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ILO: FORCED LABOUR IN BURMA-36(repo



[ILO COMMISSION OF INQUIRY ON FORCED LABOUR IN BURMA, SLICE
36]

114
 
Ethnicity:          Karenni
Age/sex:            46, male
Family situation:   Nine (him, wife, four sons and three
                    daughters)
Occupation:         Farmer
                    (village had 100 families)

The witness left Myanmar in June 1996. He had done many kinds
of forced labour, including portering, cutting bamboo, cutting
wood for railway construction, carrying rice for the soldiers
guarding workers on road construction. The most difficult work
was portering: "people don't dare to do this work". He did
portering five or six times, usually for three to six days
at a time. The longest time was for 11 days. The first time
was in 1972 and the last time in 1987. He had to carry
ammunition, food and other supplies. The loads were very
heavy, up to 30 viss (49 kg), and caused wounds for the
porters. If a porter could not carry his load he would be
kicked, beaten or punched; one time he slipped over while
portering and could not get up because the load was so heavy,
and he was kicked by the soldiers in the lower back and beaten
badly. On the last occasion he did portering there was a
battle; the porters were very scared and some ran away. He
also had to cut bamboo for the military to construct a camp.
He had to cut 100 bamboo poles in one day, which was very
hard. Many other people also had to do this work. He also had
to cut large trees for railway sleepers in about 1992,
together with about 100 other villagers. It was difficult
for him to estimate how much time he spent doing forced
labour, but it was usually one or two times a month for
several days at a time. Orders for forced labour came from the
army to the village head. 
                       ____________________


115
 
Ethnicity:          Shan
Age/sex:            39, male
Family situation:   Married with three children
Occupation:         Farmer and village head (1994 to 1996)
                    (village on the bank of the Salween close  
                    to Ywathit; forcibly relocated to Ywathit  
                    in 1996)

The witness's village was part of large-scale relocations. The
entire village was ordered to relocate. Order came from an
army officer on 16 April 1996. Fifteen families, about 50 to
60 people (mostly children) affected. He tried to stay and
ignore the order. Second order came saying the villagers had
to move, and that if they stayed the village would be burned
down. Other villages in the area were also being relocated at
the same time: about seven (100 families in total) all Shan
villages in Kayah State. His village was relocated to Ywathit
near an army post on the hill above the paddy field where they
were sent. Half-day travel by foot away from their village.
They were given one week to move and had to leave most of
their possessions behind, including water buffaloes and
chickens, since there was no motor road to the new site. Other
villages moved with them were Wan Loi, Wan Pla, Ko Su Pa, Ho
Hta, Wan Pha Ku and Leh Way. They could only take one pot of
rice with them. Went back one time after one week time period
elapsed without authorization to try to find buffalo, but
could not find them. They were given much less land in the new
place: ten to 20 times less than cultivated before. Told to
build new houses themselves. Not given building materials,
just a very small amount of rice, equal to one soldier's rice
pot a week per person. Had to live with villagers already
there until they built their own houses. Military units in
area of original and relocated village: Battalion numbers 54,
72 and 102 before 1994. Division 55 and LIB 429 after 1994. As
village head he had a lot of experience with forced labour.
The work his villagers were ordered to do was mainly work at
the army camp, including maintenance work and portering. This
was done on a rotating basis: five people each week every
week, one per family, from ten days to one month in length.
Orders came in written form and were received by him. No one
dared to refuse to go when told to do so. If someone was sick
someone else had to go in their place. The village collected
30 to 40 kyat per day to cover the cost of 210 to 280 kyat per
person per day. This was paid to an administrative officer,
not the military. He did forced labour himself before he
became village head in 1994, but not after. Forced labour was
also required for work on the road to the mouth of the Pai
River from the village, one week per family; work was also
done with forced labourers from other villages in the area.
This was in 1994, before portering and army camp work was
required on a regular basis beginning in 1995. Other types of
forced labour were not required because the village was small
there were only a limited number of available families and
workers. With regard to the way people were requested, the
first order that came was simple, telling a certain number to
report for work. But if the villagers were late or did not
come then the second order came and would be more threatening.
It came with a bullet and a chilli. These were traditional
warnings meaning death and making things hot for the village.
He had to keep the order at all times, and send back the
bullet and chilli to show he had received them and understood
the message. Orders came from LIB 429 and/or 55 Division. He
saw abuses when he was a porter (pre-1994). Labourers were
forced to go on foot with very heavy loads, and to keep up the
steady, fast pace. Once a porter could not keep up and a
soldier took his rice sack and hit him hard on the back of the
neck, forcing him to the ground. He was badly injured and
died. That was in 1992 during the big offensive in Mye Leh,
near the river Pai. Villagers who returned reported never
getting enough food and only a small ration of rice per day.
If a villager fled during a forced labour assignment the
village head had to go to the army to bribe them or pay a
fine. Usually, they paid in chickens. Once he had to send
women as porters as men were not available. Once they told the
soldiers there were not enough people to send and meet the
quota. The soldiers came to the village, called everyone
out: men, women and children, even babies, and took everyone
to the camp for forced labour for four days. The men cut
bamboo, the women cooked and cleaned the compound. They were
told "this was the first punishment. If you disobey again
we will punish you this way again." He heard about but did not
witness mistreatment of others during forced labour. Rapes
were reported when the soldiers were on patrol or entered a
village. He was paid only once for forced labour when
repairing an old traffic road. He received 25 kyat a day for
seven days. 
                       ____________________

