Discrimination against the Karen
Individual Documents
Description:
"The situation observed in Nyaunglebin and Toungoo Districts ... of northern Karen State has for many years been highly volatile. Even now, with the existence of the verbal ceasefire between the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and the Karen National Union (KNU), forced labour and extortion is rife and thousands of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) live in hiding in the forests. The ceasefire has done little to help the lot of the villagers living in these areas. The SPDC has taken advantage of their relative freedoms of movement and activity under the ceasefire agreement, leading to recent developments in these two districts which threaten to make life for the villagers living there even harder.
...
Since its formation in September 1998, the Dam Byan Byaut Kya (Guerrilla Retaliation Units?) have terrorised the villagers of first Nyaunglebin and later also Toungoo District, seeking out and punishing any villagers suspected of having contact with the resistance..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG #2005-B6)
Date of publication:
2005-10-24
Date of entry/update:
2005-10-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen, Armed conflict and peace-building in Burma - theoretical, strategic and general
Language:
English
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Description:
"...Burma?s State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) military junta claims to be implementing peace and development in Karen regions, but civilians in Toungoo District of northern Karen State say they are facing instead brutal treatment aimed at asserting military control. An example of SPDC-led development? is a new dam project on the Thauk Yay Ka (Day Loh) river in western Toungoo District. Villagers in the area of this proposed dam say that it has brought a new military access road to their area and that large SPDC military columns now patrol their villages, looting their belongings and forcing them into labour. Security checkpoints along all roads in the area have proliferated, restricting the movements of villagers and extorting heavy taxes? on all goods they try to take to market. Increased military presence along the roads has occurred throughout the district, from the Than Daung Gyi ? Leit Tho road in the north to the Kler Lah ? Bu Sah Kee road in the southeast, and close to 300 acres of villagers? farmland has been confiscated for the establishment of a large military base at Leit Tho in the north. This continues the campaign of control already exposed in KHRG?s March 2005 report from the district (see Peace?, or Control?, KHRG Report from the Field #2005-F3). SPDC troops burn farmfields and plantations adjacent to vehicle roads for military security, while destroying the villagers? food security. People who have been forced from the hills into SPDC-controlled villages struggle against disease, food scarcity and restrictions on their movement, while those who have chosen to evade SPDC control in the hills must remain mobile to evade SPDC patrols who destroy their rice fields and landmine the pathways. In the relocation villages and in the forests, people are facing a difficult struggle against food scarcity, deteriorating health conditions, and SPDC human rights abuses..."...Dam security; Road security; New Army base at Leit Tho; Destruction of villages and livelihoods; Relocation sites and roadsides; Villagers in hiding; Health; Children and education
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG #2005-F7)
Date of publication:
2005-08-19
Date of entry/update:
2005-08-20
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen, Internal displacement/forced migration of Karen villagers, Dams and other projects on rivers in Burma/Myanmar (countrywide)
Language:
English
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Description:
(formerly the Karen State in the
"...There have been numerous allegations that people arrested for their
non-violent political activities in Yangon and other towns since 18
September 1988 have been ill-treated during interrogation by the military
intelligence authorities. Amnesty International has been able to obtain a
few first-hand testimonies about alleged ill-treatment since 18 September
1988 of people arrested in the Kayin State who were accused of involvement
with insurgent groups or seized there or in the Yangon Division and forced
to act as porters in the Kayin State The organization considers that in at
least some cases, seizing and forcing suspected political opponents to work
as porters is analogous to detaining them without charge or trial, and that
these people are effectively political prisoners.
Four testimonies about ill-treatment of political prisoners and
porters are contained in this document. One is by a political prisoner who
says he was beaten during interrogation by military intelligence officers
in the Kayin State in early 1989, and the others by porters who say they
themselves were ill-treated and saw other porters ill-treated or killed
during counter-insurgency operations in the Kayin State in October 1988 and
June 1989..."
Source/publisher:
Amnesty International (ASA 16/16/89)
Date of publication:
1989-08-00
Date of entry/update:
2005-08-19
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
41.47 KB
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Description:
"...In November 2003, in the wake of the joint military offensive by the
SPDC (State Peace and Development Council) and the DKBA (Democratic
Karen Buddhist Army), Burma Issues set about documenting the
systematic use of prisoners as porters for military purposes. This practice
constitutes an egregious human rights abuse. Research for the project began
with interviews with twenty-two escapees who had taken refuge
near the Thai-Burma border. We dealt with issues such as their prison
lives, their journey to the conflict area, their treatment at the hands of the
soldiers, their experiences in battle, and also their experiences relating to
landmines. We then proceeded to conduct more in-depth research to
supplement this invaluable first hand information. We have compiled the
analysis and present our findings in this report..."
Source/publisher:
Burma Issues
Date of publication:
2005-01-00
Date of entry/update:
2005-06-27
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Torture and ill-treatment: reports of incidents in Burma, Discrimination against the Karen, Non-ILO Reports on forced labour, including forced portering, in Karen (Kayin) State
Language:
English
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pdf
Size:
544.84 KB
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Description:
"Drawing upon recent KHRG reports, this Commentary asks the question why the Karen ceasefire is not generating a human rights dividend for Karen villagers, and looks for the answer in the nature of conflict in Burma. It finds the conflict to be much broader than that between armed entities, pitting villagers against the military junta in a daily struggle for control of their lives. The villagers? role in this struggle is too often ignored, both by outside actors who insist on treating villagers as passive bystanders to their own context, and by activists who seek to subjugate everything to the narrow struggle for an elitist Burmese ?democracy?. In human rights, aid and political discourse on Burma, double standards are applied which further marginalise rural, agrarian, and non-Burman voices, when the real need now is for these voices to be heard more in political processes.
The Commentary also discusses the SPDC?s efforts to evade international pressure for its use of forced labour by hiding the evidence, using convict labour, and putting its child soldiers to work on roads, and the effects these tactics are having on rural villagers. Finally, it explains KHRG?s efforts to expand our research agenda and make our reports more useful."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG #2005-C1)
Date of publication:
2005-06-10
Date of entry/update:
2005-06-10
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"...While the nonviolent struggle of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi against the Burmese military government?s continuing repression has captured the world?s attention, the profound human rights and humanitarian crisis endured by Burma?s ethnic minority communities has largely been ignored.4
Decades of armed conflict have devastated ethnic minority communities, which make up approximately 35 percent of Burma?s population. The Burmese army, or Tatmadaw, has for many years carried out numerous and widespread summary executions, looting, torture, rape and other sexual violence, arbitrary arrests and torture, forced labor, recruitment of child soldiers, and the displacement and demolition of entire villages as part of military operations against ethnic minority armed opposition groups. Civilians bear the brunt of a state of almost perpetual conflict and militarization.
Violations of international human rights and humanitarian law (the laws of war) by the Tatmadaw have been particularly acute in eastern Karen state, which runs along the northwestern border of Thailand...One result of the Tatmadaw?s brutal behavior has been the creation of large numbers of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees among Burma?s ethnic minority communities. Conflict and its consequences have been going on for so long that in many ethnic minority-populated areas, continuous forced relocations and displacement??interspersed with occasional periods of relative stability??have become a fact of life for generations of poor villagers.
The scale of the IDP problem in Burma is daunting. Estimates suggest that, as of late 2004, as many as 650,000 people were internally displaced in eastern Burma alone. According to a recent survey, 157,000 civilians have been displaced in eastern Burma since the end of 2002, and at least 240 villages destroyed, relocated, or abandoned. The majority of displaced people live in areas controlled by the government, now known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), or by various ethnic armed groups that have agreed to ceasefires with the government. But approximately eighty-four thousand displaced people live in zones of ongoing armed conflict, where the worst human rights abuses continue. Many IDPs live in hiding in war zones. Another two million Burmese live in Thailand, including 145,000 refugees living in camps.
Karen State is the location of some of the largest numbers of IDPs in Burma. Since 2002, approximately 100,000 people have been displaced from Karen areas,which include parts of Pegu and Tenasserim Divisions. Though a provisional ceasefire was agreed in December 2003 between the SPDC and the Karen National Union (KNU), sporadic fighting continues. Tatmadaw military operations against the KNU?s army, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), in the first months of 2005 caused numerous deaths and injuries to civilians in poor villages along the Thai border. They also forced many civilians to flee internally or to Thailand. For example, at least 9,000 civilians were displaced in Toungoo District, in the far north of Karen State bordering Karenni State, and in Nyaunglebin District in northwest Karen State, during major Tatmadaw offensives between November 2004 and February 2005.
The majority of Karen IDPs have been forced out of their homes as a direct result of the Tatmadaw?s ?Four Cuts” counter-insurgency strategy, in which the Burmese army has attempted to defeat armed ethnic groups by denying them access to food, funds, recruits, and information from other insurgent groups..."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch
Date of publication:
2005-06-09
Date of entry/update:
2005-06-09
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Internal displacement/forced migration of Karen villagers, Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
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Description:
"This report documents the killings of two villagers by SPDC and DKBA forces in Dooplaya District of southern Karen State, some of the continuing restrictions and forced labour faced by people living there, and the climate of fear and oppression such abuses are creating. The informal SPDC-KNU ceasefire is not stopping the two sides from shooting at each other, and there is no ceasefire at all barring soldiers from shooting at civilians. Killings and abuses are still carried out with complete impunity, and this is unlikely to change as long as the region remains heavily militarised. Includes maps and photos...In early January 2004 Burma?s State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) military junta and the Karen National Union (KNU) agreed to an informal ceasefire pending negotiations for a more lasting agreement. Negotiations have not proceeded any further. Though the informal ceasefire still stands, sporadic fighting continues to occur. One example comes from Dooplaya District of southern Karen State (see map), where SPDC forces pursuing Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA, armed wing of the KNU) soldiers in order to ambush them in March 2005 shot dead a woman shopkeeper and wounded an 80 year old woman and one other villager. Under SPDC protection, forces of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) also continue to abuse and kill villagers with impunity. As a result of such incidents, villagers in Dooplaya District continue to live in fear; there may be a ceasefire between armed groups, but no ceasefire is in place preventing armed groups from shooting at villagers. In addition, forced labour and restrictions on the movements and activities of villagers remain in place, and continue to create great hardship for many people. Whether the ceasefire is observed or not, the heavy militarisation of Dooplaya poses serious threats to the physical and food security of villagers..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG #2005-F6)
Date of publication:
2005-06-02
Date of entry/update:
2005-06-02
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"This report documents the gross violation of human rights of the civilian population during the Burmese offensive against the KNU from November 1994 to February 1995.t is based on data collected by Human Rights Watch/Asia during a research mission to the Thai-Burmese border in January and February 1995. We interviewed over fifty men who had been forcibly taken as porters by the Burmese military to carry heavy artillery and other supplies to mountain tops near Manerplaw, the KNU headquarters on the Moei River between Thailand and Burma. The men were taken from their places of work, from cinemas, trains and even their own homes from October onwards. From the moment of capture, the men were subject to physical abuse and inhumane treatment. Many had been severely beaten by the soldiers when they slipped or fell from exhaustion, and all had witnessed the deaths of fellow porters.
