Teachers, children’s groups condemn deadly shelling in Myebon Twsp

By Hnin Nwe 10 Sep 2020

Hnin Nwe  | DMG
10 September, Sittwe 

The killing of a schoolteacher and two children this week in Arakan State’s Myebon Township has been condemned by a teachers’ union and the international advocacy group Save the Children.  

The female teacher and two children were among four civilians killed by artillery strikes in Nyaungkan village on September 8. 

The Basic Education Worker Union Committee issued a statement on September 9 saying the union was deeply saddened by the deaths of innocent civilians including teacher Daw Moe Thazin. It denounced the firing of heavy weapons into residential areas, a practice that has resulted in numerous civilian casualties over the years.  

The Basic Education Worker Union Committee does not want armed conflict to cause further civilian casualties, whether teachers or students, said U Soe Lin Oo, a member of the committee’s central working body. 

“We are very concerned about the civilian deaths without any hostilities between the military and Arakan Army. We can do nothing for the victims killed by the artillery shelling for the time being. Neither the local parliament nor the local government can do anything. We can release the statement only,” he added.   

“We would like to ask the military to refrain from opening fire indiscriminately on the residential areas in Arakan State without hostilities,” U Soe Lin Oo said. “We don’t want the locals in Arakan State being injured by armed clashes or artillery strikes and some villages being set on fire by the military.” 

The Basic Education Worker Union Committee’s statement also called for an immediate end to clashes across the country amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. 

Save the Children also released a statement on September 10 condemning the “senseless deaths of two young children,” and calling them “utterly unacceptable.” 

Save the Children noted that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which Myanmar has ratified, clearly states that governments must do everything in their power to protect and care for children affected by war and armed conflict. 

“This latest incident demonstrates once more that we must do everything we can to stop the war on children,” the organisation said, calling for an investigation into the shelling incident.