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ILO: FORCED LABOUR IN BURMA-46(repo
- Subject: ILO: FORCED LABOUR IN BURMA-46(repo
- From: darnott@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 08 Sep 1998 11:44:00
[ILO COMMISSION OF INQUIRY ON FORCED LABOUR IN BURMA, SLICE
46]
210
Ethnicity: Burman
Age/sex: 23, male
Family situation: Single, parents and five brothers
Occupation: Rickshaw driver
military camp was located four kilometres
from the village)
The witness left Myanmar five years ago because he was no
longer able to do his own work because of the work that had to
be done for the military. Ten days a month were reserved for
the work required by the military. He returned to Myanmar in
June 1997. Three days after arriving home, he was arrested by
the military to work on the construction of the airport at
Indagaw. He stayed for three days. Fifty people, men and
women, worked with him. He then returned home and was arrested
once again and incarcerated in a prison camp near Bago. He
stayed there for ten days before escaping and getting back to
Thailand. He did not know what led to his arrest. He felt the
situation had worsened since he first left in 1993. Before
leaving, he had to work as a porter and on railway
construction. In neither case was he paid. He could not refuse
for fear of being arrested and suffering reprisals from the
military. He worked as a porter on three or four occasions in
1991 and 1992. Each assignment lasted a day and a half. Five
or six other porters from his village went with him out of a
total of around 300 to 400 porters on significant military
offensives. It was the village head who recruited the porters,
though the military could requisition them directly depending
on the needs for military operations along the border with
Thailand. The porters had to carry munitions and received only
a ration of rice morning and night. When there was fighting
against the Karen National Union (KNU), the porters had to
stay with the soldiers and were often used as human shields.
Two of his friends had been killed. No medical treatment was
provided for the porters who had been wounded or were ill. He
was beaten for not being able to keep up. It was possible to
pay a replacement to do this work, the cost being 1,500 kyat
per portering duty. He paid on two occasions. As regards
railway construction, he had to work there twice a month, on
each occasion for five days. He first did this in 1990 and he
last did it just before leaving in 1993. This was on the
railway between Yangon and Bago, eight miles from his village.
This railway was in operation and was used both by the
military and civilians. One person per family had to work on
it. The order from the military was passed on by the village
head. He did this work on a rota basis with his father and his
brother. Men and women were requisitioned to do this work,
although when he was working there were only around thirty men
aged between 15 and 56 from various villages. He had to sleep
on site and take his own food. He had to prepare the ground:
digging, levelling ground, transporting and laying rails. A
section of the track was assigned to each group, which had the
obligation to complete it. The work was supervised by the
military. The day began at 5 a.m. and ended at 8 p.m. with no
possibility of a break. He was not physically ill-treated.
___________________________
211
Ethnicity: Mon
Age/sex: 64, female
Family situation: Married with three sons and three
daughters
Occupation: Trader
(village had 1,000 households and a
population of around 9,000 people)
The witness had to leave her village in 1995 because her
husband was in conflict with the local authorities. She first
settled in the village of Natkyizin, Tanintharyi Division. She
stayed there until 1995, when she went into exile in Thailand.
She personally did not perform forced labour (her husband was
village head), but she saw it being done by others. Her
business was situated near the railway track between Ye and
Dawei (Tavoy). She had seen men and women (including children
between the ages of six and 14) working on this railway. They
were not paid and had to sleep on the ground. The work was
supervised by the military. Moreover, she had witnessed deaths
caused by malaria and the bad working conditions.
___________________________
212
Ethnicity: Burman
Age/sex 35, male
Family situation: Married with one child
Occupation: Day labourer
township, Mon State (village-tract had
3,000 households)
The witness had to leave Myanmar in 1996 because he no longer
had the means to survive. He had inherited an eight acre
rubber plantation from his family. This was confiscated by the
military in 1990, to build a military camp. For the next six
years, he had to do a great deal of work for the military:
portering, railway, military camp work. He had to pay 50 kyat
portering charges every month. Moreover, the military
requisitioned porters twice a month on average for their
military operations against the Mon forces and the Karen
National Union (KNU). He acted as a porter on two occasions,
the last time in 1994. On the other occasions, he had managed
to escape before being taken for portering. On the two
occasions when he did work as a porter, the military had
apprehended him directly. Three hundred porters were with him
on the first occasion, 500 on the second. There were only men
in his group. He witnessed many engagements with the Mon
forces and the KNU. He saw many porters wounded or ill, but
they received no medical treatment or medicines. The last time
he worked on the building of the railway was in 1992 for four
months. Two to three hundred men and women worked with him,
aged between eight and 70. He was not paid and had to bring
his own food. He also had to sleep near the work site, without
shelter. He was subjected to ill-treatment and abuse, as were
several other workers whose work did not satisfy the military.
