ILO: FORCED LABOUR IN BURMA-41

[darnott@xxxxxxxxxxx]

[ILO COMMISSION OF INQUIRY ON FORCED LABOUR IN BURMA, SLICE
41]

167

Ethnicity:          Karen
Age/sex:            18, female
Family situation:   Married with one child

The witness gave her testimony in the presence of witness 167.
She witness did not do forced labour herself because she dared
not go. Her husband always went. He portered and did forced
labour and cut bamboo for the army camp. He did forced labour
about five to eight days every month. Once it was for one
whole month. Once he was kicked because he had diarrhoea or
dysentery and had to go to the toilet several times. Her
husband did not do road building, but some other people in the
village had to. Her mother and father used to do the forced
labour requirement for her family when she lived with them.
Her husband went as a porter six times between the age of 16
and 18.
                     _______________________


168

Ethnicity:          Karen
Age/sex:            48, male
Family situation:   Widower with four children
Occupation:         Farmer
                    (village had 217 households)

The witness came to Thailand in August/September 1997 because
Burmese army actions made life insecure in his village. When
soldiers met villagers in the countryside and thought they
would flee from them, they tied them up and threatened to kill
them. To leave the village and work on their fields they
needed a pass for a specified number of days; if the soldiers
suspected a villager, even if that villager had a pass to work
on his fields, they could do anything to him. The witness did
forced labour from 1983, when military operations started in
his region, up to 1987, when it had become daily routine,
taking up over half his time year round, including winter and
summer, dry season and the rainy season. During the rainy
season carts and cars could not pass and villagers had to
carry supplies for the military. He had no time to work for
his own living, because he constantly had to do work for the
military here and there. The worst forced labour was
portering. The load assigned was more than one could carry,
and in addition, one had to carry one's own food. Normally,
portering was for five days by rotation, but if a replacement
did not arrive, it could go on for a month. Also, if another
group of soldiers arrived, one could again be asked to go, and
there remained no time to work for one's living. He did
portering many times; at least twice a year it was for over a
month. His longest spells were for two months 15 days when he
came to Tah Kwa Law Soe (mountain peak) in 1989, and three
months 20 days in the Twi Pah Wee Cho (Sleeping Dog Mountain)
operation in 1991. In that operation there were 400 to 500
porters, some of them called up through the village heads,
including 30 porters from his village of 217 families, while
others has been rounded up by the soldiers. He had to carry
twelve 81 mm shells, each weighing 2 viss (altogether 39 kg).
The last time he did portering was in August 1997 for seven
days. After that, he left the village. His eldest son also had
to do portering, over 20 times in the five to six years from
the age of age 20 until he left, but not for as many days as
himself, only seven, eight or ten days a time. Porters who
could not keep up were killed by soldiers with a rock. During
the 1991 Twi Pah Wee Cho operation he was too weak and could
not carry any more, so they punched him once, then hit him
with a rifle butt on the chest (shows scar), he was bleeding,
they also hit him with a rifle butt on the side and the head
(shows two scars). They nearly killed him, then sent him back
to Meh Myeh (a military post). During the same operation, he
saw soldiers kill two porters who were too weak to go on. One
died after receiving three kicks in the stomach and more than
10 hits with a rifle butt, the other was killed with a rock.
Porters were not paid but during this operation they were
given food, albeit only a small amount, one cover of a
soldiers' hankaw. In addition, last Summer, he and other
villagers had to build an army camp, making bunkers, sheds,
trenches. They also had to cut bamboo and fence the whole
village and the whole camp, with two fences for the village,
three for the camp. Then, for the camp, land mines and bamboo
booby traps were installed between the fence girdles. They had
to do this forced labour not only for their village but also
for two smaller villages, bringing their own food. It was hard
work, not so different from portering. He had to work from 8
a.m. to 5 p.m.; when in other villages for a few days' work,
he had to stay there the corresponding number of days. He had
to work on fences three times a year, not less than 20 days,
sometimes a month. If he finished in one place, they needed
him elsewhere and sent him there. Every household had to
supply one person for this work, failing which one had to give
one viss (1.6 kg) of chicken and 100 kyat per day. If it was
for four days, one had to give four viss of chicken, but 1,000
kyat: the compensation was proportional to the number of days
of absence only for the chicken part, it was more than
proportionate for the monetary part. If one could not give
chicken, one had to give 250 kyat per viss of chicken. He had
to give compensation two or three times, including once when
he stayed home because his youngest daughter was sick with
fever; that was no excuse. Furthermore, from October to June,
each household had to supply someone for 24 hours, three times
a month, to watch and clear the road. For his family, the
witness usually sent his younger son, from about the age of
ten, to do that job. He would not let his eldest son go,
because whenever the soldiers saw someone of age 15 to 16 who
could carry things they would take him as a porter, even if he
was on sentry duty. On that job, his son could not sleep at
night and had to sweep the road for land mines twice a day,
early morning and late evening. It was dangerous work. Once in
1995, a land mine went off and a person doing sentry duty lost
his leg and died from bleeding without treatment. Sometimes,
if the soldiers were ambushed, if someone fired at them, they
punished the person standing watch, who had to give the
soldiers a penalty of pork curry. If a car was damaged and
soldiers were hurt, the whole village had to pay for the
damage. Once, all nine villages along the road from Yoh Kla to
Kyo Wine, some 940 households, had to pay 500 kyat per
household for damage to a car. 
                     _______________________

