Non-ILO reports of forced labour in Karen (Kayin) State
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Exploitative abuse and villager responses in Thaton District |
| Date of publication: | | 25 November 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | "...SPDC control of Thaton District is fully consolidated, aided by the DKBA and a variety of other civilian and parastatal organisations. These forces are responsible for perpetrating a variety of exploitative abuses, which include a litany of demands for 'taxation' and provision of resources, as well as forced labour on development projects and forced recruitment into the DKBA. Villagers also report ongoing abuses related to SPDC and DKBA 'counter insurgency' efforts, including the placement of unmarked landmines in civilian areas, conscription of people as porters and 'human minesweepers' and harassment and violent abuse of alleged KNLA supporters. This report includes information on abuses during the period of April to October 2009..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2009-F20) |
| Format/size: | | html, pdf (531 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2009/khrg09f20.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 29 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Forced recruitment, forced labour: interviews with DKBA deserters and escaped porters |
| Date of publication: | | 13 November 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | "...This news bulletin provides the transcripts of eight interviews conducted with six soldiers and two porters who recently fled after being conscripted by the DKBA. These interviews confirm widespread reports that the DKBA has been forcibly recruiting villagers as it attempts to increase troop strength as part of a transformation into a government Border Guard Force in advance of the 2010 elections. The interviews also offer further confirmation that the DKBA continues to use children as soldiers and porters in front-line conflict areas. Three of the victims interviewed by KHRG are teenage boys; the youngest was just 13 when he was forced to join the DKBA..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Report (KHRG #2009-B11) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (629 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2009/khrg09b11.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 29 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Patrols, movement restrictions and forced labour in Toungoo District |
| Date of publication: | | 28 September 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | "This report documents the situation for villagers in Toungoo District, both in areas under SPDC control and in areas contested by the KNLA and home to villagers actively evading SDPC control. For villagers in the former, movement restrictions, forced labour and demands for material support continue unabated, and continue to undermine their attempts to address basic needs. Villagers in hiding, meanwhile, report that the threat of Burma Army patrols, though slightly reduced, remains sufficient to disrupt farming and undermine food security. This report includes incidents occurring from January to August 2009..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2009-F16) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (850 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2009/khrg09f16.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 28 October 2009 |
|
| Title: | | SPDC and DKBA order documents: August 2008 to June 2009 |
| Date of publication: | | 27 August 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | "This report includes translated copies of 75 order documents issued by Burma Army and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army officers to village heads in Karen State between August 2008 and June 2009. These documents serve as supplementary evidence of ongoing exploitative local governance in rural Burma. The report thus supports the continuing testimonies of villagers regarding the regular demands for labour, money, food and other supplies to which their communities are subject by local military forces. The order documents collected here include demands for attendance at meetings; the provision of money and alcohol; the production and delivery of thatch shingles and bamboo poles; forced labour as messengers and porters for the military; forced labour on road repair; the provision of information on individuals and households; registration of villagers in State-controlled 'NGOs'; and restrictions on travel and the use of muskets. In almost all cases, such demands are uncompensated and backed by an implicit threat of violence or other punishment for non-compliance. Almost all demands articulated in the orders presented in this report involve some element of forced labour in their implementation..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Orders Reports (KHRG #2009-04 ) |
| Format/size: | | pfd (1.2 MB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2009/khrg0904.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 15 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Military movements, forced labour and extortion in Nyaunglebin District |
| Date of publication: | | 15 May 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | "In some areas of Nyaunglebin District, north-western Karen State, frontline army camps from which SPDC troops withdrew at the end of 2008 remain empty. Elsewhere in the district, however, the Burma Army is active with regular patrols amongst villages in both the plains and hills. In those areas where the SPDC maintains a consolidated hold on the civilian population, Burma Army personnel continue to demand forced labour and extort money and supplies from local communities. This report describes the military situation in Nyaunglebin District from January to March 2009 as well as the Burma Army's continued use of forced labour and extortion of the local population..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2009-F10) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (651 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2009/khrg09f10.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 30 October 2009 |
|
| Title: | | SPDC and DKBA road construction, forced labour and looting in Papun District |
| Date of publication: | | 31 March 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | "Late last year, during SPDC reconstruction work on two main roads leading from Papun town to SPDC camps in the Kyauk Nya and Dagwin areas of Bu Tho Township, KNU/KNLA forces took the opportunity to launch secret guerrilla attacks against the SPDC site. Believing that local Karen villagers had cooperated with KNLA forces, the SPDC began to force villagers and convict porters to work on the roads and also killed and looted villagers' animals and property when it patrolled villages in the area. DKBA forces have also recently demanded forced labour and forced recruitment from Papun villagers during this time. The incidents detailed in this report occurred between December 2008 and February 2009..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2009-F5) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (546 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2009/khrg09f5.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 31 October 2009 |
|
| Title: | | SPDC and DKBA extortion and forced labour in Thaton District |
