Indiscriminate Firing, Mortar Shelling and Ongoing Abductions by the Military Junta Force Thousands of Civilians in Southeastern Burma to Flee

Key Findings

1. Inflation across all target areas has had a devastating toll on civilians who cannot meet their basic needs.
2. There has been a noticeable uptick in violence against women, including beating a pregnant woman and ongoing detainment of young women who face beatings in junta custody.
3. Local residents reported that they were forced to take sentry duty by the junta in Kyaik Hto, Mon State and had to pay duty fees for those absent from guarding.
4. Clashes have led to forced internal displacement in Burma as instability and tensions move people from their homes.
5. Police and junta-backed militias continue to initiate door-to-door checks and arrest those on their wanted lists.
6. Concerns have spread as the military junta begins to make decisions that would bar competing democratic parties from the next election in Burma. The military junta has been trying to change/manipulate the numbers of constituencies.
7. Motorcycles, mobile devices, and money are confiscated and extorted from civilians at checkpoints stationed by the junta deliberately along critical routes. Civilians are forced to pay excessive bribes to retrieve their possessions. However, very few were able to afford the high costs.
8. Torture remains rampant in Burma and across target areas where innocent civilians are subjected to gruelling, horrifying acts by the junta to extract information.
9. The international community, including UN bodies and ASEAN, is not responding swiftly enough to the situation in Burma, which demands urgent attention and consequences for the junta.
10. Military impunity remains deeply ingrained in the institutions representing the Tatmadaw, which only encourages the junta to continue perpetrating human rights violations.
11. Children are targeted by the military junta and deprived of basic needs, including medical attention, food, education, and the right to live safely.
12. The arbitrary arrests and unlawful detention by the junta are ongoing, as are warrantless raids and indiscriminate firing into civilian areas.

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