Crisis in Eastern Burma Reports

Drawing on interviews with villagers, local leaders and civil society organisations, this report presents the deepening humanitarian crisis in Karen State since the 2021 military coup, highlighting the denial and deprivation of aid to civilians and their right to protection…

Karenni (Kayah) State is among the many states and regions in Myanmar which have been overwhelmed by expanding military operations. This joint briefing paper produced by the Karenni Human Rights Group (KnHRG) and the Network for Human Rights Documentation –…

Karen Peace Support Network’s new briefing describes how Burma Army troops have intensified shelling and persecution of civilians in northern Karen State, in retaliation for increased guerrilla attacks by the Karen National Union, which are blocking the regime’s supply routes…

Since the military coup on February 1, 2021, fierce air and ground offensives by the regime’s troops in Mutraw (Papun) District of northern Karen State have inflicted dozens of civilian casualties, and displaced over 70,000 – nearly 90% of the…

Report from Karen Peace Support Network Situation update of IDPs in Mutraw (Papun) and Kler Lwee Htu (Nyaunglebin) Districts with the recent armed conflict between Tatmadaw and KNLA, Northern Karen State and Eastern Bago, Burma/Myanmar Conflict between the Karen National…

Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in remote communities in southeast Burma are struggling to survive. COVID-19-related restrictions on the freedom of movement in these areas—often under the administration of multiple ethnic armed organisations—make it almost impossible for villagers to access livelihoods,…

Instead of supporting and collaborating with Covid-19 prevention activities, the Burma Army burned, demolished and forced to shut down Covid-19 health screening points set up by local Karen communities. Karen Peace Support Network’s new briefing calls urgently on international donors…

Since the start of 2020, the Burma Army has deployed over 2,000 troops, and fired hundreds of mortar shells to try and push through a strategic road into the northern Karen district of Mutraw, despite its existing ceasefire with the…

In the State Counsellor’s speech at the International Court of Justice on December 11, 2019, Aung San Suu Kyi unequivocally defended Burma’s justice system, and stated: “If war crimes have been committed by members of Myanmar’s Defence Services, they will…

In its report to the Human Rights Council, the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar concluded that “rape and other sexual violence have been a particularly egregious and recurrent feature of the targeting of the civilian population in Rakhine, Kachin…

The detailed report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar (IIFFM Myanmar) to the Human Rights Council finds that Myanmar’s top military generals, including Commander-in-Chief Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing, must be investigated and prosecuted for genocide in the north…

“I live in fear that the Tatmadaw will permanently confiscate my land. All of our work will be in vain. Our lives will be shattered because we depend on our plantation for our livelihood.” In Southeast Myanmar, land confiscations by…

More than seven years after war resumed between the Myanmar Army and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), more than 106,000 ethnic civilians remain forcibly displaced in Kachin and northern Shan states. The Myanmar Army has killed, raped, and tortured civilians…

A report and documentary film by the Karen Peace Support Network produced to highlight the ongoing plight of the Karen people who must continue to flee the Burma Army’s military operations despite the existence of ceasefire agreements, including the Nationwide…

Refugees Interntional’s field report says reductions in international aid, waning attention, and dramatically increased restrictions on assistance by the government is creating a desperate and unsustainable situation for displaced persons in Kachin and northern Shan States. And while international pressure…

While Burma’s ethnic states are blessed with a wealth of natural resources and biodiversity, they have been cursed by the unsustainable extraction and sale of those resources, which has fuelled armed conflict. In a report launched today, the Burma Environmental…

Burma Briefing No. 42 The commentary briefing paper argues that the international community has yet to develop a strategy for effectively promoting human rights under the new political structure in Burma, which now has two power bases, the military, and…

This report summarizes the results of a large-scale, population-based health survey, which covered 64 townships, 6,620 households, and a target population of 456,786 people. The survey was jointly conducted by members of the Health Information System Working Group (HISWG). The…

This report by Karen Rivers Watch (KRW) reveals that the recent outbreak of fighting – after two years of ceasefire negotiations and relative calm – appears to be part of a calculated military strategy by Burmese forces to control territory…

