In Burma, after the civilian-led government was installed, some real steps of change was taking place, such as dialogue with pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the allowance of her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), to contest in the by-election, and relaxing some restrictions on the press and media. However, human rights abuses committed by government troops continue unabated in the ethnic minority areas.Download report as PDF [979 KB]

HURFOM’s field researchers gathered accounts of human rights abuses committed in the areas in which ethnic minorities reside during the eight month-long aftermath of the installation of the President Thein Sein-led civilian government. From December 2011 to the 2nd week of January 2012, HURFOM field researchers documented the human rights violations of local residents, of whom the majority are Karen people, from Than-ta-bin Township, Toungoo District, Pegu Division. The documented human rights abuses were committed by the battalions under Military Operations Command No. 9 (MOC). The abuses include forcing locals to serve unpaid labor; commandeering local-owned motorbikes, trucks and oxen carts to transport army supplies; and the use of truck drivers as human shields to drive their trucks through newly-made military routes as a purpose of clearing landmines.

In addition, from December 2011 to February 2012, HURFOM also documented the human rights abuses faced by local residents in Kyainnseikyi Township, Kawkareik District, Karen State. The abuses committed by the government troops include the enforcement of villagers to porter and to serve as human shields; forcing local truck drivers to carry government troops’ supplies; shooting innocent villagers and accusing villagers of having contact with rebel groups.

HURFOM has so far found out that human rights abuses are still being committed by government troops in spite of the establishment of a new civilian government and the founding of the National Human Rights Commission.

Background

Harvesting durian, mangoes, and betel nuts is what local residents in Htan Ta Bin Township, Toungoo District, Pegu Division depend on for their families’ incomes. The majority of residents are Karen and they have to struggle for their daily meals. However, besides struggling for their daily lives, they face various human rights abuses committed by local based government’s battalions under the authority of Military Operations Command (MOC) No. 9.

According to HURFOM’s findings, both male and female villagers from Htan Ta Bin Township are forced to serve as porters, carrying army supplies, while also having to provide a large amount of money for government troops to celebrate the New Year holiday.

In addition, the villagers in Three Pagodas Pass Sub-township and Kyainnseikyi Township, Kawkareik District, Karen State depend on the farming of rice, corn, tobacco leaf and other seasonal crops for their livelihood, while some also depend on driving trucks for their income. It is, however, not easy for them to escape the local based government battalions from forcing them to serve as porters and human shields.

According to a truck driver from Ye-lae village, Kyainnseikyi Township, many truck drivers in the area are frequently ordered by the government battalions to carry their supplies, while they also have to provide the gas and money for transportation. For them, there is no guarantee of safety during their term of forced labor because of the constant fighting between government troops and the rebel groups in the area.

Government Troops Commit Forced Labor in Htan Ta BinTownship

Starting in December 2011 to the 2nd week of January 2012, HURFOM documented the human rights abuses of villagers in Htan Ta Bin Township, Toungoo District, Pegu Division perpetrated by the government’s battalions under the command of Military Operations Command (MOC) No. 9. The abuses include unpaid labor, and the commandeering of their motorbikes, oxen-carts and trucks for the use of transporting military supplies.

Bawgaligyi and Yethogyi villagers were forced by the troops of Bawgaligyi-based frontline of MOC No. 6, in Taungoo Town, Pegu Division, to carry army rations. Each villager had to carry two packages of rice on his or her motorbike from Palae Wa military base to Bawgaligyi base. HURFOM field reporters documented that those 18 villagers who were forced to carry army rations were between the ages of 20–37.
The villagers who had their motorbikes and trucks commandeered were forced to un-plant landmines, and were also kept for the use of forced labor.

Arbitrary Fee Collection Practiced by Government Troops in Htan Ta BinTownship

On 2, December 2011, the Border Guard Force (BGF) No. 1014 led by Captain Tin Win called the village head of Ta-kaw Bo village and gave him some vouchers to collect fees from villagers for the celebration of the New Year. The villages that were also given vouchers and the number of vouchers given to each village are listed:

1) Mae-lae Kee village, 3 vouchers
2) No-kaw village, 1 voucher
3) Ta-kaw Bo village, 2 vouchers
4) Tal Pon village, 2 vouchers
5) Kon-tan gyi village, 2 vouchers
6) Sein-kyaw Lat Ta-pan village, 1 voucher
7) Mae-yae village, 1 voucher
Baw Tapa-ro village, 2 vouchers
9) Htee Panal village, 1 voucher
10) No-ta ray village, 1 voucher
11) Lae-kal Kaw village, 1 voucher
12) Kwee Ta Kaw village, 1 voucher
13) Htee Mae Baw village,1 voucher

On 15 December 2011, the troops from Division No. 44, and LIB No. 102, together with Column No. 2’s Captain Khin Zaw, Pa’an Township-based Border Guard Force’s Major Taw Ma-na and Captain Tin Win entered Pa-lon Taung village and discharged gunfire and mortars near the village. They also forced the village head to accompany them and demand money from locals in Kyaung-wa village in order to celebrate the New Year. The villages that were forced to provide the fees for the New Year Celebration include:

1) Kya-sa village, 300,000 Kyat
2) Pa-lon Taung village, 300,000 Kyat
3) No-aw-lar village, 300,000 Kyat
4) Ta-lain Kayin village, 300,000 Kyat
5) Ye-aye village, 200,000 Kyat
6) Bal Ta-pyu village, 300,000 Kyat

If the amount of money demanded were not paid, the troops would intimidate the villagers by threatening to come to the village and ruin the village’s New Year celebrations. Because of the intimidation tactic the villagers had to pay the demanded amount on 17th December 2011.Saw Baw-par, a villager from Tar-thu Kee village, was also taken by the troops as they accused him of being a member of the KNU.

Bawgaligyi based MOC No. 9’s Captain commandeered a truck and five motorbikes, besides taking a driver of a digging truck from Bawgaligyi village, on 5 December 2011. The 6 drivers had to drive from Bawgaligyi village to Maung Daing Gyi carrying military supplies as ordered by the MOC No. 9’s Captain.

Female Villagers Also Face Forced Labor

On December 9, 2011 32 local residents from Ye-ta-kon village were forced by LIB No. 375 based in Ye-ta-kon village, Htan Ta Bin Township to cut and clean the bush on the way from Ye-ta-kon village to Pa-lae-Wa village. On 7 December 2011 48 male villagers and two female villagers from Ye-ta-kon village were forced by LIB No. 375 to cut and clean the bush on the way from Ye-ta-kon military base to Pa-lae-wa village. On 7 December 2011 from 18:40 pm to 20:00 pm there were about 10 mortar shells fired from outside the village by troops from MOC No.9’s LIB No. 378 led by Battalion Commander Lin Thein Oo from Maung Ngaw-gyi Frontline base including gun firing in to the village. Of 10 mortar shells fired five shells went off in the village while the other five shells exploded outside the village; no villagers were injured.

On December 13, 2011, 16 villagers, made up of 13 males and three females from Maung Ngaw-gyi village, were forced by LIB No. 378’s battalion commander Lin Htein Oo to porter their rations from Maung Ngaw-gyi village to Nan-Changkwin village. On December 15, 2011, again, there were 13 male villagers and three female villagers from Maung Ngaw-gyi village forced to carry army rations from Maung Ngaw-gyi to Nan-change-kwin village. On 14 December 2011 seven villagers from Ye-ta-kon village were forced by LIB No.375 to clear out the road from Ye-ta-kon village to Pa-lae-wa village, Htan Ta Bin Township.

On December 18, 2011 LIB No. 357’s Column No. 1 and Column No. 2, made up of over 100 fighters, came to the station in Sat-ka-wat village. The two columns headed back to Taung-palon village on December 20, 2011. On their way back, they took about 24 Sat-ka-wat villagers, consisting of males and females, to lead the troops to Taung-palon village as human shields. Some of those villagers were middle-aged adults while some were as old as 60-67 years old.

In addition, on December 29, 2011 MOC No. 9’s LIB No. 375, based in Tap-bu village, ordered the drivers of 16 Ox-carts from the village located at the bottom of mountain to carry their army supplies to Htee-Muu-tar base.

Human Rights Abuses Continue to Happen in Kyainnseikyi Township

Villagers Forced to Serve as Porters and Human Shields

On 14 December 2011 IB No. 62’s Column No.2, led by Major Ko Ko Oo, arrested two residents from Ah-nan Kawin village, Three Pagodas Pass (TPP) Sub-township, while two other villagers from the village were arrested by the same Column again the next day, December 15 2011. The arrested villagers were forced to guide the way for the troops and made to carry the army’s food supplies and other materials. On December 16 2011, the first two villagers escaped from the forced labor, whereas the other two arrested villagers were freed to go home on the same day.

Local Villager Subjected to Inhumane Torture

HURFOM documented that with the reasons of ongoing fighting in the region, the government troops continue to commit human rights abuses to ethnic groups living in Kyainnseikyi Township, Kawkareik District, Karen State. During their military operation, the government troops from LIB No.562 shot a local resident. The resident was being interrogated by the troops on KNU movements, which the resident could not answer properly due to language difficulty.

This event shows that the ordinary villagers who have to struggle for their daily meals and who have no knowledge of ethnic armed group’s movement are still facing inhumane torture committed by government troops.

The shooting of the innocent villager took place near Ta-po Poe-hta village, which is located west of Hongta-raw stream, lying west of Kyaik-don — Kyainnseikyi highway, in Kawkareik District, Karen State. Ta-po Poe-hta village has only 25 households and the majority of the villagers depend on farming for their living.

The villagers depend on roughly a two mile long farmland close to the village to grow rice, corn, tobacco leaf and other seasonal crops for their livelihoods. The government troops’ suspicion and treatment of the Ta-po Poe-hta villagers as informants of the KNU place the villagers in a dangerous situation in which they are always questioned by authority. The latest case occurred during the military operations. When the villagers could not answer the troops’ interrogations, they were beaten up, killed, and had their belongings taken away.

An interview with Saw Ka-lon Sae (not the interviewee’s real name), the witness stated that on 30 January 2012, Saw Khaing Kyi (not the victim’s real name), 35, a Ta-po Poe-hta villager, was questioned by a Column from LIB No. 562, led by Second Colonel Kyaw Naing, when he was heading back from his crop field and before getting to his village about 5 Furlongs. Saw Khaing Kyi’s right thigh was shot.

“Saw Khaing Kyi is from my village. He can only speak Karen. We, the villagers, know that he is quiet and innocent. He can not tell anything about armed-related issues in Burmese. The Colonel Kyaw Naing is the worst Colonel in the region. Saw Khaing Kyi was taken to the troops’ base when he was heading back from his crop field. He was questioned there, and then his jaw was hit. As he could not reply in Burmese, he was verbally abused and finally got shot in his right thigh by the troops. We saw the occurrence and we thought he was dead. We took him to the village after he stopped bleeding. Because the bone in his leg got hit by the bullet, we are not sure that his leg will recover and if he can even use his leg like before. He has three children and the whole family depends on him.” Witness, Saw Ka-lon Sae.

When HURFOM contacted a member of the Township Administration in Kyainnseikyi Township, Kawkareik District, he said that that the case was true, but the troops did not ask any questions concerning with the KNU but Saw Khaing Kyi just got shot as he could not reply to what they asked. The official could not give any more details.

An officer from the KNU’s Kyainnseikyi Township Administration gave his opinions that the new national reforms only take place in the country’s capital and other large cities and towns but not in the countryside. Unless the government troops stop committing human rights abuses, there will be no such democratic reform taking place in the whole country; he urged to end the ongoing abuses and the oppression of local people:

“It is sure that change and reached peace agreements talks have only taken place in Rangoon, Nay Pyi Taw, and other big towns. But for the local villagers residing in the countryside (or in rural areas), they just continue to face abuses that affect their livelihoods. We hear about that. The real reform will not happen if human rights abuses continue to be committed in the rural areas. The army troops should obey their government’s order and respect human rights. I just want to say that ongoing abuses and oppression should be stopped right now.”, Officer from the KNU’s Kyainnseikyi Township Administration.

Local Truck drivers Forced to Carry Army Supplies

On 13 February 2012 at 8 AM, LIB No. 283’s Lieutenant Colonel Moe Myint Kyaw, together with his 35 men, demanded five truck drivers, who were driving to Kyainnseikyi, to carry the army’s rations and other materials. The drivers themselves had to load on the stuff and they were forced to drive ahead of the frontline troops. Also, the drivers had to give some gallons of their gas and money to the troops. The statement below was given by a driver, a native of Ye-lae village, Kyainnseikyi Township. His name is Pan-ko, 30, a Lon-shan native.

