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ILO: FORCED LABOUR IN BURMA-33
- Subject: ILO: FORCED LABOUR IN BURMA-33
- From: darnott@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 08 Sep 1998 22:30:00
[ILO COMMISSION OF INQUIRY ON FORCED LABOUR IN BURMA, SLICE
33]
84
Ethnicity: Rohingya
Age/sex: 30, male
Family situation: Married with four children
Occupation: Small trader
(village had about 180 families; there was
a NaSaKa camp nearby)
The witness left Myanmar in the course of 1997. He escaped
from the NaSaKa camp where he had been held prisoner for
seven months because he had only paid 800 kyat out of the
1,200 exacted by the military. He was later joined in
Bangladesh by his family. About ten families accompanied his
own when they left. He had come to Bangladesh the first time
with the influx of refugees in 1991. He was repatriated in
1994. He thought that the situation grew worse in the time
between his two stays in Bangladesh. Previously, forced labour
was mainly for the police. Now, men had to work for the
NaSaKa. The conditions were more difficult and dangerous.
Bribes were also higher. During the day, he had to work in the
camp: general cleaning, washing soldiers' clothes, collecting
wood, building paths and tracks inside the camp. At night, he
had to do sentry duty for the soldiers. The orders came from
the military, who transmitted them through the village head.
He had to work about three times a week. He had to do it the
first time when he was a child. He had to bring his own food.
He was not paid. He could not refuse. When he was repatriated,
he was even arrested, and the authorities asked him to pay
them the money received from the UNHCR.
______________________
85
Ethnicity: Rohingya
Age/sex: 40, male
Family situation: Two (him and wife)
Occupation: Farmer
Rakhine State
The witness came to Bangladesh in 1991/92 because of various
forms of oppression which meant that his family could no
longer make a living. There had been forced labour in the area
for the military since the time he was born. There were two
army camps at Sindaung, and people from his village were made
to do forced labour there. He went once himself, and three
other times he paid money to hire a replacement. There were
many other kinds of forced labour. He used to have to spend
about half his time doing forced labour. He would have to work
for a week, then have one week to do his own work, then he
would have to do forced labour for another week, and so on.
There were many different kinds of work: portering, collecting
bamboo, levelling and clearing ground for the construction of
camps, constructing buildings, clearing jungle to make land
for cultivation and so on. He was abused and beaten while
doing this work. One time he was slow while portering, and the
soldiers were in a hurry. He was beaten and still has pain in
his wrist now from the beating. The other time he particularly
remembers was also while portering. His load was very heavy,
and he stumbled forward, and some of his load fell, so he was
beaten. When he was away doing forced labour, his younger
brothers would take care of the farm work, and when they were
away, he would do it.
______________________
86
Ethnicity: Rohingya
Age/sex: 46, male
Family situation: Nine (him, wife and seven children)
Occupation: Trader
The witness left Myanmar in March 1992. He was a trader. He
traded in timber and rice, and then he bought a license to buy
and sell cattle. He did not have freedom of movement, and so
had to pay money to get travel passes whenever he wanted to
travel more than eight kilometres. He also paid about 30,000
kyat per year as a trade tax. He saw many people taken for
forced labour. He also knew of women who were harassed when
their husbands were away doing forced labour. Because his job
meant he travelled a lot, he gained a lot of experience about
the situation in different areas. Because people regarded him
as an influential Muslim, they would tell him about their
situation and problems, because they thought he had some
influence with the authorities. In this way he learned a lot
about the situation in the areas he travelled to. In his
regular dealings with the authorities, he would pass on
information about the situation in different areas. Whenever
he got a pass to travel somewhere, he would have to report
back to the authorities when he returned, and at this time
they would ask him where he went and what he had done. It was
at this time that he passed on some of the information he had
been given by the villagers. The authorities became annoyed
because he always knew very well what the situation was in
different areas, and they began to suspect him. They thought
he was involved in politics and was doing work for the NLD. He
was warned by friends in the local administration that he
would face some problems, and so he decided to leave. He never
did forced labour himself, but he often saw other people doing
forced labour when he travelled. Two or three times he also
saw people being rounded up for forced labour.
