Armed conflict in Karen State - the human rights situation

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Description: "... The Free Burma Rangers is an organization dedicated to freedom for the people of Burma. "De Oppresso Liber" is the motto of the Free Burma Rangers and we are dedicated in faith to the establishment of liberty, justice, equal rights and peace for all the people of Burma. The Free Burma Rangers support the restoration of democracy, ethnic rights and the implementation of the International Declaration of Human Rights in Burma. We stand with those who desire a nation where God's gifts of life, liberty, justice, pursuit of happiness and peace are ensured for all... MISSION: The mission of the Free Burma Rangers is to bring help, hope and love to the oppressed people of Burma. Its mission is also to help strengthen civil society, inspire and develop leadership that serves the people and act as a voice for the oppressed... ACTIONS: The Free Burma Rangers (FBR), conduct relief, advocacy, leadership development and unity missions among the people of Burma... Relief: ..."...FBR has issued some of the best documented reports on internal displacement/forced migration
Source/publisher: Free Burma Rangers
Date of entry/update: 2004-05-21
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: Link to the section on Discrimination Against the Karen in the OBL Human Rights section
Source/publisher: Online Burma/Myanmar Library
Date of entry/update: 2012-06-20
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: "The Karen Peace Support Network (KPSN) is calling urgently for humanitarian aid and protection for over 10,000 villagers who have fled Burmese military attacks in the Lay Kay Kaw area of Dooplaya District, Karen State, half of whom have now crossed the Moei River into Thailand. The attacks began on December 15, 2021, a day after about 200 Burmese military troops raided the Karen National Union (KNU) controlled town of Lay Kay Kaw, south of Myawaddy, and arrested over 20 people, including a member of parliament and democracy activists who had taken refuge there since the February 1 military coup. When the Karen National Liberation Army, the armed wing of the KNU, tried to protect people from arrest and torture, the Burmese military fired more than 100 artillery shells indiscriminately into the town and surrounding villages, damaging buildings and causing local residents to flee in terror. Attacks are continuing to this day. Lay Kay Kaw was established as a “New Town” in 2014 under the ceasefire agreement between the KNU and the Burmese military, with financial support from Japan’s Nippon Foundation. Tensions between the KNU and the Burmese military have been mounting in the area since September 2021, when the Burmese military troops began conducting raids in Lay Kay Kaw searching for democracy activists. This is the first major Burmese military offensive in this area of Karen State, which is under the KNU’s 6th Brigade, since the 2012 ceasefire. So far, over 10,000 people from Lay Kay Kaw and eight nearby villages have fled their homes. After trying to seek shelter on the Karen side of the border, about 5,000 have been driven by escalating attacks to cross the Moei River to seek refuge in Thailand. The Burmese military has been bringing in troop reinforcements and armoured personnel carriers from adjoining regional commands, and fighter aircraft have been flying over the area, instilling fear that aerial bombing will soon begin. It appears the Burmese military is planning to escalate attacks further, threatening the lives of local villagers. KPSN therefore appeals urgently to the Thai government to give protection and shelter to these new refugees and allow humanitarian aid agencies to access and assist them. We also urge Thailand to allow aid to be delivered to internally displaced people (IDPs) sheltering on the Karen side of the border. KPSN strongly condemns this latest Burmese military aggression, in violation of their ceasefire pledges to the KNU and foreign peace donors. These donors should immediately cut funding for the failed ‘nationwide’ peace process and instead provide urgently needed humanitarian aid to displaced communities. Aid to IDPs should be provided cross-border through ethnic administrations and local community organisations, without informing or coordinating with the Burmese military which would jeopardize aid delivery. We call urgently for stronger international pressure on the Burmese military, including: 1. Imposition of a global arms embargo and sanctions on the supply of aviation fuel. 2. Targeted economic sanctions, including on gas revenue. 