Open letter from Myanmar civil society organizations to the UN Human Rights Council on the deteriorating human rights situation in Myanmar during the COVID-19 crisis
21 September, 2020
To: Member and Observer States of the UN Human Rights Council
Subject: Open letter from Myanmar civil society organizations to the UN Human Rights Council on the deteriorating human rights situation in Myanmar during the COVID-19 crisis
Your Excellencies,
On the occasion of the International Day of Peace, which falls on 21 September, we, 364 Myanmar civil society organizations express concern over the deteriorating human rights situation amid the pandemic, escalating armed conflict in ethnic areas, and the lack of humanitarian assistance, and would like the UN Human Rights Council to urge Myanmar to respect and protect the rights of all people in the country and to adhere to the demand for a global ceasefire by the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres.
Myanmar is one of the many countries in the world bitterly facing the COVID-19 pandemic. As the world seeks to respond to the catastrophe, Myanmar has increased its military offensives in Rakhine and Chin states, taking advantage of COVID-19. As the armed conflict intensifies, we are especially concerned that innocent civilians are facing atrocities and the scourge of war, including arbitrary arrests, torture, rape and extrajudicial killings.
On September 3 at around 9:30 pm the Myanmar military set fire to Hpa Yar Paung and Taung Pauk Villages in Kyauktaw Township, Rakhine State according to a news report by the Rakhine-based Development Media Group. According to All Arakan Students’ & Youths’ Congress (AASYC), nearly 190 houses have been set on fire in those two villages, and two villagers were killed on the same day. Furthermore, on September 8, we have learned sadly that a total of four villagers, including two innocent children, were killed and 11 others were injured when artillery shells fired by the Myanmar military hit Nyaungkan Village in Myebon Township. Again on September 17, in Shwe Long Tin Village, Rathedaung Twonship, a 43-year old man was killed and another two civilians got injured by the Myanmar military’s artillery shell.
From 1 January 2019 to 10 September 2020, according to Burma Monitor, a local research and monitoring organization, 432 civilians were killed and 775 injured nationwide due to armed conflict and human rights violations committed during armed conflict. In Rakhine and Chin States alone, 295 civilians were killed and 674 were injured during the same duration.
To make matters worse, while people are facing hardship in the COVID-19 crisis, the civilians are not only suffering from the armed conflict, but also from information blackouts by the Myanmar government. It has been more than a year since the Myanmar government cut off internet access to northern Rakhine State and Paletwa Township in Chin State for security reasons, leaving people with serious challenges without access to information about COVID-19 and the war. Such actions by the Myanmar government not only violate the basic rights of the people, but also pave the way for the Myanmar military to perpetuate serious human rights abuses which could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, while keeping the people of Myanmar and the international community in the dark.
In addition, the Myanmar government are using the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason for the arbitrary arrest and detention of activists who are calling for an end to war and human rights abuses and an end to internet restriction. We are particularly concerned that these efforts are intended to shrink the democratic and civil society space through oppression and unjust measures.
On September 9, three students from Arakan Student’s Union who protested in front of the Rakhine State government office to stop the war, were charged and arrested under the Natural Disaster Prevention Act and Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law. Then, on September 10, thirteen students of the All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU), who staged a similar anti-war rally in Mandalay, were charged under Article 19 of Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law. Additionally, the authorities raided the house of Wai Yan Phyo Moe and Ko Paing Min Khant, members of the ABFSU, on September 12 in connection with an anti-war sticker campaign in Rangoon and they were also charged under Article 19 of Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law. Such arrests on young peace-loving people who are calling for peace and to stop the war, make us understand that the Myanmar government is showing that they don’t want genuine peace.
While the Myanmar government and military are using the COVID-19 pandemic as a weapon of war and as tool for political exploitation, since the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country, nearly 20,000 people have been charged by the government for breaking the Natural Disaster Management law and for not following the rules during emergency crisis, according to Radio Free Asia’s Myanmar program. As the current Myanmar government, who claims to be establishing democracy ignores the plight of the people, focused on the November 8 general elections, and continues to repress people’s freedom of expression, our civil society groups are particularly concerned that the people will face even greater human rights abuses in the future.
While the world is facing the bitter crisis of COVID-19, by continuing attacks that target civilians, the Myanmar government is not only committing blatant war crimes and crimes against humanity, but also violating the Geneva Convention, which Myanmar is a signatory. Therefore, we, as civil society organizations from Myanmar urge the Human Rights Council to take the following steps to ensure justice by bringing the Myanmar military that commits war crimes and crimes against humanity to account.
