BRIEFING PAPER ON THE
HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION IN BURMA
2003
In Conjunction with
the 59th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights
–
“Burma: The Way Forward”
by Khin Ohmar
April
8, 2003
Continued violations of human rights and widespread discriminatory practices
against ethnic and religious minorities:
The Burma army continues to
commit a wide range of human rights violations in the context of its
counter-insurgency activities. All the
violations of human rights and widespread discriminatory practices against
ethnic groups and religious minorities have continued in the past year,
particularly in the Tenasserim Division and in the Shan, Mon, Karenni,
and Karen States in the east of the
country.
In the border areas of
these states and division, the situation remains bleak with land confiscation,
forced relocation, and forced labor continuing unabated. Low-intensity fighting
between the Burma army and ethnic insurgent forces continues with
ongoing reports of extrajudicial killings, torture and looting and burning of
villages in those areas. These violations trigger large-scale displacement of
persons and flows of refugees to neighboring countries, as well as an
increasing number of internally displaced persons.
In addition, there is
international concern over a report documenting a systematic campaign of rape
by the Burmese military against ethnic minority women living in areas of armed
conflict.
The trafficking of women
and girls to neighboring countries and the growing domestic sex industry remains
a concern. The high rate of use of child
soldiers – the Burma army is one of the worst offenders in the world - also remains a
serious problem.
Instances of extrajudicial
and summary executions, extortion of money, property and land confiscation, and
forced labor, forced portering, forced relocations
and displacement, rape and torture have documented this year by a number of
human rights organizations.
Forced displacement and Land confiscation
Forced displacement continues
to be used for both military and development purposes in urban and rural areas.
For in stance on April 5, 2002, the army, riot and local police raided a residential
neighborhood in Rangoon’s Kamaryut township destroying several homes and detaining people.
Twenty-five families refused to leave. Authorities separated children and
adults before sending both groups to different detention centers. Officials
ordered the remaining families to vacate their homes by April 7. No reasons
were given for the forced eviction and it is unknown whether those apprehended
are still in detention.
There continues to be
displacement in the civil war areas of Papun, Taungoo and Nyaunglebin Districts
of Karen State, in central Shan State, Mon State and Arakan (Rakhine) State. For example, thirty-nine families from a
village in north-western Arakan state were relocated between 7-16 June 2002. They were dumped in inaccessible
areas in Maungdaw Township where there are hardly any roads and materials for
building houses are not available.
In August, the army
confiscated 2000 acres of land from villagers in Northern Ye township, Mon
state (a cease-fire area) for construction of artillery battalions and military
bases. The army has already confiscated, without compensation, more than 1,000
acres in farmland in southern Ye and 2,050 acres in
northern Ye in 2000-1 for military purposes. Cases of displacement have been reported with
the implementation of land confiscation.
Forced Labor
Forced labor is one of the
most prevalent forms of human rights abuse in Burma. The local
military units have a great deal of autonomy and for the last few years have
been forced to be self-sufficient due to Burma’s deteriorating economic
situation but also for economic benefit. Cultivation of military farms (e.g.,
shrimp), construction of military camps, fortifications, and other projects
related to the economic support of military units continues at rates consistent
to or slightly greater than past years. Military units continue to use sentry
duty, forced portering and human minesweeping in the
civil war zones.
On 19 March 2002, the ILO and the SPDC signed an understanding in Geneva which allowed an effective ILO representation in Burma from, at the latest, June 2002. An interim liaison
officer was appointed in May. The understanding provides that she will cover
all activities relevant to ensuring the "prompt and effective"
elimination of forced labor in the country. Under the mandate, the liaison
officer, in cooperation with the authorities, "will have to help establish
strategies to effectively address the root causes of the forced labor situation
in Burma". Unfortunately there continues to be reports of
forced labor, especially in the rural ethnic nationality areas such as in Mon, Karenni, Arakan and Shan states.
According
to recent reports, forced labor is also occurring in cease-fire areas. SPDC
authorities reportedly intimidated Kachin villagers
in Machanbaw town who had passed information about
forced labor in surrounding villages to exile-based broadcasters Radio Free Asia
and the Democratic Voice of Burma. When the news was leaked that villagers were
being forced to labor on constructing firms and buildings owned by the
military, the military battalions in the area summoned the villages’ headmen
and threatened them as well as teachers and other individuals. The authorities
warned the headmen that all villagers would be severely punished if this kind
of information reached exiled news agencies in the future.
Prison labor camps continue
to operate with little outside scrutiny in Sagaing, Rangoon, Irrawaddy and Tenasserim Divisions and in Mon, Karen and Kachin States. The death rate of prisoners in these camps is
between 24-30% per year due to inadequate food, unsafe drinking water, malaria,
ill-treatment, and insufficient medical care. Prisoners,
rather than civilian villagers, are increasingly being used as porters by the
military. In order to comply with Regional military commanders request for porters, the Department of
Prisons formed prisoner service units. Inside sources report that longer prison
sentences are being given for minor crimes as the demand for prison labor
increases.
Refugees:
An average of 900 refugees
a month have crossed into neighboring Thailand for the past 3 years, a number
which attests to the high rate of human rights violations and the worsening
humanitarian situation inside Burma. Burma refuses to recognize claims of citizenship by Rohingya Muslims in Arakan state
and in several states Muslims experience harassment and travel restrictions. It is estimated that approximately 4,000 Rohingya refugees per month arrived in the Teknaf area of Bangladesh during the last 4 months of 2002 alone.
