Food Security
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Food Security in Burma/Myanmar
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Food Security and displacement in Burma
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Starving them out: Food shortages and exploitative abuse in Papun District |
| Date of publication: | | 15 October 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | "As the 2009 rainy season draws to a close, displaced villagers in northern Papun District's Lu Thaw
Township face little prospect of harvesting sufficient paddy to support them over the next year. After four
straight agricultural cycles disrupted by Burma Army patrols, which continue to shoot villagers on sight
and enforce travel and trade restrictions designed to limit sale of food to villagers in hiding, villagers in
northern Papun face food shortages more severe than anything to hit the area since the Burma Army
began attempts to consolidate control of the region in 1997. Consequently, the international donor
community should immediately provide emergency support to aid groups that can access IDP areas in Lu
Thaw Township. In southern Papun, meanwhile, villagers report ongoing abuses and increased activity
by the SPDC and DKBA in Dwe Loh and Bu Thoh townships. In these areas, villagers report abuses
including movement restrictions, forced labour, looting, increased placement of landmines in civilian
areas, summary executions and other forms of arbitrary abuse. This report documents abuses occurring
between May and October 2009..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG #2009-F18) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (861 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2009/khrg09f18.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 24 October 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: | | Abuse, Poverty and Migration: Investigating migrants' motivations to leave home in Burma |
| Date of publication: | | 10 July 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | "International reporting of the large-scale migration of those leaving Burma in search of work abroad has highlighted the perils for migrant during travel and in host countries. However, there has been a lack of research in the root causes of this migration. Identifying the root causes of migration has important implications for the assistance and protection of these migrants. Drawing on over 150 interviews with villagers in rural Burma and those from Burma who have sought employment abroad, this report identifies the exploitative abuse underpinning poverty and livelihoods vulnerability in Burma which, in turn, are major factors motivating individuals to leave home and seek work abroad..."
_Thailand-based interviewees explained to KHRG how exploitative abuses increased poverty, livelihoods vulnerability and food insecurity for themselves and their communities in Burma. These issues were in turn cited as central push factors compelling them to leave their homes and search for work abroad. In some cases, interviewees explained that the harmful effects of exploitative abuse were compounded by environmental and economic factors such as flood and drought and limited access to decent wage labour.[17]
While the individuals interviewed by KHRG in Thailand would normally be classified as 'economic migrants', the factors which they cited as motivating their choice to migrate make it clear that SPDC abuse made it difficult for them to survive in their home areas. Hence, these people decided to become migrants not simply because they were lured to Thailand by economic incentives, but because they found it impossible to survive at home in Burma. Clearly, the distinction between push and pull factors is blurred in the case of Burmese migrants.
The concept of pull factors for migrants is further complicated because migrants are not merely seeking better jobs abroad, but are instead pulled to places like Thailand and Malaysia in order to access protection. For refugees and IDPs, protection is a service that is often provided by government bodies, UN agencies and international NGOs. For refugees in particular, protection is often primarily understood to mean legal protection against refoulement - defined as the expulsion of a person to a place where they would face persecution. Beyond legal protection against refoulement, aid agencies have implemented specific forms of rights-based assistance, such as gender-based violence programmes, as part of their protection mandates.
However, for migrants from Burma the act of leaving home is overwhelmingly a self-initiated protection strategy through which individuals can ensure their and their families' basic survival in the face of persistent exploitative and other abuse in their home areas. This broader understanding of protection goes beyond legal protection against refoulement and the top-down delivery of rights-based assistance by aid agencies. It involves actions taken by individuals on their own accord to lessen or avoid abuse and its harmful effects at home.[18]
KHRG has chosen to use the term self-initiated protection strategy, rather than a more generic concept like 'survival strategy', in order to highlight the political agency of those who choose such migration. By seeing this protection in political terms, one can better understand both the abusive underpinnings of migration from Burma as well as the relevance of such migration to the protection mandates of governments, UN agencies and international NGOs currently providing support to conventional refugee populations. Understanding protection in this way presents opportunities for external support for the many self-initiated protection strategies (including efforts to secure employment without exploitation, support dependent family members, enrol children in school and avoid arrest, extortion and deportation) which migrant workers regularly use._ |
| Language: | | English, Burmese |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #2009-03) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (English Version: 2.6 MB), (Burmese Version: 383 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2009/khrg0903.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 11 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | IDP conditions and the rape of a young girl in Papun District |
| Date of publication: | | 11 April 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | "This report describes SPDC operations in and around internally displaced person hiding sites in Lu Thaw Township, Papun District. Villagers in this area continue to face constant physical threats and food insecurity caused by SPDC patrols-indeed, residents have been prevented from consistently accessing their farm fields for so long that they now face a dire food crisis. This report also details the rape of a 13-year-old girl by an SPDC soldier in Dweh Loh Township and the local military commander's attempt to cover up the incident. This report examines cases of SPDC abuse from December 2008 to March 2009..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2009-F8) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (881 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2009/khrg09f8.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 31 October 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Attacks, killings and the food crisis in Papun District |
| Date of publication: | | 04 February 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | "SPDC abuses against civilians continue in northern Karen State, especially in the Lu Thaw and Dweh Loh townships of Papun District. Abuses have been particularly harsh in Lu Thaw, most of which has been designated a "black area" by the SPDC and so subject to constant attacks by Burma Army forces. Villagers who decide to remain in their home areas are often forced to live in hiding and not only face constant threats of violence by the SPDC, but also a worsening food crisis due to the SPDC's disruption of planting cycles. This report covers events in Papun District from August 2008 to January 2009..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2009-F2) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (578 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2009/khrg09f2.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 31 October 2009 |
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| Title: | | Rural development and displacement: SPDC abuses in Toungoo District |
| Date of publication: | | 13 January 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | "The SPDC has continued to militarise larger and larger swaths of Toungoo District under the false banner of 'development', subjecting local villagers to forced labour and extortion and forcing others to flee into hiding. Life is hard for villagers both under and outside of SPDC control: villagers living within SPDC-controlled areas are often forced to work for the SPDC rather than focus on their own livelihoods while villagers in hiding continue to struggle with a shortage of food. Ultimately, many residents of Toungoo face a mounting food crisis that is a direct result of SPDC policy. This report discusses incidents that occurred between May and September 2008..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2009-F1) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (850 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2009/khrg09f1.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 31 October 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 |
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| Title: | | The role of coercive measures in forced migration/internal displacement in Burma/Myanmar |
| Date of publication: | | 17 March 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | Conclusion: "Most relevant reports and surveys I have been able to access state essentially that people from all parts of Burma leave home either in obedience to a direct relocation order from the military or civil authorities or as a result of a process whereby coercive measures imposed by the authorities play a major role in forcing down household incomes to the point where the family cannot survive. At this point, leaving home may seem to be the only option. These factors, which include direct forced relocation, forced labour, extortion and land confiscation, operate in, are affected by and exacerbate a situation of widespread poverty, rising inflation and declining real incomes. In other words, people leave home due to a combination of coercive and economic factors. One has to consider the whole process leading to displacement rather than a single, immediate cause. Where coercive measures, as described in this article, are involved, the resulting population movement falls under the Guiding Principles even if the situation that actually triggers movement, frequently food insecurity, may also be described in economic terms." |
| Author/creator: | | Andrew Bosson |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Andrew Bosson |
| Format/size: | | pdf (47K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 17 March 2008 |
|
| Title: | | Increased roads, army camps and attacks on rural communities in Papun District |
| Date of publication: | | 16 November 2007 |
| Description/subject: | | "Having initially begun construction a decade ago, the SPDC has this year completed the Papun section of a roadway which extends northwards from the east-west Kyauk Kyi to Saw Hta vehicle road towards the SPDC army camp at Buh Hsa Kee in southern Toungoo District. While still incomplete on the Toungoo side of the border the Papun section effectively cuts the northern half of Lu Thaw township into two east-west sections and forms a dangerous and difficult to cross barrier for those civilians fleeing from ongoing military attacks against their communities. Nevertheless villagers in Lu Thaw and other areas of Papun continue to evade SPDC forces and the district currently has the highest number of internally displaced people in hiding out of any area of eastern Burma. Notwithstanding the creative and courageous strategies which these villagers have adopted in order to avoid the army columns which continue to hunt them down, they remain in a precarious situation; one which has only heightened in its severity with the completion of the Papun section of the north-south vehicle road and the upgrading of other roadways further south..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Report (KHRG #2007-F10) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (517 MB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2007/khrg07f10.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 07 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Forced migration/internal displacement in Burma - with an emphasis on government-controlled areas |
| Date of publication: | | May 2007 |
| Description/subject: | | This report is a preliminary exploration of forced migration/internal displacement in Burma/Myanmar in two main areas. The first is the status in terms of international standards, specifically those embodied in the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, of the people who leave home not because of conflict or relocation orders, but as a result of a range of coercive measures which drive down incomes to the point that the household economy collapses and people have no choice but to leave home. Some analysts describe this form of population movement as "economic migration" since it has an economic dimension. The present report, however, looks at the coercive nature of the pressures which contribute to the collapse of the household economy and argues that their compulsory and irresistible nature brings this kind of population movement squarely into the field of forced migration, even though the immediate cause of leaving home may also be described in economic terms...