| Date of publication: | | 26 November 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | "Militarisation in practice is not always uniform. As the SPDC and DKBA rotate their army units in Thaton District, western Karen State, villagers confront shifting patterns of authority and abuse. While villagers living around the SPDC's army camp at Yoh Gkla continue to face forced labour, extortion and threats of arbitrary detention and execution, the local SPDC battalion that has been deployed there since July 2008 has patrolled less frequently than its predecessor. This decreased patrolling has led to a weakened ability to enforce movement restrictions on villagers. This report documents incidents which took place between July and October 2008..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2008-F16) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (520 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2008/khrg08f16.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 31 October 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Routine forced labour in Pa'an District |
| Date of publication: | | 29 October 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | "For those villagers living under the control of SPDC and DKBA forces in Pa'an District, certain forms of forced labour have now become routine. Such 'routine' forced labour includes: cultivation of rainy season and dry season rice crops on fields owned by DKBA officers, maintaining rubber plantations, roadside clearance of forest overgrowth following the rainy season, portering military supplies out to soldiers operating at 'frontline' army camps, collecting, preparing and delivering bamboo and thatch for use in the repair and construction of the region's many army camps, and temporarily serving as camp-based messengers. Combined, these various forms of forced labour significantly cut into crucial time villagers need for their own agricultural and other livelihoods activities. This report looks at cases of forced labour from July to September 2008 and includes a short video of recent forced labour in Pa'an District..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2008-F15) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (670 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2008/khrg08f15.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 01 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Daily demands and exploitation: Life under the control of SPDC and DKBA forces in Pa'an District |
| Date of publication: | | 18 September 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | "In SPDC- and DKBA-controlled Pa'an District villagers face regular, and sometimes daily, demands for labour, money, food and other supplies from local military units. With troop rotation ensuring the constant presence of active troops patrolling these areas, villagers are given little respite from the demands which place a constant drain on their time, incomes and food supplies. In addition to forced labour, extortion and arbitrary taxation, looting by soldiers is rife and families face increased and arbitrary fees for their children's education. Such continual exploitation undermines villagers' livelihoods and makes family survival unsustainable, leading many villagers to instead seek more sustainable livelihood opportunities in other areas of Burma or neighbouring Thailand. This report focuses on the situation in Dta Greh township of Pa'an District, detailing incidents which occurred between January and July 2008..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2008-F13) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (573 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2008/khrg08f13.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 01 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Forced labour and extortion in Pa'an District |
| Date of publication: | | 08 August 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | "At a time when civilians in Pa'an District are already struggling with rising food prices and unemployment, an increasing number of villagers are being subjected to forced labour and extortion by local SPDC and DKBA forces. This is especially true in eastern Karen State, near the Thoo Mweh (Moei) river, where DKBA commanders are forcing villagers to ignore their own livelihoods in order to help these leaders cultivate their personal rubber plantations. The result of these abuses is a worsening food crisis and constant economic migration to other areas both in Burma and in neighbouring Thailand, places where villagers hope to find more sustainable employment opportunities. This report describes the situation in the Dta Greh and T'Nay Hsah townships of Pa'an District from January to June 2008..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2008-F11) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (511 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2008/khrg08f11.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 01 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Military expansion and exploitation in Nyaunglebin District |
| Date of publication: | | 05 August 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | "With the SPDC Army's continued expansion in Nyaunglebin District, local villagers not under military control have had to once again flee into the surrounding forest while troops have forcibly interned other villagers in military-controlled relocation sites. These relocation sites, typically in the plains of western Nyaunglebin, alongside army camps or SPDC-controlled vehicle roads, serve as containment centres from which army personnel appropriate labour, money, food and supplies to support the military's ongoing expansion in the region. Extortion by military officers operating in Nyaunglebin District has included forced 'donations' allegedly collected for distribution to survivors of Cyclone Nargis in the Irrawaddy Delta. This field report looks at the situation in Nyaunglebin up to the end of May 2008..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2008-F10) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (697 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2008/khrg08f10.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 01 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Exploitative governance under SPDC and DKBA authorities in Dooplaya District |
| Date of publication: | | 11 July 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | "With largely consolidated control over Dooplaya District in southern Karen State the SPDC and DKBA, as the two dominant (and allied) military forces, operate under a system of coexistence. The local civilian population, in turn, faces exploitative governance on two fronts as both SPDC and DKBA soldiers seek to extract money, labour, food and other supplies from them. Enforcing heavy movement restrictions on top of persistent exploitative demands, local communities are facing deteriorating livelihood opportunities, increasing poverty, and a constriction of educational and health care opportunities. Persistent human rights abuses thus foster the economic pressures fuelling the continuing migration of rural communities in Dooplaya District to refugee camps in Thailand and towards livelihood opportunities at urban centres in Burma and Thailand. This report examines the situation of abuse in Dooplaya District from January to June 2008..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2008-F8) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (666 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2008/khrg08f8.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 01 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Attacks, forced labour and restrictions in Toungoo District |