3. Deny legitimacy to the Burmese military and do not sign agreements with them for humanitarian and development aid. 4. Hold the military to account for their crimes, referring the situation to the International Criminal Court.....ကရင်ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးအထောက်အကူပြုကွန်ယက်မှ ကရင်ပြည်နယ်ရှိ လေးကေကော်မြို့အား တပ်မတော်မှတိုက်ခိုက်မှုများ ကြောင့် ထွက်ပြေးတိမ်းရှောင်နေရသော ဒေသခံ ပြည်သူ ၁၀၀၀၀ ကျော်အတွက် အရေးပေါ်လူသားခြင်းစာနာမှု အကူအညီ နှင့် အကာအကွယ်များ ရရှိရန် တောင်းဆိုလိုက်သည်။ တိမ်းရှောင်နေရသော ရွာသားများ၏ ထက်ဝက်မှာ သောင်ရင်းမြစ်အား ဖြတ်ကူးပြီး ထိုင်းနိုင်ငံအတွင်းသို့ ရောက်ရှိနေပြီဖြစ်သည်။။ မြဝတီမြို့တောင်ဘက်တွင်ရှိသော ကရင်အမျိုးသားအစည်းအရုံး၏ အုပ်ချုပ်မှုအောက်ရှိ လေးကေကော်မြို့အား စစ်တပ်မှ အင်အား ၂၀၀ ခန့်ဖြင့်စီးနင်းဝင်ရောက်ခဲ့ပြီး စစ်ကောင်စီမှ အာဏာသိမ်းသည့် ၂၀၂၁ ဖေဖဝါရီလ ၁ ရက်နေ့ နောက်ပိုင်းတွင် လာရောက်ခိုလှုံလျက်ရှိသော လွှတ်တော်အမတ်များနှင့် ဒီမိုကရေစီအရေးတက်ကြွလှုပ်ရှားသူများ အပါအဝင် လူပေါင်း ၂၀ကျော်အားဖမ်းဆီးပြီး နောက်တစ်ရက်ဖြစ်သော ၂၀၂၁ ဒီဇင်ဘာလ ၁၅ ရက်နေ့တွင် တိုက်ပွဲစတင်ဖြစ်ပွားခဲ့သည်။ ပြည်သူများအပေါ် မတရားဖမ်းဆီးခြင်း နှင့် ညှင်းပမ်းနှိပ်စက်ခြင်းမှ အကာအကွယ်ပေးရန် ကရင်အမျိုးအသား အစည်းအရုံး၏ လက်နက်ကိုင်တပ်ဖြစ်သော ကရင်မျိုးသားလွတ်မြောက်ရေးတပ်မတော်မှ ကြိုးစားလျက်ရှိသော်လည်း စစ်တပ်မှ လက်နက်ကြီး ၁၀၀ ကျော်ခန့်အား မြို့ နှင့် ၎င်းပတ်ဝန်းကျင်ရှိ ကျေးရွာများ အတွင်းသို့ ရမ်းသမ်းပစ်ခတ်ခဲ့သောကြောင့် အဆောက်အဦးပျက်စီးဆုံးရှုံးမှုများနှင့် ဒေသခံများ စိုးရိမ်ထိတ်လန့်စွာ ထွက်ပြေးတိမ်းရှောင်နေရသည်။ တိုက်ပွဲများမှာလည်း ယနေ့တိုင် ဖြစ်ပွားလျက်ရှိသည်။ ကရင်အမျိုးသားအစည်းအရုံး နှင့် စစ်တပ်အကြား အပစ်အခတ်ရပ်စဲရေး သဘောတူညီမှုစာချုပ်အောက်တွင် ဂျပန်နိုင်ငံမှ နိပွန် ဖောင်ဒေးရှင်း၏ ငွေကြေးအထောက်အပံ့ဖြင့် လေးကော် မြို့သစ်အား ၂၀၁၄ ခုနှစ်တွင် စတင်တည်ထောင်ခဲ့သည်။ ဤဒေသအတွင်း စစ်တပ်မှာ လေးကေကော်မြို့အတွင်းသို့ ဝင်ရောက်ခဲ့ပြီး ဒီမိုအရေစီအရေးတက်ကြွလှုပ်ရှားသူများအား စီးနင်းရှာဖွေခဲ့သော စက်တင်ဘာလ ၂၁ ရက်နေ့ကတည်းကပင် ကေအဲန်ယူနှင့် စစ်တပ်အကြားတင်မာမှုများ မြင့်တက်နေခဲ့ပြီးဖြစ်သည်။ ၂၀၁၂ အပစ်အခတ်ရပ်စဲရေးနောက်ပိုင်း ကရင်ပြည်နယ် ကေအဲန်ယူ တပ်မဟာ ၆ နယ်မြေ အတွင်း စစ်တပ်၏ ပထမဆုံး ထိုးစစ်ဆင်မှုကြီးလည်းဖြစ်သည်။ လက်ရှိအချိန်တွင် လေးကော် နှင့် အနီးပတ်ဝင်ကျင်ရှိ ရွာပေါင်း ၈ ရွာမှ ရွာသားပေါင်း ၁၀၀၀၀ ကျော်မှာ စစ်ဘေးရှောင် နေရပြီဖြစ်သည်။ ကရင်ပြည်၏ နယ်စပ်အတွင်းပိုင်းတွင် ရွာသားပေါင်း ၅၀၀၀ ကျော်မှာ ပုန်းခိုနေရလျက်ရှိပြီး နောက်ထပ် ၅၀၀၀ ခန့်မှာ ထိုးစစ်ဆင်မှုများကြောင့် သောင်ရင်းမြစ်အား ဖြတ်သန်းပြီး ထိုင်းနိုင်ငံအတွင်းသို့ ဖြတ်ကျော် ခိုလှုံနေရပြီ ဖြစ်သည်။ စစ်တပ်မှ စစ်လက်နက်ကြီးများ နှင့် စစ်သားများကို အခြားသေား နီးစပ်ရာ စစ်တိုင်းများဖြင့် အားဖြည့်လာလျက်ရှိပြီး တိုက်လေယဉ်များမှာ ဒေသအတွင်း ပျံသန်းလျက်ရှိရာ ဗုံးကြဲခံရမည်ကိုလည်း စိုးရိမ်မှုမြင့်တက်နေလျက်ရှိသည်။ စစ်တပ်မှ ထပ်မံထိုးစစ်ဆင်မည့် အစီအစဉ်များ မြင်တွေ့နေရပြီး ဒေသခံရွာသားများ၏ အသက်အန္တရယ်မှာလည်း ခြိမ်းချောက် ခံနေလျက်ရှိသည်။ ထို့ကြောင့် ကရင်ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးအထောက်အကူပြုကွန်ယက်မှ ထိုင်းနိုင်ငံအစိုးရအား ဒုက္ခသည်သစ်များ နှင့် ဒေသခံ ဒုက္ခသည်များအပေါ် ခိုလှုံခွင့် နှင့် လူသားချင်းစာနာမှုအကူအညီပေးနေသော အဖွဲ့အစည်းများမှ အကူညီများကို လိုအပ်သည့်နေရာသို့ ပေးနိုင်ရန်အတွက် အထောက်ကူပြုပေးပါရန် အရေးပေါ် တောင်းဆိုလိုက်ရပါသည်။ ထို့အတူ နယ်စပ် အခြားတဘက်ရှိ ကရင်ပြည်နယ်အတွင်းကျန်ရှိနေသော စစ်ဘေးရှောင်များထံသို့ အကူအများပို့ဆောင်ရာတွင် ခွင့်ပြုပေးရန် ထပ်မံ တောင်းဆိုလိုက်ပါသည်။ ကရင်ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးအထောက်အကူပြုကွန်ယက်မှ ကေအဲန်ယူ နှင့် နိုင်ငံတကာ ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေး အလှုရှင်များ၏ တောင်းဆိုမှုများအပေါ် လစ်လှူရှုကာ အပစ်အခတ်ရပ်စဲရေးအားချိုးဖောက်ပြီး စစ်တပ်၏ ယခုအကြမ်းဖက် ထိုးစစ်ဆင်မှု အပေါ် ပြင်းပြင်းထန်ထန် ရှုံ့ချလိုက်သည်။ အဆိုပါ အလှုရှင်များမှ ကျိုးပျက်သွားပြီ ဖြစ်သော ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးဖြစ်စဉ်အပေါ် ထောက်ပံ့မှုများအား ဖြတ်တောက်ပစ်ပြီး ၎င်းအစား စစ်ဘေးရှောင်နေရသောပြည်သူများအပေါ် လိုအပ်သည့် အရေးပေါ် လူသားချင်းစာနာမှု အထောက်အကူပေးရန်ဖြစ်သည်။ စစ်ဘေးရှောင်များအတွက် အကူအညီများအား နယ်စပ်ဖြတ် ကျော်ပြီး တိုင်းရင်းသားအုပ်ချုပ်ရေးတာဝန်ခံများ နှင့် ဒေသခံ အရပ်ဘက်အဖွဲ့အစည်းများ ထံသို့ အကူအညီများ ပို့ဆောင်ရာတွင် အန္တာရယ်ပေးလာနိုင်သည့် စစ်တပ်အား အကြောင်းကြားခြင်း (သို့) ပူးပေါင်းလုပ်ဆောင်ခြင်း မပြုလုပ်ပဲ ဆောင်ရွက်သင့်ကြောင်း ကြံပြုအတိုက်တွန်း လိုက်ပါသည်။ စစ်တပ်အပေါ် နိုင်ငံတကာမှ ပိုမိုပြင်ထန်သော ဖိအားများပေးရန် အရေးပေါ် တောင်ဆိုပြီး ပိတ်ဆို့မှုများ အလျှင်အမြန်လုပ်ဆောင်ရန် တောင်းဆိုရာတွင် ၁။ ကမ္ဘာလုံးဆိုင်ရာ လက်နက်တင်ပို့ရောင်းချမှုပိတ်ပင်ရန် နှင့် လေယဉ်ဆီတင်ပို့မှုများအပေါ် ပိတ်ဆို့ရန် ၂။ သဘာဝဓတ်ငေ့ွမှရရှိသော ဝင်ငွေများအပါအဝင် စီးပွားရေးဆိုင်ရာပိတ်ဆိုမှုများအပေါ် ဦးတည်လုပ်ဆောင်ရန် ၃။ စစ်တပ်၏ တရားဝင်မှုအား လက်မခံရန် နှင့် လူသားချင်းစာနာမှု နှင့် ဖွံ့ဖြိုးရေးအထောက်အကူပြု လုပ်ငန်းများအား ၎င်းတို့နှင့် သဘောတူ လက်မှတ်ထိုးခြင်းများ မပြုလုပ်ရန်။ ၄။ စစ်တပ်မှ ၄င်တို့ကျူးလွန်သော ရာဇဝတ်မှုများအပေါ် တာဝန်ခံနိုင်ရန်တွက် နိုင်ငံတကာ ရာဇဝတ်မှုခုံရုံးတွင် အခြေအနေများ တင်သွင်း လုပ်ဆောင်ရန်။..."