The second area is geographic. The report looks at those parts of Burma not covered by the IDP Surveys of the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, which concentrate on the conflict and post-conflict areas of Eastern Burma. It hardly touches on conflict-induced displacement since most parts of Burma covered in these pages, including the major cities, are government-controlled, and there is little overt military conflict in these States and Divisions. Within these parts of the country, the report looks at the coercive measures referred to above. It also carries reports of direct relocation by government agents through which whole rural and urban communities are removed from their homes and either ordered to go to specific places, or else left to their own devices. The report annexes contain more than 500 pages of documentation on forced displacement and causes of displacement in Arakan, Chin, Kachin and Eastern and Northern Shan States as well as Irrawaddy, Magwe, Mandalay, West Pegu, Rangoon and Sagaing Divisions. It also has a section on displacement within urban and peri-urban areas. |
| Author/creator: | | Andrew Bosson |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (717K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/docs4/IDMC-Burma_report_mai07.pdf |
| Date of entry/update: | | 15 May 2007 |
|
| Title: | | RECLAIMING THE RIGHT TO RICE: FOOD SECURITY AND INTERNAL DISPLACEMENT IN EASTERN BURMA |
| Date of publication: | | October 2003 |
| Description/subject: | | TABLE OF CONTENTS:-
1. Food Security from a Rights-based Perspective;
2. Local Observations from the States and Divisions
of Eastern Burma:-
2.1 Tenasserim Division
(Committee for Internally Displaced Karen Persons);
2.2 Mon State (Mon Relief and Development Committee);
2.3 Karen State (Karen Human Rights Group)
2.4 Eastern Pegu Division (Karen Office of Relief and Development);
2.5 Karenni State (Karenni Social Welfare Committee);
2.6 Shan State (Shan Human Rights Foundation)...
3. Local Observations of Issues Related to Food Security:-
3.1 Crop Destruction as a Weapon of War (Committee for Internally Displaced Karen Persons);
3.2 Border Areas Development (Karen Environmental & Social Action Network);
3.3 Agricultural Management(Burma Issues);
3.4 Land Management (Independent Mon News Agency)
3.5 Nutritional Impact of Internal Displacement (Backpack Health Workers Team);
3.6 Gender-based Perspectives (Karen Women’s Organisation)...
4. Field Surveys on Internal Displacement and Food Security...
Appendix 1 : Burma’s International Obligations
and Commitments...
Appendix 2 : Burma’s National Legal Framework...
Appendix 3 : Acronyms, Measurements and Currencies....
"...Linkages between militarisation and food scarcity in Burma were
established by civilian testimonies from ten out of the fourteen states and
divisions to a People’s Tribunal in the late 1990s. Since then the scale of
internal displacement has dramatically increased, with the population in
eastern Burma during 2002 having been estimated at 633,000 people, of
whom approximately 268,000 were in hiding and the rest were interned
in relocation sites. This report attempts to complement these earlier
assessments by appraising the current relationship between food security
and internal displacement in eastern Burma. It is hoped that these
contributions will, amongst other impacts, assist the Asian Human Rights
Commission’s Permanent People’s Tribunal to promote the right to food
and rule of law in Burma...
Personal observations and field surveys by community-based organisations
in eastern Burma suggest that a vicious cycle linking the deprivation of
food security with internal displacement has intensified. Compulsory paddy
procurement, land confiscation, the Border Areas Development program
and spiraling inflation have induced displacement of the rural poor away
from state-controlled areas. In war zones, however, the state continues to
destroy and confiscate food supplies in order to force displaced villagers
back into state-controlled areas. An image emerges of a highly vulnerable
and frequently displaced rural population, who remain extremely resilient
in order to survive based on their local knowledge and social networks.
Findings from the observations and field surveys include the following:..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Burmese Border Consortium |
| Format/size: | | pdf (804K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/docs/BBC-Reclaiming_the_Right_to_Rice.pdf |
| Date of entry/update: | | 07 November 2003 |
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| Title: | | Starving Them Out: Forced Relocations, Killings and the Systematic Starvation of Villagers in Dooplaya District |
| Date of publication: | | 31 March 2000 |
| Description/subject: | | "This report consists of an Introduction and Executive Summary, followed by a detailed analysis of the situation supported by quotes from interviews and excerpts from SPDC order documents sent to villages in the region. As mentioned above, an Annex to this report containing the full text of the remaining interviews can be seen by following the link from the table of contents or from KHRG upon approved request..."
Forced Relocations, Killings and the Systematic Starvation of Villagers in Dooplaya District |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #2000-02) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
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Food Security and human rights in Burma
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Burma Human Rights Yearbook 2008 |
| Date of publication: | | 23 November 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. Arbitrary Detention and Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances...2. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment...3. Extra-judicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions...4. Landmines and Other Explosive Devices...5. Production and Trade of Illicit Drugs...6. Trafficking and Smuggling...7. Forced Labour and Forced Conscription...8. Deprivation of Livelihood...9. Environmental Degradation...10. Cyclone Nargis – From natural disaster to human catastrophe...11. Right to Health...12. Freedom of Belief and Religion...13. Freedom of Opinion, Expression and the Press...14. Freedom of Assembly, Association and Movement...15. Right to Education...16. Rights of the Child...17. The Rights of Women...18. Ethnic Minority Rights...19. Internal Displacement and Forced Relocation...20. The Situation of Refugees...21.The Situation of Migrant Workers...EACH OF THESE CHAPTERS CAN HE INDEPENDENTLY READ AND DOWNLOADED |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Human Rights Docmentation Unit of the NCGUB |
| Format/size: | | html (21K - hyperlinked index ); pdf (13MB) 1092 pages - full pdf text |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs08/HRYB2008.pdf (full pdf text - 13MB) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 05 December 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Starving them out: Food shortages and exploitative abuse in Papun District |
| Date of publication: | | 15 October 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | "As the 2009 rainy season draws to a close, displaced villagers in northern Papun District's Lu Thaw
Township face little prospect of harvesting sufficient paddy to support them over the next year. After four
straight agricultural cycles disrupted by Burma Army patrols, which continue to shoot villagers on sight
and enforce travel and trade restrictions designed to limit sale of food to villagers in hiding, villagers in
northern Papun face food shortages more severe than anything to hit the area since the Burma Army
began attempts to consolidate control of the region in 1997. Consequently, the international donor
community should immediately provide emergency support to aid groups that can access IDP areas in Lu
Thaw Township. In southern Papun, meanwhile, villagers report ongoing abuses and increased activity
by the SPDC and DKBA in Dwe Loh and Bu Thoh townships. In these areas, villagers report abuses
including movement restrictions, forced labour, looting, increased placement of landmines in civilian
areas, summary executions and other forms of arbitrary abuse. This report documents abuses occurring
between May and October 2009..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG #2009-F18) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (861 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2009/khrg09f18.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 24 October 2009 |
|
| Title: | | IDP responses to food shortages in Nyaunglebin District |
| Date of publication: | | 10 April 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | "Since the beginning of 2009, SPDC troops have patrolled areas near displaced hiding sites in Nyaunglebin District. These patrols prevent displaced villagers from cultivating their secret crops or otherwise accessing food, which in turn exacerbates food insecurity for these civilians. Despite such hardships, villagers have responded by cooperating with each other-often sharing food or helping each other cultivate crops and sell goods in 'jungle markets'. This report describes the situation of displaced villagers in Nyaunglebin District from December 2008 to March 2009..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2009-F7) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (881 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2009/khrg09f7.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 31 October 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Critical Point - Food Scarcity and Hunger in Burma’s Chin State _ 2008 (Special Reports) |
