Two New Briefers: The State of Burma’s Peace Process and Shrinking Space for Civil Society in Burma

Burma Partnership has produced two new briefing papers in connection with Burma-related advocacy at the current 69th session of the UN General Assembly […]

Elusive Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement Continues to Distract from Substantial Peace Talks

As talks over the signing of a nationwide ceasefire agreement (NCA) are delayed once again, thus pushing substantive dialogue further into the future, Burma’s decades long civil war rages on in Kachin and Shan States.
Talks over the signing of the NCA have now gone on for nearly 18 months and the situation on the ground has still not changed. The Burma Army continues to attack ethnic armed groups in areas where ceasefires have been signed, such as those of the Shan State Army South and Shan State Army North, as well as continuing offensives against the Kachin Independence Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Front (TNLA) where there is no ceasefire. On Monday 18 August, a civilian in Namkan Township, Shan State was shot dead and another hospitalized after a clash between the TNLA and Burma Army. Human rights violations such as sexual violence, arbitrary arrest, torture and extrajudicial killing continue in these active conflict areas, while in areas where individual ceasefires are holding, the Burma Army is entrenching its power both militarily and economically through land confiscation and reinforcement of its positions.

The aim in this pursuit of the NCA is questionable as it distracts from the real issues at hand that prevent the ethnic people of Burma from enjoying genuine peace. Let us not forget that the Burma government has already signed ceasefire agreements with most ethnic armed groups. But has this stopped the attacks and human rights violations inflicted on local communities by armed forces? This question cannot be answered in the affirmative. Just ask the villagers who live in Murng Hsu, Shan State, whose homes came under artillery attack, and were forced to act as guides for the Burma Army in June of this year in a supposed ceasefire area. If all groups sign on to the NCA, the biggest question is how can they trust that the Burma Army will actually cease its attacks. There is scant evidence of this from current and previous ceasefires […]

January – June 2014: Report on the Human Rights Situation on Burma

Introduction

The Network for Human Right Documentation-Burma (ND-Burma) is an organization that documents and reports human rights violations taking place throughout Burma. We are a watch-dog for human rights violations and are continually monitoring the human rights situation in Burma.

This report covers the first period of 2014 and focuses on 103 documented cases of human rights violations in Burma from January-June 2014. There are many serious human rights violations addressed and highlighted in this report, including: torture, extra-judicial killing, illegal arrests and detention, arbitrary taxation, property crimes, forced labor, human trafficking, forced displacement and rape.

Even though President U Thein Sein promised to release all political prisoners by the end of 2013, there are still many political prisoners in Burma, including new detainees in 2014. Many human right defenders and activists have been arrested under the Unlawful Association Act of 1908, Section 5 (e) and 5 (j) of the Emergency Provisions Act, and Section (18) of the Right to Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Act. For example, U Win Cho and U Nay Myo Zin were arrested under Section (18) for protesting the confiscation of land in Kyauk Ta Dar Township, Yangon. Moreover, innocent Kachin IDPs were arrested under Section (17) of the Unlawful Association Act for suspected contact with ethnic armed groups. These actions reinforce the fact that the government in Burma is still willing to use oppressive and unjust laws against the Burmese people […]

ညီညြတ္ေသာ တိုင္းရင္းသားလူမ်ဳိးမ်ား ဖက္ဒရယ္ေကာင္စီ (UNFC) ႏွင့္ ျပည္တြင္း ဒီမိုကေရစီအင္အားစုမ်ား ေတြ႔ဆုံေဆြးေႏြးပြဲ ထုတ္ျပန္ေၾကျငာခ်က္

Poverty, Displacement and Local Governance in South East Burma/Myanmar

As the pace of reform has slowed in Burma/Myanmar during 2013, the potential for an inclusive political dialogue process to address the causes of conflict has increased. The sustainability of national reconciliation will require sensitivity to the concerns and aspirations of ethnic nationality communities in relation to identity, security and justice. This village-level survey describes the challenge of addressing chronic poverty, protracted displacement and weak governance at the community level in South East Myanmar as part of the conflict transformation process […]

Myanmar Peace Process Must Address Protection Concerns: NGO Report

Village Survey in Myanmar identifies challenges for poverty alleviation, displaced persons and local governance

The Border Consortium (TBC), an NGO that works with the displaced and conflict-affected people of Myanmar, today released findings from its annual survey which describe chronic poverty, protracted displacement and weak governance as the starting point for conflict transformation. Eleven civil society organisations in South East Myanmar collaborated with TBC to conduct the survey in 209 villages spread across 6 states and regions […]

Five-Point Agreement with the United Wa State Army

The full text of the agreement between the Union Peace Working Committee and the United Wa State Army (UWSA) in Burmese language.

Eight-Point Agreement Between the Union Peace-Making Committee and the Karenni National Progressive Party

The Union Peace-Making Committee and the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) held negotiations on 19 and 20 June in Loikaw with Vice-Chairman of the committee Union Minister U Aung Min and Vice-Chairman of KNPP Khu U Yal in attendance. The two parties released this eight-point agreement today […]

A Tentative Peace in Myanmar’s Kachin Conflict

On 30 May 2013, the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) signed a tentative peace agreement with the Myanmar government – the last of the eleven major ethnic armed groups to do so since 2011. This represents a major opportunity to secure lasting peace in Kachin State, and in the country as a whole. Yet, there will be significant challenges in doing so. Key issues still need to be discussed and agreed, including the repositioning of troops from both sides to reduce the chance of clashes, a monitoring mechanism, and a meaningful political dialogue. Major steps need to be taken to develop an equitable peace economy, and the exploitation of Kachin’s significant natural resources, if not appropriately regulated, could compound inequalities and trigger renewed conflict. Much remains to be done to avoid a repeat of the failures of the previous ceasefire process […]

Agreement Between the Union Working Committee and the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO)

The full text of the tentative agreement reached between the government’s Union Working Committee and the Kachin Independence Organization.