facebook.com/burmapoliticalprisoners/
Twitter : https://twitter.com/aapp_burma
In Solidarity,
AAPP..."
Source/publisher:
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Sub-title:
A video filmed at the scene depicts a member of the armed forces saying, ‘I want them dead. Do you hear me? Five of them’
Description:
"Two protesters were shot and killed by regime troops during a demonstration on Saturday to welcome the anti-junta National Unity Government (NUG) in the Mandalay Region town of Mogok, according to local sources.
Around 100 soldiers and police arrived at the scene in Aung Chanthar ward and opened fire on the civilians present, eyewitnesses said.
“One [of the protesters] was shot in the head. Another was shot in the abdomen,” a local who was also at the demonstration told Myanmar Now.
The two casualties were believed to be in their 20s, locals said.
Police officers transported the bodies in a cart to an area near Chanthargyi pagoda, where the troops had set up a base. They then put the bodies in an ambulance which eyewitnesses said was headed toward the Mogok Public Hospital.
“They shot at people who attempted to pick up the bodies,” the protester at the scene said of the armed forces. “We weren’t able to get them,” he added.
Two other protesters were injured after being shot in the leg and thigh, and were also apprehended and put in the ambulance by the troops, another local said.
Around 1,000 Mogok residents showed up to the rally at 11am to welcome the NUG government– the cabinet of which was announced by the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw on Friday.
The violent crackdown began 45 minutes later.
In a video seen by Myanmar Now filmed by a local resident, a member of the armed forces is heard saying, ‘I want them dead. Do you hear me? Five of them.’ Another voice responded, ‘yes.’
The military’s information center had not released any information regarding the shootings in Mogok at the time of reporting, and had not responded to media inquiries.
At least 10 protesters have been killed in Mogok by the regime’s armed forces for participating in anti-dictatorship protests since the February 1 coup, yet demonstrations have continued daily.
Fighting between the military and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has also recently broken out in Mogok, with the KIA launching an offensive against the junta’s troops. After news of the KIA attack, local youth expressed support for the Kachin army on social media..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, National Unity Government (NUG)
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Sub-title:
A security team comprised of locals armed with hunting rifles was attempting to intercept trucks transporting detained protesters when the armed forces opened fire on them on April 15
Description:
"Six locals were killed during a shootout between the military and a civilian-led security team in Kani Township, Sagaing Region, on Thursday evening.
The security team– made up of locals armed with hunting rifles– was standing watch after hearing news that detained protesters were being relocated from their area, and wanted to intercept the trucks in which they were being transported.
A member of the security team told Myanmar Now that they had set up checkpoints on the Monywa-Kani road and were planning to stop the prisoner transport vehicles.
“We heard news that they were relocating about 70 protesters including protest leaders who were captured here,” he said.
One military truck drove through the checkpoint without stopping. Soon after, some 12 trucks arrived at the scene and opened fire on the locals at around 4pm. The shootout continued until around 8pm.
The six men killed were Kyaw Hlaing Win, Zin Ko, Ko Naing, Aung Naing Moe, Tin Ohn and Win Ko. They were from Thaminset, Lal Shae and Bant Bwe Myauk villages.
A monk from Thaminset village was also arrested, and around 20 people went missing during the shootout.
The military may have suffered casualties in the clash, as locals used hunting rifles to fight back against the junta’s troops, but Myanmar Now was unable to confirm further details at the time of reporting.
Since Friday, soldiers have been stopping and interrogating passerbys in areas along the Kani-Monywa road, claiming they are doing so for security purposes.
Anti-regime protests in Kani stopped after two protesters were killed in a military crackdown in early April. However, locals in the area have said that they are ready to defend themselves against the junta’s armed forces with any weapons available to them, including hunting rifles commonly used in the area.
In Tamu and Kalay, in western Sagaing, locals have been using the same weaponry to oppose the coup regime’s suppression of their movement.
According to monitoring group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, some 728 people have been killed by the junta’s armed forces since the February 1 military coup in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
"Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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Description:
"Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing will attend an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Indonesia on April 24, Thailand said on Saturday, for his first known foreign trip since he seized power on Feb. 1.
Myanmar has been in upheaval since Min Aung Hlaing ousted an elected government led by democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi. Security forces have killed 728 people, according to an activist group, in an attempt to crush protests.