| Date of publication: | | July 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: "The military regime of Burma has been consistent in their inability and unwillingness to protect and provide for the people of Burma. Burma’s human rights record provides testimony of decades of widespread violations and abuses perpetrated largely at the hands of Burma’s military rulers and their agents against the Burmese people. Dissent is regularly silenced and opponents brutalized. In a country once known as the “rice-bowl of Asia,” Burma is now one of the poorest countries of Asia due to steady economic deterioration driven by the regime’s mismanagement. Many in Burma live without access to proper schools, healthcare facilities, reliable electricity, safe drinking water, and stable food supplies. Cowed by policies of extreme oppression and tactics of intimidation, life for much of the population in Burma is a struggle for daily survival. Add to that a natural disaster- and survival in Burma reaches a critical point. Western Burma’s Chin State is at such a point. Since 2006, the region has been plagued by a severe food crisis following a steep reduction in the local harvest and food production. The year 2006 marked the beginning of a new cycle of bamboo flowering, which occurs about every 50 years in the region, triggering an explosion in the population of rats and resulting in the destruction of crops. This has caused a severe shortage of food for local communities primarily dependent on subsistence farming through shifting cultivation. The phenomenon has been documented three times since 1862, and each past event ended in a disastrous famine for the communities in the area. Compounding the impending food crisis in Chin State due to the bamboo flowering is the continuation of severe human rights violations and repressive economic policies of the military regime, which serve to further undermine the livelihoods and food security of the Chin people. The use of unpaid civilian forced labour is widespread throughout Chin State, which consumes the time and energy of local farmers and reduces their crop yields. The regime also forcibly orders farmers to substitute their staple crops for other cash crops, and has confiscated thousands of acres of farmland from local farmers for tea and jatropha plantations. Meanwhile, arbitrary taxes and mandatory “donations” collected from Chin households by the Burmese authorities total up to as much 200,000 Kyats a year in major towns.2 This includes the unofficial collection of money from the Chin public by officials in various government departments at the local level to support such programs as tea and bio-fuel plantations; and extortion and confiscation of money, properties, and livestock by military units stationed at 33 locations across the state. The rising cost of living and skyrocketing food prices is also adding to the already dire humanitarian situation in Chin State. In the last four years, the price of rice has quintupled from 6,000 Kyats a bag in 2004 to as much as 30,000 Kyats today, an amount equivalent to the monthly salary of entry level public servants. The humanitarian consequences stemming from the dying bamboo and exacerbated by conditions imposed by the regime are enormous, and there are clear indications that unless urgent action is taken to address the crisis, the situation could soon turn into a large-scale catastrophe affecting all parts of Chin State. The hardest hit areas are in the southern townships of Matupi and Paletwa where bamboo grows heavily, but reports suggest that severe food shortages are a state-wide phenomenon with many villages in the northern townships of Tonzang and Thantlang, for example, having already run out of food supplies. Based on the latest field surveys conducted in the affected areas, Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) estimates that as many as 200 villages may be directly affected by severe food shortages associated with the bamboo flowering, and no less than 100, 000 people or 20 percent of the entire population of Chin State may be in need of immediate food aid.3 Food scarcity is more severe in remote areas, where families are being reduced to one meal a day or have nothing left to eat at all. CHRO recently visited four border villages in India’s Mizoram State where it found 93 families from 22 villages in Paletwa Township, Chin State who fled across the border in search of food.
To date, Burma’s State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has done nothing positive to counter the food scarcity, nor has the SPDC provided any kind of help to communities affected by the food crisis. Repeated requests by affected communities for food aid were denied, even as 100,000 metric tonnes of rice was exported to Sri Lanka.4 Rather, Burma Army soldiers have seized food aid donated by private donors and church groups.5 In contrast to the situation in Burma, India’s Mizoram and Manipur States, both adjacent to Chin State, are facing a similar food crisis related to the bamboo flowering, and have received millions of dollars in aid from the central government as well as international aid agencies, including USAID of the United States government, to support emergency programs to combat and manage the food crisis.6
In early May, when Cyclone Nargis ripped through lower Burma and the Irrawaddy delta destroying entire regions of land and leaving thousands homeless, hungry, and helpless, the regime clearly demonstrated their complete indifference to the plight of the Burmese people. In response to this natural disaster, they did shamefully little to ease the suffering of the victims and much to hamper relief efforts. As a result, the people of Burma paid a heavy price in the loss of life and continue to struggle under a regime that fails to protect or provide for its people. As another natural disaster unfolds in western Burma without hope of internal protections or provisions, the Chin people, like the cyclone victims, will be sure to pay a heavy toll unless action is taken immediately.
The critical point for action is now." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (731K, 640K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.chro.ca/publications/special-reports.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 09 July 2008 |
|
| 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 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 14 February 2006 |
|
| Title: | | Starving Them Out: Forced Relocations, Killings and the Systematic Starvation of Villagers in Dooplaya District |
| Date of publication: | | 31 March 2000 |
| Description/subject: | | "This report consists of an Introduction and Executive Summary, followed by a detailed analysis of the situation supported by quotes from interviews and excerpts from SPDC order documents sent to villages in the region. As mentioned above, an Annex to this report containing the full text of the remaining interviews can be seen by following the link from the table of contents or from KHRG upon approved request..."
Forced Relocations, Killings and the Systematic Starvation of Villagers in Dooplaya District |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #2000-02) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
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Food Security and militarisation in Burma
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Starving them out: Food shortages and exploitative abuse in Papun District |
| Date of publication: | | 15 October 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | "As the 2009 rainy season draws to a close, displaced villagers in northern Papun District's Lu Thaw
Township face little prospect of harvesting sufficient paddy to support them over the next year. After four
straight agricultural cycles disrupted by Burma Army patrols, which continue to shoot villagers on sight
and enforce travel and trade restrictions designed to limit sale of food to villagers in hiding, villagers in
northern Papun face food shortages more severe than anything to hit the area since the Burma Army
began attempts to consolidate control of the region in 1997. Consequently, the international donor
community should immediately provide emergency support to aid groups that can access IDP areas in Lu
Thaw Township. In southern Papun, meanwhile, villagers report ongoing abuses and increased activity
by the SPDC and DKBA in Dwe Loh and Bu Thoh townships. In these areas, villagers report abuses
including movement restrictions, forced labour, looting, increased placement of landmines in civilian
areas, summary executions and other forms of arbitrary abuse. This report documents abuses occurring
between May and October 2009..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG #2009-F18) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (861 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2009/khrg09f18.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 24 October 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: | | Livelihood consequences of SPDC restrictions and patrols in Nyaunglebin District |
| Date of publication: | | 22 September 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | "This report presents information on abuses in Nyaunglebin District for the period of April to July 2009. Though Nyaunglebin saw a reduction in SPDC activities during the first six months of 2009, patrols resumed in July. Since then, IDP villagers attempting to evade SPDC control report that they have subsequently been unable to regularly access farm fields or gardens, exacerbating cycles of food shortages set in motion by the northern Karen State offensive which began in 2006. Other villagers, from the only nominally controlled villages in the Nyaunglebin's eastern hills to SPDC-administered relocation sites in the west, meanwhile, report abuses including forced labour, conscription into government militia, travel restrictions and the torture of two village leaders for alleged contact with the KNLA..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2009-F15) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (821 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2009/khrg09f15.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: | | Abuse, Poverty and Migration: Investigating migrants' motivations to leave home in Burma |
| Date of publication: | | 10 July 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | "International reporting of the large-scale migration of those leaving Burma in search of work abroad has highlighted the perils for migrant during travel and in host countries. However, there has been a lack of research in the root causes of this migration. Identifying the root causes of migration has important implications for the assistance and protection of these migrants. Drawing on over 150 interviews with villagers in rural Burma and those from Burma who have sought employment abroad, this report identifies the exploitative abuse underpinning poverty and livelihoods vulnerability in Burma which, in turn, are major factors motivating individuals to leave home and seek work abroad..."
_Thailand-based interviewees explained to KHRG how exploitative abuses increased poverty, livelihoods vulnerability and food insecurity for themselves and their communities in Burma. These issues were in turn cited as central push factors compelling them to leave their homes and search for work abroad. In some cases, interviewees explained that the harmful effects of exploitative abuse were compounded by environmental and economic factors such as flood and drought and limited access to decent wage labour.[17]
While the individuals interviewed by KHRG in Thailand would normally be classified as 'economic migrants', the factors which they cited as motivating their choice to migrate make it clear that SPDC abuse made it difficult for them to survive in their home areas. Hence, these people decided to become migrants not simply because they were lured to Thailand by economic incentives, but because they found it impossible to survive at home in Burma. Clearly, the distinction between push and pull factors is blurred in the case of Burmese migrants.