169
 
Religion:           Muslim
Age/sex:            30, male
Family situation:   Married with three children
Occupation:         Muslim Pastor
                    (moved to Pata village in February 1997)

The witness came to Thailand in September 1997 because he had
to physically perform forced labour or pay instead amounts
of money beyond what he could afford as a pastor with a
monthly revenue of 1,000 kyat. After coming back from
"emergency" portering in February 1997, the witness moved to
another village, Pata, where the situation was not quite as
bad as in Mon Naing but also bad, so after a few months he
left the country with his family. More precisely, the witness
was required from 1992 to 1997 to perform forced labour in
various forms: portering, including "emergency" portering,
"voluntary work", sentry duty. In order to avoid portering,
the witness had to give "porters fees". If he found a friend
who would go in his place, he could pay him 80 kyat a day. If
he did not find anybody, he had to pay 200 kyat per day to the
authorities. As he was a pastor, his relatives and community
did the "regular portering" for him. But for "emergency"
portering, he was grabbed by soldiers on 30 January 1997 and
had to go until he was freed on 27 February when he came as a
porter through his village and relatives paid 2,000 kyat to an
officer for his release. The soldiers would just grab anybody,
calling it an "emergency". He was grabbed in the compound of
his mosque by sergeant major Ngwe Zan from IB 28 (Battalion
Commander Thura Po Sein, Company Commander Aung Moe) who
called him "teacher" and grabbed him. He had to carry a load
of over 20 viss (over 32 kg) of small bullets, rice and yellow
beans from his village by the riverside across a 5,000 foot
mountain. Women had to carry over 10 viss (16 kg). He was in a
group of 400 to 500 porters, including 180 women from a group
of four villages forced to carry supplies to front line
troops. When soldiers arrested them, all the men's hands were
tied, and they remained tied all the time, sleeping, carrying,
going to the toilet. They were fed just one condensed milk tin
full of rice for eight people per meal. He saw 16 porters
beaten to death. Some were beaten to death because they could
not carry goods any more and took a rest. Someone drinking
water from a stream was kicked and died. Another person was
dizzy, sat down and was beaten to death. One beaten to death
was his friend Soba, a Muslim from Kawkareik town. He also saw
others who could continue carrying their loads being beaten
but they did not die. Usually the soldiers beat the people
when tired, he himself was beaten just because he looked the
other way. Women were placed between the soldiers, and some of
them were raped, including five Muslim women from his village
who told him the next day, asking in vain for help. They were
asked to sleep among the soldiers. It happened almost every
night to all kinds of women, including Muslim, Karen, whoever
was there. In his village, everyone had to go portering, and
many were beaten or injured. Three were injured, including his
cousin who had his leg amputated after stepping on a land mine
while portering. Two villagers had broken ribs and two others
broken collar bones as porters because they were beaten when
sitting to rest. He himself had problems with his back as a
consequence of carrying a heavy load when on the way back in
February 1997, he with another porter had to carry an injured
soldier. In 1983/84, his elder brother and his brother-in-law
were killed while portering. When the corpses were brought
back seven days later, his brother had his throat slit and his
brother-in-law three bayonet wounds in the chest. Other
porters who brought back the news told him that the soldiers
had killed them. In addition, three times a month, his village
(with 80 households left) had to supply ten persons to do
sentry duty round the clock for five days in a row. One could
find a substitute for 30 to 50 kyat a day, or pay 70 kyat per
day to the authorities instead of going. He did sentry duty
himself or sent his wife, even though she had a six month old
baby which she took with her. Sometimes his mother went. When
on sentry duty, villagers had to pull a log with a cart over
the road to see whether there were any mines on the road.
Finally, for "voluntary work" the daily amount to be paid
to officials was 200 kyat; like for portering, if one did not
go or send somebody one had to pay this money. The difference
was that the duration was fixed, if it was someone's turn,
they went for 15 days, while for porterage if it was someone's
turn, it depended on how long they needed porters for. When it
was his turn to do "voluntary work" his relatives and
community replaced him, as for the regular portering. 
                     _______________________

