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Let All the People of the World Know How We Have Suffered

Documenting Human Rights Violations in Burma

Reporting on the Situation of Displacement for Chin Refugees in India

1. Overview

For my fellowship, I had the absolute honor of working alongside an incredible team at the Institute of Chin Affairs. The Institute of Chin Affairs (ICA), is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana and operating globally. ICA was founded by members of the Chin refugee diaspora community who sought to monitor, document, report, and educate on Chin human rights issues.

The project directly supported ICA's missional goals of documenting and reporting Chin human rights issues, as well as informing, educating, and raising awareness of their pursuit of justice. Furthermore, the project is ultimately intended to support ICA's mission of peace and unity among the Chin people.

During the fellowship, I worked jointly with ICA to document human rights violations against the Chin people in Myanmar and their condition of displacement in India. I traveled with the ICA India team on a three-week field mission to Mizoram State in India's far northeast to interview refugees and other key stakeholders. The findings were compiled into multiple reports that will be shared with influential authorities and used to expand the network of informed individuals, communities, and institutions. Crucially, the reports will be used to craft a strategy for advocacy and intervention.

We thank all who bravely shared their stories so that the world will know what is happening in Myanmar, and we call upon those with the authority to do something, to step forward and end the suffering.

2. The Urgency of this Project

The Chin people are one of the ethnic nationalities of Myanmar (Burma) and have faced decades of persecution and forced displacement at the hands of the Burmese military junta. For years, Chin State has remained one of the least-developed states of Myanmar, with the highest level of poverty. According to a 2019 report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), every 6 out of 10 people in Chin State were living below the poverty line.^[1]  Myanmar is actively involved in the world's longest ongoing civil war. Most recently, in February 2021 the military junta staged a coup d'etat against the democratically elected government, which has resulted in a re-surge of human rights violations against Myanmar's diverse peoples, including the Chin. Today, tens of thousands of Chin people have been displaced globally.

Even though Myanmar has been one of the top five sending countries for refugees to the U.S. for the last five years, violations of human rights against the Chin people remain little known throughout the U.S. and on a global stage. It is as important as ever to document the ongoing mass atrocities being committed against the Chin people. Documentation and advocacy are not only imperative for the justice of those directly denied their basic human rights but also for their loved ones overseas who seek to use their newfound rights in countries like the U.S. to protect and support them.

Of urgent humanitarian concern are Chin communities who remain internally displaced within Myanmar amidst active armed conflict that is increasingly targeting civilians, or who have sought asylum in the neighboring countries of India and Malaysia. As of 2019, the UNHCR stated there were over 15,000 Chin refugees registered with them in Malaysia.^[2] Significantly more Chin people reside unregistered in Malaysia; Chin activist groups estimate more than 33,000 Chin refugees remain unregistered.^[3]

Our ICA field mission in May of this year focused on displaced persons in Mizoram State in India.  It is estimated that over 3,000 Chin refugees reside in New Delhi, India, and 70,000 displaced Chin people are in Mizoram State, India which borders Chin State in Myanmar.^[4] Yet, global bodies mandated to protect refugees, such as human rights organizations and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have been barred by the central Indian Government from entering Mizoram. Similarly, foreign governments like the U.S. are not allowed in Mizoram. Because entities like the aforementioned are not allowed inside Mizoram to assess the situation themselves, organizations like ICA are all the more critical to communicating and raising awareness about humanitarian needs and human rights concerns of refugees.

Though the earliest waves of refugees fleeing post-2021 coup violence in Myanmar arrived in February 2021, two and a half years ago, the situation is relatively new and raw compared to the global norm of protracted refugee situations.^[5] Furthermore, with the changing nature of human rights violations committed by the Myanmar military junta, the situation in Mizoram is evolving. Few reports have been published that understand in depth the personal experiences of displaced Chins in Mizoram, as well as the interests and concerns of other relevant stakeholders such as Mizo entities, the Myanmar National Unity Government (NUG), and community-based organizations (CBOs) and Non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The ICA reports center these voices.

The intention of our mission was two-fold:

1.     To understand key issues, needs, interests, and concerns of the relevant stakeholders in Mizoram State relating to the displacement of Chin refugees from Myanmar.