The concept of pull factors for migrants is further complicated because migrants are not merely seeking better jobs abroad, but are instead pulled to places like Thailand and Malaysia in order to access protection. For refugees and IDPs, protection is a service that is often provided by government bodies, UN agencies and international NGOs. For refugees in particular, protection is often primarily understood to mean legal protection against refoulement - defined as the expulsion of a person to a place where they would face persecution. Beyond legal protection against refoulement, aid agencies have implemented specific forms of rights-based assistance, such as gender-based violence programmes, as part of their protection mandates.
However, for migrants from Burma the act of leaving home is overwhelmingly a self-initiated protection strategy through which individuals can ensure their and their families' basic survival in the face of persistent exploitative and other abuse in their home areas. This broader understanding of protection goes beyond legal protection against refoulement and the top-down delivery of rights-based assistance by aid agencies. It involves actions taken by individuals on their own accord to lessen or avoid abuse and its harmful effects at home.[18]
KHRG has chosen to use the term self-initiated protection strategy, rather than a more generic concept like 'survival strategy', in order to highlight the political agency of those who choose such migration. By seeing this protection in political terms, one can better understand both the abusive underpinnings of migration from Burma as well as the relevance of such migration to the protection mandates of governments, UN agencies and international NGOs currently providing support to conventional refugee populations. Understanding protection in this way presents opportunities for external support for the many self-initiated protection strategies (including efforts to secure employment without exploitation, support dependent family members, enrol children in school and avoid arrest, extortion and deportation) which migrant workers regularly use._ |
| Language: | | English, Burmese |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #2009-03) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (English Version: 2.6 MB), (Burmese Version: 383 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2009/khrg0903.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 11 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Food crisis: The cumulative impact of abuse in rural Burma |
| Date of publication: | | 29 April 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | Systematic militarisation and widespread exploitation of the civilian population by military forces have created poverty, malnutrition and a severe food crisis in Karen State and other parts of rural Burma. This crisis requires urgent attention by the international community - with intervention shaped by the concerns of villagers themselves. This briefer outlines the human rights abuses which have caused the food crisis; the combined impacts of these abuses upon civilian communities; the ways in which villagers have responded to and resisted abuse; and the actions that can be taken by the international community to alleviate the current crisis and to prevent future cycles of abuse and malnutrition in rural Burma. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (1.74K), html |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2009/khrg0902.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 12 August 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Networks of Noncompliance: Grassroots resistance and sovereignty in militarised Burma |
| Date of publication: | | 10 November 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | "...This paper examines state repression and state-society conflict in Burma through the lens of rural and urban resistance strategies. It finds very well developed 'networks of noncompliance' through which civilians evade and undermine state control over their lives, and that SPDC's brutal tactics represent not control, but a lack of control. Using concrete examples, the paper argues that outside agencies ignore this state-society struggle over sovereignty at their peril: by ignoring the interplay of intervention with local politics and militarisation, claiming a 'humanitarian neutrality' which is impossible in practice, and portraying civilians as helpless pawns, those who intervene and those who document the situation risk undermining the very civilians they wish to help, while facilitating further state repression. It calls for greater honesty and awareness in interventions, combined with greater outside engagement with villagers in their resistance strategies. Only days after this paper was first presented at the Yale University Agrarian Studies Colloquium, some of its cautions about the naïveté of claiming humanitarian neutrality in Burma's politicised and militarised context were tragically realised, when Cyclone Nargis devastated parts of the country and international aid agencies were forced to confront firsthand the SPDC's raw disdain for its own civilian population. Some gave in and chanelled aid through the Burmese military, much of which never reached the target populations...".....Paper for Agrarian Studies Colloquium, April 25, 2008 by
Kevin Malseed,
Advisor, Karen Human Rights Group
Program Fellow in Agrarian Studies, Yale University |
| Author/creator: | | Kevin Malseed |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Right Group (KHRG Articles & Papers) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (426 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2008/khrg08w3.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 25 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Attacks, killings and the food crisis in Toungoo District |
| Date of publication: | | 01 August 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | "SPDC troops have continued to target internally displaced persons (IDPs) within Toungoo District. Civilians continue be killed or injured by the attacks while many of the survivors flee their homes and take shelter in forest hiding sites. Some who have moved into SPDC forced relocation sites continue to secretly return to their villages to cultivate their crops, constantly risking punishment or execution by troops patrolling the areas. The SPDC's repeated disruption of regular planting cycles has created a food crisis in Toungoo, further endangering the IDPs living there. This report examines the abuses in Toungoo District from April to June 2008..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2008-F9) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (880 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2008/khrg08f9.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 01 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Villagers risk arrest and execution to harvest their crops |
| Date of publication: | | 04 December 2007 |
| Description/subject: | | "The months of November and December which follow the annual cessation of the rainy season mark the traditional harvest time for the agrarian communities of Karen State when villagers must venture out into their fields in order to reap their ripe paddy crops. Across large areas of Toungoo District, however, where the SPDC lacks a consolidated hold on the civilian population, this time of year has become especially perilous as the Army enforces sweeping movement restrictions backed up by a shoot on sight policy in order to eradicate the entire civilian presence in areas outside its control and restrict the population to military-controlled villages and relocation sites where they can be more easily exploited for labour, money, food and other supplies. Displaced communities in hiding thus risk potential arrest and execution by venturing out into the relatively open area of their hill side agricultural fields where they are more easily spotted by SPDC troops who regularly patrol the area. Yet, because of the Army's persistent attacks against covert farm fields, food stores and displaced communities in hiding these villagers confront a severe food shortage which has increased pressure on them to tend to their covert fields despite the risks. As a consequence some villagers have already lost their lives; having been shot by SPDC soldiers while attempting to tend their crops and address their community's rising food insecurity..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Report (KHRG #2007-F11) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (817 MB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2007/khrg07f11.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: | | Landmines, Killings and Food Destruction: Civilian life in Toungoo District |
| Date of publication: | | 09 August 2007 |
| Description/subject: | | "The attacks against civilians continue as the SPDC increases its military build-up in Toungoo District. Enforcing widespread restrictions on movement backed up by a shoot-on-sight policy, the SPDC has executed at least 38 villagers in Toungoo since January 2007. On top of this, local villagers face the ever present danger of landmines, many of which were manufactured in China, which the Army has deployed around homes, churches and forest paths. Combined with the destruction of covert agricultural hill fields and rice supplies, these attacks seek to undermine food security and make life unbearable in areas outside of consolidated military control. However, as those living under SPDC rule have found, the constant stream of military demands for labour, money and other supplies undermine livelihoods, village economies and community efforts to address health, education and social needs. Civilians in Toungoo must therefore choose between a situation of impoverishment and subjugation under SPDC rule, evasion in forested hiding sites with the constant threat of military attack, or a relatively stable yet uprooted life in refugee camps away from their homeland. This report documents just some of the human rights abuses perpetrated by SPDC forces against villagers in Toungoo District up to July 2007..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Report (KHRG #2007-F6) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (1.24 MB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2007/khrg07f6.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 08 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | The Compounding Consequences of DKBA Oppression: Abuse, poverty and food insecurity in Thaton District |
| Date of publication: | | 09 July 2007 |
| Description/subject: | | "As the principal means of establishing control over the people of Thaton District, the SPDC has supported a more aggressive DKBA role in the area. With the junta's political, military and financial backing the DKBA has sought to expand its numbers, strengthen its position vis-à-vis the civilian population and eradicate the remaining KNU/KNLA presence in the region. To those ends, the DKBA has used forced labour, looting, extortion, land confiscation and movement restrictions and embarked on a hostile campaign of forced recruitment from amongst the local population. These abuses have eroded village livelihoods, leading to low harvest yields and wholly failed crops; problems which compound over time and progressively deepen poverty and malnourishment. With the onset of the rainy season and the 2007 cultivation period, villagers in Thaton District are faced with depleting provisions. This food insecurity will require that many harvest their 2007 crop as early as October while still unripe. The low yield of an early harvest, lost time spent on forced labour and the harmful fallout of further extortion and other abuses will all combine to ensure once again that villagers in Thaton District confront food shortages and increasing poverty..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Report (KHRG #2007-F5) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (527 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2007/khrg07f5.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 08 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: | | 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: | | Starving Them Out: Forced Relocations, Killings and the Systematic Starvation of Villagers in Dooplaya District |
| Date of publication: | | 31 March 2000 |
| Description/subject: | | "This report consists of an Introduction and Executive Summary, followed by a detailed analysis of the situation supported by quotes from interviews and excerpts from SPDC order documents sent to villages in the region. As mentioned above, an Annex to this report containing the full text of the remaining interviews can be seen by following the link from the table of contents or from KHRG upon approved request..."
