Home / News / Urgent Appeals / UPDATE (Burma): Three teenage sisters and a young mother of two have disappeared
 

UPDATE (Burma): Three teenage sisters and a young mother of two have disappeared

October 2, 2007

UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL UPDATE ON URGENT APPEAL

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Update on Urgent Appeal

3 October 2007

[RE: UA-260-2007: BURMA: At least 65 persons reported arrested over protests against fuel prices; UP-114-2007: BURMA: Despite over 100 arrests, protests continue; still no action by UN; UP-119-2007: BURMA: Monks hold government officials as hostages; more protests and arrests around the country; UP-120-2007: BURMA: First report of death in fuel protests; courts closed; monks to refuse donations from officials; UP-124-2007: BURMA: Monks on the march, boycotting military regime across country; UP-126-2007: BURMA: Showdown ahead as protestors defy ban; UP-126-2007: BURMA: Riot police shoot, beat, gas protestors in Rangoon; rallies continue; UP-128-2007: BURMA: Protests continue despite heavy security; more people and monks taken away; townsfolk defend monasteries with slingshots]
---------------------------------------------------------------------
UP-132-2007: BURMA: Three teenage sisters and a young mother of two have disappeared

BURMA: Arbitrary and illegal arrest and detention; extrajudicial killing; forced disappearance; un-rule of law
---------------------------------------------------------------------

SPECIAL WEBPAGE
BURMA: 2007 PROTESTS
http://campaigns.ahrchk.net/burmaprotests/

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear friends,

Further to our previous recent updates on the situation in Burma, this is the first appeal by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) since last week on specific cases of disappearance in Rangoon: it includes details about the disappearance of a 30-year-old mother of two and three teenage sisters, as well as news on some other cases and incidents to which we are drawing your urgent attention.

For all statements, press releases, updates and media, visit the Burma Protests 2007 webpage of the AHRC.
 
DISAPPEARED PERSONS
The AHRC has already observed that all persons who have been taken by security forces in Burma during recent days must be considered as forcibly disappeared until shown otherwise (AS-237-2007). However, whereas some persons have been removed from their houses and their families may know who took them and have some means to trace their whereabouts and whether or not they are still alive, in other cases people have simply disappeared without a trace.

According to the Yoma 3 news service (Thailand), the following persons have not come home since September 27 and their circumstances are completely unknown.

Ma Ke Naing Zaw, 30, married with two small children (aged 5 and 1 1/2), a resident of Pazundaung, was coming home from studying a hospitality course at the Kandawgyi Palace Hotel when she disappeared. According to her relatives, her youngest child has not stopped crying since. The family has made inquiries at the township council office and local police station but has received no information. A witness has said that he saw her being taken into custody near the Sule Pagoda.

Ma Po Po Pyi Sone (18) and her two sisters, Ma Thida Aung and Ma Moe Moe Swe, left Dawpone briefly on September 27 purportedly with the intention to buy textbooks when they disappeared somewhere in the vicinity of the Sule Pagoda. Po Po Pyi Sone had graduated from high school this year and had come back from marketing classes at the KMD private school when the sisters went out. The family has made inquiries at the ward and township council offices and also has made a report to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) but has learnt nothing.  

In another case documented by Yoma 3, Ashin Nanda Thiri, resident monk at Shwetheindhamatheingi Monastery in Thingangyun Township who had suffered a bullet wound to the leg has also disappeared. His family has heard but has not confirmed that he was cremated at the Rangoon Cemetery.

Armed troops, police and government-organised thugs are continuing to enter and patrol monasteries at night and day.

According to the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), at the Ngwekyaryan Monastery in South Okkalapa, which was raided and ransacked on September 26, a local youth fired a slingshot at riot police and Swan-arshin gang members entering the grounds on October 1. The gang and police tried to find him without success. Then a group of three riot police and three Swan-arshin broke into two nearby houses where three families reside and assaulted the occupants. When a regular police officer arrived he was ignored by the Swan-arshin, who continued to beat the house residents before taking them away to an unknown location. They were identified as:

Household 1: Daw Myin Myin Khaing and her sons, Maung Lwin Ko Oo, 18, second-year student at the Government Technical College; and, Maung Aung Paing Oo, 14, South Okkalapa HS student.

Household 2 (same premises): Daw Myint Myint Aye and her son, Maung Zaw Htet Kyaw, 15, South Okkalapa HS student.

