The Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) has detailed how martial law is cutting off people from their livelihoods in southeast Myanmar and how the junta army continues to oppress the population.
The details were revealed in HURFOM’s latest monthly report on the situation in southeast Myanmar.
In Mon State martial law has been imposed in every township for about the last 13 months according to a directive known as Article 14.
Local people are prohibited from going outside at night.
According to local sources, martial law has disrupted the ability of rubber plantation workers to get to work: “It’s impossible to do our jobs because we must do our work at night between 2:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. to tap the rubber trees. If something happens to us, no one will be able to protect us. We are vulnerable daily workers. We dare not resist the junta,” said a 30-year-old plantation worker from Mon State’s Thanbyuzayat Township.
In villages in nearby Mudon Township, also in Mon State, village administrators have made unique “ID cards” for the plantation workers, including their picture, name, ward/village, and a phone number of the village Administrator. Workers are to carry these cards and show them if they are stopped by the military. The military said that if something happens to the workers, they will solve the problem. However, there is little confidence in this plan. Across southeast Myanmar, since the attempted coup civilians have expressed a lack of assurance in the promises of the junta-backed village administrators to HURFOM.
Village administrators have extorted money from workers who wanted to have one of these permit-to-work cards.
In addition, interactions with the junta troops at night can be deadly On 23 September 2022, a villager from Ka Log village, in Southern Ye Township, Mon State was shot and killed by junta soldiers who said he had violated martial law.
“My rubber plantation is in Thanbyuzayat, and we live in Mudon Township's Administrative zones. They granted the “ID card” but anyway, we are always stopped by the junta soldiers at the checkpoint on the way to work”, said another rubber plantation worker from Kwan Hlar village.
According to HURFOM these problems are compounded by the ongoing violence of the junta in southeast Myanmar.
Fighting in Karen State continues to forcibly displaced innocent civilians. On 23 October 2022, close to midnight, junta forces relaunched a series of air attacks and artillery fire targeting Hlaing Kwei Village, located in Yay-Pu-Gyi Village Tract, in Kawkareik Township, Karen State.
This caused more than 200 villagers from eight villages to flee.
A 40-year-old villager who spoke to reporters told HURFOM: "Two artillery attacks came first and exploded near the village. Then the villagers started fleeing. Some managed to escape to the village's Buddhist Monastery.
Later, some soldiers from the Karen National Liberation Army [KNLA] arrived and told the villagers to not take refuge in the monastery because the Burma Army would target them. Due to the attacks by the junta, approximately 300 locals from Wizzar-Gone Village, Hlaing Kwei, Win Village, Win Pote, Hpan-Khar-Gone and Kyun-Taw villagers, and Kawkareik fled the attacks during the night. In Dawei, more young people are being abducted including a female villager, Ma Mee Nge, was taken away on 22 October 2022 at 8:30 PM by military intelligence officers. A 28-year-old man was also arrested and taken away. HURFOM says that these cruel and unsparing attacks show how inhuman the Burma Army soldiers are. They have no care or concern for the security of local people, nor their livelihoods. It is clear that the regime has no care or regard for preserving and upholding the rule of law.
The military junta has chosen to embark on an ongoing volatile campaign of destruction