______________________
87
Ethnicity: Rohingya
Age/sex: 68, male
Family situation: Ten (him, wife and eight children)
Occupation: Carpenter
Buthidaung township, Rakhine State
The witness left Myanmar in 1992. He was born and grew up in
Minbya, but moved to Buthidaung township after Second World
War. He never did forced labour himself, but one person from
his household was required to do forced labour on a regular
basis. His three sons would do this, by rotation. This has
been going on since 1962. His sons would usually be away for
two or three days, doing different kinds of forced labour. He
came to Bangladesh because he was a supporter of the NLD, and
after the 1990 elections NLD supporters were being arrested.
He was worried that he would be targeted because he had filed
a complaint with the authorities regarding harassment of
women, so he left. He previously came to Bangladesh in 1970,
but was repatriated. He does not want to be forced to return
again.
______________________
88
Ethnicity: Rohingya
Sex: Male
Occupation: Village head
State [village name withheld at the
request of the witness]
The main reasons why the witness fled to Bangladesh in 1992
were forced labour, taxation, and treatment by the
authorities. After the elections in 1990, the SLORC did not
accept the results, and began arresting students and community
leaders. At this time, some people started to flee. Forced
labour and oppression started to increase. Women who were left
alone in villages were harassed. Property and land were also
confiscated from the Muslims. As more and more Muslims fled,
the situation began to break down. The authorities imposed
strict travel restrictions on Muslims. Farms, shrimp ponds and
other assets were confiscated from Muslims and given to
Rakhines. His whole village had to do two days of forced
labour each week, every week of the year. Treatment by the
soldiers was very bad; many villagers were beaten.
______________________
89
Ethnicity: Karenni
Age/sex: 28, male
Family situation: Married with one son
Occupation: Teacher from 1988 to 1990 (primary school)
in his village, then joined the KNPP
(village had some 40 families; army camp
in village since 1990)
The witness left Myanmar on 12 May 1997 with 12 other people
from his village. Several other families came later. He had to
work in an army camp when he was 21/22 years old (six years
earlier) for two years. He had to work all year round, two to
three times per month. He worked on security and electrical
installations. The orders to work there generally came from
the village head. The military came on a number of occasions
directly to the houses to find the necessary labour. Each
family had to provide one member to work. Men and women had to
work in the camp (up to the age of 60). Women, about ten of
them, had to cut bamboo and split wood. The hours could vary.
Sometimes he did not work there all day (only two to three
hours). Sometimes, the job was for a whole day. He had to
bring his own food. He was not paid. He could not refuse. He
was not himself beaten, but saw others beaten. It was possible
to pay for a substitute (50 kyat a day). However he did not
have enough money to do that. He also worked on the railway
between Aungban and Loikaw, in 1992, during the Christmas
period. His work was on the section near Loikaw. The work site
was two days travel away. He travelled the first part by car
(a taxi that he paid for) and the second by boat. The work
involved laying earth along the planned route. The work was
supervised by the army. Some 6,000 to 7,000 people worked on
it. Men, women, children (ten to 11 years) and elderly people,
without distinction. More than 200 people were working on his
section. He had to bring his own tools. He worked from morning
(6 to 7 a.m.) to night (7 p.m.) He had to bring his own food,
which he ate during the lunch break. He slept in villages
along the route. He was not paid. He could pay for a
substitute or pay bribes to be exempt. If he did not pay, the
order stated that people who failed to obey had to be
punished. He had not himself been beaten. He did not witness
ill treatment administered to other workers. He also had to
pay for the fuel for the lorries. He did not see any trains on
the railway before he left. Finally, he had to pay porter fees
two or three times. The amount could vary (about 100 kyat). He
paid the fees to the village head.
______________________
90
Ethnicity: Karenni
Age/sex: 46, male
Family situation: Married with two daughters
Occupation: Soldier in the Burmese army from
1972-1983
The witness had to leave Myanmar alone in 1992 because he was
afraid of being arrested for being involved in the events of
1988. Prior to 1992, he tried to gather information on human
rights violations in Myanmar. With regard to forced labour, he
had to work on the railway between Aungban and Loikaw on three
occasions. The work site was one hour's march away. He could
return home in the evening. He had to bring food and tools. He
had to carry out digging and earth moving. Men, women,
children (nine to ten years old) and elderly people (over 60)
were working with him. More than 150 people in total. A normal
working day started at 6 a.m. and finished at 4 p.m. The first
time that he had to work there was in December 1990, when the
project was just starting. For three months, he had to work
three times a week on average, 12 days a month. He had to work
on the railway a second time from January to June 1991. The
same number of days per month. The third time was from March
to May 1992. The same number of days per month. He was not
paid. It was impossible to refuse. Workers were afraid of the
soldiers' weapons. No one looked after his land in his
absence. He had not been ill treated and had not seen other
workers ill treated. He did not know if the railway was
operating. He thought that only the army would benefit from
it. He did not personally do any portering, but he had friends
who did. They were subjected to ill treatment and beatings
were frequent for any reason. In 1991, a man came back from a
portering job near the border and could no longer walk. He
also had to pay porters fees. The amount could vary from 70 to
100 kyat. He paid the fees to the village head who handed them
over to the military.
