World leaders’ failure to act has allowed the Myanmar security forces’ perpetrators of crimes against humanity to remain at large, for a year after their murderous campaign against the Rohingya prompted an exodus of epic proportions, Amnesty International said.
‘All the Civilians Suffer’: Conflict, Displacement, and Abuse in Northern Myanmar detail how soldiers from the Tatmadaw, as Myanmar’s Armed Forces are known, mete out torture and extrajudicial executions, shell civilian villages indiscriminately and place punitive restrictions on movement and humanitarian access.
Meanwhile, some ethnic armed groups at times abduct civilians seen to support an opposing party, forcibly recruit men, women, and children into their fighting forces and impose "taxes" on impoverished villagers trapped in the conflict.
"Almost 100,000 people have been torn away from their homes and farms due to conflict and human rights violations in northern Myanmar. All sides must protect civilians amid the conflict and the Myanmar authorities need to immediately end the humanitarian access restrictions that have further harmed this already-vulnerable population," said Matthew Wells, Senior Crisis Advisor at Amnesty International.
Displacement crisis
More than 98,000 civilians are currently displaced in northern Myanmar amid fierce fighting between the Myanmar Armed Forces and various ethnic armed groups in the area, including the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), the Arakan Army (AA), and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA).
Myanmar’s government has exacerbated the difficulties for many displaced persons by restricting humanitarian access to certain affected areas, particularly those controlled by armed groups. Humanitarian officials said this undermined their ability to respond quickly to emergency situations and to provide necessary humanitarian assistance like shelter, access to water, and sanitation.
Violations by the Myanmar Army
Since fighting escalated in November 2016, the Myanmar Army has committed egregious violations against civilians, sometimes amounting to war crimes, which continued through Amnesty International’s final research mission in May 2017.
The report documents nine incidents in northern Shan state where Myanmar Army troops arbitrarily detained and tortured civilians from ethnic minorities.
In the town of Monekoe in late November 2016, the Army arbitrarily detained 150 men, women and children who were preparing for a wedding. After releasing the women and children, as well as men from certain ethnic groups, the Army used the remaining men as human shields along the inner perimeter of a hilltop base; several were killed and others were seriously wounded by gun and grenade fire.
The report also documents two cases of enforced disappearance of ethnic minority civilians and four incidents of extrajudicial executions by the Myanmar Army since mid-2016, involving at least 25 victims.
Abuses by armed groups
While many ethnic minority civilians see armed groups as their protectors, they also suffer abuses from these groups.
Various armed groups use forced conscription, including of children, and impose “taxes” on villagers and market sellers, extorting cash and goods from communities that are already vulnerable due to the conflict.
Amnesty International documented a total of 45 abductions of civilians committed by two ethnic armed groups in the course of fighting in northern Shan state. People were typically taken in groups. Months later, their families still have no information about their whereabouts, raising fears about summary killings.
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