Source/publisher: Karen Peace Support Network
2021-12-23
Date of entry/update: 2021-12-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The International Karen Organisation today called for the urgent implementation of new targeted strategic sanctions on the Burmese military in response to escalating attacks against civilians in Karen State. Simultaneous attacks by the Burmese military are taking place in different parts of Karen State, in Sagaing Region, Kachin State, Chin State and many other ethnic states, at the same time as the military continue to make mass arrests of political leaders, peaceful protesters and PDF members across the country. This demonstrates that the international community is moving much too slowly to cut the flow of arms and revenue to the military, and reduce their capacity to attack and oppress the people of Burma. Sanctions need to be applied on the supply of aviation fuel, arms, and on gas revenue and other sources of revenue for the Burmese military. Funding for cross border aid needs to be increased without placing unnecessary reporting burdens on local civil society organisations which are impossible to meet, and effectively act to block life-saving aid to those in need. The Burmese military appear to be targeting hundreds of Burmese democracy activists who have taken shelter in Lay Kay Kaw, a town in Karen State under the control of the Karen National Union (KNU). In the process, they are indiscriminately using heavy artillery and gunfire against civilian areas, forcing thousands of Karen villagers to flee as well as the democracy activists. This is a war crime. It is a violation of international law. On 14th December the Burmese military raided the town of Lay Kay Kaw, in the KNU controlled Dooplya District, in southern Karen State, bordering Thailand. They arrested around 30 activists who had taken refuge in the town. Hundreds of Burmese democracy activists were sheltering in Lay Kay Kaw. On 15th December the Burmese military escalated attacks, using heavy artillery in surrounding areas and forcing more than 1,000 local civilians to flee. In the following days these attacks continued and expanded. On 19th December the Burmese military began attacking Palu and other nearby villages where many people who had fled attacks against Lay Kay Kaw had taken shelter. As of the morning of 20th December, the number of people displaced by these attacks was estimated at 4000. With numerous attacks taking place, numbers of displaced people are constantly changing. At the same time, the Burmese military has increased shelling against civilian villages in Doo Tha Htu (Thaton) District in Karen State, as more Burmese military troops move into KNU areas. In both areas the Karen National Liberation Army is defending civilians against attacks and encroachment by the Burmese military. On 18th December around 30 Burmese military vehicles, including armoured personnel carriers of the type supplied by China and Ukraine, and military transport vehicles, brought reinforcements through Myawaddy travelling towards Dooplaya. There are increased jets and drones flying over the areas, increasing fear of indiscriminate aerial bombing of the kind that happened in March and April this year. Before the new attacks this December there were already more than 80,000 people internally displaced, mostly because of bombings and the threat of bombings. Jets and drones have continued to fly over the area, preventing villagers from returning home and stopping them from growing this year’s crops, creating a humanitarian crisis on top of the COVID pandemic. Around 2,000 Karen villagers crossed into Thailand this week and around 600 have been pushed back by the Thai authority. We call on the government of Thailand not to keep pushing refugees back into a war zone as they have done so many times in the past. We call on the USA, EU, UK, Canada, Australia and sympathetic governments, and on the United Nations Secretary General, to make representations to the Royal Thai Government not to force refugees to return against their will. The Burmese military are attacking our people with much more sophisticated weaponry than they used before the so-called reform process began. They have used the past ten years with sanctions lifted and more business opportunities to increase income and buy more modern and deadly equipment. They have more heavy artillery, more jets and new drones which they are using against civilians. It is absolutely vital that more sanctions are rapidly imposed on the Burmese military in order to reduce their military capacity. The international community must: Sanction aviation fuel The majority of people in Karen State have been displaced by air strikes and are unable to return because of the threat of airstrikes. These air strikes have killed and maimed innocent civilians and have created a humanitarian crisis. The international community must impose sanctions to stop aviation fuel reaching the military. Companies which supply the military with aviation fuel should be sanctioned and evidence collected for future prosecutions for complicity in violations of international law. Expand the arms embargo The United Nations Security Council should impose an arms embargo. With Russia and China blocking a potential resolution on an arms embargo, countries should impose unilateral arms embargoes. Only around 40 of 193 UN members have imposed arms embargoes against the Burmese military, despite recommendations from the United Nations Fact-Finding Commission on Myanmar, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, and a UN General Assembly Resolution in June this year. We call on all countries to impose unilateral arms embargoes. More targeted economic sanctions, including gas revenue Almost a year on from the military coup, the Burmese military is earning up to $1.4bn in gas revenues. This money is being used to kill our people. Even countries which claim to support human rights and democracy in Burma have not stopped gas revenue, with hundreds of millions of dollars being given to the military from a gas project run by American and European Union companies Chevron and Total. We call on American President Biden and French President Macron to stop blocking sanctions on gas revenue and impose gas revenue sanctions. The European Union cannot sanction gas revenue as long as President Macron keeps blocking it. It makes no sense to us that President Biden and President Macron have arms embargoes against the Burmese military but are still allowing their companies to give money to the military which they can then use to buy arms from Russia, China, India, Serbia, Ukraine and other countries. They won’t sell arms, but they help fund the purchase of arms. The international community has long failed to take action against the Burmese military for violations of international law committed against the Karen people. This decades long impunity has contributed to the crisis in Burma today. We hope that the international community will now finally learn lessons from past mistakes and take effective action immediately..."
