Regrettably, in a country which has suffered decades of repressive military rule, the persecution of ethnic and religious minorities is not new. What is new is the escalation and intensification of the military campaign of terror against those who do not conform with the ultra-nationalist agenda of the regime which seized power in the coup of 2021. The military’s response to any opposition has and continues to be brutal.
An estimated 600,000 Burmese civilians have been forcibly displaced since October 2023.
HART UK has identified many of the continuing risks facing ethnic and religious minorities in Burma. These include killings, disappearances, systematic rape, arbitrary detention, and torture with perpetrators rarely, if ever, brought to justice.
Military forces deploy scorched earth tactics and stand accused of committing war crimes. Their cache of weapons includes automatic weapons, drones, cluster munitions, landmines, and incendiary chemicals used to burn houses.
Military forces target hospitals and medical facilities in non-state-controlled areas with the aim of preventing civilians from accessing medicines and other survival necessities. They also strategically restrict humanitarian access and forbid the provision of relief to areas not controlled by them.
Of added concern has been the reactivation of a decade-old conscription law to quash any opposition to the regime. This has led to widespread panic among Burma’s youth, many of whom choose to flee the country rather than be forced to carry out atrocities or be used as human shields.
HART is determined that children forcibly displaced from Burma are provided with continuity in their education with reports from Shan State alone, indicating that only 80 out of 300 hundred schools remain open.
HART is supporting local educators along the border to provide lifelong learning opportunities for children who receive little-or-no assistance from local authorities or international agencies. Ensuring that teachers are equipped with skills and tools to deliver quality and inclusive education for their students is a priority for HART.
At the present time assistance is being sought from HART Australasia to provide students with much needed relief and rehabilitation services, stipends, food security as well as vitamins and de-worming tablets.
Sadly, many of the urgent needs among the minority groups in the Thai-Burma border region are not being met by international aid organisations.
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“HART is not just ‘another aid organisation’. We are distinctive in that we combine aid with advocacy, working for peoples suffering from oppression, exploitation and persecution who are generally not served by major aid organisations and are off the radar screen of international media” Caroline (Baroness) Cox