In the latest violence, security forces shot and killed two protesters in the ruby-mining town of Mogok, a resident told Reuters, while several small bombs went off in the main city of Yangon, wounding several people, media outlets reported.
Myanmar's neighbours have been trying to encourage talks between the junta and the ousted government, but the military has shown little willingness to engage.
Several of the 10 ASEAN leaders, among them Min Aung Hlaing, confirmed they would attend the meeting in Jakarta, Thai foreign ministry spokesman Tanee Sangrat said.
A spokesman for the junta did not answer calls seeking comment.
Pro-democracy politicians including ousted members of parliament on Friday announced the formation of a National Unity Government (NUG) including Suu Kyi and leaders of the anti-coup protests and ethnic minorities.
The NUG has called for international recognition as the legitimate authority, and requested an invitation to the ASEAN meeting in Min Aung Hlaing's place. It could not immediately be reached for comment...NEW YEAR AMNESTY...
The junta released 23,184 prisoners from jails across the country on Saturday under a New Year amnesty, the Prisons Department said, though few if any democracy activists arrested since the coup were thought to be among them.
Saturday is the first day of Myanmar's New Year and the last day of a five-day holiday that is usually marked with visits to Buddhist temples and raucous water throwing and partying in the streets. Suu Kyi is among 3,141 people arrested in connection with the coup, according to a tally by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
"These (freed) detainees are mostly from before Feb. 1 but there are also some who were imprisoned afterwards," Prisons Department spokesman Kyaw Tun Oo said by telephone. He said he had no details of the offences for which they had been jailed.
Among those released were 137 foreigners, who would be deported, state television said. It gave no details. The AAPP said the military continued to seek 832 people in connection with the protests.
Among them are more than 200 people, including several actors, singers and internet celebrities, who have spoken out against the coup and are wanted on a charge of encouraging dissent in the armed forces, which can carry a three-year jail term.
State media announced the names of another 40 wanted people, 20 of them doctors, on Saturday..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, National Unity Government (NUG), ASEAN-Burma relations
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Description:
"Authorities in Myanmar will release 23,184 prisoners from jails across the country on Saturday under a New Year amnesty, a Prisons Department spokesman said.
But few, if any, democracy activists arrested since the February 1 coup are expected to be among them.
Saturday is the first day of the traditional New Year in Myanmar and the last day of a five-day holiday usually celebrated with visits to Buddhist temples and rowdy water throwing and partying in the streets.
Pro-democracy activists called for the cancellation of the festivities this year and instead for people to focus on a campaign to restore democracy after the military ousted the elected civilian government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Suu Kyi is among 3,141 people arrested in connection with the coup, according to a tally by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) activist group.
"These detainees are mostly from before February 1 but there are also some who were imprisoned after," Prisons Department spokesman Kyaw Tun Oo told Reuters by telephone.
Asked if any of those being freed might have been detained in connection with the protests against military rule, he said he did not have details of the amnesties.
While the military was freeing the thousands of prisoners, it was also seeking 832 people on warrants in connection with the protests, the AAPP said.
Among them are 200 people -- including several internet celebrities, actors and singers who have spoken out against the coup -- wanted on a charge of encouraging dissent in the armed forces.
Two of them, the married couple of film director Christina Kyi and actor Zenn Kyi, were detained at the airport in the main city of Yangon on Saturday as they tried to leave the country, several media outlets reported.
A spokesman for the junta did not answer calls seeking comment.
Myanmar has been in crisis since the coup, which the military defended with accusations of fraud in a November election won by Suu Kyi's party, though the election commission dismissed the objections.
The ousted government had held power for the first five years of civilian rule since nearly half a century of army rule ended.
Political leaders, including ousted members of parliament, announced the formation of a National Unity Government (NUG) on Friday including Suu Kyi and leaders of the anti-coup protests and ethnic minorities.
Special Envoy to the United Nations, Dr. Sasa, who represents Myanmar's now ousted and disbanded parliament, told a press conference Friday that the NUG will attempt to amalgamate Myanmar's ethnic armed organizations to form a "federal army."