We also spoke to villagers who had been the victims of reprisals by the Burmese military following ambushes by the KNU. In one case, many Christians from a single congregation were beaten as they arrived for Sunday service; in another, the women and children of one village were forced to sit all day in the sun and all night in the cold while eight men suspected of being KNU supporters were hung by their ankles from trees. The following day, the whole village was ordered to move close to a Burmese army camp, a tactic frequently used by the Burmese military to cut off any possible support for rebel groups..."
Source/publisher:
Human Rights Watch
Date of publication:
1995-03-01
Date of entry/update:
2005-05-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
Format :
html
Size:
81.86 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
"...The human rights situation in Myanmar's Kayin (Karen) State has deteriorated sharply since December 1994 when the Democratic Kayin Buddhist Organization (DKBO) broke away from the armed ethnic minority group, the Karen National Union (KNU). After the split the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC, Myanmar's ruling military authorities) decided to support the DKBO and renew its offensive against KNU bases in the eastern part of the Kayin State. Hundreds of civilians were arbitrarily seized by Myanmar's armed forces and forced to carry heavy loads for them. Porters were beaten and sometimes even killed if they could no longer carry their loads.
As a result of the offensive, at least 10,000 refugees fled to Thailand from previously KNU-controlled areas. Beginning in February 1995 DKBO and SLORC forces began to attack refugee camps in Thai territory, abducting and killing a number of refugees in the process. Thousands of refugee homes were burned, leaving thousands homeless. Amnesty International is gravely concerned about the future of over 70,000 refugees, who are at risk of a full range of human rights violations, including forced portering, torture and killings, if they return to Myanmar. This decision has had serious human rights ramifications for both the population there and the Karen refugees in neighbouring Thailand.
As in previous large-scale offensives, thousands of civilians were arbitrarily detained and forced to act as porters for the Myanmar army, the tatmadaw. As in former years, the porters were subjected to systematic ill-treatment, frequent beating and, in some cases, extrajudicial killing if they could no longer carry their appointed load..."
Source/publisher:
Amnesty International (ASA/16/13/95)
Date of publication:
1995-06-01
Date of entry/update:
2005-05-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
Format :
html
Size:
157.21 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
"Between October 2004 and January 2005 SPDC troops launched forays into the hills of Nyaunglebin District in an attempt to flush villagers down into the plains and a life under SPDC control. Viciously timed to coincide with the rice harvest, the campaign focused on burning crops and landmining the fields to starve out the villagers. Most people fled into the forest, where they now face food shortages and uncertainty about this year?s planting and the security of their villages. Meanwhile in the plains, the SPDC is using people in relocation sites and villages they control as forced labour to strengthen the network of roads and Army camps - the main tools of military control over the civilian population - while Army officers plunder people?s belongings for personal gain. In both hills and plains, increased militarisation is bringing on food shortages and poverty..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG #2005-F4)
Date of publication:
2005-05-04
Date of entry/update:
2005-05-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Right to food: reports of violations in Burma, Forced relocation of Karen, Discrimination against the Karen, Non-ILO Reports on forced labour, including forced portering, in Karen (Kayin) State, Armed conflict in Burma - Impact on village life, including health and education, Internal displacement/forced migration of Karen villagers
Language:
English
more
Description:
Released on March 30, 2005...
This bulletin examines the factors causing many villagers in Pa?an district to say that they now face a deepening food and money shortage crisis which is threatening their health and survival. Based on villagers? testimony, the main factors appear to be recurring forced labour for both SPDC and DKBA authorities, made worse in some areas by orders for farmers to double-crop on their land and the encroachment of new SPDC military bases on villages and farmland.
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG #2005-B3)
Date of publication:
2005-03-30
Date of entry/update:
2005-05-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen, Right to food: reports of violations in Burma, Agricultural land confiscation/grabbing, Policies leading to food insecurity in Burma
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Villagers in Papun District who live under the control of nearby SPDC army camps are reporting that this year they are doing less forced labour as porters because convict porters are being brought in, and less forced labour repairing roads because much of this work is being done by SPDC soldiers - but that forced labour as unarmed sentries, Army camp servants, logging for the DKBA, and particularly cutting thatch and bamboo to build and repair SPDC and DKBA army camps, are still taking enough of their time to jeopardise their livelihoods. Worse yet, SPDC soldiers doing road work are destroying the villagers? fields and irrigation systems, putting this year?s rice crop under serious threat. This has made the villagers deeply angry and frustrated, but any attempts to protest have been met with threats and gun-barrels. With the SPDC now beginning work on new roads and Army camps to secure the construction of massive dams on the Salween River, this situation is only likely to worsen in the near future..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG #2005-F5)
Date of publication:
2005-05-20
Date of entry/update:
2005-05-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen, Non-ILO Reports on forced labour, including forced portering, in Karen (Kayin) State
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Dooplaya district is in southern Karen state (see map). The villagers here have suffered human rights abuses by the Burmese military regime for many decades. An informal ceasefire between the current State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) regime and the Karen National Union (KNU) was agreed in early January 2004. Even after the verbal ceasefire, however, occasional armed clashes have still occurred in Dooplaya district. The villagers who live close to the SPDC camps still have to do forced labour as porters, and respond to demands for Loh ah pay (?volunteer” labour, actually short-term forced labour). There are also some demands for money, food, and materials for camp building. Looting, abuse, and killing still occur as well. In addition the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and Karen Peace Force (KPF)[1], two groups allied with the SPDC, also demand forced labour, logs, bamboo, and thatch when they need them..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG #2005-F1)
Date of publication:
2005-02-18
Date of entry/update:
2005-03-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Much of the fighting between the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has stopped in T?Nay Hsah township of Pa?an District, but this has not resulted in much improvement in the lives of the villagers in the area. Instead, the DKBA and SPDC have been using the opportunity to strengthen their positions in the area. DKBA and SPDC troops have been building and repairing roads and stocking up on rations and ammunition for a possible resumption of hostilities. The labour needed for the roads and the portering has been provided local villagers under the orders of SPDC and DKBA officers. The DKBA in the area has also been conscripting villagers into its ranks..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG #2005-B2)
Date of publication:
2005-02-22
Date of entry/update:
2005-03-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"The Karen National Union (KNU) and the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) declared a verbal ceasefire in January 2004 as a first step towards future discussions. Consequently, both the KNU and the SPDC reportedly ordered their military units to cease offensive operations. Talks were again held in January and February, but no agreements were made regarding the delineation of territory, the return of villagers to their villages, a cessation of forced labour or the ending of any other human rights abuses. The SPDC has instead used the ceasefire as an opportunity to resupply its troops and to improve its road network without having to fear ambushes from the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). Local villagers have been conscripted to provide much of the labour needed to do this. SPDC military units have also continued to demand building materials, food and money from the villagers. Villages have been ordered relocated and villagers have been summarily executed by SPDC columns. Talks between the KNU and SPDC have not been held since the February talks were called off because the SPDC claims it has been too busy with its National Convention. This Information Update looks at the situation in Nyaunglebin and Papun Districts since the ceasefire began in January 2004..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG #2004-U2)
Date of publication:
2004-09-09
Date of entry/update:
2005-03-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Karen New Year, the largest celebration on the Karen calendar, was disrupted this year when SPDC Army soldiers once again violated the fragile ceasefire existing between the SPDC Army and the KNU. Karen New Year was observed on January 10 this year and was commemorated throughout all of the Karen areas. For only the second time in the village?s existence, large-scale celebrations were held in Kah Law Ghaw village of Kawkareik township, Dooplaya District with villagers coming from many nearby villages to join in the celebrations. On January 10, a column of soldiers from IB #230, LIB #356, and LIB #545 (all of which are subordinate to Sa Ka Ka [Military Operations Command] #12) had advanced to within 1000 metres of Kah Law Ghaw village..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG #2005-B1)
Date of publication:
2005-02-03
Date of entry/update:
2005-03-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Since the informal ceasefire between the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and the Karen National Union (KNU) began in January 2004, the situation in Bilin, Thaton, Kyaikto and Pa?an townships in Thaton District has remained bleak. KHRG researchers have seen that the SPDC and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) soldiers are still abusing the villagers with no decrease in the suffering of the villagers. Between June and November 2004, the SPDC and DKBA continued committing human rights violations by demanding forced labour from the villagers in the area such as carrying rations and constructing roads, restricting the movements of the villagers, extorting money, and demanding building materials and food from the villagers...After more than 50 years of fighting, the villagers were very happy that the KNU went to ceasefire negotiations with the SPDC. Villagers thought there would be peace in the country as a result. The people trusted the meetings because since they started there had not been any fighting in the area. The villagers were hoping for peace so they could be happy and have enough to eat. Initially, the villagers thought the fighting would stop and their situation would get better, but later they saw that the SPDC was continuing its normal activities so they no longer believe in the negotiations very much anymore. Although there has been almost no fighting in the district, there has not been any real change in the situation for the villagers since the ceasefire began..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG #2005-F2)
Date of publication:
2005-02-21
Date of entry/update:
2005-03-08
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
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Description:
"This report describes the current situation faced by rural Karen villagers in Toungoo District (known as Taw Oo in Karen). Toungoo District is the northernmost district of Karen State, sharing borders with Karenni (Kayah) State to the east, Pegu (Bago) Division to the west, and Shan State to the north. To the south Toungoo District shares borders with the Karen districts of Nyaunglebin (Kler Lweh Htoo) and Papun (Mutraw). The westernmost portion of the district bordering Pegu Division consists of the plains of the Sittaung River, which are heavily controlled by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) military junta which presently rules Burma. The rest of the district to the east is covered by steep and forested hills that are home to Karen villagers who live in small villages strewn across the hills. For years, the SPDC has endeavoured to extend its control through the hills, but their efforts thus far have been hampered by the continued armed resistance of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). Within the areas that are strongly controlled by the SPDC, the villagers must live with constant demands for forced labour, food, and money from the SPDC battalions that are based in the area. Villages that do not comply with SPDC demands risk being relocated and burned. Many villages have been burned and their inhabitants forcibly relocated to sites where the SPDC may more easily control and exploit them. Those villagers who do not move to the relocation sites flee into the jungles where they live as internally displaced persons (IDPs). Several thousand villagers now live internally displaced in the mountains of Toungoo District. These villagers live in almost constant fear of SPDC Army units, and must run for their lives if they receive word that a column of soldiers is approaching. SPDC Army columns routinely shoot displaced villagers on sight. The villagers here continue to suffer severe human rights violations at the hands of the SPDC Army soldiers, including, but not limited to summary arrest, torture, forced labour, extortion, extrajudicial execution, and the systematic destruction of crops and food supplies.