______________________
91
Ethnicity: Karenni
Age/sex: 23, mal
Family situation: Single; family of seven (members of his
family stayed in Myanmar, Kayah State)
The witness left Myanmar in January 1993. Orders for forced
labour were given by the village head. Each family had to
provide one person to carry out the work. When he was 15, he
was arrested by the military who required him for portering
work. His teacher intervened, arguing that his pupils (twenty
of whom had been arrested) were too young to be porters. They
were released. He also had to work on the construction of the
military camp for battalion No. 427: the construction of the
camp began in March 1991, and was completed in January 1992.
He worked there for four days in January 1992. He was 16 then.
He had to build huts for the military. About 300 people were
working there with him, including 50 to 60 children of his
age. He did not see women or elderly people on the working
site. He could not rest. He had to bring his own food. The day
began at 7 a.m. and ended at 3 p.m. He could go home at the
end of the day. He was not paid. It was impossible to refuse,
except by paying 25 kyat to the village head. He did not see
any one ill treated. His elder brother also had to work in
another military camp during the same period. In addition, he
worked on the railway between Aungban and Loikaw on two
occasions. The first in February 1991 for one week. The second
in June 1991. The work site was about two hours journey by
car. The working day began at 6 a.m. and ended at 5 p.m. Three
hundred people worked there with him, including about thirty
women, forty children his own age and about forty older people
(over 50 years old). He worked on the section at the border of
Kayah State and Shan State. He had to level the ground. For
that, he had to bring his own tools. He had to sleep beside
the track, in the open. Food was not provided. He was not
paid. Finally, with regard to taxation, for three years, he
had to pay porters fees. About 50 kyat a month. He also had to
pay taxes for the railway: on one occasion about 300 kyat. He
paid the fees to the village head.
______________________
92
Ethnicity: Karenni
Age/sex: 55, female
Family situation: Widowed (her husband died on 18 November
1995) with one daughter and four sons
Occupation: Farmer
The witness left Myanmar in March 1995. The military took
everything she had. In particular, her village was totally
burnt down by the military. She was afraid of the military.
They took everything: men, crops, animals. They never paid
compensation. She suffered from insomnia. She was forced to
work about seven to nine years ago in Mawchi. The work mainly
consisted of cleaning the military huts and grounds, carrying
food to the soldiers, cutting wood, sharpening defensive
bamboo spikes. She saw several people forced to work. She and
the others were subjected to ill treatment. Her husband had
been a porter on countless occasions. He was not paid, and he
was not provided with any food or water. He had to go to the
Thai border area.
______________________
93
Ethnicity: Burman
Age/sex: 23, male
Family situation: Four (himself, two brothers and one
sister; parents dead)
Education: 7th Standard
Occupation: Family were farmers, he joined army
Division (village had 100 families)
The witness left school in 1990, joined the army, and became a
sergeant. When he was living in the village (around 1985,
before joining the army) he remembers villagers being taken as
porters, sometimes arranged by the army through the village
head, sometimes soldiers came into the village and took
people. Ten to 20 people used to go for portering at one time.
At that time the village had to provide porters when there
were military operations in the area, about once every two to
three months, but every house had to pay a monthly porter fee
of 40 to 50 kyat. This continued up until the time that he
left to join the army. He joined the army in Toungoo, then
after one week was sent for basic training for six months in
Mingaladon (suburb of Yangon). Then he was stationed with
battalion 102 at Ngwedaung in Demawso township in Kayah State.