From our time in Mizoram, we found strong cases for the good that the Mizo host community has done to support Chin refugees. We also found compelling testimony highlighting the fragility of the displacement situation in Mizoram. By reporting on the successes and the challenges, ICA hopes to raise the voices of stakeholders to authorities who can improve the present situation and mitigate future risks of escalating discontent and humanitarian challenges in Mizoram for Chin refugees.

1. Document and preserve survivor testimony of human rights violations committed by the Myanmar SAC government and military forces.
   
   From the beginning of the February 2021 coup, the SAC military forces have committed grave human rights violations against their people, targeting civilians, including peaceful protestors, and sparing neither children nor the elderly. Over two years later, their reign of terror continues. The military moves from town to town, indiscriminately firing into civilian homes, occupying their schools and hospitals, and burning everything down to instill fear in the civilian populace.
   
   The SAC's methodology is a campaign of terror that only intensifies in frequency as the SAC loses ground to the People's Defense Forces (PDF) and other freedom fighters who seek to protect civilians. The changing nature of the SAC's warfare is of deep concern. The SAC military is intensifying war crimes and actions against civilians out of vengeance.  In addition to the survivors themselves, individuals are risking their lives to document the countless atrocities and crimes of the SAC. The purpose of the report generated by our mission is to put voices to the numbers and push forward justice for the people of Myanmar.
   
    

3. Project Goals and Achievements

The project goals included the following three objectives:

1. Build ICA staff and partner capacity

Goal: Assist ICA staff in developing robust human rights documentation procedures. Activities may include facilitating training and seminars on international human rights law, the refugee protection regime, best research and report writing practices, and data analysis techniques.

Achievements:

• Facilitated team planning sessions on human subjects research, research protocol, and best practices.
• Developed research materials such as informed consent and interpreter confidentiality forms.
• Interview shadowing during field mission to refugee camps to develop interview techniques.
• Worked with team translator to develop English human rights violations/reporting language skills.
• Established relations between ICA and the Crane Center for Mass Atrocity Prevention, laying the foundation for future fellowship opportunities for ICA team members.
  
  
  2. Report human rights violations against Chin people
  
  
  Goal: In partnership with ICA staff, board members, and partners, develop a timely report documenting ongoing human rights violations against the Chin people. The report will inform government leaders and human rights authorities and advocate for appropriate intervention and assistance.
   
  This goal was expanded to include documentation of human rights violations in Myanmar experienced by those who have now fled to Mizoram AND an assessment of the situation of displacement for refugees in Mizoram State and New Delhi.
  
  
  Achievements:

• Completed over 40 interviews and meetings across nine displaced persons camps in Mizoram, with the displaced community in New Delhi, and with 19 other stakeholder groups including the Mizo host community leadership and organizations, Chin leaders, NGOs, the UNHCR, and U.S. government representatives abroad. Additional information is provided below.
• Completed over 19 hours of audio interviews with survivors to be transcribed and preserved.
• Completed translation of interviews from various languages into English.
• From the information we obtained, three reports were generated. 

1. Let All the People of the World Know How We Have Suffered: Survivor Testimony of Human Rights Violations in Myanmar (publication forthcoming)
2. Report on the Situation of Displacement for Chin Refugees in Mizoram State
3. Memo on the Situation of Displacement in New Delhi
   
    
   Discussion
   
   This objective constituted the largest portion of my project with ICA. During three weeks, the ICA team and I met with stakeholders in Mizoram to record and document their testimonies, experiences, needs, interests, and concerns.
   
    

Where We Recruited and Conducted Interviews

During our research, we conducted 29 personal interviews with 38 Chins living as displaced persons in Mizoram. We interviewed “informants" from nine camps in Aizawl and Champai districts. We also interviewed displaced persons not living in camps but in Aizawl city. Future research should cover additional districts in Mizoram to provide a full picture of the displacement experience in Mizoram. The purpose of these 29 interviews was to understand the personal experiences of displacement in Mizoram and any needs, concerns, and interests.

Additionally, we conducted meetings and interviews with representatives from 18 other stakeholder groups, some representing the displaced Chin community and others representing the Mizo host community. Still, others were from groups representing a broader constituency, such as the NUG and the UNHCR New Delhi. These interviews were held in Aizawl and Champai districts and New Delhi.