116

Ethnicity/religion: Shan, Buddhist
Age/sex:            55, male
Family situation:   Married with eight children
Education:          2nd Standard
Occupation:         Farmer
                    State (village on the bank of the Salween  
                    close to Ywathit; forcibly relocated to    
                    Ywathit in 1996)

The witness came from the same village as witness 115. He took
some food provisions when relocated but had to leave behind
300 baskets of rice and ten water buffalo. Took chickens and
pigs, but had to eat them for food at the new location. Took
some tools. It was five days' walk to the relocation site. The
army promised to help and said they would cut logs at their
sawmill for free, but villagers had to pay them to haul the
logs to the mill and to transport the wood back, so this could
not be done as it cost 70 kyat a day to rent a bullock cart.
They were given neither food nor money at the relocation site.
He left before completing his new house. With regard to forced
labour, the army sent an order for five people to make a fence
on the army post for two days of work on a rotating basis.
Even the old men (60 to 70 years old) had to go if no other
people were available. Workers were given one day of rest and
then had to return if assigned work not finished. No food or
money was given. He was also asked to send two, three, four or
five people as porters on patrol. Guide porter heads the march
and was subject to stepping on land mines. There were also
porters from Wan Loi village (close to Pa Ku Dah). Three
porters were killed from mines during portering: two as
porters, one as guide. This happened in 1975. The families of
the first porter killed received nothing. The families of the
other two shared 10,000 kyat paid by the army as compensation.
For all these forms of work, they were not paid anything nor
given food. After 1995, three people were required to serve as
porters every week on a rotating basis. Five others were
assigned to perform other tasks: building fences, digging
bunkers, building camp facilities. This involved work three to
four times a month per family for at least two days. If the
porters complained about the excessive weight they were
beaten, even old people. Two roads used forced labour. One
from Bawlake to Ywathit and the other from the village to the
mouth of the Pai river. This was in 1995. It involved five
days work, two days off, then five days work again for a total
of ten days of work per family. Paid three kyat and 50 pya (he
received a total of 33 kyat and 50 pya for the work). No
choice, had to go. 
                       ____________________


117

Ethnicity:          Karenni
Age/sex:            27, male
Family situation:   Married with three children; had
                    eight siblings
Occupation:         Farmer
                    Kayah State