- The Myanmar military must immediately end all hostility and offensive attacks in ethnic areas amid COVID-19 and the Myanmar government and military must adhere to the call for a global ceasefire made by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres;
- Authorities must stop the unjust suppression against democracy activists, peaceful demonstrators, and human rights defenders by releasing those who are in detention and dropping charges against them;
- The Myanmar government must respect the international obligations and responsibilities to which they have committed; and
- The UN Human Rights Council should take necessary action to bring justice and accountability for the victims of human rights abuses committed by the Myanmar military, which amount to international crimes, and urge the UN Security Council to refer the situation of Myanmar to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
For more information, please contact:
- Khin Ohmar, Progressive Voice (PV): [email protected]
- Ko Ting Oo, All Arakan Students’ and Youths’ Congress (AASYC): [email protected]
- Moon Nay Li, Kachin Women’s Association Thailand (KWAT): [email protected]
Signed by 364 civil society organizations:
- 8888 သွေးသစ် (မိုးညှင်း)
- 88 Pwint Lin (Kachin)
- Action Committee for Democracy Development (ACDD)
- Active Women Development Initiative (AWDI)
- Ah Lin Yaung Pan Taing Developing Group
- Ahlin Tagar Rural Development Organization
- Alin Thit Sar Development Group
- Alinn Bhamaw Development Organization
- Alinsaetamarn Library and Resource Center
- All Arakan Civil Society Organization Partner (AACSOP)
- All Arakan Students’ and Youths’ Congress (AASYC)
- All Kachin Youth Union – AKYU
- All Burma Federation of Youth Union
- Amnesty Arakan Team
- Anin Region Environmental Conservation Group
- Ann Township Pipeline Monitoring Group
- Another Alternative
- Ar Ra Kha Foundation
- Arakan CSO Network (ACN)
- Arakan Humanitarian Coordination Team
- Arakan Peasant Union
- Arakan Students’ Union (Arakan)
- Arakan Students’ Union – Universities of Rangoon
- Arr Marn Thit Social Development Organization
- Arr Thit Yaung Chi
- Airavati
- Association of Human Rights Defenders and Promoters (HRDP)
- Athan – Freedom of Expression Activist Organization
- Ayeyarwaddy West Development Organization (Minhla)
- Ayeyarwaddy West Development Organization (Ngaphae)
- Ayeyarwaddy West Development Organization (Magway Region)
- Ayeyarwaddy CSOs Network
- Ayeyarwaddy Youth Network
- AYY Farmers Union
- Ayyar Pyo May Women Development Organization
- Ba Ann Media Group
- Basic Lawyer Network
- Bawa Ahlinn
- Bee House
- Beautiful Beach Development Network
- Bu Thee Taung Youth Network
- Burma Monitor (Research and Monitoring)
- Center for Social Integrity
- Chin Human Rights Organization
- Chin Land Affairs Network
- Chin State MATA Working Group
- Chin Women Development Organization
- Chin Youth Organization (Kanpalet)
- Chin Youth Organization (Matupi)
- Chin Resource Center
- Chin Youth Organization (Mindat)
- Citizen Action for Transparency (CAfT)
- Civil Call
- Community Association Development
- Community Empowerment and Resilience Association (CERA)
- Community Observer Association
- Community Peace Support Group
- Compassionate Hands Youth Humanitarian Promoters
- Christian Social Service and Development Department (Pathein)
- COMREG Community Response Group
- Chinland Natural Resource Watch Group
- Dama Ahlin Social Development Organization
- Dawei Development Committee
- Dawei Regions Farmer Union
- Democratic Education Corner-DEC
- Development Forces
