Letpadaung Crisis Takes a Turn for the Worse

As 2014 ended seeing Burma’s reforms backsliding and the peace process stalling, Burma welcomed 2015 with many unresolved issues continuing to face people across the country.

The ongoing dispute between local villagers and the Burma Government and Wanbao, a Chinese mining company, over land grabs and environmental damage continues to rumble on as police shot dead Daw Khin Win as she was demonstrating against the controversial Letpadaung mining project in Sagaing Region. Meanwhile, the police continue to arrest and detain activists who speak out against such violence on politically motivated charges, underlining the dire need for legal and judicial reform and the complete lack of the rule of law in Burma […]

Govt Neglecting Student Demands, Mandalay Protestors Say

MANDALAY — Student activists here said authorities are neglecting the desires of students and teachers despite a sustained campaign of public protests against the controversial National Education Law.

About 50 students from student unions of Mandalay, Sagaing, Monywa and Myingyan took to the streets of Burma’s second biggest city again on Thursday and set up camp in front of City Hall, where they held an unauthorized demonstration against the education legislation. […]

Sagaing Protestors Say Drug Addicts Need Help

Protestors took to the streets of Banmauk in Sagaing Division this weekend, calling for official measures to tackle rampant drug problems in the region.

“My husband died from drug addiction and it left me scared, angry and inconsolable,” said one protestor. “I get very upset seeing young people whose lives are dictated by their drug habit – it brings tears to my eyes […]

69th Session of the UN General Assembly – Situation of human rights in Myanmar: Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar

I. Introduction

I. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar was established pursuant to Commission on Human Rights resolution 1992/58 and recently extended by Human Rights Council resolution 25/26. The present report is submitted pursuant to Council resolution 25/26 and General Assembly resolution 68/242.

II. Background

2. Following the completion of the term of the previous mandate holder, the current mandate holder took up her functions only in June 2014, which resulted in a shorter period than usual to conduct a country visit and review the information gathered. The present report therefore sets out the Special Rapporteur’s preliminary observations, to be supplemented by her oral statement to the General Assembly […]

Monywa Students Protest Education Bill

Students from Monywa University in Sagaing Division on Wednesday launched a campaign opposing the National Education Bill.

The controversial bill, passed by parliament at the end of July, has been a subject of criticism among educators and students alike. Several student protests have been held around the country, claiming that the new bill would centralise decision-making and grant too much power to the Ministry of Education […]

Situation of Inter-Communal Violence in Myanmar is Perilous, Warn ASEAN Legislators

Myanmar is on the precipice of widespread inter-communal conflict and the authorities must immediately implement a comprehensive strategy that protects victims, holds perpetrators of violence accountable for their actions and also deals with the underlying tensions that are fueling conflicts between Buddhist and Muslim communities, ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) said today […]

Hundreds Demand Probe of Burmese Mine Crackdown Five Months On

Hundreds of villagers held a protest Monday to back their persistent calls for a government probe into a harsh crackdown on protesters against a controversial China-backed copper mine in northern Burma’s Sagaing division that left more than 100 injured and was strongly condemned by rights groups.

More than 500 people marched from Ton village in Sagaing to the office of the Letpadaung mine developer, demanding an end to the project and calling on authorities to prosecute those responsible for a Nov. 29 pre-dawn raid […]

Burma: Farmers Rise Up at Land Grab by Army-Owned Company

The Asian Human Rights Commission has followed closely reports in recent weeks of an uprising by farmers against a takeover of a large area of agricultural land in upper Burma by an army-owned company and a private partner. The land grab, in the Letpadan Mountain Range of Sarlingyi Township, Sagaing Region, is of some 7800 acres of fertile land, to make way for copper mining […]

Briefing: Forced Labour in Chin State and Sagaing Region, 2011 – 2012

From January 2011 to date, CHRO has documented 20 separate incidents of forced labour, some involving orders to multiple villages. 50 percent of the incidents involved orders from the Burma Army (typically portering), and the other half were orders from the local authorities (typically road construction, planting jatropha, and other forms of manual labour) […]