This was when he first saw portering (as a soldier); he saw
portering many times while he was a soldier. The porters had
to carry loads for the soldiers, and some had to act as local
guides for the soldiers. The army got porters in different
ways: sometimes a whole village would have to come and work at
the army camp; sometimes villagers would be taken through the
village head, and sometimes (at the front line) soldiers would
take villagers they met to porter for them, or go into
villages and grab people. The oldest they took were around 40,
and the youngest 13. When the soldiers went on patrol, there
would usually be around 30 soldiers and 20 to 30 porters.
Sometimes his battalion would take porters for a few months,
and occasionally up to a year. Sometimes it was difficult to
find an opportunity to release a porter, especially when the
troops were moving around at the front line. When on patrol,
they would go from village to village or army camp to army
camp, sleeping each night at a new place. Porters would be
released only when the soldiers had managed to collect new
porters. Soldiers would always treat porters badly and swear
at them. If they were slow, porters would be beaten and kicked
by the soldiers. He saw porters with serious injuries from
mine blasts (this was at the front line), porters with
malaria, porters with injuries inflicted by the soldiers, and
a lot of porters killed by soldiers. When porters tried to
escape, they were shot. He has seen porters killed on a
minimum of ten occasions; most of these times four to five
people were killed, sometimes one or two people were killed at
a time. Usually a group of porters would run away and they
would be shot. Porters were also injured (on the shoulders)
because of the very heavy loads they had to carry; this
happened all the time and they were not given any treatment.
He went to the front line many times. The porters at the front
line had to carry water and shells, and dig bunkers. Sometimes
when there was fighting, the soldiers would put the porters in
front of them, and if they suspected there were mines in an
area, sometimes the porters would have to walk in front of the
soldiers. His unit did not collect porter fees, but they would
usually take food by force from villages. When they entered a
village, the soldiers would first interrogate the villagers
asking them what contact they had with rebels. They would
arrest people they suspected, and would demand food and
alcohol from the village. He has not seen women used as
porters, and his platoon never did harm to women, but he has
seen women used for forced labour. He has seen villagers
forced to build army camps in Demawso, Huay Paung Laung, Hti
Hta and Pruso. At least 50 people at a time were forced to
build these camps, then four or five people to maintain them.
The construction would take around two weeks. Women and
children under 13 were not usually used for this work. Orders
for building army camps would be given to village heads by the
battalion commander, who would call the village heads to the
battalion camp. In one case he witnessed at the front line in
the latter part of 1992, a large operation involving seven
battalions in Kayah State used 3,000 porters over eight months
(including government servants, students and prisoners). None
of the porters was released over this period. Many porters
were beaten, died or were killed. About 500 porters died in
this way, two-thirds from disease. Each porter was fed half a
condensed milk tin of rice per day, with only salt and fish
paste. Porters had to sleep on the ground, and were not given
blankets. He was present for the whole eight months. He also
saw forced labour many times when he was a soldier. The most
difficult was cutting large trees to build army camps. He
witnessed this when he was based in Demawso. Orders for forced
labour would normally be written orders given from the
battalion commander to village heads, who would then arrange
villagers to do the work. Sometimes the orders would be given
orally. Orders were often accompanied by threats of violence
if they were not carried out. He also did labour on the
Aungban-Loikaw railway when he was a soldier. He saw many
villagers who were forced to do this work--about 1,000 people,
but his battalion was not involved in the collection of
workers for this project. He and other soldiers from his
battalion worked for one month on the railway (doing the
labouring, not just guarding), then went back to their
battalion. When he was working on the railway, the soldiers
and the villagers had to do the same kind of work (clearing
and levelling ground), but at different places on the work
site. What was different was the way the work was organised:
the soldiers had to work for a certain number of hours per
day, whereas the villagers were given an assignment to
complete a given amount of work, and so it was more difficult
for the villagers as they had to finish the work before they
could return to their villages. From time to time he would go
back to his village, and the villagers all had to do forced
labour. People had to go once a week to the army camp three
miles from the village, and also had to go as porters for up
to four or six months at a time. The villagers had been forced
to build this army camp. The life of a soldier was very
difficult. The ordinary soldiers were treated very badly by
the higher ranks. He deserted because he could not stand the
situation any more. The worst thing for him was when at one
point in June 1995 the soldiers had no rice for two weeks, and
had to survive on jungle leaves (this was at the front line).
The rice had been stolen by corrupt people somewhere up the
supply line. He always received his wages, but almost every
month a proportion was taken as a fine for not carrying out an
order properly or some other disagreement. He had wanted to
desert since about two years after joining the army; soldiers
have to sign on for ten years when they join. If deserters
were caught, they would be put in prison. If they took their
gun with them when they deserted, they would be killed.