Source/publisher: International Karen Organisation
2021-12-21
Date of entry/update: 2021-12-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Ethnic-army commanders confess to Fortify Rights on massacre of 25 men, deny wrongdoing
Description: "International justice mechanisms should investigate the recent Karen National Defence Organization (KNDO)-led massacre of 25 unarmed men in Karen State, said Fortify Rights today. Two senior commanders of the KNDO—General Ner Dah Bo Mya and Lieutenant Saw Ba Wah—confessed to Fortify Rights that soldiers under their command and control detained and subsequently murdered 25 unarmed men in plainclothes on June 1, 2021. Gen. Ner Dah Bo Mya denied any wrongdoing, claimed the victims were Myanmar Army “spies” and said his soldiers “had to finish them up, otherwise they try to run away during the fighting and then they [would] come back, and it would be very bad for us.” Senior leadership of the Karen National Union (KNU)—the political wing controlling the KNDO­—confirmed to Fortify Rights on August 11 that they would cooperate with international investigators and share evidence related to the KNDO massacre and other atrocity crimes, including Myanmar-Army-led atrocities. The KNU committed to provide evidence to international accountability mechanisms, which should include the United Nations-mandated Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM). The KNU is simultaneously conducting its own investigation of the extrajudicial killings committed by the KNDO. KNU leadership told Fortify Rights this marks the first time they have agreed to cooperate directly with international investigators and international justice mechanisms. “This was a massacre, and it should be investigated and prosecuted,” said Matthew Smith, Chief Executive Officer at Fortify Rights. “The KNU is setting an important example in transparency, cooperation, and commitment to share evidence of atrocities with international justice mechanisms.” On May 31, the KNDO detained 47 people—31 men, six women, and ten children—in Kanele (also referred to as Ka Ne Lay or K’Neh Lay) village in Myawaddy Township, Karen State near the Thailand border. On June 1, the KNDO massacred 25 of the detainees—all men—and between June 1 and 9, released the rest, including six men and all 16 women and children. Fortify Rights interviewed KNDO Gen. Ner Dah Bo Mya, KNDO Lieutenant Saw Ba Wah, two KNU officials, a representative of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA)—the KNU’s other armed branch—a member of Karen civil society, and independent analysts about the June 1 massacre. Fortify Rights also reviewed and analyzed a mobile-phone video and photographs and, on August 11, met senior leaders of the KNU. On June 11 and 12, the Myanmar junta reportedly discovered the bodies of the 25 men, some of whom reportedly had their hands tied behind their backs. Junta-run media Global New Light of Myanmar claimed the victims were engineers and road workers. During an English-language interview with Fortify Rights on July 12, KNDO commander Gen. Ner Dah Bo Mya said: “The people who were killed were Burmese military intelligence, and they are working on the road constructions [sic], and they [would get] all the information and pass over the information to their outpost leader near the construction.” Gen. Ner Dah Bo Mya told Fortify Rights the KNDO had been monitoring the men: [B]efore the arrest, we sent our intelligence, and also we know about the whole situation of what they [were] trying to do. Mostly, military engineer teams are mostly military intelligence. They are not supposed to do military construction in Karen State, especially in close to our military base camp, and they have drones. They have the equipment. They were spying on us every night before the arrest took place. When asked if the victims were armed, Gen. Ner Dah Bo Mya said: “No, they didn’t have weapons, but they [are] always connected to the military outpost in Kanele.” Gen. Ner Dah Bo Mya confirmed that his soldiers asked him what they should do with the 25 men that they had detained. He told Fortify Rights that he instructed the soldiers: “‘Do what you can. Whatever you can do, you know, over there.’” He later added: “We just told them whatever is suitable that you think, because we are not in the area. Whatever is suitable, then whatever is appropriate. I think they did the right thing.” “This is something [that] happens in a war zone,” he continued. “You have to understand this stuff [is] what happens in a war zone.” Gen. Ner Dah Bo Mya added: It’s not normal to kill prisoners of war. We never kill prisoners of war—only the intelligence spy. The Burmese, also, when they arrest the intelligence and spies, they kill them right away . . . The same as the enemy, you know? When we capture them, we kill them. Even during the Second World War, when they capture spies, they kill them . . . Military spies, intelligence, and prisoners of war are totally different. You got to know about this stuff . . . And also, the incident happened during the fighting, not during the calm-like period. During the fighting, they were shelling at the same time. They were captured, but they would try to run away when the ground troops tried [to] move close to us. Twenty-five [men were killed]. They were buried, and then the Burmese took [them] out. The Burmese soldiers got into the area, [and] they took [them] out . . . They dug them out [of the graves]. Describing the tactics of his soldiers, Gen. Ner Dah Bo Mya told Fortify Rights: “They didn’t kill them brutally. They shot and killed [them]. [They did] not hit them with a stick or anything. This is something that happens in a war zone. You have to understand.” Gen. Ner Dah Bo Mya confirmed to Fortify Rights that KNDO Lieutenant Saw Ba Wah was the operations commander directing the forces who killed the 25 unarmed men. On July 27, with Karen to English-language interpretation and, at times, directly in English, Lt. Saw Ba Wah told Fortify Rights: Before we killed them, we asked them questions. We asked them questions and who they are and what they are doing . . . They responded [to] us [that] they are from the [Myanmar military] base . . . From, like, [the] general headquarters. They are not civilians. We got their rank. We got their uniform, the helmet, the rank, uniform, and remote control, drone remote control. Describing the killing in detail, Lt. Saw Ba Wah said: “We killed them in our farm or field and gathered them and left them in groups . . . [We did] not [kill them] one by one. We killed them all at the same time . . . We tied them. We tied them to their hands with rope.” When asked by Fortify Rights who gave the order to kill the men, Lt. Saw Ba Wah said he received orders from the KNU: I was in the headquarter office, and [the KNU] just told me: “You have to do it because you don’t have any other option. If you don’t [kill] them, then they will [kill] us, since [the Myanmar Army] are close to you. So, if you want, do it. There is no place and food to feed them.” Lt. Saw Ba Wah said that he received orders from the “captain of intelligence” at the KNU “to do what we must do,” and he provided Fortify Rights with the official’s name. According to Lt. Saw Ba Wah, the KNU is investigating that person and his role in the massacre and has yet to suspend him from his duties. His name is on file with Fortify Rights. In a public statement on June 16, the KNU committed to investigate the massacre, saying the KNU “follows the provisions of the Geneva Convention” and “will conduct an investigation to take action on this incident in accordance with KNU’s rules and regulations.” Throughout the months of August and July, Fortify Rights engaged KNU representatives about the investigation and killing. On August 11, Fortify Rights spoke with senior KNU Central Executive Committee officials who confirmed the organization’s readiness to cooperate with international accountability mechanisms on this case, as well as on other atrocity crimes, including Myanmar-Army-led atrocities. On July 16 and 