WORLD REPORT 2015

Burma

The reform process in Burma experienced significant slowdowns and in some cases reversals of basic freedoms and democratic progress in 2014. The government continued to pass laws with significant human rights limitations, failed to address calls for constitutional reform ahead of the 2015 elections, and increased arrests of peaceful critics, including land protesters and journalists […]

Kachin Civil Society Groups Rally for Two Jailed IDPs

Kachin civil society groups held a public gathering in Shwezet church in the Kachin State capital Myitkyina on Tuesday to show their support for two Kachin IDPs, Brang Yung and Lahpai Gam, who were arrested by Burma Army soldiers in mid-2012 and allegedly severely tortured. […]

Brang Yung Detention Illegal Says United Nations

The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has issued a ruling that the detention of the ethnic Kachin farmer Brang Yung is illegal and called for his immediate release, and for adequate reparation.

Brang Yung was arrested in June 2012 by the military-backed government in Burma. He was charged under Article 17/1 of the Unlawful Association Act, and he is serving a 21 year prison sentence in Myitkyina Prison […]

Myanmar: UN Expert Welcomes Latest Release of Prisoners of Conscience, but Raises Alarm over Ongoing Arrests

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, Tomás Ojea Quintana, has welcomed the latest presidential amnesty on 23 July resulting in the release of 73 prisoners of conscience, while raising concerns over ongoing arrests of activists […]

Targeting and Torturing Public Enemies Through the Unlawful Associations Act in Myanmar

In January 2013, the Asian Legal Resource Centre released a special dossier of 36 cases brought by personnel of the Myanmar armed forces and police under the 1908 Unlawful Associations Act, against people accused of contact with the Kachin Independence Army […]

BURMA: Dossier of Cases From Kachin State Released

The Asian Human Rights Commission on Monday released a special dossier of recent cases of arrest, detention, torture and extortion carried out by Burma military and police personnel in Kachin State.

The 36 cases from 2012 have all been conducted under the Unlawful Associations Act, 1908, a draconian colonial-era statute under which contact with groups that the government identifies as “unlawful” constitutes a criminal offence. The cases in the 69-page dossier have all been brought against people for alleged contact with the Kachin Independence Army […]

Innocent Civilians Remain in Burma’s Jails – Free Brang Shawng!

Burma Campaign UK today called for the immediate release of Brang Shawng. Brang Shawng is a 25-year-old Kachin farmer who was arrested under suspicion of being a captain of Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and carrying out bombing operations near Myitkyina. While he was in interrogation he was tortured brutally and forced to confess to bombings in the area […]