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ILO: FORCED LABOUR IN BURMA-27



[ILO COMMISSION OF INQUIRY ON FORCED LABOUR IN BURMA, SLICE
27]
                           APPENDIX VII

                     SUMMARIES OF TESTIMONY 

  
1

Ethnicity:        Chin
Age/sex:          Born on 20 April 1960, male
Family situation: Oldest of a family of four
Education:        8th Standard
Occupation:       Farmer and subsequently truck driver         
                  (transportation of goods)
                  Sagaing Division for the 15 years up to his  
                  arrest)


The witness was arrested in Mung Zwa on 18 April 1994 and
accused of possessing and transporting illegal political
publications. He was tried (at the court of the Division) and
sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment. He could not have
recourse to the counsel of his own choosing, but was assigned
a lawyer by the State. After his arrest he was transferred to
a military camp, the name of which he did not know. He was
subsequently sent to a prison labour camp, from which he
managed to escape in October 1997. After his escape, he had to
flee Myanmar through Mandalay, Kalaymyo, Tiddim and Champhai.
Since then, he has not seen his family, which he presumed was
still in Haka. During his imprisonment (1994-97), he had to
break stones the construction of roads for two years from
March 1995. Working conditions were extremely arduous: little
food (one cup of rice), no shelter for sleeping. The workday
generally began at around 7 a.m. and finished at around 10
p.m., without any break and often in very high temperatures.
He worked with more than 700 prisoners. They were all chained
at the waist and feet. The prisoners were regularly subjected
to ill-treatment by the guards, who beat and kicked them and
hit them with their weapons. The chains and dehydration made
most of the prisoners sick. No medical treatment or medicines
were given to the prisoners if they fell ill. Only prisoners
who could no longer get up were excused from work. The bad
conditions in the prison labour camp have resulted in the
death of more than 200 prisoners. Several of his friends were
beaten by the guards, who constantly boasted of being able to
do what they wanted with the prisoners. He himself was beaten
without knowing the reason for this physical punishment. The
witness insisted that the prisoners were denied all their
rights. At the time of his arrest, he was a member of the
National League for Democracy (NLD) and supported Aung San Suu
Kyi. Several prisoners were members of the National League for
Democracy. 
                     _______________________



2


Ethnicity:        Chin
Age/sex:          19, male
Family situation: Six (very elderly parents)
Education:        5th Standard
Occupation:       Family of farmers


The witness came to India on 11 April 1997. His parents told
him to leave Myanmar on account of the situation: forced
conscription, forced labour and portering for the military. He
was in sporadic contact with his family, which has remained in
Myanmar; they have confirmed that the situation has not
changed and that it was quite intolerable, given the military
dictatorship running the country. It was impossible for the
members of his family to do their own work. He had to work for
the military since the age of 14 (1993). As a general rule,
the work assignments were notified in writing, although the
military could directly requisition the workers they needed.
Portering. He had to perform portering duties for the military
on six occasions. The military came directly to the village
and ordered the persons present to carry their equipment. They
also appropriated everything available, including food,
bamboo, medicines, animals. Whenever the military came to a
village in this way, the young people generally attempted to
take flight but they were pursued into the jungle by the
soldiers. To his knowledge, nobody carried out this work
voluntarily. Road work. On two occasions, he had to work on
the construction of the road between Haka and Thantlang. This
road was approximately 60 miles from his village. The whole of
his village received orders to send one person per family to
work. Each assignment lasted 12 days, with three days of
travel to the site and three days for the return. The work
site was supervised by soldiers. The day commenced at 6 a.m.
and ended at approximately 4 p.m. There was no shelter for
sleeping purposes and the workers had to sleep close to the
road or in the jungle. The workers had to bring all of their
food and ask the women present to prepare it. They were
allowed to eat at the end of the work day at about 10
p.m. The workers were often maltreated by the soldiers. Anyone
attempting to escape was threatened with execution or
incarcerated. He received no pay. It was always possible to
bribe the soldiers in order to be exempted. Military camp
work. On three occasions in 1993, 1995 and 1997, he had to
work for a military camp situated close to his village. Each
time, he stayed one day. His 16-year old sister also had to
perform guard duty for the military camp as well as digging
work.

In his eyes, the most unpleasant memories were associated with
the porterage and road construction work. He is a member of
the Chin National League for Democracy (CNLD).

