Weekly Updates on Current Situation in Myanmar
(3-4-2022)
It has been one year and two months since the Myanmar military attempted an illegal coup, toppled the civilian government, and unlawfully detained State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, President U Win Myint and other senior members of the civilian government, parliamentarians and activists. Since then, the Myanmar military has ignored the will of the people of Myanmar, placed the country in turmoil, and made people suffer with inhumane and disproportionate actions.
As of 1 April 2022, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), 1,723 people were ruthlessly killed by the military, whereas 13,047 people have been arrested, 10,007 people remain in detention, and 1,976 people have been issued with warrants since 1 February 2021, when the military unleashed systematic and targeted attacks and violence against innocent civilians.
The Military conducting Airstrikes in Kayin State
On 29 March 2022, the military conducted an airstrike attacks from a jet fighter against Ka Law Khee Village of Hpapun Township of Kayin State. Due to this attack, a number of houses were destroyed and three civilians were wounded. According to local residents, the village was also attacked by the two military’s jets on 27 March 2022, and more than 10 building were destroyed.
Khit Thit Media reported that the military forces conducted massive airstrikes against the villages of Kyeik and Paing Ka Lar Don in KawKaraik Township of Kayin State for two days from 3 to 4 April 2022. On the Asia highway of Kawkaraik and Myawaddy, the fighting between the military forces and the members of the Karan National Liberation Army (KNLA) has been intensifying. Local residents said that the military continuously fired the heavy weapons.
The Military killing and abducting civil resistance fighters in Mandalay Region
According to Mandalay Free Press, the military forces raided an outpost of Myitnge People Defence Force (MN PDF) near Shwe Taung Village in Ngazun Township of Mandalay Region on 30 March 2022. It is reported that the military troops forcibly and continuously fired heavy artillery and RPG weapons. As the members of PDF do not have sufficient weapons to stop the military’s brutal attacks, 2 PDF fighters were killed and the other 29 PDF members were arrested.
The Military abducting Civilians in Bilin Township
According to Salween Press, the military forces forcibly abducted 8 villagers from the villages of A Wun Gyi, Pan Aung Kone and Ka Mar Sai in Bilin Township of Mon State on 1 April 2022. The villagers were abducted on the morning of 1 April, and 2 villagers were released and the rest, 6 villagers were detained. According to local residents, the heads of the village and other villagers were not allowed to meet those abducted, when they arrived to the place where the military detained the 6 villagers. It is reported that the military forces extorted 2,000,000 MMK per person, for those 6 villagers abducted to be released. A local villager said that the military forces committed the actions of abducting the villagers, blackmailing them and looting the private properties.
The Military raiding and torching the villages in Magway Region
According to Mandalay Free Press, the military forces forcibly raided the villages of Chan Yar, Shwe Hlan, Hpyon Bu, Min Hla, Mee Laung Kyun, Mi Hpa Yar, Pauk Taw, and Kyauk Hpu Villages within Yae Lel Kyun area in Yesagyo Township of Magway Region from 2 to 3 April 2022. Due to the military’s raid and attack, over 15 houses were torched and destroyed, and 2 civilians including a 63-year-old woman from Chan Yar Village and a 60-year-old man from Mee Laung Kyun Village were killed.
It is reported that the military group with 150 troops raided the villages within the area of Yae Lel Kyun and conducted the brutal acts of raiding and burning the houses, destroying the libraries, killing the villagers, arresting and torturing the villagers and looting the private properties. In addition, local residents said that in Mee Laung Kyun Village, the military forces forced a 60-year-old man to run and the he was shot dead by the military behind. It is further said that in Chan Yar Village, the military shot and killed a 63-year-old woman, while she was running away from the military forces.
The Military raiding and torching a Village in Sagaing Region
According to Khit Thit Media, the military forces and members of its Phyu Saw Htee paramilitary group raided Ngar Tin Gyi Village in Khin-U Township of Sagaing Region on 3 April 2022, abducting over 30 villagers including women and torching more than 500 houses. Local villagers said the military group consisting of 100 troops entered the village and stationed in a monastery in the northern part of the village. Those abducted were detained in the monastery where the military forces stationed. The military forces torched the houses within the village, starting from southern to northern of the village, and more than 500 houses were destroyed.
The Military conducting brutal crackdown in Monywa Prision
On 3 April 2022, the military vehicles entered the Prison in Monywa, the capital of Sagaing Region, and the military forces conducted a brutal crackdown against the detainees who were staging a loud protest against human rights violations and torture at the prison. Due to the military’s brutal attack against the protest of those arbitrarily detained, a prisoner was killed and 5 others were wounded.
The Military sentencing Civilians to Imprisonment
Credible news reported that on 23 March 2022, a special court in the city of Pathein sentenced a journalist named Ye Yint Tun to two years in prison. He was sentenced to imprisonment, for allegedly violating Section 505(a) of the penal code, which criminalizes incitement and the dissemination of “false news” and violating Section 505(b), which criminalizes publishing or circulating information that could cause fear or alarm.
According to AAPP, a 19-year-old civilian named Saung Hnin Phyu was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment under Section 50(j) and 52(a) of the Counter Terrorism Law by the court of Dawei Prison in Tanintharyi Region on 28 March 2022. It is reported that she was arrested at her home on 22 August 2021, being accused of donating to the People Defence Force (PDF) through KBZ Pay. Myanmar Now News reported that a former political prisoner who met Saung Hnin Phyu behind bars in Dawei claimed that she had donated 13,500 kyat (around US$7.60) to PDF through the mobile app KBZPay.
