A report by ND-Burma focusing on the need for acknowledgement of human rights violations victims’ experiences and for addressing their needs through reparation policy.
The report focuses on the extrajudicial killings, torture and land confiscation by government forces those are widespread in Burma. These three areas demonstrate the need to begin concrete discussions on how the government should be taking responsibility for reparations programs and taking steps to acknowledge and apologize for the crimes of the present and of the past.
The Government of Burma, despite its supposed transition to a quasi-civilian government in 2011, still includes many members of the former military regime. Abuses of civilians are still ongoing, as the case studies that ND-Burma documented demonstrate. Many people in positions of influence and power in the new government were a part of the military junta that brutally oppressed their people. The current regime has not ended these human rights abuses.
ND-Burma suggests that the first step towards making this a meaningful transition and beginning to build trust is for the Government of Burma to publicly acknowledging past violations and recognize its responsibility to make amends for the suffering caused.
The report is available in Burmese here.