Household 3: U Tin San, 50, a sandal/shoemaker
 
KILLED PERSON: NOT OFFICIALLY ACKNOWLEDGED
One person killed who was not included in the official list of dead is Ko Htun Htun Lin, 32, a resident of Ward 7 in South Okkalapa. According to Yoma 3, residents saw police and troops beat Htun Htun Lin to death with truncheons outside the South Okkalapa Post Office on September 27.

The AHRC earlier reported that eight corpses had been found on the road in the same area but that they had been removed from people's houses later by security forces (UP-128-2007). The body of Htun Htun Lin is believed to have been one of those. The AHRC is still attempting to obtain further details on these and other deaths.

RELEASES & MORE CAPTURED
There are constant reports both of more people being released and also captured.

For instance, 70 persons were released from Hmawbi Police Battalion camp near Rangoon, including 20 women, on October 1. A released female detainee said there are still six women in custody there, one named as Ma War War Kyaw from Hinthada.

In Thingangyun, Rangoon, after three carloads of detainees were brought to the township office on the morning of October 3, news spread that they some also would be released and a large crowd of relatives gathered outside.
 
Meanwhile, in Yenanthar Ward of Bahan, Rangoon, on the night of October 2 soldiers reportedly rounded up three truckloads of youths accused of having thrown rocks at them during the protests.

FURTHER COMMENTS
These are a handful of the total number of killings and disappearances that are believed to have occurred during the last week. Reports of new incidents are also coming in daily. The AHRC will in the coming days attempt to document further details of as many specific cases as possible.

Please also visit the news sites and other links on the AHRC Burma protests page (http://campaigns.ahrchk.net/burmaprotests/) for up-to-date accounts and discussion. 

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please refer back to our previous appeal for general actions that you can take concerning the situation in Burma. Bloggers may also be interested in this campaign: http://www2.free-burma.org/index.php

Please send a letter to the concerned domestic and international agencies on the continued disappearances and killings following last week's protests in Burma. Please note that for the sake of this letter the country should be referred to by its official title of Myanmar rather than Burma, and Rangoon as Yangon.

For the sample letter below we have concentrated on the cases of Ma Ke Naing Zaw and Ma Po Po Pyi Sone and her two sisters.

To support this appeal, please click here:

Sample letter:

Dear ___________,

MYANMAR: Three sisters and a mother of two disappeared in Yangon on September 27

I share in the international outrage over the killings, abductions and disappearances of members of the Buddhist clergy and ordinary civilians in Myanmar during the last week, and call upon the national authorities to reveal the whereabouts of detained people; guarantee their safety, and treat them in accordance with the domestic law.

I am especially concerned about reports that three daughters of one family and the mother of two small children disappeared while travelling in Yangon on September 27 and despite attempts by their families to get information about what happened to them, nothing is so far known.

The details of those cases are as follows:

1. Ma Ke Naing Zaw, 30, National ID No. 12/PaZaTa(Naing)001843, married with two small children (aged 5 and 1 1/2), residing in Bochote Road, Pazundaung Township, Yangon, was coming home from a hospitality course at the Kandawgyi Palace Hotel when she disappeared. A witness saw her being taken into custody near the Sule Pagoda. Her family has made inquiries at the Pazundaung Township Peace and Development Council office and Pazundaung Township Police Station but has received no information.

2. Ma Po Po Pyi Sone (18) and her two sisters, Ma Thida Aung and Ma Moe Moe Swe (parents U Myint Win Maung and Daw Aye Aye Maw), left Batheinmye Ward, Dawpone Township, Yangon to buy textbooks when they disappeared somewhere in the vicinity of the Sule Pagoda. The family has made inquiries at the Batheinmye Ward Peace and Development Council office and Dawpone Township Peace and Development Council Office and has also reportedly made a complaint to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) but has again learnt nothing.  

These are just two among the many incidents of which I have heard at this time. I am very concerned not only because the whereabouts of these persons are unknown but also because they may be vulnerable to torture and cruel or inhuman treatment, including sexual abuse.

Others cases of which I have learnt include the apparent disappearance of a monk from the Shwetheindhamatheingi Monastery in Thingangyun Township, Yangon, named Ashin Nanda Thiri, who had suffered a bullet wound to the leg. His family has heard but has not confirmed that his body was already cremated.