| Date of publication: | | 01 July 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | "While the rainy season is now underway in Karen state, Burma Army soldiers are continuing with military operations against civilian communities in Toungoo District. Local villagers in this area have had to leave their homes and agricultural land in order to escape into the jungle and avoid Burma Army attacks. These displaced villagers have, in turn, encountered health problems and food shortages, as medical supplies and services are restricted and regular relocation means any food supplies are limited to what can be carried on the villagers' backs alone. Yet these displaced communities have persisted in their effort to maintain their lives and dignity while on the run; building new shelters in hiding and seeking to address their livelihood and social needs despite constraints. Those remaining under military control, by contrast, face regular demands for forced labour, as well as other forms of extortion and arbitrary 'taxation'. This report examines military attacks, forced labour and movement restrictions and their implications in Toungoo District between March and June 2008..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2008-F7) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (880 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2008/khrg08f7.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 01 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Oppressed twice over: SPDC and DKBA exploitation and violence against villagers in Thaton District |
| Date of publication: | | 20 March 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | "Throughout Thaton District the SPDC has persistently worked to expand and entrench military control not only by increasing its own troops, but also by heavily relying on the DKBA as a local proxy force. Both groups exploit the civilian population to support their respective military hierarchies and local villagers thus face a double burden on their lives. This report looks at various forms and specific incidents of forced labour, extortion, violence and other abuse against villagers in Thaton District which SPDC and DKBA personnel have perpetrated up to February 2008..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Report (KHRG #2008-F4) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (672 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2008/khrg08f4.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 07 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Militarisation, violence and exploitation in Toungoo District |
| Date of publication: | | 15 February 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | "While the SPDC leadership proposes dates for a constitutional referendum and eventual multiparty elections it nonetheless continues without the slightest hesitation the violent subjugation of villagers in northern Karen State. The area of Toungoo District is now saturated with SPDC troops and the local civilian population living under military control as well as those living in hiding are facing constricting options for their lives. The SPDC has continued to increase the military build-up of the area deploying more troops, building new camps and bases and constructing and upgrading vehicle roads to facilitate troop deployment and the stocking of army camps. In this context attacks on villages, arbitrary detentions, killings, forced labour and extortion have continued consistent with the regime's policy of civilian subjugation and in opposition to its claims of a potential return to civilian rule through the current constitution-vetting process..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Report (KHRG #2008-F2) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (1.1 MB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2008/khrg08f2.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 07 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Attacks, killings and increased militarisation in Nyaunglebin District |
| Date of publication: | | 11 January 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | "With the dry season in northern Karen State well under way, the SPDC continues to intensify its militarisation of the area. In Nyaunglebin District this intensification has come in the form of an increased troop build-up with the regime deploying new military units, establishing new camps and bases and attacking displaced civilian communities in hiding. Maintaining a shoot-on-sight policy SPDC soldiers operating in Nyaunglebin have shot and killed or otherwise severely injured displaced villagers and destroyed rice storage barns and civilian rice supplies across the district. In those areas more firmly under SPDC control, soldiers have ordered villagers to labour building army camps, porter mortar shells and army rations and repair SPDC-controlled vehicle roads in support of the region's growing military presence. This report looks at the human rights situation in Nyaunglebin District from October to December 2007..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Report (KHRG #2008-F1) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (788 MB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2008/khrg08f1.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 07 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Forced labour, extortion and the state of education in Dooplaya District |
| Date of publication: | | 16 October 2007 |
| Description/subject: | | "As world attention focused last month on the large-scale public demonstrations in Rangoon and other major urban centres around Burma, the magnitude of domestic frustration over the military's systematic impoverishment of the civilian population became evident to the international community. This frustration is keenly felt by the people of Dooplaya District in southern Karen State and found expression last month in local anti-regime gatherings. Amongst other abuses, forced labour and extortion in their many guises have been leading causes in the economic collapse and resultant frustration with militarisation in Dooplaya District. A crucial factor making these abuses even more oppressive in Dooplaya and other areas of Karen State as compared with central Burma is the multiplicity of armed groups which compete with each other and with the region's civilian administration for the spoils of village-level exploitation. Across Dooplaya District the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) Army; the regime's district and township-level civilian administration; the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA); and the Karen Peace Force (KPF) all continue to fatten themselves off of the toil of village labour. Amongst other detrimental consequences, this persistent predation has undermined opportunities for educational advancement and the application of such education beyond traditional village livelihoods or subservience within the local system of militarisation..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Report (KHRG #2007-F8) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (586 MB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2007/khrg07f8.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 07 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | State agencies, armed groups and the proliferation of oppression in Thaton District |
| Date of publication: | | 24 September 2007 |