The witness left Myanmar in July 1996. Before this, he had to
porter for the army. Soldiers came to his village and called
him as a porter and beat the porters. He and brothers left
because of fear of staying in the village. Came with whole
family (wife, children and siblings). They were being called
and taken as porters one or two times a month or more, usually
for two or three days each time, but sometimes people would be
taken for one or two months at a time. They were requisitioned
either through written orders to the village head or arrested
directly by the military. If the village head questioned
anything he was told to "... go away or we will seize even
more people for portering". It was not done in a systematic
way. Sometimes twice a month, sometimes once in two months. It
got to the point where the villagers tried to flee when they
heard soldiers were coming. The soldiers would shoot at those
they saw trying to flee. They beat and tortured some villagers
too. That was in 1995. As a porter he was taken to the
north-eastern part of Kayah State. Sometimes fighting would
break out. He carried ammunition for 16 days the first time,
in 1991, for one month in 1993 and a third time, also in 1993.
He was told it would be for a short time. They went down the
Salween river. He feared for his life, so escaped and returned
to his village. He was also made to work for the army cutting
bamboo and making fences at the army camp, four hours walk
away. Orders came in writing for this too. Shadaw army camp
was the site. Worked one day. Other work done on rotation
basis too: five days per person per family per month,
sometimes once in two months, sometimes twice a month. For all
these forms of work he was neither paid nor fed. No medical
care or treatment was given if sick or injured. Workers were
beaten when tired or if they took a rest. Once the army came
to the village looking for porters. All the men were away
working in the fields, so they took all the women in the
village to work in the camp for one day and they were beaten
there. They did not report sexual abuse. Talked only about
being beaten. The last order that came that caused him to flee
Myanmar was for the village to relocate. It came just before 
he left in June 1996. They were relocated because the army was
afraid they would supply the insurgents. 
                     ________________________


118

Ethnicity:          Karenni
Age/sex:            21, male
Family situation:   Was single when left Myanmar (now          
                    married); four siblings
Education:          1st Standard
Occupation:         Farmer
                    (village forcibly relocated to Shadaw in   
                    June 1996)


Order came in June 1996 to relocate to Shadaw. He left there
one month after the relocation to flee to Thailand with
parents. There were 89 families in Daw So Kya that were
relocated. Order was to relocate in one week or be shot. The
new site was five hours walk away. Could only take what could
be carried. Buffalo were left behind. Given only a tiny piece
of land of five metres square, only enough to build a house
but not enough to farm. No materials for building were
provided. Given a small amount of rice as a ration. With no
land and no job there was no way to survive. That was why they
fled across the border. Every villager had to do forced
labour, even women and children. He portered himself four
times, three times before he was 18. First and second times
were when he was 11, when he was used as a guide to lead the
troops. The third time troops came in and seized people. They
tied and beat the village head and took him (he was 12 years
old at the time) and used him as a guide again. The fourth
time, he was working in his field plowing with his father.
Troops came and seized them both to carry ammunition. He was
17 or 18 at that time. He portered for five days. A fight
broke out with the insurgents near Daw Ei Lah village. One
woman porter tried to run from the fighting that broke out
with others and her baby on her back was shot and killed.
Those who could not carry their loads were beaten. No food was
given so people were weak, and then they were beaten and
kicked. Sometimes they would torture the workers by hanging
them by the legs with a stick under their knees. Women and
children over 12 or 13 were also used as porters, as well as
old men. The porters were neither paid nor fed; they had to
beg food from houses in villages along the way. They were
given only a small amount of dry bread when they got to the
Pon river. Orders were also issued for forced labourers to cut
bamboo and do other work in the military camp. Five to ten at
a time were called from the village to do this from the 89
families on a rotating basis. They had to build bunkers and
cut logs for camp buildings. 
                     ________________________

119
 
Ethnicity:          Shan
Age/sex:            36, male
Family situation:   Married with one daughter
Occupation:         Farmer
                   (grew up in a village near Namhsam town)

