23 Years of Resistance: Ongoing Human Rights Abuses and the Need for a Commission of Inquiry

On 23rd Anniversary of 8.8.88, Kachin Women’s Association Thailand did a presentation on ongoing human rights violations committed by the Burmese troops in Kachin State, Burma at the Canadian Embassy in Bangkok in August 2011. The event was attended by diplomats, representatives and individuals from countries and organizations such as UK, Denmark, New Zealand, Malaysia, South Africa, Switzerland, EU, UNHCR. The follwoing is the summary of KWAT's presentation.

The seventeen year ceasefire agreement, signed in 1994, was broken by Burmese troops that attacked the KIA post at Sang Gang, in N’mawk (Momauk) Township, eastern Kachin State. The KIO had refused to become a Border Guard Force as required by the regime in early 2009. Tensions had been increasing between the KIO and the regime since then, and led to the current fighting.

The immediate reason for the start of fighting was that the Burmese Army had entered KIA ceasefire areas to take control of territory chosen for the development of a Chinese funded hydropower project in Sinbo in Kachin State.

The regime is currently building or planning nine large hydropower dams in Kachin State, for sale of electricity to China. These dams, including the Myitsone Dam on the Irrawaddy River will have very damaging social and environmental impacts, but local communities have not been consulted and have been unable to get information about the projects. The KIO has openly opposed the Myitsone Dam and sent an open letter to the Chinese government telling them not to go ahead with the project.

Even before the start of the fighting, there were ongoing human rights violations being committed by the regime and its troops in Kachin State. Violations have not decreased since the election and instead have increased since the offensive against KIA.

In particular we are seeing fresh evidence of how the Burmese military is using sexual violence as a weapon of war against Kachin people. Rape has long been used by the military regime against ethnic groups in Burma. Women’s organizations from Shan, Karen, Chin and Mon States have given evidence of hundreds of cases of military rape.

During the past 2 months fighting, Burmese soldiers have been raping women of all ages, both young girls and old women. We have interviewed refugees who say that the Burmese soldiers told them they have “orders to rape women”. My organization, the Kachin Women’s Association Thailand has so far documented the rape of 32 women and girls in eight townships during the offensive, thirteen of whom were killed.

In one brutal incident in a village near Bhamo, a young girl and her grandmother were found by three Burmese soldiers. They killed the girl and then gang-raped and killed the grandmother. In another case very close to the China border, a young girl was raped and killed in front of her parents.

Other human rights violations are taking place in the same conflict areas. Young men have been kidnapped and forcibly recruited as soldiers or as forced labor such as porters to carry the Burmese military supplies. In some cases, villagers suspected of supporting the KIA have been arbitrarily arrested, tortured severely or shot by the Burmese army.

Just a few days ago, on 29 July, in Ka Mai, Kachin State, Burmese soldiers shot 15 years young man without any reason. Two days later, on 31 July, 2 villagers in Warshauwn Village, Wai Maw township, Kachin state were shot by the Burmese military while peacefully working on their farm. On the same day, one villager from Kahtan Yan was brutally killed by the military. Also in Kahtan Yan, on August 1, the military threatened the village head that if the village didn’t provide 40 young men as porters for the army, the village would be burned down and villagers would be tortured. These abuses are very clear war crimes, and are being committed with impunity.

Many Kachin people are fleeing their homes because they are afraid of the war and human rights abuses by the Burmese military. Many villagers have fled to the China border, but Chinese government has refused to accept them as refugees. So they are sheltering in KIO controlled areas just inside the Kachin border.

The number of Internally Displaced Persons in these KIO areas has been increasing day by day in the border areas, and is now about 20,000 people. They are staying in 13 makeshift camps, and are urgently in need of humanitarian support. There are also many IDPs who have fled to towns in Kachin State, where they are mostly staying with relatives or in churches. The regime is not allowing any official assistance to any of these IDPs. Right now it is mainly the local Kachin networks who are providing food to these IDPs.

The Burmese regime has been denying that it has been committing human rights violations, in spite of all the evidence that has been building up all over Burma. These human rights violations and war crimes are happening not only in Kachin State, but also in other ethnic areas such as Shan State, Karen State, Mon State, Karenni State and others. The increasing number of refugees fleeing to neighbouring countries is an urgent regional security issue.

So I would like to say, enough is enough, people have suffered far too long already. Even since the election and convening of parliament, the regime has shown it is not willing to provide accountability for the victims. Now is the time for the UN to investigate the regime’s war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma. As Burma is a member of ASEAN and UN, these two institutions have a responsibility to pressure the Burmese regime to end human rights violations and support the Commission of Inquiry.