KNO’s Condemation Statement on Unprovoked Attacked at KIA’s Military Academy by the Burma Army

1. Kachin National Organization strongly condemn the Burma Army’s intentional, unprovoked, barbaric attack at the KIA’s military academy on 19th November 2014 at 12:36pm, which killed 23 cadets and seriously injured 20 others. […]

KIA ဗိုလ္သင္တန္းေက်ာင္းသို႔ ျမန္မာအစိုးရစစ္တပ္မွ လက္နက္ႀကီးျဖင့္ ပစ္ခတ္တိုက္ခိုက္မႈအေပၚ KIA ၏ ထုတ္ျပန္ေၾကညာခ်က္

Announcement of Treasury Sanctions Against Aung Thaung

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury today designated Aung Thaung, a senior official of the Burmese Government, pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13448. This action specifically designates an individual, Aung Thaung, and does not designate any Burmese government entity. […]

Reform of the Police and the Judiciary is a Matter of Urgency

Over recent weeks, there has been a spate of unprovoked attacks by the Burma Police Force on peaceful, innocent civilians. On 14 August, nearly 50 police personnel in Mandalay Region shot at a group of around 200 farmers from Nyaung Wine Village, Singu Township. According to the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), a 30-year-old mother of two, Ma San Kyin Nu, is allegedly one of the victims, and has been admitted to Mandalay General Hospital for urgent medical treatment as a result of her injuries. The farmers were protesting against the fact that over 6,000 acres of their land was confiscated in 1991 by the 121 Logistic Battalion of the Burma Army – without any compensation being provided – by continuing to plough their fields.

After the police violence, the protesting farmers prevented police from making any arrests; however, later, another 100 police arrived and blockaded the entire village. Local residents then took matters into their own hands and briefly detained about 40 police officers, angered at the brutal approach of the police to the land conflict. Although the policemen were eventually released after negotiations, the dangers and risks of uncontrolled police violence and impunity are evident: blood has been shed and anarchy has prevailed. Even if police allegations that the protestors were armed with slingshots is true, under no circumstances is the use of live ammunition by police or other state security forces on civilian protestors proportionate or justified.

Furthermore, on 14 May, All Burma Federation of Students Union (ABFSU) member Kaung Htet Kyaw was beaten by police during a suppression of a farmers’ protest in Thegon Township in Pegu Region. Kaung Htet Kyaw sustained severe head injuries. ABFSU responded by releasing a statement denouncing police mistreatment [..]

Nationwide Ceasefire Accord: Not the End Game

At a historic summit in Laiza, Kachin State, 17 ethnic non-state armed groups agreed to sign the government proposed nationwide ceasefire accord on condition that political dialogue will follow. Of the armed groups who attended this conference, the Restoration Council for Shan State (RCSS) were the only group not to sign, stating that they wanted to consult with Shan political parties and civil society before agreeing.

A 13-member committee has been formed that will lead negotiations with government minister Aung Min’s peace team in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, starting on 4 November. The conditions to be negotiated with Aung Min include a guarantee that comprehensive political dialogue will be held early next year that will address the role of the Burma Army and greater autonomy for Burma’s ethnic nationalities, something for which they have been fighting for decades.

The 3-day summit was held in Laiza, a town in Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) held territory. Ethnic leaders were greeted by hundreds of supporters on the streets of the town, cheering and singing songs as various leaders arrived. It is of no surprise that ethnic armed groups garner this kind of support. As the summit was being held, Burma Army forces attacked villages in southern Kachin State, displacing around 2,000 people and causing one woman, who was already in bad health, to die while she was sheltering in a church. Burma Army soldiers reportedly opened fire as they entered the five villages under attack […]

Burma Army Shows Contempt of Buddhism During Latest Attacks in Shan State

During attacks last week violating the ceasefire with the Shan State Army-North (SSA-N), the Burma Army shelled a Buddhist temple in central Shan State, displacing dozens of monks, and turned the temple into a military base […]

Thein Sein Government Must be Held Accountable for Fresh Burma Army Atrocities in Shan State

The Shan Human Rights Foundation is gravely concerned at fresh widespread atrocities by the Burma Army against civilians in Tangy an, northern Shan State, and is calling on the international community to hold the Burmese government accountable for these abuses […]

Land Protest Leaves One Dead, Dozens Injured

One policeman is dead and dozens of police and protesters were injured following clashes that broke out on Tuesday over efforts to end a demonstration by farmers demanding the return of confiscated farmland.

According to local officials in Maubin Township, Irrawaddy Division, 27 police and 15 farmers were injured in the melee that erupted after police moved in to break up the protest at around 6 pm on Tuesday […]

Kachin Organizations/Civil Society Groups Call for Investigation into Burma Army’s War Crimes in Laiza

We, the undersigned Kachin organisations, wish to express our grave concern over the widespread human rights violations being committed by the Burmese army against Kachin civilians, including the ongoing indiscriminate shelling of residential areas of Laiza, which recently led to the death of three civilians aged between 14 and 65, and injury of four others […]

Kachin Deaths A War Crime – Thousands More In Danger

Burma Campaign UK today called on the British government and United States to adopt a much more robust approach with the government of Burma in order to persuade President Thein Sein to halt Burmese Army attacks against the ethnic Kachin minority in Burma […]