Food Security in Karen (Kayin) State

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Websites/Multiple Documents

Description: Use the drop-down menu to search the KHRG database for "food" -- 98 results -- or "Food & Livelihoods" -- 144 results (October 2010)
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Date of entry/update: 2010-10-07
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Individual Documents

Description: "Villagers in Nat Gon and nearby villages of Hpa-an Township, Karen State panicked after noticing their water sources had turned black. They are now too scared to drink the water..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: KIC (Karen Information Center)
2019-10-15
Date of entry/update: 2019-12-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: Food Security/Right to livelihood, Forced Labour
Topic: Food Security/Right to livelihood, Forced Labour
Description: "The incident took place in March 2018 in K--- village, Meh Klaw village tract, Bu Tho Township, Mutraw (Hpapun) District. U L --- other people from K--- village were working as informal day labourers on a road construction project between Mah Htaw and Htee Tha Bluh Hta village tracts for the Min Bagan Company. The company started the project in January 2018 and hired local people to work on the road and bridge construction. The operation was part of a community development project planned by the government. The Min Bagan company ran out of funds for the road construction and halted the project in March 2018. After that, U Thein Zaw, a Min Bagan Company engineer, did not pay the day labourers in full. Instead, he kept the money for himself and repeatedly postponed the payment. The day labourers should have received between 5,500 kyats (USD 3.62) [4] and 6,000 kyats (USD 3.95) per day for men and between 4,000 kyats (USD 2.63) and 5,000 kyats (USD 3.29) for women, but eighteen of them are still waiting for their wages to be paid in full. Even though the company promised to pay them, it has not done so yet. In total, U Thein Zaw still owes 1,612,000 kyats (USD 1,060) to U L--- and the other day labourers. The day labourers depend on their wages to secure their livelihoods and provide for their family, as they do not own enough lands to live off subsistence farming. As a result of non-payment, they went into debt to buy food, which caused them economic difficulties and anxiety. Ma E---, one of the day labourers, expressed her feelings to KHRG: “I felt really angry because we didn’t have money to buy goods.” As they still had not received their money, the day labourers discussed with K--- village leaders possible ways of taking action. They drafted and signed a complaint letter to reclaim the rest of their wages from the company, which they sent to the Chief Minister of Kayin State, Nan Khin Htway Myint, on August 13th 2018. After the road construction project was halted, people from K--- village were only able to engage in intermittent, informal work. Since January 2019, they have been working as day labourers on a road construction project for the Sein Sin Kyel Company. They now receive their wages on time, which has allowed them to pay back their debts. The project they are working on should be completed in July 2019. In June 2019, when a KHRG researcher followed up the U L---, he explained that he could not even contact U Thein Zaw anymore. In addition, he said that the complaint letter they submitted to the Chief Minister of Kayin State remained unanswered..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2019-06-28
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 421.15 KB
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Topic: Development project, Food Security/Right to livelihood, Indiscriminate firing of mortars / small arms, Injury, Internally Displaced Persons, Land Confiscation, Refugees, Right to education, Right to health
Topic: Development project, Food Security/Right to livelihood, Indiscriminate firing of mortars / small arms, Injury, Internally Displaced Persons, Land Confiscation, Refugees, Right to education, Right to health
Description: ""In the camp, food rations were reduced, and we no longer received bamboo or wood to fix our homes. We faced challenges for our family livelihoods and we had to sneak out of the camp to go collect wood and bamboo. This is why I decided to return to Myanmar.” Naw Y---, a recently repatriated refugee Between February 20th and 23rd 2019, more than 500 men, women and children from five refugee camps, including Karenni refugee camps, in Thailand, returned to Myanmar.[1] This third refugee repatriation process was facilitated by the Thai and Myanmar governments, the UNHCR, and other humanitarian aid organisations. To shed light on this process and understand how resettled refugees are adjusting to their new lives, KHRG conducted interviews with 13 repatriated refugees in Mae La Way Ler Moo (Mae La Hta)[2] and Lay Hpa Htaw[3] resettlement sites in March and April 2019. These refugees – six men and seven women – came from Nu Poe, Ban Don Yang (Thaw Pa) and Mae La (Beh Klaw) refugee camps. KHRG also interviewed three local leaders responsible for the resettlement sites from the Karen National Union (KNU) and the KNU/KNLA Peace Council (KNU/KNLA-PC). The testimonies of the recently repatriated refugees reveal a stark reality. The journey to their new homes was spent cramped in the back of dusty trucks, without enough food or water. A lack of basic social services, agricultural lands and income-generating opportunities awaited them on their arrival to resettlement sites. Resettled refugees are also concerned by the close proximity of Tatmadaw army camps to their new homes, and by the fact that the land surrounding resettlement sites is contaminated by unexploded ordnances (UXOs)..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2019-06-20