| Description/subject: | | "Throughout SPDC-controlled areas of Karen State the regime has been developing civilian agencies as extensions of military authority. On top of this, the junta has continued to strengthen the more traditional forms of militarisation and, at least in Thaton District, has firmly backed the expansion of DKBA military operations to control the civilian population and eradicate KNLA forces which continue to actively patrol the area. The people of Thaton District thus face a myriad of State agencies and armed groups which have overburdened them with demands for labour, money and supplies. While engaging with these groups, addressing the demands placed on them and attending to their own livelihoods, local villagers have sought to manage a delicate balance of seemingly impossible weights..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Report (KHRG #2007-F7) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (1 MB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2007/khrg07f7.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 08 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Shouldering the Burden of Militarisation: SPDC, DKBA and KPF order documents since September 2006 |
| Date of publication: | | 14 August 2007 |
| Description/subject: | | "Forced labour continues to be among the most pervasive of human rights abuses in Burma and a leading cause of displacement, both internally and as refugees into neighbouring countries. Villagers living in Karen State have expressly condemned the regular, and in many cases daily, demands for forced labour imposed upon them. According to these individuals forced labour has lead to collapsing livelihoods, increased poverty and severe difficulties in addressing health, education and other community needs; leading them to respond with varied strategies including flight and displacement. Such views have been consistent in thousands of KHRG interviews with local villagers conducted over the past 15 years. Despite these testimonies the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the military regime currently ruling Burma, continues to deny the practice of forced labour. However, order documents explicitly demanding forced labour and signed by SPDC officers are regularly collected by KHRG field researchers working throughout Karen State. These documents provide tangible evidence of the continued large-scale perpetration of forced labour in Karen State by military officers and civilian officials of the SPDC, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army and the Karen Peace Force. This report has been written to provide contextual details on the widespread and systematic perpetration of forced labour as background to a compendium of 145 order documents sent to villages in Karen State since September 2006, translations of which are included in the appendices below. These order documents have been compiled for submission to the International Labour Organisation's Committee of Experts meeting in September 2007..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Orders Reports (KHRG #2007-02) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (1.54 Mb, 111 pages) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2007/khrg0702.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 15 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Provoking Displacement in Toungoo District: Forced labour, restrictions and attacks |
| Date of publication: | | 30 May 2007 |
| Description/subject: | | "The first half of 2007 has seen the continued flight of civilians from their homes and land in response to ongoing State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) military operations in Toungoo District. While in some cases this displacement is prompted by direct military attacks against their villages, many civilians living in Toungoo District have told KHRG that the primary catalyst for relocation has been the regular demands for labour, money and supplies and the restrictions on movement and trade imposed by SPDC forces. These everyday abuses combine over time to effectively undermine civilian livelihoods, exacerbate poverty and make subsistence untenable. Villagers threatened with such demands and restrictions frequently choose displacement in response - initially to forest hiding sites located nearby and then farther afield to larger Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps or across the border to Thailand-based refugee camps. This report presents accounts of ongoing abuses in Toungoo District committed by SPDC forces during the period of January to May 2007 and their role in motivating local villagers to respond with flight and displacement..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Report (KHRG #2007-F4) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (527 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2007/khrg07f4.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 08 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Bullets and Bulldozers: The SPDC offensive continues in Toungoo District |
| Date of publication: | | 19 February 2007 |
| Description/subject: | | "The first two months of 2007 have done nothing to lessen the intensity of attacks against the villagers of Toungoo District. SPDC forces continue to send in more troops and supplies, build new camps and upgrade older ones using forced village labour, convict porters and heavy machinery brought in for this purpose. Local villagers have been the ones to suffer from the increased military build-up and infrastructure 'development' as such programmes have put the SPDC in a stronger position to enforce their authority over civilians in rural areas and undermine the efforts of local peoples to evade military forces and maintain their livelihoods. Employing the new roadways and camps to shuttle troops and supplies deeper into areas beyond military control, SPDC forces continue to expand their reach in terms of extortion of funds, food and supplies; extraction of forced labour; and restriction of all civilian movement, travel and trade. These abuses have combined to exacerbate poverty, worsen the humanitarian situation and restrict the options of villagers living in these areas..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Report (KHRG #2007-F1) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (819 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2007/khrg07f1.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 08 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Oppression by proxy in Thaton District |
| Date of publication: | | 21 December 2006 |
| Description/subject: | | "With the onset of the cold season the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC) has been able to push ahead with military attacks against villages and displaced communities in the northern districts of Karen State. In Thaton District and other areas further south, however, the military is more firmly in control, fewer displaced communities are able to remain in hiding, and SPDC rule is facilitated by the presence of its ally the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA). By increasingly relying on DKBA forces to administer Thaton, the SPDC has been able to free up soldiers and resources which can then be deployed elsewhere. To force the civilian population into submission, the DKBA has scoured villages throughout Thaton - detaining, interrogating and torturing villagers and conscripting them to serve as army porters. Commensurate with its increased control over the civilian population, DKBA soldiers have subjected villagers to regular extortion, arbitrary and excessive 'taxation', forced labour, land confiscation and restrictions on movement, trade and education which all serve to support ongoing military rule in Thaton. By systematising control over local villagers, the SPDC and DKBA have been able to implement 'development' projects that financially benefit and further entrench the military hierarchy. Amongst such initiatives, the construction in Thaton District of the United Nations-supported Asian Highway, connecting Burma with neighbouring countries, has involved uncompensated land confiscation and forced labour..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Report (KHRG #2006-F11) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (619 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2006/khrg06f11.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 08 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Toungoo District: The civilian response to human rights violations |