Dr. Sasa referred to coup leader Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of the Myanmar Defense Services, as "the murderer in chief." More than 700 anti-coup protesters have been killed by security forces since Min Aung Hlaing seized power on February 1.The new army will embrace defectors from Myanmar's security forces and encourage them to bring their own weapons, Dr. Sasa said.
The NUG says it is the legitimate political authority and has called for international recognition.
The junta has yet to comment on the unity government but has said it will hold a new election within two years and hand power to the winner.
Two senior diplomats from the U.S. State Department have agreed with Myanmar's newly-formed shadow civilian government on "the importance of restoring Burma's path to democracy," according to a tweet posted by US Asia Pacific Media Hub Friday.n the post, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Atul Keshap and Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Scott Busby are tagged and photographed as being in agreement with the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), which announced the formation of the NUG Friday.
The hugely popular Suu Kyi faces various changes, including violating an official secrets act that could see her jailed for 14 years. Her lawyers dismiss the charges.
Her supporters suspect the military will use the charges to exclude Suu Kyi and perhaps her political party from any future election..."
Source/publisher:
Reuters via Bex Wright via Jaide Garcia via CNN
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-18
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians
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Title: INTERVIEW: Myanmar military increasing efforts to keep truth from getting out, UN expert says
Sub-title:
The crackdown on journalists, cutting off the Internet and disrupting the flow of information across Myanmar, is “not working”, and the world is not buying the military leadership’s “propaganda” that it is exercising restraint against protesters, the UN independent human rights expert on the country has said, in an in-depth interview with UN News.
Description:
"Over 700 people are reported to have been killed in the brutal response by the security forces since the military overthrew the democratically elected Government on 1 February. Thousands more have been injured – many of them seriously, and over 3,000 people are in detention.
That includes at least 71 journalists, more than half of whom are still detained, according to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) – UN’s media workers’ safety watchdog – which added that some two dozen people have been charged for “allegedly spreading fake news”.
Tom Andrews, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, told UN News in his extensive interview, that the military junta has been making “significant efforts, which have been increasing, to keep the truth inside the country, to not allow the world to see what is going on”.
“Already the military has been making up stories about what it is facing. From the very outset, it said that it is using ‘utmost restraint’ – its language – to contend with ‘violent protests’, [but] we saw nothing of the kind.”
“We saw increasing violence and increasing brutality by the military. And we saw very peaceful, unarmed protesters … despite their efforts to block it, the truth is getting out, and it is a gruesome truth”, Mr. Andrews added.
In the first of this two-part interview with the Special Rapporteur, UN News asked the rights expert how he characterized the current international response to the crisis in Myanmar and what countries can do to stop the bloodshed.
We will be publishing part two over the weekend, in which he addresses the responsibility to protect citizens from violence, and his hopes for the country’s future.
UN News: It must be increasingly difficult to get information from Myanmar, but as far as you know, what is the situation on the ground?
Special Rapporteur: You are right. There have been great efforts by the junta to block information from getting out to the world. Not only the blocking of Internet but also now the interruption of broadband wireless service, and there have been at least 64 journalists, that I know of, who have been arrested and detained.
So there has been a significant effort, which has been increasing, to keep truth inside the country and not allow the world to see what is happening.
Nonetheless, we know that conditions are worsening in Myanmar. We know that at least 700 people are confirmed dead, at least 3,000 people arbitrarily detained, and at least 46 children killed..."
Source/publisher:
UN News
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-17
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Human rights issues, UN human rights bodies and mechanisms, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, UN human rights documents on Myanmar
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Description:
"Burma's ruling junta has charged at least 19 medical doctors for participating in civil disobedience protests against the military's Feb. 1 coup, a state-run newspaper reported Wednesday.
Doctors, nurses and medical students have marched and joined strikes to show their opposition to the military takeover that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's democratically elected government and put a halt to the progress Burma had made toward greater democratization after five decades of military rule.
The doctors charged are accused of supporting and participating in the civil disobedience movement "with the aim of deteriorating the state administrative machinery," the Global New Light of Burma newspaper wrote.
THOUSANDS FLEE BURMA AIRSTRIKES, COMPLICATING CRISIS
The military government has already issued arrest warrants for 100 people active in the fields of literature, film, theater arts, music and journalism on charges of spreading information that undermines the stability of the country and the rule of law.