“In this year alone, the truck I drive has been commandeered about 12 times already. I had to provide labor, gas, and even money. I do not own the truck, I’m just hired to work as a driver according to the seasons. It really affects us as they just use their power, pointing their guns at us and forcing us to work. On 13 February at 8 AM, we had to drive to Pin-ma Kon 283 army base in Three Pagoda Pass Town to load on their stuff and then drive out on the same day. They did not feed us anything. Not only did we have to drive their rations on the trucks, we, the people, were also used. We had to load their rations and other stuff on the trucks by ourselves. And, they did not let us go home after using us for one day. Whenever they demanded us we had to work, they only let us go home after three days to one week. And, this last time, they let us go earlier they used us for only two days. Yet, 1,0000 kyat of mine was taken by a soldier. Some other drivers were slapped on the face and yelled at by the soldiers when they asked to let them go home. And, we could not drive as we wished. It was just like we were driving held by gunpoint, the enemies could shoot anytime they wanted. I was just tired, I kept praying that no fighting would breakout while I was driving for them. If I was unlucky, the truck would be damaged and I would be dead.. Last year, a friend of mine was driving to Ye-lae and Taung Sone villages as demanded by the government troops. He was shot dead since fighting broke out while he driving. I had to pray for it not to happen to; it was very dangerous. We knew that we would be forced by the troops as long as they were here. It was too unfair to force us like this. We just wanted them to understand our situation and how we had to struggle for our daily meals.”,Pan-Ko.

Conclusion

It is clear that although many people believe that President Thein Sein and his Administration have taken some steps of change, for those villagers in Htan Ta Bin and Kyainnseikyi townships the “change” is just a word as they are still experiencing human rights abuses at the hands of government troops, such as those documented in this report.

The findings in this report show that civilians residing in the affected areas have become the victims of extortion and inhumane torture by government troops. In addition, they are forced to carry military supplies, to clean and cut the brush, and to clear landmines by walking ahead of the troops, besides providing their oxen-carts, motorbikes, and trucks for the use of carrying military supplies. Finally, they were demanded to provide a large amount of money for the government battalions’ New Year celebrations.

Despite the establishment of a supposedly civilian-led government and the formation of the National Human Rights Commission, human rights abuses are still prevalent throughout the rural areas. Hence, it is a moral imperative for the new civilian government to move towards expansive democratic reforms, which contributes to all ethnic groups. And to establish political dialogues with all ethnic armed groups in order to end fighting and to bring about a stable peace. If the government continues to ignore the human rights situation throughout Burma, the people of Burma will continue to face and suffer human rights abuses in an environment of impunity.

In Burma (also known as Myanmar), the new President Thein Sein (former Gen. Thein Sein) has attempted to move towards democratization or a democratic transition, by establishing a dialogue with pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and allowed her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), to participate in the general elections.  In order to show a positive change, the government also released a small number of political prisoners.

However, the Burmese Army still operates military offensives against ethnic rebel groups in Karen State, Shan State and Kachin State whilst the government has conducted ceasefire talks. Human rights violations have continued in these areas and thousands of ethnic civilians continue to suffer from abuses committed by troops of the Burmese Army. [Download Report in PDF format] | [Map]

In many non-conflict ethnic ceasefire areas, government authorities and troops of the Burmese Army continue to commit human rights violations in the rural areas.  The change of governmental system – from military regime to democratically elected government – has contributed too little change for Burma’s rural ethnic population. Subsequently, the changes that have been applied are not appreciated by those affected by them.

From [October to December, 2011], Human Rights Foundation of Monland – Burma’s (HURFOM) field reporters gathered human rights violations cases through conducting interviews with local residents of the villages under the administration of Yebyu, Ye, and Thanbyuzayat townships. These villages include those that are situated on Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island and nearby it, in Yebyu Township, Tenasserim Division, and some in Ye Township, while most are lying along the highway of Ye Township to Thanbyuzayat Township, Mon State.

The fact-findings in this report show that those residents from the villages mentioned above experience various human rights abuses: such as extortion, arbitrary taxation, forced labor, land confiscation, ill-treatment, sentry duty and obstructing village security in their daily life committed by local based government’s battalions and navy units.

Furthermore, it reveals that 10 years after the gas pipeline construction between Kanbauk and Myaing Kalay, villagers residing along the highway of Ye Township to Thanbyuzayat Township are still demanded to provide security fees for the gas pipeline, its sentry and duties of village security. Villagers have also had their lands seized and marked to be confiscated recently. Additionally our information unveils that the villagers are forced to give information of ethnic insurgency groups to local government officers and required to report every day even though no such groups travel by, or enter the villages. Consequently, these villagers have to leave their work behind as they have to report, and because they are unable to go to work, they face difficulties for their survival. In addition, the villagers living on Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island not only have their land seized, but also have to provide the local based Navy Army with allowances for them to work on their own rubber and betel nut plantations and other long-term crops plantations. In addition, the villagers on the Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island and its surrounding villages have to provide woods and other materials for buildings of local based Burmese Army offices and barracks; yet those villagers are also charged to pay a large amount of money if they could not provide the woods.

HURFOM’s objectives are to document and report human rights violations cases, taken place mainly in three regions: Mon State, Karen State, and the Tenasserim Division, to promote human rights and lessen the chance of future violations. Thus far, HURFOM has found out that like in the periods of previous governments, the human rights violations are still committed by the government troops even though a National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is formed in Burma. Also, despite a new civilian-led government has been formed, Burma’s local residents do not see any signs of change in their villages. In fact, the villagers are facing human rights abuses more frequently by the government troops of the government that was inaugurated in, 2010, than during the time the government was led by Senior General Than Shwe.

In Burma, to show the signs of heading toward reforms, President Thein Sein has conducted many rounds of dialogues with pro-democracy leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, in addition to allowing her party the National League for Democracy (NLD) to take part in the upcoming by-elections and releasing a small number of political detainees.

On the afternoon of August 19, 2011, Burma’s President Thein Sein held the first talk with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi at his office in the Presidential Residence in Naypyidaw. People in the country hoped that the meeting would bring about changes and prominent development in political spheres. Suu Kyi and the president reportedly enjoyed a cordial conversation, though no details of the meeting were released by either site. Burmese state newspaper -The New Light of Myanmar – reported the meeting from a different angle: “The president and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi tried to find out the potential common grounds to cooperate in interests of the nation and the people putting aside different views.” However, the news report did not explore what “potential common grounds” were discussed.

Between July 25 and October 30 2011, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi met government’s liaison minister U Aung Kyi four times. During her talks with the liaison minister, she revealed her widespread concerns about the recent conflicts in Kachin State, Shan State and Karen State. Whatever assurances she received, sceptic caution that the previous regime’s divide and rule tactic between minority ethnic groups and democratic forces will come back into play remain. Suu Kyi still believes that the regime will continue to exclude ethnic groups from the dialogue.

Despite minor reforms and the release of approximately four hundred political prisoners, a vast majority of Burma’s political prisoners remains detained. Here again, the government’s motive to release political prisoners is aligned with promoting international relations. Combined with the significant increase in human rights abuses by the Burmese Army, including the use of gang-rape against ethnic minority women and children, the outlook for genuine reform in Burma remains bleak.

“The release of political prisoners should be welcomed, but these releases are not enough to justify the lifting of any sanctions”, said Wai Hnin Pwint Thon. “Today is a day of joy for the families of those who have been released, but for many more, it is a day of sadness and disappointment, as their father, mother, husband, brother, or sister remains in jail. This is a reality check; change has not come to Burma yet.”

While many people deeply believe that the regime’s authorities are making remarkable steps implementing various forums posing as democracy advocates, spouting pipe-dream visions of approaching democracy through peaceful means, the government’s battalions shock-troops are violating the rights of ethnic minority groups in Kachin State, burning their villages and crops, making sure there is no peace in the homeland of ethnic Kachin.

As the result of the civil-war in the Kachin territory, an estimated 40,000 locals have been displaced in war-torn areas of Kachin State, but until Tuesday the Burmese government authorities had only allowed the UN World Food Program to distribute foods to the nearly 6,000 refugees in the government-controlled areas of Kachin State. Fighting in the region continues despite the reports that President Thein Sein, issued a written statement signed on Dec. 10 ordering Burmese army chief Gen. Min Aung Hlaing to halt military operations against the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) except for self-defense purposes. The statement has not yet been publicly announced, but its existence was revealed to local journalists by the Kachin State chief minister at a fund-raising ceremony for Kachin war refugees.

There does not appear to be any current prospect of a formal ceasefire agreement between the KIA and the government troops because the KIA’s political wing, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), has explicitly said that it is seeking a political dialogue with the goal of autonomy and will not accept Burma’s current parliamentary system dominated by former military generals under the military-drafted 2008 Constitution, which they say includes only minimal rights for ethnic minority groups.

“We are not informed of the reported order by President Thein Sein to the army to hold attacks against us, but nonetheless the fighting will go on because the government army has already occupied a number of our military bases in its recent offensives and because we are yet to hold a true political dialogue with the government,” said by KIO/KIA spokesperson La Nan, adding that the Burmese army reinforced its troops in Myitkyina and Bhamo townships of Kachin State on December 12th, 2011.

On the other hand, the regime continues building dams which will adversely affect not only ethnic minority farmers, but farmers throughout the land. Land is still confiscated for pipelines & railways, which keep the stolen resources flowing out of the country, and agro-projects, which usually replace rice fields with non-edible cash crops.

The people in the communities in Mon State, Karen State and the Tenasserim Division under the government’s controlled areas have known that there was a change of government due to 2010’s elections and know well who won in the elections.  However, many of these people rural areas said there have been no changes in administrative system because the people still suffer from paying taxes, and the authorities are still corrupt.  Many types of human rights violations such as illegal taxation, extortion, forced labor and land confiscation have continued.

Many people in conflict zones and those that did not have the right to vote during the last election feel the situation remains the same. People are still displaced due to fighting and human rights violations.  Still many face problems in terms of getting food and trying to find stable sources of livelihood.

HURFOM has closely monitored what is happening in both conflict zones and non-conflict areas.  Its human rights workers in the field have traveled to various parts of Mon State, Karen State and the Tenasserim Division and interviewed local people to document human rights violations.

In many parts of Mon State and Karen State, the Burmese Army is still deploying their battalions close to villages and the local villagers are suffering from abuses by Burmese Army soldiers.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the then-ruling military junta – the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) – instituted the ‘Four Cuts Policy’ (Pya Ley Pya in Burmese), that successfully undermined insurgent forces belonging to Karen and Mon political parties. While the agreement to a ceasefire between the New Mon State Party (NMSP) in 1995 officially ended the hostilities with the Burmese military junta, the ceasefire failed to guarantee the well-being of communities on the periphery of Mon territory. Due to the continued presence of insurgent Mon splinter factions and Karen armed units, the Burmese military government, reconstituted in 1989 as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) declared nearly 90 percent of the territory in northern Tenasserim Region and southern Mon State a ‘black area’ or a ‘free fire zone’, in which military units were given designated regions to carry out policies of extortion, seizing of goods and land, arrest, rape, torture, and even summary execution.

Since HURFOM’s inception, its field reporters have documented the extensive and continuous abuses committed by SPDC battalions against villagers, often regardless of the verifiable presence of insurgent forces. This number of insurgent groups’ presence in the area since the days of the ‘Four Cuts Policy’ have been few, and ever deceasing in number compared to the presence of Burmese army battalions. Currently active insurgent forces are predominantly the Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA), unknown Mon insurgent splinter groups (locally known as the Nai Hapwe group) and units from the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) Brigade No. 4 are periodically active in the area. The local Burmese Army units include LIBs[1] No. 282, No. 273, IBs No. 61, No. 31 and No. 409, coastal army units, Navy No. 43 which operates under Military Operation Management Command (MOMC) No. 8. These battalions have the capacity to field between 80 to 300 soldiers each at any one time.

The regions of focus in this report, southern Mon State and Northern Tenasserim Division, are geographically mostly comprised of mountainous and hilly terrain. This difficult terrain is a natural gift to armed insurgent groups desiring to hide from their enemies. However, while the area is home to an extremely high number of battalions, this is more due to government’s demand for security over the presence of the Kanbauk to Myaingkalay natural gas pipeline, which provides the military junta a significant income from foreign investment. According to analyses of the military movement in this area regarding the excessive positioning of military bases, issues surrounding pipeline security are the key causes behind the continuous commitment of human rights violations.

The industries of local rubber and betel-nut plantations, paddy fields and perennial fruit-orchards that employ local residents have been hit hard by the abuses documented in this report. HURFOM researchers have learned that 75% of these crops could not be harvested in the area due to travel restrictions ordered in the last two and a half months, according to the information gathered during interviews with residents. This research indicates that due to the severity of abuses, loss of crops and much needed income threatens a possible collapse of the areas’ agrarian economy.

