Kachin National Organisation’s Statement to the International Community
On Saturday 31st August 2019, the Burmese military fired mortar bombs into Mohit Village, Kutkai Township, northern Shan State. The residents of the village are mainly ethnic Kachin.
Five civilians were killed, and three injured. Those killed were Seng Hkawn, 8 months old, Zau Hkun Lat, 8 years old, Lu San, 18 years old, Htoi Ja, 35 years old, and Nang Mun Pan, 14 years old.
The Kutkai township has seen intense fighting between the Arakan Army, MNDAA, and Ta’Ang National Liberation Army, and the Burmese military. Light Infantry Battalion 241, stationed in the township, fired three rounds of 120mm mortars into Mohit Village. Indiscriminately targeting civilians in this way is a war crime. The Burmese military violating international law targeting civilians is commonplace and has been documented by the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission, which called for the referral of the situation in Burma to the International Criminal Court. The United Nations Security Council has failed to act on this recommendation.
We believe that the international community, through its actions and inaction, is complicit in the deaths of these villagers.
- Not one government in the world has supported and implemented the recommendations of the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission, made almost one year
- At the same time as the Burmese military killed these children, they were on a US led naval training exercise, along with other ASEAN
- No government has followed the recommendation of the UN Fact-Finding Mission to sanction military companies. Governments which fail to do so are allowing their companies to help fund the They are paying for the bombs used to kill our children.
- Not one permanent member of the UN Security Council supports referring Burma to the International Criminal Court.
- International donors continue to support the inherently flawed so-called peace process, which is not designed to bring genuine peace and equality and rights for ethnic
- International donors refuse to provide adequate aid for IDPs and refugees, leaving them living in squalid conditions without adequate food, medical care and education services, while at the same time providing aid to and in cooperation of the government of Burma, which restricts aid to IDPs and
We are tired of the way the deaths of ethnic children are treated by members of the international community as an ordinary occurrence not worthy of comment, let alone action, rather than the outrage which they are.
We have stated before that we do not believe that there would be such a weak response were these kind of crimes by the Burmese military were to have taken place in Rangoon where diplomats and journalists are mostly based.
The international community has created a sense of impunity for the Burmese military, even allowing them to get away with genocide. This encourages they to carry out further human rights violations. Our children are paying for this failure to act with their lives.
Central Committee
Kachin National Organization
Email: KNC.CabinetOffice@gmail.com