                   ___________________________


3

Ethnicity:        Chin
Age/sex:          Born on 15 April 1972, male
Family situation: Two sisters. Father deceased (former civil   
                  servant)
Education:        7th Standard
Occupation:       Truck driver


The witness, together with four other persons, was arrested by
the military on 23 January 1994 and accused of having
illegally transported drugs requiring a medical prescription.
He was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment by a civil court
before which he had an opportunity to present his defence. He
lodged an appeal and was released on 21 September 1995. During
his detention, he was transferred to various prisons in which
he had to perform work in extremely difficult conditions.
After his release, the witness had the impression that he was
under surveillance by the internal police of Myanmar (CID). He
found the situation unbearable and left for Mizoram, arriving
in September 1997. He left Myanmar on account of the general
situation there. The people have no rights. He has no contact
with his family. He does not belong to any political group. He
is nevertheless interested in the literature produced by
opposition groups. As a matter of course, his entire village,
including all of the members of his family, has had to work
for the military. The orders issued by the military were
passed down by the village head. It was always possible for
those with some money to bribe the soldiers. The witness did
not personally perform any forced labour. Since 1988, however,
his sisters have had to perform certain work on a rotation
basis (four weeks) at the Kalaymyo hydro-electric power
station, as well as on the Thantlang road. In 1988, his
younger sister was 12 years old and the elder 24. He has no
information on what kind of work they had to perform. He does,
however, know that they were not able to rest and that they
were neither fed nor paid. 

                 ________________________________

4

Ethnicity:        Chin
Age/sex:          Born on 28 February 1968, male
Family situation: Mother alive; one of a family of seven
                  children; older brother is a lawyer; the     
                  others are farmers
Education:        4th Standard
Occupation:       Farmer


The witness was arrested on 5 June 1996, after the authorities
suspected him of being a member of the Chin National Front
(CNF). During the interrogation following his arrest, he was
tortured. When he was released, he left Myanmar and went to
India, arriving in mid-1996. All the members of his family
have left Myanmar for Mizoram, including his lawyer brother,
since they had become suspect in the eyes of the authorities
following his departure. In general, his family did not have
to perform any work for the military authorities since his
father was a magistrate. However, exceptionally, on two
occasions, he himself had to work for the military. The first
time was between 4 and 15 January 1995. He had to participate
in the building of the road between Haka and Thantlang. At
that time, all his village was required to work on this
project, including the members of privileged families such as
those of judges. These families, which grouped together some
15 persons, were assigned to work on a specific stretch of the
road which they had to finish within a specific period of
time. Persons who were not able to finish the work were
threatened with losing their jobs or forced to pay a fine
(2,000 kyat). The work, which consisted principally of
levelling the ground for the road, was arduous. They had to
sleep near the road or in the homes of friends. The second
time was in November 1995 when he was required to perform
porterage work for the military authorities. Along with 13
other persons, he was apprehended by the military authorities
when he was in Gu Kya, a small village near Thantlang. He had
to go from Gu Kya to Thantlang. He had to walk without rest
for a distance of approximately 12 miles.

                __________________________________

5

Age/sex:          Born in 1973, male
Family situation: Member of a family of seven children;        
                  parents still alive
Education:        6th Standard
Occupation:       Soldier since 1993