170
 
Ethnicity:          Karen
Age/sex:            26, male
Family situation:   Married
Education:          3rd year college
Occupation:         Soldier (rank of sergeant, in the support
                    company of an infantry battalion)

The witness joined the army in 1995 because he had to earn a
living and had no other choice. He deserted and came to
Thailand in August 1997 because, as a Karen, he could no
longer see his people being forced to work and oppressed by
the Government. Being in the army, he could protect his
relatives, but not other people. There was partiality even in
the army between Karen and Burmese. When it came to officer
training, Burmese students were chosen to attend, Karen only
if they paid a lot of money. While in the army, he saw people
being forced to work, three or four times when he served in
Lashio town, and even in Yangon, as well as in Hpa-an,
Manerplaw and Kawkareik. Forms of work included portering,
minesweeping, road work and bridge building. When the witness 
served in Lashio, his battalion (number given to the
Commission) had to supply civilians to do portering and work
on roads. Other battalions informed them of their manpower
needs; other battalions had to catch as many people as
possible, and his battalion had to supply and transport these
to the troops which needed them. From Lashio he thus witnessed
three times groups of 170, 80 and 90 people respectively being
sent to Kunlon and Kutkai, both on the Chinese border in
northern Shan State, to carry ammunition and supplies for the
soldiers. Those who could go no further were forced to build
roads. Some had to go for one week, others for one month. Some
were shot while trying to escape. In Kutkai, when a landslide
stopped the troops' advance to the front line, there were
bulldozers available, but the officers did not use them,
because they wanted to sell the fuel on the black market, so
they used the people instead to clear the road. One person
fell into a stream and died. Even in Yangon he saw forced
labour since he was small, and it was still going on. He saw
people forced to level the ground for a construction for the
military, some were bitten by snakes and not given
compensation. They would catch three, four truck loads of
people at a time, from tea houses. He had seen it happen. One
day while on leave, he went to his place, in uniform, and
heard that his friend (name given to Commission) was picked up
by soldiers while drinking tea in a tea house. He knew the
driver, found his friend in Insein prison and was able to get
him out by convincing the officers that he was his brother.
People rounded up in this way had to work for three to four
months and were never paid. Moreover, provision had been made
in the budget of the responsible department for supplying the
porters with food, but the officers supplied them with only
half and kept the rest for themselves. Some of the people
rounded up were used for building Than Lwin bridge in Yangon,
others were taken to other cities, sometimes to the front
line. When it came to his own friends having to do this kind
of work, they generally managed to pay money to escape
somehow. Every two to three months the authorities came to
collect 300 kyat "porter fees" from each house in the less
central areas of Yangon, including Insein, Kaway Chaung,
Thamine, Kyutgon, all of which are mostly Karen residential
quarters. But 300 kyat would be sufficient to escape portering
only when they came and asked for the money on a regular
basis. When someone was rounded up for portering, the parents
had to pay 4,000 to 5,000 kyat to get him out. 