Despite this many people were always deserting. He left
Myanmar in March 1996.
______________________
94
Ethnicity: Burman
Age/sex: 24, male
Family situation: Six (parents, himself and three
younger siblings)
Education: Monastery education only
Occupation: Soldier
The witness left Myanmar in March 1996. Before that, he joined
the army in 1987 (battalion 72), and was in the army for nine
years (he was a Private), until deserting with witness 95 in
March 1996. He joined the army in Taungdwingyi (signed on for
ten years), and stayed there for one month before being sent
for training for six months. He then joined Battalion 72 in
Kayah State, which was based in Lawpita. The battalion was
divided into five companies, and each would rotate at the
front line: each company would spend six months at the front
line, then rest for a short time, then go again (not always to
the same place). He saw portering in Lawpita; his battalion
used porters to carry supplies and ammunition to the front
line. Porters for the front line troops were taken from nearby
and also distant villages. For each group of 30 to 40 soldiers
there were about 40 porters. The soldiers used to go into
villages and grab people for portering. They took mostly
people aged 17 to 40. When they were patrolling, the soldiers
would grab porters for a day, then release them the next day
if they were able to get more porters at that time. If porters
could not carry their load, they would be kicked or beaten; if
beaten with a stick, this would often result in injuries such
as cuts and bruises. During important times (such as
operations), sick porters who could not continue would be
shot. The soldiers used to take food from villages for the
porters to eat - one condensed milk tin of rice per day, plus
curry (not bad food, since it was the same as the villagers
ate). When the soldiers went into a village to grab porters,
the villagers had no choice but to come: it was an order. If
porters tried to run away during portering they were shot.
Porters often were injured or died in crossfire during
fighting. The soldiers did not put porters in front of them
during fighting, or use them as human minesweepers (the unit
had a mine expert who could remove suspected mines). He
deserted because he couldn't stand the treatment by superiors,
especially because they took a part of his salary, and he was
unable to support his wife.
______________________
95
Ethnicity: Burman
Age/sex: 20, male
Family situation: Parents, himself, and seven siblings
Occupation: Soldier (Private)
Bago Division
The witness joined the army in 1991. Deserted with witness 94
in March 1996 and left Myanmar. He joined the army in Hmawbyi
(Yangon Division), and stayed there for six months, before
doing six months' training. He then joined battalion 72 based
at Lawpita in Kayah State. He agreed with witness 94's
description of the treatment of porters, and the fact that
they were not used as human minesweepers. Villagers were
forced to do cultivation for the army at his army camp
(growing vegetables in the army compound). For this kind of
work, one person from each household in the village was
required to come to the army camp (the village near the camp
had about 500 households). They would not have to come all the
time, but would only have to work in large numbers at busy
times such as planting and harvesting. Men, women and children
all did this work. The soldiers treated the villagers rudely,
and swore at them, but he never saw a villager beaten while
doing this work. He fled because of a problem with his
commanding officer. That officer used to accuse villagers of
having contact with rebels, and lock them up. He used this as
a means of extorting money from them. While they were locked
up they would be beaten and hit with rifles. He had a
disagreement with the officer about this and so had to desert.
He has heard about soldiers abusing women, but has never seen
it himself.
______________________
96
Ethnicity/religion: Karenni, Buddhist
Age/sex: Born 13 November 1959, male
Family situation: Married with three children;
nine siblings
Education: 9th Standard
Occupation: Merchant in Loikaw
The witness was convicted of a drug-related offence in April
1996 in Loikaw and sentenced to nine years' imprisonment. As a
prisoner, he had to do portering for one month from 12 May
1996, going back and forth between Loikaw and Huay Paung
Laung, carrying ammunition and weapons. Thereafter, he worked
as a labourer in Loikaw in an army camp, digging a fish
pond, crushing stones, making bricks. On 12 August 1997, he
again did portering ("every time they need labour, they take
prisoners to use them as porters") and on 30 August 1997 he
fled from portering to Thailand. During portering, and on army
camp duty, the prisoners and villagers doing forced labour
were always kept separate. As a porter, he never saw soldiers
grab a civilian to do porterage. When the soldiers arrived at
any village, all the inhabitants had fled, and the soldiers
burned down the houses, barns and stores and shot and ate the
animals (pigs, chickens). Before his conviction in April 1996,
he and his family rarely did forced labour and never did
portering because any time the army wanted labourers, they
asked the section leader in Loikaw, who had to provide five or
ten labourers per section. He or his family members were never
chosen, because he paid. There were 13 sections in Loikaw and
200 families in his section, so if they asked for five porters
and no one wanted to go, the "porters fees" of 50,000 kyat
were divided by the 200 families, all those who did not send a
labourer had to pay some 250 kyat. There was no regular
amount, it was usually 200 to 300 kyat, and rising. The last
time he paid 200 kyat. His porter fees were for his household,
those brothers and sisters living separately paid separately.