Methodology

The majority of the facts in this report are based on field data collections conducted in Southern Mon State, in townships such as Thanbyuzayat and Ye, and in the Northern Tenasserim Division, such as northern Yebyu Township, Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island in which Navy Unit No. 43 began confiscating land in December 2010. In order to collect the evidence, five field reporters in two teams interviewed 38 subjects in 22 villages; these include 11 interviews from villages in Thanbyuzayat Township, 10 interviews from villages in Ye Township, and 7 interviews from Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island, northern Yebyu Township, Tenasserim Division, southern Burma. This report also includes 4 interviews collected by telephone from farmers who were recently violated by money extortion regarding their owned land.

Due to area restrictions and security toll-gates set up by local government battalions, gathering data and directly asking questions to local farmers in the targeted areas were intensely difficult and in some cases members from local based Community Based Organization (CBO) assisted with important information that HURFOM felt added to the strength of this report. HURFOM also drew extensively on the knowledge of three local residents who helped with gathering information from individual incidents, background information, and confirmation on facts in the interviews as well as invaluable context and assistance in replying to targeted follow-up questions.

The people of southern Burma continue to live under a highly authoritarian military regime that is widely condemned for its serious human rights abuses. HURFOM field reporters have conducted interviews with villagers residing in the villages located between Ye and Thanbyuzayat townships. The following findings are voice files recorded from the villagers who are the witnesses and victims of human rights abuses committed in their areas. The majority of those who committed human rights abuses are local based battalion officers and their fellows. Their oppressing of local residents has not changed since human rights violations committed during the last’s government term. These voice-recorded files below are gathered from males and females from 14 villages.

Lives for the villagers living in Ye and Thanbyuzayat townships do not seem to have changed, even though signs of change have been cried out across the country under the administration of this new government. Instead, villagers face the same abuses, which are forced labor and extortion – charged as gas pipeline’s security fees that were also levied during the last government’s term.

The villagers in Wae-rat village are still charged with security fee of gas pipeline by Infantry Battalion (IB) No. 62 despite the aftermath of new civilian-led government installation.

“Now, many people believe that there are changes in the country in the phase of this new government. But, we, the villagers from our village still have to pay 15,000 Kyat to Thanbyuzayat based Burmese Army — Infantry Battalion (IB) No. 62. That is the fee for gas pipeline security”, said by Nai Kyaw Moe (not real name), 55, from Wae-rat village, Thanbyuzayat Township, Mon State.

Quoted below, a Karen person, 28, from Bae La-mu village, Ye Township, remarked what kind of changes are taking place in his region:

“It was announced that the country [‘s government] would move to reform and changes in a right direction after the 2010 general elections. But, now the year 2011 is almost over and nothing changed in our region that shows reform. Yet, one thing has changed, that is the ‘name’ [of local based government offices]. Before, the local authorities demanded us to call them District Peace and Development Council (DPDC), Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC), and Village Peace and Development Council (VPDC). But now we’re required to call District Administration (DA), Township Administration (TA), and Village Administration (VA). This is what has been changed so far,” remarked by A Karen villager, 28, from Bae La-mu village, Ye Township, Mon State.

The Burmese Army still charges security fees of the gas pipeline and forces villagers to go on sentry in the villages situated between the railway and highway of Ye Township to Thanbyuzayat Township, during this civilian government’s term. According to U Htun Hla (not real name), a Mae Paw villager, the villagers in his village are still demanded by Burmese Army Infantry Battalion (IB) No. 62 to pay the security fees and to carry out sentry duties. And, from the same battalion, two groups are formed and one group comes to collect the fees while another group orders the villagers to go on sentry.

“Now, the village where I live is located between the railway and highway linking Ye Township to Thanbyuzayat Township, Mon State. There are 10 villages in total lying nearby Wae Ka-mee, Ah-nin, and Kyaung Ywae villages situated between the high-way of Ye-Thanbyuzayat. Those villages are located right along the Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay gas pipeline. For the security of the gas pipeline, we the villagers are demanded by the Infantry Battalion (IB) No. 62 led by Major Tin Maung Htun to go on sentry in turn. Like before, those who can’t guard the pipeline have to pay; each household has to pay 1,000s – 15,000 kyat. Sometimes, we have to be guards while we also have to pay fees for pipeline security. There is one group giving orders to us to go on sentry, and there is another group collecting money for pipeline security. So, two groups were made from IB No.62. What I meant here is that we as villagers who have no power are affected for two reasons. We cannot go to our work but we are used as free laborers for them. And, we have to take our saved money to pay them as they demanded. So, nothing changes; it is just the same as before,” said by U Htun Hla.

U Htun Hla is 52 years old and he is working on rubber plantation. HURFOM conducted an interview with him on November, 22, in Mae Paw village, Thanbyuzayat Township.

Local Area Security and Abuses

That is not only what villagers have faced as a result of the constructed the gas pipeline, but they also have faced many other abuses committed by government troops guarding the gas pipeline. The following is an incomplete list of what the Burmese Army has demanded of villagers:

• They [Burmese Army] order villagers to go on sentry for the security of gas pipeline.
• They order villagers to patrol the villages (in addition to guarding the gas pipeline)
• They demanded villagers to pay security fees to those who ordered them to pay. And if these villagers cannot guard designated areas themselves, they have to compromise by paying fees.
• They demanded villagers to support village militia troops and to provide the troops with rations.
• They use villagers guides if they get informed about the insurgency groups ( while sometimes these villagers are used as guides, sometimes this task implies being a human shield for Burma Army troops).
• They order the villagers to carry the army’s rations.
• They steal fruit, vegetables, and livestock of villagers.
• They ask villagers about insurgent groups and ask whether these villagers have contacts with insurgent groups when they are on the front line heading into jungle eastern of Ye Township. (If the villagers do not know about that or do not have any contact with, they are asked by them whatever they want and then blamed. And, if the villagers are males they will be used as porters besides taking over what they, the troops, wanted)
• When villagers are in the frontline, those who living in the countryside along the way where they [the Burmese battalion’s troops] are heading to are verbally abused. Those local people are the young girls and married women from the families of Mon, Karen, and other ethnic people. Sometimes, they are questioned about rebels, and they are even asked questions concerned with sexuality, causing shyness.
• They told off those local people who cannot speak Burmese well, and they look down and discriminate them.
• They beat up and torture local people.

Those abuses continue to be committed by government troops just like before and those are the ongoing abuses. This account above was remarked by U Thar Myint Aye, former member of VPDC committee, and he is from Ka-nin Ka-maw village, Ye Township, Mon State.

Human Rights Abuses in Bal La-muu and Ka-nin Ka-maw villages, Ye Township

The interviews conducted with two villagers as shown below reveal that although the new civilian-led government has been installed and steps of changes have startled in the country, the villagers do not see any signs of change in their region. Rather, they face some human rights abuses committed by the government’s battalions. Due to the ongoing human rights abuses, they urge the ministers from President Thein Sein’s administration and respective regions and townships to come and monitor those abuses.

Bellow, a 42 year old Karen villager from Bal La-muu, Ye township, Mon State, describes what kind of abuses the villagers have to face and how they have to respond if they can not provide information required by the government’s battalion :

“Last August and September, when LIB No. 591 and LIB No.583 based in Kyaung Ywae village merged with IB No.61 based in Ye town, they staged an operation to drive KNLA battalion No. 16 and No. 18 away. While doing this, they abused villagers by using these villagers as porters and as human shields. The LIBs and IBs would arrest people for no reason and, as punishment, abuse them in the ways that I just mentioned. They would also order villagers around to inform them about rebel groups. If people did not know anything about rebel groups, they would be charged by paying bags of rice, bottles of cooking oil and livestock. That is what has changed; people are still charged with crimes they did not commit. There have not been any changes. Like before, locals are still forced to be laborers and are still oppressed,”

As an observer of political issues and the military situation in his region, U Kyaw Hlaing (not real name), 60, gives his opinion and describes how military men have more influence than the government and how the locals are suffering:

“My opinion is that, in this region, the military government is more influential than the civilian government. U Thein Sein’s government and respective region and township ministers should see the oppressions made by the troops and monitor this.  Claims about positive changes don’t have any value, as they are not real. That is what the politicians talk about, they say things as “There are changes in the country; we are heading to a path of reform”, I think they are just dreams. In reality, like before, we are still oppressed. And then, our life which has been stamped gets torn apart. That is how the government troops have oppressed us. If the army does not suppress or cause us to suffer, we would not suffer. We do not want to see our people abandon their homes and lands and go aboard to work as slaves.”

U Kyaw Hlaing is 60 years old and he is from Kyaung Ywae village but lives in Ka-nin Ka-maw village.

Ma Hla Than [not real name], 30, who is a Mon villager living in Ah-Nin village, Thanbyuzayat Township, Mon State, remarked the human rights violations that are taking place in his village and its neighboring village:

“Now, the sentry for gas pipeline security, fee for security, measuring lands and selling the lands after taking over have started happening in Wae Ka-mee village and Ah-nin village. This started last August.”

A Wae Taw villager, 40, whom sells lottery tickets to make a living, explained how land is surveyed and measured by managers and government staff of an unknown company from the department of the Land measurement and Survey Department:

“Uncultivated lands and virgin soils are sold by the government to different companies. This land is divided into plots and sold by the company to local residents. We saw that the company managers and staff came with their cars to do surveys and measured the land from end of August tothe second week of September. The government staff from Land Measurement and Survey Department came to measure the land. I do not know what that company is,”

An interview with Nai Thein Myint [not real name], 67 from Thanbyuzayat, shows how land intends to be seized in Ah-nin village:

“I have lived here my entire life. How can there be uncultivated lands and virgin soils here? We have lived our whole lives farming these lands and plantations. Those lands have just been left about 3 to 4 years without cultivating them as the owners face difficulties for their survival. And, since they do not have enough money to invest, they cannot afford cultivating their lands. To keep working on the land, the owners have to hire labors and buy fertilizers. Yet, they invest more money on the products they need to cultivate their land than the profit they get from their land. Additionally, as landowners, we get extorted by Burmese Army troops, so that is why we just leave our lands without cultivating. And, we heard that now, the government and company owners will come to take over the lands. If they take over, the owners will definitely fall apart. These companies will also measure fourteen acres of my daughter’s. She is very frustrated and depressed. That is what happens here now. No one knows when they will come to confiscate our lands yet. But, we are sure that someone in the name of the government will seize our lands.” In regards to the new government Nai Thein Myint mentioned that “We know that there is a new unjust government installed but like I said earlier, there is no positive change and reform,”

A villager, 36, working as a Karen literature and culture teacher in Wae Ka-mee village, Ye Township, Mon State described how his ethnic people have faced sufferings, rights abuses, injustice, and oppressions and no changes promoting human rights have been taken place yet:

“If we look back since the nationwide elections and ask how the government troops have oppressed us – the Karen people, the questions can be answered by Wae Lay villagers as witnesses [and victims]. Today still, human rights abuses are still happening. Like what my cousin faced, many other Karen people were degraded by government’s troops said. We would hear: “You are Karen people born as rebels whom for us to kill” and mentally and physically suffered, before getting killed, by the Burmese troops. That is what happened after the elections. We Karen people are the ones that are suffering the most abuses committed in the armed conflicts compared to other ethnic groups. It is also true that Mon people have suffered by losing their businesses. But, regarding deaths, we Karen people suffer more. However, if we look back, we will see that the news spreading in Naypyidaw and Rangoon is about positive political changes. The only positive changes are in theory, but not in real life. We are just like “the sand was poured into water. And, yes, there will be visible if water was poured in the sand.” Now, we will only recognize changes if there is no injustice and oppression inflicted by the government troops even if these troops say they are part of a new government or democratic government.”

While the vast majority of the villages in the region faced multiple instances of gross human violations, such as forced labour, land confiscation, money and properties extortion, torture by accusation as rebels, at least eleven villages in southern Mon State and northern Tenasserim Division have faced abuses by the SPDC army, including forced portering and forced labor on the construction of a village fence, as well as day and night security duty. The fencing project around these affected villages is compounds designed to entirely encircle the village, an unusual order compared to previous demands for fence construction that required only partial fence construction. The apparent aim of the battalions that issued these orders is to separate each village from outside contact not made through any of army controlled gates. Local residents are forced to construct this project using wood pillars, bamboo, iron nails, gathered with their own time, money and resources.

Villagers from rubber and betel nuts plantations, paddy fields and fisheries who often cannot afford to pay their way out of the work due to their already hand to mouth subsistence income, have little choice in following orders given. Forced portering and labour undermines villagers’ ability to survive by not only forcing them to work without compensation, using their own resources to feed them, but more significantly taking them away from their own work that normally provides for their own livelihoods. Villagers who refuse or are unable to filly these duties are punished severely, ranging from heavy fines, and instance that the work is filled, to heavy fines and arrest, or torture. Nan Myint Wai, a resident of Wae Kha-mee village, Southern Thanbyuzayat Township expressed her opinion regarding on the current ongoing human rights violations in her areas.