In 1993, the military demanded the sum of 3,000 kyat from him
as a tax for the railway which each household had to pay. In
addition, each household in his village-tract had to pay 500
kyat not to have to perform various types of work at the
military camp. Since 1992, he had paid on three occasions.
However, his father-in-law had done work for the military camp
in 1992.
___________________________
213
Ethnicity: Rakhine
Age/sex: 24, male
Family situation: Married with no children
Occupation: Student
State
The witness had to leave Myanmar in 1996 because he could no
longer provide for the needs of his family. He had around
seven days a month left to attend do his own work, with the
rest of his time being taken up with the various types of work
exacted by the military. He worked for the military camp near
his village and on the building of roads and pagodas. The
military camp belonged to LIB 376. He worked on the
construction of the road leading to the camp and the building
of barracks. He had not done portering for military
operations. So far as road work was concerned, he worked on
the building of the road between Kyauktaw and Paletwa between
1991 and 1995. It was the village head who passed on the
orders from the military. This was mainly preparatory, ground-
levelling work. He had to work two days a week on this road.
One hundred other people worked with him on this section of
road, including men and women aged between 13 and 50. They had
to sleep near the road and bring their own food. This work
forced him to miss school. The work was supervised by the
military. He also worked on the building and renovation of
pagodas between 1991 and 1995. He had to do this work twice a
month for one day on each occasion. Three hundred people
worked with him, including men and women aged between 13 and
50. The orders were also passed on by the village head and the
work was supervised by the military. He was subjected to
ill-treatment by the military when they believed he was not
working fast enough.
___________________________
214
Ethnicity: Karen
Age/sex: 32, male
Family situation: Single with no children; five siblings,
father deceased
Occupation: Trader
The witness had to leave Myanmar in July 1996 because he could
no longer survive. Among other things, the military forced him
to sell his goods at far below market prices. He also had to
work on road construction. He did not have to do portering, as
he managed to escape each time the military attempted to
requisition him. He worked on two occasions in 1995 - for two
months each time - on the building of a road between Pantanaw
and Einme. It was the village head who passed on to him the
orders given by the military. As the road was some fifteen
hours from his home, to get to the site he had to walk part of
the way and travel the rest by boat. Two to three hundred
people worked with him on this section of road, including men
and women from different villages. Women were sometimes
accompanied by their young infants. When the men could not do
this work, the women replaced them. Each family had to provide
one worker on the basis of a pre-arranged rota. The work
consisted of levelling ground. He was not paid. It was
possible to pay the soldiers so that they would engage a
substitute in one's place. However, the money paid to the
soldiers was seldom used for this purpose and the workload
consequently increased proportionately for the remaining
workers. The cost of hiring a replacement was 3,000 kyat for
each 15-day assignment. His family paid it several times. If
the soldiers thought the work was not going fast enough, the
workers were punished, mainly by being kept in the sun with
their feet in chains. He also saw beatings inflicted by the
soldiers.
___________________________
215
Age/sex: 37, male
Family situation: Single
Ethnicity: Karen
Occupation: Farmer and day labourer
in Yangon)
The witness left Myanmar in 1996. He was a former soldier who
left the army in 1983 after six years of service, following a
conflict with his superior. He personally recruited the
necessary porters to conduct military offensives during that
period. When the porters tried to escape, his orders were to
shoot them, which he did on several occasions. He subsequently
lived at Yangon, where he had to do community work every
Saturday. It was his ward head who informed him of the work to
be done.
