April 13, 2024

Methodology



Information in this document has been gathered by the BHRN team by primary and secondary research methods. We employed local researchers and local informers across Burma including in Rakhine State, Thai-Burma border and the Bangladesh border monitoring, investigating and documenting incidents of human rights violations. Any information we receive is carefully checked for credibility and authenticity by experienced senior research officers in the organisation. Once the information is approved the editorial team prepares the final document.

Short Video for Summary of Situation Update - March 2024

INTRODUCTION

-       Myanmar plunged into further chaos after the junta attempted to conscript civilians into the military, sending shock waves among the Myanmar youths. Now tens of thousands of youth are trying to flee the country, mostly to neighboring countries.

-       As Thailand is the country easiest to flee many Burmese youths are migrating to Thailand using visa-free facilities for the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Surprisingly, Myanmar youth also find Communist Laos as a safe haven for them. Where they can find jobs in the Chinese-invested projects. 

-       It will be very interesting to know what is actually going on in the minds of Burmese Generals sitting in Nay Pyi Taw at this stage. If they are thinking from a perspective of Burma nationalism, they may think the pride of Myanmar people has never been so low as it is today. Where tens of thousands of Burmese take refuge in its historical nemesis neighboring Thailand. The policies of the junta are impacting so badly on the people of Myanmar who are willing to work as illegal migrant workers in Thailand. And they find Communist Laos safer than home for them.

-       A recent report by the International Investigation Mechanism on Myanmar (IIMM) which investigated the atrocities committed by the Myanmar military against Muslim Rohingyas in Northern Rakhine State said in a recently released report that the Burmese military was responsible for stroke hatred against Rohingya led to genocide in 2017. Now under the conscript law, the same junta is reaching out to Rohingya communities to join the military, they expect the same Rohingya whom the Burmese killed mercilessly will be forced to serve in the same military. There is so far no voice of opposition from the Muslim leaders in Myanmar in protest of the junta’s decision to recruit Rohingya and Muslims into the Myanmar military. 

-       During March, the junta lost more territories in Rakhine, Kayin and Kachin states, also hundreds of more junta troops were killed or surrendered. As a result of these military debacles, the junta now has no or limited land access to all the countries Myanmar shares the border. 

-       As the concept of Burmese nationalism, based on which the Burmese army was established with the aid of fascist Japan in 1941, is now in the doldrums, its top leadership still survive in power somehow, however, an informed source in Nay Pyi Taw may be able to confirm that their days are numbered.

CONTEXT

o  Conscription Law 

The introduction of this law is a paradigm shift for the Myanmar military, which since 1962 prohibits members of ethnic and religious minority groups from joining its ranks. Now, they are so desperate with the recent losses of troops, that it is even ready to recruit the members of the Rohingya communities, which it said are not originally from Myanmar. Among other recruits after the law is passed include Muslims from other parts of the country. 

At one stage Myanmar military has been popular among Myanmar youth to join as an easy opportunity to earn and to get powerful positions. Now the entire concept has been changed, Myanmar youths even prefer to work as illegal migrant workers in neighboring countries instead of joining the Myanmar military.  

For the leaders of the minority religions in Myanmar especially Muslims they should tell the junta not to target Muslim youths in its conscription drive. Muslims were once shunned for joining the military or civil service. 

According to an estimate by the United States Institute of Peace released in February this year, the junta must have lost at least 20,000 soldiers over the past year, and the significant numbers of troops lost after “Operation 1027” was launched by three rebel groups in Northern Shan State last October. The Institute estimates that the number of troops currently serving in the Myanmar military could be 130,000. It was not known how many of them were combatant soldiers.  

o  China and Operation 1027 

The junta urgently introduced the conscription law in early February, as several of its soldiers were killed or fled after a strong concerted military operation by the Chinese-backed ethnic armed organizations with the name Operation 1027 in October last year. The military operation by the Brotherhood Alliance, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and the Arakan Army (AA), has made significant territory gains in Northern Shan State from the junta forces. It includes a key border trading post Laukkaing. 

As per a recent report published by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG), “Operation 1027" would not have been feasible without Beijing’s acquiescence. Much of the combat took place adjacent to the border, something China has long been keen to tamp down given its aversion to spill over into Chinese territory and to refugee flows”.