30, Fortify Rights also spoke with the investigation commission of the KNU Central Executive Committee and on July 13 with a representative from the KNU’s foreign affairs office. On July 30, a lead member of the investigation commission of the KNU Central Executive Committee told Fortify Rights in a communication that the KNU is investigating the killings, adding: the “committee’s goal is [to] try to investigate the truth about what really happened. And then, we’ll report to the leaders [of the KNU].” Earlier, on June 30, a KNU representative spoke to Fortify Rights about the investigation, saying: “[W]e have a deep commitment to the [Geneva] Conventions. Even though [Myanmar military personnel] are our enemy, we should treat them as humans . . . We recognize and respect [international] humanitarian law.” On July 9, the KNU committee leading the investigation said it “suspended temporarily” the KNDO commanders Gen. Ner Dah Bo Mya and Lt. Saw Ba Wah. On July 11, Gen. Ner Dah Bo Mya released a statement rejecting the suspension. When asked about the KNU investigation, Gen. Ner Dah Bo Mya told Fortify Rights: “We cannot comply [with the KNU investigation], because this [is] not the right approach . . . Because before these kinds of things happen, we should have [a] discussion.” On July 22, in a statement, the Karen Human Rights Group—a Karen-led human rights organization—said it “strongly condemns this mass killing” and called on the KNU to conduct an “impartial investigation.” On the same day, the Legal Aid Network—an independent organization based in Kachin State, Myanmar—published a five-page briefing, calling on all stakeholders including KNDO to “ensure respect for, and comply with, the Geneva Convention.” In June, junta-led media published the identities of those the KNDO had detained on May 31 in Kanele village. The list identified the names, ages, and home townships of the 25 victims of the massacre, aged 18 to 52, including also the six men and 16 women and children whom they released between June 1 and 9. Fortify Rights reviewed and translated the list into English. Since the February 1 attempted coup, the Myanmar junta air force has bombed and strafed KNU-controlled towns and villages, displacing more than 100,000 civilians in Karen State, according to the U.N. refugee agency. Armed conflict between the KNU and the Myanmar military began in 1949, making the situation in Karen State the world’s longest-running civil war. The Myanmar military has perpetrated war crimes and crimes against humanity against civilians in Karen State with impunity for decades. “There would be tremendous value in the KNU cooperating with international investigators to prosecute atrocities,” said Matthew Smith. “The KNU is in a position to help secure justice not only in the case of these recent killings but also regarding the Myanmar military’s crimes against Karen civilians over many years. We encouraged the KNU to do everything in its power to secure justice, and its leadership committed to do so.” In September 2018, the U.N. Human Rights Council established the IIMM to “collect, consolidate, preserve and analyze evidence of the most serious international crimes and violations of international law committed in Myanmar since 2011.” As Myanmar’s civil wars intensify, it is critical that all parties to the many armed conflicts are cognizant of their international legal obligations, said Fortify Rights. Human rights law and the laws of war protect against the summary execution of spies and unarmed combatants in situations of wartime detention. Common Article 3 of the four 1949 Geneva Conventions, which applies in situations of non-international armed conflict and to state and non-state actors alike, protects “members of armed forces who have laid down their arms” and those no longer playing an active part in the hostilities by reason of injury, detention, or other cause. International law also prohibits torture, murder, and mutilation. Violations of Common Article 3 constitute war crimes and therefore incur individual criminal responsibility under international humanitarian law. Moreover, under international law, those suspected of directly perpetrating war crimes, as well as their commanders and other superiors, can be held criminally responsible under various modes of liability. Customary international humanitarian law—i.e., the laws of war that bind all state and non-state actors engaged in armed conflicts—demands that commanders and other superiors are criminally responsible for war crimes committed by their subordinates. The International Committee of the Red Cross (“ICRC”), widely viewed as an authority on the content and interpretation of customary international humanitarian law, has confirmed that “State practice establishes this rule as a norm of customary international law applicable in both international and non-international armed conflicts.” According to the ICRC, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is one of the principal sources to inform this customary international legal obligation. Article 28 (a) of the Rome Statute establishes criminal liability for “a military commander or person effectively acting as a military commander” when international crimes take place “by forces under his or her effective command and control” or “as a result of his or her failure to exercise control properly over such forces.” Further, a commander must have known or should have known about the crimes and “failed to take all necessary and reasonable measures within his or her power” to prevent, repress, or report the crimes for criminal liability to be established. As Gen. Ner Dah Bo Mya and Lt. Saw Ba Wah confessed, the KNDO detained and then killed-in-detention 25 men on June 1, 2021, whom they suspected of being Myanmar military spies. Gen. Ner Dah Bo Mya and Lt. Saw Ba Wah confirmed that the victims were unarmed, in plainclothes, and detained by KNDO forces when they were summarily executed. Lt. Saw Ba Wah confirmed the KNDO summarily executed the victims simultaneously in an assemblage setting and with their hands tied. The acts described by Gen. Ner Dah Bo Mya and Lt. Saw Ba Wah amount to war crimes, said Fortify Rights. Individuals in the KNDO and KNU command structure implicated in these incidents should be identified, investigated, and prosecuted in line with international standards. On June 17, the U.N. in Myanmar said in a statement in relation to murders by the KNDO that those responsible for human rights violations should be “held accountable, including the perpetrators and their chain of command.” “The Myanmar military has perpetrated mass atrocity crimes for decades with impunity but that does not give any other party in the country the right to do the same,” said Matthew Smith. “Impunity must end wherever it rears its head.”..."
Source/publisher: "Fortify Rights"
2021-08-17
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "1. Indiscriminate shelling by SAC forces in Bilin Township:On April 4th 2021, Border Guard Force (BGF)[2] [and State Administration Council - SAC] soldiers[3] [from Lay Kay SAC army camp] indiscriminately fired mortar rounds at Lay Kay village, Lay Kay village, P’Ya Raw village tract,[4] Bilin Township, destroying one farm hut belonging to a local villager. Fortunately, the owner was not inside the hut on the night of the incident. [Another civilian building was also damaged.].....2. Fighting breaks out during a protest in support of the NUG in Thaton Township: On April 23rd 2021, at around 8 am, fighting broke out between the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA)[5] and an unknown SAC unit from Thaton army camp. The incident happened on the highway between Thaton town and Yangon town, beside Kaung Kyet shop, Thaton Town, Thaton Township. On that day, local civilians were holding a protest in support of the National Unity Government (NUG)[6] under the protection of KNLA soldiers. However, fighting broke out after SAC soldiers arrived at the protest location.....3. Indiscriminate shelling by SAC forces in Bilin Township: On April 23rd 2021, the SAC Artillery Unit #314 based in Htee Hpoe Nya Lee Hkee army camp, near Kyaw T’Raw village, Shway Yaw Pya village tract, Bilin Township indiscriminately fired mortar rounds at nearby villages such as Ma Yan Gone, Mi Chyaung Aaing and Htee Nya Paw, among others. Since April 23rd 2021, Artillery Unit #314 has been regularly firing artillery rounds at local communities, especially those located in areas controlled by the Karen National Union (KNU).