| Date of publication: | | 15 August 2006 |
| Description/subject: | | "Attacks on villages in Toungoo and other northern Karen districts by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) since late 2005 have led to extensive displacement and some international attention, but little of this has focused on the continuing lives of the villagers involved. In this report KHRG's Karen researchers in the field describe how these attacks have been affecting local people, and how these people have responded. The SPDC's forced relocation, village destruction, shoot-on-sight orders and blockades on the movement of food and medicines have killed many and created pervasive suffering, but the villagers' continued refusal to submit to SPDC authority has caused the military to fail in its objective of bringing the entire civilian population under direct control. This is a struggle which SPDC forces cannot win, but they may never stop trying..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Report (KHRG #2006-F8) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (588 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2006/khrg06f8.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 09 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Forced Relocation, Restrictions and Abuses in Nyaunglebin District |
| Date of publication: | | 10 July 2006 |
| Description/subject: | | "This report presents information on ongoing abuses in Nyaunglebin (Kler Lweh Htoo) District, Karen State committed by SPDC forces during the period of March to May 2006. Attacks on hill villagers have continued as SPDC units seek to depopulate the hills and force all villagers to relocate to military-controlled villages in the plains and along roadways. However, those villagers living in SPDC-controlled areas are subject as well to continued abuses including arbitrary arrest and detention, extortion, restricted movement and forced labour..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Report (KHRG #2006-F6) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (645 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2006/khrg06f6.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 09 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Pa'an District: Land confiscation, forced labour and extortion undermining villagers' livelihoods |
| Date of publication: | | 11 February 2006 |
| Description/subject: | | "Villagers in northern Pa'an District of central Karen State say their livelihoods are under serious threat due to exploitation by SPDC military authorities and by their Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) allies who rule as an SPDC proxy army in much of the region. Villages in the vicinity of the DKBA headquarters are forced to give much of their time and resources to support the headquarters complex, while villages directly under SPDC control face rape, arbitrary detention and threats to keep them compliant with SPDC demands. The SPDC plans to expand Dta Greh (a.k.a. Pain Kyone) village into a town in order to strengthen its administrative control over the area, and is confiscating about half of the village's productive land without compensation to build infrastructure which includes offices, army camps and a hydroelectric power dam - destroying the livelihoods of close to 100 farming families. Local villagers, who are already struggling to survive under the weight of existing demands, fear further forced labour and extortion as the project continues..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Report (KHRG #2006-F1) |
| Format/size: | | pfd (739 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2006/khrg06f1.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 09 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | SURVIVING IN SHADOW: Widespread Militarization and the Systematic Use of Forced Labour in the Campaign for Control of Thaton District |
| Date of publication: | | 17 January 2006 |
| Description/subject: | | " This report examines the situation faced by Karen villagers in Thaton District (known as Doo Tha Htoo in Karen). The district lies in what is officially the northern part of Mon State and also encompasses part of Karen State to the west of the Salween River . Successive Burmese regimes have had strong control over the parts of the district to the west of the Rangoon-Martaban road for many years. They were also able to gain 'defacto' control over the eastern part of the district following the fall of the former Karen National Union (KNU) stronghold at Manerplaw in 1995. The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) is also strong in the district, particularly in the eastern stretches of Pa'an township. Although diminished in recent years, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the KNU, is still quite active in the district. The villagers in the district have had to contend with all three of these armed groups. The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and DKBA demand forced labour, taxes, and extortion money from the villagers while also severely restricting their movements. While the demands for some forms of forced labour such as portering have declined over the past few years, the villagers continue to be regularly called upon by both the SPDC and the DKBA to expand the ever-increasing network of roads throughout the district, as well to fulfil the frequent orders to supply staggering quantities of building materials. A number of new SPDC and DKBA controlled commercial ventures have also appeared in the district in recent years, to which the villagers are also forced to 'contribute' their labour. In 2000, the SPDC confiscated 5,000 acres of land for use as an immense sugarcane plantation, while more recently in late 2004, the SPDC again confiscated another 5,000 acres of the villagers' farmland, all of which is to become a huge rubber plantation, co-owed and operated by Rangoon-based company Max Myanmar. In addition, the villagers are punished for any perceived support for the KNLA or KNU. All such systems of control greatly impoverish the villagers, to the extent that now many of them struggle just to survive.
Most villagers have few options but to try to live as best they can. SPDC control of the district is too tight for the villagers to live in hiding in the forest and Thailand is too far for most villagers to flee to. The villagers are forced to answer the demands of the SPDC and DKBA, of which there are many, while trying to avoid punishment for any supposed support of the resistance. They have to balance this with trying to find enough time to work in their fields and find enough food to feed their families.
This report provides a detailed analysis of the human rights situation in Thaton District from 2000 to the present. It is based on 216 interviews conducted by KHRG researchers with people in SPDC-controlled villages, in hill villages, in hiding in the forest and with those who have fled to Thailand to become refugees. These interviews are supplemented by SPDC and DKBA order documents selected from the hundreds we have obtained from the area, along with field reports, maps, and photographs taken by KHRG field researchers. All of the interviews were conducted between November 1999 and November 2004. A number of field reports dated up until June 2005 have also been included.