___________________________
216
Ethnicity: Burman
Age/sex: 37, male
Division
The witness joined the army in 1979. He personally recruited
porters. He found the work difficult because he very often
knew the people he had to requisition for this work. He left
the army after shooting at his superior officer following an
argument. As a result, he was imprisoned for three years and
was freed in July 1984. He subsequently acted as a porter for
the military on one occasion in the cold season of 1986. He
was requisitioned with 50 others while travelling on a train
between Mawlamyine (Moulmein) and Bilin. He had to transport
ammunition and shells for the military offensive, together
with food and wounded soldiers. He was not paid. The rice
rations were distributed morning and evening. There were no
shelters to sleep in. He was sent to the front line after the
first week. After that, he had to cross very high mountains
and go to another front line near Mawhpoklo in Kayin State. He
had to dig trenches and build huts for the military. He stayed
there for three months. He had to check the state of the mines
laid by the military each day. No medical treatment was given
to sick or wounded porters. There were no medicines available
either. Finally, he decided to leave Myanmar in June 1988.
___________________________
217
Ethnicity: Burman
Age/sex: 32, male
Family situation: Single, no children
Occupation: Surveyor and trader
Division (village had 4,000 families)
The witness did not have to work for the military when he was
a civil service surveyor. He was required to do such labour
once he had resigned his functions. He had to work on the
building of a road and a canal. The 15 foot-deep canal linked
Ma-u-bin to Twantay over a distance of 16 miles. He knew this
canal well since he worked on the plans as a surveyor. He
worked on its construction on two occasions, the first time
for three months, the second for one-and-a-half months. The
work consisted, on the first occasion, of digging the tunnel
and, on the second, of repairing what had collapsed during the
rainy season. In the years 1993 to 1994, he worked on several
occasions on the building of the road between Ma-u-bin and
Twantay and the one linking Ma-u-bin and Yangon. He had to
work on it at all times of the year. These were important
roads, four cars wide. As the terrain on which these roads
were built was lower than sea level, embankment work was
needed. The work began at 6 a.m. in the morning and ended
after sunset. He said 5,000 people had worked on it in 1991 to
1992 and 10,000 in 1993 to 1994, including both men and women
aged between 13 and 60. The women were often accompanied by
their young infants. They were not paid and had to sleep near
the road. The working conditions were bad and several people
died as a result of complications ensuing from hunger, malaria
or other infectious diseases. If the workers fell behind, they
were beaten. He had not personally been beaten. The roads were
now finished, but were not really useful and could only be
used in the dry season. It was possible to pay to be exempted
from working, the sum being 3,000 kyat for the canal and 5,000
kyat for the roads. He paid on one occasion for the canal and
twice for the roads. From 1994 to 1996, he was a trader.
However, he was forced to clean at Mandalay palace and to do
general cleaning work every Saturday in that city. One person
per family was requisitioned in this respect. He decided to
leave Myanmar in June 1996.
___________________________
218
Ethnicity: Burman
Age/sex: 25, male
Occupation: Student
The witness left Myanmar in 1987. He returned home following
the 1988 uprising. After his return to Myanmar he was arrested
by members of IB 208 while travelling with others. He was
taken to the Kya In Seik Gyi military camp where he stayed for
three days. He subsequently had to carry shells, food and
clothing for the soldiers in a military operation against the
All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF). Fifteen other
porters were with him. Nine were killed by the military
because they were not able to carry the load allotted to them.
He went back to the camp. He was requisitioned to do portering
on a second military operation. One hundred porters
accompanied the soldiers this time. He managed to escape. All
these events took place over a period of one month.
___________________________
219
Ethnicity: Burman
Age/sex: 24, male
Family situation: Single
Occupation: Farmer (rice paddies); his brother is
looking after his land
Ayeyarwady Division
The witness left Myanmar because he could no longer manage to
survive, particularly because he had to sell his produce to
the Government at well below market prices. On four occasions
in 1994 and 1995, he had to work on the building of a canal
between Pyapon and Dedaye. It was the village head who passed
on the orders, which came from the military. The 700 families
in his village each had to provide one member to perform this
work. He worked in rotation with his brother. His brother had
worked there eight times. Ninety-three villages worked on this
canal. Each village was assigned a section, which it had to
complete. Three hundred and fifty people worked at the same
time as him, including both men and women, the youngest of
whom were ten years old. Some women were accompanied by their
young infants. Each assignment lasted a fortnight. The work
consisted of digging the ground and levelling the terrain. He
was not paid and he had to sleep near the site. He also had to
take his own food. It was possible to pay for a substitute,
the price being 1,500 kyat. He paid on two occasions. The
workers were frequently maltreated without reason. He saw
workers left in the sun, with their feet immobilized in stocks
for two to three days. He had never personally been
ill-treated.