In Hpa-an town, just before he came to Thailand in June 1997,
he saw people being rounded up in a place near a jetty. His
department was asked to supply six trucks but could supply
only five. A truck would accommodate normally around 50
people, they put 80 people in a truck. From there these people
were taken to places like Nabu, Wawle, Kawkareik,
Thingannyinaung, and from these places they had to carry food
and other supplies further as porters, for two to three
months. Some people could not tell where they were, ran away,
never came back to their village. In Hpa-an, he has seen
soldiers beating porters (he did not see this in Lashio). 

In June 1997, the witness drove porters to a military camp
close to Manerplaw, the former KNU headquarters, where the
porters were given iron rods and ordered to walk ahead as
minesweepers. He stayed behind while the minesweepers were in
front: five people at a time over the width of the road and
five behind them in between. When they saw a mine, they
shouted back. He did not see anybody injured, but they found
eight or nine land mines; experts took them out. He heard that
in other groups, land mines killed many people. His comrades
coming back in April 1997 from Hill 962, a place called Ta Lay
on a hill, told him that eight porters were injured from
stepping on a land mine. Those seriously injured were shot
dead by soldiers, who did not want to care about medical
treatment. 

He saw the personal file of a soldier (name provided to the
Commission) who had been demoted from lance-corporal to
private, and asked him about the reasons. During an operation
on the front line, a 25 to 26 year old lieutenant had
villagers rounded up to the camp and asked whether they had
seen any KNU soldiers. When they replied "no", the lieutenant
asked an 80-year old lady in the crowd to tell him the truth,
then hit her with a rifle butt on the forehead, asked her
again and slapped her in the face. The lance-corporal tried to
dissuade the lieutenant, who told him to mind his own business
and kicked the lady, already lying on the ground, with his
military boot on the chest. When the lance-corporal begged him
not to do this, the lieutenant challenged him to a fight, and
since the lance-corporal kept quiet he picked up the lady by
the collar, she was crying, he spat on her face. The lance-
corporal knew he could not stop  the lieutenant anymore and 
hit him with a rifle butt on the temple. So the lance-corporal
was demoted and put in the lock-up for three months. 

At camp 1/450 [Company 1 of battalion 450] near Kawkareik, in
the beginning of 1997 villagers were asked to cut down trees
and toddy palms and carry the logs to a construction site,
instead of levelling the ground with bulldozers. Over 100
people were used for this for two to three months. They were
kept in place at night, so that they could not escape.
Finally, parallel to his army duties, he, along with other
soldiers, was often asked to plant trees and dig wells,
allegedly for the development of military discipline. It meant
they had to put in extra hours at night, almost 20 days a
month. Instead of working from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. they had to go
from about 6 a.m. to 3 a.m., slept for three to four hours.
This was quite common, happened everywhere. For example, the
officers would plant teak or whatever they wanted to get, keep
two thirds of the profits for themselves and one third for
buying provisions for the army. He himself received nothing.
                     _______________________


171 

Ethnicity:          Karen
Age/sex:            46, male
Family situation:   Married with three children
Education:          4th Standard
Occupation:         Farmer (he had a plot of land and his
                    father-in-law, who lives in another        
                    village, secretly looks after it)
                    (village had some 30 households, but was   
                    destroyed recently by the military in      
                    order to prevent Karen National Union      
                    (KNU) members taking refuge there)

