The Burmese government symbolically releases prisoners of conscience before international trips, using them as pawns, but it simultaneously continues to detain local activists and over 1,300 ethnic people, mainly Kachin and Rohingya men and boys. From June-September 2013 alone, 61 new activists were arrested, and as of the first week of October, around 130 people were awaiting trial for charges under the notorious 2012 Peaceful Assembly and Peaceful Procession Law (“section 18″).
These new arrests prove that the Burmese government actively monitors the activities of its civilians, because not only are many activists being arrested under old laws, they are also being arrested for “offenses” that were committed years ago. One example is the July arrest of Daw Bawk Jar, a Kachin female activist known for providing legal advocacy to Kachin farmers whose land was confiscated by US-sanctioned tycoon Tay Zaw and the Burmese military. She was outrageously charged with homicide under the government’s absurd allegation that she treated a Kachin IDP last year who later