 “If I have to tell, there is at least one abuse case committed by Burmese troops to villagers residing in this village track since the new government was installed. The abuses committed in this area are forced labor, porter, land confiscation, extortion; go for sentry duties, fee for security forces, and sentry for gas pipeline; serving unpaid work at the battalions’ bases, beaten-up, and accusation as rebels. Sometimes, villagers from our village faced those abuses while sometimes our neighbors did as well as we ourselves encountered those abuses. It happens like that. ….. They just become civil militia. Local authorities are just changed. What I want to say is that there are still injustices and oppressions going on in this area. I see nothing changes. I can say that the government troops are still practicing those kinds of abuses and the abuses are ongoing,” recited by Nan Myint Wai.

Nan Myint Wai (not a real name),38, a former middle-school teacher, Ye Township, Mon State.

Most of the local villagers expressed that they wanted to see the genuine peace in the country and stop civil war targeted to ethnic armed groups. Many of them have been suffering from the armed conflicts painfully.

“There will be real changes in our area, if both armed groups established peaces and there are no more Burmese troops in the region. We only consider the changes if there are no oppressions committed by the government troops like what they have done to us before. If that change really happens, there will be no such difficulties/sufferings in this region,” said by Saw Aung Tin (not real name), 39.

Saw Aung Tin is a Karen villager, and he is from Set-kaw village, Thanbyuzayat Township, Mon State.

Forced to provide the Information of rebel armed groups’ movements to government troops

The local residents from Ye and Thanbyuzayat townships are forced to provide information of rebel armed groups to government troops. Because the residents are said to be given any relevant punishments if they do not inform or report to the troops, they have to abandon their work and find the information to provide.

“Just like this; we have to leave our work behind and we, every villager, have to inform [about rebel groups to government’s troops]. Now, we have to inform more often. It is nonsense: if we think that we still have to report to them when there is no rebel group is around. We have to report them every day, and if we do not do so, we’ll be punished with related punishment types. Because they frighten to us like that, we have to put our work aside and report them,”

“To have access to information about unusual and insurgents’ activities from people”, that is one of the policies used by the government army in Ye and Thanbyuzayat townships. That policy is one of the policies causing abuses to local people and it has been used for a long time. But, just like before – no changing, they still use it even though the new civilian government has installed.

That is the order from the battalions under Military Operation Management Command (MOMC) No. 19. The order requires every household in every village to report in turn daily whether or not the troops from the Karen National Union (KNU) brigade No. 6, Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and Nai Khin Maung led Mon splinter group, are being active in the region. Organized by the respective village administration members, the villagers have to provide the information to local based battalion offices prior to 5 PM.  After gathering the information, they have to come to offices and report verbally or provide written report about whether they opposed armed groups travel by, collect extortion fees, buy rations, get medical treatments, and come to visit their relatives.

Ordering the villagers to do this, the government troops can avoid the danger of attacks by opposed armed groups and save their personals.

However, if the villagers are unable to report, the troops will find fault with them and as a punishment, they charge the villagers with money or food supplies. The local residents criticize that the government troops are not active in the local areas during this new (civilian) government administration.

Nevertheless, if we look back on the effects that they face after being forced to work, we can see that villagers have to put aside their work, which they depend on for their survival. Additionally, they have to provide information, by writing reports in Burmese after gathering information obtained while asking others for help with translating. And, they are found fault by the office authorities when they come to report the news verbally [expressed in spoken words]. They have to provide money or food supplies if they cannot report when that’s their turn, not to be blamed, and they have to face the punishment given by rebel armed groups anytime. Those are facts collected from the local residents through interviews.

Local residents expressed that in general, even though we can deduce that the whole country is heading to the path of reform, if we look closely and observe carefully, we can see that the government’s troops are still committing human rights abuses.

HURFOM’s field reporters collected information finding the following facts from early October to late November. Local residents living in several villages located in Ye and Thanbyuzayat townships were forced to provide information. HURFOM conducted 14 interviews from 21 Karen and Mon villages and HURFOM documented their stories and accounts.

“Including our village headman and representative, the village headmen and representatives from 21 other villages located along the highway from Thanbyuzayat to Ye, were invited by tactic Captain Tin Maung Cho and his men to attend the meeting on October 29. The meeting was about how local residents have to report any news – weather they find it significant or not – of rebel armed groups that are active in southern, eastern, and northeastern Ye Township to [the closest] local based [government troops] office. The villagers have to report the news in person. All villagers from the 21 villages, attended the meetings held by their respective heads and representatives, and were told to provide news in turn,” remarked by grandpa Saw Htuu, 62, from Hnin Sone village, Ye Township.

“MOMC No. 19’s tactic No. 2 Captain Tin Maung Cho currently based in LIB No. 343 based close to Ahruu Taung village, Ye Township. Including the village head and members of the Village Administration (VA) from the Hnin Sone village tract, the village heads and VA members from other villages, had a meeting with the Captain his men, and every villager, of which all had to report about rebel armed groups. At the meeting, it was said that it is the responsibility of villagers to report. If the villagers can not report about their enemies to them daily, these villagers have to face punishments. Also, if the information they report is false, they will be punished more,” said by a VA member, who attended the meeting and serves villages that are predominantly Karen in La-mine Sub-township, Ye Township.

“I think, during this new government period, the villagers are forced to work much more than during the last government. Now, whether the villagers got news or not, they have to report. This leads to villagers with a high function in society, such as leaders to lose faith in the system. Before, we typically report unusual news to them. Now, it is not just unusual news, but the villagers have to provide news just like daily reports. It is good for the villagers to report when that’s their turns after observing two days ahead. For us, the village headman has to inform the villagers if that day is their turn, help write the report in Burmese and help them with anything. As I have to do this every day, it affects our livelihood. Now, it has affected us a lot; I do not have time to go work in my orchard,” said by the VA member.

Because three villagers whose failed to report during their turns about one unit from KNLA, when battalion No. 16 came to Bee-kain village to buy food supplies and tools for communication, those villagers were beaten up and demanded to pay fines. This account is given by Nai Yin [pseudonym], 48, a Mon villager, working as orchard worker, from Hnin Sone village, on Nov.22.

“On that day I went to Bee-kain village to sell my oxen, and I heard from the villagers that tree villagers were beaten up by troops from LIB No. 343. I forgot to ask the names of those villagers. I heard that those villagers are 30 – 50 years old and they work in betel nut and rubber plantations. The troops already got news that the Karen armed groups came to buy foods and batteries to use for communication devices. The villagers got hit and beaten up. One of the three villagers, got some of his teeth broken and got his head cracked. That is because the villagers did not provide this news in the report. And, as punishment, they were detained for one night and in the next morning; their families and the Bee-kait village headman came to get them in exchange for 50000 Kyat. That is what I heard from a Bee-kain village family when I went there to sell my oxen. In our village, we also have to report in turn, but no one has faced abuse like this, yet. And, we, the villagers, could not go for work.

According to Kalate Taung village head Saw Tar Sal, MOMC No. 19’s tactic No. 2 Captain Tin Maung Cho himself said at a meeting that if the government troops and KNU’s troops engaged in fighting around the village, the villagers from that village have to move out of the village.

“At a meeting concerned about local security, when I present to him [Capt. Tin Maung Cho] “if the villagers still have to report even though there is no news, it will cause villagers unable to go for work, and please think about that for us.” He replied “Whenever the rebel groups are active in this area, the villagers have to provide the news. And, if there is a fight between the enemy and our troops, you, the villagers, have to move out the village.” I think, that was on October 12. Being a village head, I have to face a lot of trouble. Although the government has been changed, the system of governing our region has not changed. It is just like before. Now, regarding this case, it’s worse,” said by the village head.

According to an interview conducted on Nov. 28, with Saw Kyi Khin, 35, who is a Bin Kalwae villager has reported news three times, thus far. He has reported about KNU troops and other insurgency groups. Reporting to the government, may have exempted him from facing mistreatment inflicted by the government. However, Saw Kyi Khin now fears for his safety, as he is rightfully frightened of insurgency groups.

“I just have to report information as I’m afraid of government troops. No one knows whether insurgency groups forgive us for reporting about them to government troops. Most of the KNU troops know the government troops’ members. They may understand us and why we inform the government. But, the Mon splinter group, led by Nai Khin Maung, will kill us, if he finds out that we have been informing the government. They will probably think that we are the government troops’ informants. That is why I’m afraid. Beside me, there are also lots of villagers who are worried about this and afraid but they have to work [provide the info]. Also, we can not go to our job when we want, we are too scared.”

Below is the list of villages that are located along the highway that links Ye to Thanbyuzayat townships. And, the villagers in those villages are forced to report about the government army’s opposed armed groups.

1. Hnin Sone village
2. Bin Ka-lwon villge
3. Tabin Taing village
4. Kon Duu village
5. Sar Ka-lae village
6. Kalea Dop village
7. Kalea Taung village
8. Bee Kain village
9. Min Hla Aye village
10. Thu Lae village
11. Thee Pow Muu village

Below is the list of villages under Wae Ka-mee village track, Thanbyuzayat Township, where the IB No.62 is based. And, the villagers from those villages have to not only pay the fee of pipeline security but also report daily.

1)     Bay Lamine village

2)     Aung Tha-byay village

3)     Wae Ka-mee village

4)     Wae Taw village

5)     Pain Naetaw village

6)     Inn Ka-bar village

7)     Ywae Tar Aye village

8)     Nga-pyaw Taw village

9)     Lainmaw Chan village

10) Payar Kon village

11) Aung Taryar village.

Seized rubber plantations near Lae Gyi and Maw Gyi villages

The villagers have to pay local based battalions the fees for them to be allowed to work on their own rubber plantations, betel nut plantations, and other long-term crop plantations. Before, there were records of villagers that could work on their plantations for one year as they gave the amount of one year of fees. But, later on, because there were no records made by the battalions and because of their carelessness, the newly-transferred battalions extorted land owners with fees and allowances again for them to work on their lands during their [newly-moved battalions’] periods.

“We have to pay the Captains 10,000 Kyat for permits to work on our rubber plantations. All of us have to pay the fees; for example, to get permit for our 3 sons and 2 hired workers to work on our 8 acres rubber plantation, we have to pay 50,000 Kyat for each person. Before, we had to pay the fee to Commander Htun Tet Naing and his group for a one year permit, and they gave us a permit [letter] to work. But, later, we found out that that permit is not valid for one year. We paid the fee in early May, but we are charged again 7 months later. They shut down that project again. And, now the newly arrived Captain Myit Oo and his group said the permit letter is not valid anymore. If we, as the villagers, want to keep working on our plantations, we have to register for permission again. This happened yesterday morning (November 26) when the order came. How can I repay that fee? Now, we are not allowed to tap our rubber plantations anymore,” mentioned Ko Khin Shwe, 40, who depends on his rubbers and betel nut plantations for survival.

Ko Khin Shwe’s native place is Yebyu Town, but now he lives near Lae Gyi village, and HURFOM field reporter conducted an interview with him on November 27.

The villagers living in Lae Gyi, Maw Gyi, and Min Tar villages and on the island of Kywe Thon Nyi Ma own thousands of acres of rubber trees, betel nuts, and other year long fruits plantations. These villagers are charged large amounts of money by locally based Navy Army No.43 and LIB No. 282 and No. 273 under the command of Kadike based government navy regional command to get permitted to work on their plantations. Yet, besides extorting local land owners with large sums of money for permits to work on their own lands, the Navy has also confiscated numerous acres of lands.

Last June-July, HURFOM released a report about thousands of the acres of rubber plantation owned by local villagers, who heavily depended on the plantations for their livelihoods, were seized by Kadike based Navy No. 43 for expansion of their bases. Also, in addition to land seizure, the navy marked other over 3000 acres of rubber trees and betel nut plantations, belonging to locals. These navy and army troops charged 10,000 Kyat per plantation owner, while they demanded the whole family of plantation to pay 30,000 Kyat for the permission of working on their own plantations.

“To get a permit to work, we the whole family has to pay 30,000 Kyat. Recording 4 persons are able to work; they give that permit [letter]. We have to pay them for us to tap our own rubber trees. We are all here though that they recorded the lists of and accounts of the land owners and kept them away as they produced permits. Now, as the Captain and Commander that produced the permits moved away, the permits are not valid anymore (since November).  As we have to register for the permit again, it costs us again. Before, we owned over 30 acres of rubber plantation. But, earlier of this year, the navy took over 12 acres of the plantation. Yet, of the remaining 18 acres, we only have rubber trees left in 12 acres. And we are working on those remaining acres by paying allowances [taxes]. How can we pay the allowances to them over and over again? We are now in difficulties. Now, the government has changed but here in our village, no one comes to change anything and the situation is worse than before. As we could hardly save for our survival, and we have to pay the government, it is just that if we cannot pay, we cannot work,” recounted by Ko Htun Naing (not real name), 44, from Min Thar village, Yebyu Township.