The junta is also facing major offensives in Kachin State, where the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) launched an offensive on 7 March, in which it has made significant military gains. The area where the fighting is taking place in Kachin State is close to China and KIA has also direct communication with China. It is still not clear what role Chin might have played in the attacks by KIA. 

The regime also facing attacks along the Myanmar- Thai border, in the country’s southeastern parts in recent weeks, where the Kayin National Union has captured towns in the fighting.  

o  Min Aung Hlaing vowed to take back lost territory.

Min Aung Hlaing will probably go down in history as the worst leader of the Myanmar military. However, he is still surviving in the position, and he recently vowed to take back the territories the regime lost to the ethnic armies. In an address to the nation marking the Armed Forces Day on 27 March Min Aung Hlaing said with the support of new recruits the military will launch offensives to take back these territories. 

As a military general, he might know that it is next to impossible for the Myanmar military to retake the positions it lost to the ethnic armies since the military coup. As a politician, Min Aung Hlaing must have started to find a solution for his survival.

In the same Armed Forces Day speech, Min Aung Hlaing also vowed to hold the elections in the areas where it has control, to give some sort of legitimacy to his regime.  

But the question remains, will Min Aung Hlaing survive until July this year when the regime will have to extend its mandate again under the 2009 Constitution? 

o  Is it too little too late from the UN investigation team?

The Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM) published two analytical reports on 27 March. One report details the Myanmar military’s covert Facebook network that systematically distributed hate speech against the Rohingya at the time of the 2017 clearance operations. 

The second report examines the response of Myanmar state authorities to allegations of sexual and gender-based crimes committed by security forces against the Rohingya. This report concludes that the authorities failed in their duty under international law to investigate and punish these acts.

Nearly 7 years after the genocide and sexual violence against the Rohingya minority, the UN team came up with these reports which put all the blame on the military junta. 

The conclusion section of the first report on Facebook said.

The Myanmar military spread material designed to instil fear and hatred of the Rohingya minority. It accomplished this by creating a clandestine network of Pages on a social media site with the potential to reach an audience of millions. This campaign of hatred was ongoing at the very time that many Rohingya villages were burned and thousands of Rohingya men, women and children were beaten, sexually assaulted and/or killed, and continued as hundreds of thousands of Rohingya were forced to flee from their homes. The evidence from this analytical project conclusively shows that rather than taking all steps to prevent the violence and protect its people, the Myanmar military conducted a social media campaign that excused and promoted violence against the Rohingya minority.

The second report on the sexual and gender-based crimes against the Rohingya concluded that such crime was  “an integral part of the 2016 and 2017 clearance operations. There is abundant credible evidence and testimony that Myanmar security forces committed a massive number of sexual and gender-based crimes during the 2016 and 2017 clearance operations.255 The Government of Myanmar and Tatmadaw authorities were on notice and had to have known from the victim and eyewitness testimony, accounts of medical and psychosocial providers who treated the victims, media reporting and international condemnation, that their security forces were facing credible accusations of having committed sexual and gender-based crimes. 

Yet the evidence shows not a single Tatmadaw soldier or BGP officer was charged or prosecuted for any of these crimes. Furthermore, no commander was dismissed, demoted, or sanctioned for the failure to stop or punish those committing these offences. Not a single victim of rape, or other sexual or other gender-based crime has received any justice for the crimes they suffered.

The UN spent nearly 7 years reaching these conclusions which otherwise were known to most of the people in Myanmar that the Myanmar military was the only force that had planned and executed the Rohingya genocide. 

Instead of spending years and tens of thousands of public taxpayers’ money to find these well-known facts. the UN should have considered punitive actions which would have been effective. 

o  What Generals in Nay Pyi Taw may be thinking at this stage? 

The recent events in the country signal that the military regime may not survive for a long time under the current policy and leadership. Many generals who lost the recent battles with the ethnic armed organisations were given death sentences or removed from their positions. More general may face a similar fate soon. The change is inevitable for Myanmar's military leadership. If there is no leadership change, then there must be policy change. The third and the only remaining option for all Myanmar generals would be to flee to a country which will not hand over to the international courts to face genocide and war crime charges. 

