In the course of five decades long civil war in Burma, that happens between between the successive military governments and ethnic armed groups, thousands of civilians have to flee from their homes to escape from various type of racial persecution and serious gross human rights violations in the country.
Burmese Army, the armed force faction of the successive military governments, has attempted to uproot all military activities by the rebel armed forces. However, the rebellion activities have not really ceased and the current regime had called for ceasefire with the rebel groups since 1989 after it came into power. About 15 different armed forces have agreed for ceasefire with the regime, State Peace and Development Council – SPDC (which gave its name as State Law and Order Restoration Council – SLORC after it came into power in 1988 and later changed as SPDC.)
In Burma, due to lack of racial equality right and democratic political system, almost ethnic groups took arms and has fought for their rights by demanding the supports from their own people, in terms of food, information, recruits, etc. Because of the supports, the rebel armed groups have prolonged their armed struggle without laying their arms.
However, the local ethnic civilians in frontier areas where the armed conflict happens are seriously suffered from the suspicion of rebel-supporters. Accompanying with this suspicion, the civilians or the rural ethnic villagers are seriously are badly treated by the soldiers of Burmese Army. Many people including women were killed if they suspected those villagers were supporting the rebels. The arbitrary arrest and detention for interrogation about the rebel armed groups was a serious abuses committed by the commanders of Burmese Army. Ethnic women are always suspected as wives of or daughters of or relatives of the rebel soldiers and so they have been suffered from rape or sexual violations by the Burmese (or government) soldiers. (Editor’s note: the ethnic villagers calls all government soldiers as ‘Burmese soldiers’, because the Burmese Army uses Burmese language as a main language even many different few number of non-Burmese ethnic soldiers are in the army.)
In order to cut off food supplies and other supports to the rebel armed force,
the Burmese Army also relocated thousands of ethnic inhabited
villages in most ethnic areas. Relocation camps by the Burmese Army
were also set up and they tried to put all ethnic villagers into
these camps. The villagers who refused to be in the camp have to
flee. Foods are confiscated by the soldiers in farms or in villages in order to cut off foods from the ethnic civilians to the soldiers. Some foods are also destroyed by the Burmese soldiers.
The above-mentioned mistreatments against the ethnic villagers have forced thousands of them to leave from their homes and hide in forests, jungles, farmlands and orchid or rubber plantations. This is the main cause of the ‘population displacement’ problem in Burma, and accompanying with this problem, food shortage problems also followed. Among the displaced persons, women and children are greatly suffered from various hardship and difficulties.
According to by a relief agency, which conducted relief activities along Thailand-Burma, estimated there are 633,000 displaced persons in 2002. Among this number of displaced persons, about 268, 000 displaced persons are in hiding situation and the remaining 365, 000 villagers were forced to stay in the military government set relocation camps.
General Hardship During Displacement
1. Food-shortage Problems
The Burmese Army always believes that the survival of the rebel armed forces is depending on the foods provided by the local ethnic villagers. Therefore, by destroying or taking the foods belonged to the civilians, their supports would not reach to the rebel soldiers. The soldiers also ordered the local villagers to not take any foods along with them during their travels and even when they go to their farms.
In Ye Township (in Mon State), Yebyu and Tavoy Townships (in Tenasserim Division), the battalions of local Burmese Army ordered the farmers to not take foods along with them when they traveled to their farms and are not allowed to stay at their farms at night time. Due to this movement restriction, the local farmers could not produce the sufficient foods for their families and communities.
When the people fled from and displaced to escape from the above-mentioned human rights violation and racial persecution, they could not bring a lot of foods along with them. If they are arrested with over amount of foods, they could be killed or arrested. During their hiding situation, they also could not find food easily.
During the displacement, if they try to contact their relatives in villages, they or their relatives could be arrested and tortured as the Burmese Army always suspected them that they are bringing foods for rebels.
Foods are not available for almost displaced communities. Markets also are also far and dangerous when they try to get access to there. The relatives at villages or in the Burmese Army’s set relocations are not dared to support them, otherwise, they could be punished.
Many restricted conditions created food-shortage problems to the displaced persons. They have to find the seasonal forest products to eat as foods. Banana, bamboo shoots, cassava, corns, papayas are available for foods during their displacement. However, as most ethnic people in Burma eat rice as their main foods, these fruits and forest products could not supplement them as main foods.
In some cases, the displaced families did not receive any rice at all and they need to eat forest products and vegetables. Then the displaced families tried to move to another place where they can get rice. Therefore, the displaced families have not stuck in one place for a long time, but move from one place to another gradually.
Sometimes, the displaced families receive small amounts of rice and then they mixed with other vegetables and forest products and use them as foods. These insufficient foods makes most women with small children and children under 18 years to be suffered from malnutrition problems.
2. Insufficient sheltering
The displaced families cannot select when they would flee from their native villages or when they would not. They might have to flee anytime if the situation is harm to their life.
Recently (from 1988 to 1997) the Burmese Army launched the military offensives only in the dry season and stopped its operations in the rainy season. But later, the Burmese Army, which planned to overrun all bases of the rebel forces also has launched the offensives in the rainy season.
Therefore, the displaced families also have to flee even in the rainy season. When the displaced families are fleeing from one place to another, they cannot build a proper shelter, huts or houses, they just build a temporary shelter. Normally these temporary shelters are built with leaves and bamboo and when they heard the news of Burmese Army’s activities, they need to abandon these shelters and fled to another place.
These shelters are not possible to prevent rainwater, snow, heat, wind and other natural disasters. The displaced families including many children with insufficient clothing have to stay in these shelters for many days and suffered from serious weather effects.
Women and children are mostly in bad health during their displacement. Most worth condition is in the rainy season and the displaced persons have to flee by crossing flooded streams and rivers, stay under the heavy rain and serious cold at night. Rainy season (of monsoon weather) in Burma takes about 6 months long, from June to October. After rainy season, the displaced families face serious cold in winter season that takes about 4 months, from November to February.
Under insufficient sheltering, the displaced women and children are suffering from both food-shortage problems but also worth weather conditions.
3. Serious health condition
Considerably, the displaced persons could receive various types of diseases during displacement in forests or in jungles. Food-shortages problems make the displaced persons to suffer from various types of diseases related to malnutrition. Especially the children are generally suffered from weight loss, cycle of infection, iron-deficiency anemia, Vitamin A deficiency. It also makes physical developmental delays to the children, who did not have sufficient foods.
Women are similarly suffered from various types of diseases that related to malnutrition. Weakness, weight loss, malaria, diarrhea, Vitamin A deficiency. Especially, the women of reproductive age are too dangerous during the displacement. Those women need sufficient foods and protein-energy. They are in risk during pregnancy and lactaction.
Most displaced persons in eastern part of Burma’s border are always suffering from malaria, because the areas are totally in malaria zone, recognized by the heath agencies, which work along the border.
Medicines and medical treatments are also not accessible for the displaced persons. They could not travel and treat in government hospitals or clinics because they can be arrested by the Burmese Army. Most of them use traditional herbal medicines in forests and treated by themselves for survival. However, many displaced persons, especially children died because of malnutrition or malaria.
Some bag packs medical groups formed with health workers trained by rebel armed forces also helped these displaced persons in some areas in eastern part of Burma, but they also could not provide sufficient medicines and treatment to all displaced persons.