Ko Nyan Phay who has to pay  to work on his own plantation describes how locally owned rubber plantations were seized, and how he and other plantations owners have to pay for permission of working on their rubber plantations, explains their situation as follows:

“To tap our own rubber plants and to work on our own plantation, we – the villagers had to pay money to the government army units.  If you don’t believe this, please come and stay here for a month.  People from other regions can’t imagine as they have never encountered it.  We became slaves of the army a long time ago.  We know via the news and radios that the military government has already transited to a civilian government, but I would like to mention that nothing has changed here.  This is because my land and plantation in this region, which were plots of land handed down by my family from one generation to the next, were confiscated by the local army units No. 282 and No. 273 and the Navy Unit No. 43 based on Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island.  Before confiscation, they said the land would be used for constructing military bases and the State needed the land.  Now, the State does not use the land, but the captains and majors from the army units occupy our land,” said Ko Nyan Phay.

“Between ten and thirty-thousand Kyat had to be paid to get permits to work on our own plantations that are controlled by the Burmese Army.  Last July, my wife and I had already paid twenty-thousand Kyat. This November, they (Kywe Thone Nyi Ma based Navy Unit No. 43) demanded money again.  Now they said that if we are unable to pay (the money), our permit can’t be extended and our plantation will automatically be confiscated.  Therefore, we had to loan two thousand kyat for the payment.  This process means that our land is already confiscated and only a work permit was sold to us.  You can imagine how our situation is miserable.  Our Lae-Gyi Village has over 380 houses and almost every household works for the rubber or betel nut business.  If two people per household work on these plantations, you can estimate how much money the army units earn,” he continued.

Ko Nyan Phay is a 46-year-old Lae-Gyi village resident, and his family depends on rubber plantation for survival.  In the early May, Ko Nyan Phay’s 4-acre betel nut plantation and 8-acre-plus rubber plantation were put on the list of land confiscation by the locally based joint army units of Coastal Regional Command – Navy Unit No. 43, LIB No. 282 and 273 for expending the military.  After that, the villagers, including Ko Nyan Phay, who had their rubber plantations confiscated, have been paying the money to the army to gain the work permit.  The work permit is just a small piece of paper and includes the official stamp of the particular army unit in charge of a designated area.  Ko Nyan Phay and all other villagers said that the mark could clearly not show the annual fee or the monthly fee arranging to be able to demand as they like.

Having to pay many kinds of extortions, such as fees for village security, army rations, local militia member welfare, and permits for working on the plantations for many years in the periods led by this and the former government, many villagers have faced financial difficulties and had no chances to sustain themselves. Therefore, those villagers want to bring an end to those extortions

“We, ordinary villagers, have no money to feed ourselves.  We have to earn money to pay Burmese Army troops.  We have been paying large amounts of money for village security fees, rations fees, local militia welfare fees and permission fees to go to plantations for a specified number year. We still have to pay now, during the rule of the new government.  We want to stop these events.  That’s all we wish,” cited by Nai Htaw Ong (not real name).

As mentioned by Nai Htaw Ong, a Mon villager of over 60 years old. He is a Han-Gam resident, but he now lives in the South part of Moe-Gyi Village. In an interview with HURFOM, November, 28, he explained how he has financially been extorted in many ways by the local government army units.

On November 3, 2011, in order to construct military barracks and offices in the confiscated land on Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island, Yebyu Township, money or wood from the villagers of Kywe Thone Nyi Ma and six other surrounding villages were demanded.  Colonel Ye Linn Tun of Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island based Navy Unit No. 43 and Deputy Commander Minn Zaw Moe ordered, via particular village administrators, the villagers of over 1,000 houses from six villages – Lae-Gyi, Moe Gyi, Min Thar, Kywe Thone Nyi Ma, Ye Ngan Gyi and Sinswe, to purchase woods and construction materials or to pay the money if they could not do the purchasing.  Therefore, the collection of extorted money has started on November 11, 2010 and has not ended yet, according to the locals.  The demand of woods had happened at the same time as the human rights violations such as collecting money for work permits and village security fees.

“It was ordered that each household had to pay a long or a plant of wood or three wood poles.  The order was accepted in the early of November.  The village headman reminded (the villagers) on the 9^th (of the November) if they had already collected the wood demanded by the Burmese Army.  When the wood was collected, they would be sent (to the army units) via the village headmen.  We had to give a piece of wood, with a 4-inch diameter and a length of 13-feet, which we reserved to repair our house. Additionally three 4×3-inch wood poles which were stored under our house had to be given to the army.

All these pieces of wood together will cost about thirty thousands kyat.  Moreover, the regular fees we have to pay are thirty-thousand Kayt for our work-permits, for four persons, which were initially ten thousand kyat per head.  However, the fee was lowered by the army unit,so four people had to pay thirty thousand kyat instead. We also had to pay a three thousand kyat fee to hire a village security guard who will replace me when my term is over, and we have to pay one thousand kyat per month for the welfare of local militia.  Captain Min Zaw Moe ordered the village headman to list the households who didn’t pay the fees.  Recognizing the speech of that captain, I paid the fee early ‘to make my ear peaceful’ (a Mon saying that means ‘to be freed from having problems’). My family could make our livelihood and live comfortably in the past, before Navy Unit No. 43 confiscated over half of our plantation at the beginning of this year.  Moreover, we have to pay the money to get permission to work on the rest of the 10-acre rubber plantation, as a result we have become the poor now,” said Nai Htun Aye (not real name), a 50-year-old resident of East Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Villlage.

In the interview with HURFOM at the end of November, Nai Htun Aye explained how he lived in fear, yet solved the problem where he was forced to supply wood for construction of military barracks and offices of the government Navy unit.

Villagers, from Kywe Thone Nyi Ma and its surrounding villages – Min Thar, Lae-Gyi, Moe Gyi, Ye-Ngan Gyi and Sin-swe villages, are disappointed and dissatisfied with the wood demand unfairly required by the navy.

Most of the available wood in that region is of rubber trees; however the government army units do not accept this sort of wood. Even though the quality of this type of wood is low, it can be used for construction, stated in the written order of the Navy read by the village administrators, according to Ma Htay Win (not real name), a 32-year-old Min Thar resident and a shopkeeper.

“Only rubber wood is available for us and people in our village.  Other types of wood we are not allowed to cut down, nor are they available here.  All people have to struggle for their livelihoods so the people from rich households just paid extortion fees.  Our aunt had paid twenty eight thousand kyat in cash for a wooden pole, wooden planks, or three long wood poles to village headman Nai Aye and he signed to confirm the payment.  We were unable to pay in cash as we had other such fees to pay to ensure our security, to allow us to work, and to pay towards welfare of militia.  We struggle to feed our family so we were disappointed by this order.  We have been abused many times.  We want these abuses to stop quickly.  I don’t know when these abuses will disappear from our region.”

In February 2011, Ko Lwin, the husband of Ma Htay Win, who is a Tavoyan and resident of Long-Lone Township, was beaten by Sergeant Zaw Htet Lwin and his group of frontline soldiers of military column No. 282, who accused that he was an informer who connected with the rebels.  His mandible was cracked and he could not eat foods for months.  He lost his watch during the event and fifty thousand kyat had to be spent for his escape.  Ma Than Than Htay explained the abuses of the local army units.

The pile of wood collected by the villagers from 220 houses in Min Thar Village in order to please the demands of Navy Unit No. 43 could be seen nearby the village administrative office. The pile of wood consisted of various sizes and shapes of wood and the locals estimated that it weighed about 20 tons.

“In reality, all demands to construct things for the military were said to be for the State, in particular for its captains and commanders.  In the proposal, the map of the land where military constructions were built are signed by officials of the Land Survey Department.  In the army, the cost of the sketch and small samples (of the construction) drafted by military engineers’ unit was also proposed.  Therefore, the wood or money collected from civilians would go into the pockets of the officials and commanders when the proposed budget was granted.  The army has abused us villagers with the powerful ranks in society, just because they wanted to get loads of money while not working for it.  I had encountered a similar event at an army unit in my hometown– Yebyu-Kanbauk-based LIB No. 273.  In any army unit, chief commanders, commanders, and officials who have much power are really frightening.  That’s my own experience,” explained a former soldier who ran away from a frontline battle of the SPDC government army unit No. 273 and now lives in a refugee camp on the Thai-Burma border.

Because wood is scarce in the region and newly-cut wet woods were not accepted, most households planned to pay cash instead of wood to still meet the demand of wood requested by militia.  Interviews with these households were collected in the late November, 2011.  “There is always a fine to be paid and fees to pay at any given time, and this is very expensive”, grumbled Daw Nyo, a 57-year-old widow and mother of five, who resides in Lae-Gyi Village.  Even on November 27 when her interview was taken, she had to pay thirty thousand kyat to the village administration team for the fee of a wooden log, a plank, or three wood poles demanded by the government Navy Unit No. 43.

Nai Shwe Hla (not real name), a 50-year-old Min Thar resident, who owns a passenger boat mentioned that his boat might be seized if he will not carry wood piles in his village even though he had already paid a fee to pay off his debt.

“During the period of forced labor demanded by the Own-pin-kwin-based Danyawaddy Navy Command, my boat was seized to transport villagers and laborers.  The military said they would just take my boat for three days but it lasted for two weeks.  I had to use my labor and my own petrol but gained nothing.  Now, I can imagine that my boat might be seized for transportation (of this wood) and both I and my boat have to struggle with those giant blocks of wood.”

It is obvious that the residents from the three townships of Yebyu, Ye, and Thanbyuzayat are still facing human rights abuses in their daily life. These human rights abuses include, but are not limited to; extortion/arbitrary taxation, forced labor, ill-treatment, sentry duty, and fees to provide village security. These abuses are common in those three townships, and are committed by the local based government’s battalions and navy.

The findings in this report reveal that the locals are forced to continue to provide the security fees of the gas pipeline, guarding duties for the security of gas pipeline and act as safeguards for village security. Additionally these villagers are victims of forced labor and extortion/arbitrary taxation by the government’s troops and navy forces. Their actions have led to extreme hardships for the villagers, who are unable to work or not permitted to work on their own lands without if they do not have work permits, and continue to struggle for their livelihoods. Additionally, as they are also demanded to present/report to the local based government offices with information about the movements of ethnic insurgency groups, they are worried that they will face the dangerous situations or death caused from knowing the position of these groups.

In the interviews conducted with the local residents, it shows that the villagers face human rights abuses more frequently by the government’s troops under the administration of this new government than by government troops during the last government’s term. Also, in spite of the exclaim of signs of change taking place in the Burma, local residents experience no such change in their regions yet, except a change of names of locally operated government offices.

In addition, the National Human Rights Commission is established in the country with a task of promoting and safeguarding fundamental rights of the country’s citizens. Despite of its proclaim, in reality, it fails to accomplish the competence and responsibilities which include stopping human rights violations, investigating and monitoring them and taking action for the prevention and lessen the violations.

It is clear that despite the transition to new supposedly civilian-led government and the formation of National Human Rights Commission, the human rights abuses continue to occur throughout those three townships. Consequently, the villagers can only expect more of the same sufferings, hardships, and human rights abuses.

1. We want UN Special Rapporteurs to reach into ethnic areas, to investigate past human rights violations and notice how the human rights continue to be systematically violated.
2. Burma (Myanmar) National Human Rights Commission must actively record cases of human rights violations from its citizens and protect its victims.  All human rights victims must be protected after they report their cases.
3. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) must train local people how to correctly and systematically administer cases of human rights violations.

Rice is the staple food of Burma and an essential part of Mon agriculture. It is what feeds the majority of people in Lower Burma and is one of Mon State’s primary exports. But this year rice is in short supply due to a treacherous trinity of problems that have attacked Mon farmers from all sides.

First, unusually heavy and continuous rains since late May have inundated fields and by the end of August, many fields are still flooded. Some farmers, such as Nai Both in Sein Taung Ward, Ka-mar-wet village, estimate they have lost over half of their rice crop to flooding. In past years, farmers could re-cultivate their paddies after a flood. But as this year’s flooding has persisted unusually long, some farmers say there is neither time nor enough resources to re-cultivate. Making matters worse, a state-owned dam, the Win Pa-noon dam, is at full capacity. Needing repairs and on the verge of collapse, officials have opened the sluice gates, releasing water into farmers’ fields. Farmers say the dam is the biggest obstacle in reducing the water levels.Download report as PDF [2.8MB]

Second, an invasion of snails has complicated efforts to maintain remaining rice plants and hampered those trying to re-cultivate. A zoologist who spoke with HURFOM said these snails, known as golden apple snails, are part of a species that is new to the region. They feed on the rice plants and lay thousands of eggs. Due to their rapid rate of reproduction, they can quickly overtake a rice field.

