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ILO: FORCED LABOUR IN BURMA-22



[ILO COMMISSION OF INQUIRY ON FORCED LABOUR IN BURMA, SLICE
22]


A. FORCED LABOUR FOR PUBLIC PURPOSES

1. The Government of Myanmar uses forced labour
   to perform portering, combat, minesweeping
   and sexual services for military troops

Military campaigns in Myanmar are characterized by consistent,
widespread and systematic use of the civilian population for
portering duties. Along with portering, the forced labour
duties have typically involved provision of minesweeping,
combat and sexual services. One documented study has noted
that "[t]he conscription of hundreds of thousands of porters
(including from the Burman majority) has been reported in
every ethnic minority state and every division of Burma".(27)

The contemporary practice of forced portering in the service
of the Myanmar army (in Burmese "Tatmadaw"), has historical
links to the time of Japanese occupation and British colonial
rule.(28) The Government of Myanmar has variously denied that
the practice exists, and claimed that when portering occurs it
happens according to strict conditions, according to law, and
at the voluntary offering of the people involved in the
work.(29) Despite these statements, "the evidence is
irrefutable that, in the absence of proper roads or transport,
thousands of villagers are forced into carrying arms and
supplies for all major military operations".(30) Since 1988,
ex-army officers have confirmed that "for most military
operations in the war-zones an average of one porter is taken
along for each soldier on the mission".(31)

The vast majority of people who have worked as porters are
forced to do so through various methods documented and
corroborated by independent and reliable sources.(32) Village
headmen are frequently notified of the quota of porters they
must fill, and are under legal obligation to do so.(33) The
only alternative is to pay large sums of money to the local
military command, known as "porter fees". Arrest is a common
means of obtaining porters, and unless a civilian has enough
money to bribe the soldier(s) to let them go, there is no
alternative but to work as porters. Apart from these more
formal, or organized means of pressing civilians into work as
porters, people are commonly rounded up by the local police or
the military from public places such as movie theatres, coffee
houses, video shows and train stations. They are put into
trucks and taken away to serve as porters. In some cases they
are taken long distances from where they are seized, in order
to discourage them from trying to run away. As noted by the UN
Special Rapporteur: "[m]any of the victims of such acts ...
are peasants, women, daily wage-earners and other peaceful
civilians who do not have enough money to avoid mistreatment
by bribing".(34) 

Calls into service appear to be arbitrary and widespread. One
man explained that he had been arrested frequently to work as
a porter, preventing him from carrying out his normal work as
a carrier of goods: "In one year I'm taken as porter perhaps
ten times, sometimes for ten days, sometimes for two months
 ...".(35) If the SLORC is conducting a major operation,
military commanders will take hundreds or thousands of people
to work as porters, depending on their perceived needs. Those
needs are calculated mindful of the certainty that many
porters will escape as soon as they can, and need to be
replaced. 

Considerable evidence reveals that men, women, children and
the elderly alike are taken to serve as porters, despite
claims by the SLORC that there are restrictions and
requirements as to which people will be allowed to work as
porters and under what conditions.(36) "[T]he army regularly
takes porters indiscriminately ... when troops need a large
number of porters, they take women aged 15 through 60 as
well."(37) 

Prisoners are among the civilians who have been pressed into
service as porters for SLORC troops. Prisoners are made to
work in leg chains and are singled out for especially harsh
treatment.(38) Many prisoners who have been taken to work as
porters have died at the front lines, often as a result of
ill-treatment at the hands of SLORC troops.(39)

Documented reports and individual testimony of the
circumstances in which civilians are forced to labour as
porters demonstrate the abusive "working" conditions. Porters
held in military custody carry loads of foodstuffs, ammunition
and weapons that can weigh from 30 to 60 kilograms. They
labour for long hours every day, and receive insufficient
food, water and rest.(40) They rarely receive medical
attention despite a wide range of illness and injury from
which they suffer as a result of forced labour, including
malaria. Along with disease, porters suffer wounds received
during the course of battle or in minesweeping operations,(41)
and injuries from the excessive loads they are made to carry.
If any of these circumstances prevents porters from being able
to continue work, the SLORC troops often abandon them where
they collapse from exhaustion, without any medical care or
assistance at all.(42) 

