The Burma diaspora communities in Brisbane, Australia and Toronto, Canada held rallies on Nov. 19, 2022 to raise awareness and shine a spotlight on the atrocities committed by Burma’s military, which staged a coup and ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy government in February 2021. Funds were raised by the Burmese-Australian community to assist those displaced by the violence, and special guest Han Lay joined the Burmese-Canadian community addressing the illegal seizure of power in her homeland.
Another journalist sentenced in Burma, NUG officials meet counterparts in Norway
FROM THE DVB NEWSROOM
Ah Hla Lay Thuzar, known as May Thuzar, was sentenced to two years by a court at Insein Prison. The Burmese journalist was held for 15 months in pre-trial detention. Last week, the junta’s mass amnesty of several thousand inmates led to the release of five journalists: Mya Wun Yan (also known as Hla Yin Win), La Pyae, Than Htike Aung, San Myint and Ye Yint Tun. RSF’s Press Freedom Barometer reports 61 journalists currently being held in Burma, second only to China as the world’s two biggest jailers of journalists.
Officials from the National Unity Government (NUG), Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), and the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) met with Norwegian MPs on Nov. 22. MPs from the Liberal Party, Green Party and Socialist Left Party attended the online meetings, according to an announcement issued by the NUG’s representative in Norway. The NUG discussed its claims that it holds legitimacy and territorial sovereignty in the country. The NUG urged the international community not to neglect Burma’s crisis along with others in Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Iran.
News by Region
NAYPYIDAW—Two regime friendly reporters covering a Ministry of Information press conference were arrested on Nov. 19. The two work for online news sites New History for the People (NHP), and Dae Pyaw, or “Tell Forthrightly.” A source told DVB that the NHP reporter asked junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun about the welfare of Aung San Suu Kyi, referring to her as “Amay [Mother] Suu.” It was reported that the Dae Pyaw reporter asked about the breakdown of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) between the Burma Army and the Karen National Union (KNU). “Both of them were arrested on Nov. 19 and interrogated in Nay Pyi Taw prison. Currently, I don’t know whether they have been released or not.” Reporters must submit their questions before attending a junta press conference, according to a source in the capital.
KAREN—Four women were killed and four were injured after the Burma Army ambushed a vehicle belonging to the Cobra Column. “The injured were later sent to the hospital. One of the female comrades was pregnant,” a Cobra Column spokesperson said. Cobra Column is an armed force that operates along the Myawaddy-Waley Road.
SAGAING—A woman accused of providing financial support to the People’s Defense Forces (PDF) was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Hkamti town on Nov. 22. The woman was arrested at her home on Feb. 22 and charged under Section 50(j) of the Counter-Terrorism Law. “I feel it is unfair,” a family member told DVB.
RAKHINE—Travel restrictions have been imposed on two more townships, Pauktaw and Kyauktaw, increasing the number to eight, according to the UN. “Restrictions on civilian movement and transportation of commodities remain in place, further deepening concerns about shortages and surging prices for key commodities, including food and medicine,” UNOCHA stated.
TANINTHARYI—Five inmates escaped from Bokpyin Myoma Police station on Nov. 22. One was rearrested, according to locals. “We heard three rounds of gunshots early in the morning. Later we found out about the prison break. The arrested inmate is not from our region and because of it, he was arrested,” a local said. After the incident, the Burma Army set up checkpoints in Bokpyin town.
YANGON—Two bodies were found in North Dagon Township on Nov. 20 and 21. One was discovered on a street and the other found in a nearby creek of the township. “The man’s body is already rotting. Another man’s body was also found nearby,” a local said. The details of the deaths are still unknown. “I don’t know why they were killed. The bodies were sent to North Okkalapa Hospital,” the local added.
Security forces made arrests during a raid on the UPG condo in Thingangyun Township on Nov. 22, according to locals. “The soldiers pointed their guns at the condo. They forced the arrested youths to kneel, kicked them with their boots and then brought them into their vehicles,” a source said. The condo’s management did not respond to DVB’s request for comment. Security forces conducted raids in Okkalapa and Dagon Seikkan Townships on the same night.
DVB Athan is a digital storytelling project giving voice to people from Burma, allowing them to share #WhatshappeninginMyanmar. The first episode features Han Lay, who speaks to DVB from her new home in Canada. Follow and subscribe to DVB English on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or your favorite podcast player: https://link.chtbl.com/dvbenglish
Yangon’s Volunteer Vigilantes Vow To “Fight The Thieves”
Fight The Thieves (FTT) is a vigilante group formed on Oct. 1 with a stated aim to protect residents from theft as Yangon’s crime rate continues to soar since the 2021 military coup. FTT members are monitoring city streets and public buses, a spokesperson said. “People are not even safe downtown. We are not able to look away when people get robbed and pick-pocketed on public buses. If we arrest criminals, we will punish them until they do not commit these crimes again,” the FTT spokesperson added.