[7] These rounds are bigger and have a longer range than 120mm mortar rounds. The platform they are fired from must be moved by truck. The SAC artillery rounds landed in villages such as T’Rer Hkee, T’Rer Wah, Yo Poe and Htee Poo Wah [among others], T’Rer Hkee village tract. As a result of the SAC indiscriminate shelling, one Ma Yan Gone villager, Saw[8] T---, sustained a shrapnel injury to his leg. Many plantations local villagers rely on for their livelihoods have also been damaged, and no compensation was provided to their owners. Moreover, about 3,000 villagers from the areas affected have been fleeing their villages since April 27th. The only villagers who still remain in the area [hiding in the forest near their villages] are the villagers who do not have relatives in towns or in other places.....4. Villager killed in crossfire after being forced to transport SAC soldiers: On April 23rd 2021, an unidentified villager from Myaink Teh Su section, Kyeik Kaw Thein Seik town, died during a skirmish between the KNLA and SAC Light Infantry Battalion (LIB)[9] #406, Military Operations Command (MOC)[10] #8 [under the authority of Battalion Commander Kyaw Yaw Hla] beside the vehicle road near Chaw Bee Na and Kaw Ler villages, Kaw Ler village tract, Thaton Township. Before the incident, the victim was delivering bricks to Noh Htoe Day village, Maw Lay village tract. He encountered SAC LIB #406 soldiers from T’La Aww Poe Klah army camp on his way back from Noh Htoe Day village. The soldiers forced him to stop and to take them on his truck to an unknown location, so he could not refuse this order. Unfortunately, [the truck was ambushed by] KNLA [soldiers] along the way. The driver was killed during the ensuing skirmish. Some SAC soldiers were also killed, and others got injured. Local villagers think that these LIB #406 soldiers were on their way to help the SAC troops involved in the fighting in Thaton town [see Section 2].....5. BGF activities in Bilin Township: Most of the SAC military operations between Ta Paw army camp, Ta Paw village tract and Lay Kay army camps, P’Ya Raw village tract, Bilin Township are conducted by the BGF. [According to information received by KHRG, BGF soldiers make up around 90% of the SAC forces in the area.] Between April 27th and May 3rd 2021, BGF Battalion #1014 led by Bo[11] Tin Way and Battalion Commander Bo Maung Chit sent about 200 soldiers to Doo Tha Htoo District. Local villagers do not know where these soldiers are from and they claim that they were sent to relieve the troops based in Ta Paw and Lay Kay army camps. On April 29th 2021, fighting between the KNLA and BGF broke out when these BGF soldiers arrived at Baw Ta Pro village. The soldiers then crossed the Baw Naw Kloe River at Ha Ta Reh Place[12] and headed towards Ta Paw army camp, Ta Paw village tract, Bilin Township. They reached the camp on May 1st 2021. While staying at the camp, the BGF indiscriminately fired mortar rounds at nearby villages, destroying one farm hut belonging to a Ta Paw villager on May 1st 2021. The BGF troops spent the night at the camp before continuing their journey towards Lay Kay army camp on May 2nd. They always fired mortar rounds indiscriminately when arriving and leaving their camps to clear the road [and surrounding areas of KNLA soldiers]. On May 3rd and 4th 2021, the BGF in Lay Kay army camp fired mortar rounds at nearby villages. At least five of these rounds did not explode. One house was damaged and one villager sustained injuries as a result of the shelling. In addition, Saw Z---, a Lay Kay villager, also sustained a shrapnel injury on May 3rd and his car’s windows were damaged. In the afternoon of May 3rd 2021, BGF soldiers ordered Lay Kay villagers to provide four trucks for their soldiers’ return to Ta Paw army camp, but the villagers could only provide three trucks. [The truck owners had to drive the BGF soldiers back to Ta Paw army camp.] KHRG does not know whether these villagers received payment. Even though the truck owners were afraid and did not feel safe, they had to take the soldiers back to their camp nonetheless. Local civilians do not know where the BGF troops went after that. Some BGF soldiers who used to be based in Lay Kay army camp remained there after the new troops arrived, so villagers assume that the BGF sent reinforcements instead of just relieving their troops this time. According to a KHRG researcher, several skirmishes broke out while the BGF was sending more soldiers to relieve its troops based in the area because local villagers could hear gunfire every day. However, the KHRG researcher and local villagers could not tell whether it was the sound of fighting or indiscriminate shelling. The fighting paused after the BGF troops [that were relieved] returned to their area of origin in early May 2021. However, fighting is still on-going along the border between District 5 [Mu Traw] and District 1 [Doo Tha Htoo]. Moreover, from April 27th to May 18th 2021, SAC helicopters also conducted a couple of reconnaissance missions over Bilin and Thaton townships..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group
2021-6-18
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Introduction: This situation update describes the Tatmadaw[2] activities in Lu Thaw Township, Mu Traw District between December 2020 and February 2021. It includes indiscriminate mortar shelling by Tatmadaw soldiers and displacement. In addition, this situation update highlights the situation of local villagers during the COVID-19 pandemic; and the living conditions displaced people face.....Protest: On December 30th 2020, 3,982 villagers from Lu Thaw Township held a protest to call on Tatmadaw soldiers to withdraw from the area. The protest was held in T--- village, Naw Yoh Hta village tract.[3] The protestors came from multiple village tracts: Hkay Poo, Naw Yoh Hta, Ler Muh Plaw and Saw Muh Plaw.....COVID-19 pandemic: COVID-19 travel restrictions have resulted in difficulties for the villagers, notably when it comes to travelling, trading and buying or selling [inability to buy food and other household items, to sell their harvest, etc.]. However, local authorities allowed villagers to travel to buy food three days a month. The travel restrictions were put in place to prevent COVID-19 from reaching the local villages. The most common diseases that affect local villagers are malaria, runny nose, bloating, stomachache, diarrhea, joint pain and age-related sight issues. Furthermore, medicine and food supplies are running out because of the travel restrictions.....Education: Many students were not able to attend school due to the COVID-19 pandemic [government schools were closed]. It was not easy for the students to move from [government] schools to [Karen Education and Culture Department - KECD][4] schools [some parents decided to enroll their children in KECD schools as they generally remained open throughout the pandemic]. There were not enough school materials and teachers in [KECD] schools [to accommodate these additional students]. It has also been difficult to hold meetings and communicate since the military coup[5] [because the junta has disrupted telecommunications].....Tatmadaw activities: On January 1st 2021, a group of Tatmadaw soldiers based in Lu Thaw Township, fired mortar rounds at villages and farming areas [KHRG was not able to establish the exact location]. Local villagers were concerned and afraid, which prompted them to flee from their villages. They thought this situation was unfair, as it made them understand that genuine peace had yet to be achieved. This shows that the political situation in our area is not clear [stable], and that nothing is guaranteed. These kinds of incidents threaten our security. Local villagers in Lu Thaw Township do not want this kind of situations to happen. They want the [Karen National Union - KNU][6] leaders to prevent any further conflict. There are more and more Tatmadaw soldiers in their army camps in Lu Thaw Township, and they patrol with their mortars. That makes life difficult for local villagers and threatens their security. It is really necessary that the leaders pressure the Tatmadaw soldiers to withdraw from their bases in Lu Thaw Township. The Tatmadaw is operating drones in Lu Thaw Township and spying on the localities there. They must put an end to these activities. Villagers need assistance from the leaders to prevent such things from happening..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group