The witness left Myanmar in early 1998. He had to act as a
porter, perform sentry duty near a road, and build a military
camp. He was left on average with 15 days a month to do his
own work. He had to do portering around 70 times over the last
26 years. He acted as a porter for the first time at the age
of 20 (1977) and last did so two months ago. It was difficult
to estimate how many times a month. The military requisitioned
porters as and when they needed them. The military's orders
were generally passed on by the village head, although the
soldiers did sometimes arrest porters directly. The orders
were given in writing, though he did not see them personally.
One person per family had to do the work, on the basis of a 
rota between four families. It was impossible to refuse. It
was however possible to engage a substitute - at a price of
500 kyat per day for substantial trips. He engaged a
substitute on one occasion. He would never have dared offer
the military a bribe to be exempted. The distances to travel
varied: from four to five days up to one month. Portering
could be required both in the rainy and the dry seasons. The
assignments had to be carried out in Mon and Kayin States. He
had to sleep with the soldiers. On several occasions, he had
to march all night, without a moment's break. The women also
had to do the same. His wife had to go to the front line on
one occasion. The last time he acted as a porter, 60 other
porters were with him, including both men and women. The women
carried food, cooking pans and munitions. The men carried
mostly munitions. He was caught up in battles against the KNU
on five occasions. In these cases, the porters (male and
female) had to stay with the soldier so as to provide them
with ammunition. He was not paid and did not always receive a
sufficient portion of food. Sometimes, he only received one
meal in two days. Like the other porters, he had to be content
with water to drink. When the porters, exhausted and starving,
were no longer able to carry their loads, they were beaten and
kicked. He had never personally been beaten, but he saw
several porters being beaten. The porters were not given
medical treatment or medicine when they were ill. He did not
witness any ill-treatment of women, but he had heard that, in
other villages, some had been maltreated or sexually abused. 
He also had to do sentry duty near the road between Thaton and
Hpa-an (a road which also went to the military camp). That
road was about three miles from his village. He could be
required to do this once or twice a month. It was the village
head who organized the work extorted by the military. Each
assignment lasted three days. One hundred and fifty women and
men worked at the same time as him, including three from his
village, on the section assigned to them. The work consisted
of defending the road against the KNU. To do this, he had to
stay on the road day and night. He was not paid and had to
bring his own food. He feared being arrested, beaten or even
killed by the military if he refused to do the work. The road
was under construction. Moreover, he once worked on its
construction in 1996 with other villagers and soldiers for
three days. His wife also worked on it on four occasions. The
road was mainly intended for the military. Finally, on one
single occasion he worked for a day, about a year and three
months ago, on building the Pwo military camp situated one-
and-a-half miles from his village. He had to erect  barracks
and put up bamboo and fences. The material had to be provided
by the villagers, who received no compensation for this. The
villagers worked in rotating shifts, as the building of the
camp lasted ten days in all. 60 people from different villages
worked at the same time as him. He was not paid and had to
bring his own food. He was not a member of any political
organization. 
                      _____________________


172

Ethnicity:          Karen
Age/sex:            50, female
Family situation:   Widow with two daughters and one son
Occupation:         Trader; sold snacks in the village
                    Kayin State (village had 20 families)

The witness left Myanmar in mid-1997 because she no longer had
enough time to take care of her own work on account of the
work demanded by the military. Since her husband's death, she
had personally had to do portering, sentry duty by a road and
construction of a military camp. She did not personally do
work for the military before her husband's death. It was the
village head who organized the work. She was not paid and
could not refuse to work for fear of being arrested. If the
village head failed to fulfil his role, the military could
requisition people directly. She personally had to do
portering for the military on three occasions in the year
preceding her departure. Each family had to provide one member
to perform this work. She had to transport munitions for a day
from her village to Painkyone. Some hundred persons worked at
the same time as her, about twenty from her village, including
a majority of women. She had to take her own food. Her sister
looked after her children while she was away. She had
personally been physically maltreated and was beaten and
kicked when she was tired. She also saw many women, most of
them elderly, beaten and ill-treated by the soldiers. On one
occasion, she saw a woman severely beaten for having put down
her basket, when tired, to go to the toilet. She did sentry
duty by the road between her village and Painkyone-Hlaingbwe-
Hpa-an on three occasions over a month. On the other occasions
when she had been conscripted by the military for this kind of
work, she had engaged a substitute, for which she had to pay
30 kyat each time. Each assignment lasted a whole day, and
night. Twenty people - exclusively women - had to work at the
same time on a given section of the road. Two people did
sentry duty together, sharing the same shelter and covering
around 150 to 200 feet of road. She also worked twice two
years ago on the construction of a military camp (camp 709),
which was situated three miles from her village. Each
assignment lasted a day. She had to cut wood and bamboo in the
forest near the camp, carry them to the site and work on the
building of the camp. Fifty people, including ten women,
worked with her on the first occasion and 30, including eight
women, on the second. She had not been physically abused on
these occasions, though the soldiers shouted at the workers.
Female village heads had, however, been subjected to ill-
treatment for not managing to organize the work. They were
tied up and left out in the blazing sun for half a day. They
were released around 2 p.m. They were also threatened with a
gun, shots being fired close to their ears. Her husband had to
do forced labour at least ten times in the twenty years
preceding his death. He had to act as a porter on two
occasions, the first assignment lasting two days, the second
five days. 
                      _____________________