Many porters suffer beatings and other forms of physical abuse
at the hands of SLORC troops, often leaving them with severe
injuries. The UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar considered that
some of the most serious human rights violations of which
he had been informed occurred in the context of forced
portering.(43) Abuses include beatings,(44) extrajudicial and
summary executions,(45) and rape, including gang rape, of
women who are taken for portering duties.(46)

Beating by soldiers with sticks and rifle butts when a porter
cannot continue is commonplace.(47) Porters, who have escaped
and been interviewed, have experienced and witnessed beatings.
They describe being subjected to "physical abuse and inhumane
treatment from the moment of capture ... [most] had been
severely beaten ... when they slipped or fell from exhaustion,
and all [interviewed] had witnessed the deaths of fellow
porters".(48) At night. men and women porters are separated
from each other. Many of the women are repeatedly raped by
SLORC soldiers, at times in gang fashion.(49)

Porters have commonly been used in military roles, and many
die as a result "Interspersed as human mules between soldiers
in each marching column, they are thus brought directly into
the frontline of the war".(50) Once they have arrived at the
frontline, porters are frequently required to perform a number
of military tasks. For example, although unarmed themselves,
they have been placed at the head of columns to detonate mines
and booby traps, and to spring ambushes. As noted by one
investigative group, "[a] particularly disturbing aspect of
the phenomenon ... concerns the military's practice of
sometimes using civilian porters during frontline operations
as 'human shields'".(51) 

Commonly porters are sent as minesweepers to clear paths and
fields where mines have been laid.(52) While the use of
children as porters is objectionable per se, it is all the
more disturbing that the SLORC does not protect children
against requirements to perform military duties after
conscription as porters.(53)


2. The Government of Myanmar uses forced labour 
   on development and public works projects that 
   are not in the direct interest of the community, 
   and in fact harm community life(54) 

(a) Forced labour practices on development projects are
    widespread and affect hundreds of thousands of civilians

The widespread use of forced labour in Myanmar for development
and construction projects touches the lives of a vast number
of Myanmar's people, including men, women, children and the
elderly. The total number affected reaches into the hundreds
of thousands on various projects.(55) Forced labour is used in
Myanmar for a wide range of projects, including infrastructure
development, and tourist development projects.(56) Typical
labour duties include the construction of roads, railway lines
and airfields.(57) The military government has also forced
many thousands of people to "contribute" their labour to
tourist development projects as part of the preparation for
and conduct of 1996 as "Visit Myanmar Year".(58)

Prisoners from around Myanmar are also routinely required to
work in construction projects.(59) They are made to work on
roadbuilding, as well as the breaking of rocks for
roadbuilding. Generally prisoners are taken to labour camps
near the projects on which they are to work. Conditions in the
labour camps are harsh, and the work is difficult. Many
prisoners die in the course of this work. There have been
reports that political prisoners are among those taken to the
labour camps.(60)


(b) Forced labour on development projects is 
    systematic and organized

Forced labour on development projects in Myanmar follows
systematic and organized patterns, and the evidence discloses
large increases in forced labour in recent times.(61) Although
some people have been transported to different parts of the
country to work on forced labour projects, "usually the
construction work is organized on a village or township basis.
For local projects each family (or street or block) is ordered
by the district LORC [Law and Order Restoration Council] to
provide a specific number of labourers to complete a
particular task, such as breaking a quantity of rocks or
digging a section of road".(62) As noted by one human rights
group, "it is ...usually left to the headman to choose which
families will work at which times, on a rotating basis. There
is no option to choose not to go; the only alternatives to
going are to pay heavy fines ('porter tax') or to flee the
area".(63) Funds to pay labourers are rarely available, and
almost never reach those who do the work.(64) In cases where
villagers have neither fled nor complied with the orders, they
have suffered reprisals at the hands of the local SLORC
troops. Retribution has included the infliction of beatings
and torture upon the village headman,(65) and threats to kill
those who do not contribute labour. 