Demographics of Displaced Person Stakeholders

Of the 38 Chin persons we interviewed living displaced in Mizoram, twenty of our informants identified as male, and eighteen identified as female. Our informants ranged from 23 years old to 76 years old. Our informants' average length of displacement was over one and a half years, with the Myanmar military displacing some informants over two years ago. The Myanmar military has intensified attacks targeting civilians, forcing some informants to flee to Mizoram more recently.

The informants who participated in this research were from Chin State and Sagaing Region in Myanmar before fleeing to Mizoram for safety. Some of the towns and villages they are from include Matupi, Tedim, Paletwah, Cicai (Kale township), Haimual, Lungpi, Waitoe (Matupi township), Sekan, Bualte (Falam township), Rihkhawdar, Tayakung, and Thantlang. They spoke multiple languages, including Falam, Matupi, and Hakha dialects and sub-dialects.

Other Stakeholder Groups Interviewed

One of our goals was to understand diverse stakeholders' experiences, interests, concerns, and needs. In addition to interviews with displaced persons in the camps, our research included meetings and interviews with representatives from nineteen organizations, institutions, government bodies, and CBOs. We interviewed representatives from the Mizo host community, including leaders of prominent Mizo organizations, village leadership (i.e., Village Level Sub-Committee on Myanmar Refugees), district leadership (i.e., the District Commissioner), and university leadership. We met with non-Mizo NGOs and CBOs operating within Mizoram, the school board in one of the camps, and displaced Burma (Myanmar) Members of Parliament (MPs).

We also gained insight from some Myanmar National Unity Government (NUG) representatives. Furthermore, in New Delhi, we met with representatives from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and several Chin refugee organizations to obtain additional insight into the situation in Mizoram and India's overarching stance toward refugees from Myanmar.

Findings and Forthcoming Publications

Our findings indicate key areas of concern from stakeholders interviewed about the displacement situation in Mizoram. They also find ways that the Mizo host community and government have committed significant time and resources to support refugees in Mizoram State. We compiled a forty-page internal report to be used in future advocacy. Due to the extremely sensitive nature of refugees from Myanmar in India, this report cannot be published publicly.

Our findings also uncovered testimonial evidence of the human rights violations committed by the Myanmar SAC government against its own people. Our report is forthcoming later in the Fall of 2023. The report title is Let All the People of the World Know How We Have Suffered: Survivor Testimony of Human Rights Violations in Myanmar.

Importantly, we also met with Chin refugee leaders in New Delhi to understand their priority concerns. These findings will be published in a Memo on the Situation of Displacement in New Delhi.

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3. Expand ICA's Network and Reporting/Education Platforms

Goal: Expand ICA's network of human rights organizations, academics, and other allies who can help elevate their human rights violations findings and support corrective action.

Achievements:

• Discussed collaborative opportunities with organizations such as the Crane Center for Mass Atrocity Prevention.
• Met with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in New Delhi to discuss findings in Mizoram and New Delhi.
• Collaborated and established a relationship with the United Nations Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM).
• Developed links to understand priority areas and objectives of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Violations in Myanmar.
  
  

4. Impact on Social Equity and Sustainability

The project addressed issues of sustainability and equity by contributing to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

SDG 16: Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all, and build effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels.

SDG 16 acknowledges the record 100 million people who have been forcibly displaced worldwide and that “a quarter of the global population lives in conflict-affected countries."

As previously mentioned, Myanmar has been plagued by the world's longest ongoing civil war and is controlled by the Tatmadaw, the Burmese military junta that has perpetrated gross human rights violations against the people of Myanmar, including targeted persecution of the ethnic minorities such as the Chin. As a result, the Chin live displaced primarily in India and Malaysia or internally in Myanmar as IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons). Project Goals and achievements supported SDG 16 by directly aligning with the following SDG16 targets:

●       SDG target 16.1 “significantly reducing all forms of violence and related deaths everywhere."

●       SDG target 16.3 “promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all."

●       SDG target 16.10 “Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements."

SDG 10: Reduce inequalities within and among countries.