The witness left Myanmar in mid-1997. He was called up by the
army for portering, road and railway construction, and work
for a military camp. It was the village head who transmitted
the order from the military. In general, the rule was one
person per family. However, it often happened that when the
designated member was far away, the military requisitioned an
additional member of the family. When he was away on the work
assigned to him, his brother looked after his land. He
personally had to do forced labour for the military on average
twice a month, every month for 15 years (portering, railway,
roads combined). The first time he had to porter for the
military was 15 years ago. The last time was six months ago.
The assignments could last from five days to a month. He had
to carry rice and ammunition. Fifteen porters were required
for 20 soldiers. Forty to 50 porters for 60 to 70 soldiers.
Men and women could be called up, including children aged 15
and 16 and people over 60 years. He had to march all day. He
was not regularly fed. The rations were always inadequate. He
had to sleep in the jungle. He was not paid. It was impossible
to refuse or pay a substitute. Twice he saw people killed
because they refused to do the work. It was always possible to
pay a bribe: 5,000 kyat each time. He once tried to pay not to
go but the village head refused his money. He therefore had to
work. He was subjected to ill treatment, being beaten twice.
He saw other porters struck and beaten to death. He also saw
porters shot by the military. In cases where the women could
no longer carry the loads assigned to them, they were
subjected to sexual abuse (rape). He had personally seen that
on four or five occasions. He also worked on road construction
for the first time 13 years ago. The last time about six
months ago. He worked on many roads, notably Shwenyaung-
Yatsauk (Lawksawk) and Shwenyaung-Namhsam. He had to make
embankments and level the road. The roads were used
exclusively by the military. About 2,000 people worked on the
roads at the same time as him, including men, women, children
and older people. The day began at 8 a.m. and ended at 5 p.m.
with an hour's rest at midday. He had to bring his own food.
He was not paid. Any refusal could lead to arrest and a fine
of 1,000 kyat and the obligation to work. It was not possible
to hire a substitute. The soldiers supervised the work. He saw
many people subjected to ill treatment because their work did
not satisfy the military. When he was on railway construction,
he had to build embankments, level the ground and lay the
track. He saw the track on which he had worked when it was
finished: Yatsauk (Lawksawk) to Patu and Namhsam to
Shwenyaung. The railways were used both by the military and
civilians. The whole of Taunggyi had to participate. Three
thousand people worked on the railways at the same time as
him, including men, women, children and older people. The
situation was the same as for work on the roads as regards
hours of work, food, pay, possibility of refusing, the
consequences of refusal and ill treatment inflicted by the
military. He also worked five times for a military camp in
Namhsam, from the age of 13 (1975) to 19 (1981). Each
assignation lasted about ten days. He had to sleep in the
military camp. Sixty to 70 people worked with him each time,
including men, women and older people (over 60 years). There
were no children. He had to bring his own food and had to
provide water to the military. The day began at 8 a.m. and
ended at 5 p.m. He was not paid. It was impossible to refuse
or pay a substitute. He was not personally subjected to ill
treatment, but twice he saw people beaten by the military.
With regard to taxation, part of his harvest had to be given
to the military. If the farmers could not pay the tax, they
were put in prison. 
                     ________________________

120
 
Ethnicity:          Shan
Age/sex:            25, female
Family situation:   Married with one daughter
Occupation:         Farmer
                    Laikha township, Shan State (village had   
                    about 80 families)

The witness's husband wanted to leave Myanmar because he did
not want to be a porter for the army. He left nine years ago
and she joined him in mid-1997. She had not been personally
forced to work. As her husband was in Thailand, he had not
worked for the military either. The men of her village fled
when the military approached the village so as to avoid being
recruited. However, other people in her village had been
forced to cook (rice, curry), for the military when they
stopped in the village. It was impossible to refuse. Just
before she had left, a woman had been killed near her house
because the military suspected her of links with a Shan
soldier. She had heard that the village had been relocated to
a site near Laikha. 
                     ________________________

121

Ethnicity:          Pa-o
Age/sex:            22, male
Family situation:   Married with one daughter (aged two)
Occupation:         Farmer
                    township, Shan State (village relocated to 
                    Panglong at the end of 1997)

