Catholic Institute for International Relations
Oral Intervention on Agenda Item 10
Mr. Chairman,
My name is Khin Ohmar and I am from Burma. For the past two years, I have talked before this session on the appalling human rights situation in my country. I welcome the ongoing talk between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the military authorities. However, the overall human rights situation is still a grave concern. I would like to call upon the Commission to pay special attention, especially on the escalating use of forced labor.
The military authorities in Burma informed the ILO technical mission before its Governing Body Meeting in November 2000 that General Khin Nyunt, Secretary (1) of SPDC, had already issued a directive to all administrative and military units, which include the notion that the practice of forced labor is illegal and those who conscript forced labor will be prosecuted according to the law.
However, Mr. Chairman, this directive has never been announced by the State-run media. People are not well aware of this directive. In fact, the practice of forced labor has been continued throughout Burma, particularly in the Karen, Karenni and Shan States where the Burmese army is deployed in strength.
According to the Federation of Trade Unions of Burma, an estimate of at least 80,000 individuals, men, women and children and elderly persons from approximately 60 villages in four districts of Karen State were forced to perform hard labor during the period November 2000 to January 2001. There have been reports on conscription for military porterage and forced labor for plantations owned by army units in Ye Township in Tanassariam Division, the southern tail of Burma.
According to our sources, military confiscated lands without any compensation along a new gas pipeline construction from Thanbuzayat in Mon State to Myainggalae in Karen State. Many villages on pipeline route have been forcibly relocated. This pipeline will bring gas from Yetagon gas field for the consumption of cement factory in Myaingalae. We received information that forced labor is being used for the construction of that gas pipeline.
Mr. Chairman,
We are gravely concerned about the ongoing military operations in the Shan, Karen and Karenni States. In these areas, the SPDC has continued the systematic campaign of forced relocation. Massive internal displacement and, destruction of crops and live stocks by the Burmese army has made the livelihood of villagers impossible. Starvation, malnutrition and deaths from contagious diseases continue in these non-Burman ethnic areas, where international relief organizations and media are not accessible.
Since December 2000 the SPDC troops started dry season offensive in Shan, Karen and Karenni areas, and the use of forced porterage has elevated. For example, in Karen State from October to mid- December 2000, the army battalions of Division 22 demanded 10 villagers from each village in Shan-ywa-thit and Kulu Hta to carry supplies and ammunitions to Klaledi, about 20-mile distance. The villagers were ordered to serve as porters about 4 times a month. They had to carry loads weighing about 30 kilograms without being paid. At the end of November, a villager named Day Hkaw from Htee Ler Doh village stepped on a landmine and his leg was blown off while carrying army supplies.
Mr. Chairman,
In the course of civil war, various forms of human rights violations such as torture, rape, forced labor, arbitrary killings, extortion of money, properties and live stocks continue unabated.
As much as we welcome the talks between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the military authorities in Rangoon, we are seriously concerned with the ongoing egregious violations of human rights in our country. We have witnessed the fact that the ongoing civil war and systematic and widespread use of forced labor by the Burmese army is interrelated. Because of the unmodernized means of transportation in the Burmese army, it is very likely that the military will pursue the use of forced labor to carry arms and ammunitions and food for the army in the conflict zones. Until and unless the civil war is ended, it is obvious that we cannot expect the end of practice of forced labor by the Burmese army. In the context of the talks between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and SPDC, which started in October last year, we strongly believe that it is time for all conflicting parties to find ways and means for confidence building, and further substantive political dialogue. We call upon the Commission to encourage the SPDC to negotiate a nationwide cease-fire with all ethnic armed groups, which is a vital step for the end of forced labor and further the development of national reconciliation process in Burma.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.