SDG10 acknowledges that the “global refugee figure has hit a record high", and that the “number of refugees outside their country of origin has increased by 44% between 2015 and 2021." Furthermore, SDG10 acknowledges the discrimination that people experience that directly violates international human rights law.  Project Goals and achievements supported SDG 10 by directly aligning with the following SDG10 targets:

●       SDG Target 10.3 “Ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting appropriate legislation, policies, and actions in this regard."

●       SDG Target 10.7 “Facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies."

Arguably, this is the most comprehensive assessment of the situation of displaced Chin persons in India that has been conducted since the February 2021 coup d'etat in Myanmar. From the field mission, ICA has multiple reports supported by testimonial evidence to be used in future advocacy efforts and awareness-raising campaigns.

Accordingly, we grew the ICA network of organizations with the influence and authority to intervene and promote justice and solutions. Such institutions include: the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in New Delhi, the UN Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar.

Most of these entities do not have direct access to displaced communities in Mizoram and depend upon organizations like ICA to assess the situation on the ground. ICA is strongly positioned to contribute valuable information to these entities regarding the displacement situation of the Chin people in India.

Fellow Statement on Equity

Equity is tied to justice and recognition. Both are dependent on the voices of those affected driving the conversation because they know best. At its core, this project seeks to amplify the voices of the Chin people everywhere, to share their stories and achieve peace through the attainment of justice.

In a spirit of reciprocity, the project directly supported and collaborated alongside the Chin people, who have faced generations of discrimination, persecution, and forced displacement. I walked into this space humbly, recognizing that while I have an academic background in international humanitarian issues and several years of experience with displaced communities from Myanmar (Burma), the ICA team and Board have the lived experiences, expertise, and knowledge critical to the success of this project. There was so much for me to learn, and I walked into this project first and foremost acknowledging this.

I walked away from this project inexplicably grateful for the way I was welcomed and invited into my colleagues' world. It has become part of my own and enriched my life beyond measure. I can and will never walk away from it, because it is my own world now too. While the fellowship is over, I know that I will continue to work with ICA and the Chin people who so relentlessly seek peace for their country. I hope others at DePaul in the future will grow a relationship and partnership with ICA and the broader Chin community.

5. Future Considerations and Opportunities for Collaboration

The most significant challenge we faced was processing the considerable amount of data we collected within the project's original timeline. Our three weeks of fieldwork produced hours of valuable information that needed to be translated from various languages, analyzed, and organized. Chin state includes over 53 spoken dialects, and our interviews were conducted in several dialects, including Hakha, Falam, and Matupi.

At last, after hours of work and with the commitment of the multi-lingual ICA team, we were able to produce reports that will be crucial to future advocacy and justice initiatives. Looking forward, the following action items are a priority:

1.     Pursue funding for the transcription and preservation of audio-recorded survivor testimony.

2.     Devise an advocacy strategy based on the reports and information obtained to address the concerns and needs of Chin refugees in India.

3.     Continue to educate and raise awareness across a broad and diverse platform on the situation in Myanmar and the stories of survivors.

The work is far from over and future Steans fellows and DePaul faculty are encouraged to get involved and reach out to ICA for opportunities to drive forward their important and necessary work.​

^[1] UNDP. Myanmar Living Conditions Survey 2017: Poverty Report. June 2019 https://www.undp.org/myanmar/publications/myanmar-living-conditions-survey-2017-poverty-report

^[2] (n.d.). UNHCR says ethnic Chin refugees may require continued international protection as security situation worsens in Myanmar [Review of UNHCR says ethnic Chin refugees may require continued international protection as security situation worsens in Myanmar]. UNHCR. Retrieved March 14, 2019, from https://www.unhcr.org/us/news/news-releases/unhcr-says-ethnic-chin-refugees-may-require-continued-international-protection

^[3]UNSAFE: Chins Seeking Refuge in Malaysia and New Delhi, India September 2020 Report of Chin Association of Maryland. 2020..

^[4] “IDPs and Refugees." CAM, chinmd.org/idps-in-chin-state-rakhine-state/.

^[5] https://www.unrefugees.org/news/protracted-refugee-situations-explained/

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