The report begins with an Introduction and Executive Summary. The detailed analysis that follows has been broken down into ten main sections. The villagers tell most of the story in the main sections through direct quotes taken from recorded interviews. The full text of the interviews and the field reports upon which this report is based are available from KHRG upon approved request." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 28 January 2006 |
|
| Title: | | Seeing Through the Smoke of Ceasefires |
| Date of publication: | | 09 June 2005 |
| Description/subject: | | "Drawing upon recent KHRG reports, this Commentary asks the question why the Karen ceasefire is not generating a human rights dividend for Karen villagers, and looks for the answer in the nature of conflict in Burma. It finds the conflict to be much broader than that between armed entities, pitting villagers against the military junta in a daily struggle for control of their lives. The villagers' role in this struggle is too often ignored, both by outside actors who insist on treating villagers as passive bystanders to their own context, and by activists who seek to subjugate everything to the narrow struggle for an elitist Burmese 'democracy'. Double standards are used to further marginalise rural, agrarian, and non-Burman voices, when the real need now is for these voices to be heard more in political processes. The Commentary also discusses forced labour trends in Karen areas, and the new ways KHRG is documenting the human rights situation..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Right Group Commentaries (KHRG #2005-C1) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (498 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2005/khrg05c1.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 16 November 2009 |
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| Title: | | Papun District: Forced Labour, Looting and Road Construction in SPDC-Controlled Areas |
| Date of publication: | | 20 May 2005 |
| Description/subject: | | "Villagers in Papun District who live under the control of nearby SPDC army camps are reporting that this year they are doing less forced labour as porters because convict porters are being brought in, and less forced labour repairing roads because much of this work is being done by SPDC soldiers - but that forced labour as unarmed sentries, Army camp servants, logging for the DKBA, and particularly cutting thatch and bamboo to build and repair SPDC and DKBA army camps, are still taking enough of their time to jeopardise their livelihoods. Worse yet, SPDC soldiers doing road work are destroying the villagers' fields and irrigation systems, putting this year's rice crop under serious threat. This has made the villagers deeply angry and frustrated, but any attempts to protest have been met with threats and gun-barrels. With the SPDC now beginning work on new roads and Army camps to secure the construction of massive dams on the Salween River, this situation is only likely to worsen in the near future..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG #2005-F5) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 23 May 2005 |
|
| Title: | | Nyaunglebin District: Food supplies destroyed, villagers forcibly displaced, and region-wide forced labour as SPDC forces seek control over civilians |
| Date of publication: | | 04 May 2005 |
| Description/subject: | | "Between October 2004 and January 2005 SPDC troops launched forays into the hills of Nyaunglebin District in an attempt to flush villagers down into the plains and a life under SPDC control. Viciously timed to coincide with the rice harvest, the campaign focused on burning crops and landmining the fields to starve out the villagers. Most people fled into the forest, where they now face food shortages and uncertainty about this year's planting and the security of their villages. Meanwhile in the plains, the SPDC is using people in relocation sites and villages they control as forced labour to strengthen the network of roads and Army camps - the main tools of military control over the civilian population - while Army officers plunder people's belongings for personal gain. In both hills and plains, increased militarisation is bringing on food shortages and poverty..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group KHRG #2005-F4) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 23 May 2005 |
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| Title: | | From Prison to Frontline: Portering for SPDC Troops during the Offensive in Eastern Karen State, Burma, September-October 2003. |
| Date of publication: | | January 2005 |
| Description/subject: | | "...In November 2003, in the wake of the joint military offensive by the
SPDC (State Peace and Development Council) and the DKBA (Democratic
Karen Buddhist Army), Burma Issues set about documenting the
systematic use of prisoners as porters for military purposes. This practice
constitutes an egregious human rights abuse. Research for the project began
with interviews with twenty-two escapees who had taken refuge
near the Thai-Burma border. We dealt with issues such as their prison
lives, their journey to the conflict area, their treatment at the hands of the
soldiers, their experiences in battle, and also their experiences relating to
landmines. We then proceeded to conduct more in-depth research to
supplement this invaluable first hand information. We have compiled the
analysis and present our findings in this report..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Burma Issues |
| Format/size: | | pdf (709K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.burmaissues.org/En/reports/porters.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 27 June 2005 |
|
| Title: | | Enduring Hunger and Repression: : Food Scarcity, Internal Displacement, and the Continued Use of Forced Labour in Toungoo District |
| Date of publication: | | September 2004 |
| Description/subject: | | "This report describes the current situation faced by rural Karen villagers in Toungoo District (known as Taw Oo in Karen). Toungoo District is the northernmost district of Karen State, sharing borders with Karenni (Kayah) State to the east, Pegu (Bago) Division to the west, and Shan State to the north. To the south Toungoo District shares borders with the Karen districts of Nyaunglebin (Kler Lweh Htoo) and Papun (Mutraw). The westernmost portion of the district bordering Pegu Division consists of the plains of the Sittaung River, which are heavily controlled by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) military junta which presently rules Burma. The rest of the district to the east is covered by steep and forested hills that are home to Karen villagers who live in small villages strewn across the hills. For years, the SPDC has endeavoured to extend its control through the hills, but their efforts thus far have been hampered by the continued armed resistance of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). Within the areas that are strongly controlled by the SPDC, the villagers must live with constant demands for forced labour, food, and money from the SPDC battalions that are based in the area. Villages that do not comply with SPDC demands risk being relocated and burned. Many villages have been burned and their inhabitants forcibly relocated to sites where the SPDC may more easily control and exploit them. Those villagers who do not move to the relocation sites flee into the jungles where they live as internally displaced persons (IDPs). Several thousand villagers now live internally displaced in the mountains of Toungoo District. These villagers live in almost constant fear of SPDC Army units, and must run for their lives if they receive word that a column of soldiers is approaching. SPDC Army columns routinely shoot displaced villagers on sight. The villagers here continue to suffer severe human rights violations at the hands of the SPDC Army soldiers, including, but not limited to summary arrest, torture, forced labour, extortion, extrajudicial execution, and the systematic destruction of crops and food supplies.