2021-06-18
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Dear friends, Thank you for all your love, prayers and help. Here in northern Karen State, there are over 40,000 people displaced by attacks of the Burma Army with daily mortar and machine-gun attacks; villagers’ farms and homes are hit and villagers continue to be hit. Saw Kit Mae, 32 years old, is one of the villagers wounded and he is now being treated at our clinic. Update: Lu Thaw township, Papun District On May 16 at 1530hrs, the Burma Army shelled from their base camp near Taw Mu Pler Mae into the Saw Mu Plaw area. The Burma Army unit Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 20 shot 15 rounds of mortars into the villagers’ fields, wounding Saw Ki Mae and forcing the villagers to stop their planting of rice and flee. On May 17, the Burma Army LIB 20, in Ler Mu Plaw, shot into Taw Mu Pler Mae Village area at 2215hrs and also into Ler Mu Plaw villagers’ rice fields. Seven rounds were fired at 2215hrs and at 2230hrs they shot one more mortar. On May 18 at 0800hrs the Burma Army shot mortars into Kaw Kyo Village as villagers fled. On May 19 at 1732hrs the Burma Army shot more mortars into the Ler Mu Plaw area. On May 22 at 0940hrs local time, the Burma Army shot eight mortar rounds down into Kaw Ter Der area at the civilians who were working their fields. Four landed in Ta Ner Shee Daw Ko Village area and four landed in Ker Ser Pa Village area. On May 23 at 1933hrs local time, Burma Army Infantry Battalion (IB) 19 fired seven 60mm mortars from their long barreled mortar from their base to Ko Ka Paw Village. The rounds landed close to civilian homes and a rubber garden. Six exploded and one did not. On May 24 at 1430hrs local time, 393 civilians left their homes because the Burma Army base in Ko Kaw Day fired mortars to Wah Kaw Hta Village area..... Update: Dwe Lo Township, Papun District: On May 18 at 1400hrs the Burma Army Military Operations Command (MOC) 8, LIB 407, occupied Ma Taw They and shot mortars into Thwa Ko Lo Village. Villagers who fled told us, “Because the Burma Army comes to stay in our village and more and more and shoot the mortars, it is more and more also difficult for us villagers to travel and to work on our farms. Now it is not easy for us. Now is the time to do the farm and plough the fields. We are now afraid we will not be able to plant rice.” On May 20, at 1500hrs local time, Burma forces and their proxies, the Border Guard Force (BGF), burned down three house from Ta Thoo Kee Village. The three houses belonged to (1) Saw La Ba, family of 8 people, 4 F, 4 M, (2) Naw Dah, family of 6 people, 4 F, 2 M, (3) Mae Way Day Mo, family of 2 people, 1 F, 1 M..... Update: Thaton District, Karen State: The Burma Air Force flies jets and helicopters regularly over the district and ground troops shell villages and fields. Ground attacks by the Burma Army continue as the Burma Army attempts to resupply and build up their camps. But there have been no airstrikes for over a week. There are weekly flights of jets and attack helicopters especially south of Papun in Thaton District. So far we and others have been able to get rice to families in need and are distributing tarps for shelter. Thank you and God bless you, The Free Burma Rangers..."
Source/publisher: Free Burma Rangers
2021-05-31
Date of entry/update: 2021-06-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Burma military airstrikes continue, and schools and homes are being destroyed as Burma soldiers shoot villagers in northern Karen State, with over 25,000 people in hiding. One villager, Saw Paw Chit, 40 yrs, was shot to death on 29 April by Burma Army soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 407, Military Operations Command (MOC) 8, commanded by Maung Kyaw Sein Lin, in Ku Chi Village, south of Papun. Deadly airstrikes using rockets, bombs and strafing cannon began in Karen State on 27 March 2021 and continued to 1 April and then started again on 27 April to now, 3 May 2021. We walked to the hiding places of the villagers who fled the first strike and met Naw Mu Wah Paw carrying her son in the jungle. He had been wounded by shrapnel to his face and neck on 27 March as he sat on his father’s lap when the first rockets and bombs came. His father was killed and his mother carried him to our medics, who treated him and removed most of the shrapnel. His mother told the story: “The airstrikes came in at night. There were rockets and bombs. I was outside the house and my son was sitting on my husband’s lap inside the house. There was a huge explosion and I ran to the house as bombs fell. My husband was covered in blood and staggered down the stairs holding our son. He handed our son to me and then fell down and died. Now I am hiding in the jungle here with his father, mother and sister. I miss my husband so much and the airstrikes keep coming to now,” said Naw Mu Wah Paw. We prayed with her husband’s parents as his sister wept silently under a tarp. Map includes some Burma Army airstrikes, artillery strikes and troop movements from 27 March to 3 May..."
Source/publisher: Free Burma Rangers
2021-05-03
Date of entry/update: 2021-05-06
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Thousands of ethnic Karen villagers in Myanmar are poised to cross into Thailand if, as expected, fighting intensifies between the Myanmar army and Karen insurgents, joining those who have already escaped the turmoil that followed a Feb. 1 coup. Karen rebels and the Myanmar army have clashed near the Thai border in the weeks since Myanmar's generals ousted an elected government led by democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi, displacing villagers on both sides of the border. read more "People say the Burmese will come and shoot us, so we fled here," Chu Wah, a Karen villager who crossed over to Thailand with his family this week from the Ee Thu Hta displacement camp in Myanmar, told Reuters. "I had to flee across the river," Chu Wah said, referring to the Salween river that forms the border in the area. The Karen Peace Support Network says thousands of villagers are taking shelter on the Myanmar side of the Salween and they will flee to Thailand if the fighting escalates. "In coming days, more than 8,000 Karen along the Salween river will have to flee to Thailand. We hope that the Thai army will help them escape the war," the group said in a post on Facebook. Karen fighters on Tuesday overran an Myanmar army unit on the west bank of the Salween in a pre-dawn attack. The Karen said 13 soldiers and three of their fighters were killed. read more The Myanmar military responded with air strikes in several areas near the Thai border. Thai authorities say nearly 200 villagers have crossed into Thailand this week. Thailand has reinforced its forces and restricted access to the border. Hundreds of Thai villagers have also been displaced, moving from their homes close to the border, to deeper into Thai territory for safety. "The situation has escalated so we can't go back," said Warong Tisakul, 33, a Thai villager from Mae Sam Laep, a settlement, now abandoned, opposite the Myanmar army post attacked this week. “Security officials won’t let us, we can’t go back.”..."
