‘Peace cannot be restored if human rights violations continue’—SHRF spokesperson Ying Leng Harn

As Myanmar’s military junta intensifies its airstrikes and military campaigns across Shan State, the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) is calling for restraint: Not just from the regime, but from all armed actors. In this interview, SHRF spokesperson Ying Leng Harn urges ethnic armed organisations to avoid repeating the junta’s atrocities and to prioritise the protection of civilians amid escalating conflict.Since 1990, The Shan Human Rights Foundation, based on the Thai-Myanmar border, has been documenting human rights abuses in Shan State. Today, the organisation focuses on crimes committed by the junta since the coup.A new report by SHRF released this month reveals that junta troops from Light Infantry Division 99 carried out unlawful killings, gang rape, and widespread destruction of homes in Mongmit, northern. . .