(c) Harsh working conditions and human rights abuses
    are common on development projects

Forced labour on construction projects is itself arduous and
exhausting, consisting of manual labour to dig ditches, build
embankments, and lay roads, dams and railways. The hours of
work are long with little opportunity to rest, and little or
no water or food are supplied. Reports suggest that people
have been forced to stay overnight at the site of their work,
commonly to sleep on the roads they are building, irrespective
of the weather conditions.(66) Deprivation of medical care
results in disease and other health problems. Many of the
forced labour camps are in areas where malaria is rife.(67) In
other cases, climatic change has a severe impact on the hill
people transported from their home environments.(68) As with
those who are forced to work as porters for the Tatmadaw,
gross human rights abuses in the course of forced labour
on development projects are routine.(69) The Special
Rapporteur on Myanmar has noted that the worst human rights
abuses of which he was informed occurred in the course of
forced labour on development projects, as well as forced
portering.(70) There have been repeated reports that people
forced to work on construction projects suffer beatings,
torture, disappearance and summary execution.(71) Women and
children suffer these abuses, as well as men,(72) and some
women labourers are also raped at night by soldiers.(73)

(d) The practice of forced labour on public development and    
 infrastructure projects harms the social and economic life    
 of the people of Myanmar 

The practice of forced labour is destructive to the social and
economic life of the people affected by it. As noted by a
leading investigative group, "forcible conscription of
civilians into compulsory labour duties for the military
authorities ... further disrupts family life and pushes many
families deeper into poverty"(74) in a country which is
already one of the world's poorest. In Arakan State, for
example, many of the people are day labourers, for whom the
impact of being forced to work for nothing for the SLORC is
compounded by the loss of opportunity to take what little
paying work is available.(75) Family life is further destroyed
as children are compelled to help fill the family's quotas for
forced labour projects while their fathers continue to try
to find voluntary, paid work.(76) The children themselves are
thus deprived of education and childhood life. 

The forced labour services of certain family members
disproportionately shifts the burdens of the family's
income-generating activity, and negatively affects the rural
economy and, as a result, nutrition and health. While men are
away on forced labour projects, "the burden of agriculture
falls on the women. With depleted numbers in the community it
becomes more difficult to plant, tend and harvest crops. Crop
failure, malnutrition and disease are a result".(77) The
impact of forced labour practices on the health of women and
children is significant.(78) Indeed, "the forcible
conscription of women, including girls, pregnant women
and the elderly, into compulsory labour duties on government
construction projects or even as porters in the war zones ...
has major health and humanitarian implications for the whole
of Burmese society, since not only does forced labour in
itself have an extremely detrimental impact on health, but it
is in the course of forced labour duties that many of the
worst human rights violations against women, including rape
and threats to life, have been committed".(79) The widespread
practice of rape destroys the personal, familial and village
lives of the women who suffer such abuses.(80)

(e) The development and infrastructure projects for which
    the Government uses forced labour do not benefit the     
    community supplying the forced labour 

The benefit from the development projects to the community
from which forced labour is exacted is illusory or
non-existent.(81) In many cases, whole villages are forcibly
relocated in order for projects to go ahead.(82) In most cases
the roads and railways under construction are intended to
benefit the SLORC rather than any community in Myanmar. Roads
and railways are designed for transporting troops to areas
where the SLORC seeks to exercise greater control, and to
facilitate tourist development.(83) In any case it is doubtful
whether the construction of parts of major roads can be seen
as beneficial to small communities; poverty is such that local
people cannot afford road or rail travel.(84)

A number of sources are available to estimate the economic or
market value of forced labour. They include the Government's
own economic figures, as published in its statistical Annual
Review, as well as data from World Bank and International
Monetary Fund reports. In addition, the Government of the
United States has issued a detailed account of what it calls
"the market value of uncompensated and largely involuntary
labor employed ... in public works projects", principally
construction of roads and bridges in local development
projects. According to the "Foreign economic trends" report:
Burma, issued by the US Department of State in June 1996 and
based primarily on the Government's own Annual Review, during
the financial year 1994-95 that market value was approximately
3.1 per cent of the gross domestic product, figured on the
basis of the official exchange rate for the kyat, Burma's
currency.(85) During that period, the share of "people's
contributions" in the cost of state projects was 53.9 per cent
of the total value of expenditure.(86) In addition, SLORC's
economic data reveals that the money saved by its forced
labour programmes is diverted to increase military and other
expenditures that do not benefit the people or provide for
their basic needs. In fact, available data for those years
indicate that government expenditures in the military
procurement rose in part as a result of the windfall in the
government budget in forced labour savings in public
works.(87) 