This isn't the first time doctors have been targeted. Earlier this month in Mandalay, the country’s second-biggest city, security forces used stun grenades and fired guns to break up a march by medical workers protesting the army’s takeover. The online news site The Irrawaddy reported that four doctors were arrested.
Protests continued Wednesday across Burma even as people boycotted the official celebration of Thingyan, the country's traditional New Year, usually a time for family reunions and merry-making.
In leaflets and social media posts last week, people were asked not to hold any Thingyan celebrations, saying it would be disrespectful to "fallen martyrs" to enjoy the festival.
The government's violent response to anti-coup demonstrations has seen 714 people killed by security officials, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners..."
Source/publisher:
"Associated Press" (New York) via "Fox News" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup campaigns, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Health Workers Strike, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Freedom of Movement, violations of in Burma/Myanmar, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Armed conflict in Burma - attacks on civilians
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Description:
" Myanmar security forces opened fire Sunday on a crowd attending the funeral of student who was killed on the bloodiest day yet of a crackdown on protests against last month’s coup, local media reported.
The escalating violence — which took the lives of at least 114 people Saturday, including several children — has prompted a U.N. human rights expert to accuse the junta of committing “mass murder” and to criticize the international community for not doing enough to stop it.
The Security Council is likely to hold closed consultations on the escalating situation in Myanmar, U.N. diplomats said Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of an official announcement. The council has condemned the violence and called for a restoration of democracy, but has not yet considered possible sanctions against the military, which would require support or an abstention by Myanmar’s neighbor and friend China.
The mounting death tolls have not stopped the demonstrations against the Feb. 1 takeover — or the violent response of the military and police to them. Myanmar Now reported that the junta’s troops shot at mourners at the funeral in the city of Bago for Thae Maung Maung, a 20-year-old killed on Saturday. He was reportedly a member of the All Burma Federation of Student Union, which has a long history of supporting pro-democracy movements in the country.
According to the report, several people attending the funeral were arrested. It did not say if anyone was hurt or killed. But at least nine people were killed elsewhere Sunday as the crackdown continued, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which has been documenting deaths during demonstrations against the coup.
Some of the funerals held Sunday became themselves opportunities to demonstrate resistance to the junta.
At one in Bhamo in the northern state of Kachin, a large crowd chanted democracy slogans and raised the three-finger salute that has come to symbolize defiance of the takeover. Family and friends were paying their respects to Shwe Myint, a 36-year-old who was shot dead by security forces on Saturday.
The military had initially seized her body and refused to return it until her family signed a statement that her death was not caused by them, according to the Democratic Voice of Burma, a broadcast and online news service.
In Yangon, the country’s largest city, meanwhile, mourners flashed the three-finger salute as they wheeled the coffin of a 13-year-old boy. Sai Wai Yan was shot dead by security forces as he played outside his home.
The Feb. 1 coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government reversed years of progress toward democracy after five decades of military rule. It has again made Myanmar the focus of international scrutiny as security forces have repeatedly fired into crowds of protesters. At least 459 people have been killed since the takeover, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. The crackdown extends beyond the demonstrations: Humanitarian workers reported that the military had carried out airstrikes Sunday against guerilla fighters in the eastern part of the country.
Henrietta Fore, head of the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF, said in Saturday’s bloodiest day since the coup “an 11-year-old boy, an 11-year-old girl, two 13-year-old boys, a 13-year-old girl, three 16-year-old boys and two 17-year-old boys, (were) all reportedly shot and killed.” She said “a 1-year-old baby girl gravely injured after being struck in the eye with a rubber bullet.”
“In less than two months, at least 35 children have allegedly been killed, countless others seriously injured and almost 1,000 children and young people reported arbitrarily detained by security forces across the country” she said, condemning the indiscriminate killings and demanding that those responsible be held accountable..."
Source/publisher:
"Associated Press" (New York)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, Children's rights: reports of violations in Burma against more than one ethnic group, Children, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
Language:
Format :
pdf
Size:
273.09 KB
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Sub-title:
The ongoing repression of protests in Myanmar could spark a “full-blown conflict” on a par with Syria, the United Nations’ top human rights official warned on Tuesday, urging States with influence to take immediate and impactful action to halt the “slaughter” of civilians.