Although a verbal ceasefire is in place between the Karen National Union (KNU) and the SPDC, not much has changed for the villagers in the district. KNLA and SPDC military units still occasionally clash. The SPDC has taken advantage of the ceasefire to move more troops into the area and to build new camps. These new camps and troops have meant that the villagers now have to do forced labour building the new camps and portering supplies up to the camps. There are also more troops and camps to demand food and money from the villagers. The many new camps have made it more difficult for internally displaced villagers work their fields or to go to find food..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Date of publication:
2004-09-00
Date of entry/update:
2004-11-16
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Right to food: reports of violations in Burma, Internal displacement/forced migration of Karen villagers, Non-ILO Reports on forced labour, including forced portering, in Karen (Kayin) State, Discrimination against the Karen, Destruction/theft of crops and food stores, killing/theft of livestock
Language:
English
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Description:
KHRG Information Update #2003-U1
June 16, 2003
"The situation faced by the villagers of Toungoo District (see Map 1) is worsening as more and more parts of the District are being brought under the control of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) through the increased militarisation of the region. At any one time there are no fewer than a dozen battalions active in the area. Widespread forced labour and extortion continue unabated as in previous years, with all battalions in the District being party to such practices. The imposition of constant forced labour and the extortion of money and food are among the military?s primary occupations in the area. The strategy of the military is not one of open confrontation with the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) ? the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU) - but of targeting the civilian population as a means of cutting all lines of support and supply for the resistance movement. There has not been a major offensive in the District since the SPDC launched Operation Aung Tha Pyay in 1995-96; however since that time the Army has been restricting, harassing, and forcibly relocating hill villages to the point where people can no longer live in them. Many of the battalions launch sweeps through the hills in search of villagers hiding there in an effort to drive them out of the hills and into the areas controlled by the SPDC. Fortunately, the areas into which many of them have fled are both rugged and remote, making it difficult for the Army to find them. For those who are discovered, once relocated, they are then exploited as a ready source for portering and other forced labour..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Date of publication:
2003-06-16
Date of entry/update:
2003-07-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Non-ILO Reports on forced labour, including forced portering, in Karen (Kayin) State, Discrimination against the Karen, Armed conflict and peace-building in Burma - theoretical, strategic and general, Internal displacement/forced migration of Karen villagers, Armed conflict in Burma - Impact on village life, including health and education
Language:
English
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Description:
"The information below was sent in as field reports from independent human rights monitors and the newly formed Hsaw Wah Deh human rights reporting group, an independent group of Karens interested in documenting the situation in the villages. This report focusses on the Tee Sah Ra / Ker Ghaw area of Kawkareik Township, north of Myawaddy and about 15 km. west of the border with Thailand. In the area SLORC are working closely with DKBA to clamp down on the civilian population. There is still some presence of Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) in the area, and this report shows the nature and extent of SLORC and DKBA's retaliation against villagers whenever the KNLA attacks them..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #96-15)
Date of publication:
1996-04-01
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"The situation in Pa?an District of central Karen State continues to worsen, particularly in the eastern parts of the District close to the Dawna mountains and the Thai border. The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) is conducting guerrilla operations in the Dawna Range, which runs north-south parallel to the Thai border, and penetrating into the plains to the west. As a result, SLORC is terrorizing the Karen villages lying just west of the Dawna Range, and began forcibly relocating some of these villages in November 1996. By February 1997 the villages of Ta Ku Kraw, Kwih Pa Taw and Noh Law Bler (comprising a total of over 150 households) were forced to move, and Ta Ku Kraw was burned. They were ordered to move to Naw Deh, where some have gone and are now living in makeshift shelters with no way to survive. However, most of them fled into hiding in the forest where they are now struggling to survive. Then in February and March 1997, SLORC ordered the villages of Tee Hseh Ker, Naw Ter Kee, Bee T?Ka, Kaw Per Nweh Ko, Kwih Sgheh, Tee Baw Blaw, Ler Dah and possibly several more to move. Bee T?Ka, the largest of these, has over 300 households but was given only 3 days to move to Taung Zone army camp, and the villagers were told that anyone seen there after 6 March would be shot on sight. The village was quickly abandoned as the villagers fled to the homes of relatives or to the forest. Later in March, the KNLA used the absence of the villagers as an opportunity to make a heavy attack against SLORC troops near the village. SLORC suffered significant casualties, so they sent word out for the villagers to come back in order that they could have a human shield around them. However, most villagers ignored the call in fear and are still scattered throughout the area..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #97-08)
Date of publication:
1997-08-01
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"This report covers 4 of the main attacks on Karen refugee camps in Thailand which occurred in January 1997: the burning and destruction of Huay Kaloke and Huay Bone refugee camps on the night of 28 January, the armed attack on Beh Klaw refugee camp on the morning of 29 January, and the shelling of Sho Kloh refugee camp on 4 January. These attacks left several people dead and about 10,000 refugees homeless and completely destitute. Even now, Huay Kaloke and Huay Bone remain nothing but open plains of dust and ash under the hot sun. No one feels safe to remain in these places, but the Thai authorities are forcing them to.Huay Bone?s over 3,000 refugees have either fled to Beh Klaw or have been forced to move to Huay Kaloke, and the Thai authorities still have a plan to move Sho Kloh?s over 6,000 refugees to Beh Klaw, which is unsafe and already overcrowded with over 25,000 people. Refugees in other camps are also living in fear; Maw Ker refugee camp 50 km. south of Mae Sot has been constantly threatened with destruction, as has Mae Khong Kha refugee camp much further north in Mae Sariang district. People in these camps often end up spending their nights in the forests or countryside surrounding their camps, not daring to sleep in their homes at night..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #97-05)
Date of publication:
1997-03-18
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Armed conflict in Burma - Impact on village life, including health and education, Discrimination against the Karen, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles
Language:
English
more
Description:
"In March 1998, three Karen refugee camps in Thailand were attacked by heavily armed forces that crossed the border from Burma. Huay Kaloke camp was burned and almost completely destroyed, killing four refugees and wounding many more; 50 houses and a monastery were burned in Maw Ker camp, and 14 were wounded; and Beh Klaw camp was shelled, though the attackers were repelled. The attacks were carried out by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), backed by troops and support of the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC) military junta currently ruling Burma ..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #98-04)
Date of publication:
1998-05-29
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
538.54 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
"This report consists of several parts: this preface, an introduction/summary, a detailed description of the situation including quotes from interviews and order documents, an index of the interviews used, and finally the full text of some selected interviews used in the report. Click here to see the full text of interviews in the Interview Annex to this report..."
The Breakup of Karen Villages in Southeastern Pa'an District
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #99-08)
Date of publication:
1999-12-20
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"This report does not aim to give comprehensive details of the pipeline project to date, as this has been done elsewhere. Instead, this report focusses on presenting some information and interviews related to developments in the pipeline route area, particularly since the beginning of 1995. The information and interviews used have been obtained from several sources, including the Mergui-Tavoy Information Service, the Committee for Publicity of People's Struggle in Monland, independent sources and KHRG interviews..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #95-27)
Date of publication:
1995-08-01
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
more
Description:
"The following is from an interview with a 56-year-old man from Myaungmya Town, deep in the Irrawaddy Delta west of Rangoon, who left the Delta in June 1995. The Irrawaddy Delta is populated by a few million people, 50% of them Karen and 50% Burmans. In recent decades it has been sealed off from the outside world more than almost any other area of Burma, and the Tatmadaw (Burmese Army) has been able to get away with any form of repression it likes. In 1991, the Karen National Union managed to send some soldiers and weapons into the Delta in an effort to restart the resistance struggle there which had been quiet for decades, but the troops were exposed. In events which became known as the Bogalay Crisis, the Tatmadaw launched a huge offensive into the area to wipe out the small number of KNLA forces and all seeds of civilian resistance. Villages were burned, helicopter gunships strafed villages and schools, and thousands of Karen community leaders, pastors and schoolteachers were arrested, sentenced en masse and imprisoned. The Tatmadaw began a brutal campaign of repression, killings and disappearances against Karen in the area, which still remains almost completely unknown to the outside world. As a result, the SLORC now feels confident enough of its control in the area that it has recently opened up some parts of it to tourism..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #95-29)
Date of publication:
1995-08-04
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"The following reports were collected by independent Karen civilian human rights monitors who visited the area north of Myawaddy in November and December 1995. This area is under firm SLORC control. The DKBA (Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army, often referred to in this report as "Ko Per Baw" - the "Yellow Headbands") also operates in the area in cooperation with SLORC. The Thai Government claims that now that fighting has died down in this and some other areas, it will soon be time to drive all the refugees back across to villages there.