3. The Government of Myanmar uses forced labour 
   on military construction projects

Forced labour exacted from the people of Myanmar is put to use
in the construction of military facilities. Civilians
reportedly have been forced to work on the construction of
military and border police barracks.(88) Other forms of labour
on behalf of the military have included building and
maintaining military roads, and building and servicing
military camps.(89)
_________________________

NOTES

27.  Anti-Slavery International: "Ethnic groups in Burma"
(London, 1994) ("Ethnic groups"), p. 91. 

28.  Australian Council for Overseas Aid: "Slave labour in
Burma: An examination of the SLORC's forced labour policies"
(May 1996) ("ACFOA"), pp. 28-29; "Ethnic groups", note 27
supra at 91. 

29.  See, e.g., comments of the Government of Myanmar to the
Article 24 Committee, notes 21, 22 supra and accompanying
text at paras. 20-41. 

30.  "Ethnic groups", note 27 supra at 89. 

31.  idem. 

32.  For a general account of the practice of forced
portering, see, e.g., Amnesty International: "Myanmar: The
climate of fear continues -- Members of ethnic minorities and
political prisoners still targeted", AI: ASA 16/06/93 (Oct.,
1993) ("Climate of fear"), pp. 13-21; Human Rights Watch/Asia:
"Abuses linked to the fall of Manerplaw", Vol. 7, No. 5 (Mar.
1995) ("Manerplaw"), p. 12. "Detailed reports, photographs,
video recordings and a variety of physical evidence seen by
the Special Rapporteur indicate that the practices of forced
labour [and] forced portering ... are still widespread in
Myanmar ...". Report of the Special Rapporteur on the
situation of human rights in Myanmar, 1996, UN doc.
E/CN.4/1996/65 (5 Feb. 1996) ("Report of the Special
Rapporteur, 1996"), para. 173.  

33.  For a discussion of the law, see notes 105-110 infra and
accompanying text. 

34.  Report of the Special Rapporteur, 1996, note 32 supra at
para. 173. 

35.  Amnesty International: "Myanmar: No place to hide;
Killings. abductions against ethnic Karen villagers and
refugees", AI: ASA 16/13/95 (June 1995) ("No place to hide"),
p. 25. 

36.  See notes 21, 22 supra and accompanying text (comments of
the Government of Myanmar to the Article 24 Committee).

37.  "Ethnic groups", note 27 supra at III (mothers and
pregnant women have been forced to work as porters); and
Images Asia: "No childhood at all: A report on child soldiers
in Burma" (May 1996), p. 6 (children have worked as porters). 

38.  Amnesty International: "Portering and forced labour:
Amnesty International's concerns", AI: ASA 16/42/96 (Sep.
1996), pp. 2, 3; Amnesty International: "Conditions in prisons
and labour camps", AI: ASA 16/22/95 (Sep. 1995) ("Conditions
in prisons"), pp. 1, 6. 

39.  "Conditions in prisons", note 38 supra at 1, 6. 

40.  See, e.g., Amnesty International: "Myanmar: Human rights
after seven years of military rule", AI: ASA 16/23/95 (Oct.
1995) ("Seven years"), pp. 24-25; "No place to hide", note 35
supra p. 27; Amnesty International: "Human rights still
denied", AI: ASA 16/18/94 (Nov. 1994) ("Denied"), pp. 14-21. 

41.  See notes 50-53 infra and accompanying text.. 

42.  See, e.g., Asia Watch: "Burma: Rape, forced labour and
religious persecution in North Arakan State" (May 1992)
("Arakan State"), p. 13. 

43.  Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of
human rights in Myanmar, 1995, UN doc. E/CN.4/1995/65 (12 Jan.
1995) ("Report of the Special Rapporteur, 1995"); Report of
the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in
Myanmar, 1994, UN doc. E/CN.4/1994/57 (16 Feb. 1994) ("Report
of the Special Rapporteur, 1994"), para. 49; see also the
Report of the Special Rapporteur, 1996, note 32 supra at
paras. 114, 115; Report of the Special Rapporteur, 1993, note
7 supra at paras. 79-84, 101-104, 135-138, 222, 228, 229,
231-233. 