Description:
"“Statements of condemnation, and limited targeted sanctions, are clearly not enough. States with influence need to urgently apply concerted pressure on the military in Myanmar to halt the commission of grave human rights violations and possible crimes against humanity”, Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said.
Her appeal came in the wake of yet another weekend of “coordinated bloodshed” in Myanmar, including the reported killing of at least 82 people in Bago, where, according to credible reports, the country’s military, Tatmadaw, opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades, fragmentation grenades and mortars.
“The military seems intent on intensifying its pitiless policy of violence against the people of Myanmar, using military-grade and indiscriminate weaponry”, she said.
Security forces also reportedly prevented medical personnel from helping the wounded, as well as charging relatives a “fine” of roughly $90 to claim the bodies of those who were killed, according to the High Commissioner’s Office (OHCHR), which added that some individuals are now resorting to the use of makeshift or primitive weapons in self-defence.
Ms. Bachelet also highlighted the need to cut off the supply of arms and finances to the military leadership that aid its commission of serious human rights violations, noting the report of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, which contains clear recommendations for impactful action in relation to the military.
‘Clear echoes of Syria’
The High Commissioner cautioned that the situation in Myanmar clearly echoes that of Syria in 2011, as it descended into conflict, with the past ten years showing the horrific consequences for millions of civilians.
“There too, we saw peaceful protests met with unnecessary and clearly disproportionate force. The State’s brutal, persistent repression of its own people led to some individuals taking up arms, followed by a downward and rapidly expanding spiral of violence all across the country”, she said.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights at the time warned that the failure of the international community to respond with united resolve could be disastrous for Syria and beyond, Ms. Bachelet added.
“I fear the situation in Myanmar is heading towards a full-blown conflict. States must not allow the deadly mistakes of the past in Syria and elsewhere to be repeated.”
People forced into hiding, Internet cut
Over 700 people are reported to have been killed in the crackdown by the security forces since the military overthrew the Government on 1 February. Thousands more have been injured, many of them seriously.
At least 3,080 people are currently in detention and there are reports that 23 people have been sentenced to death following secret trials – including four protesters and 19 others who were accused of political and criminal offences – according to OHCHR.
The mass arrests have forced hundreds of people to go into hiding, and reports suggest that many journalists, civil society activists, celebrities and other public figures are being sought, many simply because of the dissent they have been expressing on-line, it added.
Wireless broadband and mobile data services were also cut indefinitely on 2 April, leaving the vast majority of people without access to vital sources of information and communication..."
Source/publisher:
UN News
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Human rights issues, UN human rights bodies and mechanisms, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, The UN and Burma - news and commentary
Language:
Local URL:
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Summary:
"About three dozen people, including a prominent protest leader, protesters, celebrities, activists and ordinary citizens, were arrested by the military regime on Thursday in four states and regions...
Description:
"About three dozen people, including a prominent protest leader, protesters, celebrities, activists and ordinary citizens, were arrested by the military regime on Thursday in four states and regions.
Regime forces arrested six medics during a crackdown on a protest column led by members of the medical community in Mandalay about 10 a.m. Thursday.
A least 20 other people in the neighborhood were arrested during the crackdown. The junta’s forces opened fire and destroyed motorbikes and vehicles.
About 10:30 a.m. the regime’s troops broke into a house in Shan State’s capital, Taunggyi, and arrested four people, according to state-based media.
About 11:30 a.m., workers’ rights activist Daw Myo Aye, director of Solidarity Trade Union of Myanmar (STUM), was abducted from her office in Shwepyithar Township. Four military vehicles with around 40 soldiers surrounded the office during the arrest. Her daughter wrote on her Facebook page that the troops also confiscated the phones of the staff in the office.
Veteran academy-award winning actor Zin Wyne was arrested in afternoon in Yangon. He was charged with allegedly inciting civil servants to join the civil disobedience movement and support the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH).
A group formed by elected parliamentarians ousted in the coup, the CRPH has been acting as a shadow government in opposition to the military regime.
Po Po, a famous singer who was also on junta’s wanted list for the same charge, was arrested about 3 p.m. She was taken from her house in Yangon by regime forces, her manager wrote on social media. Both celebrities participated in anti-regime protests.