Recently, six persons were also reportedly taken from houses adjacent to the Ngwekyaryan Monastery in South Okkalapa Township, Yangon, on October 1 after a local youth fired a slingshot at riot police and government-organised gang members (Swan-arshin). The six have been identified as Daw Myin Myin Khaing and her sons, Maung Lwin Ko Oo, 18, second-year student at the Government Technical College; and, Maung Aung Paing Oo, 14, South Okkalapa HS student; and Daw Myint Myint Aye and her son, Maung Zaw Htet Kyaw, 15, South Okkalapa HS student, all residing at No. 792, 20th Street, Ward 9, South Okkalapa. The sixth person was U Tin San, 50, a sandal/shoemaker, from the house next door (No. 793).

I also take this opportunity to express my concern that the numbers of dead are likely to be far below the nine officially acknowledged. I have been informed that at least eight corpses were found on the road between the Punnami and Post Office intersections in South Okkalapa Township on the evening of September 27. Among them was Ko Htun Htun Lin, 32, a resident of 13th Street, Ward 7 in the township, who witnesses allege was beaten to death by police and troops with truncheons outside the South Okkalapa Post Office. The corpses were taken back to houses in the neighbourhood, but after a short time, security forces allegedly entered the area, searched and located the bodies and took them away.

I call for the prompt locating and securing of the physical integrity of all persons who have been taken into custody, and the granting of immediate access to all detainees by the ICRC, concerned United Nations agencies, lawyers and family members. I demand that they be treated in accordance with domestic law and be brought before courts within 24 hours or released. And I call for judicial inquests into the deaths of all persons fired upon or assaulted by security forces, followed by appropriate legal action where government officials are found to have acted with unnecessary force. 

Yours sincerely

---------------------------------------------

PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Lt-Gen. Thein Sein
Acting Prime Minister
c/o Ministry of Defence
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: + 95 1 372 681
Fax: + 95 1 652 624

2. Maj-Gen. Maung Oo
Minister for Home Affairs
Ministry of Home Affairs
Office No. 10
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67 412 040/ 069/ 072
Fax: +95 67 412 016/ 439
E-mail: ddg.gad@gad.gov.mm

3. U Aye Maung
Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General
Office No. 25
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67 404 088/ 090/ 092/ 094/ 097
Fax: +95 67 404 146/ 106

4. Brig-Gen. Khin Yi
Director General
Myanmar Police Force
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: + 95 1 549 196/ 228/ 209

5. U Aung Bwa
Director-General, ASEAN-Myanmar
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Pyinmana
MYANMAR
Tel: +951 229 214; 221 191
Fax: +951 222 950; 221 719
E-mail: dgaseanmofa@myanmar.com.mm

6. Mr. Patrick Vial
Head of Delegation
ICRC
No. 2 (C) - 5 Dr. Ba Han Lane
Kaba Aye Pagoda Road, 8th Mile
Mayangone Township
Yangon
MYANMAR
Tel.: +951 662 613 / 664 524
Fax: +951 650 117
E-mail: yangon.yan@icrc.org

7. Professor Paulo Sergio Pinheiro
Special Rapporteur on Myanmar
Attn: Mr. Laurent Meillan
c/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: + 41 22 9179 281
Fax: + 41 22 9179 018 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR MYANMAR)
E-mail: lmeillan@ohchr.org

8. Mr. Diego Garcia-Sayan
Chairperson
UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances
C/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: WORKING GROUP DISAPPEARANCES)

9. Prof. Manfred Nowak
Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture
C/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9230
Fax: +41 22 917 9016 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR TORTURE)

10. Mr. Philip Alston
Special Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions
Room 3-016
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS)

11. Ms. Yakin Erturk
Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women
Room 3-042
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9615
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTN: SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN)

12. Mr. Ong Keng Yong
Secretary General
ASEAN Secretariat
70A, Jalan Sisingamangaraja
Jakarta 12110
INDONESIA
Tel: +62 21 7262991/ 7243372
Fax: +62 21 7398234/ 7243504
Email: public@aseansec.org; termsak@aseansec.org; amelia.b@aseansec.org

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) (ua@ahrchk.org)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Update
Document ID :
UP-132-2007
Countries :
Issues :
Document Actions
Share |
Subscribe to our Mailing List
Follow AHRC
Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.