Forced Relocations, Killings and the Systematic Starvation of Villagers in Dooplaya District |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #2000-02) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Voice of the Hungry Nation |
| Date of publication: | | October 1999 |
| Description/subject: | | This document presents the findings, conclusions and recommendations of the People's Tribunal on Food Scarcity
and Militarization in Burma. The Tribunal’s work will appeal to all readers interested in human rights and social
justice, as well as anyone with a particular interest in Burma. The Asian Human Rights Commission presents this
report in order to stimulate discourse on human rights and democratization in Burma and around the world. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | People's Tribunal on Food Scarcity and Militarization in Burma |
| Format/size: | | English version |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.burmadebate.org/archives/fall99bttm.html#hungry |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Karen Human Rights Group Commentary #98-C2 |
| Date of publication: | | 24 November 1998 |
| Description/subject: | | "..."Things are getting more difficult every day. Even the Burmese leaders capture each other and put each other in jail. If they can capture and imprison even the people who have authority, then how are the villagers supposed to tolerate them? That’s why the villagers are fleeing from Burma." - Dta La Ku elder (M, 44) from Dooplaya district (Report #98-09)
There is no doubt that life is currently becoming worse for the vast majority of people in Burma, in both urban and rural areas. In urban areas, people are plagued by high inflation, rapidly increasing prices for basic commodities such as rice and basic foodstuffs, the tumbling value of the Kyat, wages which are not enough to feed oneself, corruption by all arms of the military and civil service, and the ever-present fear of arbitrary arrest for the slightest act or statement that betrays opposition to the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC) junta..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Right Group (KHRG #98-C2) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 22 November 2009 |
|
-
Food Security and the economy in Burma
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Rural Households' Food Security Status and Coping Strategies to Food Insecurity in Myanmar |
| Date of publication: | | February 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | "...This study will examine the food (rice) availability at the national level using the official and FAO data. Second, a case study in the rice deficit region (Dry Zone) will present the characteristics and food security status of the farm and non-farm rural households (landless) and the determinants of food security. The Dry Zone was chosen to study because the EC & FAO (2007) classified this region as the most vulnerable area of the country. Furthermore, the FAO projected that the Net Primary Production would be decreased significantly in the Dry Zone in the next two decades. It is essential to collect the primary and secondary data on food availability, access, stability and utilization for understanding the current reality of food security at both macro and micro level...
Objectives of the Study:
> To assess the food (rice) availability at the national level by using indicators of trend of production index, growth rate of sown area, production and yield, average availability of rice, average per capita rice consumption, rice surplus, dietary energy supply of rice, share of food expenditure in total budget, self-sufficiency ratio, trends in domestic prices of rice and the estimated effects of the Nargis cyclone on rice self-sufficiency.
> To investigate the rural household's access to food in terms of human capital, food production, household income, asset ownership, and income diversification of farm and non-farm (landless) households.
> To examine the farm and non-farm household's food security status by applying the national food poverty line and the index of coping strategies method along with some indicators such as food share in the household budget, percentage of food expenditure in the total household income, and nutrition security indicators of access to safe drinking water, sanitation, diseases, and number of children death. |
| Author/creator: | | Dolly Kyaw |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization (V.R.F. Series No. 444) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (656K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 10 August 2009 |
|
-
Policies leading to food insecurity in Burma
Individual Documents
| Title: | | The role of coercive measures in forced migration/internal displacement in Burma/Myanmar |
| Date of publication: | | 17 March 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | Conclusion: "Most relevant reports and surveys I have been able to access state essentially that people from all parts of Burma leave home either in obedience to a direct relocation order from the military or civil authorities or as a result of a process whereby coercive measures imposed by the authorities play a major role in forcing down household incomes to the point where the family cannot survive. At this point, leaving home may seem to be the only option. These factors, which include direct forced relocation, forced labour, extortion and land confiscation, operate in, are affected by and exacerbate a situation of widespread poverty, rising inflation and declining real incomes. In other words, people leave home due to a combination of coercive and economic factors. One has to consider the whole process leading to displacement rather than a single, immediate cause. Where coercive measures, as described in this article, are involved, the resulting population movement falls under the Guiding Principles even if the situation that actually triggers movement, frequently food insecurity, may also be described in economic terms." |
| Author/creator: | | Andrew Bosson |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Andrew Bosson |
| Format/size: | | pdf (47K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 17 March 2008 |
|
| Title: | | Forced migration/internal displacement in Burma - with an emphasis on government-controlled areas |
| Date of publication: | | May 2007 |
| Description/subject: | | This report is a preliminary exploration of forced migration/internal displacement in Burma/Myanmar in two main areas. The first is the status in terms of international standards, specifically those embodied in the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, of the people who leave home not because of conflict or relocation orders, but as a result of a range of coercive measures which drive down incomes to the point that the household economy collapses and people have no choice but to leave home. Some analysts describe this form of population movement as "economic migration" since it has an economic dimension. The present report, however, looks at the coercive nature of the pressures which contribute to the collapse of the household economy and argues that their compulsory and irresistible nature brings this kind of population movement squarely into the field of forced migration, even though the immediate cause of leaving home may also be described in economic terms...
The second area is geographic. The report looks at those parts of Burma not covered by the IDP Surveys of the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, which concentrate on the conflict and post-conflict areas of Eastern Burma. It hardly touches on conflict-induced displacement since most parts of Burma covered in these pages, including the major cities, are government-controlled, and there is little overt military conflict in these States and Divisions. Within these parts of the country, the report looks at the coercive measures referred to above. It also carries reports of direct relocation by government agents through which whole rural and urban communities are removed from their homes and either ordered to go to specific places, or else left to their own devices. The report annexes contain more than 500 pages of documentation on forced displacement and causes of displacement in Arakan, Chin, Kachin and Eastern and Northern Shan States as well as Irrawaddy, Magwe, Mandalay, West Pegu, Rangoon and Sagaing Divisions. It also has a section on displacement within urban and peri-urban areas. |
| Author/creator: | | Andrew Bosson |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (717K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/docs4/IDMC-Burma_report_mai07.pdf |
| Date of entry/update: | | 15 May 2007 |
|
| Title: | | Deserted Fields: The destruction of agriculture in Mong Nai Township, Shan State |
| Date of publication: | | January 2006 |
| Description/subject: | | Summary:
"Wrong-headed agricultural and development policies, counter-insurgency activities, as well
as corruption and cronyism by the Burmese military regime, have all caused a dramatic
decrease in rice production and food security in southern Shan State over the past ten years.
The township of Mong Nai provides a good example of how food security, commonly defined
as the physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food at all times, has
been put in a precarious condition despite the regime’s claims that it is achieving self-sufficiency
and agricultural development. In the past Mong Nai was well known for its fertile land and
abundant production of quality rice. Even though people could not make much income from
their crops, they had enough to survive. Since 1994, however, a series of national policies and
initiatives have led to a decline in rice production, the abandonment of fertile fields, and the
exodus of thousands of residents to neighbouring Thailand.
In order to implement its national rice procurement policy, the State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC) set up a paddy (unmilled rice) buying center in the town of Mong Nai in
1994. Farmers were forced to sell rice to the regime at depressed prices (about one quarter
of the normal market price) based on the acreage of land they customarily tended and regardless
of actual crop yields. This center, and how its quota system was implemented, disrupted
farmers’ access to their own rice harvests and drove many into debt. The SPDC proudly
announced the abolishment of this system and the opening of a market-oriented economy in
2003. However, new practices have been able to ensure that the military maintains its own
stores of rice at the expense of local populations. agriculture, and led to decreased rice production and food security in the township. The
amount of rice fields under cultivation has decreased by approximately 56% since 1994
while the population has decreased by approximately 30%. The drastic decrease in upland
agriculture has practically wiped out the cultivation of sesame and the subsequent production
of sesame oil in the township, while a wide variety of beans, fruits, and other vegetables are
also not cultivated. Restrictions on trade and travel have made foodstuffs harder to get and
more expensive.
Contrary to the regime’s claims, Burma is not on the road to self-sufficiency and food security."...
Table of Contents:
Summary.2;
Background 4;
Food and Agriculture Situation Before 1994 5;
Rice Procurement Policy/the Quota System 6;
Forced Relocation 7;
Map 1: Rice Cultivation and Villages in 1994 8;
Map 2: Rice Culitvation, Remaining Villages and Confiscated Lands in 2005 9;
Land Confiscation 10;
Restricted Movement 12;
Trading Restrictions 13;
Forced Planting of Summer Paddy 13;
Conclusion: The Situation Today 15...
Appendix 1: Decrease in Rice Production in Mong Nai Township 1994-2005 16. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Shan Relief and Development Committee (SRDC) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (204K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 18 January 2006 |
|
| Title: | | Pa'an District: Food Security in Crisis for Civilians in Rural Areas |
| Date of publication: | | 30 March 2005 |
| Description/subject: | | Released on March 30, 2005...