For the security of the villagers, some details have been omitted or replaced by xx?. Note: in the report there are some references to "#88 Battalion", a Light Infantry Battalion operating in the area which is part of SLORC #33 Light Infantry Division (one Division consists of 10 battalions). This should not be confused with #88 Light Infantry Division. #88 Division is also in the area, represented by 4 Battalions: #415, 416, 108, and 10, which operate between Palu, 50 km. south of Myawaddy, and Kawmoora, 15 km. north of Myawaddy. The reference to #88 in Report #2 below is definitely #88 Battalion, but the troops mentioned in Reports 3 and 4 may be from either 88 Battalion or 88 Division..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #96-03)
Date of publication:
1996-01-10
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Since 1997 most of Pa?an District in central Karen State ... has been firmly controlled by forces of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), with the assistance of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA). Both groups are still fighting the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA, the armed wing of the Karen National Union) in the Dawna Range area, a strip in the far east of the district adjacent to the border with Thailand, but the remainder of the district sees little fighting, with the KNLA only able to mount small scale hit-and-run guerrilla attacks against SPDC and DKBA positions. In consolidating their control, both the SPDC and the DKBA have been increasingly restricting and exploiting the Karen villagers who make up almost the entire population of the district. Although most of the villagers remain in their villages under SPDC and DKBA control, their lives are difficult and they are becoming increasingly impoverished. The continued use of forced labour, the demands for money and food from the villagers, and the resulting poverty have driven many to flee to refugee camps or to join the illegal migrant labour market in Thailand. Landmines have also become a serious problem in the area, with villagers making up the majority of mine victims..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Information Update (KHRG #2002-U4)
Date of publication:
2002-09-07
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Villagers in the northern districts of Karen State and Karen areas of eastern Pegu Division and northeastern Mon State continue to suffer SPDC operations involving village destruction, forced relocations, uprooting of their crops and forced labour. Areas referred to in this report include Taungoo (Karen name Taw Oo) District, Nyaunglebin (Kler Lwe Htoo) District, Papun (Mudraw) District, and Thaton (Doothatu) District. This information was recently reported by KHRG monitors based in or visiting these areas. The situation in Taungoo District will be reported in detail in an upcoming KHRG report..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG Information Update)
Date of publication:
1998-11-15
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
Pa?An, Bilin and Thaton Townships, Jan-April 94 (some events 93). One Burmese Indian man, most Karen men, women, children: Torture; inhuman treatment (beating of monk); looting, incl. from monastery; economic oppression; extortion; forced labour incl. forced portering; human mine-sweepers; killing; reprisal killings; ransoming; forced relocation; homosexual rape of a child; beating, ransoming and forced portering by a child; disappearance; human shields; curfews; threat to kill five villagers if one SLORC soldier is killed. ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: forced resettlement, forced relocation, forced movement, forced displacement, forced migration, forced to move, displaced
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) Regional & Thematic Reports
Date of publication:
1994-05-26
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
The current SLORC Offensive and Displaced People
"From July 92. Karen men, women, children: Air-raids on civilian villages (20 civilians killed); precarious economic life of people hiding in jungle; children die of malnutrition; Saw Hta offensive; list of villages and numbers of the people displaced; economic oppression..."
Area: Tee Moo Khee Area, Kaw Lu Der Area, Saw Hta
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) Regional & Thematic Reports
Date of publication:
1992-11-13
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen, Forced relocation of Karen, Internal displacement/forced migration of Karen villagers
Language:
English
Format :
html
Size:
11.98 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
"This report is a detailed analysis of the current human rights situation in Nyaunglebin District (known in Karen as Kler Lweh Htoo), which straddles the border of northern Karen State and Pegu Division in Burma. Most of the villagers here are Karen, though there are also many Burmans living in the villages near the Sittaung River. Since late 1998 many Karens and Burmans have been fleeing their villages in the area because of human rights abuses by the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC) military junta which currently rules Burma, and this flight is still ongoing. Those from the hills which cover most of the District are fleeing because SPDC troops have been systematically destroying their villages, crops and food supplies and shooting villagers on sight, all in an effort to undermine the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) by driving the civilian population out of the region. At the same time, people in the plains near the Sittaung River are fleeing because of the ever-increasing burden of forced labour, cash extortion, and heavy crop quotas which are being levied against them even though their crops have failed for the past two years running. Many are also fleeing a frightening new phenomenon in the District: the Sa Thon Lon Guerrilla Retaliation units, which appeared in September 1998 and since then have been systematically executing everyone suspected of even the remotest contact with the opposition forces, even if that contact occurred years or decades ago. Their methods are brutal, their tactics are designed to induce fear, and they have executed anywhere from 50 to over 100 civilians in the District since September 1998..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports(KHRG #99-04)
Date of publication:
1999-05-24
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Armed conflict in Burma - Impact on village life, including health and education, Discrimination against the Karen, Forced relocation of Karen, Internal displacement/forced migration of Karen villagers
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Since the beginning of 1996, SLORC has launched campaigns in many parts of Burma to forcibly move or wipe out all rural villages which are not under the direct physical control of an Army camp. In February/March 1997, SLORC began a campaign to obliterate all villages in the hills of Papun District, northern Karen State. The initial wave of village destruction was carried out through March 1997, but since the beginning of June 1997 SLORC patrols have stepped up their efforts to destroy all signs of habitation and food supplies wherever villagers had managed to rebuild. KHRG has compiled and confirmed a list of 68 villages which have been completely burned and destroyed and 4 more which have been partially burned. These are all Karen villages, averaging about 15 households (population 100) per village. This list is by no means complete, and right now SLORC patrols continue to burn villages in the area..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Date of publication:
1997-06-25
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"An SPDC campaign to destroy Karen villages in northern Pa?an District has already led to the displacement of several thousand villagers, and over 3,000 of these villagers have crossed the border into Thailand. The area they are fleeing is on the eastern slopes of the Dawna Range close to the Thai border, part of Dta Greh township (Dta Greh is called Pain Kyone in Burmese, and the SPDC considers it part of Hlaing Bwe township)..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Date of publication:
1998-10-01
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Dooplaya District of central Karen State, a large region which stretches from the Myawaddy - Kawkareik - Kyone Doh motor road in the north to the Three Pagodas Pass area in the south, was largely controlled by the Karen National Union (KNU) until 1995. In that year a major SLORC (State Law & Order Restoration Council) offensive completed SLORC?s control of the Thai border from Myawaddy southward to Wah Lay and captured the northern part of the hump?, a mountainous portion of Dooplaya which projects eastward into Thailand. In a much larger offensive in February-March 1997, SLORC succeeded in capturing almost all of the remainder of Dooplaya District. Over 10,000 new refugees fled to Thailand and are now interned in Noh Po refugee camp, but most villagers remained inside the district, either trapped by the speed of the SLORC advance or hoping to survive under the SLORC/SPDC occupation. Many of these villagers have subsequently fled or tried to flee to Thailand due to forced labour and other abuses by the occupation troops... "
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Date of publication:
1998-02-25
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"The region commonly known as Pa?an District forms a large triangular area in central Karen State, bounded in the west and north by the Salween River and the town of Pa?an (capital of Karen State), in the east by the Moei River where it forms the border with Thailand, and in the south by the motor road from Myawaddy (at the Thai border) westward to Kawkareik and Kyone Doh. Pa?an District is also known as the Karen National Liberation Army?s (KNLA?s) 7th Brigade area. The western parts of Pa?an District and the principal towns have been controlled by the SLORC/SPDC military junta for 10 years or longer, while the eastern strip adjacent to the Thai border has come largely under their control over the past 3 years. The easternmost strip of Pa?an District near the Moei River is separated from the rest of the district by the main ridge of the steep Dawna Mountains..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Date of publication:
1998-09-14
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"As the SPDC consolidates its military hold on central Dooplaya District, thousands of people who
were forced to relocate in 1999 and 2000 are now being allowed back to their villages. However,
on their return they find their villages being used as support for the Army, and they face heavy
demands for forced labour, money, food and materials to support all of the Army camps which have
now been set up around their villages..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG Information Update #2002-U2)
Date of publication:
2002-01-31
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"In early 1997, the State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC) military junta ruling Burma mounted a major offensive against the Karen National Union (KNU) and succeeded in capturing and occupying most of the remainder of Dooplaya District in central Karen State. Since that time the SLORC has changed its name to the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC), but its occupation troops have continued to strengthen their control over the rural Karen villagers who live in the region. Almost all of the people in the region are Karen, though there are minorities of ethnic Mon, Thai, and Indian-Muslim people in parts of central and western Dooplaya. This report provides an update on the current situation for villagers in Dooplaya?s farming communities under the SPDC occupation. Some of the main issues covered are general human rights abuses against the villagers, which include arbitrary killings, torture, detention, rape, forced labour, forced relocations, looting and extortion; the special plight of the Dta La Ku, a Karen religious minority who have been targetted for persecution by armies on all sides of the conflict but who are almost completely ignored by the outside world; the effects on villagers of the changing military-political situation in the region, including the activities of the Karen Peace Army (KPA) and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), rival armies both allied with the SPDC; and the effects of the ongoing struggle between the SPDC and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), both of which are increasingly using landmines in the area. Differences and similarities are examined between the situation in Dooplaya?s central plain, the mountainous eastern hump? which projects into Thailand, and the district?s far south..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #98-09)
Date of publication:
1998-11-23
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Armed conflict in Burma - Impact on village life, including health and education, Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
Karen refugees in the thai-burmese border area. Halockani refugee camp run by the Mon National Committee. Mit dem Beginn der großen Militäroffensive burmesischer Truppen gegen die bewaffneten Guerillabewegungen der nationalen Minderheiten haben seit Anfang dieses Jahres nun auch immer mehr Angehörige der Karen Volksgruppe im thailändischen Grenzgebiet Zuflucht gesucht. Das vom Mon National Committee unterhaltene Halockani-Flüchtlingslager der Mon-Volksgruppe hat daher seine Tore im Sommer auch für Karen-Flüchtlinge geöffnet und Versorgungsgüter zur Verfügung gestellt.
Hans-Günther Wagner
Source/publisher:
Netzwerk engagierter Buddhisten
Date of publication:
2002-00-00
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen, Karen and other refugees from Burma in Thailand - general reports and articles, Karen (cultural, historical, political)
Language:
Deutsch, German
more
Description:
Padoe Saw Ba Thin Sein, chairman of the Karen National Union, spoke to The Irrawaddy recently about a host of issues affecting Burma?s longest-running insurgency. In this frank interview, he discusses rumors of "secret meetings" with Rangoon, as well as claims that the KNU has been receiving military support from Thailand and Britain. He also touches on his own role in the KNU and the group?s policies on drugs, Internally Displaced Persons, and ICRC visits in Karen State.