He did not know for how long the porters had to go, he only
knew that he had to pay porter fees at least once a month. He
witnessed directly other forms of forced labour. For instance,
the railway construction between Loikaw and Aungban, begun in
1992/93 and still on-going, was undertaken with forced labour.
By order from the army to the section leaders, each section
had to finish a given stretch of the railway within a
deadline. His section had to do four to five miles, and one
person per family had to go for five months. This was near
Loikaw, in 1992 or 1993. They went in the morning, came back
in the evening, and sometimes took three to four days rest. No
family dared to disobey the order, all went. At the working
site, they had to sign an attendance sheet. If people did not
go, after four or five days the section leader called them and
warned them, then fined them. Also, because the army was in a
hurry to finish the railway, they did not allow people to take
a long rest, even if tired. So if they rested too long, they
beat and kicked workers and forced them back to work. He saw
people badly injured but not killed. In addition, every
Saturday one person per family in the section had to go for
one half-day to the army compound to clean it, signing an
attendance sheet there. He usually paid 50 kyat to the section
leader to find a replacement for him. Sometimes he saw
villagers mistreated by the soldiers when working in the
compound (but not during weekly cleaning duties). Furthermore,
at least two or three times a month he was called up for a
whole day for "emergency" work which could be cleaning and
repainting buildings when a high army officer visited Loikaw,
or building a new pagoda for a special occasion (he was
Buddhist, but all religions had to go, including Muslims,
Christians). The order came from the section leader in the
army. He had to go, there was no choice. If he refused, he was
fined 50 kyat by the section leader. Sometimes, when he was
not free, he found someone to replace him for 50 kyat,
otherwise he went. Sometimes he saw people mistreated during
"emergency" work, but not during pagoda construction.
______________________
97
Ethnicity/religion: Burman, Buddhist
Age/sex: Born 1960, male
Family situation: Married with two children, five brothers
and sisters
Education: 2nd Standard
Occupation: Farmer (independent)
Division (imprisoned since April 1994 in
Loikaw, escaped in August 1997 from
portering while a prisoner)
The witness, when working as a farmer, was imprisoned in
Tharawady jail (Bago Division) in April 1990 and sentenced to
five years imprisonment, but released in December 1993. While
serving his prison term, he worked in June 1990 on the
Yangon-Mandalay highway, and in 1991 on an electricity station
construction in Loikaw. He was released in December 1993.
He had no money to go back to his village and family, so he
got together with some friends from the electricity project
site, who owned a farm in 6 Mile (Daw Khu Si) village, Demawso
township. he stayed at their farm and helped them. In April
1994, some army corporals came and told him to cut
electricity/phone wires, which he did out of fear. He was then
charged with stealing the cable and sentenced to ten years'
imprisonment in Loikaw (the corporals were sentenced to three
years). He escaped during portering in August 1997. In 1996,
all prisoners were taken by boat to clear out and widen Pilu
river at Moebye dam for four days, but the security guards
forced them to finish the work in two days. Only prisoners, no
villagers. During his assignment as a porter, he was always
separated from the villagers. In August 1997, before escaping
and leaving Myanmar, he saw a fellow prisoner porter who could
not stand the weight of his load anymore try to escape, and be
beaten to death by the soldiers who found him. He has
witnessed villagers doing forced labour. While in 6 Mile (Daw
Khu Si) village from January to April 1994, he only heard that
upon orders from officers to the village head, villagers went
and worked for the army, but he never asked about the work. In
1996, he saw villagers doing forced labour in Loikaw, at the
TaKaSa army compound ("army common headquarters") for
husbandry, digging fishing ponds, pits. He did not know how
long for.
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[END OF SLICE 33]