This bulletin examines the factors causing many villagers in Pa'an district to say that they now face a deepening food and money shortage crisis which is threatening their health and survival. Based on villagers' testimony, the main factors appear to be recurring forced labour for both SPDC and DKBA authorities, made worse in some areas by orders for farmers to double-crop on their land and the encroachment of new SPDC military bases on villages and farmland. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG #2005-B3) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 23 May 2005 |
|
| Title: | | Rich Periphery, Poor Center: Myanmar's Rural Economy |
| Date of publication: | | March 2004 |
| Description/subject: | | Abstract:
"This paper looks at the case of Myanmar in order to investigate the behavior and welfare of
rural households in an economy under transition from a planned to a market system. Myanmar's
case is particularly interesting because of the country's unique attempt to preserve a policy of
intervention in land transactions and marketing institutions. A sample household survey that we
conducted in 2001, covering more than 500 households in eight villages with diverse
agro-ecological environments, revealed two paradoxes. First, income levels are higher in
villages far from the center than in villages located in regions under the tight control of the
central authorities. Second, farmers and villages that emphasize a paddy-based, irrigated
cropping system have lower farming incomes than those that do not. The reason for these
paradoxes are the distortions created by agricultural policies that restrict land use and the
marketing of agricultural produce. Because of these distortions, the transition to a market
economy in Myanmar since the late 1980s is only a partial one. The partial transition, which
initially led to an increase in output and income from agriculture, revealed its limit in the survey
period."...There are 2 versions of this paper. The one placed as the main URL, which also has a later publication date, seems to be longer, though it is about 30K smaller. |
| Author/creator: | | Ikuko Okamoto, Kyosuke Kurita, Takashi Kurosaki and Koichi Fujita |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | IDE ( Institute of Developing Economies) Discussion Paper No. 23 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (213K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.econ.yale.edu/conference/neudc03/papers/1d-kurosaki.pdf |
| Date of entry/update: | | 05 December 2003 |
|
| Title: | | MYANMAR: AGRICULTURAL SECTOR REVIEW INVESTMENT STRATEGY VOLUME 1 – SECTOR REVIEW |
| Date of publication: | | 2004 |
| Description/subject: | | CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:
The Government of Myanmar has made it clear that it recognises the crucial importance of a dynamic, liberalised agricultural sector to the country, describing it as the base’ for national economic growth and calling for the evolution of a market-oriented economic system’ as a key economic objective, while the first policy declaration of the MOAI is to allow freedom of choice in agricultural production’. Yet more than a decade after the commencement of the transition from the previous Socialist regime, many aspects of the agricultural and rural economy remain substantially under Government control or influence, including the choice of crops to be planted, priorities for agricultural research and extension, access to inputs, processing and international trade...
The enormous potentials inherent in the agricultural and rural economy of Myanmar outlined in this document will continue to go unrealised unless the liberalisation process started in the late 1980s is encouraged to fully evolve. Although moves such as the liberalisation of rice marketing in 2003 should be welcomed, their impact is often reduced by a subsequent tightening of state controls – as indeed has been the case with the reintroduction of the prohibition on private sector exports of rice just a few months later. This study has identified a number of important technical issues that need to be addressed in order to facilitate the growth of the sector1, however, it must be understood that the impact of investment in the rural sector will be greatly lessened in the absence of continued liberalisation measures...
The three policy areas which are exerting the greatest influence on sector development at this time are those relating to rural financial services, international trade and directed production. The liberalisation of rural finances is critical because state-controlled structures (e.g. MADB) are currently unable to provide farmers and other rural entrepreneurs with access to the financing they need to increase productivity. This lack of financing reduces the use of inputs, limits the adoption of new technologies, constrains the development of unutilised land and encourages low cost/low output production. Furthermore, by forcing rural populations to use much higher cost credit from informal sources it is, without doubt, a major factor in increasing rural indebtedness and poverty. Limitations on access to international markets are almost equally important, as they prevent the sector from identifying, and responding to, those opportunities which will provide the greatest returns, both for their families and for the country as a whole. The result has been to distort production patterns towards perceived national priorities, at the expense of economic growth. Finally, the continued use of directed production for perceived strategic crops limits the ability of the agricultural sector to seek out and adopt the most productive and profitable activities, effectively preventing its evolution in a rapidly changing world...
The temptation to solve economic problems through direct intervention is an age old one, and it is not surprising that the Government sees intervention as an effective instrument for achieving short-term goals, such as maintaining low consumer prices, guaranteeing supplies, or reducing expenditure of scarce foreign currency – even when this is in conflict with its own broader national policies. Nevertheless, action in one area has inevitable consequences elsewhere, many of which may not be anticipated. As many countries have discovered, one intervention often requires another intervention to resolve an unintended side-effect. Consequently, such intervention should be used very sparingly, if at all, and alternative approaches, which do not conflict with basic national policies should be sought instead...
With ASEAN integration now a likely prospect in the medium term, growing pressures from international globalisation, and strong indications of increasing poverty in rural areas, a continuation of the partial liberalization regime effectively in place at the moment will prove difficult to maintain and is likely to further constrain economic growth and development. Myanmar may ultimately have to choose between broad choices: To return to the socialist model of the 1970s and 1980s, and in so doing effectively disconnect the country from the international and regional economic system; or to push forward with existing national policies of economic liberalisation and realize the great potential of Myanmar as an agricultural producer and exporter. While the second choice will bring with it many challenges, few doubt that the agricultural sector in Myanmar can be a competitive force in the world economy, and the growth that such
competitiveness would bring could both reduce rural poverty and catalyse the development of the rest of the economy.
14.95 Finally, it is worth noting that experience across a broad spectrum of developing countries has shown that food security is most prevalent when national policies influencing the productive sectors of the economy have a marked pro-poor orientation. In a predominantly rural economy such as that of Myanmar, agricultural growth provides the most opportunities for pro-poor development, as long as the poor are central to the process. This requires not only access to appropriate technical, financial and physical resources for production, as well as associated services such as health, sanitation, water supply and education, but also an economic and policy environment which enables rural households to respond to market demand and benefit from their contribution to national growth. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (2.1MB) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 27 November 2007 |
|
| Title: | | Current Economic Conditions in Myanmar and Options for Sustainable Growth |
| Date of publication: | | May 2003 |
| Description/subject: | | Abstract:
In this paper, an extensive report on the economy of Myanmar prepared in 1998
is supplemented by more recent reports as of fall 2002 (included as appendices).
The economy of Myanmar is one of the poorest in South East Asia. Despite relatively
rapidly growth during the 1990’s, per capita income by 1998 was little higher than in the
middle 1980s. Inflation rates are high, the currency value has fallen sharply, and
Myanmar has one of the world’s lowest rates relative to income of government revenue
and non-military spending.
Agriculture in Myanmar has an unusually high share (59%) of GDP. Despite a high
reported growth rate, yields for most food crops have remained stagnant or dropped.
Poor price incentives and credit systems constrain agricultural production. As of 1998,
farm wages are barely enough to provide food, with nothing left over for clothing,
school fees, supplies, or medicine. Environmental problems including deteriorating
water supply and diminishing common property resources further impact the poor.
Industry suffers from limited credit, fluctuating power supplies, inflation and exchange
rate instability. A possible bright spot is offshore gas potential. However, much of the
expected revenue from offshore gas development may already have been pledged as
collateral for expenditure prior to 1998, and thus will go primarily to service debt.
Recent evidence summarized in a paper by Debbie Aung Din Taylor (Appendix 3)
indicates that most people in rural areas are much worse off today than a decade ago.
Decline in agricultural production is aggravated by severe degradation of the natural
resource base. River catchment areas are denuded of forest cover, leading to more
frequent and severe flooding. Fish stocks and water supplies are diminishing. These
trends are pervasive and reaching a critical level. Assistance is urgently needed to
provide the rural poor. Sustained international attention is needed to reverse the current
rapid decline of economy and environment. |
| Author/creator: | | David Dapice |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University |
| Format/size: | | pdf (83,7K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 21 September 2004 |
|
| Title: | | Signs of Distress: Observations on agriculture, poverty and the environment in Myanmar |
| Date of publication: | | 22 November 2002 |
| Description/subject: | | "...Why does food production in Myanmar appear to be in trouble? Although quantitative
information is sparse, there is sufficient evidence to suggest three main reasons for
declining agricultural production. These three reasons are: inadequate credit, unstable
and restrictive market policies and mandatory cropping. Together, these three
conditions act as powerful disincentives to national production..." |
| Author/creator: | | Debbie Aung Din Taylor |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | School of Advanced International Affairs, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C. |
| Format/size: | | pdf (96K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 10 August 2009 |
|
-
Food security by State and Division
-
Food Security in Chin State
Individual Documents
| Title: | | A Land of Beauty and Misery |
| Date of publication: | | January 2010 |
| Description/subject: | | Breathtaking vistas of Chin State contrast starkly with the hardships of life in this often-ignored corner of Burma...