Although a verbal ceasefire is in place between the Karen National Union (KNU) and the SPDC, not much has changed for the villagers in the district. KNLA and SPDC military units still occasionally clash. The SPDC has taken advantage of the ceasefire to move more troops into the area and to build new camps. These new camps and troops have meant that the villagers now have to do forced labour building the new camps and portering supplies up to the camps. There are also more troops and camps to demand food and money from the villagers. The many new camps have made it more difficult for internally displaced villagers work their fields or to go to find food..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (9.5MB), html |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2004/khrg0401a.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 16 November 2004 |
|
| Title: | | Eastern Pa'an District: Forced Labour, Food Security and the Consolidation of Control |
| Date of publication: | | 23 March 2004 |
| Description/subject: | | "The SPDC and DKBA continued to consolidate their control over Pa'an District in 2003, especially in the mountainous eastern part of the district. Fighting between the SPDC and the DKBA was ongoing up until the ceasefire talks began in December 2003, culminating in an offensive against the KNLA's 7th Brigade headquarters in October. In order to expand their influence DKBA units are actively recruiting in the area. Villagers must also face demands from both the SPDC and the DKBA for forced labour, building materials and extortion money. Fulfilling these demands have left the villagers with little time to work their fields. Many villagers are unable to get enough food to eat, making food security a serious issue in the area..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Report (KHRG) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 09 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Expansion of the Guerrilla Retaliation Units and Food Shortages |
| Date of publication: | | 16 June 2003 |
| Description/subject: | | KHRG Information Update #2003-U1
June 16, 2003
"The situation faced by the villagers of Toungoo District (see Map 1) is worsening as more and more parts of the District are being brought under the control of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) through the increased militarisation of the region. At any one time there are no fewer than a dozen battalions active in the area. Widespread forced labour and extortion continue unabated as in previous years, with all battalions in the District being party to such practices. The imposition of constant forced labour and the extortion of money and food are among the military’s primary occupations in the area. The strategy of the military is not one of open confrontation with the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) – the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU) - but of targeting the civilian population as a means of cutting all lines of support and supply for the resistance movement. There has not been a major offensive in the District since the SPDC launched Operation Aung Tha Pyay in 1995-96; however since that time the Army has been restricting, harassing, and forcibly relocating hill villages to the point where people can no longer live in them. Many of the battalions launch sweeps through the hills in search of villagers hiding there in an effort to drive them out of the hills and into the areas controlled by the SPDC. Fortunately, the areas into which many of them have fled are both rugged and remote, making it difficult for the Army to find them. For those who are discovered, once relocated, they are then exploited as a ready source for portering and other forced labour..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 01 July 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Operation Than L'Yet: Forced Displacement, Massacres and Forced Labour in Dooplaya District |
| Date of publication: | | 25 September 2002 |
| Description/subject: | | "In January 2002 it appeared that the SPDC considered most of Dooplaya district of southern Karen State to be pacified and under their control. But then Light Infantry Division 88 was sent in and commenced Operation Than L'Yet, forcibly relocating as many as 60 villages by July. Villagers were rounded up and detained without food for days, or force-marched to Army-controlled relocation sites after their houses were burned. Village heads, women and children were tortured. People who tried to flee into the forests were shot on sight, including one brutal massacre of ten people, six of them children under 15. Over a thousand people fled into Thailand, and several thousand more are still trying. Another five thousand are in Army relocation camps, where they have been provided with nothing and are struggling to survive on rice gruel and whatever roots they can forage. Their movements are tightly controlled and they are being used as forced labour to build roads, bridges and Army camps which will help Division 88 to clamp down further on the district. They are also forced to work as porters for the Army columns which go out to loot and destroy even more villages. KHRG researchers expect a renewed onslaught after the rains end in October, when Division 88 will probably set out to hunt down those still in hiding and may extend the forced relocations to more areas." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Information Update #2002-U5 |
| Format/size: | | html (34K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
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| Title: | | Forced Labour Orders Since The Ban |
| Date of publication: | | 08 February 2002 |
| Description/subject: | | The report includes the direct translations of 453 order documents and letters received by village leaders in Karen State and Pegu Division of Burma. All but a few of them are demands for forced labour issued by State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) military units and local authorities, while the remaining few are letters and notes written by village heads about the forced labour they have been ordered to provide. All of these orders and letters were written and issued after November 1st 2000, which is the date when SPDC Secretary-1 Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt signed an order prohibiting the further use of forced labour by military and civilian authorities (see Appendix B). The orders translated here carry dates up to November 2001, more than a year after Khin Nyunt’s order was supposedly implemented, and a perusal of all of them shows that there has been no reduction in forced labour in any of the regions covered by this report. Villagers and village heads throughout these regions also consistently testify to KHRG that there has been no reduction in forced labour in their areas, and their testimonies are presented in other KHRG reports. Meanwhile, though the most recent documents translated herein are dated November 2001, similar orders are still being issued and gathered by KHRG..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Orders Reports (KHRG #2002-01) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (1 Mb, 187 pages) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2002/khrg0201.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 15 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Forced Labour Briefing Notes |
| Date of publication: | | 10 February 1998 |
| Description/subject: | | "...hese notes list some of the main types of forced labour currently experienced by villagers in most of the main rural Karen areas of Burma, including Karen State, Tenasserim Division, parts of Mon State and Pegu Division, and the Irrawaddy Delta. This list does not include all the types of forced labour, it only tries to give an idea of the main types. For further details on labour conditions and the implementation of this forced labour please see KHRG’s written submission to the ILO Commission of Inquiry dated August 1997. Details and supporting evidence of the situation in each of the areas listed below is available in existing and upcoming KHRG reports.