10 March- 8 Rohingya Muslims were killed and 12 seriously injured in a shelling by the junta troops in the Rakhine State capital Sittwe on 9 March, a local source said. He said five shells fired by the junta's No 12 Police Battalion fell in an area near the border of Kathe and Inbalar wards in Sittwe where the majority of Rohingya Muslims live, he said. The source said that the deaths included two children and two elderly persons, adding that the majority of those killed were women. Ref: Khit Thit Media

12 March - Men believed to be from the Arakan Liberation Party kidnapped a four-year-old Rohingya girl in Sittwe Township. The kidnappers demanded 100 Lakh ransom, then demanded another 50 lakhs after the girl’s father paid them. The girl was found dead on 14 March, resulting in angry protests by Rohingya at the ALP office. The ALP and its armed wing are allied with the Burmese military, leading some to speculate the incident was intended to raise tensions between Rohingya and Rakhine communities. Whatever the motivation, the incident is one of depraved cruelty and exploits the vulnerability of the Rohingya trapped in an emerging warzone but unable to flee. Source: BHRN

13 March- The junta said at least 97 Rohingya Muslims were killed while they were fighting alongside the junta troops in Rathetaung Township in Rakhine State against a rebel group the Arakan Army (AA). The victims were conscripted by the junta under a recently enacted mandatory conscription law which is mandatory for youth under 35 years of age and who are male to serve in the military for at least three years. The Chair of the Myanmar Rohingya Association, U Htun Khin said, the Rohingya youths were killed as they were used as human shields in fighting against AA. It was not known when Rohingya Muslims were killed, but the junta informed the officials of the camps where the Rohingya youth lived, to collect their bodies on 13 March. The source said the junta is forcing Muslim youths to join the military. There are 14 camps for the displaced Rohingya communities, where more than 100,000 people are taking refuge currently, the source said. Ref: RFA

14 March -  The Burmese army abducted 20 Rohingya during evening prayers in Dar Paing Mosque. Videos on social media show large numbers of Rohingya in Burmese military gear riding in military transports. The military’s only purpose for the Rohingya is to utilize them as cannon fodder and to fill their depleted numbers quickly. The Arakan Army has issued a statement calling on Rohingya who were conscripted or fear conscription to flee to safe areas. Still, there is no clear way for them to do so in places like Sittwe, where Rohingya are held in fenced IDP camps. Source: BHRN

16 March- A 20-year-old Rohingya Muslim youth was shot dead in an incident involving the kidnapping of a Rohingya girl in Bumay ward in the Rakhine State capital Sittwe on 14 March, a local source told Radio Free Asia. He said the other two were injured in the incident. The unnamed source told RFA that the youth was killed in an argument with a group of kidnappers of a young Rohingya girl, who died in captivity. He said the youth was shot dead during an argument over the death of the kidnapped girl when her captors came to Bumay village to return the body of the victim. 3-year-old Ma Ohmar was kidnapped and her captors asked Kyat 15 million as ransom from her father U Maung Kyaw, the source said. He said the girl was killed despite U Maung Kyaw paid the ransom amount through a bank transfer. An eyewitness of the incident said there were injuries on the body of Ma Ohmar. Another source said the kidnappers belong to a rebel group the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), who was a former ally of the Myanmar government. Ref: RFA

17 March- More than 80 Rohingya Muslims were arrested in Ayeyarwaddy Region during the month of February, an official source said. He said 51 Rohingya men and 32 women who are from Rakhine State were arrested while they were travelling to the Ayeyarwaddy Region by car or by boat, the source said. The officials have not filed any case against them but are held in the police stations without permission from the courts. The Rohingya Muslims were arrested in Tharbaung, Wakhemae, Shww Thaung Yan and Kyankhin townships in Ayeyarwaddy Region, the source said. Ref: DVB   

18 March- At least 23 Rohingya Muslims were killed and 30 injured in an airstrike by the junta on a village in Myinbya Township in Rakhine State on 18 March, a local source told the Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN). The source said the Rohingya Muslims were killed in an early morning airstrike, which he said was an act of deliberately targeting innocent civilians. The air raid on Thar Dae village comes as the junta is facing a series of military debacles in Rakhine State in an armed conflict with the Arakan Army (AA) across Rakhine State, the source said. BHRN

18 March - An airstrike on Thar Da Village, Minbya Township, killed at least 25 Rohingya civilians and injured dozens more. Locals reported children among those killed. There is no justifiable reason for the Burmese military to target a Rohingya village with airstrikes, even if militants are stationed nearby. Source: BHRN