"The Chin people I met during my visit to this northwestern part of Burma take great pride in the natural attractions of their land—a place of dense forests and deep gorges, where exotic flowers cover steep mountains, which often lie enveloped in cool, refreshing mists.
Children in Chin State are the most vulnerable to disease and malnutrition. (Photo: KO YUYA)
But the natural beauty belies the hardships of life in this isolated highland, where ordinary people face privations that are severe even by the standards of a country ranked among the world’s most impoverished.
Much of the suffering here is not, however, merely a matter of poverty. Besides the struggle to find food and earn a living, many must also contend with various human rights abuses committed by the Burmese junta..." |
| Author/creator: | | Ko Yuya |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 18, No. 1 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 28 February 2010 |
|
| Title: | | On the Edge of Survival: The Continuing Rat Infestation and Food Crisis in Chin State, Burma |
| Date of publication: | | September 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | Executive Summary"
"Since late 2007, the people of Chin State have been struggling with massive food shortages and hunger after the vast bamboo forests that cover the mountainous landscape of Chin State began to flower and die- a process that occurs twice every century. Already struggling for their survival due to decades of severe economic repression and human rights abuses, this natural disaster has left the Chin people on the edge of survival.
This report is a follow-up to CHRO’s July 2008 report, “Critical Point: Food Scarcity and Hunger in Burma’s Chin State,” which first brought worldwide attention to the dire humanitarian conditions facing the Chin people. This report provides an update on the current conditions in Chin State, the effects of the food crisis, and responses taken to assist people in the affected areas of Chin State.
The bamboo of Chin State began to flower in late 2006. Attracted to the fruit produced by the bamboo, the flowering process triggered an explosion in the rat population. After exhausting the fruit supply, the rats turned on people’s crops and food supplies, causing massive food shortages for local villagers dependent on farming for their livelihood and subsistence. In 2008, CHRO estimated that as many as 200 villages were affected by severe food shortages associated with the bamboo flowering, and no less than 100,000 people, or 20 percent of the entire population of Chin State, were in need of immediate food aid. CHRO now believes those figures are much higher.
Since CHRO first reported on the crisis, food shortages spread to seven townships in Chin State as well as parts of Sagaing Division. Up to 82 percent of the farmland has been destroyed in certain affected regions of Chin State. In several villages, each and every household is in need of immediate food aid. The consequences of the food crisis are also more apparent now. Over 54 people are known to have died due to the effects of extreme malnourishment and famine-related disease; children comprise the majority of recorded deaths. As access to affected regions is limited, this number is likely to be an underestimate. Disease and malnourishment is widespread, particularly among women, children, and the elderly. Children with little ability to concentrate on studies due to hunger have been forced to drop out of school in order to help their families forage for food: school enrollment rates are down 50 to 60 percent from last year. Several thousand Chin have fled their villages to search for food elsewhere. More than 4,000 have already arrived to the India and Thailand border.
Villagers are now struggling with hunger and severe malnutrition due to food shortages in Chin State. Children are particularly at risk of malnourishment. (© CHRO, 2007)
Up to 82 percent of the farmland has been destroyed in certain affected regions of Chin State. (© CHRO, 2009) The situation has been made more acute by the ruling military regime’s utter neglect of the suffering, compounded by policies and practices of abuse and repression against Chin civilians. As thousands struggle with hunger, starvation, and disease, the SPDC continues practices of forced labor, extorting excessive amounts of money from villagers, confiscating people’s land and property, in addition to other severe human rights abuses. Such actions have strained the Chin people’s ability to cope with the impacts of the natural disaster.
Since the food shortages were first reported by CHRO, efforts have been made to respond to the food crisis. After initially dismissing the situation in Chin State, the WFP conducted a follow-up investigation and eventually acknowledged the existence of food shortages in Chin State. During a recent mission to the area, WFP reported “food consumption *to be+
worse than any other region visited by the Mission.” WFP and their coordinating partners initiated relief programs in early 2009 that continue to be implemented in various affected areas of Chin State. Chin community-based groups in India have also organized relief teams to deliver food aid to remote villages in Chin State. These teams are responsible for delivering over 30,000 kilograms of rice to 54 villages in six townships from May to July 2009 alone.
Despite concerted efforts from multiply fronts to assist the affected population, Burma’s military government, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), continues to do nothing to respond to the food crisis in Chin State. Rather, the SPDC has exacerbated the crisis through sustained human rights abuses and economic repression, further undermining the livelihoods and food security of the Chin people. Forced labor, extortion, and confiscations of land and property continue unabated within the affected areas. SPDC has denied repeated requests for food aid, even as it reports a rice surplus. Local authorities have banned villagers from receiving foreign aid, threatening reprisals against anyone who accepts foreign aid.
Government neglect and continued abuse; inadequately supported relief efforts; and pervasive hunger and food shortages have the potential for catastrophic humanitarian consequences. The effects of the bamboo flowering and rat infestation are expected to last three to five years. During the last bamboo cycle, half a century ago, 10,000 to 15,000 people reportedly died due to the associated effects of hunger and disease in neighboring Mizoram State. The people of Chin State today struggling with the same natural disaster have the added burden of military repression, abuse, and neglect. They are on the edge of survival now; but their struggle is far from over." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (2.38MB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs07/On_The_Edge_of_Survival-2.pdf |
| Date of entry/update: | | 18 September 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Critical Point - Food Scarcity and Hunger in Burma’s Chin State _ 2008 (Special Reports) |
| Date of publication: | | July 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: "The military regime of Burma has been consistent in their inability and unwillingness to protect and provide for the people of Burma. Burma’s human rights record provides testimony of decades of widespread violations and abuses perpetrated largely at the hands of Burma’s military rulers and their agents against the Burmese people. Dissent is regularly silenced and opponents brutalized. In a country once known as the “rice-bowl of Asia,” Burma is now one of the poorest countries of Asia due to steady economic deterioration driven by the regime’s mismanagement. Many in Burma live without access to proper schools, healthcare facilities, reliable electricity, safe drinking water, and stable food supplies. Cowed by policies of extreme oppression and tactics of intimidation, life for much of the population in Burma is a struggle for daily survival. Add to that a natural disaster- and survival in Burma reaches a critical point. Western Burma’s Chin State is at such a point. Since 2006, the region has been plagued by a severe food crisis following a steep reduction in the local harvest and food production. The year 2006 marked the beginning of a new cycle of bamboo flowering, which occurs about every 50 years in the region, triggering an explosion in the population of rats and resulting in the destruction of crops. This has caused a severe shortage of food for local communities primarily dependent on subsistence farming through shifting cultivation. The phenomenon has been documented three times since 1862, and each past event ended in a disastrous famine for the communities in the area. Compounding the impending food crisis in Chin State due to the bamboo flowering is the continuation of severe human rights violations and repressive economic policies of the military regime, which serve to further undermine the livelihoods and food security of the Chin people. The use of unpaid civilian forced labour is widespread throughout Chin State, which consumes the time and energy of local farmers and reduces their crop yields. The regime also forcibly orders farmers to substitute their staple crops for other cash crops, and has confiscated thousands of acres of farmland from local farmers for tea and jatropha plantations. Meanwhile, arbitrary taxes and mandatory “donations” collected from Chin households by the Burmese authorities total up to as much 200,000 Kyats a year in major towns.2 This includes the unofficial collection of money from the Chin public by officials in various government departments at the local level to support such programs as tea and bio-fuel plantations; and extortion and confiscation of money, properties, and livestock by military units stationed at 33 locations across the state. The rising cost of living and skyrocketing food prices is also adding to the already dire humanitarian situation in Chin State. In the last four years, the price of rice has quintupled from 6,000 Kyats a bag in 2004 to as much as 30,000 Kyats today, an amount equivalent to the monthly salary of entry level public servants. The humanitarian consequences stemming from the dying bamboo and exacerbated by conditions imposed by the regime are enormous, and there are clear indications that unless urgent action is taken to address the crisis, the situation could soon turn into a large-scale catastrophe affecting all parts of Chin State. The hardest hit areas are in the southern townships of Matupi and Paletwa where bamboo grows heavily, but reports suggest that severe food shortages are a state-wide phenomenon with many villages in the northern townships of Tonzang and Thantlang, for example, having already run out of food supplies. Based on the latest field surveys conducted in the affected areas, Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) estimates that as many as 200 villages may be directly affected by severe food shortages associated with the bamboo flowering, and no less than 100, 000 people or 20 percent of the entire population of Chin State may be in need of immediate food aid.3 Food scarcity is more severe in remote areas, where families are being reduced to one meal a day or have nothing left to eat at all. CHRO recently visited four border villages in India’s Mizoram State where it found 93 families from 22 villages in Paletwa Township, Chin State who fled across the border in search of food.
