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No Mercy? But isn't the Shan Broth



DISPOSSESSED 
Forced Relocation and Extrajudicial Killings in Shan State
(Part III of Text)	

TheShan Human Rights Foundation
April 1998

(The text is supplemented by meticulously detailed maps of forced
relocations throughout Shan State and graphic photos, including some of
SLORC/SPDC killing fields in Shan State.) 

THE EXODUS TO THAILAND

"The Burmese are letting people come to Thailand. Their aim is just to stop
people from staying in the villages, to drive them out, that's all."  (KHRG
interview with villager from Kun Hing, May 1996)

The refugee flow into Thailand from the relocation areas of Central Shan
State has been even greater during 1997 than in 1996. This appears to be
because the refugees fleeing in 1997 include not only those that have been
newly relocated, but also those that were relocated in 1996, who have been
unable to continue eking out a living in hiding or in relocation sites for a
second year. The increased brutality of the SLORC/SPDC troops in and around
the sites during 1997 and the many extrajudicial killings, has also
terrorized many into fleeing.

Refugee flows into Thailand during 1996

In April-May of 1996, whole communities of relocated villagers fled to
Thailand, either by truck or on foot. There were three main crossing points
into Thailand for the refugees. The most commonly used was the route across
into Nong Ook, in northern Chiang Mai province. At the height of the
relocation period, in April, local people reported that several hundred
Shans were crossing each day. On one day, it was reported that over 1,000
Shans had crossed over.

Another popular route was across the mountains west of Fang. Local witnesses
reported that up to 150 people were crossing over in April and May. The
route across from Ho Murng into Mae Hong Son was also taken. In April and
May, local authorities in Ho Murng reported that over 100 were crossing each
day.

Given these figures, it was estimated that a minimum of 20,000 Shans crossed
over during April and May, 1996. However, even during the rainy season,
refugees continued to come over, and numbers increased at the end of 1996
after the rains.

Refugee flows to Thailand in 1997

Refugees arriving in Thailand in 1997 reported that up to 80% of the
populations in their areas had fled to Thailand as a result of the relocations.

"There are more people coming this year than last year. Only about 50% are
left in Murng Kerng." (KHRG interview with villager from Murng Kerng, August
30, 1997)

"Out of the people who have been forced to move, about 80% have come to
Thailand. Only about 20% went to the town." (KHRG interview with monk from
Lai Kha, August 31, 1997)

As in 1996, the main influx of refugees arriving in Thailand through the
three main border crossing points (into Mae Hong Son, and into Nong Ook and
Fang in northern Chiang Mai province) began in the early part of the year.
Refugees arriving at the Thai border north of Chiang Mai in March and April
1997 reported coming in convoys of 3-4 trucks from central Shan State, each
truck carrying 30-50 people. Throughout April, the towns and villages inside
Burma on the main road to Nong Ook, such as Murng Ton, and Bong Ba Kem,
opposite northern Chiang Mai province were filled with hundreds of refugees
camping in the schools and temples, on their way to Thailand. Even as far
away as Tachilek, in April one of the temples was reported to be filled with
over 200 refugees from the Kun Hing relocation area.

The flow of refugees crossing between March-July 1997 over the main border
crossing points, based on interviews with members of border communities, was
estimated by SHRF as follows:

		average no. crossing 	approximate
		per day 		total per month

March 1997 	    210 		6,000
April 1997 	                      330 		10,000
May 1997 	                      260 		8,000
June 1997 	                      200 		6,000
July 1997 		    130 		4,000

Total 				34,000

Numbers decreased steadily after July, following the onset of the rainy
season, but during and after the rains, there was still an average of about
1,000 refugees coming to the Thai border each month.

Given the estimated figure of 20,000 Shan refugees coming to Thailand in
April and May 1996, plus at least a further 10,000 fleeing steadily
throughout the rest of the year, together with the estimated 34,000 in
March-July 1997, and at least another 6,000 in the second half of the year,
this means that approximately 80,000 Shan refugees have fled to Thailand in
the last two years.

SITUATION OF THE REFUGEES IN THAILAND

Thai policy towards Shan refugees

Regrettably, the Thai government continues to deny refuge for those persons
fleeing human rights abuses in Shan State. Shan refugees fleeing to Thailand
have been repeatedly pushed back across the border by Thai authorities, and
unlike refugees from several other ethnic minority groups in Burma, Shan
refugees receive no assistance from international aid groups.

The result of the Thai policy has meant that until the present, any Shan
refugees fleeing to Thailand have been forced to try and survive as illegal
migrants. The risks and difficulties this involves have compounded their
suffering.