19 March- The junta arrested at least 50 Rohingya Muslim youths in Maungtaw Township in Rakhine State, a local source told AEN News agency. The unnamed source told the news agency that the youths were abducted as a part of the junta’s forced conscription of civilians, most of whom are used as human shields. The source said the abducted youth are aged between 20 and 35. In a similar incident the junta has conducted a raid on Maung Ni ward in Maungtaw to force civilians to join the military, the source said.   Ref: Arakan Express

19 March- A boat carrying Rohingya Muslims from Rakhine State was intercepted by the junta authorities near an island in Ye Township in Mon State on 19 March, a local source told Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN). He said 78 Rohingya Muslims were travelling on the boat at the time it was stopped near Kulla Oat Island in Ye Township. They include 34 women and 44 men, who are held in a detention centre on the island, the source said. He said the crew of the ship were also arrested. A local official said the authorities are compiling the data of the arrested Rohingya Muslims and legal action would be taken against them. BHRN

23 March - Junta forces entered the IDP camp in Basara village, Sittwe Township, at around 9 PM, seeking to conscript 50 Rohingya men as soldiers. The IDPs refused and said that the junta had already taken 26 men from the village. Security forces then detained the camp leader, and some other men held them for about an hour. While held, junta forces told the men that they must give recruits or security forces would blockade their village. The Junta gave them until 25 March to turn over 20 men for forced conscription in the military. Upon hearing this, many men fled and hid, not wanting to be used as human shields by the junta. The camp leader was only able to provide six men to the junta. The junta has placed the village under total blockade since 24 March, with no updates of any changes to their situation.

Source: BHRN

 28 March- Two civilians were killed, and 18 others injured in the Rakhine State capital Sittwe after they were hit by explosives used by the junta forces, a local source said. He said the incident took place near the State Legislature building in Sittwe. The source said a man and woman were killed as the junta force tried to arrest them on suspension. The duo as well as other civilians were hurt after the junta troops threw explosives toward them, the source said.  Ref: Narinjara

29 March- At least 50 displaced Rohingya Muslims were forced to join the Myanmar military under the junta’s conscription law, on 28 March, a local source said. He said they were among 117 displaced people in the junta listed as new conscripts in the Kyauktalone IDP camp in Kyaukphyu Township in Rakhine State. The source said the soldiers from the junta’s Light Infentary 547 came to the camp on 28 March and escorted 50 IDPs to the headquarters of the Light Infantry Battalion 542 to receive military training. He said the abducted IDPs were given military uniforms and arms. The source said Rohingya Muslims from the same Kyaukphyu camp who previously joined the military training are assigned to sentry duties.  Ref: DVB

13 March - Bangladesh authorities, in cooperation with the International Organization for Migration, the UNHCR, and the Inter-Sector Coordination Group, launched a Joint Response Plan for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis. The plan appealed for $825.4 million to provide aid for the 1.35 million Rohingya living in refugee camps. Source: BHRN

14 March - Bangladesh police’s Rapid Action Battalion detained four alleged ARSA members they said were hiding out in Camp-20 in Ukhiya. Among those arrested were an alleged ARSA commander and a man said to have been bodyguard to ARSA’s leader, Ataullah. Source: BHRN

18 March - The United Nations Development Programme’s Goodwill Ambassador, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, Swedish minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, Johan Forsell, and the UNDP’s Assistant Secretary General, Ulrika Modeer, arrived in Bangladesh for a four-day visit. On 20 March, they visited the Ukhiya Refugee camp to see the needs of the Rohingya refugees living in the camps. Source: BHRN

25 March - A boat carrying more than 150 Rohingya refugees capsized off the coast of Indonesia. Many of those onboard originated from the Bangladesh refugee camps. Fishermen and rescue workers saved 75 people, and around 70 remain unaccounted for and are presumed dead. Rescue workers recovered 11 bodies.