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy", Vol. 8, No. 6
Date of publication:
2000-06-00
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
more
Description:
"This report describes the current situation for rural Karen villagers in Toungoo District (known in Karen as Taw Oo), which is the northernmost region of Karen State in Burma. The western part of the district forms part of the Sittaung River valley in Pegu (Bago) Division, and this region is strongly controlled by the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC) military junta which rules Burma. Further east, the District is made up of steep and forested hills penetrated by only one or two roads and dotted with small Karen villages; in this region the SPDC is struggling to strengthen its control in the face of armed resistance by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). (Click here to see map) In the strongly SPDC-controlled areas, the villagers suffer from constant demands for forced labour and money from all of the SPDC military units based there, and from the constant threat of punishments should their village fail to comply with any order of the military. In the eastern hills, many villages have been forcibly relocated and partly burned as part of the SPDC?s program of attempting to undermine the resistance by attacking the civilian villagers. Here people are suffering all forms of serious human rights abuses committed by SPDC troops, including random killings, burning of homes, the systematic destruction of crops and food supplies, forced labour, looting and extortion..."
Increasing SPDC Military Repression in Toungoo District of Northern Karen State
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #99-02)
Date of publication:
1999-03-25
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Armed conflict in Burma - Impact on village life, including health and education, Discrimination against the Karen, Destruction/theft of crops and food stores, killing/theft of livestock
Language:
English
Format :
html
Size:
25.55 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
"This report contains two elements: human rights abuses in the Kya In Seik Gyi area and testimonies of porters who have escaped SLORC?s offensive against Maw Kee in the Karen National Union?s Sixth Brigade area..."
TOPIC SUMMARY: Shootings/killings of villagers (Story #2), torture of villagers (#1,2), torture of family members of suspects (#1,2), abuse of women (#1,2), burning villages (#1), extortion (#1,8), SLORC corruption (#1,6,8), hospital harassment of SLORC victims (#2), blaming abuses on KNU (#2), porters from urban areas (#3-8), killing porters (#3,7), torture of porters (#3-8), porters in battle (#4).
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Date of publication:
1995-05-31
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"From information provided by the Mergui-Tavoy Information ServiceTOPIC SUMMARY: Ye-Tavoy railway labour (Items #1,4,5), porters (#1-5), army camp labour (#1,2,5), other labour (#2,5), extortion (#1,2,5), looting (#2), killings (#2,3), village burning (#2), land/villages to be destroyed for hydro dam (#1), land destroyed/confiscated for army camps (#2), crop confiscation (#1,2), abuse of women (#2), situation in the schools (#4)..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Date of publication:
1995-07-29
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Papun (Mudraw) District and Nyaunglebin District"
[P=Papun (p. 1-2), N=Nyaunglebin (p. 3-7); number indicates incident or story number]: Murder of villagers (#P2,P5,P6,P7,P8,P10,N1), arrest/torture of villagers (#P3,P4,P9,N1), abuse of porters (#N2,N3,N4), women and child porters (#P1), porters wounded/killed by landmines (#P1,N1,N3), other forced labour (#N1), looting (#N1,N2).
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Date of publication:
1995-05-25
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"This report provides a summary of some of the daily events in Taungoo, Papun, Thaton, Nyaunglebin and Dooplaya districts since September 1995. The information was obtained by KHRG in the form of field reports from human rights monitors and relief workers in Karen districts and from radio messages transmitted by Karen military units in frontline areas. It is far from complete, and should be considered only a representative sampling of the kind of SLORC activities occurring in these areas. Other KHRG reports should also be consulted in order to get a more detailed picture of events.
Taungoo District is presently one of the worst hit. SLORC is trying to wipe out all possibility of civilian support for the few KNLA (Karen National Liberation Army) forces still left in the area by forcibly relocating villages, burning villages and crops, destroying food supplies and shooting villagers. Similar abuses are occurring in Papun District as SLORC is forcing all villages to move in order to create a free-fire zone along the Salween River in order to cut KNLA supply lines and block the flow of refugees to Thailand. In Thaton and Nyaunglebin districts, the slightest skirmish with KNLA troops is followed by massive retaliation against villages in the area by SLORC, and in Dooplaya district most villagers are expecting an offensive to begin at any time. All of this is happening at a time when the KNU (Karen National Union) is trying to proceed with ceasefire negotiations with SLORC - however, SLORC appears to believe that it can gain a stronger negotiating position by terrorizing and driving the Karen population into desperation..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Date of publication:
1996-02-29
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"This report provides a summary of some of the daily events in villages of Taungoo, Thaton, and Pa'an districts between February and May 1996. It is an update to "Field Reports: Taungoo and Other Districts" (KHRG #96-10, 29/2/96). The information was obtained by KHRG in the form of field reports from human rights monitors and relief workers in Karen districts and from radio messages transmitted by Karen military units in frontline areas. It is far from complete, and should be considered only a representative sampling of the kind of SLORC activities occurring in these areas. Other KHRG reports should also be consulted in order to get a more detailed picture of events..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Date of publication:
1996-07-18
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Dooplaya District covers much of the southern half of Karen State, from the Myawaddy - Kyone Doh - Pa?an motor road in the north to the Three Pagodas Pass area 160 kilometres (100 miles) further south. In early 1997 the SLORC regime mounted a major military operation and successfully occupied almost all of this area, though the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) is still very active in guerrilla operations. While the SLORC/SPDC has gradually increased its repression to establish control over the area, they have also formed and employed a Karen proxy army called the Karen Peace Army (KPA) under Thu Mu Heh, a former KNLA officer who defected in 1997. The SPDC removed the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) from most of the region and made a show of giving authority? over the area to the KPA..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Date of publication:
1998-09-24
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"This report documents in detail the plight of villagers and the internally displaced in these two
northern Karen regions. Since 1997 the SPDC has destroyed or relocated over 200 villages here,
forcing tens of thousands of villagers to flee into hiding in the hills where they are now being
hunted down and shot on sight by close to 50 SPDC Army battalions. The troops are now
systematically destroying crops, food supplies and farmfields to flush the villagers out of the hills,
making the situation increasingly desperate. Meanwhile, those living in the SPDC-controlled villages
and relocation sites are fleeing to the hills to join the displaced because they can no longer bear the
heavy burden of forced labour, extortion, restrictions on their movement and random torture and
executions. KHRG?s most intensive research effort to date, this report draws on over 300
interviews with people in the villages and forests, thousands of photographs and hundreds of
documents assembled by KHRG researchers in the past 2 years." ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: forced resettlement, forced relocation, forced movement, forced displacement, forced migration, forced to move, displaced
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG #2001-03)
Date of publication:
2001-10-22
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen, Armed conflict in Burma - Impact on village life, including health and education, Internal displacement/forced migration of Karen villagers, Forced relocation of Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Nyaunglebin District. Feb 93. Karen men, women: Forced relocation to undrained land; Only Karen villages made to move; SLORC?s control of rice to control the population; forced labour (incl. portering). Description of the difficult economic conditions. Extortion; ransoming; looting. Translation of an official SLORC Relocation Order; economic oppression..."
_ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: forced resettlement, forced relocation, forced movement, forced displacement, forced migration, forced to move, displaced_
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports
Date of publication:
1993-06-10
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen, Forced relocation of Karen, Internal displacement/forced migration of Karen villagers
Language:
English
more
Description:
"SLORC has seriously stepped up its campaign to clear the entire rural population out of Papun District and make the entire area a free-fire zone. Since December 1995, orders have been issued to every rural village under SLORC control from Kyauk Nyat in the north to Ka Dtaing Dtee in the south, from the Salween River (the Thai border) in the east to at least 10 km. west of Papun - an area 50-60 km. north to south and 30 km. east to west. This area is rugged hills dotted with small villages, averaging 10-50 households (population 50-300) per village. Estimates are that 100 or more villages may be affected. Every village has been ordered to move either to SLORC Army camps surrounding Papun, such as Papun, Kaw Boke, Par Haik, or Ka Hee Kyo (all along the Papun - Kyauk Nyat road route) or to DKBA headquarters far to the south at Khaw Taw (Myaing Gyi Ngu) in Pa?an District. The orders have all been issued by SLORC. Generally a SLORC column enters the village with only a few DKBA soldiers accompanying them, and the SLORC officer issues the order. Villagers confirm that DKBA never operates in the area by themselves anymore - DKBA soldiers only appear in small groups as part of SLORC columns. SLORC units involved in the operation include Light Infantry Battalions (LIB) 340, 341, 434, and Infantry Battalion (IB) 5..."
KEYWORDS: forced resettlement, forced relocation, forced movement, forced displacement,
forced migration, forced to move, displaced
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #96-11)
Date of publication:
1996-03-04
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen, Forced relocation of Karen, Internal displacement/forced migration of Karen villagers
Language:
English
Format :
html
Size:
28.88 KB
Local URL:
more
Description:
"Forced relocation of villages (lists) and extortion..."
ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: forced resettlement, forced relocation, forced movement, forced displacement,
forced migration, forced to move, displaced
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) Regional & Thematic Reports
Date of publication:
1992-08-16
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
1. The Karen and Kawthoolei: The Karen; Kawthoolei; The Kawthoolei districts ||
2. Displacement and counter-insurgency in Burma:
Population displacement in Burma;
Protracted ethnic conflict in Burma;
Counter-insurgency: the four-cuts ||
3. The war in Kawthoolei:
Seasonal offensives: the moving front line and refugee flows, 1974-92;
Cease-fires (1992-94) and the renewal of offensives (1995-97) ||
4. Internal displacement in Kawthoolei:
Counter-insurgency and displacement in Kawthoolei;
Displacement in Kawthoolei;
The situation of IDPs in Kawthoolei districts;
Extent of population displacement in Kawthoolei;
Patterns of displacement;
Factors preventing the IDPs returning home;
Factors preventing the IDPs becoming refugees in Thailand;
Vulnerability of IDPs;
Note on forced relocations sites ||
5.Assistance:
International responses to IDPs;
International responses to IDPs in Burma;
Responses inside Burma;
The response from the border area to Karen IDPs ||
6.Protection:
Refugees on the Thai-Burma border: international assistance with limited protection;
The case of the repatriation of the Mon;
The Karen: the problem of security;
Assistance and protection: refugees and IDPs;
The need for leverage;
Transition from armed conflict ||
Appendix III: Interview at Mae La
(This version lacks the maps and tables)
Brother Amoz, Steven Lanjouw, Saw Pay Leek, Dr. Em Marta, Graham Mortimer, Alan Smith, Saw David Taw, Pah Hsaw Thut, Saw Aung Win, Saw Kwe Htoo Win
Source/publisher:
Burma Ethnic Research Group (BERG) and Friedrich Naumann Foundation
Date of publication:
1998-04-00
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Internal displacement/forced migration of Karen villagers, Armed conflict in Burma - Impact on village life, including health and education, Discrimination against the Karen, Forced relocation of Karen
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
569.98 KB
Local URL:
more
Description:
"In September 1996, the State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC) military junta ruling Burma began a campaign of forced relocations and forced-labour road building in the Palauk-Palaw, Mergui and Tenasserim regions in Tenasserim (Taninthari) Division of southern Burma. The campaign, which intensified in January 1997, involved the forced relocation and destruction of at least 60 Karen villages as well as clampdowns on Burman and Mon villages in a region measuring about 140 km. north-south and 20-30 km. east-west. This land corridor lies between the Andaman Sea coastal motor road in the west and the Tenasserim River valley in the east, from Palauk (100 km. south of Tavoy) in the north to Tenasserim town in the south (see map with this report)..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #97-09)
Date of publication:
1997-08-20
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
Accounts of Burmese Military Human Rights Abuse in Tenasserim Area, 1983-1986.