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 715.01 KB
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Description: "This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted in Dweh Loh Township, Papun District by a villager trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions. The villager interviewed Saw L---, a 49 year old Buddhist paddy farmer, who described demands for forced labour by Tatmadaw soldiers, including portering and guide duty, as well as clearing vegetation for the Border Guard. Saw L--- stated that villagers undertaking forced labour for the Tatmadaw were denied medical treatment and provided with unsuitable rations, such as stale rice. Forced recruitment into the Border Guard was also cited, with villagers from three different villages forced to pay US $389.61 in lieu of military service. Saw L--- also described Tatmadaw soldiers? demands for chicken and rice as putting pressure on already strained resources, and contributing to villagers? food insecurity. Saw L--- noted that some villagers who are unable to produce enough rice engage in daily wage labour in order to meet their basic food requirements, and that villagers who live in Lay Poh Hta village tract have developed support networks at the village level and reportedly share food with others in times of crisis."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2012-03-02
Date of entry/update: 2012-03-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "This report includes two situation updates written by villagers describing events in Thaton District during the period between May 13th 2010 and January 31st 2011. The villagers writing the updates chose to focus on issues including: updates on recent military activity, specifically the rebuilding of Tatmadaw camps, and the following human rights abuses: demands for forced labour, including the provision of building materials; and movement restrictions, including road closure and requirements for travel permission documents. In these situation updates, villagers also express serious concerns regarding food security due to abnormal weather in 2010; rising food prices; the unavailability of health care; and the cost and quality of children?s education."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2011-05-18
Date of entry/update: 2012-02-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "At least 8,885 villagers in 118 villages in Lu Thaw Township, Papun District have either exhausted their current food supplies or are expecting to do so prior to the October 2011 harvest. The 118 villages are located in nine village tracts, where attacks on civilians by Burma?s state army, the Tatmadaw, have triggered wide scale and repeated displacement since 1997. As tens of thousands of civilians in northern Karen State have been displaced, over-population in hiding areas where civilians can more effectively avoid attacks has created shortages of arable land, depleted soil fertility and reduced potential crop yields. Civilians forced to cultivate land or live near Tatmadaw camps, meanwhile, have faced recent attacks, including indiscriminate shelling and attacks on food supplies, buildings and livelihoods. These existing obstacles to food security were compounded by an unusually dry rainy season in 2010, coupled with other environmental factors, causing the 2010 harvest to fail. The impact of acute food shortages on the civilian population is magnified by budgetary constraints of local relief organisations, which can access the affected area but are currently unable to provide emergency assistance to many of those facing food shortages. This regional report is based on research conducted by KHRG researchers in Lu Thaw Township in February and March 2011, including 41 interviews with villagers and village and village tract leaders in the affected areas. This research was augmented by interviews with members of local relief organisations in February, March and April 2011."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2011-05-11
Date of entry/update: 2012-02-27
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 1.31 MB
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Description: "Amidst ongoing conflict between the Tatmadaw and armed groups in eastern Dooplaya and Pa?an districts, civilians, aid workers and soldiers from state and non-state armies continue to report a variety of human rights abuses and security concerns for civilians in areas adjacent to Thailand?s Tak Province, including: functionally indiscriminate mortar and small arms fire; landmines; arbitrary arrest and detention; sexual violence; and forced portering. Conflict and these conflict-related abuses have displaced thousands of civilians, more than 8,000 of whom are currently taking refuge in discreet hiding places in Thailand. This has interrupted education for thousands of children across eastern Dooplaya and Pa?an districts. The agricultural cycle for farmers has also been severely disrupted; many villagers have been prevented from completing their harvests of beans, corn and paddy crops, portending long-term threats to food security. Due to concerns about food security and disruption to children?s education, as well as villagers? continuing need to protect themselves and their families from conflict and conflict-related abuse, temporary but consistent access to refuge in Thailand remains vital until villagers feel safe to return home. Even after return, food support will likely be necessary until disrupted agricultural activities can be resumed and civilians can again support themselves."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2011-01-21
Date of entry/update: 2012-02-26
