This report investigates the crime of enforced disappearance committed in Karen State by the State Administration Council (SAC). It illustrates how armed groups, especially the SAC, have exerted their power over villagers and taken them into custody without informing their loved ones, depriving them of their liberties, and, at times, denying the very fact that anyone was even arrested.
The report highlights the first-hand accounts of those who were released or managed to escape and the impact the disappearances had on their loved ones and their communities. The disappeared are often tortured or killed under suspicion that they are linked with armed resistance to the coup. The report also sheds light on how local villagers, despite great personal risk, have sought to find the disappeared, support each other, and find new ways to avoid being disappeared.
The report demonstrates the urgent need to take action now to hold perpetrators accountable and to seek justice.