The witness joined the army in 1993 at the end of his school
apprenticeship since he had no other way of earning his
living. The headquarters of his battalion was in Kachin State.
He was the only person of Chin origin in his company. However,
there were 16 soldiers of Chin origin in his battalion. His
superiors were Burmese from Mandalay (in the company) or
Yangon (in the battalion). He left the army because of the
poor conditions: low pay, very poor food, very low morale
among the troops. With regard to forced labour, he remembered
that when he was still very young, his entire village always
had to work for the military authorities who had a camp
nearby. The call up for labour came from the military
authorities but was transmitted by the village head. He
himself had to cut wood and perform sentry duty. He carried
out this work on a rotational basis with his brother. He
did not want to do this work and was not paid for it. When he
first joined the army he worked for one month as a guard in
the prison camp at Namati, Kachin State. He had to supervise
prisoners assigned to stone breaking for road construction.
The working conditions were extremely arduous. The prisoners
were regularly subject to severe physical ill-treatment. The
prisoners were soldiers or civilians who had previously been
sentenced by military courts (court martials) or civil courts
(criminal proceedings). Their ages varied and they included
children and the elderly. To the best of his knowledge, there
were no political prisoners. He was subsequently sent to the
front line on two occasions. The front line was mainly in the
north of Shan State. Almost 4,000 soldiers were at the front
line. The porters who were required by the military
authorities were recruited from each village. His company,
which was made up of between 30 and 40 men, had the services
of between 17 and 18 porters. Men, women and children (8-9
years old) could be requisitioned to carry out this work.
Several women worked as porters, since the men managed to
escape leaving them as the only source of available labour.
When fighting broke out, the porters were sent out ahead of
the troops to detect any anti-personnel mines planted by the
Shan rebels. Several porters were killed in these
circumstances. The persons requisitioned were subjected to
cruel treatment. If they did not walk fast enough, they were
pushed and jostled. They had to porter from one village to
another (rotation by village). He had himself beaten
porters in accordance with orders received from his superiors.
He had not seen any cases of sexual abuse but had heard of
them. Complaints had been made, but no serious measures taken.
When he was not at the front line, he was assigned to various
military camps or remained at the headquarters of his
battalion, where he could go about his own business. In the
military camps, he had seen persons forced to work on the
building of these camps. His experience covered four camps:
(1) Namati, Kachin State -- prisoners' camp (already discussed
above); (2) Nan Ya, Kachin State. The camp was already built
when he was assigned there; (3) Paunghsai and Mong Ko, Shan
State. In these camps, people (civilian and military) had to
participate in their construction. The villagers were informed
by the village head of the work to be carried out. The orders
were given orally in the case of villages near the camp and in
writing for the more distant villages. The work lasted for two
or three weeks. It consisted of constructing the buildings,
cutting wood and carrying out sentry duty. Working conditions
were extremely arduous. The workers had no food and had to
work without a break. They were regularly subjected to
maltreatment, kicked and beaten. Even as a soldier he had
sometimes had to work without being paid. Between 1994 and
1996, he worked without pay on four stretches of the railway
between Mogaung and Mandalay, all in Kachin State: (1) Nan
Ya (where he worked for three months); (2) Mogaung (where he
worked for two months); (3) Myitkyina (capital of Kachin
State) (where he worked for one-and-a-half months); (4)
Sarhmaw (where he worked for three months). Between 250 and
300 unpaid soldiers worked with him, in addition to the
prisoners. As far as he knew, there were no civilians. His
worst memory was the situation at the front line, which was a
drug trafficking area. Finally, the witness spoke of the
cultivation of opium in Shan State and the fact that the army
had ordered the population of this State to grow it. The drug
was subsequently sold to Chinese interests. The witness came
to India in 1996. 
                 ________________________________

6

Ethnicity:        Rakhine
Age/sex:          Born in 1951, male
Family situation: Eight  
Occupation:       Hill cultivation of tobacco
                  Yomav (village had 60 houses)


The witness left Myanmar in 1994 because of the conditions
prevailing there, in particular the work which had to be done
for the military. His whole family came with him to India.
With regard to forced labour, he had to work as a porter for
the military and work on the building of a road. Portering. He
had to do portering for the army so often that he could not
remember how many times. All his assignments were carried out
in the Rakhine State. The first time was in 1982. He was taken
by the army to Pi Chaung (on the border with Bangladesh).
Sixty other villagers were with him. There were thirty
soldiers. The portering lasted seven days. The porters also
had to build the camps where the troops were stationed. The
work consisted mainly of putting up bamboo spikes, digging
trenches, fetching water, etc. The work was not voluntary and
was not paid. Everybody of an age to do portering work was
liable to be requisitioned. Where there were no men, women had
to do it. Only the adults in his family did this work. The
porters were cruelly treated by the soldiers. There was no
food and the soldiers amused themselves by telling them to eat
sand. If the porters fell behind, they were beaten (in
particular, those suffering from polio). He suffered fever and
hunger. On his other experiences of portering, he estimated
that he was requisitioned for work by the army at least three
times a month until he left. The assignments lasted between
one and seven days. Each family had to provide one person to
perform this work. In addition, four persons from his village
had to be permanently available for the urgent needs of the
military and for work at the army camp. When he was away, his
family had to feed themselves with what they could find from
the jungle. In his village, a girl had been sexually assaulted
by drunken soldiers, who had offered drink to her father
beforehand. Despite the complaint lodged with the superior
officer, no serious action had been taken. Finally, his worst
memories related to night journeys which he had to make as a
porter. He had to make difficult climbs up hills and mountains
in total darkness without directions. It was always possible
to bribe the soldiers. In his case, he did not have the
necessary money and had to perform the work. Road building. In
1992, he had to work twice on the building of the road between
Matupi and Chaung Lawa. The work began at 6 a.m. and ended at
5 p.m. The first assignment lasted seven days, whereas the
second was spread over four days. Each family had to provide
one person to carry out this work. The order to work was
transmitted by the village head, but did not come from the
same soldiers who exacted the portering.


