Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Crisis in Kachin State

“I asked my mum to run, because the Burmese soldiers were coming, but she wouldn’t come with me. I heard three loud gunshots but kept running. When I came back to find her she had a big hole in her chest and her legs were broken.”
- Brang Shawng, a 12 year old Kachin boy is now an orphan after his mother was brutally murdered by Burmese soldiers in Bhamo, Kachin State.
Sadly, stories similar to Brang Shawng’s continue to emerge everyday, highlighting the atrocities currently faced by the Kachin people in Northern Burma. It was one year ago today that the Burmese Army broke a 17-year ceasefire with the Kachin Independence Organization, leading to the death of countless innocent civilians and the displacement of over 75,000 people in Kachin State.
As the world looks upon the reforms in Burma as a catalyst for democracy and rewards the Burmese regime by lifting sanctions, the Burmese Army continues to commit egregious human rights abuses against the Kachin people. Living in constant fear of assault by Burmese soldiers, the Kachin people have been subjected to forced portering, use as human landmine shields and landmine sweepers, rape, torture, extrajudicial killings, disappearance, forced relocation, and the destruction and confiscation of food and property.
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