___________________________
220 to 228
Ethnicity: Mon
Age/sex: 220: 63, male; 221: 63, female; 222: 23,
male; 223: 40, male; 224: 30, male; 225:
44, male; 226: 14, male; 227: 30, male;
228: 19, male
Occupation: Witness 220 was a village head, witness
221 was a monk
State (except witness 228 who was from
Chabone village, Yebyu township,
Tanintharyi Division)
Witness 220 and his wife, witness 221, came to Thailand over
two years ago. Before that they stayed for about three years
in Ye Bu (but often went back to Anin village). They left
because they could not afford to pay porter fees and
contributions to the SLORC and the People's Militia (Pyithu
Sit), to whom the Government provided weapons, while the
villagers had to provide food and accommodation. Before they
left for Ye Bu (five or six years ago), there were 700
households in A Anin village. From their extended family, all
five households had moved. From the extended family of witness
223, six households had left the same village. When he and his
wife, after two years' stay in Thailand, returned briefly to
the village at the beginning of this year, only some houses
remained. Witness 228 testified that his village of about 70
houses, Chabone, was relocated last year, whereupon most
inhabitants came to Thailand. Witness 220 was a member of the
Local Council of Anin village for four years before the SLORC
was set up on 18 September 1988 and became village head
one-and-a-half years later. Two to three years after the SLORC
was set up on 18 September 1988, forced labour, which had
before been limited to portering, expanded in Anin village,
taking the following forms: building barracks for soldiers;
later, building the Ye-Dawei (Tavoy) railway; building the
road from Thanbyuzayat to Anin; portering; sentry duty to
watch the railway; whatever the soldiers wanted around the
village (roofing for the police station, digging trenches,
cleaning up the village, barracks, and police station,
repairing barracks, and during the rainy season, collecting
leaves for roofing). The organizational setup of forced labour
was as follows. For portering: since 1990 people were always
rounded up, i.e., the soldiers arrested them themselves. In
earlier cases as well as for all other kinds of work or
service, the military sent a letter to the village head,
stating for example that they were going to take 40 or 50
people to some other site for this or that purpose. The number
of people depended on the job to be done. To choose the people
who had to go, there were about 40 sub-leaders in the village,
in charge of 20 houses each. When the village head received
the order, he told them to provide people (sometimes in
rotation). For building barracks the order came from IB 31,
for building the railway and guarding it, from IB 104. As for
threats of what would happen if people did not turn up, they
would not be included in the letter, but conveyed orally when
handing over the letter, indicating that work had to be
performed according to rules and, if the order was disobeyed,
the village head would be arrested, as well as the villagers.
For those who could not go, 2,500 kyat had to be paid per
household per stint (not per day). For building new military
barracks, the work lasted about one month; for repairing old
ones, seven days. Since the site was close to the village,
people could return home at night. They had to work from 5
a.m. to 6 p.m., bringing their own food and feeding the
soldiers. From the age of 12 upwards, men and women worked, up
to 50 or 60 years old. Children and old people worked when
they were the only persons free in the household. Soldiers did
not beat people building the barracks, but shouted at them and
scared them. The Ye-Dawei (Tavoy) railway construction started
around 1993 (and was still going on). About 700 people from
Anin village worked on this, separated in two groups of 350
people taking turns of 14 days each working on the project.
