Yangon, authorities cancel news conference on abuses by military
An organization of Ta'ang minority wanted to denounce human rights violations in Shan State, where civil war rages. The authorities warned the hotel to cancel the event for "lack of permits".
Yangon (AsiaNews/Rfa) – Burmese Authorities prevented an ethnic women’s organization from holding a press conference on a report detailing abuses against civilians committed by the government army in restive northern Shan state. The meeting was based on the report entitled “Trained to Kill”, a collection of interviews with more than 100 local ethnic Ta’ang residents in the northern part of Myanmar, where clashes occurre between the rebels and the government army.
“The report contains information about human rights violations by the military in northern Shan State, which we collected between 2011 and 2016,” said Ma De De Poe Sao, a member of the Ta’ang Women’s Organization (TWO). TWO will submit the report to office of President Htin Kyaw and to the upper and lower houses of the National Assembly, she said.
“The Yangon regional government didn’t give us permission to hold the press conference,” Ma De De Poe Sao said. “It seems the [Excel Treasure] hotel is not obligated to hold it.”
TWO originally scheduled the press conference for June 24 at the Orchid Hotel in Yangon, but local government authorities told the hotel’s management to cancel the event because the hotel had not received permission to hold it, the online journal The Irrawaddy reported.
The Ta’ang ethnic minority live mainly in northern Shan State, where the armed ethnic group the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) has engaged in hostilities with the Myanmar military and the Shan rebel group, the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S). The violences has sparked the flight of more than 10 thousand civilians. The TNLA and SSA-S have also been accused of human rights violations in Shan state, including kidnapping, torturing, and killing civilians.
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03/08/2018 15:17