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted during April 2011 in Pa?an Township, Thaton District by a villager trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions. The villager interviewed Saw T---, a 60-year-old Buddhist farmer and village head, who described demands for forced labour that occurred during 2011, including for guide duty and the production of thatch shingles and bamboo poles. Saw T---noted that Karen language is not permitted to be taught in the village school, and expressed concerns over the absence of a medical clinic in the village and a lack of rain during the previous year that resulted in a marked decrease in paddy outputs. Saw T--- noted that villagers share food to deal with increasing food insecurity and described an instance in which villagers only partially complied with a forced labour demand, producing and delivering only 300 thatch shingles to Tatmadaw soldiers, instead of the 500 that had been demanded."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2012-02-24
Date of entry/update: 2012-02-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted by a KHRG researcher in May 2011 with a villager from Ler Doh Township, Nyaunglebin District. The researcher interviewed Naw P---, a 40-year-old farmer who described her experiences living in a Tatmadaw-controlled relocation site, and in her original village in a mixed-administration area under effective Tatmadaw control. Naw P--- described the following human rights abuses: rape and sexual violence; indiscriminate firing on villagers by Tatmadaw soldiers; forced relocation; arrest and detention; movement restrictions; theft and looting; and forced labour, including use of villagers as military sentries and porters. Naw P--- also raised concerns regarding the cost of health care and about children?s education, specifically Tatmadaw restrictions on children?s movement during perceived military instability and the prohibition of Karen-language education. In order to address these concerns, Naw P--- told KHRG that some villagers pay bribes to avoid forced labour and to secure the release of detained family members; lie to Tatmadaw commanders about the whereabouts of villagers working on farms in violation of movement restrictions; and organise covert Karen-language education for their children."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2011-07-26
Date of entry/update: 2012-02-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 157.42 KB
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Description: "This report contains the full transcripts of three interviews conducted during March and April 2011 in Tantabin Township, Toungoo District by a villager trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions. The three female interviewees described the following abuses: attacks on villages, villagers and livelihoods; killing of villagers; theft and looting; taxation and demands; forced displacement; and forced labour, including the production and supply of building materials and forced portering. They also raised concerns regarding food shortage, the provision of education for children during displacement caused by Tatmadaw attacks, and access to healthcare. One of the women explained that villagers communicate with non-state armed groups and other villagers to share information about Tatmadaw movements, prepare secret caches of food in the forest outside their village in case of a Tatmadaw attack, and hold school classes outside of their village in agricultural areas during displacement caused by Tatmadaw attack. These interviews were received along with other information from Toungoo District, including a general update on the situation in Toungoo District, ten incident reports, seven other interviews and 350 photographs.Toungoo Interviews: March and April 2011
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2011-07-20
Date of entry/update: 2012-02-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 139.44 KB
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Description: "This report contains the full transcript of an interview conducted during September 2011 by a villager trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions. The villager interviewed U Kh---, a 48-year-old farmer who described being forced to porter for Tatmadaw LIB #220 troops for four days at the beginning of September 2011 during which time he witnessed the looting of villagers? animals, as well as the arrest and detention of two P--- villagers to serve as recruits for Border Guard troops and subsequent demands for the payment of 200,000 kyat (US $259.74) in lieu of each recruit. He described the firing of mortars and small arms in civilian areas and detailed demands for food, weapons, and a motorboat to Border Guard troops. U Kh--- mentioned that he anticipated widespread food shortages as a result of extensive flood damage to paddy crops during the 2011 monsoon season and noted that demands for unpaid forced labour further strained villagers? ability to pursue their own livelihoods effectively. U Kh--- explained that villagers counter burdensome demands by negotiating with local commanders to reduce the number of recruits and pay a smaller sum than demanded in lieu of the provision of recruits"
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2012-02-17