173

Ethnicity:          Karen
Age/sex:            40, male
Family situation:   Married with two daughters
Education:          2nd Standard
Occupation:         Farmer; had two plots of land near the
                    village 
                    State (village had 130 families)

The witness had to leave Myanmar in mid-1997 as the military
suspected him of belonging to the KNU. He would like to return
to his village if the situation changed. He took on the
functions of section leader in April and May of 1997. The
section leader was chosen by the village head, who was himself
elected by the villagers. As section leader, he had to
organize the work exacted by the military and by the Karen
National Union (KNU). He had to do this four times for the
latter organization. He had to organize the following work for
the military: portering, road building, sentry duty by a road
and military camp building. He risked paying a fine if he
could not organize the work required. Those selected ran the
risk of being arrested if they refused to do the work. He had
to organize teams of porters on five occasions. He had to find
the number of porters required by the military. Each family
had to provide one person to perform the work. He also
organized labour for the military for the construction and
guarding of roads and the building of a military camp. He
organized work on three occasions for the road between Hpa-an
and Dawlan, each assignment lasting respectively five, two to
three, and four days and requiring 117, 107 and 37 workers. As
regards sentry duty, he had to find four workers on five
occasions for assignments lasting three days each time. For
the military camp, he had to organize work on three occasions,
having to recruit 50, 35 and 70 workers respectively for
assignments lasting one day. On all these occasions, he worked
with the people selected. Prior to assuming his functions as
section leader, he personally had to act as a porter at least
twice a month. The assignments lasted between five and 15
days. The number of porters depended on the number of
soldiers. Men and women were recruited. Both had to carry
munitions, though the men had the heavier loads to carry. He
had to go to the front line on three occasions. Men and women
porters had to stay during the fighting. He had not personally
witnessed sexual abuse of women, but had been told that women
had been raped by soldiers. A woman who worked with him told
him she had been raped by five soldiers. A complaint was
lodged with the commander, who had condemned the episode and
ordered that such actions should not be repeated. However, it
would seem that the order was not respected. On two occasions
when he was section leader he accompanied the porters.
Portering was done in mountain areas. He had to act as a
porter between his village and three others nearby (his
village was near the mountains, and there was a military camp
near his house). One hundred and ten porters worked with him,
including ten from his village, for 250 soldiers. Only men did
this kind of work. He had to carry ammunition for mortars.
Each assignment lasted five days. The porters were regularly
maltreated, being beaten and kicked as soon as they could not
keep up. He was not paid. Prior to taking up his functions as
section leader, he had to take part on ten occasions in the 
building of three military camps in 1996 and 1997: five times
he worked on the camp at Nabu, twice on the Naungbo camp and
three times on the camp at Taun Zun. He had to work with
villagers from various villages. They had to provide the
necessary materials and were not paid either for the materials
provided or for the work done. He also had to take his own
food. It was always possible to pay a substitute: for road
building and sentry duty (500 kyat), for portering (1,000 to
1,200 kyat) and for the military camp work (100 kyat). It was
not possible to give bribes to gain exemption. Finally, since
his departure his wife had to work for the military. He did
not know exactly how many times she had to do portering
personally, but he knew that she was required to do this twice
a month. He had to pay a rice tax, which was paid to
government officials. Under this tax, established by the law,
he had to pay four or five per cent of his harvests, depending
on their quality. 
                      _____________________