The FTT runs a Facebook page sharing tips on how to avoid being robbed. It states that it has over 50 members living in Hledan, Thaketa, Mayangone, North Okkalapa and Insein townships. It is not connected with local resistance forces, the police, or junta-backed militias. Since Oct. 20, 76 people have been robbed by criminals on motorcycles or pick-pocketed. Four have been robbed on Yangon public transit. Eleven homes have been broken into and robbed. All cases have been reported in Pabedan, Mingalar Taung Nyunt, Hledan, Thingangyun, South Dagon, North Okkalapa, Shwe Pyi Thar, Hlaing Thar Yar, Mayangone and Insein townships, according to FTT.
Australian bank to withdraw from Burma, UN Special Rapporteur meets with NUG in South Korea
FROM THE DVB NEWSROOM
Australian bank to withdraw from Burma
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) announced that it will withdraw from Burma by early 2023. “The decision follows careful consideration of the local operating conditions,” said Simon Ireland, ANZ’s international managing director. The bank employed around two dozen staff in Burma. The withdrawal comes after leaked documents revealed that ANZ acted as an intermediary for international banks to make deposits with the junta-linked Innwa Bank. Whistleblower group Justice for Myanmar (JFM) welcomed the Australian bank’s decision to withdraw from the country. “ANZ is the first international bank to leave Myanmar and their planned exit is another sign of the destruction the junta is causing to Myanmar’s economy through their coup attempt, war of terror and proliferation of illicit business activities under control of, or profiting the military, and its associates,” said Yadanar Maung, JFM spokesperson. JFM called on the Australian government to impose immediate sanctions on Burma.
Australian economist Sean Turnell shared his harrowing story about spending 21 months behind bars in post-coup Burma. Turnell was forced to stay in filthy jail cells, caught COVID-19 five times, and heard the cries of political prisoners being tortured by their jailers. He told The Australian newspaper: “For 650 days, I ate out of a bucket and in Naypyidaw it wasn’t even a new bucket. They were paint buckets.” Turnell worked in Burma as the economic advisor to Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy government. He said that Suu Kyi, who has been held incommunicado since the 2021 coup, was in “fantastic form” and that she had a plan to end the violent persecution of the Rohingya community in Burma. Turnell is calling for Australia to sanction the junta and its bankers. He was released in an amnesty of nearly 6,000 prisoners on Nov. 17.
The National Unity Government’s (NUG) representative in South Korea met with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. The NUG announced on Nov. 21 that its representative discussed human rights in Burma with UN Special Rapporteur Thomas Andrews. The parallel government said the Special Rapporteur visited South Korea to discuss Burma’s crisis and also met with the Burmese community in the country. During his five-day trip, the Special Rapporteur requested South Korea play an “enhanced leadership role in Burma” by denouncing the coup, imposing an arms embargo, and issuing a moratorium on forced returns of Burma nationals.
News by Region
KAREN—The military council launched airstrikes on two mining sites in the territory of the Karen National Union’s (KNU) Brigade 6, Myawaddy Township on Nov. 21, according to the KNU’s Dooplaya District. There were no reports of casualties, but parts of the mining fields sustained damage. Another mining site under the control of the KNU in Payathonzu Township was also attacked by the Burma Air Force in a similar attack, killing three Chinese nationals and seriously injuring eight others.
MANDALAY—Four members of Generation Z Power were killed during a shootout with the Burma Army in Mandalay on Nov. 21. “We know that they were being chased [by Burma Army troops] while returning from Pathein Gyi on their motorcycles. It’s not so unusal anymore because they usually kill any urban guerrillas they catch,” an official from the resistance group Mandalay People Rescue (MPR) told DVB. In Mandalay, more than 100 resistance members are said to have been arrested in the past four months.
MON—Two locals were killed and 10 injured by the Burma Army in an airstrike and shelling after it lost its outpost in Mon’s Kyaikmaraw Township on Nov. 21, according to residents. The Taungkalay village police outpost was burned down by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), killing eight Burma Army and police personnel inside, sources told DVB. The retaliatory attack by the Burma Army forced around 2,000 people to flee their homes and abandon their vehicles along the road.
SAGAING—A 64-year-old woman was killed when an artillery shell fired by the Burma Army landed on her house in Kalay Township on Nov. 21. The victim is said to have been killed while lying in bed. The Burma Army has been shelling villages in Kalay Township for the last four days despite the lack of engagement by resistance forces, according to locals.