Source/publisher:
Project Maje
Date of publication:
1987-07-00
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"In November 1997 the State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC) military junta ruling Burma changed its name to the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC). However, there was no change in the four key leaders of the junta, and judging by the testimonies of villagers throughout Burma and the continuation of all of the regime?s military operations, there has been no change in policy; in fact, the forced relocations and related abuses occurring in many rural parts of the country have only intensified, making it appear that the SPDC regime is even more ruthless and repressive than the SLORC ever was. Like many dictatorships, the SLORC/SPDC is an extremely paranoid regime, believing that it must control every inch of territory and the daily lives of every citizen of Burma; that if it relaxes its repression for one moment, the people will rise and destroy it. This mentality explains the junta?s refusal to negotiate or compromise with its opponents, even in situations where there would be nothing to lose by doing so. SPDC leaders regularly state that "only the Army can hold the country together", and they feel that to do this the Army must control absolutely everything which happens in the country..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG Articles and Papers)
Date of publication:
1998-04-30
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"...The human rights situation for people in rural villages of eastern Burma continues to worsen, affecting subsistence farmers and poor labourers of all ethnicities, Burman and non-Burman. This is occurring not only in the context of campaigns against resistance forces, but as an overall SPDC strategy of complete subjugation of the population in all areas whether there is fighting or not. In areas where there is no longer any resistance at all, abuses such as executions and rape tend to decrease somewhat, but extortion, looting and the systematic use of forced labour all increase until many villagers find that they can no longer survive in their traditional way of life..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) Articles and Papers
Date of publication:
1999-06-29
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
Forced relocation of villagers in Mergui District (Sept 91): rape of Karen women; forced relocation. Karen civilian casualties in the Delta region (from Oct 91): men, elders and pastors; bombing and strafing of a school (41 children killed); mass killing; torture; religious intolerance; torture and detention of pastors; disappearance (list of victims). Arrests, looting and murder of civilians in Mergui and Tavoy districts (June, Sept, Oct, 91): Karen, Tavoyan men, women, children (list of victims, including a Christian pastor and his children). ... ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: forced resettlement, forced relocation, forced movement, forced displacement, forced migration, forced to move, displaced
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) Regional & Thematic Reports
Date of publication:
1992-01-27
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
Portering; extortion; Inhuman treatment (beating a porter to unconsciousness then burying him up to his neck.
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) Regional & Thematic Reports
Date of publication:
1992-09-23
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"March-October 92, Nyaunglebin District. Karen men, women, children: Torture; Violence against Women; rape: arbitrary detention; extortion; ransoming; rape and subsequent death of a 7-year old girl; economic catastrophe caused by economic oppression; pillaging (destruction of crops and livestock); malnourished children; high child mortality; forced relocation; Tatmadaw impounds and controls distribution of rice; army defectors; persecution of the Karen Women's Organisation; looting; killing; forced labour incl. portering; SLORC spies. June-October 93, Dooplaya District: Burning, destruction of village, church and monastery; torture and killing of village headman; looting; inhuman treatment; arbitrary detention; extortion; forced portering; ransoming; Use of villagers as a shield. Reprisals; forced labour for road- and bridge-building. List of villages pressed into forced labour; forced marriage..."
_ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: forced resettlement, forced relocation, forced movement, forced displacement, forced migration, forced to move, displaced_
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports
Date of publication:
1993-11-15
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Karen men, women, children. Arbitrary detention; ransoming; inhuman treatment (beating). Corresponding Orders to the villages. Dwe Law Township (Papun): reprisal killing; arbitrary detention; hostage taking; torture. Thaton District: extortion; killing; torture; pillaging (destroying paddy); looting. Nyaunglebin District: Forced portering; Inhuman treatment:(beating, deprivation of food and medicine); killing..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Date of publication:
1994-09-23
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
_Tavoy District: forced conscription; penalties and rewards. Papun District: torture; killing; looting. Kyauk Kyi Township: killing; gang rape; looting; burning village; forced relocation; extortion. ... ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: forced resettlement, forced relocation, forced movement, forced displacement, forced migration, forced to move, displaced_
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Date of publication:
1994-04-29
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"This report is intended to provide some insight into the current workings of the DKBA (Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army) through interviews with people who are or have been part of the DKBA, people who have been prisoners of the DKBA, and other general information sources such as the 1996 DKBA Calendar. The report consists of 2 parts: a summary of information about the DKBA, followed by related interviews. For more background on the formation and operations of the DKBA, the reader should see other KHRG reports such as
"SLORC's Northern Karen Offensive" (KHRG #95-10, 29/3/95), "New Attacks on Karen Refugee Camps" (KHRG #95-16, 5/5/95), "SLORC / DKBA Activities in Kawkareik Township" (KHRG #95-23, 10/7/95), "SLORC / DKBA Activities: Northern Karen Districts" (KHRG #95-24, 18/7/95), "SLORC / DKBA Activities: Pa'an District" (KHRG #96-05, 14/1/96), "Forced Relocations in Papun District" (KHRG #96-11, 4/3/96), etc..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #96-14)
Date of publication:
1996-03-31
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
Forced Relocations, Killings and the Systematic Starvation of Villagers in Dooplaya District
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG (#2000-02A)
Date of publication:
2000-03-31
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen, Forced relocation of Karen, Internal displacement/forced migration of Karen villagers
Language:
English
more
Description:
"The following interviews are with villagers from Dta Greh Township in Pa?an District of Karen State. (In Burmese, Dta Greh is called Pain Kyone and SLORC considers it to be in Hlaing Bwe township.) The area is 40-50 km. northeast of Pa?an, just west of the Dawna Range and the Thai border. SLORC (Burmese military junta), DKBA (Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, allied to SLORC), and KNU (Karen National Union, fighting SLORC and DKBA) forces all operate in the area, and the villagers are caught in the middle, having their livestock killed and their money extorted from them by all 3 groups. Furthermore, anyone or any village suspected of helping one group is certain to be punished by one of the others, including the possibility of executions or destruction of the village. SLORC in particular has a policy of relocating and destroying villages which have the potential to provide voluntary or involuntary support to KNU forces. As part of this policy, in Dta Greh township SLORC ordered the villages of Ta Ku Klaw and Kwee Pa Taw to relocate to Naw Ter Hta in January, while Noh Law Bler village was ordered to move to Tee Per. Then in May, Tee Po Lay Kee and K?Law Lu villages were ordered to move to Tee Per and these villages were immediately burned down by SLORC and DKBA forces..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #96-33)
Date of publication:
1996-08-04
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"The following accounts were given in interviews with people from the Irrawaddy Delta region southwest of Rangoon. The area is fertile farmland with a population which is half Karen and half Burman. Out of sight of the rest of the world and with no easy escape for the people who live there, it has seen some of the SLORC?s worst human rights abuses, particularly after a failed attempt by the Karen National Union to start an armed Karen uprising there in 1991. The events of late 1991, now known in the area as the Bogalay Crisis?, led to a retaliation by SLORC in which thousands of Karen villagers, elders and clerics were imprisoned, tried en masse and sentenced to several years in prison, disenfranchised or executed. SLORC declared the entire region a black area?, meaning combat units and tactics and summary military executions, torture and detention are practiced there with complete impunity. (SLORC divides the map into white?, meaning fully SLORC-controlled; brown?, meaning resistance forces operate in the area; and black?, meaning the area is viewed as being resistance-controlled.) Even now, though there has been no armed resistance whatsoever since 1991, parts of the area are still treated as black?. Now the region suffers from extensive forced labour on SLORC road-building projects and tourism-related projects such as Bassein Airport and the Nga Saw beach project, as well as draconian crop confiscation and land confiscation schemes. As one of the farmers in this report testifies, hundreds of farmers in Nyaung Done Township were arrested, detained, and lost their land in May 1996 simply because they couldn?t hand over a rice quota under a new SLORC dry-season paddy scheme..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Date of publication:
1996-07-26
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"The following accounts of life in SLORC?s Army were given by four deserters who fled to opposition-held territory or to Thailand, one fleeing in Tenasserim Division of southern Burma around New Year of 1996, the other three fleeing Pa?an District, much further north, in March 1996. As they fled two different battalions in two different areas, their treatment and experiences differ somewhat; however, for the most part their stories are similar and reflect the hardship and brutality of life as a rank and file soldier in the SLORC Army.