A report by The Karen Peace Support Network (KPSN) Critique of Japan International Cooperation Agency’s Blueprint for Development in South-Eastern Burma/Myanmar This report highlights how Japan’s new development plans for Southeast Burma could fuel conflict rather than promote peace. KPSN,…

Burma Briefing No. 31 This briefing analyses the many problems surrounding the upcoming census in Burma and calls for the census to be postponed. Burma is due to hold its first census in 30 years from 30th March to 10th…

Burma Briefing No. 26 President Thein Sein has been hailed by the British government and many other world leaders as a reformer. He has even been described as courageous. In their rush to embrace Thein Sein as a democratic reformer,…

A new report released by Ta’ang Students and Youth Organization (TSYO) estimates that 63% of farming families have lost their land to confiscation by the Burmese military and their cronies. Despite much-publicized political “reforms” in the country, the authorities have…

This new report from The Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC) finds forced displacement in South East Burma is at its highest level in a decade, rising from an average of 75,000 per year, to 112,000. This excludes an estimated 25,000…

Opium cultivation surging in constituency of Burma’s new ruling party This report by the Palaung Women’s Organization (PWO) exposes a dramatic increase in opium cultivation in Burma’s northern Shan State in the constituency of a drug lord elected into the…

This report from the Palaung Women’s Organization reveals evidence of cases of human trafficking collected since 2007 by field workers from PWO’s Information Documentation and Research Department, who work across the Palaung area in the northern part of Shan State….

Burma Briefing No. 12 On 13th March 2011 the dictatorship in Burma broke a 22 year long ceasefire agreement with the Shan State Army – North. Sixty-five clashes were reported in the first three weeks of the dictatorship breaking the…

Burma Briefing No. 11 This briefing looks at the wide-ranging negative impacts Burma’s new Constitution will have on ethnic groups in Burma. The Constitution is likely to lead to the continued Burmanisation of ethnic minorities and increased militarisation of ethnic…

This report reveals that the health of populations in conflict-affected areas of eastern Burma, particularly women and children, is amongst the worst in the world, a result of official disinvestment in health, protracted conflict and the abuse of civilians.

Report by Partners Relief & Development and Free Burma Rangers. Burma’s military government, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), has displaced hundreds of thousands of people with impunity, particularly in the country’s ethnic territories. This report is based on…

Report by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Mr. Tomás Ojea Quintana, to the UN Human Rights Council. The Special Rapporteur recommends that the UN consider establishing a Commission of Inquiry into war…

This report from the Karen Women’s Organisation reveals previously unreported abuses taking place against ethnic Karen women in Burma. The practice of the Burmese Army to execute village heads has led to traditional Karen culture being turned upside-down, with women…

3,000 ethnic Karen refugees who were forced to flee into Thailand in June 2009 are facing forced return to Burma starting on February 5th 2010. Although the Royal Thai Government and local and military representatives have officially stated that they…

This report by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma (ALTSEAN-Burma), and the Burma Lawyers Council (BLC) details the serious human rights violations perpetrated by Burma’s military regime, and demonstrates that international crimes have…

A report from Harvard Law School, commissioned by some of the most respected jurists in international law, using the UN’s own reports to highlight how Burma’s generals have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity.

This report from the Thai Burma Border Consortium argues that the SPDC’s actions in Eastern Burma – forced labor, extortion and land confiscation as well as military campaigns that have displaced over 500,000 people – constitute crimes against humanity. The…

This report by Amnesty International focuses on violations of international human rights and humanitarian law committed in Kayin State and Bago Division between 2005 through 2007. It raises grave concerns that the violations of international human rights and humanitarian law…

A report by the Karen Women’s Organisation detailing the ongoing rape, murder, torture and forced labour suffered by women living under the Burmese military regime in Karen State.

A report by Burma Campaign UK calling for a review of DFID policy on Burma

A report by the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) documenting Burmese military attacks on unarmed women in Burma.

A report by the Back Pack Health Worker Team

Position paper by pro-democracy organisations detailing policy on humanitarian assistance to Burma.

A report released by the Shan Women’s Action Network (SWAN) and the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) on the systematic use of rape by the Burmese military. It details 173 incidents of rape and other forms of sexual violence, involving…