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Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
2021-04-30
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-30
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "From February until early April 2019, intermittent confrontations between the Tatmadaw and the KNLA resulted in the displacement of at least 108 people in Kheh Der village tract. The fighting broke out because the Tatmadaw is undertaking controversial road construction works despite the objection of local communities and the KNU. Sporadic armed clashes leading to displacement In early February 2019, a Tatmadaw soldier was shot and injured in Muh Theh while he was building a road between the villages of Muh Theh and Pa Kaw Hta (Hkee). This incident occurred in a KNU-controlled area in Kheh Der village tract, Kyaukkyi Township, Nyaunglebin District. KHRG has not been able to confirm who fired at the soldier. Local people believe that he was shot because the Tatmadaw was engaged in road construction activities despite repeated objections from the local community and KNU leaders. On February 23rd 2019 around noon, a second Tatmadaw soldier was shot while he was operating a backhoe to build a road in Aee Thar Plaw [area], Kyaukkyi Township. In retaliation, the Tatmadaw fired two artillery shells and other weapons toward the area where they thought the shot came from. According to local people, no further fighting occurred that day. The shelling did not result in civilian casualties or property damage. Following this incident, the Tatmadaw sent reinforcements to provide security for the road construction. On March 27th 2019 at 7:00 AM, fighting broke out between the KNLA and Tatmadaw soldiers between Muh Theh and Pa Kaw Hta (Hkee), reportedly because the Tatmadaw trespassed into KNU territory in violation of an oral agreement with the KNLA. No casualties were reported. These clashes are a clear violation of section 5 (a) of the NCA, which states that the Tatmadaw and Ethnic Armed Organisations shall not engage in armed attacks in ceasefire areas. In addition, both the Tatmadaw and the KNLA failed to act with the necessary diligence to avoid this confrontation, as they should have under section 7 (a). On April 2nd, 2019, a first group of local people fled Pa Kaw Hta (Hkee). Because of the fighting that broke out, they did not feel safe staying in their village. They cleared new lands, preparing a space where the rest of the village could settle. On April 4th, 2019, more dismantled their houses to move to this new place, which is located a 30-minute walk from the village. In total, 108 people from 34 households have already moved there, and they now face livelihood difficulties and difficulties accessing water. They told KHRG that they fled to protect themselves from renewed fighting between the KNLA and the Tatmadaw. They did not feel safe staying in Pa Kaw Hta (Hkee) because their village was close to the road. Other community members from Kheh Der village tract are now worried that fighting between the Tatmadaw and the KNLA might recur, and have started preparing to flee their villages should the situation worsen..."
Source/publisher: Progressive Voice via "Karen Human Rights Group"
2019-04-29
Date of entry/update: 2019-05-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 835.54 KB
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Description: ''On a misty January morning, several thousand ethnic Karen people gathered near a mountaintop at Law Khee Lar, a rural part of their home state in Myanmar near the Thailand border. Law Khee Lar is located in territory controlled by the Karen National Union (KNU), a political organization with an armed wing that has been fighting against state forces for seven decades, in one of the world’s longest running civil wars. On this particular day, Karen people gathered to celebrate the 70th Karen Revolution Day, an annual commemoration of the beginning of the KNU’s Karen National Liberation Army’s (KNLA) long armed struggle for self-determination and rights...''
Creator/author: Oliver Slow
Source/publisher: Asia Times
2019-02-16
Date of entry/update: 2019-02-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: ''In May 2018, a soldier from the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) had a dispute with local community members in Daw Ka Kloh village, Noh Taw Plah village tract, Noh T’Kaw Township. Five local villagers cut down a tree close to the field of DKBA Deputy Company Commander Saw Kee, based in Noh Moh Wah army camp. The commander of this battalion was Pa Nyein. Saw Kee was upset because he thought the tree belonged to him. He said that the five villagers did not respect him, and took advantage of his absence to cut down the tree. He behaved in an aggressive way to the local people, and threw their electric saw on the ground...''
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2018-12-19
Date of entry/update: 2019-01-24
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 467.13 KB
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Description: "Naw Mu Gay, 22, wanted to join the Karen army since a young age. Coming from a large family, Naw Mu Gay?s father found it hard to provide for everyone, having to work on a farm in order to exchange betel nut leaves for rice that was barely enough to feed his family. Attending a school far away from her village, Naw Mu Gay and her siblings had to live with their grandmother in Taungoo, seeing their parents only once a year during the school break. To help the family once her father fell ill, Naw Mu Gay had to drop out of school to work on a farm in the village. She and her family lived in constant fear of the Burma Army, often having to run to the jungle where the family would live in a broken tent, cooking only at night time when the smoke would not lead Burmese soldiers to their hideout. Naw Mu Gay grew up seeing her parents suffer amidst the conflict, and continuously having to run for their lives. This year, finally given the opportunity, Naw Mu Gay decided to join the KNDO (Karen National Defense Organisation), and says that she will rely on her fellow comrades to get through the difficult times that lay ahead."
Source/publisher: Burma Link
2015-10-05
Date of entry/update: 2016-03-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: Findings: "Out of all 665 households surveyed, 30% reported a human rights violation. Forced labor was the most common human rights violation reported; 25% of households reported experiencing some form of forced labor in the past year, including being porters for the military, growing crops, and sweeping for landmines. Physical attacks were less common; about 1.3% of households reported kidnapping, torture, or sexual assault. Human rights violations were significantly worse in the area surveyed in Tavoy, Tenasserim Division, which is completely controlled by the Burmese government and is also the site of the Dawei port and economic development project. Our research shows that more people who lived in Tavoy experienced human rights violations than people who lived elsewhere in our sampling area. Specifically, the odds of having a family member forced to be a porter were 4.4 times higher than for families living elsewhere. The same odds for having to do other forms of forced labor, including building roads and bridges, were 7.9 times higher; for being blocked from accessing land, 6.2 times higher; and for restricted movement, 7.4 times higher for families in Tavoy than for families living elsewhere. The research indicates a correlation between development projects and human rights violations, especially those relating to land and displacement. PHR?s research indicated that 17.4% of households in Karen State reported moderate or severe household hunger, according to the FANTA-2 Household Hunger Scale, a measure of food insecurity. We found that 3.7% of children under 5 were moderately or severely malnourished, and 9.8% were mildly malnourished, as determined by measurements of middle-upper arm circumference. PHR conducted the survey immediately following the rice harvest in Karen State, and the results may therefore reflect the lowest malnutrition rates of the year.....Conclusion: PHR?s survey of human rights violations and humanitarian indicators in Karen State shows that human rights violations persist in Karen State, despite recent reforms on the part of President Thein Sein. Of particular concern is the prevalence of human rights violations even in areas where there is no active armed conflict, as well as the correlation between economic development projects and human rights violations. Our research found that human rights violations were up to 10 times higher around an economic development project than in other areas surveyed. Systemic reforms that establish accountability for perpetrators of human rights violations, full political participation by Karen people and other ethnic minorities, and access to essential services are necessary to support a successful transition to a fully functioning democracy..."
Creator/author: Bill Davis, Ma, MPH; Andrea Gittleman, JD, PHR; Richard Sollom, Ma, MPH, PHR; Adam Richards, MD, MPH; Chris Beyrer, MD, MPH; Forword by Óscar Arias Sánchez
Source/publisher: Physicians for Human Rights (PHR)
2012-08-27
Date of entry/update: 2012-08-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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