The witness's village was relocated to Panglong at the end of
1997. He left Myanmar in January 1998 and walked for four days
to reach Thailand. Before relocation he worked as a porter, on
construction of roads and railways and in military camps
growing maize and rice. He was a porter for the army for the
first time at the age of 16 and the last time about a year
ago. He had been a porter countless times. The village head
informed him of the order from the military. The assignments
could last from one to three days. He had to carry rice and
ammunition. Only men between 14 and 50 years of age were
porters. The food rations were always inadequate. The hours
could vary. He often had to march for many hours without rest.
He had to sleep in the jungle. He had not seen any fighting.
He was not paid. It was possible to pay a substitute: 400 to
500 kyat a time. It was impossible to pay bribes, because the
military needed porters. He had been subjected to ill
treatment and had personally been beaten with a rifle on three
occasions because he was walking too slowly. He saw many other
porters beaten because they could not carry the load given to
them. He had also worked on the railway for a year two years
ago, on the line between Namhsam and Mongnai. These lines were
finished and used by both military and civilian traffic. He
had to work there every day. He had to level the ground, carry
and break stones. He had to sleep at the work site. Five
hundred to 600 people worked with him on the site, including
men and women (no children). He was not paid. He had to bring
his own food. The day began at 8 a.m. and finished at 5 p.m.,
with an hour for lunch. He had to take on day labourers to
work on his farm. He had not personally been subjected to ill
treatment. However, if the workers tried to escape and were
caught, they were beaten with a stick. He saw that happen
twice. He worked on road construction three years ago on the
road between Panglong and Namhsam. He worked about 25 times
there (for one day) during the year. He had to bring his own
food. Twenty to 25 people worked there at the same time as
him, including men and women (no children). He had not been
subjected to ill treatment and had not seen others ill
treated, although the military often shouted at them. He had
also been forced to work five times a year ago on the
military's fields, growing maize and rice. Twenty people had
worked there at the same time as him. He had been relocated
two months ago. The village head had informed him that he had
three days to move. No one was allowed to stay in the village.
All the people of the village were relocated to different
places. The village was then burned by the military. He stayed
at the relocation site near Panglong for two months. He left
there because he could not find enough work to provide for
his family's needs. He was not allowed to return to his
village to fetch food. However, he had not been forced to work
for the military or anyone else. 
                     ________________________


122

Ethnicity:          Shan
Age/sex:            23, male
Family situation:   Single, his parents are alive and he has
                    five brothers 
                    State (village had 30 families)

The witness left Myanmar in mid-1997 because he did not want
to be requisitioned as a porter by the army. He had never
himself been a porter. He knew several people who had done
portering (not in his immediate family). However, he had to do
other forms of forced labour: roads and railways. He worked on
the building of the road between Yatsauk (Lawksauk) and
Yangon, two years ago (1995), about ten times during the year.
The village head informed him of the work required. The day
began at 6 a.m. and ended at 5 p.m. He had to bring his own
food. Forty people worked at the same time as him, including
men, women, children (16 years) and older people (over 50
years). He could return to the village to sleep. He was not
paid. It was possible to pay a substitute: 50 kyat a time.
Bribes were impossible. His brother looked after the farm in
his absence. He had not personally been subjected to ill
treatment. The soldiers often shouted at them. He had
sometimes seen people who had tried to escape being caught and
beaten with wooden sticks by the soldiers. He also worked on
the railway line between Taunggyi and May Shee Law a year ago
about ten times. Each assignment lasted 15 days on average.
The village head informed him of the work required. He had to
carry and break rock. He had to sleep in nearby villages
because he could not go home. He had to bring his own food.
Forty people worked there at the same time as him, including
men, women and children (16 years). He had been subjected to
ill treatment because the soldiers thought that he worked too
slowly. 
                     ________________________


123

Ethnicity:          Shan
Age/sex:            25, male
Family situation:   Nine (mother, father, him and four         
                    siblings)
Occupation:         Farm labourer
                    households in his section of the village)

The witness left Myanmar at the end of 1997. He left because
of too much forced labour. He did forced labour collecting
rubber trees (saplings) for a very large army rubber
plantation (stretching for about 2 miles), then planting the
saplings to make the plantation, then looking after them. The
plantation was owned by battalion 324. The villagers who did
this work were given no money or food, and even had to bring
their own tools. They had to work for ten to 15 days a month.
In his family him, he parents and his brothers and sisters all
did this work at various times. There were between five and 30
other villagers doing this work at any one time, depending on
how much work needed to be done. They were ordered to do this
work by the soldiers, through the village head, and if they
did the work badly, they would have to come back again to
re-do it. The villagers (including him) also had to work on a
sugar-cane plantation for battalion 324. They had to do all
the work: clearing the ground, planting the sugar cane,
looking after it. When the sugar cane was ready for harvest,
they had to bring the village sugar-cane machine to crush the
cane and extract the juice, then make it into raw sugar
("chandagar"). This then had to be given to the soldiers. All
this work was done without pay or food being provided, and the
villagers even had to bring their own tools, including the
village-owned sugar cane machine. About 20 to 30 villagers at
one time would have to do this work. The soldiers then sold
the sugar (not locally) for their own profit. The orders to do
this work also came from the battalion via the village head.
His older brother used to do portering, not him. His brother
first went in 1989, and was away for four months, carrying
things for the soldiers. Porters were demanded by the soldiers
via the village head, but they also sometimes came directly to
the village and rounded people up. At the time when he left,
there was not much portering, it was mostly forced labour.
This has been the case since the 1996 cease-fire, but before
this there was a lot of portering and little or no forced
labour. 
                     ________________________