Source: BHRN

12 March- A group of so-called nationalist activists attacked a building in no 57 wards in South Dagon Satellite Township on 10 March, a local source told Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN). He said the junta-backed nationalist group known as Patriotic Young Myanmar Monks (Yangon) attacked a temporary prayer room for house worshipers established during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the source said. He said the building has been used as a temporary prayer place for Muslims in the ward for the past decade. The nationalist group said they raided the building at the request of the residents in the word. In a similar incident in 2019, an ultra-nationalist group led by politician Michel Kyaw Myint raided three temporary prayer buildings for Muslims during Ramadan, which were approved by the government at that time. Michel Kyaw Myint also received backing from the military junta. BHRN 

16 March – A monastery and several homes were destroyed in a series of air raids on civilian targets by the junta troops in His Hseng Township in Southern Shan State in recent days, a statement issued by an ethnic armed organisation operating in the area the PaO National Liberation Army (PNLA) on 16 March said. It said the junta troops based on a monastery situated on a hilltop had been shelling His Hseng town for the past few weeks and the civilians were targetted in the attacks, the statement said. BHRN

29 March- A pagoda was destroyed in shellings by the junta troops in Hsihseng Township in Southern Shan State on 27 March and 28 March, a local source said. He said Mwe Taw pagoda which is revered by the locals was destroyed in the attack. In separate incidents several Buddhist monasteries in Hsihseng Township were destroyed in a series of attacks carried out by the junta troops in recent weeks, the source said. Ref: DVB

30 March- A mosque was destroyed in Thingan Nyi Naung Township in Kayin State in an attack by the junta troops on 30 March, a local source told Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN). He said the junta troops attacked the mosque with firebombs. The source said the homes and the shops owned by Muslims situated near the mosque were also destroyed in the attacks. BHRN

31 March- A mosque and an Islamic religious school in Hsihseng Township in Southern Shan State were destroyed in shellings by the junta troops, a local source said. He said the Sunni Jemmah Mosque and the school, which is situated next to the mosque, were deliberately targeted by the junta troops. A local ethnic armed organisation the PaO National Liberation Army (PNLO) has warned the civilians in the town not to come back to their homes as the junta has launched an offensive to retake the town, which was controlled by PNLA earlier this month.  

BHRN

4 March- A rebel group the Arakan Army (AA) said the junta troops killed a mother and daughter duo in a village in Minbya Township in Rakhine State. It said the daughter was gang rapped before she was killed. AA said the information is based on testimony from a soldier fighting for the junta Ko Ko Aung. He said five soldiers from the No 22 Command were responsible for the rape and killing of the duo. The attack was led by Captain Nay Linn Kyaw, who was one of the five junta troops who committed the crime of killing and rape, Ko Ko Aung said. Ref: Mizzima

7 March- The junta troops killed two women in Kanma Township in Magwe Region on 7 May, a member of the local People’s Defence Force (PDF), Bo Let Kyar said. He said the victims were Ma Aye and her daughter who was rapped before she was shot dead. Bo Let Kyar said the injuries from assaults were later found on the bodies of the two women.  Ref: RFA

 14 March- The junta troops sexually assaulted a 20-year-old woman in a village in Myingyan Township in Mandalay Region on 12 May, the Yangon Khit Thit Media reported quoting a local source. The report said the junta troops burned down the body of the woman. It said Ma Moe Sanda (a.k.a) Nodic was first arrested by the junta troops during a raid on Seik Kokne village where she lives. She was abducted by the junta troops for questioning, the source said.  Ref: Khit Thit Media

4 March- The junta arrested 40 civilians, all male, in two villages in Chaung Thar township in Ayeyarwady Region on the accusation of providing support to the People’s Defence forces (PDF) who are fighting the junta, a local source said. He said those arrested are from Kyauk Pone and Chaung Khwa village in Chaungtha. The source said the abducted civilians are being interrogated in two different paces, at the headquarters of the Western Command and inside the Pathein prison. Ref: DVB  

9 March- The junta arrested 20 youths at Yangon airport on 8 March, a source close to the victims said. He said they were from Thantwe Township in Rakhine State and were arrested as they tried to board a plane to go back home. He said they were sent to an interrogation camp in Shwe Pyi Thar Township situated on the outskirts of Yangon. The source said those arrested were aged between 25 and 30 and some of them were in Yangon to take medical treatment. In a separate incident, a group of 100 youths were arrested at a checkpoint near Yangon, the source said. They were arrested on a bus traveling to Rakhine State, he said. Ref: DVB

10 March- The junta arrested 16 Kachin displaced people in Bamaw Township in Kachin State on 10 March, a local source said. They were arrested from Robert Baptist Church in Bamaw, the source said, adding that the junta troops had taken them away at gunpoint. The church had more than 500 displaced people, who were forced to flee their homes after the renewed fighting in Kachin State in 2011. Ref: DVB