RAKHINE—The death toll from the Nov. 16 massacre of families at a child’s naming ceremony in Maungdaw Township has increased to 13. A child died on the night of Nov. 21 while receiving treatment for injuries at Maungdaw Hospital. “She is just 6 months old. The injuries are on two places of her back and leg. She died because of a serious back injury,” the child’s relative told DVB. A 16-year-old student died on Nov. 18 while being treated at Sittwe Hospital. “Twenty of the injured are being treated at Maungdaw Hospital, and another 6-year-old child is still being treated at Sittwe Hospital,” a local said. Three artillery shells killed 11 people on Nov. 16. Many more have been seriously injured. The village where the attack occurred is home to the Mro people.
The Mro National Party (MNP) issued a statement on Nov. 21 calling on the Arakan Army (AA) and Burma Army to protect civilians. It was in response to a massacre in Maungdaw Township, killing at least 13 people, including children. “The group responsible for the killings knows who they are, and they will suffer karmic retribution according to Buddhism,” the MNP stated. The MNP appealed to both sides to refrain from fighting near schools, hospitals, and villages in the future.
YANGON—A Burma Air Force base was attacked with explosives in Mingaladon Township on Nov. 21. No serious injuries were reported. “As far as I know, no one was hurt, but the gate was damaged,” a person close to the Burma Army told DVB. Antoher bomb blast was also reported in Hlaing Thayar Township on the same night. “It was so loud. I am not sure if anyone was hit. There is a security gate [where the attack occurred],” a local said. Similar attacks were reported at a fire department used by the Burma Army in South Okkalapa Township.
A Twantay Township electricity office was attacked on Nov. 20. The Union of Myanmar Civil Defence (UMCD) resistance group claimed responsibility due to its claims that “the office has unfairly collected money from locals and [is responsible for] the power cuts.” A UMCD spokesperson told DVB: “We detonated two hand-made explosives while those in charge of the office were there, but one failed to detonate due to an error.” No injuries have been reported. The UMCD conducted a similar attack in Hmawbi Township on Oct. 25.
DVB Picks—Meet Thuta Khin. She runs a socially responsible business in London with a friend. DPDM Global features her in its most recent episode about the Burmese diaspora community in the U.K. DVB Picks recommends the best on Burma, in English, every week. Stay tuned.
Karenni Woman Tackles Gender-Based Violence Through Education
“A society that is well educated on gender-based violence is the foundation of a peaceful democratic nation.”
By Mookdapa Yangyuenpradorn for Fortify Rights. Illustration by Tams Lu.
When Mu Zuzan Line – not her real name – was growing up under military rule in Myanmar’s Karenni State in the 1990s, girls faced challenges obtaining an education. Now a prominent women’s rights defender, she is working to strengthen gender equality and end gender-based violence by ensuring women and girls have access to education.
“My parents believed that girls did not belong to the family as they would eventually get married and become members of other families or clans,” Mu Zuzan Line told Fortify Rights. “So, they didn’t bother to educate the girls in our family.”
Mu Zuzan Line also described how she was not alone in facing barriers to obtaining an education. She said: “I saw a lot of women and girls who were just like me, who were denied access to education. I realized there were a lot more women out there who were in worse situations than I was.”
In 2009, at the age of 19, Mu Zuzan Line began volunteering with humanitarian organizations in Myanmar and had the opportunity to travel throughout Karenni State.
“Our region was very underdeveloped, and these villages didn’t receive any support or development programs from the central government,” she told Fortify Rights. “The women didn’t have any knowledge due to lack of schooling, so they were unaware of their situation. They didn’t know they had the agency to improve their own lives.”
This experience shaped Mu Zuzan Line’s future.
“From that point on, it became my goal to help support these women in whatever way possible, and it’s one of the reasons I chose to do what I do today,” she said.
To fulfill this goal, Mu Zuzan Line joined a women’s-led organization based in Karenni State that advocates for women’s rights and gender equality and provides legal, financial, psychosocial, and protection support to survivors of gender-based violence (GBV).
Mu Zuzan Line described the challenges of addressing GBV in Karenni State, saying: “The public perception at least in our area is that gender-based violence only concerns women and girls. They need to know that GBV is not only about girls, but it also requires men’s participation to solve the problem.”
She further explained the challenges around the lack of accountability for GBV in Karenni State:
Our traditional values play a big role where I live. When a woman is sexually abused or harassed, there is no specific law that can be used to punish the perpetrator. In the absence of such protective laws, women are the ones to blame, which is the epitome of victim-blaming.
These attitudes and the lack of accountability have created a culture of impunity around GBV, Mu Zuzan Line explained, saying, “Because of these examples all around us, men in our society are now conditioned to believe they can get away with any gender-based violence in perpetuity and are enjoying impunity, which leads to more gender-based violence cases.”
Mu Zuzan Line also described facing disparaging remarks due to her work supporting women survivors.