Third, farm rats have taken shelter in the fields that were least damaged by floods. In doing so, they built underground nests from which an increasing number of rats emerge to eat the panicles.

Farmers, former officials, and experts, have predicted that this year’s production of rice will not meet the needs of Mon State. Meanwhile, the government has yet to officially acknowledge there is even a problem. Some of the interviewees in this report opined that the government is not in the business of telling the truth, and officials have habitually reported false numbers to higher-ups in a chain of continuing false information.  At the local level, for their part, authorities have forced beleaguered farmers to pay taxes for repairs to the Win Pa-noon dam and work in projects having similar characteristics as Loh Ah-Pay. But ill-equipped and under-supported, the farmers struggle to remove and kill all the snails and rats. In some cases, farmers have been forced to re-cultivate certain paddies owned by the government at their own expense.

Methodology

This report concerns the villagers in Mon State, where most of the inhabitants are Mon with some Karen. It is a collection of survey research over three distinct problems –flooding, snails, and rats – that have adversely affect farmers. It draws from interviews of 46 people, ranging from farmers, former civil servants, businessmen, and academics.

This report draws from 50 farmers, 2 experts on agriculture and irrigation, and 4 former civil servants from the Ministry of Agriculture & Irrigation.

All interviews were conducted in August and September of 2011.

A background of paddy rice cultivation and current problems

In Mon State, there are, in total, 1,352,946 acres of rainy-season paddy rice, comprised in two districts, Moulmein District – which has 461,473 acres – and Thaton District – which has 430,000. However, due to limited resources and labor, only roughly 800,000 acres are cultivated.  Usually, the rice produced in Mon State is distributed to all parts of Lower Burma, including Karen State, and Tenissarim Division.

According to Mi Yow Palar Agricultural Service, farmers in Mon State invest equally in paddy rice cultivation as they do in rubber cultivation, which is also one of the main exports.

Though natural disasters – such as flooding, pests, and other destructive phenomena – are nothing new, this year the problems are more acute. Also, there is another unusual occurrence, which the farmers have not encountered before: this year snails are thriving among the paddy fields and damaging crops. The concurrence of severe flooding and destructive snails is developing into a serious problem for farmers.

In the past, with proper investment, it was still possible to successfully re-cultivate over inundated farmland after the waters receded. However, this year, as the paddy fields are still flooded at the end of August, for local farmers, there is no such chance to re-grow the paddy seedlings and to re-cultivate the paddy.

Interviews with local farmers from Mon and Karen states in September makes known that they feel the missing response from government authorities is a form of abuse. Local farmers are very frustrated with the lack of support, education (agricultural and technical), and overall responsibility for protecting them that had been promised by their leaders while campaigning for the nationwide elections.

Farmers Struggle to Stay Afloat Amid Severe Flooding in Lower Burma

“It is as if we are thirsty while riding a raft; it seems like we farmers will go hungry,” lamented a farmer from Chaung Zone Township. This despondent mood is rife among the farmers of Mon State, which is one of the largest rice producers in Burma. It has been called the “rice basket of Lower Burma” owing to its seasonal weather, the large number of acres devoted to farmland, and the concentration on paddy rice as one of the primary exports. Like the highly productive rubber trees grown throughout the region, rice is another important crop for the Mon people – such that it is considered ‘white gold’. As an essential part of the traditional Mon agriculture and livelihood, rice is cultivated annually.

However, due to natural occurrences, such as unusually high levels of rainfall, sometimes farmland becomes over inundated with water. This September report shows that due to flooding from unusually high sea water, pests and other destructive insects, thousands of acres of cultivated paddy lands have been damaged. There was not enough time, money, and labor for the majority of farmers to re-arrange their paddy fields, to re-cultivate the paddies or prevent them from getting damaged.

Local farmers are frustrated over the absence of support from the new state government in handling the effects of this natural disaster. Besides the lack of financial and technical support, and other helpful resources, some farmers face human rights abuses that are threatening their daily survival.

This report draws from 50 interviews with local farmers across 4 townships, local government servants, and educated people in the region. It discusses how a plot of paddy field is cultivated during the rainy season and how much investment is required during the cultivation phase to the harvest. It goes on to report on how the local government continues to levy taxes on farmers even if the farm has been damaged by natural disasters, and how the government has failed to take responsibility for helping the farmers. Finally, the report also reveals how the farmers have to face undue hardships amid natural disasters, such as extortion by township-based battalions and village administrations authorities. It reveals a picture of unwavering continuation of abuse by those with power, unchanged from the previous government.

No chance to re-cultivate the paddies in time

The concerned farmers expressed extreme worries of a food shortage and the fear they will go hungry this upcoming year. In Mudon Township, which produces the largest amount of wet season rice in Mon State, local farmers are frustrated that the heavy rain, which had began in June, hasn’t allowed water levels in the paddies to subside until the third week of August. Even with adequate resources to replant crops, there is not enough time. As a result, the local farmers cannot re-cultivate the paddies this year like in the past. Residents are very troubled with the prospect that there will be inadequate rice, leading them to go hungry.

The local farmers warn that the flood waters will not flow out of the fields, but instead become stagnant. This is in variance with the Government Agricultural Service, which asserts that this year’s flooding is no different from previous years. The primary source of flood water is the overflow from the state-owned Win Pa-noon dam. This is due to problems with the channels for water running through the dam. Not only do they need repair, they are also too narrow and not high enough for water to flow out. This results in a greatly diminished flow. Consequently, excess water runs off into paddy fields, causing flooding.

Nai Htun Win, an Abhit local farmer who owns twelve acres of farmland, said that because his farm was flooded, his family struggles to survive:

Flooding takes place every year. And in times past, we could re-plant the seedlings and re-cultivate the paddies after flooding. But this year, even for just the amount of rice for us to eat alone, we don’t have enough time to re-grow. The water level isn’t falling, and we wouldn’t have enough time to grow even if it did. It’s like this mainly because of the dam. The dam’s channels are getting shallow; and the government’s Agricultural and Irrigation Service is worried that the dam will collapse. So they opened the sluice gates, releasing a lot of water to flow out into the paddy fields. This is their responsibility – the Agricultural and Irrigation Service. And we are very frustrated with them because they do not even come to ask us, much less provide any help. For my family, we will definitely have to depend on rice bought from the market this year. As for income to support my family, I’ll try to find whatever jobs I can get.

According to Nai Htun Win, it costs over 100,000 kyat for an acre of paddy rice to be grown, as it requires buying and broadcasting paddy seeds, pulling out and replanting the seedlings, and spraying fertilizers and pesticides. He added that this year, the majority of local farmers in Mudon received an uncommonly high level of rain, which flooded their paddy fields. But that problem has been magnified by the excess floodwater flowing out of the Win Pa-noon Dam. As a result, the converging floodwaters have remained in the fields for a lengthy period, destroying all paddy rice.

The manger of the Village-level Agricultural Service in Ka-low Taw village, Mudon Township, Mon State, gave the following details on the extent of paddy damage in his area:

According to our records, this year in Mudon Township, 50,000 acres of a total 80,000 acres are flooded. And of the entire inundated area, 30,000 acres of paddy rice are expected to be damaged. If there is any possibility of recovering some paddy rice, it will only be a few acres. But, the recovered amount is still not going to meet the amount we need for a year’s production; it’ll definitely be a sizable decrease from last year.

Burma’s minister of Agriculture, U Myint Hlaing, has stated publically that a total of 880,000 acres of farmland has been cultivated in Mon State by the end of August. However, this statement does not disclose how many acres of paddy fields were damaged by pests and floods. When HURFOM contacted the State-level Myanmar Agricultural Service in September, asking how many acres of paddy rice fields were destroyed by flooding, they replied that they’re still making collection of it.

The majority of local farmers from villages under Mudon Township Administration believed the main cause of the flooding in the region is the effect of the government-owned Win Pa-non dam. These farmers were interviewed in the following villages in August and September: Kwan Hlar, Abhit, Yawng Daung, Hnin Padaw, Kwan Ka-been, Kalaw Tow, Bat-do, Kaw Pee-htaw, Ka-marwat, Sein-taung, Sat-dwae, Do-mar.

Nai Sein, a 60 year-old farmer from Kwan Ka-been village, somberly describes his situation:

They do not come to ask us anything. The government servants have never come to help us when we are in trouble like this. But, at other times, they still come to collect the fees for fixing the channels of the Win Pa-non dam while continuing to release water from it. Now, even though we actually want to see their faces, they don’t show up. For us, we cannot re-cultivate the paddy this year. We do not have money to re-grow either. We will just live like this. If we go hungry, we will face it. Nothing can help.

Paddy Rice Damaged by Snails and Farm Rats

Throughout Mon State, a large number of acres of farms have been destroyed by inundation and snails and farm rats. Farmers from Chaung Zone Township estimated the number of paddy fields damaged by snails to be in the thousands. These snails, known as golden apple snails, feed on paddy seedlings, mature seedlings, and leaves, leaving only the stubbles. Snails have doubled the complications faced by farmers already beset with problems from severe flooding. Farmers that were interviewed faced enormous difficulties with re-cultivating their paddies owing to the lack of seedlings, the chance of more flooding, and the inadequate resources and time required.

Nai Nyut Thee, 56, a farmer from Kaw Mu-bon village, told HURFOM on August 18th that because of the flooding and pestilent snails, more than half of his eight-acre farm has been damaged and it is not possible for him to re-cultivate paddy seedlings:

I have cultivated paddy for over 20 years… Now this year, I’ve faced my farm getting flooded and damaged by snails. At the end of June, 8 acres of paddy fields were finished cultivated but now no more than 4 acres are left without getting damaged. About 3 acres of paddy fields have been eaten by the snails within one month. And, one acre was destroyed by the flooding. In total, I have lost 4 acres of my paddy fields, and the loss values about 500,000 kyat. Now, there is no possibility to re-grow. This is because I do not have enough time to re-do everything and the snails are still spreading throughout every field… Even if I had time to re-grow, I do not think I would have enough money to invest in growing the paddy again. So, this year, I just hope to get back our investment from the remaining 4 acres of paddy. The government never comes to give us any technical education and not even any help in dealing with pests or other problems. So, here, I just want to say that I do not think I can pay any taxes – collected with no specific reasons – and other fees for village development like I could in the past. I just cannot afford it anymore. This year, for us, we hardly have enough rice to survive.

The majority of farmers interviewed decided not to re-cultivate the paddy because, based on their experiences, they predict there would be more losses. They say there is not enough time to grow another crop since rainy season will end soon. As a result, the paddies would not grow, blossom, and ripen.

Owing to the government’s lack of transparency in these matters, the number of acres of paddy rice that have been destroyed is not known to the public. Local residents in Chaung Zone are further upset because aside not helping with the farmers’ plight, in the newspapers the government only acknowledges that paddy fields have been flooded – there is no mention of the many acres of farmland that has been damaged by the snails and rats. Farmers feel ignored and left to fend for themselves.

Local Farmers Forced to Pick up Snails

Most of the paddies in Chaung Zone and Moulmein townships have been damaged by golden apple snails. Local farmers have desperately hoped to get some support from the state government, such as aid from the Agriculture and Irrigation Service or assistance with growing the paddy rice again. However, these farmers report that instead of helping them, the government has set up a project to clean up and remove pests from the paddies using the farmers as forced labor.

According to U Kyaw Nyut, 48, a villager from Tha-yal village, during the entire month of August, local farmers were organized to pick up the snails in every paddy field under supervision of the Township-level Agriculture Services manager and its staff:

While already upset with the damages caused by snails in my paddy fields alone, I was ordered to pick up the snails in every farm. The staff from Agricultural Service ordered us to pick up snails and put them gunny bags or sacks. Like going for Loh Ah Pay, we had to go for snail-removal duty two times. The first time was from August, 18th to the 23rd, and the second was from August 25th to end of the month. We had to pick up in any field, collecting the snails and putting them in sacks. For my farm, I had picked up almost the whole farm already. And, just as we need time to re-cultivate our damaged paddies, we farmers need time to take care of the remaining paddy rice. I think, the responsibility of picking up the snails should be taken by the government Agricultural Service. They should not order us to work like this while we are having troubles.

When HURFOM contacted the manager of Chaung Zone Township Agriculture Service, asking why it needed to use labor of local famers to pick up the snails, the manager said that if the locals did not help pick up the snails, the snails would spread out further. Therefore, they did not wait for an order from the state government before organizing the local farmers to pick up snails as doing Loh Ah Pay. In Chaung Zone Township, of 65,760 total acres, he estimated that 20 percent of paddy acres have been damaged by the snails. But, he acknowledged, “the State has not disclosed this yet.”.