- Democratic Youth (Bago)
- Democracy, Peace and Women Organization
- Diversity and Public Truth
- Doe Myae Civil Social Development Organization
- Dawn Peace Foundation
- Education (SPACE)
- Edin Mon Youth Group
- Educational Initiatives (EI)
- Environmental Justice Group
- Equality Myanmar (EQMM)
- Ethnic Equality
- Ever Green CBO
- Famer Agricultural Network
- Farmers and Land Rights Action Group
- Federation of National Farmer/ Peasant Union
- Former Political Prisoner Society (East Bago)
- Free & Fair (youth) Network
- Free and Justice
- Free Education Service Organization
- Freedom Society
- Future Arr Man Thit Development Group
- Future Light Center
- Future Light (Sagaing)
- Future Light Committee
- Future Light Social Development Organization
- Future Star Youth Organization
- Future Women Association (FWA)
- Future Young Pioneer Organization
- Gayunarshin Social Development Organization
- Generation Wave (GW)
- Genuine People’s Servants (GPS)
- Golden Future Social Development Organization
- Golden Heart Organization
- Good Hope Foundation
- Grip Hands
- Harmony Youth Association
- Helping Hand Organization
- Hinthar Tagon
- Hkumzup Development Committee
- Hna Lone Hla (AL)
- Hope for Children Development Organization
- Hsar Ka Paw Group
- Hsar Mu Htaw Group
- Hsar Mu Waw Group
- Htaw Me Par Group
- Htoi San Local Development Organization
- Htoi Gender and Development Organization
- Htoi Gin Tawng
- Htum Thit Sa Rural Development Organization
- Human Rights Foundation of Monland
- IFI Watch Myanmar
- Justice Movement for Community – Innlay
- Justice Action Group
- Ka Nyunt Kwin Youth Center
- Kachin Peace Network
- Kachin Women Peace Network (KWPN)
- Kachin Women’s Association Thailand (KWAT)
- Kachin Women’s Union
- Kanpetlet Land Development Organization
- Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN)
- Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
- Karen Peace Support Network (KPSN)
- Karen Student Network Group (KSNG)
- Karen Women’s Organization (KWO)
- Karen Women Union (KWU)
- Karen Youth Organization (KYO)
- Karenni Civil Society Network (KCSN)
- Karenni Ever Green
- Karenni Human Rights Group (KnHRG)
- Karenni MATA
- Karenni National Women Organization (KNWO)
- Karenni National Youth Organization
- Karenni State Farmer Union
- Kaung Myat Hnalonethar Health Care Organization
- Kawyaw National Youth Organization (KyNYO)
- Kayan Earth Right Action Network
- Kayan New Generation Youth
- Kayan Women Organization
- Kayin Culture and Literature Committee (Thaton)
- Keng Tung Youth
- Khaing Myae Thitsar Development Committee
- Kindness Foundation (Karen)
- Karuna Mission Social Solidarity (Pathein)
- Karen Open Group (KOG)
- Kyaik Hti Yo Mountain Range Lover Association
- Kyaingtone Youth
- Kyaukpyu Rural Development Association
- Kyike Mayaw MATA
- Kyonemaku Chaung Network
- LAIN Technical Support Group
- Lan Pya Kyal Sin Group
- LatButta Farmer Union
- Lawngbit Hkawng
- Legal Aid for Human Rights (Shan State)
- LIAN Technical Support Group
- Life Light
- Light House Ayeyarwaddy Network
- Light Social Development Organization
- Lin Lett Kyal Social Development Organization
- Lisu Civil Society Network
- Living Water Organization
- Local Development Network (LDN)
- Loi Yang Bum Community Development
- Loka Ahlinn (Social Development Organization)
- Lu Mu Htar Group
- Ma Day Island Youth Development Association
- Ma Haw tha Htar Group
- Mass Movement Acceleration Network
- MATA Mandalay
- MATA Sagaing Region
- Matupi Women Association
- Mawduklarmae Social Development Association (MSDA)