"No refugees."

Up until now, there has been no official Thai acknowledgment of the huge
influx of Shan refugees over the last two years. Foreign Embassy staff and
UNHCR representatives who have questioned local Thai officials in Chiang Mai
province about the large numbers of refugees arriving since April 1996, have
been told that only the usual migrant labourers from Shan State have been
coming across to work in farms and other worksites.

Given the eyewitness reports from the border crossing points of unusually
high numbers of Shans crossing over in the early months of 1996 and 1997,
and repeated large scale arrests of refugees that have occurred near the
border, it is highly unlikely that the Thai authorities are not aware of the
exodus caused by the forced relocation. It can only be assumed that as long
as the official Thai policy is to deny asylum for Shan refugees, it is
expedient to deny that the problem exists.

Fear of arrest

For most refugees arriving in Thailand, the main fear is that they will be
arrested for illegal entry. The punishment for this is a 1-month prison
sentence or a fine of about 2,000 baht.

During 1996, there were repeated arrests of refugees arriving in Thailand by
Thai police either near the border or on the way to Chiang Mai and Bangkok.

Since the onset of the economic crisis in Thailand in the latter part of
1997, and the resulting Thai government policy to push out illegal migrants,
there have been increased crackdowns along routes from the border, and at
worksites in towns, and this has greatly increased the climate of fear among
refugees trying to survive in Thailand.

Exploitation

Because of their illegal status, all of the refugees are at risk of
exploitation by unscrupulous agents and traffickers. Particularly in danger
are girls and young women.

In the third week of February of 1998, a woman refugee from Keng Kham, aged
25, who had been working on a farm west of Fang for several months, was
approached by a motorcycle-taxi driver at Fang market. He offered her a job
for 3,500 baht a month. She agreed to go with him, and he handed her over to
another man, who paid him 8,000 baht. She was taken in a car down to
Bangkok, and then down to a high-rise building near the sea. She was locked
in the ground floor, where there were about 40 other women and girls from
Shan State. They were all refugees from areas of forced relocation, such as
Lai Kha, Murng Nai, Keng Kham and Keng Tong. The youngest was a girl of 13.
The women were locked up all the time, and only let out when male customers
took them out at night. Fortunately for the woman from Keng Kham, she was
able to escape after a week and return to Fang. Within two days of arriving
back in Fang, the motorcyclist and agent from Bangkok came to find her at
her former workplace, but luckily she had already moved on.

LIVING CONDITIONS OF REFUGEES IN THAILAND

"In Thailand there are many people from Shan State now working in lychee
orchards, in cultivation, in construction sites, and also in shops working
dishes...almost every shop, every house has Shan servants now.... (KHRG
interview with monk from Lai Kha, Aug, 8 1997)

Shan refugees arriving in 1996 and 1997 have ended up mostly on farms in
Chiang Mai or Mae Hong Son provinces, or on construction sites in towns such
as Chiang Mai or Bangkok. The main difference between these refugees and the
usual migrant labourers from Burma is that the refugees generally consist of
whole families including young children and grandparents, whereas migrant
labourers tend to be mostly working adults without dependents. This has made
it very difficult for the refugees to survive. Even if the adults can earn a
(usually irregular) wage on the site, it is extremely low and must be used
to support their children or elderly relatives as well as themselves.

Conditions in rural areas

Thai farmers in the border provinces have in recent years increasingly
relied on migrant labour, and many Shans have long been employed in farms
and orchards along the Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai borders.
Thus, when large numbers of Shan refugees fled into Thailand over the last
two years, many headed first to stay with friends and relatives in border
agricultural communities.

Farm workers tend to stay in huts out in the fields. Wages range from 30 to
100 baht a day, but the work is seasonal and sporadic. Many refugees who
tried to survive on farms were later forced to move to cities in the hope
that could survive better with construction work.

Refugees interviewed on farms stated that they hardly left their worksite in
case they were arrested by police, who would often patrol the roads. They
would slip out only to buy supplies from local markets. When they were ill,
they were also unwilling to go to Thai hospitals, and preferred to buy
medicine to treat themselves.

Conditions on construction sites

Wages on construction sites are about 70-80 baht per day for women and
100-120 baht for men. However, the wage for simply digging ditches or
collecting rubbish around a site can be as low as 35 baht. Work is also
often only available for as little as 10 days a month.