“When I started working in this field, people from my community talked down to me,” she said. “The worst thing was that they were talking behind my back, saying many things like I eloped with a man or was arrested by the military. That’s reflective of my community’s attitude towards women who go out alone to work or who are engaged in activities related to women’s rights.”
Despite such challenges, Mu Zuzan Line and her colleagues continue their work and rely on support from each other to address GBV.
“We [also] team up with other women’s rights organizations from across the country to work on these women rights issues,” she said. “In partnership with these organizations, we’re trying to alleviate the gender-based violence cases and help women cope with the emotional and physical trauma from gender-based violence.”
From her humble beginnings as a girl with little education, Mu Zuzan Line is now educating others about the power of women and, in the process, protecting women from GBV.
“A society that is well educated on gender-based violence is the foundation of a peaceful democratic nation,” Mu Zuzan Line said. “Protecting women from gender-based violence is not just complementary [to democracy], it’s essential.”
Mookdapa Yangyuenpradorn is an Impact Monitoring and Learning Associate with Fortify Rights. Follow her on Twitter @mdpyy
Burma Army continues to use landmines, India’s FM meets with junta officials
FROM THE DVB NEWSROOM
Burma Army continues to use landmines
Twenty-five years have passed since the International Mine Ban Treaty was adopted. Only two countries continue to actively use antipersonnel landmines: Burma and Russia, according to the Landmine Monitor Report 2022. It states that Burma’s junta has scaled up the use of landmines across the country following last year’s coup. Human Rights Watch stated: “From February 2021 to September 2022, 157 civilians were killed and 395 injured by landmines and explosive remnants of war in Myanmar. About one-third of the casualties were children. The military has placed landmines in homes, village pathways, church compounds, and farms.”
Indian foreign secretary meets with junta officials in Burma
India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra made a diplomatic visit to Burma Nov. 20-21. He met with military officials and reportedly discussed border management, security, bilateral projects, and “India’s support to democratic transition in Myanmar.” New Delhi’s response to last year’s military coup has been muted and Indian officials have continued to maintain ties with Burma’s junta.
Martial artist Aung La N Sang offers words of encouragement for fans
Mixed martial artist Aung La N Sang, known as the “Burmese Python,” expressed his support for the people of Burma following his victory against Japan’s Yushin Okami at the ONE Championship 163 event on Nov. 19 in Singapore. “I want to say to you all not to feel depressed. Show love. And the main thing is not to give up. No need to be afraid at all. And stay brave,” he said in Burmese. “The last two years have been super hard for us people in Myanmar… I want to encourage the fans. Be united, stay strong, don’t ever give up,” he said in English.
News by Region
YANGON—One person was injured in an explosion at a public toilet located in Thakhin Mya Park, Ahlone Township on Nov. 20. “One bomb was detonated. The other one did activate yet. The military found and removed it.” a resident told DVB. The injured man was sent to the hospital. At least seven people have been killed and seven have been injured in attacks this month across Yangon.
A grocery store owner was killed in Thaketa Township on Nov. 21. Three unidentified men killed the owner and stole his money and gold. The victim’s two daughters were reportedly beaten. “This is a chaotic period. A robbery even happened at a grocery store,” a local said.
A 100-household-administrator was shot in Hlaing Tharyar Township on Nov. 20. It is reported that four unidentified men entered the man’s house and opened fire. “I heard four gunshots. I am not sure if he is dead or alive,” a local told DVB. There are unverified reports that a woman was also injured.
Attacks occurred at a North Okkalapa ward office and the Waibagi Police Station on Nov. 20. “I heard the sound of ambulances and I saw three military vehicles,” a resident told DVB. There have been no reported injuries.
The military council has evicted residents living near the sports stadium in Mayangone Township. Residents were ordered to leave. Those that didn’t had their homes bulldozed on Nov. 21. “We have been living there for about 30 years. I bought my land and house from the original owner,” one displaced resident told DVB. The ward was home to nearly 300 people. This follows another eviction last week in the same township, as 150 homes were bulldozed on Nov. 19. Since the military coup, evictions have been taking place across the country, most significantly in Yangon.
RAKHINE—Jailed Chief Minister U Nyi Pu requires medical treatment, according to his family. “My father has had glaucoma in his left eye since he served as the Prime Minister. I learned that his condition has deteriorated since he has been in prison. We are not allowed to see each other. I want to give him medical treatment,” his daughter told DVB. U Nyi Pu has been held at Sittwe prison since the coup, along with other former state ministers.
TANINTHARYI—A 14-year-old boy was killed and his 12-year-old sister was arrested by the Burma Army in Launglon town. “I don’t know why the military chased and shot them. They opened fire while they were patrolling,” a resident told DVB.
DVB PICKS—The Mental Health Myanmar team discusses the social stigma around mental health awareness in Burma on the Ah Nah Podcast. DVB Picks recommends the best on Burma in English each week. Stay tuned.