44.  Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other
forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of punishment,
1994, UN doc. E/CN.4/1994/31 (6 Jan. 1994), para. 401. 

45.  See, e.g., Report of the Special Rapporteur on
extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, 1994, UN doc.
E/CN.4/1994/7 (7 Dec. 1993), para. 448. 

46.  See, e.g., "Climate of fear", note 32 supra at 21. 

47.  Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture, note 41
supra. 

48.  Human Rights Watch/Asia: "Entrenchment or reform? Human
rights developments and the need for continued pressure", Vol.
7. No. 10 (July 1995) ("Entrenchment"), p. 21. The following
account by a former porter of the death of another porter, a
neighbour from his village, is illustrative of the treatment
meted out to porters by SLORC troops: "I heard Tun Shwe say to
the soldier behind him, a private from Battalion 531, 'Sir,
don't kill me, I will try to do my best to reach your
destination. Now I cannot carry, cannot walk, but I will try.
Don't punish me, don't kill me.' After Tun Shwe exclaimed 'I
cannot carry, cannot walk' the soldier shot him dead, one
bullet from a G-4 at a distance of about four metres, in his
back so his insides came out. After the shooting nothing
happened, no-one could say anything. The soldiers just said to
the other porters 'complete your duty, go on, go on' as if he
was driving cows." ("No place to hide"), note 35 supra at 29. 

49.  "Climate of fear", note 32 supra at 20-21 (16 and
17-year-old girls of ethnic groups taken as porters and
raped.) One human rights group which interviewed a number of
refugees in a camp in Thailand reported that women who had
worked as porters commonly alleged that they had been raped:
"Four victims, aged 17 to 42, said they had been seized in or
near their homes in Kammamaung township. They said that troops
had raped them during a 22-day tour of compulsory labour
duties carrying artillery shells to the front for the Tatmadaw
assault on Manerplaw." ("Ethnic groups"), note 27 supra at
113.  

50.  "Ethnic groups", note 27 supra at 89. 

51.  Article 19: "Burma: Beyond the law", (Aug. 1996) ("Beyond
the law"), p. 50. For example, as part of SLORC's offensive
against the Karen National Union and the Mong Tai Army between
November 1994 and June 1995, thousands of porters were
reportedly taken to the frontline, and hundreds died
("Entrenchment"), note 48 supra at 21. 

52.  For example, an elderly Karen headman from Thaton
district lost a leg after SLORC troops tied him to a rope and
forced him to try and find a path through a minefield ("Ethnic
groups"), note 27 supra at 29-30. 

53.  In a notorious case in 1991, two teenage girls from Papun
High School, in the Karen State, Naw Aye Hia and Ne Law
Win, were reportedly killed when they stepped on mines after
being press-ganged as porters ("Ethnic groups"), note 27 supra
at 117. 

54.  Report of the Special Rapporteur, 1996, note 32 supra at
paras. 141-144; "Detailed reports, photographs, video
recordings and a variety of physical evidence seen by the
Special Rapporteur indicate that the practices of forced
labour ... seem to be occurring in the context of development
programmes ... Many of the victims of such acts belong to
ethnic national populations. In particular, they are peasants,
women, daily wage-earners and other peaceful civilians ...".
idem, para. 173. 

55.  RCE, 1995, note 9 supra at para. 2, p. 109 (the
Government of Myanmar reporting "799,447 working people" as
contributing "voluntary labour" on the Aungbon-Loikow
railway); New light of Myanmar, 15 Dec. 1993, as cited in
"Entrenchment", note 48 supra, p. 15 (reporting 921,753 people
contributing labour to build the Pokokku-Manywa railway);
"Beyond the law", note 51 supra at 49 (hundreds of thousands
affected); "Entrenchment", note 48 supra at 14 (estimating
that since 1992 at least 2 million people have been forced to
work without pay on construction of roads, railways and
bridges across the country); "Ethnic groups", note 27 supra at
84 (citing the Working People's Daily of 8 May 1992 reporting
that over 300,000 people had contributed "voluntary labour" on
the Aungbon-Loikow railway). 