Ko Wai Moe Naing, a prominent leader of the anti-regime protest movement in Monywa, Sagaing region, was beaten and dragged away by regime’s forces after having his motor scooter rammed Thursday afternoon. He had been leading daily motorbike protests against the military dictatorship. A female protester was also arrested along with him.
The Monywa People Strike Leading Committee announced after the arrest that they will continue to fight until the fall of the military dictatorship. They also called upon the military regime to respect detainees’ human rights and allow proper medical treatment.
On Tuesday, Ko Zaw Thurein Tun, president of Myanmar Computer Professionals Association in Monywa, and his pregnant wife were abducted together by plainclothes officers in Shwebo Township, Sagaing region.
A former journalist from Myitkyina, a news outlet based in Kachin State, was also arrested by plainclothes officers at her home.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which tracks detentions, the regime had detained more than 3,000 people and issued arrest warrants for 756 more..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-16
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Individual Documents
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Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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The UN Country Team in Myanmar on Monday, reiterated its call for an end to violence against civilians, amid reports of dozens of deaths in the latest crackdown on protests against the military takeover.
Description:
"More than 80 people lost their lives on Friday as security forces reportedly used heavy weapons against protesters in the town of Bago, located about 90 kilometres (56 miles) northeast of the commercial capital Yangon, according to media reports.
“[We are] following events in Bago with reports of heavy artillery being used against civilians and medical treatment being denied to those injured”, the Country Team (UNCT) said in a post on Twitter.
“The violence must cease immediately”, it stressed.
Hundreds killed
Hundreds of civilians, including at least 44 children, have been killed in the crackdown across Myanmar since the military coup on 1 February. Countless more have been seriously injured and more than 2,600 are in detention, including many held incommunicado or forcibly disappeared.
There are also reports that several hundred people have fled areas hit hard by violence, including many who have sought refuge in neighbouring countries.
UN agencies have also reported sharp increases in food and fuel prices in many parts of the country, on the back of supply chain and market disruptions. Humanitarians worry that if the price trends continue, they will “severely undermine” the ability of the poorest and most vulnerable to put enough food on the family table.
UN Special Envoy visiting region
The UN Special Envoy for Myanmar, Christine Schraner Burgener, arrived in Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday, on a regional visit to press for efforts to resolve the crisis in Myanmar.
Ms. Schraner Burgener, however, will not visit Myanmar, she said in a tweet.
“I regret that Tatmadaw [Myanmar’s military] answered me yesterday that they are not ready to receive me”, the Special Envoy said.
“I am ready for dialogue. Violence never leads to peaceful sustainable solution”, she added.
In the Thai capital, the Special Envoy is scheduled to meet with UN regional officials as well as ambassadors accredited to Myanmar who are in Bangkok.
In addition to Thailand, the Special Envoy is consulting on visits to other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries, as well as other neighbouring countries.
“As she has highlighted repeatedly, a robust international response to the ongoing crisis in Myanmar requires a unified regional effort involving neighbouring countries who can leverage influence towards stability in Myanmar”, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said..."
Source/publisher:
UN News
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-16
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Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Human rights issues, UN human rights bodies and mechanisms, Human Rights and international relations, The UN and Burma - news and commentary, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"Opponents of military rule in Myanmar observed a “silent strike” on Friday, with many people staying home to mourn the more than 700 people killed in protests against a Feb. 1 coup and others wearing black held small marches in several cities and towns.
Many Myanmar citizens, infuriated by the return of military rule after five years of civilian government led by democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi, have been taking to the streets day after day with activists thinking up new ways to show opposition as the security forces step up their suppression.
"Let's make the roads silent," protest leader Ei Thinzar Maung posted on her Facebook page.
"We have to stage a Silent Strike to show our sorrow for the martyrs who have scarified their lives. The most silent voice is the loudest."
Friday is the fourth day of the five-day traditional Buddhist New Year holiday, known as Thingyan. Most people this year are shunning the usual festivities to focus on their campaign against the generals who overthrew Suu Kyi's government and locked up her and many others.
Streets in the main city of Yangon were largely deserted, residents said, while black-clad protesters held small rallies in half a dozen cities and towns, media reported.