174

Ethnicity:          Karen
Age/sex:            72, female
Family situation:   Married with four daughters and two sons
Occupation:         Her husband was a farmer and had his own   
                    land  
                    State (village had 200 families)

The witness lived in Myanmar but arrived in Thailand in early
January 1998 to visit her daughters. She wanted to go back to
Myanmar to fetch all her family to settle in Thailand. She
considered it was difficult to survive in Myanmar in view of
the work exacted by the military. Moreover, the military had
tortured her niece with a bayonet as they suspected her of
being a member of, or helping or cooperating with, the Karen
National Union (KNU). She personally had to work for the
military, performing the following tasks: portering, road
building and sentry duty, and building a military camp. Her
husband also had to perform the same kinds of work. She
estimated that she had around ten days per month left for her
own work, while her husband had to devote at least 50 per cent
of his time to the work exacted by the military. She had to do
portering for the military at least twenty times over the last
28 years. The orders were generally given by the village head,
but the military also sometimes arrested the people they
needed. She had personally been directly requisitioned by the
military five times. Each assignment lasted between one and
four days. She was not paid and had to take her own food. She
went to the front line with other women on one occasion. She
last acted as a porter two months before her departure. On
that occasion, the military requisitioned her directly without
going through the village head. Though she pleaded advanced
years, they replied that, if she did not want to do the work
personally, she would have to find someone to replace her.
Finding no one, she had to carry food to a mountain near the
front line, in the vicinity of the Lerpu military camp. She
had to walk for a whole day, covering about 15 miles. There
were around 100 porters for 50 soldiers - mainly women, as the
men managed to escape. She did not see women being
ill-treated, in contrast with the men, who were regularly
beaten and kicked violently. She heard stories of sexual abuse
of women, but did not witness any, nor was she personally
subjected to it. Her husband had to act as a porter for the
military many more times than she. He had to act as a porter 
on military operations and for the military camps. He last
worked as a porter in 1996 on a military operation lasting
five days. Portering assignments for military operations could
vary between five days and one month. Some days before her
departure, her husband had to carry material for a military
camp for a day. She also had to work on four occasions on the
building and repair of the road running through her village
(four miles long). In each case, the work lasted a day. The
last time she did this was the day before she left. It was the
village head who informed her of the work to be done. Five
people from her village worked with her. The road, including a
bridge, was used by the military and civilians. She was not
paid. As many women as men took part in this road building and
repair work. Her husband had worked on it more than forty
times over the last twenty years, each assignment lasting one
day. She had to do sentry duty beside this road at least
twenty times over the last six years. Each assignment was for
three nights. She shared a tent with two other people; only
one had to stay awake during the period of sentry duty. She
could return home during the day. She had to do sentry duty by
the road three days before leaving for Thailand. Men and women
had to perform this work. Her husband had also done sentry
duty at least ten times a year over the last six years. She
was not subjected to ill-treatment or harassment. She had
heard of gang rapes carried out by soldiers. Finally, she
took part in the building and repair of the Painkyone military
camp, which was located in her village about two miles from
her home. She was last required to do this work over a
five-day period three weeks before her departure. In the
evening, she could return home. She worked with 30 other
people from her village. Each family had to provide one person
on the basis of a pre-arranged rota. The workers had to
provide the necessary materials. They were not paid either for
the material provided nor for the hours of work done. It was
possible to engage a substitute, though she had not done so as
she did not have the money to pay for one. Her husband had
also worked at this camp on many occasions. She also had to
pay a tax on the rice harvests equivalent to four per cent of
the harvest, since her lands were not particularly fertile.
The taxes were paid to Government representatives, not to the
military. 
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[END OF SLICE 41]