To date, Burma’s State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has done nothing positive to counter the food scarcity, nor has the SPDC provided any kind of help to communities affected by the food crisis. Repeated requests by affected communities for food aid were denied, even as 100,000 metric tonnes of rice was exported to Sri Lanka.4 Rather, Burma Army soldiers have seized food aid donated by private donors and church groups.5 In contrast to the situation in Burma, India’s Mizoram and Manipur States, both adjacent to Chin State, are facing a similar food crisis related to the bamboo flowering, and have received millions of dollars in aid from the central government as well as international aid agencies, including USAID of the United States government, to support emergency programs to combat and manage the food crisis.6
In early May, when Cyclone Nargis ripped through lower Burma and the Irrawaddy delta destroying entire regions of land and leaving thousands homeless, hungry, and helpless, the regime clearly demonstrated their complete indifference to the plight of the Burmese people. In response to this natural disaster, they did shamefully little to ease the suffering of the victims and much to hamper relief efforts. As a result, the people of Burma paid a heavy price in the loss of life and continue to struggle under a regime that fails to protect or provide for its people. As another natural disaster unfolds in western Burma without hope of internal protections or provisions, the Chin people, like the cyclone victims, will be sure to pay a heavy toll unless action is taken immediately.
The critical point for action is now." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (731K, 640K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.chro.ca/publications/special-reports.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 09 July 2008 |
|
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Food Security in Karen (Kayin) State
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Livelihood consequences of SPDC restrictions and patrols in Nyaunglebin District |
| Date of publication: | | 22 September 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | "This report presents information on abuses in Nyaunglebin District for the period of April to July 2009. Though Nyaunglebin saw a reduction in SPDC activities during the first six months of 2009, patrols resumed in July. Since then, IDP villagers attempting to evade SPDC control report that they have subsequently been unable to regularly access farm fields or gardens, exacerbating cycles of food shortages set in motion by the northern Karen State offensive which began in 2006. Other villagers, from the only nominally controlled villages in the Nyaunglebin's eastern hills to SPDC-administered relocation sites in the west, meanwhile, report abuses including forced labour, conscription into government militia, travel restrictions and the torture of two village leaders for alleged contact with the KNLA..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2009-F15) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (821 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2009/khrg09f15.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: | | IDP responses to food shortages in Nyaunglebin District |
| Date of publication: | | 10 April 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | "Since the beginning of 2009, SPDC troops have patrolled areas near displaced hiding sites in Nyaunglebin District. These patrols prevent displaced villagers from cultivating their secret crops or otherwise accessing food, which in turn exacerbates food insecurity for these civilians. Despite such hardships, villagers have responded by cooperating with each other-often sharing food or helping each other cultivate crops and sell goods in 'jungle markets'. This report describes the situation of displaced villagers in Nyaunglebin District from December 2008 to March 2009..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2009-F7) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (881 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2009/khrg09f7.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 31 October 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Attacks, killings and the food crisis in Papun District |
| Date of publication: | | 04 February 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | "SPDC abuses against civilians continue in northern Karen State, especially in the Lu Thaw and Dweh Loh townships of Papun District. Abuses have been particularly harsh in Lu Thaw, most of which has been designated a "black area" by the SPDC and so subject to constant attacks by Burma Army forces. Villagers who decide to remain in their home areas are often forced to live in hiding and not only face constant threats of violence by the SPDC, but also a worsening food crisis due to the SPDC's disruption of planting cycles. This report covers events in Papun District from August 2008 to January 2009..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2009-F2) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (578 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2009/khrg09f2.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 31 October 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: | | Attacks, killings and the food crisis in Toungoo District |
| Date of publication: | | 01 August 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | "SPDC troops have continued to target internally displaced persons (IDPs) within Toungoo District. Civilians continue be killed or injured by the attacks while many of the survivors flee their homes and take shelter in forest hiding sites. Some who have moved into SPDC forced relocation sites continue to secretly return to their villages to cultivate their crops, constantly risking punishment or execution by troops patrolling the areas. The SPDC's repeated disruption of regular planting cycles has created a food crisis in Toungoo, further endangering the IDPs living there. This report examines the abuses in Toungoo District from April to June 2008..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2008-F9) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (880 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2008/khrg08f9.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 01 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Burma Army attacks and civilian displacement in northern Papun District |
| Date of publication: | | 12 June 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | "Following the deployment of new Burma Army units in the area of Htee Moo Kee village, Lu Thaw township of northern Karen State, Papun District, during the first week of March 2008, at least 1,600 villagers from seven villages were forced to relocate to eight different hiding sites in order to avoid the encroaching army patrols. These displaced communities are now facing heightened food insecurity and an ongoing risk of military attack. This report is based on in-depth interviews with displaced villagers from Lu Thaw township regarding the recent Burma Army operations and the resultant effects on the local communities. It also includes information on the recent military attack on Dtay Muh Der village, Lu Thaw township, Papun District which Burma Army forces conducted during the first week of June 2008 and which led to the further displacement of over 1,000 villagers..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2008-F6) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (537 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2008/khrg08f6.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 01 November 2009 |
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| Title: | | Landmines, Killings and Food Destruction: Civilian life in Toungoo District |
| Date of publication: | | 09 August 2007 |
| Description/subject: | | "The attacks against civilians continue as the SPDC increases its military build-up in Toungoo District. Enforcing widespread restrictions on movement backed up by a shoot-on-sight policy, the SPDC has executed at least 38 villagers in Toungoo since January 2007. On top of this, local villagers face the ever present danger of landmines, many of which were manufactured in China, which the Army has deployed around homes, churches and forest paths. Combined with the destruction of covert agricultural hill fields and rice supplies, these attacks seek to undermine food security and make life unbearable in areas outside of consolidated military control. However, as those living under SPDC rule have found, the constant stream of military demands for labour, money and other supplies undermine livelihoods, village economies and community efforts to address health, education and social needs. Civilians in Toungoo must therefore choose between a situation of impoverishment and subjugation under SPDC rule, evasion in forested hiding sites with the constant threat of military attack, or a relatively stable yet uprooted life in refugee camps away from their homeland. This report documents just some of the human rights abuses perpetrated by SPDC forces against villagers in Toungoo District up to July 2007..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Report (KHRG #2007-F6) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (1.24 MB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2007/khrg07f6.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 08 November 2009 |
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| Title: | | The Compounding Consequences of DKBA Oppression: Abuse, poverty and food insecurity in Thaton District |
| Date of publication: | | 09 July 2007 |
| Description/subject: | | "As the principal means of establishing control over the people of Thaton District, the SPDC has supported a more aggressive DKBA role in the area. With the junta's political, military and financial backing the DKBA has sought to expand its numbers, strengthen its position vis-à-vis the civilian population and eradicate the remaining KNU/KNLA presence in the region. To those ends, the DKBA has used forced labour, looting, extortion, land confiscation and movement restrictions and embarked on a hostile campaign of forced recruitment from amongst the local population. These abuses have eroded village livelihoods, leading to low harvest yields and wholly failed crops; problems which compound over time and progressively deepen poverty and malnourishment. With the onset of the rainy season and the 2007 cultivation period, villagers in Thaton District are faced with depleting provisions. This food insecurity will require that many harvest their 2007 crop as early as October while still unripe. The low yield of an early harvest, lost time spent on forced labour and the harmful fallout of further extortion and other abuses will all combine to ensure once again that villagers in Thaton District confront food shortages and increasing poverty..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Report (KHRG #2007-F5) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (527 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2007/khrg07f5.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 08 November 2009 |
|
| 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: | | Karen Human Rights Group Commentary #2000-C2 |
| Date of publication: | | 06 April 2000 |
| Description/subject: | | After they get a lot of paddy, they report to other countries that their country produces a lot of paddy. But really they beat civilians and take the paddy from us. They are just starting to do this now so we still have enough rice to eat, but if they keep doing this for many years, I don't think there will be enough. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Right Group Commentaries (KHRG #2000-C2) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
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