However, Nai Kyit Aye, a local farmer from Ka-mar Moe village, contends that the government will not disclose the full figure of damaged paddy fields. It is their habit, he says, of never disclosing how many acres of farms really got damaged so as to avoid blame if the amount produced does not meet the amount that they had previously estimated. Nai Soe Thein, a farmer who lost four acres of his nine-acre farm to pests and flooding in Bo-nat village, asserts emphatically that how many acres the government acknowledges has been damaged is beside the real point:

Regardless of the number of damaged paddy fields they make known, for us this year we will definitely face the difficulty of having not enough rice to survive. Even though the township Agricultural Service can lie to the State [on the numbers of damaged paddies], for us, we cannot lie to our stomachs. Like before, now we cannot not depend on paddy rice from our farms to make offerings, support our children going to school, and to provide money for our health care. For us to survive, we just have to depend on the remaining 5 acres of paddy field.

Background of The Golden Apple Snails

According to Ko Htun Htun Oo, a zoologist in Moulmein City, whom HURFOM spoke to in late September, the snails in Chaung Zone are a new species:

This kind of snail is a new species in Burma. We believe that this species has been coming via the Salween River since two years ago. And, now, it has reached Chaung Zone on Pa-luu Island. That’s how we think it happened. This is because I started seeing this species two years ago. Now, it has spread out. They really like eating small plants like paddy rice with soft stubbles and greenish-colored leaves, and they will lay eggs and produce offspring very fast. Because they multiply so quickly, it is devastating for the paddy fields. These snails are vivid red and are as big as chicken eggs. Sometimes, while they are eating the paddy, they lay their eggs, which are of a purplish color. The number of the eggs that they lay at once is thousands to ten thousands. Each one can eat up or damage the paddy for as long as 5-6 months, which is how long they live. So, accordingly, they will eat up the whole farm. That’s what we have studied. The chemicals that can kill them are made in Thailand, such THYOLIS. However,because the government does not seem to help much, the farmers will continue to struggle to eradicate these snails.

Widespread Damage Caused by Rats After the Flooding

Besides the damage caused by flooding and golden apple snails, many paddy fields in Mudon and Thanbyuzayat townships of Mon State were ruined by rats, resulting in even more losses of rice paddy plants.  Because of the flooding, rats made their nests among the rice plants and fed on the early panicles, Consequently, even the rice plants that survived the flood were lost.  Each rat weighs 20 to 25 kyattha (one kyattha = 16.32 grams) and the farmers are ill-equipped to handle the rat problem. The damage from rats was especially severe in the following villages: Ahbit, Kwan ka-been, Hnee-pa-daw, Kwan-hlar, Yawng Daung, Kaw Pee-Htaw, Kalaw Tow, Do-mar, Bat-do, Settwe, Ka-mar-wet, Lat-tat and Kyaik-Yel villages of Mudon Township, Mon State.   From the 22nd of September to the end of the month, the condition of the paddy fields ruined by the rats was documented.  Twenty-seven local farmers said that 42 percent of their cultivated acres were lost because the rats chewed away the paddy rice plants remaining after the flood.

On September 23, Nai Both, 50, who cultivates rainy-season paddy rice and lives in Sein Taung Ward, Ka-mar-wet village, described the problem with rats on his farm:

Unlike the others, just a few of my rice plants were damaged by the flood.  My paddy field is a little bit far from where the flood occurred.  However, the rats fled from the flooded paddy fields and came to make their nests in my farm.  They dug holes among the rice plants and chewed the panicles. And they live in the holes.  There too many rats; I can’t get rid of them all.  About two acres of my seven-acre paddy field were damaged, in total.  Moreover, these remaining rice plants are not well developed because they had to struggle from the flood of early rainy season. And besides low production of rice, some if it was damaged by the rats. So having enough food this year is our biggest concern.  Ka-mar-wet, Sein-taung and Htaung-kay of this region and northern villages of Mudon Township were all impacted by the rats.  Some farmers tried to defeat the rats by destroying their holes, but they weren’t successful.  Now, only the rice plants that weren’t eaten by the rats are left.

Twenty-seven local farmers of Ka-mar-wet and its surroundings, including Nai Both, each reported losing one to three acres of their paddy fields due to rats. This came as a double whammy to farmers as they had already lost over one-half of their paddy fields to flooding. In Thanbyuzayat Township, which borders Mudon Township in Mon State, damage from rats was especially severe in paddy fields that did not get flooded. Rats from flooded areas came and destroyed the surviving rice plants. “The rest of rice plants which was going to serve as food for the coming year was totally ruined,” said a group of distressed Mon farmers. They claimed there was a big loss of wet season paddy in the area between Phaung Sein and Kwan-hlar villages which are close to Mudon Township.

The farmers explained that as soon as the first round of sowing paddy seeds had been done, heavy rain flooded the fields in the third week of May and persisted through September. During this period, one-third of the seedlings were destroyed, and every farmer was affected. In a region where nearly everyone is a farmer, this is devastating. In just Phaung Sein, Kwan-hlar, Kyar-kan and Wae-ka-ruu villages, there are over 5,000 farmers, and up to tens of thousands of acres belong to local farmers.  Owing to losses from the floods, the snails, and the rats, many say they have no mood to continue farming.  They are worried about covering the costs of their investments and haven’t received any support from the government. Disappointment and frustration are rife.

Statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation of Mon State, which were cited by five staff from the Agricultural Service, confirm that there are over 47,000 acres of rainy-season paddy fields and over 20,000 acres in total were damaged by the flood and the rats.  But, U Myint Hlaing, the minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, announced that up to this August, 880,000 acres of rain season paddy field had already been cultivated; however, the number of paddy fields affected by the floods, snails, and rats had not been announced yet.  Already, interviews with agricultural business persons and experts reveal a consensus that the critically low rate of predicted paddy production will not meet the needs of Mon State.

A retired former district-level administrator from the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation opined that it is unlikely the government will acknowledge the scope of the problem:

An official announcement from the Mon State government stated there are nearly 900,000 acres of paddy fields already cultivated. According to these statistics, 60 million Tin [baskets] of paddy should be produced; however, because of the destruction by the flood, snails, and rats, we’ll be lucky if 20 million Tin is produced.  As usual, the state-level government will dishonestly report to the central government that the production targets were achieved and then supporting statistics and news will be released.  It is usually done this way.  The people who are really affected by this are the farmers who depend on agriculture.  They might suffer from hunger while they are doing this kind of work.  Besides getting no support, they are abused by the government and charged unfair taxes. This year, I think, the farmers have to struggle a lot

Local Farmers Forced to Re-Till Paddy Fields

In addition to excessive flooding, which led to widespread crop losses, farmers were forced by the district-level authorities of Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation to re-cultivate what was classified as ‘ideal’ paddy fields. The ideal paddy fields are those with special paddy species defined by the government, which are situated beside highways, railways, or by the front and back of foot paths.  They are systematically cultivated in a row-by-row orientation. In these paddy fields, local farmers had to supply the labor for various tasks, such as harrowing soil to harvesting crops – all under the instruction of Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation.

The heavy rain in Mon State from early June to the middle of September broke the previous record of rainfall of 200 inches, and left paddy fields in Kyaik-ma-yaw and Paung townships over inundated.  Most of the ideal paddy fields are situated in Ta-ra-nar, Kaw-thet, Kha-rom-pan villages, in Kyai-ma-yaw Township, and Ka-mar-be and A-hlat villages Paung Township – and they are all run under the instruction of the State Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation.  Each township has about 1,000 acres of ideal paddy fields owned by the government and almost all were destroyed at the second week of this September.  In order to re-cultivate most of the ideal paddy fields, the State General Administration Department and State Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation ordered local farmers to re-cultivate the ideal paddy fields, according to documentation obtained by HURFOM. Statistics from the report show that 2,000 acres of government-owned ideal paddy fields were destroyed in Kyaik-ma-yaw and Paug townships, and local farmers were forced to re-cultivate about 1,500 acres of ideal paddy fields. Further, from the third week of August to the second week of September, over 400 farmers from both townships were forced to re-cultivate government-owned paddy fields.

An 80-acre ideal paddy field was re-cultivated by under authority of the township manager of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation of Paung Township and the township’s governor using the labor of the local farmers. Despite their own hardships the farmers felt they had to participate in forced labor because they had to revive the government’s ideal paddy fields.

Mi Tin Nu (not real name) is a 60-year-old Mon woman and a widow. She works on 15- acre farm with help of her sons in A-hlat village, Paung Township.  Two years ago, about 4 acres of Mi Tin Nu’s 15-acre paddy field was designated as “ideal paddy field” by the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation. After that she could not cultivate the rainy-season rice plants normally and she had to systematically cultivate the rice plants row by row. She also had to excessively protect the rice plants from destructive insects and use an inordinate amount of fertilizer.  This year, because of the flood, most of her paddy fields, including her four-acre ideal paddy field, was destroyed. On August 22nd, the village-level agricultural manager ordered her to re-cultivate her four-acre ideal paddy field, even though she was struggling for money. The ordeal cost her 300,000 kyat and left her physically depleted:

They had alloted their ideal paddy field inside my paddy field and it flooded this year.  There was a big loss.  Even we could do nothing because it was a natural disaster. Then on August 22, the agricultural manager, U Soe Win, and his staff came and ordered me to re-cultivate the 4-acre flooded ideal paddy field.  When I asked what they were going to provide in terms of support, they replied that they would support me with fertilizer sold at the government price and protect against insects.  Like the others, I dared not to oppose the order of the government.  Therefore, as soon as I got the order, I started harrowing soil with my three sons and hired workers.  Their agricultural service staff came and helped in cultivating the rice plants row by row. Anyhow, ideal paddy field or any other (work) shouldn’t be done during this hardship period.  Moreover, it cost me to hire labor and purchase more fertilizer and rice plants. So I’m in debt with about 300,000 kyat.  Other farmers were also ordered to do so because they had ideal paddy fields. But the ideal paddy fields beside highways got more support.

During HURFOM’s field research, most local farmers in Kyaik-ma-yaw Township were found restarting their farming mainly on ideal paddy fields and forecasted the production of rice to be low and late.  Most of them said they had to serve in Loh Ah Pay-like activities because they daren’t make any complaints. According to estimates from 20 local cultivators, about 50,000 acres of a total 115,204 acres of rainy-season paddy field in Kyaik-ma-yaw Township were flooded.  Among these 20, six of them had to participate in re-cultivating ideal paddy fields.  Most of them said they were not satisfied because they had to work in the forced re-cultivation even though they were not listed as having to do so.

Conclusion

It is clear that farmers across Mon state have been overwhelmed by the cruel vicissitudes of nature. Heavy rains have flooded fields, invasive snails have taken over rice paddies, and rats have nibbled away at what was left. But the finding in this report also show that the farmers’ problems have been compounded by the inaction and ill-will of man: the state-owned Win Pa-noon dam is preventing flood waters from receding, authorities are forcing beleaguered farmers to perform laborious snail-removal duties without proper equipment, and government-owned paddies are re-cultivated at local farmers’ expenses.

However, the unduly strains put on farmers by authorities, especially considering the impending food shortage, are nothing new. As reported on previously, locals from Thanbyuzayat and Mudon townships, and southern Moulmein townships, who live and work along the gas pipeline, have paid steadily-increasing security fees for ten years. They also have to maintain, and, at times, protect a gas pipeline that hazards the local environment and from which they receive no benefit.

What is becoming increasingly clear is that despite Burma’s change to an ostensibly civilian-run government in 2010, the parasitic nature of government in relation to its people has yet to change. Officials show up for tax collection; but when villagers have problems, government servants are nowhere around. As such, farmers facing insolvency and a region on the verge of a food shortage have received no support. Meanwhile, public officials have yet to acknowledge the depths of the disaster, as no official tally of damages to farms has been released. In keeping with an Orwellian attitude, perhaps by not recognizing a problem, officials intend to avoid having to take any responsibility.

Yet while it is easy to criticize and conjecture about the failings of government, what must not be lost in the discussion are the tangible consequences of failed leadership. Mon State is expected to have a rice shortfall this year; and as a result, many will face extreme hardship.  The hard truth is that government officials can avoid talking about the scope of the problem, but in the end people will still go hungry.  Put another way: Township-level authorities can lie to the state government, but, in the words of Nai Soe Thein of Bo-nat village, “we cannot lie to our stomachs”.

