Thein Sein Government

The New York based Human Rights Watch called on the Burmese government to amend citizenship law, claiming it “fuels repression” and denies basic human rights to the country’s ethnic Rohingya minority. Brad Adams, HRW’s Asia director, said the law entrenched discrimination and must be changed. “Burma’s discriminatory citizenship law not only deprives Rohingya of citizenship, but for decades has encouraged…

Burma’s armed forces are using systematic sexual violence on a “widespread scale,” a report by a women’s group advocating on ethnic women’s rights in Burma has found. The report, by the Women’s League of Burma, an umbrella organisations that represents 13 organisations, accused the Burmese military of using rape as a strategy of war. In a statement released today to…

A coalition of Shan community-based-organisations released a statement calling on the President of the United States, Barack Obama, to raise the issue of ongoing military offensives by the Burmese government in ethnic areas during his visit to the country. The statement, issued on behalf of 12 community-based-organisations, including the Shan Human Rights Foundation and the Shan Women’s Action Network, said…

A group of 291 Shan civilians internally displaced by war in Shan State sent a letter of appeal directly to President U Thein Sein requesting a withdrawal of Burma Army soldiers from the areas of conflict and compensation for land and possessions they had allegedly destroyed. The letter, addressed to U Thein Sein, claimed that Burma Army soldiers destroyed 422…

The New York based Human Rights Watch has issued a media statement urging the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, to use his forthcoming visit to Burma to pressure the government to put the “country’s deteriorating rights situation” back on its reform agenda. HRW said in its statement released to the media on 7th August that it had serious concerns…

Burma’s much lauded reforms, including the release of opposition politician Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, are being undermined by a crackdown on newly gained press freedoms, civil war, anti-Muslim violence and corruption, a report by the New York based International Center for Transitional Justice has warned. “The spread of anti-Muslim violence to Mandalay and the recent harsh sentencing of some…

A team of UN experts has added their weight to growing calls for Burma’s government to scrap proposed contentious legislation that would restrict religious freedoms. In a joint statement released Friday, 20th June, the UN experts – on freedom of religion, minority issues and human rights in Burma – maintained that the draft bill made religious conversion more difficult and…

Karen community groups have for the first time have called on the Karen National Union to show more transparency and openness in their ongoing peace talks with the Burma government. Six Karen civil society groups based in Burma and overseas made their call for the meetings between the KNU and government to be more open so people know and understand…

Burma Army offensives in Kachin State are undermining the peace process, an ethnic women’s organisation has claimed. The Kachin Women’s Association Thailand (KWAT) expressed concern of the recent escalation in Burma Army attacks in Kachin and Shan States, which had led to “fresh displacement and suffering” of local civilians in a statement released today. “These systematic operations to seize control…

Burma’s military is engaging in systemic torture against civilians in its ongoing war in Kachin State, now in its third year, and committing “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity,” a leading human rights watchdog has claimed in a report released today. The 71-page report entitled, Ending Wartime Torture in Northern Myanmar, by Fortify Rights, documents the torture and abuse of…