56.  For further discussion of forced labour and tourism, see
notes 102, 103 infra and accompanying text.  

57.  In 1995, the Government of Myanmar admitted to
"contribution of labour" by the people on seven new railroad
projects. Letter dated 18 March 1996 from the Permanent
Representative of the Union of Myanmar to the United Nations
Office at Geneva, Memorandum of Observations and comments
concerning doc. E/CN.4/1996/65 of 5 Feb. 1996 pertaining to
the Union of Myanmar, UN doc. E/CN.4/1996/139 (21 Mar. 1996)
("Memorandum of Observations"), p. 21; "Ethnic groups", note
27 supra at 84. Examples of development projects involving
forced labour include a railway from Ye to Tavoy, in
Tenasserim division, widely reported to require tens of
thousands of civilians in forced labour; "Seven years", note
40 supra at 25-26. Article 19: Paradise lost? The suppression
of environmental rights and freedom of expression in Burma
(London, Sep. 1994) ("Paradise lost"), p. 6; and see
discussion of gas and oil exploration notes 90-97 infra and
accompanying text; road construction in Arakan State, a
particularly undeveloped area that has seen the flight and
return of 250,000 Rohingya Muslims in recent years; "Climate
of fear", note 32 supra; the local Rohingya population are
regularly and reportedly disproportionately pressed into
service (Beyond the law, note 51 supra at 49) as development
leads to the need for greater control by SLORC; and a road
from Putao to Sumprabum in Kachin State, on which 3,000 people
were made to work in late 1994, "Entrenchment", note 48 supra
at 15. For maps depicting different construction projects in
Myanmar which are being carried on using forced labour, see
ACFOA, note 28 supra, Appendices A and B.  

58.  See, e.g., "Burma using forced labour on tourist
projects", "New York Times", 17 July 1994. Examples of these
projects include dredging the moat of the Golden Palace at
Mandalay; persistent reports suggest that thousands of
civilians have been ordered by SLORC to clear the moat by
hand: e.g., "The Bangkok Post", 22 Jan. 1995); airport
construction, which is frequently observed to be performed by
forced labour; as many as 30,000 were reported to have
laboured at Bassein Airport without pay ("The Guardian",
London, 12 July 1994); and a dam at Inlay Lake, which is
related to a proposed tourist development at Moebye on the
Biluchaung River; reportedly villagers and civilians have been
ordered to clear the lake by hand. 

59.  In 1996 the Government of Myanmar admitted that prisoners
are "contributing labour at project sites" and, in a reference
reflecting the scale of the practice, claimed that "over
23,000 ... have had their sentences reduced by as much as
one-third" as a result: Memorandum of Observations, note 37
supra at 21.  

60.  Conditions in prisons and labour camps, note 38 supra.
For example, a 51-year old monk from Mandalay reportedly
died from malnutrition and malaria on 18 Nov. 1994 after
working in a malarial area. He had been arrested for his
participation in the 1988-89 pro-democracy movement and
sentenced to five years' hard labour in the Kachin State.
idem, at 3.  

61.  United States Department of State, "Foreign economic
trends report: Burma" (June 1996) ("Economic trends"), p. 88.
("The available evidence strongly suggests large increases in
the [Government's] use of uncompensated labour in regional and
national construction projects, as well as in local rural
development projects.") 

62.  "Ethnic groups", note 27 supra at 86. 

63.  "Entrenchment", note 48 supra at 15. 

64.  See, e.g., Human Rights Watch/Asia: "Burma: The Rohingya
Muslims, ending a cycle of exodus?" Vol. 8. No. 9(C) (Sep.
1996), p. 30. 

65.  See, e.g., "Beyond the law", note 51 supra at 50;
"Climate of fear", note 32 supra at 13. 

66.  See, e.g., "Paradise lost", note 57 supra at 20. 

67.  See, e.g., "Entrenchment", note 68 supra at 15 (a large
number of people reportedly died of malaria during forced
labour on a road construction project at Patao). 

68.  In an interview published in the Bangkok Post of 18
October 1992, Lieutenant-Colonel Than Han of the Border Areas
Development Programme explained that hill tribe people suffer
from the climatic change when they come down to work on the
plains: "They sweat a lot, they lose weight and they have some
health problems". Ethnic groups", note 27 supra at 88. 