19 March- The Sittwe Township court has handed a 2-year jail sentence on a woman Rakhine political activist Daw Nyo Aye, a local source told Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN). Daw Nyo Aye, who is the chair of the Rakhine Women's Congress was arrested last August after she joined a protest in commemoration of an event 56 years ago when Rakhine political activists were killed by the junta after their protest on the shortage of rice in the Rakhine State. Daw Nyo Aye was facing a criminal defamation case. A source close to the political activist said Daw Nyo Aye is facing a serious health issue. BHRN   

19 March- The junta troops arrested 9 civilians in Dawei Township in Tanintharyi Region, a local social activist who is helping the displaced people in the region told Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN). The source said among the arrested civilians included a woman. The source said the civilians were arrested after the junta raided their village. He said the bodies of women and children were found in the areas where the junta previously occupied. BHRN.  

29 March- The junta arrested 10 civilians in Ohthe Kone town in Bago Region on 28 March, a local source said. He said among the arrested civilians were 5 members of a local charity group with the name of Pyone Pan Tayar. The source said the reason for their arrest was not known.  Ref: Khit Thit Media

3 March- The junta imposed new death sentences on five political prisoners who are already on death row and are detained in Pathein Prison in Ayeyarwady Region, a source close to the prison told Radio Free Asia on 29 February. The source said two additional political prisoners were handed death sentences by the special tribunal set up inside the prison along with the five political prisoners. They were arrested on the charges of killing junta’s informants in Pyapon Township, in the Ayeyarwaddy Region. The five other political prisoners were given death sentences last October, the source said. He said the number of people from Parpon who were given death sentences has reached 14. Ref: RFA

7 March- An elderly political prisoner died in a prison in Deik U Township in Bago Region on 6 March, a source close to his family told Radio Free Asia. He said 66-year-old U Khin Soe died after the prison authorities denied him medical treatment. The source said U Khin Soe has been suffering from constipation and urine problems and he was not given permission to take treatment. U Khin Soe, who is a member of a resistance group fighting the junta, has been under arrest since last October. He was accused of involvement in an attack on a police station in Nyaung Khar Shwe township in the Bago region, that took place six months before U Khin Soe’s arrest.  Ref: RFA

11 March- Civil society group working on the rights of political prisoners said the number of prisoners who were partially paralysed in the lower part of their body has increased in Shwe Bo Prison in Sagaing Region. All Myanmar Political Prisoners Network (PPNM) said the number of such cases has increased since the military coup more than three years ago. It said the prisoners suffered from paralysis as they were not given enough space inside their cells, most of which are overcrowded. The group said another reason is vitamin deficiency among the prisoners as they are given poor quality food by the prison authorities. BHRN 

16 March- A civil society group All Myanmar Political Prisoner Network (PPNM) said 24 political prisoners were put in solitary confinement for more than three months and they were chained in their cells. A spokesperson of PPNM, Ko Theik Tun Oo, said such treatment of prisoners is a blatant violation of the human rights of the prisoners. He accused the junta of reintroducing the prison conditions of the time when Myanmar was under British colonial rule. PPNM said the prisoners were given punishment after they were accused of using prohibited items inside the jail. The incident took place on 5 November after which hoods were put on the face of the prisoners and they were chained and their hands locked in their backs, the group said.  Ref: Mizzima

28 March- The junta killed two political prisoners, who were held in Dawei Prison in Tanintharyi Region on 16 and 17 of March, a statement released by the All-Myanmar Political Prisoners’ Network (PPMN) on 28 March said. The news was confirmed by the authorities of Dawei Prison. A spokesperson of Dawei Prison said a political prisoner Ko Win Thiha was shot dead as he tried to flee when he was taken to a site where he allegedly attacked the junta’s positions to recreate the crime scene. Ko Win Thiha was serving 7 years imprisonment on other charges, at the time of his killing. PPMN said another political prisoner Maluvi Shamim was killed by the junta troops after he was taken out of the prison on 17 March. A list compiled by the Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) said at least 162 Muslims were killed in their struggle against the junta’s rule. BHRN  