- May Doe Arrman Women Development Organization
- Metta Development Foundation
- Mhine Nyein Network (Bago)
- Mi Karen Youth
- Minggalar Foundation
- Mitta Yaung Sin Youth Group
- Mone Chaung Lover
- Mon Area Community Development Organization (MACDO)
- Mon Green Develop Group
- Mon Region Social Development Network
- Mon Social Development and Peace Network
- Mon State CSO Network
- Mon Youth Organization (zobbu)
- Mon Youth Progressive Organization (MYPO)
- Mong Pan Youth Association
- MRDJO Magway Regional Rules of law and Justice group
- Mu Se Multi Development Association (မူစဲကမ်းဘက်စုံဖွံ့ဖြိုးတိုးတက်ရေးအသင်း)
- Mudon CSO Network
- Mudon Township Development Group
- Myaebon Youth Association
- Myanmar Cultural Research Society (MCRS)
- Myanmar Digital Rescue (MDR)
- Myanmar People Alliance (Shan State)
- Myit Ma Ayeyarwaddy Development Organization
- Mwetaung Area Development Group
- Nam Shani Organization
- Namkyeo Parahita Foundation
- Nann Kyar Youth Association
- NeT Organization
- Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica
- Olive Organization
- Open Development Foundation
- Oway Education and Youth Institute
- Pa-O Women’s Union
- Pa-O Youth Organization (PYO)
- Pan Tain Shin Women Rural Development Organization
- Pan Thi Kyo LGBT Organization
- Parshan River Maintenance Committee
- Pauk Khaung Youth Network
- Paung Ku
- Paung Sie Ayar
- Paungsee Myittar Organization
- Peace & Development Center Meiktila
- Peace and Development Initiative – Kintha
- Peace and Rule of Law Acceleration Network (PRLAN)
- Peace Bike Tour
- Peace for Youth
- Peace Working Committee (PWC)
- Peace, Development & Civic Engagement (P.D.CE)
- Peasant Legal Aid Network (PLAN)
- People for People (PFP)
- People Oriented and Development Group
- Phyu Sin Mitta
- Phyu Sin Myittar Social Development Organization
- Pone Yate Sit Regional Development Organization
- Progressive Voice
- Pwint Phyu Development Organization
- Pyar Taung Conservation Group
- Pyay Division Mhine Peace Network
- Pyi Thue A Kyoe Pyue Group
- Pyoe Organization
- Ra Kha Yin Thwe
- Rakha Arr Marn Group
- Rakha Strength Social Development Organization
- Rakhaing Women’s Union
- Rakhine Ethnics Congress
- Rakhine National Network (Lay Taung)
- Rakhine Social Network (Myaebon)
- Rakhine State Civil Society Organizations Peace Committee
- Rakhine State Disabilities Organization
- Rakhine Women Network
- Rakhine Youth Generation
- Rakhine Youth New Generation Network
- Ran Byae Township Development Group
- Reliable Organization
- Retired Voluntary Group
- Rivers and Creeks Monitoring Group
- Rule of Law Watch Group
- Regional Development Organization
- Rural Social Development Organization
- Sabae and Kyay Sin Mining Watch Group
- Sanpya Social Development Group
- Sarnar Kyi Phyu Social Development Organization
- SarPhyu Farmer Network
- Saytana Shaesaung Youth Organization
- Sein Lan Lwin Pyin Group (Laputta)
- Sein Lan Pyin Oo Lwin
- Sein Lann Mon Myay
- Shan Literature
- Shan MATA Working Group
- Shan State Peace Taskforce
- Shan Women Development Network
- She Sawng Kyea Women Group (Karmai)
- Shining Star Interfaith and human rights Group
- Shwe Min Thar Foundation
- Shwe Nathar Farmer Development Organization
- Shwe Pain Nyin Group
- Shwe Pan Pyo Lat (Education, Women and Child Support)
- Shwe Thinkha Social Development Organization
- Shwechinthae Farmers Network
- Shwechinthae Social Service Group (Shwebo)
- Sit Man Thaw Sanda Social group
- SKY-Youth, Kyaukphyu
- Social Development and Peace Network
- Social Program Aid for Civic
- Star Way Organization