Date of entry/update: 2012-02-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: This report contains 12 incident reports written by a villager trained by KHRG to monitor human rights conditions, based on information provided by 12 different villagers living in hiding sites in Lu Thaw Township, Papun District between November 2010 and January 2011.[1] The twelve villagers described human rights concerns for civilians prior to and during displacement to their current hiding sites, including: deliberate firing of mortars and small arms into civilian areas; burning and destruction of houses, food and food preparation equipment; theft and looting of villagers? animals and possessions; and use of landmines by the Tatmadaw, non-state armed groups, and local gher der ?home guard? groups in civilian areas, resulting in at least one civilian death and two civilian injuries. The reports register villagers? serious concerns about food security in hiding areas beyond Tatmadaw control, caused by effective limits on access to arable land due to the risk of attack when villagers cultivating land proximate to Tatmadaw camps, depletion of soil fertility in cultivable areas, and a drought during the 2010 rainy season which triggered widespread paddy crop failure.[2] To address the threat of Tatmadaw attacks targeting villagers, their food stores and livelihoods activities, villagers reported that they form gher der groups to monitor and communicate Tatmadaw activity; utilise early-warning systems; and communicate amongst themselves and with non-state armed groups to share information about Tatmadaw troop movements. Two villagers stated that the deployment of landmines by gher der groups and KNLA soldiers prevents access to civilian areas by Tatmadaw troops and facilitates security for villagers to pursue their agricultural activities. Another villager described how his community maintained communal agricultural projects to support families at risk from food shortages. These reports were received by KHRG in May 2011, along with other information concerning the situation in Papun District, including 11 other incident reports, 25 interviews, 137 photographs and a general update on the situation in Lu Thaw Township.[3]
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2011-08-24
Date of entry/update: 2012-02-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 840.59 KB
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Description: "This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in November 2011 by a villager describing events occurring in Ler Doh Township, Nyaunglebin District between August and October 2011. The report describes the an incident of forced labour in which villagers were forced to clear undergrowth from a palm oil plantation at IB #60 military headquarters, as well as arbitrary demands for villagers to provide money, firewood, wooden logs and food to Tatmadaw troops. The villager who wrote this report notes that governmental administrative reforms at the village tract level have resulted in increased demands for payment from civilian officials at a time when flooding in flat areas of paddy cultivation adjacent to the Sittaung River at the end of the 2011 monsoon has substantially impacted villagers? food security. The villager also raises local communities? concerns regarding the proposed construction of a dam on the Theh Loh River; and requirements that civilians provide guarantees that non-state armed groups will not attack Tatmadaw troops, which villagers fear will lead to reprisals from Tatmadaw soldiers if fighting does occur. This report also documents several ways in which villagers in Ler Doh Township have responded to abuses, including the formation of Mu Kha Poe village security groups to monitor Tatmadaw troop activity and warn other community members of incoming Tatmadaw patrols and attacks;; and cooperation with other villagers and with local community-based aid groups to secure food support, communication equipment, education materials and medical treatment."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2011-12-09
Date of entry/update: 2012-01-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 866.17 KB
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Description: "This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in November 2011 by a villager describing events occurring in Nyaunglebin District, during the period between September and October 2011. It details an incident that occurred in October 2011, in which a villager was shot and injured while working in his betelnut field; the villager who wrote this report noted that some villagers living in these areas respond to the threat of violence by fleeing approaching Tatmadaw patrols. Following the shooting, Tatmadaw troops imposed movement restrictions that prevented villagers from traveling to or staying in their agricultural workplaces in the area where the shooting occurred. This report includes additional information about the use of villagers to provide forced labour at Tatmadaw camps, specifically to perform sentry duty along roads, and also raises villagers? concerns about food security after unseasonable rain prevented villagers in some areas from burning brush on their hill fields preparatory to planting and paddy crops in other areas were destroyed by insects and by flooding during the monsoon."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2012-01-17
Date of entry/update: 2012-01-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "This report includes a situation update submitted to KHRG in November 2011 by a villager living in a hiding site in northern Lu Thaw Township, Papun District. The villager described an incident that occurred in October 2011 in which Tatmadaw soldiers fired six mortar shells into an area in which civilians are actively seeking to avoid attacks by Tatmadaw troops; no one was killed or injured during the attack. This situation update places the occurrence of such incidents in the context of the repeated and prolonged displacement of villagers in northern Luthaw who continue to actively seek to avoid contact with government troops due to ongoing attacks against civilian objects. The villager who wrote this report raised concerns about food shortages in hiding site areas where the presence of Tatmadaw soldiers proximate to previously cultivated land has resulted in overcrowding on available farmland and the subsequent degradation of soil quality, severely limiting villagers? abilities to support themselves using traditional rotational cropping methods. For detailed analysis of the humanitarian situation in this area of Luthaw Township, see the previous KHRG report Acute food shortages threatening 8,885 villagers in 118 villages across northern Papun District, published in April 2011."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