There were no immediate reports of violence but overnight, two people were shot and killed in the central town of Myingyan, Radio Free Asia reported.
A spokesman for the junta could not be reached for comment.
The military has also been rounding up its critics and has published the names of more than 200 people wanted under a law that makes it illegal to encourage mutiny or dereliction of duty in the armed forces.
Two prominent protest organisers were arrested on Thursday along with an actor and singer, both known for speaking out against the coup.
Late on Thursday, soldiers raided a famous Buddhist monastery in the second city of Mandalay and arrested two people, the Myanmar Now media group reported..."
Source/publisher:
"Reuters" (UK)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, Political prisoners and other violations in Burma - reports, Freedom of opinion and expression: - the situation in Burma/Myanmar - reports, analyses, recommendations, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, violations of, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état
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"The international community needs new ways of working together to respond to the violence deployed against protesters in Myanmar.
Since the military seized power on 1 February 2021, over 600 people have been killed. As of 10 April, over 2800 are in detention, have outstanding charges or are evading arrest. Communities across the country continue to protest, despite increasingly lethal violence.
The international community continues to make statements denouncing the use of violence against protestors. They encourage regional efforts to support peaceful resolution and a return to the democratic transition. But protesters don’t want a return to the previous situation — they are calling for fundamental political change.
The Myanmar military (Tatmadaw) has entrenched its position. More lethal force and violence is expected. It is time for ASEAN and the UN to collaborate on developing a joint mechanism to coordinate regional and international diplomatic efforts, and provide humanitarian assistance to respond to the deteriorating situation.
ASEAN is constrained by its consensus-based approach to decision-making and limited investment in regional institutional architecture. The divergence of opinion over the situation in Myanmar between member states is well documented. This limits ASEAN from acting collectively.
But treating ASEAN as an enforcement mechanism in the ways that some in the international community have suggested misses the point. ASEAN has evolved as a forum for dialogue at the regional level. Its successes have been in initiating and contributing to the sustainable development of its member states, while engaging extra-regional players.
The UN has several constraints working in Southeast Asia, the most prominent being that many countries in the region prefer a localised approach to peace and security. The UN has strengthened its position in the region by partnering with ASEAN in several key areas, notably in disaster management and emergency response. A greater focus on these successes is needed to develop an ASEAN–UN partnership.
A joint mechanism would build on past successes. There have been notable developments since the signing of the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response in 2008, suggesting that a more coordinated approach is possible between global and regional organisations. In October 2016, the UN Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and the ASEAN Secretary-General met alongside the UN General Assembly and the annual ASEAN–UN Secretariat-to-Secretariat Dialogue. They agreed to capture and institutionalise practical, experience-based arrangements.
This notably took shape in the response to the 2018 Sulawesi Earthquake in Indonesia. The Indonesian government mandated that the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre) be the platform through which international partners and the private sector coordinate their humanitarian efforts. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs worked in the AHA Emergency Operations Centre to facilitate coordination between ASEAN and the UN. The experience was commended and pointed to as a new way of working between the two entities.
There remains a lack of significant investment in regional institutions, limiting both their mandate and their capacity. The ASEAN Charter remains the lynchpin for upholding the ASEAN community and provides the foundation for action. But it lacks triggers to initiate substantive responses and relies on the convening of an ASEAN Leaders Summit to address member states that fall foul of their commitments. And the ASEAN Secretariat only has a few hundred employees — limiting its ability to implement its broad-based mandate effectively.
Forging an ASEAN–UN partnership could help coordinate diplomatic efforts and deliver humanitarian assistance to people in Myanmar. It could draw on the expertise of the 6600 ASEAN citizens currently staffing the United Nations system to create a joint mechanism anchored in the ‘ASEAN way’ that combines the trust of ASEAN with the capacity of the United Nations.
In response to the devastating impact of Cyclone Nargis in 2008, ASEAN established the ASEAN Humanitarian Taskforce. The taskforce was made up of the ASEAN member states chaired by the ASEAN Secretary-General and an advisory group made up of Myanmar’s neighbouring countries, the UN, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. It facilitated engagement between parties and provided a model for an ASEAN–UN mechanism.