The workers were selected through the approximately 40
sub-leaders, each of which was in charge of about 20
households and had to bring 20 people with him; if he could
not, he had to pay a fine of 2,500 kyat per person for two
weeks, collect the money from the household concerned and give
it to the soldiers. It was a six-hour train ride to the work
site near Kalot village. Normally, the workers slept in the
jungle and built themselves small shelters and also had to
cook themselves. The work assignment was by segment of the
track to be build, and people had to work each day until they
finished their quota. The military gave orders directly to the
sub-leaders for the work to be done by each group; if they did
not comply, they would be punished. Women, children from age
12, and people up to 50 or 60 years also had to work. For Anin
villagers, there was normally no ill-treatment, but villagers
from other places who disobeyed orders were beaten by
soldiers. Every day, eight people from the village had to be
on sentry duty to watch the railway. Finally, with regard to
portering, this practice existed even before 1988 but
increased after the SLORC was set up. Up to 1990, porters
were either rounded up directly by the soldiers or the village
head was ordered to find them. For portering they could call
up any number of people, as required, at least 40 people at
one time. When fighting was heavy at the border, they took
everybody. Troops kept marching to the border or close to it,
and on average once a month (sometimes twice a month or once
in two months) they took porters for 20 to 30 days (some
people for one to two months, some for only ten days). Some
porters never came back, they died or escaped, so nobody
wanted to go, and when the military ordered the village head
to find 100 porters or pay money instead, the men ran away,
only women and children stayed. Around 1990, the village head
told the military he did not want to be responsible for
collecting porters anymore, and he asked them to arrange for
it themselves. Subsequently, whenever the villagers were
informed that forces were coming, they went into hiding.
Witness 225 was rounded up for portering with about 200 other
people, including three from their village, in 1990/91. The
military took him for one month to Kalama mountain. They had
to carry peas, rice, other food: about 80 kg between two
porters. When a porter was tired, the soldiers would kick him
with their boots. In some situations, such as when a porter
was sick and could not carry his load anymore, they would
shoot him dead. Witness 225 saw almost ten out of about 200
people shot dead. About 15 to 20 people were kicked, and some
seriously injured. Normally, the soldiers did not care for
those who could not move, they just shot them. The porters
sustained wounds from the heavy loads, normally on the
shoulders. Witness 225 was sick, coughed blood. The porters
never got medical treatment, normally treated themselves. They
were not allowed to smoke, were given only raw rice and some
banana leaves and were not allowed to cook. Witness 225 was
sent to Kawkareik (with about 1,000 people on a ship) when he
was released. Witness 222 did portering around 1993/94 for IB
109, carrying supplies (in his case about 40 kg of rice) to
Nat Ein Taung near the gas pipeline project. He was sent by
the village for portering, because it was his turn, with about
seven or eight others from the village. On the whole, there
were about 7,000 people. But those who could afford to pay
1,000 kyat were released, some paid, so finally 300 went. He
was away for about ten days from the village, it took them six
days to Nat Ein Taung. On the way, there was fighting, two
porters were wounded, and soldiers shot them dead because they
could not carry their loads anymore. One soldier was in charge
of five porters (in case they ran away, etc.), some escaped
and were shot at. He did not see this personally. If a porter
managed to run away, the soldier was punished. He saw one
officer punching, hitting a soldier with a gun because a
porter escaped. From Nat Ein Taung, he had to carry the
soldiers' household goods back. On the way back, he saw about
15 dead bodies, mainly porters, some killed from gun shots,
beatings, etc. When fighting was on, the soldiers ordered the
porters to lie down. Witness 222 was never beaten, but some
porters were who could not carry their loads well. He did,
however, see some old people who could not carry their loads
being relieved of weight. The porters were given a small
amount of rice and fish paste to eat. Witness 226, who left
Myanmar three years ago when he was 11 years old, had not done
any forced labour.