Workers are usually paid every 15 days, at which time "police protection
fees" of 50-100 baht are deducted. Workers also tend to buy food and
supplies on credit from the company store on the construction site, so that
very little cash is actually received on pay-day.

Large numbers of workers live together in corrugated iron or bamboo shacks
at the construction sites. Members of several families may live crowded
together in one room, where food is also cooked. Shared makeshift latrines
and washing huts are usually located next to the living quarters.

Illness is a major problem for refugees at construction sites. Stomach
disorders and skin infections owing to unsanitary living conditions are
common, as well as malaria. If the main breadwinner falls ill, the rest of
the family has to borrow from other members of the worksite community in
order to have enough to eat. Many of the refugees do not dare go to local
Thai hospitals, and simply try to treat themselves with over-the-counter
medicine.

The effects of the 1997 economic crisis on Shan refugees

Already by mid-1997, the work situation for Shan refugees had become
increasingly difficult. The constant influxes of refugees arriving in the
border areas meant that there was less agricultural work available, and in
the towns, the high numbers of refugees competing for work meant that it was
an "employers' markets. With a constant source of cheap labour available,
employers found it easier to cheat their workers, for example letting
workers work for one or more months without pay, then calling the police to
come and arrest them.

In the second half of 1997, the economic crisis began to affect construction
projects. In Chiang Mai, construction began to slow down on the large
housing estates in the outlying areas of the town, where thousands of
migrant workers had been working. Many employers stopped paying their workers.

At the end of 1997, in an attempt to solve their economic problems and
create jobs for the increasing numbers of Thai unemployed, the Thai
government began drawing up plans to repatriate the estimated one million
migrant workers inside Thailand, including the approximate 800,000 migrants
from Burma. There began to be large-scale crackdowns in work-sites around
the country, and pushbacks of migrants to the border.

In Chiang Mai, there have been repeated raids on construction sites since
the beginning of 1998. Some groups of illegal migrants have been sent back
to the border and allowed to disperse on the Thai side. Some groups have
actually been repatriated into the hands of Burmese officials at the border
crossing of Nong Ook.

On January 20, 1998, a group of 60 Shans who had been repatriated officially
were forced by SPDC troops to go to Murng Ton, and then on to the Salween
River at Ta Sarng, where they were made to work by SPDC soldiers from IB no.
65 at a gravel-pit, splitting stones for a construction company.

An impending crisis

In spite of the economic problems in Thailand, and the resulting shortage of
jobs and increased police crackdowns on migrants, refugees are continuing to
pour in from the areas of relocation inside Shan State. Several thousand
have already arrived in January and February of 1998. They state that they
were aware of the problems in Thailand, but they had no other choice to survive.
At the same time, the Shan refugees inside Thailand who have been pushed
back to the border are unable to return home and are continuing to seek
refuge in the border areas.

With the agricultural communities at the northern border already saturated
with the tens of thousands of Shan refugees who have fled over the last two
years, there is now simply no work available for the new arrivals and the
situation has become critical. Urgent measures are required to deal with
this impending humanitarian crisis on the Thai-Shan border.

CONCLUSION

This report has attempted to detail the suffering caused by this
unprecedented forced relocation program in Central Shan State. Over three
hundred thousand people have been dispossessed of their ancestral lands,
cultural heritage and livelihood. The effects of this relocation program
will be felt for generations.
The social upheaval caused by the forced relocations is also affecting the
rest of Burma. Already facing rice shortages and social unrest, Burma can
ill afford its scorched earth policy in Central Shan State's fertile "rice
bowl" and the creation of hundreds of thousands of newly internally
displaced. If this forced relocation program is allowed to continue, it will
not only further destabilize Burma, it will also continue to adversely
affect Thailand and Burma's other neighbours.

CALL FOR ACTION

SHRF calls on ASEAN, the United Nations, and other concerned international
bodies to pressure the Burmese military regime to stop the forced relocation
program and extrajudicial killings in Shan State and allow the displaced
villagers to return home without further abuse.

In addition, SHRF calls on the Royal Thai Government to allow the Shans
fleeing this relocation program access to safe refuge in Thailand and the
right to receive humanitarian assistance until such abuses have stopped.

Appendices include a detailed listing of "Extrajudicial Killings in the
Forced Relocation Areas In Shan State During 1997" totaling 664 people,
giving, in so far as possible, date, name, sex, age, village of origin,
killed by SLORC/SPDC troop no, site of killing an note as to method used to
kill.


April 1998

The Shan Human Rights Foundation
P.O. Box 201
Phrasing Post Office
Chiang Mai 50200
Thailand
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