[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index
][Thread Index
]
SEA: Press-Ganged Burmese Workers F
- Subject: SEA: Press-Ganged Burmese Workers F
- From: strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 24 Feb 1994 08:07:00
/* Written 3:21 pm Feb 23, 1994 by DEBRA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx in igc:hrnet.asia-pac */
/* ---------- "SEA: Press-Ganged Burmese Workers F" ---------- */
## author : spectre@xxxxxxxx
## date : 21.02.94
-------------------------------------------------------------------
These news article[s] were excerpted from ClariNet's UPI
newsfeed. If you don't have a ClariNet subscription and
want one, contact clarinews@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
1510 BANGKOK, Thailand (Reuter) - Burma's military government is
1511 drafting thousands of villagers to build a railway line in the
1512 southeast of the country, raising concern in Thailand the move
1513 will cause a wave of refugees to flee to the border.
1514
1515 Burmese guerrilla and other sources estimate at least 10,000 vil-
1516 lagers have been conscripted to labor without pay on the 100-mile
1517 rail line from the town of Ye in Mon state to Tavoy in southern-
1518 most Tenasserim Division.
1529 The reports of forced labor have come as the international
1530 spotlight has again fallen on Burma with the meetings earlier
1531 this week between a U.S. congressman and the detained opposition
1532 leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient.
1533
1534 The visits by U.S. Representative Bill Richardson, the first such
1535 meetings Aung San Suu Kyi has been allowed since she was detained
1536 in July 1989, led to speculation the military might be softening
1537 its iron grip on the country it has ruled since 1962.
1538
1539 Conscription of workers for the railway began at the beginning of
1540 the dry season late last year, and it appeared the authorities
1541 were trying to complete its construction before the arrival of
1542 the rains in May, the sources said.
1543
1544 Forced labor on public works is common in Burma. The Burmese army
1545 has traditionally drafted villagers as porters in its offensives
1546 against guerrilla groups.
1556 Military supervisers provided neither food nor medicine for the
1557 workers, and reports of beatings were common, the refugee workers
1558 said.
1559
1560 To escape the forced labor, hundreds of villagers have already
1561 fled to the Burmese side of the Thai-Burmese border, which is
1562 under the control of the Mon guerrilla group, one human rights
1563 worker in Thailand said.
1570 "The fear is that these new people running to Thailand will not
1571 be allowed in," the human rights worker said.
1572
1573 There are currently some 60,000 refugees from Burma in camps in
1574 Thailand. The majority of them are from ethnic minorities and
1575 have fled from government military operations in their areas.