___________________________
229
Ethnicity: Burman
Age/sex: 30, female
Family: Mother and three sisters
Occupation: Food seller
The witness came to Thailand in 1997 because it was difficult
to survive in Burma. In Ye town, men were very scared, many
men went to Thailand. The Myanmar authorities asked her family
to supply forced labour, one member of the family had to go,
and since all the members of the household were female and
could not go, they had to pay money instead; in the middle of
1996, they had to pay 3,000 kyat. One of her relatives worked
from 1995 until the end of 1996 for Government engineers as
a labour contractor for work on the railway line at Koe Mine
village (nine miles from Ye). The contractor got paid for
hiring people to do a fixed amount of work. He had to go
around the area to find about 100 people, to whom he paid
around 180 kyat a day. He had to collect the workers and take
them back. Sometimes, those paid voluntary workers worked
alongside other people doing forced labour (although normally,
they worked on different sections), and sometimes the soldiers
took away some of the contractor's workers for portering. In
Ye town (and the rest of the township), each household had to
supply one member for work along the railway line; normally,
the contractor was employing skilled workers for engineering
work, building bridges, while the forced labourers were doing
rough work. There were also prisoners used for digging and
breaking rocks. There were many forced labourers working on
the railway construction site in rotation. Each town and
village was allocated a quota of the work; if it had a bigger
population and was closer to the railway, this could be
completed in five days, if not, maybe in 10 days. The
frequency depended on the place where one lived. In the middle
of Ye town, people were well connected and went only twice in
eight months; a little further from downtown, people were
poorer and went more often, about four times in eight months.
Until now, her family had to pay around 80 to 90 kyat monthly;
a bit further from downtown, the rate was 90 kyat. People in
town were arrested for portering and were afraid to open their
doors. If one could afford to pay 5,000 to 10,000 kyat, one
could pay to be exempted (in Ye). Those far from Ye could not.
In her family, they had one car; sometimes this was
requisitioned, with driver, for three to four days by the
military, who promised to supply petrol, but never gave it.
When people were taken for portering, those who could escape
came back fast, others were away for three to six months.
Portering started long ago. All ethnic groups in Ye were
treated the same, but around the edge of the town, villages
were mostly Mon and Karen. Some of her relatives had to go as
porters and suffered hardship, they were not treated like
soldiers and were ill fed. One younger cousin who had been
selected for portering in a "lottery", had been a porter for
three months. He was then able to find a replacement at some
village. When the porters were tired, they were beaten,
sometimes deprived of rice. In fighting, they lacked training
and could be wounded; also, those who were sick and could not
carry their loads anymore were shot. Her cousin was beaten,
but did not sustain injuries.
___________________________
230
Religion: Muslim
Age/sex: 45, male
Family situation: Married with four children
Occupation: Seller of cold drinks
The witness had personal experience of forced labour only from
before he left the country following the 1988 events. His
family members who stayed behind had to go once a week for a
whole day's work at Mawlamyine (Moulmein) airport, clearing
the ground, cutting the grass. If they could not go, they had
to pay 300 kyat. The order came from the district authorities
through the village head. Alternatively, they sometimes had to
do road maintenance, filling holes, cutting grass on a small
road in town, once a week about three times a month, sometimes
for half a day, sometimes a full day. They normally paid 300
kyat and did not go. They also had to pay "porter fees", 300
kyat at least twice a month. Sometimes, when a visitor came
and registered in their home, they were charged 50 kyat, and
also occasionally for a big event, the military collected
money. He showed a receipt dated 27 June 1990 for 10,000 kyat
for the repair of roads, clearing, reconstruction (to be paid
by business owners, not in lieu of labour).
___________________________
231
Religion: Buddhist
Age/sex: 36, male
Family: Married with one child
The witness first left Myanmar ten years ago. When he went
back to Kyaukphyu for three months in 1995, he did forced
labour on the road from Minbu (Magway Division) to Taunggok
(Rakhine State) through Ann, a four-year project started in
1993. The work had been allotted in quota by area and 600 to
700 people from the area around Kyaukphyu worked there. By
order of the District LORC, every household had to send a
worker. During the three months that he went back he lived
with his parents, and the family was called up four times for
ten days' work each tie. He went alone for the family, three
times working ten days; the other time he was exempted from
ten days' work by paying 150 kyat a day (1,500 kyat) to the
village head. He had to walk four hours to the construction
site, bringing his own food for ten days, and stayed there the
whole period, working from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. with a lunch
break, and sleeping in the open. There were soldiers as
guards, but no beatings, only at some other sites. He did no
other forced labour in those three months, and there were no
"porter fees" in Rakhine State. A majority of the Rakhines had
joined the army and left them alone, did not oppress them.
___________________________
[END OF SLICE 46]