_______________
NOTE

1.   According to the authorities, the territory in which the
village is situated is part of Chin State.               
               ____________________________________


7

Ethnicity/religion:  Rakhine, Buddhist
Age/sex:             Born in 1966 (31 years old), male
Family situation:    Married with two children
Education:           2nd Standard
Occupation:          Hill cultivation
                     (village had more than 100 families)


The witness had to do work for the military up to his
departure in 1995. His wife and children looked after his land
while he was away. During these periods, they had to live on
what they could find in the jungle. He did portering, and
worked on the building of a military camp and a road. He left
Myanmar with his wife and children. Portering. He was
requisitioned to act as a porter more times than he could
remember each year. He estimated that it was three or four 
times a month. The period when he had to do most portering
work was in 1988. The soldiers requisitioned villagers for
portering and transmitted their orders through the village
head. Each family in the village had to provide one person to
perform this work. Each assignment lasted between three and
five days. He had to carry food and ammunition for the
military. The loads were heavy. He was not given any breaks.
He had to bring his own food, but he did not always have time
to prepare it. The shelters for sleeping in had to be built on
site, in the jungle. He also had to do sentry duty when the
soldiers were sleeping. Men, women and children might be
requisitioned. The treatment inflicted on them was cruel:
beatings with bamboo canes were commonplace. If the porter was
incapable of keeping up, he was beaten and abandoned in the
jungle. He had heard that some people had died as a result of
this maltreatment. It was possible to refuse only in the case
of serious illness. However, the soldiers did accept bribes.
The members of the army took everything: animals (chickens,
pigs), food, etc. He had to work as a porter until his
departure for India in 1995. Military camp. The military had a
camp in his village. He had therefore had to work there
countless times before he left. Among other things, he had to
build huts and camp beds for the soldiers, cut and gather
bamboo, put up fences and dig trenches. The assignments were
of varied length, but could last as long as a month. Road
building. In 1991, he had to work on the road twice between
Kaladan River and Matupi. The first assignment lasted for
seven days, while the second lasted for four. Half the
families in the village had to do this work. Other villages
were also requisitioned. Two to three hundred persons worked
at the same time as him. The workers were subjected to cruel
treatment: blows from bamboo canes and punches were frequent.
He was personally beaten on two occasions because he could not
swim. His worst memories were linked to portering and to the
fact that it was very difficult to move about in the rainy
season without adequate footwear.
_________________________
NOTE 

2.   According to the authorities, the territory in which the
village is situated is part of Chin State. 
            
                   ____________________________


8

Ethnicity/religion:  Rakhine, Buddhist
Age/sex:             22, male
Family situation:    Nine (him, parents, one older brother
                     and five older sisters)
Education:           None
Occupation:          Farmer (paddy fields, and chillies in
                     winter)
                     State (village had 90 families)


The witness had to work for the military from the age of 14
(1990). The first time he had to work for the army, he was
required to grow produce for them. Subsequently, he had to
work as a porter, on road-building and he also performed other
work for the military. It was impossible to refuse to do the
work. He was not paid. Agricultural work. This consisted of
tending paddy fields and growing chilli peppers for the
military who had appropriated agricultural land one hour's
journey from his village. Ten persons from his village had to
go. During the rainy season, he had to work on this land until
very late into the night. Portering. He first had to work as a
porter for the military at the age of 16. Subsequently, he had
to do it once or twice a year. He had to carry food. His
brother-in-law had been hung from a tree by his hands for one
hour because he was absent from a portering assignment for
which the military had requisitioned him. He was unable to
walk for one to two weeks. Road building. He had to work on
the building of three roads since the age of 15: Minbya-Ann
(100 miles), Minbya-Myebon (60 miles) and Minbya-Sunye (local
road). He had to do this work during the dry season once or
twice a year. His whole village was requisitioned to do this
work. It was divided into two groups, which worked in a
pre-established weekly rota. Each family had to provide one
person. Personally, he shared the work with his older brother.
It took him two days' walking to get to his place of work. The
work was difficult and consisted mainly of digging earth. He
had to bring his own tools. Three to four hundred people
worked with him on the roads. Soldiers supervised the work.
These roads were mainly for the use of the military. He worked
on these roads for the last time just before leaving in 1996.
The workers were regularly subjected to ill-treatment. If they
were late, they were beaten by the soldiers. The soldiers
sometimes chained them up and used shackles on their legs. The
soldiers would also force them to stay out in the burning sun
for three or four hours. In general, the soldiers dealt
harshly with the workers. He saw people seriously injured,
suffering among other things from deep cuts as a result of
being beaten with wooden sticks. He was not injured
personally. But he did suffer hunger, fever and pains in the
legs. Other work. On several occasions he had to gather wood
(nipa palm, bamboo) for the fires needed to make bricks and
for roofs (leaves). He also worked on the building of
embankments for a river. He had also witnessed villagers
having to work without payment on shrimp farms. The army had
taken possession of certain shrimp farms. The shrimps were
raised for export. Any civilian who tried to take these
shrimps for their own use was beaten. In his view, the most
difficult work he had to perform, because of his youth, was
the cutting of leaves and bamboo. He would like to improve his
education. 
                    _________________________