69.  The UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or
arbitrary executions has expressed concern at "persistent
reports of arbitrary and excessive use of force by members of
the security forces, who seem to enjoy virtual impunity", note
45 supra. 

70.  Report of the Special Rapporteur, 1995, note 43 supra,
para. 230. 

71.  "The old and infirm are particularly vulnerable and have
been beaten when they take rests or are thought to be working
too slowly."  "Entrenchment", note 48 supra at 15. 

72.  "In the northwest, a ... visitor to Chin State reported
that a woman was killed while working on the Pakoku-Kalemyo
railway line after she had stopped working twice to feed her
young baby. The woman had been forced to take her baby with
her to the site as all her relatives were also working on the
railway." idem. 

73.  A Karen Christian woman from Kyaukkyi township who fled
to Thailand reported that she had been raped at knife-point
by an army sergeant who had been supervising her work detail
while she dug ditches. See "Ethnic groups", note 27 supra at
113. 

74.  idem, at 84. 

75.  "Rohingyas", note 64 supra at 30. 

76.  idem. 

77.  ACFOA, note 28 supra at 9. 

78.  Cf. Article 19: "Fatal silence? Freedom of expression and
the right to health in Burma" ("Health") (London, July
1996), p. 107 (UNICEF estimates that Myanmar's maternal
mortality rate is 140 per 100,000, attributable to poor access
to information about reproductive health and the illegality of
abortions; 50 per cent of maternal deaths are estimated to be
due to the performance of illegal abortions). 

79.  idem, at 103. 

80.  See, e.g., "Climate of fear", note 32 supra at 20. 

81.  "Paradise lost", note 57 supra at 6. 

82.  See, e.g., "Seven years", note 40 supra at 26, 27; "Human
rights still denied", note 40 supra at 17, 18; "Rohingyas",
note 64 supra at 32. 

83.  See, e.g., "Rohingyas", note 64 supra at 29 (1,200 miles
of roads to be built in Arakan State to facilitate military
movement, and tourist development). 

84.  See also RCE, 1995, note 9 supra and accompanying text
(Committee of Experts' opinion that roads and railway
projects do not constitute "minor communal" projects for the
purposes of Convention No. 29). 

85.  "Economic trends", note 61 supra at 87. 

86.  The percentage is most likely understated, since the
Government's figures appear to value "people's contributions
at the prevailing government daily wage rate. If the figures
are adjusted to the higher, prevailing market rate, the value
of people's contributions amounts to nearly 75 per cent in the
years in question; idem. 

87.  SLORC's allocation or foreign exchange to the armed
forces is reflected in the US$1.2 billion contract for arms
purchases between Myanmar and China reported in 1994; see,
e.g., "Paradise lost?", note 57 supra at 6; "Economic trends",
note 61 supra at 22 (China is one of the main suppliers of
military acquisitions; defence spending on imports rose from
US$20 million in 1988 and 1989 to US$390 million in 1991). 

88.  See, e.g., "Ethnic groups", note 27 supra at 84;
EarthRights International and Southeast Asian Information
Network: "Total denial" (July 1996) ("Total denial"), p. 33
(construction of military barracks on Heinze Island,
associated with the building of the Yadana pipeline; see notes
90-96 infra and accompanying text); the people of Arakan are
also forced to help with the construction of barracks for the
NaSaKa, a border policing unit; "Rohingyas", note 64 supra at
29.  

89.  See, e.g., idem, at 36 (construction of military barracks
near the pipeline route); "Manerplaw", note 32 supra at 12-14
(villagers reported they had been forced to dig latrines,
cook, water gardens and cut bamboo for the military); Amnesty
International: "Myanmar: Human rights violations against
Muslims in the Rakhine (Arakan) State", AI: ASA 16/06/92
(Oct. 1992) ("Human rights violations"), p. 6 (Muslims
reported that they had been forced to build military camps, to
construct or improve roads between camps, and to work within
camps looking after livestock, digging bunkers, cleaning
latrines, and washing soldiers' uniforms). 

[END OF SLICE 22]