124

Ethnicity:          Pa-o
Age/sex:            23, male
Family situation:   Nine (him, wife and seven children)
Occupation:         Farmer
                    Panglong in Loilem township, Shan State    
                    (village had 80 households)

Twenty days ago the whole of Sanin village-tract was ordered
by Infantry Battalion 513 to relocate to Panglong within seven
days. He and his family moved to the relocation site, but
there was nothing there and they had to build a house and set
up everything, so he fled with his family (his parents were
too old to make the trip, so they stayed behind with his
sister). He thought the relocation was done because the army
was frightened of rebels. They were told that those who did
not relocate would be shot. It was a one-day journey to the
relocation site, so they could not take all their possessions
and had to leave animals behind. They could not go back to
work in their fields, so the farmers who were relocated had to
get work as labourers for farmers in Panglong; some people had
to beg. Relocated villagers were allowed to leave the
relocation site during the day, but had to return by 5 p.m.
There was not much forced labour before, but once they arrived
at the relocation site, they had to do a lot of forced labour.
One person from each family had to do forced labour
permanently. The people had to plant three acres of sweet corn
for the army. People also had to make thatch sheets for
roofing the army camp. The villagers did not have to do much
forced labour before, but there was portering. There was an
army camp in the area of their village, which had been built
by the villagers. The troops changed every three months, and
the village would have to provide them with their food, and
even cook for them. They would send orders to the village
head, demanding whatever they needed. He was taken as a porter
many times, usually for one or two days at a time, but
sometimes longer. He had done longer periods of portering
twice. The first time was in 1993 or 1994, when he was taken
for four months. Soldiers surrounded the village and arrested
about ten porters, including two women (the women were kept
for three days, and when they got two male replacements the
women were released). The ten people were tied up and beaten.
They were not informed how long they would be away. They were
then taken to an army camp at Panglong, where they spent one
night. The next day they were taken to Langkho by army truck
(a distance of about 80 km). They spent the night at battalion
99, then the next day went on foot to No Kong village. He had
to carry a load of 4 RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) shells.
They then crossed the Nam Taem river by boat, then went to
Pang Hat in the MTA (Khun Sa's Mong Tai Army) area. At Pang
Hat there was a battle. The porters stayed behind the
soldiers, and none died. Many soldiers died, however. The
battle lasted 48 hours, day and night. The porters had a
little food--rice and watery fish paste. They stayed in this
area for about one month. There were about 600 soldiers and 80
porters, but there were also many horses, which is why there
were not many porters. During this period, seven or eight
porters became sick and died without receiving treatment. Two
porters also died when they tried to escape and ran across a
minefield. This happened near to the Salween river. When the
soldiers were marching, the porters had to go ahead of them,
but not at other times. He also went as a porter for 15 days
in 1997, in the Laikha-Mongkaing area. He was arrested by
soldiers early in the morning when he was working in his
fields. He had to carry a radio set to Lin Yok, which was one
day walk. They then slept there for five nights. Then they had
to continue to Wan Larng Long, about two hours' walk away,
where they spent the night. He was released in Wan Larng Long.
In total there were six porters and four horses for about 90
soldiers. During portering, the soldiers would steal chickens
to eat from villages. If a porter could not keep up, he would
be beaten. Porters who could not continue would just be left
where they were at the side of the path. The porters ate two
times a day; they were only given a little rice with some fish
paste. 
                     ________________________


[END OF SLICE 36]