Burma | Burma Center Prague

At the same time as Thein Sein’s government is engaging in public relations maneuvers designed to make it appear that reform is taking place, its army is perpetrating atrocities against the Kachin people on a widespread and systematic basis. Seven months after the November 2010 elections and four months after the convening of parliament which, in the words of the ruling generals, “completed the country’s transition to a multiparty democracy,” the regime launched a new war in Kachin State and Northern Shan State. After a seventeen year ceasefire, the renewed conflict has brought rampant human rights abuses by the Burma Army including, rape, torture, the use of human minesweepers and the forced displacement of entire villages. (...)

This report is based on the testimony of local people who experienced or observed human rights abuses first hand and who shared their stories with KWAT’s network of documenters. The majority of the data and case studies used in this report were gathered by these documenters through interviews in the following districts and townships: Myitkyina, Waimaw, Bhamo, Laiza, Hpakant, and Kamai in Kachin State and Muse, Nam Hkam, Kuthkai, and Manje in Northern Shan State. All incidents described in the report occurred from June - September 2011.