World

By RFA Burmese2024.10.31Read RFA coverage of these topics in Burmese.Junta forces damaged a church in the home village of Myanmar’s most prominent Christian, Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, one of several religious buildings destroyed in fighting between the military and pro-democracy forces, residents told Radio Free Asia on Thursday.Bo, Myanmar’s Roman Catholic leader, lives in the main city of Yangon and was not in Mon Hla village, in the central Sagaing region, when a junta drone bombed St. Michael’s Church on Wednesday night.“They’ve destroyed an entire side of the church, the whole right side,” said one woman in the village, who declined to be identified in fear of reprisals.The church’s bell tower and nave were also damaged, she said.Opponents of the junta have accused the military of ta...

By RFA Burmese2024.10.31Read RFA coverage of this topic in Burmese.A Burmese-Indian activist who went missing after slamming a Myanmar film as racist toward Hindus is in the custody of authorities, who are investigating him for “instigation,” the junta announced Wednesday.Hindus have faced decades of discrimination in predominantly Buddhist Myanmar, where they endure restrictions on religious practice and travel, according to the U.S. State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report.Shine Htet Aung, 33, disappeared on Oct. 26, days after posting a review of the Myanmar rom-com “Jar Kit Sar Pu Thee” (Have You Ever Ridden a Jeep) on Facebook, in which he described the film as racist toward Hindu culture. The review went viral on social media, garnering thousands of likes and shares....

By Kiana Duncan for RFA2024.11.12The International Labor Organization, or ILO, has decided to take action against the Myanmar junta for rights violations, saying that the country failed to adhere to recommendations made by the watchdog.ILO’s Commission of Inquiry recommended in October last year the military cease violence, release detained unionists, restore civil rights, and end forced labor practices after it found that the junta, since its 2021 coup, had severely restricted civil liberties and trade union rights.“ILO decided to place on the agenda of … an item concerning measures under article 33 of the Constitution to secure compliance by Myanmar with the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry,” the watchdog said in a report on Wednesday. Article 33 can lead to significant conse...

By RFA Burmese2024.11.12Read RFA coverage of this topic in Burmese.Updated on Nov. 12, 2024 at 2:24 p.m. ETJunta forces bombed a famous ruby-mining town under insurgent control in central Myanmar killing nine people and wounding 13 in a deliberate attack on civilians, an insurgent group official told Radio Free Asia on Tuesday. Junta aircraft bombed three neighborhoods in Mogok on Monday at around 11 p.m. while one of the military’s Russian helicopters also fired into the town for about 30 minutes, they said.“Nine people died. We have to say it really impacted them badly. The junta wasn’t fighting, they were targeting residents,” said Lway Yay Oo, a spokesperson for the anti-junta Ta’ang National Liberation Army, or TNLA.The insurgent group is part of a three-member alliance that has made ...