A partnership between ASEAN and the United Nations will provide a more coordinated international response to the increasingly fraught situation in Myanmar. If ASEAN leadership fails, it will fall upon the wider international community and individual ASEAN members — undermining the organisation’s regional centrality.
A path that does not engage ASEAN faces numerous hurdles and diverging interests. It is time to move beyond broad commitments to region-led approaches. Actors must find innovative ways of collaborating if regional and international efforts are to support people in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher:
"East Asia Forum" (Australia)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-16
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, ASEAN-Burma relations, Humanitarian assistance, international standards and principles, Humanitarian assistance - emergencies, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma, International Relations
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"Since Myanmar’s coup on 1 February, Commander-in-Chief of the Tatmadaw General Min Aung Hlaing has been working to remake the country’s political landscape by removing the National League for Democracy (NLD), detaining its leadership and installing a military junta. But the success of the coup is not guaranteed, given the junta’s lack of control over parts of the state apparatus, population and spiralling economy.
The civil disobedience movement is spreading across key ministries. Staff from the Central Bank of Myanmar and commercial banks are striking and limitations placed on withdrawals indicate a looming liquidity crisis. Foreign trade is frozen with exports down by 90 percent. Medical professionals are striking and two-thirds of the country’s hospitals are not properly functioning during a pandemic. Some police have joined protests, refusing to do the dirty work of the military.
A groundswell of protests have swept across the country, with Myanmar’s tech-savvy youth proving to be a creative mobilising force the old guard has not faced before. As Min Aung Hlaing sports bulletproof vests in rare outings and uses state media to blast the civil disobedience movement and protesters, the junta’s own propaganda machine suggests the resistance is having an impact. Can the military maintain internal cohesion facing off against a nation and multiple crises? Based on 2020 election results, there may even be hints of support for the NLD within the military.
A number of possible scenarios are emerging with different enabling factors, not least of which is the Myanmar people’s sheer determination for democracy.
One scenario is a return to absolute military rule. The junta would use the crises, violence and coercion to remove any semblance of social order, and then present a false dichotomy to the population: anarchy or dictatorship. A delay in holding elections for several years would be justified under the guise of restoring stability.
A second scenario follows the path set by Min Aung Hlaing: hold elections within a year and reinstall a semi-elected parliament. The military has likely realised by now that the political system they designed under the Constitution does not guarantee its political victory. The military-backed Union Solidarity Development Party (USDP) has been unable to secure enough seats to outnumber the NLD, even with the advantage of a quarter of parliamentary seats being assigned to the military.
The junta may attempt to redesign the electoral system from first-past-the-post to proportional representation, framing this as an opportunity for ethnic and other political parties to gain more seats in a new election. A sham election could then take place with the NLD removed from the electoral map.
While ASEAN countries initially seemed tempted by this track, it does not provide a pathway to de-escalate resistance. A rigged military-run election would fail to transfer the electoral legitimacy voters bestowed on 2020-elected officials, some of whom have formed the Committee Representing the Union Parliament in opposition to the junta.
In another, third, scenario, the coup does not either clearly fail or succeed, creating a protracted crisis. For over 70 years, the Myanmar military has failed to win a number of asymmetric internal armed conflicts. The battle for state control would become another front line of drawn-out crises where the use of state-based violence breeds further resistance and new support for the civil disobedience movement.
A protracted crisis could also materialise if there is significant reorganising of power within the military leading to unforeseen contests. Potential stalemates due to the military and civilian blocs not recognising each other for negotiations, as called for by several ASEAN countries, could also prolong events.
In scenario four, the coup fails and there is a return to the hybrid government under the 2008 constitution, with NLD members released and the 2020 election results honoured, as called for by the United Nations and much of the international community. For the coup to fail, the civil disobedience movement would need to sustain popular and financial support and continue to impact the junta’s control over the economy and administration. This scenario hinges on support for Min Aung Hlaing’s leadership waning as multiple crises hit regular military families and businesses..."
Source/publisher:
"East Asia Forum" (Australia)
Date of entry/update:
2021-04-15
[field_licence]
Type:
Individual Documents
Category:
Anti-coup protesters, Spring Revolution, 2021 Burma/Myanmar coup d'état, Politics and Government - global and regional - general studies, strategies, theory, The 2020 General Elections in Burma/Myanmar
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