Presently the SPDC is rapidly expanding the concentration of its armed forces in most Karen areas, and the burden of forced labour on all villagers is increasing even more quickly; each Battalion is demanding more and more forced labour of villagers, and the number of these Battalions is also increasing. Several major military offensives have been conducted over the past year, particularly in Dooplaya and Tenasserim, and an offensive is expected soon in Papun District of Karen State. The SPDC has greatly extended its control in Karen areas in the past year, and is continuing on a program to gain complete control over all Karen areas. Forced labour is used both to gain control (as porters, camp labour, etc.) and once control is established (as camp labour, forced labour on roads and other "development", growing cash crops for the military, etc.)..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Right Group (KHRG Articles & Papers) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 26 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Karen Human Rights Group Commentary #95-C4 |
| Date of publication: | | 04 August 1995 |
| Description/subject: | | "...SLORC continues to show no remorse whatsoever for its continually expanding program of civilian forced labour throughout Burma. Roads, railways, dams, army camps, tourist sites, an international airport, pagodas, schools - virtually everything which is built in rural Burma is now built and maintained with the forced labour of villagers, as well as their money and building materials. Forced labour as porters fuels the SLORC's military campaigns, while forced labour farming land confiscated by the military, digging fishponds, logging and sawing timber for local Battalions fills the pockets of SLORC military officers and SLORC money-laundering front companies such as Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd. Even farming one's own land is more and more becoming a form of forced labour, as SLORC continues to increase rice quotas which farmers must hand over for pitiful prices. Even after a year like 1994, when record floods destroyed crops in much of the country, the quotas must be paid - if not, the farmer is arrested and the Army takes his land, only to resell it or set up yet another forced labour farm. 1995 has seen very small harvests, increased confiscation and looting of rice and money from the farmers, 40 million people struggling to avoid starvation, and SLORC agreeing to sell a million tonnes of rice to Russia for profit - rice which it has confiscated from village farmers for 50 Kyat a basket, or for nothing..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Right Group (KHRG #95-C4) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 22 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Karen Human Rights Group Commentary # 94 |
| Date of publication: | | 06 June 1994 |
| Description/subject: | | "...Just when we think the SLORC already has enough in its inventory of brutality, it amazes us by coming up with even more dirty tricks. Now the regional SLORC commanders have called most of the village heads in Thaton District to a meeting, and informed them that "In the future, for every one of our soldiers who dies we will execute 5 of your villagers." This order appears to have come from Rangoon, and it is a frightening omen of the way SLORC is going. The SLORC's demands for "compensation" from villagers are ever-increasing. Every time they lose a truck to a Karen landmine, they now systematically demand 50,000 Kyat from each of up to 10 or 12 surrounding villages, and 100,000 from the nearest village. One written order from 42 Infantry Battalion states that the next time a truck explodes, they will demand 1 million Kyat, which must be paid within 7 days or all surrounding villages will be burned down - and from then on, villagers will be forced to ride along on all SLORC trucks. Along with the existing heavy burdens of "porter fees" and food looting, villagers are now forced to pay "taxes" on every farm field and on many of their tools such as woodcutting saws. In many villages, every time they boil their sugarcane into jaggery, the SLORC then either comes and confiscates it or "buys" it from them, then forces them to "buy" it back at a much higher price. Soldiers no longer eat their own rations - they force the villagers to buy them at inflated prices, then loot food back from the villagers..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Right Group Commentary (KHRG) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 22 November 2009 |
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| Title: | | Karen Human Rights Group Commentary #94, Jan 19 |
| Date of publication: | | 16 January 1994 |
| Description/subject: | | "...On December 24, 1993, the officers of SLORC No. 301 Burma Regiment ordered the village headmen of Kyo Waing and No Kaneh villages, in Thaton District, to ensure that security is maintained in their respective village tract areas. They were forced to sign papers guaranteeing that if a single bomb explodes or a shot is fired in the entire village tract, they will pay compensation of 50,000 Kyat to SLORC, and if one truck is damaged by a land mine they will pay 100,000 Kyat. What wasn't written on the paper was that these headmen will also pay with their lives and those of several of their villagers. Already the SLORC has shelled defenceless villages with mortars without warning and massacred villagers this year in that area for much lesser "crimes", like "not guarding the road" and "failing to pay protection money when ordered".
All this at a time when SLORC delegates are travelling the world talking about the SLORC's "peace initiatives". But what means more - what the SLORC says at the UN, or what it does in Burma? Sadly, many foreign governments are now looking at their wallets and hedging on a decision. They should have a talk with the headmen of Kyo Waing and No Kaneh if they want to learn what "peace initiative" means to the SLORC - or better yet, they should go and try living in those villages for a year. While their governments consider resuming multi-million dollar "development aid" to the SLORC military, about 400 people in Thaton District have died since September from a dysentery epidemic because they had no medicine and no outside aid. The SLORC executes anyone in the area caught with medicine as a "rebel supplier". Aid could have reached them from the Thai border, if it had been sent..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Right Group (KHRG) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 22 November 2009 |
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