2012-01-17
Date of entry/update: 2012-01-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 273.46 KB
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Description: "This report includes translated copies of 75 order documents issued by Burma Army and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army officers to village heads in Karen State between August 2008 and June 2009. These documents serve as supplementary evidence of ongoing exploitative local governance in rural Burma. The report thus supports the continuing testimonies of villagers regarding the regular demands for labour, money, food and other supplies to which their communities are subject by local military forces. The order documents collected here include demands for attendance at meetings; the provision of money and alcohol; the production and delivery of thatch shingles and bamboo poles; forced labour as messengers and porters for the military; forced labour on road repair; the provision of information on individuals and households; registration of villagers in State-controlled ?NGOs?; and restrictions on travel and the use of muskets. In almost all cases, such demands are uncompensated and backed by an implicit threat of violence or other punishment for non-compliance. Almost all demands articulated in the orders presented in this report involve some element of forced labour in their implementation..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group Orders Reports (KHRG #2009-04 )
2009-08-27
Date of entry/update: 2009-11-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "The SPDC and DKBA continued to consolidate their control over Pa?an District in 2003, especially in the mountainous eastern part of the district. Fighting between the SPDC and the DKBA was ongoing up until the ceasefire talks began in December 2003, culminating in an offensive against the KNLA?s 7th Brigade headquarters in October. In order to expand their influence DKBA units are actively recruiting in the area. Villagers must also face demands from both the SPDC and the DKBA for forced labour, building materials and extortion money. Fulfilling these demands have left the villagers with little time to work their fields. Many villagers are unable to get enough food to eat, making food security a serious issue in the area..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group Field Report (KHRG)
2004-03-23
Date of entry/update: 2009-11-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "As the principal means of establishing control over the people of Thaton District, the SPDC has supported a more aggressive DKBA role in the area. With the junta?s political, military and financial backing the DKBA has sought to expand its numbers, strengthen its position vis-à-vis the civilian population and eradicate the remaining KNU/KNLA presence in the region. To those ends, the DKBA has used forced labour, looting, extortion, land confiscation and movement restrictions and embarked on a hostile campaign of forced recruitment from amongst the local population. These abuses have eroded village livelihoods, leading to low harvest yields and wholly failed crops; problems which compound over time and progressively deepen poverty and malnourishment. With the onset of the rainy season and the 2007 cultivation period, villagers in Thaton District are faced with depleting provisions. This food insecurity will require that many harvest their 2007 crop as early as October while still unripe. The low yield of an early harvest, lost time spent on forced labour and the harmful fallout of further extortion and other abuses will all combine to ensure once again that villagers in Thaton District confront food shortages and increasing poverty..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group Field Report (KHRG #2007-F5)
2007-07-09
Date of entry/update: 2009-11-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "The attacks against civilians continue as the SPDC increases its military build-up in Toungoo District. Enforcing widespread restrictions on movement backed up by a shoot-on-sight policy, the SPDC has executed at least 38 villagers in Toungoo since January 2007. On top of this, local villagers face the ever present danger of landmines, many of which were manufactured in China, which the Army has deployed around homes, churches and forest paths. Combined with the destruction of covert agricultural hill fields and rice supplies, these attacks seek to undermine food security and make life unbearable in areas outside of consolidated military control. However, as those living under SPDC rule have found, the constant stream of military demands for labour, money and other supplies undermine livelihoods, village economies and community efforts to address health, education and social needs. Civilians in Toungoo must therefore choose between a situation of impoverishment and subjugation under SPDC rule, evasion in forested hiding sites with the constant threat of military attack, or a relatively stable yet uprooted life in refugee camps away from their homeland. This report documents just some of the human rights abuses perpetrated by SPDC forces against villagers in Toungoo District up to July 2007..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group Field Report (KHRG #2007-F6)
2007-08-09
Date of entry/update: 2009-11-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "SPDC troops have continued to target internally displaced persons (IDPs) within Toungoo District. Civilians continue be killed or injured by the attacks while many of the survivors flee their homes and take shelter in forest hiding sites. Some who have moved into SPDC forced relocation sites continue to secretly return to their villages to cultivate their crops, constantly risking punishment or execution by troops patrolling the areas. The SPDC?s repeated disruption of regular planting cycles has created a food crisis in Toungoo, further endangering the IDPs living there. This report examines the abuses in Toungoo District from April to June 2008..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2008-F9)