Illegal/Undocumented Migrant Workers
In February and March 2002 Amnesty International
interviewed some 100 migrants from Burma at seven different locations in Thailand. They were from a variety of ethnic groups, including
the Shan; Lahu; Palaung; Akha; Mon; Po and Sgaw Karen; Rakhine; and Tavoyan ethnic
minorities, and the majority Bamar (Burman) group. They originally came from the Mon, Karenni, Shan, and Arakan (Rakhine) States, and Bago, Rangoon and Tanintharyi Divisions.
All said they left their homes because they could no longer survive. Many of
those interviewed had been subjected to unpaid forced labor in the last 18
months. Types of labor included construction work on roads and in military
camps, working on military farms, and acting as porters for soldiers for days
or even weeks at a time. The migrants also faced constant demands for money and
goods by the army. The army taxed the rice crop in kind which often meant that
subsistence farmers were required to give or sell at well below the market rate
a fixed amount of their rice, regardless of yields. This meant that farmers
often did not have enough rice left over to feed their families.
The report also describes the life of Burmese migrant
workers in Thailand, who face various threats as they make their way from
their homes in Burma to Thailand. Migrant workers face abuses on both sides of the border,
often at the hands of human smugglers. In February this year, Thai police found
20 bodies of Karen migrants near the border which were blindfolded, had their
wrists tied and their throats cut.
State-sponsored violence against women:
Women remain highly
vulnerable to human rights violations, especially in the non-Burman ethnic areas, forced relocation sites and armed
conflict zones.
Terror and violence against
women have been documented repeatedly as a tool used by the Burma army to terrorize ethnic minority communities. Women
have been tortured, raped and killed, and women who speak against injustice
have also been subjected to similar violence as examples of what happens to
‘trouble-makers’.
A recent report entitled ‘License to Rape’, by the Shan
Women’s Action Network and the Shan Human Rights Foundation, documents 173
cases of rape and sexual violence involving at least 625 girls and women by Burma army soldiers from 1996 to 2001 in Shan state, Burma. Most of
the rapes took place in Central Shan State where over 300,000 villagers have been forcibly
relocated from their homes since 1996 as part of an anti-insurgency campaign.
Allegations of rape by the military have
been made in other ethnic nationality areas. Credible international human rights
organizations such as Amnesty International have reported on the use of rape by
the armed forces. The International Labor Organization raised this issue in the
context of its investigation into the use of forced labor. Previous Special Rapporteurs on the Human Rights Situation in Burma have addressed this issue in their reports to the UN. Language
adopted by the U.N. General Assembly and the Commission on Human Rights
resolutions by consensus addresses this problem. Most recently, Refugees
International, another credible human rights organization has published a
report entitled, “No Safe Place: Burma’s Army and the Rape of Ethnic Women”
which documents sexual violence committed by Burma’s armed forces against women
from the Karen, Mon, Karenni, and Tavoyan
ethnicities.
Trafficking:
The U.S. State Department’s
second annual “Trafficking in Persons Report 2002”, released on 5 June,
notes that Burma is a country of origin for women and girls trafficked to
Thailand, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Japan for sexual exploitation,
domestic and factory work. Burmese women and girls are sold into sexual slavery
at an alarming rate, and the regime does not comply with even the most minimum
standards for the elimination of human trafficking, earning the nation the
ignominy of a "Tier III" designation. The regime does not cooperate
in international efforts, including extradition, investigations, or conferences
and has not signed or ratified related treaties and conventions. The regime is
not actively involved in protection of victims, or in funding of NGOs to
provide assistance to victims. Victims of trafficking for prostitution may be
treated as criminals and incarcerated or fined in some cases.
The report notes that Thailand is believed to be the primary destination with an
estimated 40,000 Burmese women and children - most of them from ethnic groups
working as sex workers. A new
trend shows that trafficked girls are increasingly virgins who are in demand
due to the belief that young girls are less likely to the HIV positive. In
practice, young girls are sold as virgins several times until the amount for
which they can be sold steadily decreases. When girls are no longer profitable
because of pregnancy or disease they are often turned out on the street.
Child
Soldiers:
According to a new 220-page report by
Human Rights Watch, “My Gun was as Tall as Me: Child Soldiers in Burma,” 20% or more of active duty soldiers in the Burma army may be children under the age of 18. Although there is no
way to precisely estimate the number of children in Burma’s army, it appears that the vast majority of new recruits are
forcibly conscripted and there may be as many as 70,000 soldiers under the age
of 18. This makes Burma the largest recruiter and user of child soldiers in the world,
and the number is growing.
Recruiters for Burma’s army frequently apprehend boys at train and bus stations,
markets and other public places, threatening them with jail if they refuse to
join the army. The boys are given no opportunity to contact their families, and
are sent to camps where they undergo weapons training, are routinely beaten,
and brutally punished if they try to escape. HRW received several accounts of
boys who were beaten to death after trying to run away.
Once deployed, boys as young as 12 engage
in combat against opposition groups, and are forced to commit human rights
abuses against civilians, including rounding up villagers for forced labor,
burning villages, and carrying out executions.