On 28 March 2022, a civilian named Hlan Phyo Aung, who is a second year Civil Engineering student from Technological University in Magway, was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment by the court in Magway Prison under Section 505 A of the Penal Code. It is reported that as he was shot and arrested, while he was participating in an anti-junta protest on 27 March 2021, he lost one eye and the right hand.
According to Myanmar Now News, a 29-year-old civilian named Man Zar Myay Mon who is an anti-dictatorship protest leader from Chaung-U Township of Sagaing Region was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment by the court in Monywa Prison. As he was arrested by the military in early June of 2021, he has been detained for nearly 10 months. He was charged with five counts of violating Section 505(a) of the Penal Code. In addition, it is reported that he endured a violent interrogation in which he had his fingers broken.
Activities of the National Unity Government
On 28 March 2022, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the National Unity Government (NUG) of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar issued statement on the outcomes of the visit of ASEAN Special Envoy to Myanmar, acknowledging the visit of the Special Envoy and reiterating the commitment to engage with and support the mandate of the Special Envoy to facilitate the implementation of the ASEAN Five-Point Consensus.
The statement underlined that the Special Envoy failed to meet with all parties concerned, as required by the ASEAN Five-Point Consensus, which threatens ASEAN’s adherence to the principle of impartiality, and hampers its ability to bring informed and inclusive approaches to ‘concrete, tangible and visible’ implementation of Five-Point Consensus.
It is stated that the NUG urges the Special Envoy to act on his commitment to meet with all parties concerned, and this must include engagement with President U Win Myint and State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the NUG, the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC), ethnic Resistance Organizations, and civil society representatives such as community leaders and humanitarian organizations operating on the ground.
Through the statement, the NUG urges the Special Envoy to confirm at the earliest opportunity his upcoming schedule and planned meetings with the NUG and other parties concerned, supporting the Special Envoy’s calls for ‘utmost restraint on the use of military forces’. The NUG welcomes this recognition by ASEAN on the military’s atrocities, stating “Now is ASEAN’s opportunity to correct historic missteps by genuinely supporting the will and interests of the Myanmar people”.
On 2 April 2022, the Ministry of Human Rights of the National Unity Government (NUG) of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar issued Statement on the adoption of the resolution on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, welcoming the adoption of the resolution by the Human Rights Council and extending its appreciation to the European Union and to cosponsors. The statement underlined that the resolution condemns in the strongest terms the unlawful actions of the illegal military group, and catalogues the military’s crimes, including the deliberate killings, abduction and enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrest, torture and other ill-treatment, sexual and gender-based violence, forced displacement, forced labour, the destruction and burning of homes, continued attacks on medical and humanitarian relief personnel, the use of facilities functioning as schools, hospitals and houses of worship for military purposes, the use of landmines, and the severe curtailment of fundamental freedoms – opinion and expression, peaceful assembly and association, while it is stated that the resolution represents a series of missed opportunities to sharpen the Council’s responses to the illegal military.
The statement mentioned that Myanmar also welcomes the adoption of resolution which calls for the respect for the democratic will of the people as expressed through the general elections of 8 November 2020, its full support for the aspirations of the Myanmar people for democracy and civilian government, its demand for the release of all those arbitrarily detained, for all perpetrators of violations and abuses to be held accountable.
Actions and Remarks by the International Community in response to the Military Coup d’état
On 28 March 2022, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) stated that Myanmar authorities should immediately and unconditionally release the journalist named Ye Yint Tun and stop imprisoning members of the press for their work. The senior Southeast Asia representative of the Committee to Protect Journalists Shawn Crispin said, “Journalist Ye Yint Tun’s harsh sentencing and imprisonment for merely doing his job as a reporter speaks to the cruelty of Myanmar’s military regime.” According to the most recent prison census of the Committee to Protect Journalists, it is further underlined that Myanmar stands on the world’s second-worst jailer of journalists in the world.
On 1 April 2022, the Human Rights Council adopted seven resolutions, including the resolution on Myanmar that was adopted without a vote. Regarding the resolution, the Council decided to extend the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar for one year, requesting the Special Rapporteur to present an oral progress report to the Council at its fiftieth and fifty-first sessions and to submit a written report to the Third Committee of the General Assembly at its seventy-seventh session and to the Council at its fifty-second session. The Council requests the Special Rapporteur to continue to monitor the situation of human rights in Myanmar and make recommendations on additional steps necessary to address the ongoing crisis, and further reiterated the need to establish a country office of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Myanmar.
The UN Special Rapporteur Thomas H. Andrews remarked on his twitter about the adopted resolution on Myanmar by the Human Rights Council on 1 April, and congratulated to the European Union and others who pushed for passage of a Human Rights Council resolution that includes a call to end the flow of weapons to Myanmar. He also added that it is now required to take action and penalize those who provide the Myanmar military with the means to continue murdering the people.
In the UN daily press briefing on 1 April 2022, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Farhan Haq remarked on the meeting of the Special Envoy for the Secretary-General on Myanmar with the Cambodian Prime Minister and Chair of the ASEAN, as well as the ASEAN Special Envoy and other senior officials in Cambodia. The Deputy Spokesman mentioned that this mission was undertaken against the backdrop of escalating violence throughout Myanmar, and multiple vulnerabilities that the millions of people were facing and struggling for survival.
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Date: 3 April 2022
Permanent Mission of Myanmar to the United Nations, New York