Kachin

Reports of rape and the murder of two civilians have emerged following a Burma Army offensive in parts of Kachin State and Shan State, that has also led to more than three thousand civilians displaced in the attacks. The frontline humanitarian organisation, Free Burma Rangers, allege that on April 10, Burma Army soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) raped a…

The Burma Army attacked the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) positions on Thursday 10 April. The 10-hour Burma Army offensive took place in the La Gat Yang and Man Win areas on the Kachin-Shan border. A report released by a humanitarian organization, the Burma Free Rangers, documents that, “Burma Army soldiers from Military Operation Command (MOC) 16, Division 88, and Light…

The conflict, which has lasted for more than two years, has seen the displacement of an estimated 80,000 Kachin people and reports of human rights abuses continue to emerge. Free Burma Rangers, a humanitarian organization that delivers aid to displaced people, expressed concern over ongoing Burma Army attacks, including the alleged looting of a village in January by government forces.…

Even as Burma opens up to the world under President Thein Sein’s nominally civilian government, serious human rights abuses continue to occur, including sexual violence, extra-judicial killings and illegal arrest, says rights groups. On the first day of May 2012, ‘Ngwa Mi’ (not her real name), 48, hid alone in a church in the Kachin Town of Pang Wa, on…

Burma Army units in Kachin State are looting the rice rations of internal displaced people (IDP’s), and have fired on a group of villagers in at least one occasion last month, reports the Free Burma Rangers, a frontline humanitarian organization. The FBR lists and dates the Burma Army took over a camp for displaced people. On 21 November 2013, Burma…

In what human rights groups are calling a blow to Burma’s ongoing reform process, two Kachin IDP’s arrested under Burma’s Unlawful Association Act law have had their jail sentence increased from two years to seven years – the reasons for the increase are as yet unclear. Burma Army units who arrested them last month are also alleged to have tortured…

Since Burma’s military junta officially ceded power to a quasi-civilian government in 2011, the country has received much praise and applause from the international community for reforms it initiated. A series of peace talks with various ethnic armed groups have been held and ceasefire accords with most, if not all, of the major ethnic armed groups have been signed to…

Burma courts fine Kachin peace activists 40,000 Kyat for violating a controversial protest law that critics claim is used to gag political dissent. The two activists were charged under Section 18 of Burma’s Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law. They were fined on the 26th of November. The two activists, May Sabe Phyu and Maran Jaw Gun took part in…

The ethnic alliance, the United Nationalities Federal Council, blamed the government for the fighting in Kachin State. The UNFC said the ongoing fighting in kachin State is a result of the government’s territorial containment policy in ethnic states. The UNFC said that thousands of Kachin civilians have been forced from their homes due to the recent fighting on November 17…

In recent months and as peace negotiations with the government continue, human rights abuses including rape and arbitrary killings at the hands of the Burma Army continue against Kachin people, according to community-based organisations and frontline backpack medics. The conflict between the Kachin Independence Army and Burma’s Army that started in June 2011 has left over 350 villages in trouble,…