Geneva, Switzerland

A panel discussion held on the sidelines of the 22nd Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva yesterday looked at the recommendations made by Tomás Ojea Quintana, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Burma/Myanmar, in his report to the Council and supported the need for further reforms in the country.

This is a testimony by Ah Noh of the Kachin Women’s Association Thailand to the US Congress on 28 Feb, 2013.

Firstly I would like to say thank you to Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission for inviting me to testify today.

I am from Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, home of the Kachin people and most of the Christian minority of Burma. In June 2011, the Burmese Army broke a 17-year long ceasefire with the Kachin Independence Army (also called KIA). Since then, troops from over 140 Burmese battalions have launched a violent operation in Kachin state and Northern Shan state, using heavy artillery and aircraft.  Over 100,000 people have been displaced, including my 78-year-old grandmother, who spent her earlier life fleeing the civil war, and is once again homeless.

Civil society organizations from Burma/Myanmar are urging the United Nations Human Rights Council 22nd session to address the serious human rights violations that are challenging the country’s reform process.

Today, 22 organizations released a statement outlining ongoing human rights violations, including sexual violence, torture, arbitrary arrest and extrajudicial killings, and discrimination against ethnic and religious minorities. The statement urges the Council to maintain its resolution on the situation of human rights in Burma/Myanmar under item 4 as “Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention” rather than lowering it to item 10, which would reduce the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Burma/Myanmar from monitoring to that of technical assistance.

We are writing to demand justice in the case of Kachin villager, Sumlut Roi Ja, aged 28, who has disappeared since being arbitrarily arrested by the Burma Army.

On October 28, 2011, Sumlut Roi Ja was arrested by Burma Army soldiers while farming near her village Hkai Bang, Momauk township, close to the China border. Her husband and father-in-law witnessed her being forced at gunpoint to carry corn to their camp, an outpost of Battalion 321 at Mubum. She was seen at the camp by several witnesses, but has since disappeared.