2008-08-01
Date of entry/update: 2009-11-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Following the deployment of new Burma Army units in the area of Htee Moo Kee village, Lu Thaw township of northern Karen State, Papun District, during the first week of March 2008, at least 1,600 villagers from seven villages were forced to relocate to eight different hiding sites in order to avoid the encroaching army patrols. These displaced communities are now facing heightened food insecurity and an ongoing risk of military attack. This report is based on in-depth interviews with displaced villagers from Lu Thaw township regarding the recent Burma Army operations and the resultant effects on the local communities. It also includes information on the recent military attack on Dtay Muh Der village, Lu Thaw township, Papun District which Burma Army forces conducted during the first week of June 2008 and which led to the further displacement of over 1,000 villagers..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2008-F6)
2008-06-12
Date of entry/update: 2009-11-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "At a time when civilians in Pa?an District are already struggling with rising food prices and unemployment, an increasing number of villagers are being subjected to forced labour and extortion by local SPDC and DKBA forces. This is especially true in eastern Karen State, near the Thoo Mweh (Moei) river, where DKBA commanders are forcing villagers to ignore their own livelihoods in order to help these leaders cultivate their personal rubber plantations. The result of these abuses is a worsening food crisis and constant economic migration to other areas both in Burma and in neighbouring Thailand, places where villagers hope to find more sustainable employment opportunities. This report describes the situation in the Dta Greh and T?Nay Hsah townships of Pa?an District from January to June 2008..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2008-F11)
2008-08-08
Date of entry/update: 2009-11-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "With the SPDC Army?s continued expansion in Nyaunglebin District, local villagers not under military control have had to once again flee into the surrounding forest while troops have forcibly interned other villagers in military-controlled relocation sites. These relocation sites, typically in the plains of western Nyaunglebin, alongside army camps or SPDC-controlled vehicle roads, serve as containment centres from which army personnel appropriate labour, money, food and supplies to support the military?s ongoing expansion in the region. Extortion by military officers operating in Nyaunglebin District has included forced ?donations? allegedly collected for distribution to survivors of Cyclone Nargis in the Irrawaddy Delta. This field report looks at the situation in Nyaunglebin up to the end of May 2008..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2008-F10)
2008-08-05
Date of entry/update: 2009-11-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "SPDC abuses against civilians continue in northern Karen State, especially in the Lu Thaw and Dweh Loh townships of Papun District. Abuses have been particularly harsh in Lu Thaw, most of which has been designated a "black area" by the SPDC and so subject to constant attacks by Burma Army forces. Villagers who decide to remain in their home areas are often forced to live in hiding and not only face constant threats of violence by the SPDC, but also a worsening food crisis due to the SPDC?s disruption of planting cycles. This report covers events in Papun District from August 2008 to January 2009..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2009-F2)
2009-02-04
Date of entry/update: 2009-10-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Since the beginning of 2009, SPDC troops have patrolled areas near displaced hiding sites in Nyaunglebin District. These patrols prevent displaced villagers from cultivating their secret crops or otherwise accessing food, which in turn exacerbates food insecurity for these civilians. Despite such hardships, villagers have responded by cooperating with each other-often sharing food or helping each other cultivate crops and sell goods in ?jungle markets?. This report describes the situation of displaced villagers in Nyaunglebin District from December 2008 to March 2009..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2009-F7)
2009-04-10
Date of entry/update: 2009-10-31
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "This report presents information on abuses in Nyaunglebin District for the period of April to July 2009. Though Nyaunglebin saw a reduction in SPDC activities during the first six months of 2009, patrols resumed in July. Since then, IDP villagers attempting to evade SPDC control report that they have subsequently been unable to regularly access farm fields or gardens, exacerbating cycles of food shortages set in motion by the northern Karen State offensive which began in 2006. Other villagers, from the only nominally controlled villages in the Nyaunglebin?s eastern hills to SPDC-administered relocation sites in the west, meanwhile, report abuses including forced labour, conscription into government militia, travel restrictions and the torture of two village leaders for alleged contact with the KNLA..."
Source/publisher: Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2009-F15)
2009-09-22
Date of entry/update: 2009-10-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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