4 March- The junta troops are accused of committing the brutal killing of 11 civilians in Taze Township in Sagaing Region in late February, a local source told Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN). He said the attacks on civilians which include killing by beheading were committed after the junta troops lost control of a local police station in a fight to the local people's defence forces, the source said. He said the soldiers who committed gruesome killing were from the Light Infantry Division 708 under No 11 Infantry Command Headquarters, he said. The source said the junta troops were supported by pro-junta militias, totaling up to 200 troops involved in the killing of the civilians. BHRN

12 March- A rebel group the Arakan Army (AA) said the junta has killed more than 30 innocent civilians across Rakhine State on two separate occasions on November 13 last year and 23 January this year, the Humanitarian and Development Cooperation Office (HDCO) of AA said in a statement issued on 11 March. It said the junta is systematically targeting the civilians in Rakhine State and accused it of committing war crimes. The statement also accused the junta of committing sexual violence against civilian women and committing arson in the villages. Ref: Khit Thit Media

21 March- A man who criticized the junta’s new conscription law has died after he was arrested on 20 March, a local source said. U Than Htun Aye who posted his comment critical of the conscription law on social media sites was arrested by the junta troops on the same day. He said the family of the 55-year-old victim was informed of his death only a few hours after the arrest. The source said U Than Htun Aye has died due to injuries in his heart and stomach sustained due to beatings by his captors, the source said. Ref: DVB

22 March- The junta troops killed at least 39 civilians in the Sagaing Region during the past three weeks, a civil society group, the Association for Assistance of Political Prisoners (AAPP) said. The group said the deaths included 21 from Kalay, seven in Taze, five in Yinmarpin, four in Monywea, two in Kanbalu and one in Kanni townships. It said among those killed include 4 children as well as 16 women, BHRN. 

31 March- A Muslim man died four days after he joined the Myanmar military as a forced conscript, a source close to the family told Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN). He said 27-year-old Ko Ko Latt (a.k.a) Ammanullah, who was from Tekkyi Township in Yangon Region died on 31 March, four days after he joined as a conscript selected in a draw, the source said. He said the family claimed the body of Ammanullah from a military hospital in Yangon. The source added that injuries were found on his face and blood spilling from his mouth. The source said he must have died of the injuries which seem to come from severe beatings. BHRN

7 March- The junta is forcing civilians to join the military in Bago Township. A report in Yangon Khit Thit newspaper quoting a local source said the junta is forcing at least 50 civilians from each village to join the military, he said adding that the junta tasked the heads of the local administration to encourage conscriptions, the report said. The Yangon Khit Thit media reported that the junta started to collect the names of conscripts in 10 villages in Bago Township in March. Ref: Khit Thit Media

15 March- The junta is forcing new conscripts to serve on battlefields, a source said. He said the letter received by those who were selected to serve in the military mentioned that they would be sent to the frontline areas on a rotation basis after completing the military training. He said the relevant authorities explained to new recruits that if they are not sent to the frontline they will be asked to go back to their homes and have to take responsibility for the security of the region. Many of those who were asked to join the military said they were being threatened to join the military. Ref: Myanmar Now

 17 March- The junta troops and members of its ally Pyu Saw Htee beheaded a man in a village in Kanbalu Township in Sagaing Region on 15 March, a member of a local activist group said. He said the victim was an unknown man around 35 years of age, whose body was found beheaded. The body was found after the junta troops from Light Infantry Division 361 and the members of the militant group raided Paygyi village, where the slain man seemed to be living. He said at least 180 people were involved in the raid. Pyu Saw Htee group is led by a monk Watharwa. BHRN

20 March- A pro-junta militant group Pyu Saw Htee is forcibly recruiting Muslims in Kanbalu Township in Sagaing Region, a local source told Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN). He said those who refused to join the military were asked to pay Kyat 20,000 every month. The junta previously did not encourage Muslims to join the Pyu Saw Htee group instead they were asked to pay the funds to support the brutal militant group. However, Muslims were asked to join the troops about a month ago and they were also assigned sentry duties as Pyu Saw Htee members, the source said. BHRN

29 March- A member of pro junta militant group shot dead a civilian youth in a village in Moegaung Township in Kachin State on 28 March, a local source said. The youth was killed as he was engaged in an argument with another youth on the street. He was shot dead by an uncle of the youth whom he engaged in an argument. The uncle who is responsible for the killing is a member of a pro-junta militia operating in the area. Ref: DVB

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