In the interviews, the soldiers mention radio broadcasts on the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) and VOA (Voice of America). These two foreign Burmese-language shortwave services are almost the only source of objective news to people in Burma. Some other abbreviations used: MNLA = Mon National Liberation Army, which made a ceasefire deal with SLORC in June 1995; DKBA = Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army, a Karen faction created in December 1994 which is now allied with SLORC; KNU = Karen National Union, the main Karen opposition organization; IB = (SLORC) Infantry Battalion; LIB = (SLORC) Light Infantry Battalion..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #96-19)
Date of publication:
1996-05-18
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Armed conflict in Burma - Impact on village life, including health and education, Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Late 91-May 92. Karen men, women, children: Disappearances; arbitrary detention; looting; pillaging; extortion; forced conscription; forced labour; violation of ethnic language education rights..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) Regional & Thematic Reports
Date of publication:
1992-08-13
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Killing, torture, land confiscation, forced relocation... in Karen areas. ... ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: forced resettlement, forced relocation, forced movement, forced displacement, forced migration, forced to move, displaced..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Commentaries (KHRG #96-C2)
Date of publication:
1996-05-26
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"There is no doubt that life is currently becoming worse for the vast majority of people in Burma, in both urban and rural areas. In urban areas, people are plagued by high inflation, rapidly increasing prices for basic commodities such as rice and basic foodstuffs, the tumbling value of the Kyat, wages which are not enough to feed oneself, corruption by all arms of the military and civil service, and the ever-present fear of arbitrary arrest for the slightest act or statement that betrays opposition to the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC) junta..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Commentaries (KHRG #98-C1)
Date of publication:
1998-04-19
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"...SLORC is now directly involved in planning, preparing, coordinating and executing acts of international terrorism. Its role in the attacks on refugee camps in Thailand cannot be denied, despite all its claims that the attacks are only the work of the DKBA (?Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army?). Eyewitnesses have seen SLORC soldiers participating in almost every attack, while letters and orders from SLORC officers have referred to their ?control? over the DKBA. Furthermore, the latest wave of attacks, which employed several hundred men operating on different parts of the border with mortar support from a SLORC-controlled area on the Burma side of the border, simply could not have been planned and coordinated without direct SLORC involvement.
If the refugees return, SLORC stands to gain alot of international legitimacy while simultaneously obtaining alot of free labourers for its military ?development? projects. Initially the DKBA tried to use agressive persuasion and threats. Then when that didn?t work quickly enough, DKBA and SLORC began attacking the refugee camps, kidnapping or killing camp leaders and religious leaders, shooting refugees and threatening everyone with further attacks (see "SLORC?s Northern Karen Offensive", KHRG #95-10, 29/3/95). Since February, these attacks have been happening several times a week and at almost every camp. By April, camp security forces had formed and were beginning to thwart many of the attacks. Some refugees were returning to Burma, but only a small minority. Then on April 25, SLORC and the DKBA launched the apparent ?Third Phase? of the strategy by hitting Mae Ra Ma Luang (which hadn?t been attacked before) and Kamaw Lay Ko camps on the same day, then hitting Baw Noh camp on April 28 (see "New Attacks on Karen Refugee Camps", KHRG #95-16, 5/5/95). These attacks were completely different: they attacked brazenly with at least 50 or 100 heavily armed troops, in broad daylight in 2 out of 3 cases, and they showed no hesitation to attack Thai forces even without being provoked. At Baw Noh, they even had Burmese 81 mm. mortar support fired from the Burma side of the border. Furthermore, the attacks were no longer targetted at specific camp leaders or just a few houses, but aimed to destroy the camps wholesale by burning them down. 170 houses were burned in Mae Ra Ma Luang, 300 in Kamaw Lay Ko and over 700 in Baw Noh. During the attacks, DKBA troops made it clear to refugees that they also had orders to capture or kill foreign aid workers in the camps if possible..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG #95-C2)
Date of publication:
1995-05-09
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen, Torture and ill-treatment: reports of incidents in Burma, Right to Life: reports of violations in Burma
Language:
English
Format :
html
Size:
17.35 KB
Local URL:
more
Description:
Human Rights violations by SLORC and DKBA in Karen areas
"...Everyone in the world who is interested in Burma, and even many people who aren't, are now talking about the release of Aung San Suu Kyi. But for most of the 40 million rural villagers in Burma, that is all very far away and there are more immediate and important issues to think about - like survival until next week. In Burman areas villagers are starving under the weight of SLORC demands for extortion money. Shan villagers are under increasingly heavy attack by a huge SLORC military force which is burning their villages and taking them as porters (with the tacit consent of the international community, which seems to consider all men, women and children in Shan State villages to be heroin-trafficking fiends). SLORC has broken its ceasefire with the Karenni National Progressive Party by taking thousands of villagers as porters and sending several Battalions to invade areas ceded to the Karenni in the ceasefire deal just 2 months ago. Several battalions of SLORC troops have resumed their attacks on Karen areas in Mergui-Tavoy District's Kaser Doh Township, forcing entire villages to flee. Further north in Papun District, SLORC troops have been marauding villages together with DKBA (Democratic Karen Buddhist Army) units, looting, burning, and terrorizing villagers into relocation camps. Refugees spill across the border into Thailand, several thousand from Karenni, several thousand more try from Shan State but are blocked by Thai weaponry, and close to a thousand from Papun District, saying that there are a few thousand more trying to come, hiding and starving in the jungle, blockaded by walls of SLORC troops. In Rangoon, one woman walks out of her house into the street. Which is the true reality of Burma?.."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG #95-C3)
Date of publication:
1995-07-22
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Forced labour, Killing, torture, looting and pillaging, burning of villages, in Karen, Karenni and Shan areas.."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Commentaries (KHRG #97-C2)
Date of publication:
1997-09-20
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Forced labour, forced relocation, destruction of villages, killings, torture, in Karen, Karenni areas, including Tenasserim. Muslims. ... ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: forced resettlement, forced relocation, forced movement, forced displacement, forced migration, forced to move, displaced..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Commentaries (KHRG #97-C1)
Date of publication:
1997-07-28
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"... The rainy season appears to be beginning early this year, and as the rains begin many people look back and evaluate the past dry season. Though the period since October/November 1998 has not featured a major military offensive, the situation for rural villagers in eastern Burma has continued to deteriorate and there have been some extremely worrying new developments. In general, the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC) regime has continued to use increased militarisation, forced relocations and tighter controls on villagers as a means of consolidating its control over remote regions, and as a result more and more villagers are becoming internally displaced each month while life becomes even more desperate for those who are already displaced and hiding in the forests. This dry season the SPDC has also added a new weapon to its arsenal which is now terrorising villagers and driving many of them to flight: the Sa Thon Lon Guerrilla Retaliation? execution squads.
Sa Thon Lon is an abbreviation for the Bureau of Special Investigations, a branch of the SPDC?s Directorate of Defence Services Intelligence (DDSI) headed by Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, who is also Secretary-1 of the SPDC..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Right Group (KHRG #99-C1)
Date of publication:
1999-05-25
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"...From 1988 to 1992, the most common word in the State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC) military junta?s rhetoric was crush? ? Crush all Destructive Elements, Crush All Those Seeking the Disintegration of the Union ? and this was backed up by constant military offensives against non-Burman ethnic peoples and pro-democracy groups. From mid-1992 until 1994, the rhetoric changed as the SLORC began courting the favour of the international community by signing several ceasefire deals and talking about peace?, development?, open market economics? and proceeding towards multi-party democracy?. The international community, always eager for trade with resource-rich and cheap-labour countries, began to respond warmly, even though the human rights situation on the ground continued to worsen..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Commentaries (KHRG #99-C2)
Date of publication:
1999-09-16
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
Central Karen State: New Refugees Fleeing Forced Relocation, Rape and Use as Human Minesweepers. ... ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: forced resettlement, forced relocation, forced movement, forced displacement, forced migration, forced to move, displaced
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Date of publication:
1999-08-27
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Over 400 photos from Papun, Nyaunglebin, Toungoo, Thaton, Pa?an and Dooplaya Districts showing
many aspects of the situation for villagers over the past year. Contains sections on Forced Labour;
Forced Relocations & Restrictions; Attacks on Villages & Village Destruction; Detention & Torture;
Shootings & Killings; Flight & Displacement; Landmines; Soldiers; and Children."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG #2001-P1)
Date of publication:
2001-09-14
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"At 6:10 p.m. on Thursday June 13, DKBA/SLORC on the Burma side of the Moei River commenced shelling Sho Kloh refugee camp, home to about 10,000 Karen refugees 110 km. north of the Thai town of Mae Sot. The camp is about 1 km. inside Thai territory. Over the space of 20 minutes, the attackers fired 4 to 6 mortar shells, later identified as Chinese 60mm. shells (which are part of SLORC's armoury but not of opposition groups). The shells were aimed at the centre of the camp. The first impacted by a stream towards one side of the camp, and the following shells were 'walked in' (target adjusted step by step) until they hit near the hospital (the hospital was also the target of a previous armed DKBA assault against the camp). Another shell exploded close to the Buddhist temple..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Date of publication:
1996-06-19
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"91-93. Karen men, women, children: On 4 Oct 91 3000 people were jailed. 200 died. Farms were confiscated; 1000 urban people were jailed. Large-scale killings; rape; looting; forced labour. Religious intolerance: arbitrary detention (pastors jailed, Christians forced to follow Buddhist rites and prohibited from studying Gospel); forced conscription, including children; burning of villages; inhuman treatmentin the course of forced labour; looting; strafing of villages from the air; Mass killings; killing of headman; extortion; child malnutrition; disappearances..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports
Date of publication:
1993-12-06
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Testimony by a refugee woman in Thailand who used to be a village headwoman in Kawkareik Township..."
"Villages can have several types of "village heads". First there are village elders, who become elders according to traditional practices and are recognized and respected by all the villagers; one of them is generally chosen as the village head. Then there is the "SLORC village head", sometimes called the "Village LORC [Ya Wa Ta] chairman". This person is appointed by SLORC, often against his or her will, to chair the Village LORC committee, whose members are also appointed by SLORC frequently against their will. The Village LORC committee is responsible for all village liaison with SLORC, organizing and sending people for forced labour, extortion money, food, etc., and constantly going to the local Army camps to give intelligence reports and receive orders. Village LORC members are tortured or killed whenever an order is not obeyed or whenever the village is suspected of aiding resistance forces, which explains why most people do not want this job. In this woman's village, it appears that the villagers choose the SLORC village head by rotation rather than having the SLORC choose. Then in Karen areas there is usually a KNU village head, who handles liaison with Karen soldiers and organizing the food, porters, recruits etc. which they demand. SLORC is constantly trying to find out who is the KNU village head so that they can execute him - often KNU village heads have to flee the village, and if his family is left behind then SLORC will generally arrest and torture them instead..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #95-21)
Date of publication:
1995-07-01
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Description with agricultural details by someone who worked in the Agriculture Corporation of the effect of SLORC's "official" and unofficial extortion, which impoverishes the people; Extortionate "beautification" schemes which frequently force people out of their homes; land confiscation; forced labour; eviction from towns; forced relocation; economic oppression..."
ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: forced resettlement, forced relocation, forced movement, forced displacement, forced migration, forced to move, displaced
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports
Date of publication:
1993-05-05
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Late 92, Burman M (from cities): Killing; extortion; inhuman treatment(beating, incl. beating to death, deprivation of sleep, food, water, medicine); abandonment of wounded soldiers; porters forced to go ahead of the march as human minesweepers..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) Regional & Thematic Reports
Date of publication:
1993-02-17
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"March, April 94. Karen men, women, children: Torture and killing of a child; killing; systematic looting; torture; forced labour incl. portering; deforestation from military bridge-building; economic oppression; SLORC-wise chicken; pillaging; extortion; women and children forced to sweep for mines; babies on the breast and children go hungry when their mothers are taken as porters; violence against women; human shields, including babies; wounding of child; reprisals; shelling of villages; depletion of villages; displaced people; forced relocation; soldiers tell villagers to get the Karen to agree to "peace-terms". ... ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: forced resettlement, forced relocation, forced movement, forced displacement, forced migration, forced to move, displaced..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) Regional & Thematic Reports
Date of publication:
1994-04-23
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"July 93-April 94. 42 SLORC Orders for: labourers, money, wood, carts, food. There are orders asking the village head to go to meetings with the officers. One order asks for signed statements that a given regiment has not taken money from villagers. The Orders frequently contain threats to shell or burn down the village in case of non-compliance; extortion; economic oppression; forced labour..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Orders Reports (KHRG)
Date of publication:
1994-05-11
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
_Sept-Oct 93. Karen and Burman men, women: List of people disappeared, presumed killed; one case of rape and a number held to ransom. Army Units and officers responsible are listed._
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports
Date of publication:
1993-12-08
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"In the last eight years the Burmese army, known as the tatmadaw, has killed unarmed
civilians as part of its counter-insurgency campaigns against the Karen National Union
(KNU) in the Kayin (Karen) State, eastern Myanmar. Karen civilians who were fleeing
from troops as they approached a village have been shot dead in what appears to be a de
facto shoot-to-kill policy of anyone who runs from the tatmadaw. Others have been
reportedly killed because the tatmadaw suspected these individuals of supporting the KNU
in some way. The army has killed still other victims seemingly at random, in an apparent
effort to terrorize villagers into severing their alleged connections with KNU soldiers.
Amnesty International is gravely concerned by these killings; they are part of a long-standing
pattern of extrajudicial executions by the tatmadaw of members of the Karen ethnic
minority..." Keywords: extrajudicial killings, military, non-governmental entities, harassment,
torture, ill-treatment, forced labour, wthnic groups, women, farmers, photographs.
Source/publisher:
Amnesty International (ASA 16/10/96)
Date of publication:
1996-04-00
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Armed conflict in Burma - Impact on village life, including health and education, Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Karen State; Sept-Nov 94. Karen M, F. Forced relocation; arbitrary detention; torture; shelling of villages; extortion; forced labour; looting; financial reprisals; IT (beating); abandonment of village; killing. ... ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: forced resettlement, forced relocation, forced movement, forced displacement, forced migration, forced to move, displaced..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #95-03)
Date of publication:
1995-01-15
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"This report can be considered as supplementary to the report "SLORC/DKBA Activities in Kawkareik Township", KHRG #95-23, 10/7/95. The Myawaddy-Kawkareik area is in central Karen State, not far west of the Thai border. The following account of the current situation there was given by a Buddhist Karen officer in the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) in an interview on July 15, 1995. Despite losing bases at Manerplaw and Kawmoora in early 1995, the KNLA is still very active in guerrilla operations in Kawkareik Township and other areas. In Kawkareik Township, SLORC has given some local authority to the DKBA (Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army), but SLORC troops are still the predominant force in the area. It should be noted that the DKBA's Pa Nwee and Pa Tha Da, both of whom figured prominently in report #95-23, are not mentioned in this account because both of them have apparently been transferred by SLORC; Pa Nwee, initially thought to have been executed by SLORC, has reportedly been seen at the SLORC base at Meh Tha Waw, while Pa Tha Da was promoted by SLORC after proving his skills at looting and abuse of civilians, and has been transferred to parts as yet unknown..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #95-30)
Date of publication:
1995-08-06
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"There are now only a few days left in the current millennium, which leads one to think both of the future, of all the hope which it may or may not hold, and of the past, of how much the world has changed in a short thousand years - for that matter, the incredible pace of change just within the past century. From horses to the traffic in Asia?s megacities, from flightless to frequent flyer programs, from the abacus to the computer. Whether these things really reflect progress or not is open to debate (particularly each time your computer crashes), but the fact remains that for many people it is difficult to even imagine living the different pace and style of life of a century ago..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Right Group Commentaries (KHRG #99-C3)
Date of publication:
1999-12-21
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"New road from Bilin to Papun. Looting, pillaging, extortion, human mine-sweepers, children used as human shields..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) Regional & Thematic Reports
Date of publication:
1992-09-12
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
_Thaton District Nov-Dec 93. An 8-page list of items looted in one village: food, livestock, clothes, household items; economic oppression._
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports
Date of publication:
1993-12-28
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"In January 2002 it appeared that the SPDC considered most of Dooplaya district of southern Karen State to be pacified and under their control. But then Light Infantry Division 88 was sent in and commenced Operation Than L?Yet, forcibly relocating as many as 60 villages by July. Villagers were rounded up and detained without food for days, or force-marched to Army-controlled relocation sites after their houses were burned. Village heads, women and children were tortured. People who tried to flee into the forests were shot on sight, including one brutal massacre of ten people, six of them children under 15. Over a thousand people fled into Thailand, and several thousand more are still trying. Another five thousand are in Army relocation camps, where they have been provided with nothing and are struggling to survive on rice gruel and whatever roots they can forage. Their movements are tightly controlled and they are being used as forced labour to build roads, bridges and Army camps which will help Division 88 to clamp down further on the district. They are also forced to work as porters for the Army columns which go out to loot and destroy even more villages. KHRG researchers expect a renewed onslaught after the rains end in October, when Division 88 will probably set out to hunt down those still in hiding and may extend the forced relocations to more areas."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Information Update (KHRG #2002-U5)
Date of publication:
2002-09-25
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen, Torture and ill-treatment: reports of incidents in Burma, Non-ILO Reports on forced labour, including forced portering, in Karen (Kayin) State, Forced relocation of Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"SLORC has seriously stepped up its campaign to clear the entire rural population out of Papun District and make the entire area a free-fire zone. Since December 1995, orders have been issued to every rural village under SLORC control from Kyauk Nyat in the north to Ka Dtaing Dtee in the south, from the Salween River (the Thai border) in the east to at least 10 km. west of Papun - an area 50-60 km. north to south and 30 km. east to west. This area is rugged hills dotted with small villages, averaging 10-50 households (population 50-300) per village. Estimates are that 100 or more villages are affected. Every village has been ordered to move either to SLORC Army camps surrounding Papun, such as Papun, Kaw Boke, or Par Haik, or to DKBA headquarters far to the south at Khaw Taw (Myaing Gyi Ngu) in Pa?an District. The orders have all been issued by SLORC. Generally a SLORC column enters the village with only a few DKBA soldiers accompanying them, and the SLORC officer issues the order. Villagers confirm that DKBA never operates in the area by themselves anymore - DKBA soldiers only appear in small groups as part of SLORC columns. SLORC units involved in the operation include Light Infantry Battalions (LIB) 340, 341, 434, and Infantry Battalion (IB) 5..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Date of publication:
1996-02-18
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
Food shortages, disease, killings and life on the run.Based on new interviews and reports from KHRG field researchers, this update summarises the increasingly desperate situation for villagers in these two districts. In the hills, the people of several hundred villages are still in hiding, their villages destroyed by SPDC troops. Their survival situation is now desperate as 40 SPDC Battalions continue to systematically destroy their rice supplies and crops and landmine their fields, and shoot them on sight. In the villages under SPDC control, people suffer under an impossible burden of many kinds of forced labour and extortion.
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG (Information Update #2001-U3)
Date of publication:
2001-04-09
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen, Racial or ethnic discrimination in Burma: reports of violations against several groups, Forced relocation of Karen, Internal displacement/forced migration of Karen villagers, Various rights: reports of violations against several ethnic groups
Language:
English
more
Description:
"The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) began its 2001-2002 dry season offensive operations with a three-pronged push in Papun District and eastern Nyaunglebin District. This has been followed by moves into northern Papun District and along the Salween River where it forms the border with Thailand (see Map 2: Papun District). The main attacks came at the beginning of the rice harvest season, forcing villagers to leave much of their crop in the fields where some was eaten and the rest destroyed by the SPDC soldiers. Most villagers had little left from the previous year?s harvest and these new attacks almost guarantee that they will not have enough rice to see them through to the next harvest at the end of 2002.
.."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Information Update (KHRG #2002-U3)
Date of publication:
2002-04-05
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG Information Update #2000-U1)
Date of publication:
2000-04-25
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
"This report contains the testimony of three Muslim men who suffered and witnessed serious SLORC human rights abuses in central Karen State in mid-1996, including forced portering, forced road labour, executions, torture and looting. It is important to note that all of these occurred in a part of Karen State where there has been very little fighting over the past year, where SLORC claims to have brought "peace". The testimony of these men - particularly "Htun Win", who was beaten unconscious and left for dead because he could no longer carry his load - show that brutal treatment of porters and other villagers by the SLORC Army are not restricted to conflict situations or major military offensives, but are daily Army routine. Their stories also give an idea of how Muslims, who are generally mistreated and discriminated against by everyone in Burma, are particularly targetted for the heaviest abuses by the SLORC Army..."
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports (KHRG #96-34)
Date of publication:
1996-10-31
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
_Oct-Dec 92. Karen, M,F. Forced portering (incl. women and children) in the course of the Saw Hta offensive; rape; abandonment of wounded porters; inhuman treatment (beating, deprivation of medicine resulting in death); killings._
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) Regional & Thematic Reports
Date of publication:
1992-12-31
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
Porters captured from Pegu town: Forced portering; killing of 14 yr-old boy; inhuman treatment.
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports
Date of publication:
1993-11-10
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more
Description:
_August-Sept 93. Toungoo Dist. Karen men, women, children: Forced labour; beating to death; more than 100 schoolchildren with their teachers pressed into porterage. Killing; inhuman treatment(beating, deprivation of food)._
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group Regional & Thematic Reports
Date of publication:
1993-11-14
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Discrimination against the Karen
Language:
English
more