- Student and Youth Congress of Burma – SYCB
- Swam Su Ti Rural Development Organization
- Synergy Social Harmony Organization
- Ta’ang Women’s Organization
- Tampadipa
- Tanintharyi MATA
- TaungGoke Public Service Committee
- Tedim Youth Fellowship
- Than Dwe Development Association
- Than Lwin Thar Chin group
- Thanlwin Network
- Thazin – Legal Aid Group
- The Seagull:Human Rights, Peace & Development
- Thin Gan Taung Waterfall Group
- Thint Myat Lo Thu Myar (Peace Seekers and Multiculturalist Movement)
- Third Eye Organization (Mindat)
- Thwee CSO
- Together Thanlyin
- Tonzang Youth Fellowship
- Township Leading Group (Waingmaw)
- Transparency and Accountability Network Kachin State
- Tree Lover group
- Uakthon Local Social Development Organization
- Union of Karenni State Youth
- Universities of Kachin Literature And Culture Federation
- Upper Myanmar Watch Group
- Waingmaw CSO Network
- Waingmaw Lisu Development Association
- Wan Lark Development Foundation
- White Hand Social Welfare Group
- Windayea Village Social group
- Women Development Group (Bago)
- Women Empowerment Group
- Women for Women Foundation (WWF)
- Women’s Peace Network
- Worker Development Organization
- World View Monitoring and helping Group
- Yae Aye Alliance Development Group
- Yai Ywal Yar Youth Development Organization
- Yangon MATA
- Yangon Youth Network
- Yatanar Youngyi Social Development Organization
- Yaung Chi Thit Public Library group
- YoeMa Civil Society Group
- Young Ni Oo Social Development Organization
- YOUNITY
- Youth Arr Man Group
- Youth For A New Society (YNS)
- Youth Initiative for Human Rights
- Youth Society Network
- Zo Youth Organization
- Zomi Students and Youth Organization
- Zomin Youth Association
- ကချင်စာပေနှင့်ယဥ်ကျေးမှုအဖွဲ့(တက္ကသိုလ်များ) အသင်းချုပ်
- ငြိမ်းသံလွင်ဖောင်ဒေးရှင်း
- စည်းလုံးဧရာလူမှုအဖွဲ့အစည်းစကားဝိုင်း
- ဆွေသဟာ လူမှုဖွံဖြိုးရေးအဖွဲ့
- ဒို့တာဝန်နိူင်ငံ့အရေးကွန်ရက်
- မြစ်ဖျားဧရာ
- မိတ္ထီလာခရိုင် အလင်းတန်းအဖွဲ့
- မေမြို့ တောင်သူလယ်သမား ဖွံ့ဖြိုးတိုးတက်ရေးကွန်ရက်
- ရွှေတောင်တိုက်နယ်တောင်သူ့အားမာန် ဝမ်းတွင်းမြို့နယ်
- ရှမ်းပြည်ကချင်အမျိုးသားလုံးဆိုင်ရာကွန်ရက်
- လေဖြတ်သူများကူညီစောင့်ရှောက်ရေးအသင်း မြန်မာ(SAM)
- လောကပါလတရားမြှင့်တင်ရေးကွန်ရက်
- သန္တိသုခအခမဲ့လူမှုကူညီရေးအသင်း
- လွတ်လပ်သောအရှိုချင်းများအင်အားစု
- ပြည်သာယာဌာနေအမျိုးသမီးများဖွံ့ဖြိုးတိုးတက်ရေးအဖွဲ့ (PTY-Group)
- ရွှေခြံမြေကွန်ရက်၊ ကွမ်းခြံကုန်းမြို့နယ်၊
- ရပ်ရွာငြိမ်းချမ်းရေး နှင့် ဖွံ့ဖြိုးရေးရှေ့ဆောင်အဖွဲ့၊ ကလေးမြို့နယ်၊ စစ်ကိုင်းတိုင်းဒေသကြီး။
- ဒို့လယ်ယာ ကွန်ရက်၊ ဟင်္သာတမြို့နယ်၊ ဧရာဝတီ
- လူ့အခွင့်အရေးကာကွယ်မြှင့်တင်ရေးကွန်ရက်၊ ချောက်မြို့နယ်၊ မကွေးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး။
- အလုပ်သမားအဖွဲ့ဖွဲ့စည်းပေါ်ပေါက်ရေးနှင့်အမျိုးသမီး အခွင့်အရေး အသိပညာပေးရေး (ပဲခူးကွန်ရက်) ပဲခူးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး။
- တောင်သူလယ်သမားများနှင့် ရေလုပ်သားများ အကျိုးစီးပွားကာကွယ်စောင့်ရှောက်ရေးကွန်ရက်၊ မြစ်ကျိုးတိုက်နယ်၊ ပဲခူးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး။
- ဥသျှစ်ပင် လူငယ်ကွန်ရက်၊ ဥသျှစ်ပင်မြို့၊ ပန်းတောင်းမြို့နယ်၊ ပဲခူးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး။
- Peasants’ Legal Aid Network – Arakan , မြောက်ဦးမြို့နယ်၊ ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်။
- မွန်လူငယ်ကွန်ရက် -ရေး၊ ရေးလမိုင်း၊ မွန်ပြည်နယ်။
- လူမူဖွံ့ဖြိုးရေးနှင့် ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေးကွန်ရက်၊ ပေါင်မြို့နယ်၊ မွန်ပြည်နယ်။
- Ramkhye – ရမ်းခေး၊ မြစ်ကြီးနားကွန်ရက်၊ ကချင်ပြည်နယ်။
- Justice Drum ကွန်ရက်၊ တောင်ကြီးမြို့နယ်၊ ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်တောင်ပိုင်း။
Download the open letter in PDF.
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