9

Ethnicity/religion:  Rakhine, Buddhist
Age/sex:             25, male
Family situation:    Parents alive, but elderly; he has two
                     older brothers and two older sisters
Education:           4th Standard
Occupation:          Hill cultivation; family paddy farm
                     (surface area: two sacks of rice seed)


The witness had to leave Myanmar (in 1995) because he was
afraid of portering and did not have the strength required to
do the work. He and his brother had to do work for the
military. However, his sisters had not done any. He had to do
portering and had to work for a military camp. Portering. He
had to do portering for the military three times a year since
the age of 14 (1986). He had to transport food and go from one
village to another. The assignment generally lasted one day.
The porters were not fed, and if they did not bring their own
rice, they had to try to satisfy their hunger with what they
could find in the jungle. He was injured in the leg during one
assignment and was unable to do portering for three years. The
soldiers then asked him to put up fencing for the military
camp (see below: Military camp). His brother, who was now 20,
also had to do portering for the military on countless
occasions. He estimated that his brother had to act as a
porter for the military on average three times a month. They
both began working as porters at about the same time. He said
his brother had been maltreated by the soldiers. Military
camp. He had to work for the military camp three times. He
mainly had to put up fencing, dig trenches and build huts. His
brother also had to work on the construction of military huts,
on average three times a month. The work was carried out for
the same camp. Generally, the work consisted of putting up
fencing, digging trenches and building huts. Apart from these
kinds of work, four persons from his village had to be kept on
call for the army's urgent needs. Finally, his family, which
had animals (chickens, pigs), was forced to keep them for the
military, who took them from time to time without payment.
_________________________
NOTE

3.   According to the authorities, the territory in which the
village is situated is part of Chin State. 

                        ________________


10 

Ethnicity:           
                    Rakhine
Age/sex:            Born in 1951 (46), male
Occupation:         Farmer
                    Rakhine State (there was a military camp   
                    close to his village at Ponnagyun)

The witness had to perform work for the military from the age
of 14 (1964). Portering. On one occasion he had to transport
goods for the army (rice and other rations) from one village
to another. Road building. This began in 1995, with each
village being assigned a section of the road to build. The
road in question was that between Sittway (Akyab) and
Kyauktaw, some 100 miles in length. This road was built during
the dry season, but was damaged each rainy season. It was
still impossible to use it today as it has never been
completed. The military specified the work that had to be done
to the Township Council. At that time, he was the clerk to the
Township Council. As such, he had to supervise the work and
take part in it personally. However, he lost his job in 1988.
The workers had to bring their tools. They were not paid. They
also had to bring their own food. When they could not go to
work, particularly for reasons of illness, they were obliged
to find a replacement. Verbal abuse from the soldiers was
commonplace. Military camp. He worked there for a year. Other
members of his family (elder brother, brother-in-law) worked
for a long period once a year. The villages were grouped into
tens, with each village having to work at the camp on a
particular day. The work consisted of gathering bundles and
building embankments. Apart from these different jobs, persons
had to remain permanently on call for the army's urgent needs.
Student Sports Festival, Sittway (Akyab) (14-17 December
1997). He had to work for two to three months like the rest of
his village on the preparation for this festival. His township
was particularly affected by this festival since it took place
in this area. The work consisted of cutting bamboo and wood
and transporting the canes and logs to the festival site. In
his view, the SLORC military regime was the most brutal
military dictatorship the country has ever known. It was
impossible for the citizens to sell their produce freely.
                         ________________

[END OF SLICE 27]