Ethnic Ta’ang civil society organizations (CSOs) have called for justice for 12 civilians killed this year in unsolved murder cases northern Shan State.
Photo Credit to Shar Htat Paing – Volunteers Without Borders go to pick up 4 dead bodies in Sipaw Township , killed by unknown gunmen
Ta’ang CSOs released a statement on May 22 highlighting the lack of legal action taken following the murders of 12 people so far this year in Hsipaw, Kyaukme and Mong Yaw townships in Lashio District.
Two of those most recently murdered were elderly women on a tea farm in Chaung Chauk village tract, Kyaukme.
“Local people are frequently killed in northern Shan State. We have never gotten the truth. If it continues like this, we are worried that killing will become a tradition in northern Shan State,” Lway Ler Rong, secretary of the Ta’ang Student and Youth Organization, told SHAN.
According to Lway Ler Rong, local people in northern Shan state face human rights abuses because of ongoing armed conflict and the drug trade.
Murder is frequently met with impunity, the cases quickly die out, and arrests are rarely made, locals pointed out.
“Perpetrators mostly escape in many murder cases. The cases disappear. This means that the authorities do not take action against these perpetrators,” Mai Nyi Pu Aye, who is working with Ta’ang Legal Aid, told SHAN.
Ta’ang CSOs also highlighted the lack of trust locals have in the authorities because of the lack of justice for such murders, demonstrating the absence of rule of law in the region.