From late June to mid-July 2011, HURFOM field reporters gathered human rights violation cases through conducting interviews with native residents of the villages under the administration of Kyon-doo Township, Kawkareik Township, and Kyarinnseikkyi Township. These villages include those that are located in western and southern Kawkareik Township, and some in the southern part of Kyarinnseikkyi Township, Karen State. Of native residents interviewed, 95% of them reported that they are being arbitrarily taxed by multiple armed groups. They experience immense hardship from trying to make a living while supporting all these groups, and they fear the prospect of having to maintain this arrangement long-term. The remaining 5 % of those interviewed reported that they are continuously being threatened, unfairly oppressed, and used as porters and human shields.Download report as PDF [168KB]

This report concerns local villagers in the aforementioned areas, 98% of which are Karen nationals and 2% are Mon and Burmese nationals. These local residents heavily depend on the income from their farms and orchards for their livelihoods while some, residing along the rivers and streams, work as fishermen for a living.

HURFOM has documented war crimes from ongoing war and armed conflicts happening in the following targeted areas: Karen State, Mon State, and Tenissarim Division. These are the areas where the government troops and Karen armed groups were active and engaged in fighting during HURFOM’s information-gathering over a one month period. It’s similar to the previous report about the breakout of fighting between government troops and a Karen armed group, which affected the lives of civilians where the conflicts took place. It also revealed that both sides, the government troops and the Karen armed group, harmed local residents by demanding military supplies, supporting fees, food supplies, and anything else their armies needed.

HURFOM’s objectives are to document and report on human rights violation cases in order to promote human rights and lessen the chance of future violations. HURFOM gathers facts about all human rights abuses and will report on these cases regardless of which armed group or army committed them. Therefore, where possible, this report includes the names of any and all armed groups and local residents that were part of the fact-finding.

Methodology

During a 25 day investigation, three HURFOM field reporters and their network of local sources gathered facts and stories secretly. Yet, as there were security challenges involved in collecting some of the stories/facts in the areas where the government troops are active, they failed to report on some other specific findings. This report is only able to be written three weeks after the investigation, drawing from interviews and specific sources of 30 local families and some other local residents who provided facts from 12 villages under the administrations of 3 townships: Kawkareik Township, Kyon-Doo Township, and Kyarinnseikkyi Township.

Armed conflict in the Karen areas

The cases in this report took place in the context of armed conflict engaged between government troops and battalions No. 901,902, and 908 of breakaway DKBA led by Col. Saw Lah Pwe in Kawkareik and Kyarinnseikkyi townships since last April until now.

Because of the ongoing engagement between the Nay Pyi Taw government troops, with the help of its BGD troops, and Col. Saw Lah Pwe’s breakaway DKBA battalions, life is hardfor the local residents in Kawkareik Township and Kyarinnseikkyi Township. During battles, both of the armed groups, government troops and breakaway DKBA, demand local residents to provide them with recompenses for casualties or lost equipment, food supplies, and other supporting fees. The local residents who HURFOM spoke with had to take out funds from their savings, while some had to borrow to fulfill the demands of the armed groups.

In the excerpt below, Mahm Nyut Maung, 69, a former Karen rebel living in Winn-ka village in Kawkareik Township, told HURFOM about the plight of local residents during the fighting:

“Every place where the fighting takes place usually becomes unstable and causes soldiers to demand things from villagers. And consequently, we cannot work and it leads to hardships for us. It is okay if it [the fighting] happens occasionally [because we can still work]. But it has been going on for 30 or 40 years. How can we have peace? It’s always one thing or another: fighting between the government troops and Karen troops or Karen troops fighting among themselves. It happens over and over. And, when there is a breakout of fighting, [afterward] there comes compensation fees for the soldiers’ losses while we’re also demanded to provide [food] supplies for them. If we are unable to provide, we will be tortured. Then, when it is known that one group is collecting supplies from a villager, another comes around to demand and collect. We, the civilians, have to provide what they demand, while the armed groups compete for control. And it leads us to hunger. Now, the compensation being collected here is not only by one group but 2-3 groups, as well. What I want to say is that the Karen [armed groups] are oppressing [their own] Karen [people] again.”

The instability in the region directly affects the lives of local residents. Residents often have to hide in bomb shelters to avoid the fighting. As long as the guns and artillery continue to fire, they are unable to work to earn a living.

Kawkareik Township’s residents, who are unable to work during the fighting, told HURFOM they are using their families’ savings to meet the demands of armed groups. Saw Ah-kyot, 45, from southern Kawkareik Township, described the strains that the fighting has put on him and his family:

Even though our children are hungry, we have to try to provide for their demands rather than feeding our children. Sometimes, we want to feed our children the things that we give them [the armed groups]. [But] we’ll be punished if we have nothing to give them. And, we have to work for them as ordered when we only have our labor left to give. Becuase of how the war has affected us in this way, the word ‘fighting’ is one of the words that I do not want to hear.

In this report, HURFOM has included the opinions of local residents over ethnic armed groups in its previous reports. The interviews HURFOM conducted with local residents also reveal the opinion of local residents over the current armed conflicts in Kawkareik and Kyarinnseikkyi Townships.

Most of the interviews show that residents are still fearful of government troops and want no armed groups in their area. They are also frustrated to know that the rebel groups are the sources of the problems. According to the local residents, the breakaway DKBA troops are the primary sources of their troubles.

In the 3rd week of July, a 33-year-old villager from Ah-sone village, expressed frustration with the armed groups and their demands for money and supplies:

“For me, I want none of the revolutionary groups to be stationed here. They may heroically call themselves a ‘revolution group’, ‘defense force’, and/or a nationality group. etc. [But] we are the people who have to provide for them while they pick our pockets. It’s okay if we have things [to give them]. [However,] now, even for our own survival, we are struggling. So we do not have goodwill [towards the armed groups ]. If there were no revolutionary groups, there would be less fighting. If possible, we want none of it; we just want to work for a living peacefully.

Extortion and arbitrary taxation by breakaway DKBA armed forces

It is said that the success and failure of a revolution always depends on civilians’ support. Every revolution requires sacrifices from civilians. These come in the form of financial support, supplies, and cooperation. A system of rules or a code of conduct is also necessary if these sacrifices are to be paid. Otherwise, it’s like extortion if sacrifices are demanded in accordance with no system of rules or without reasons, in addition to demanding to the point of starvation for the civilians. The findings in this report show that during the current armed conflicts in Kawkareik and Kyarinnseikkyi townships between the government troops and Breakaway DKBA troops, both sides have forced the local residents to provide for them without any system of rules to regulate their behavior.

The battalion No. 908 of Breakaway DKBA, led by Major Sein Myint, with its followers, has continuously demanded supplies and support from local residents in two townships, Kawkareik and Kyarinnseikkyi.. They particularly demand financial backing, but they never give reasons or explanations for how they will use the residents’ money. Worst yet, they have already demanded supplies and financial support from the same villages many times and appear poised not to stop.

According to Naypyidaw Government’s administration, the following villages belonged to the Kawkareik Township while KNU’s administation is in the Kyone Doe Township, Karen State. These all areas were controlled by DKBA 901
On June, 27, HURFOM interviewed Kyaw Ah Htuu, a villager of Ah-sone village, Kawkareik Township, and he gave the details of how he was demanded to provide support for a unit, under Breakaway DKBA’s battalion No. 908:

“Just that one group, a group leader comes to collect, and still during that week, there come another group from the same battalion to collect. Now, the breakaway DKBA troops are using those methods, collecting the compensation. How can we provide? We do not have a money making machine! Everyone can see the prices of everything at the moment; and working for daily wage, we can hardly survive.”

The local sources said that the troops from breakaway DKBA mainly demand support from two sources: every village and employer must provide accordingly. At the village-level, the fee is calculated based on the number of househoulds, and it must be paid according to a schedule. This happens in most of the villages in Kawkariek Township, where the battalion of breakaway DKBA, led by Major Sein Myint, is active. According to local sources, the battalion required those villages with a few households, between 30 – 40, to provide 100,000 kyat per month; while those villages with many households have been demanded to pay 200,000 kyat or more per month. Also, some villages in Kawkareik Township have been demanded to provide not only money, but also rice. Below is an excerpt from an interview with a local source:

[We have been] demanded to pay 200,000 kyat per month in Htee Huu-tan village, Kawkareik Township, and paddy rice 200 tin (baskets of rice). Years have passed by, how can we continue to provide? We have to borrow the rice from others after giving them our stored paddy rice. We have to just give it them like that to fulfil our ‘responsibility’. As Col. Sein Myint’s DKBA troops are stationed here, we would be punished if we do not pay them. We can do nothing as they are the ones who have the power. So, we just have to provide for them like this.

According to another local source, the columns under command of the breakaway DKBA’s combined battalion No. 901 and No.906, also come to ask for supporting fees in Laung-kyain village, Kyarinnseikkyi Township:

“Between the battles, the columns under command of breakaway DKBA combined battalion No.901 and No.906 led by Major Htar-Kuu, demanded 200 tin of paddy rice per village. And they said that they will accept the money if we cannot provide them with rice. Their demand – 200 tin of paddy rice – is a lot to collect. The villagers in our village are facing lots of difficulties, as they have to provide not only for one group but for other groups as well. We’re still not clear whether we’ll be punished if we do not fulfill their demand. We do not know what they’re saying [in the field] as we just live here [in the village]. Because they are active in this area, if we do not provide as they demand, the villagers are afraid that they will make trouble for them. Because of this, the villagers pay what they have or have stored. In obtaining 200 tin of paddy rice, some villagers give only half tin while some give one tin. We just have to collect like that. It’s very hard to get 200 tin collected from one village. The whole effort of collecting paddy rice is organized by the village head.”

According to a local source, because the breakaway DKBA troops have been demanding food and support recklessly, it seems that they are no longer faithful to those Karen people who have been supporting them for over 60 years — for the purpose of Karen national liberation. Local sources said that they were unhappy with the behavior of the breakaway DKBA, as they have abused locals just like the government troops have done.

A local resident in Kawkareik Township, 54, reported that the majority of Karen people have gradually lost confidence in the breakaway DKBA:

I don’t think any armed group should act like this if they really want to get support from civilians and fight for their revolution after they had abandoned their businesses. They ‘said’ they are protecting the people, and that they fight for Karen sovereignty for the Karen people. [But], they are breaking their promises. In my opinion, I see their demands as worse than the government troops’ tax collection. This is like what I’ve just said: they are destroying peoples’ confidence and beliefs in them.

Despite those strong words, HURFOM reporters found that many Karen local residents are afraid to claim that the breakaway DKBA battalions levied them with unfair taxes for the purchases of their rations and armed supplies. It’s generally assumed or understood that it is risky for them to criticize the rebel armed groups, as some local people had already had bad experiences doing so. Thus, the main reason why local people do not call for justice when abuses are committed in their area is that they are afraid of repercussions from the armed groups. However, a general reluctance to admit guilt or seek justice in society has been common since the days when people lived in fear under the governments of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) and the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).

A local resident in Kawkareik Township, 54, described living with this situation:

“Talking like that, I do not know, whether it seems like I’m supporting Burmese government troops’ side. Now, here, it seems like we do not have to pay what the government troops demand. For us, poor people, we have to be afraid of those who are holding guns, the ones nearest us, from generation and generation. Even though the government has changed, nothing [else] has changed in the country. What can we do? What is happening now is that we have to give the DKBA everything that we have for our own survival. When the BGF troops heard that the DKBA troops come to collect the money, they come to collect too. I also do not know whether they are competing with each other. It’s now happening like this. As we are the persons who have to provide whatever we have, we have to give them whether we have. If we do not give them what they want, we cannot live because they will cause trouble for us.”

Local businessmen forced to pay armed groups of both sides

According to an estimate provided by local sources, there are over 800 pay-for-use telephones operated by local businessmen in the two townships of Kawkareik and Kyarinnseikkyi, Karen State. Most of the phones were cordless phone types, and in order to operate, the phone operators had to pay taxes to local DKBA authorities, who are cooperating with Thai Tele-communication Company. It was revealed that prior to the nationwide elections and the breakout of fighting between the government troops and breakaway DKBA in early November 2010, there were three times as many phone service providers in the two townships as there are now. The remaining phone service providers operate only for remittances and personal use.

Last July, those phone owners of remaining phone services in Kawkareik and Kyarinnseikkyi Townships who run their phone services but earn very little were saddled with heavy taxes from the breakaway DKBA troops. Some phone operators had to shut down their phone services because they could not pay taxes as demanded.

Ma Nyo, a phone service owner from Ah-sone village, gave the following statement to HURFOM reporters:

We cannot even get 200,000 kyat – that’s the amount they demand from us – from running our service in one month. There are so many phone operation services. And, the number of people who come to [use the] phone [services] is gradually decreasing. Additionally, we also have to work for families’ survival and the expenses of taking care of the kids. The DKBA troops which come to ask for [money] are the troops from Battalion No. 908, led by Major Sein-myint. That was on June 14th, and they came to ask for it the whole week. After negotiating in various ways, we could get it cut down to 80,000 kyat. That’s just one group. I do not know yet which groups will come to demand again.

Ko Nwge Tin, Har Lar mill owner, Pain-nae village, Kawkareik Township, describes in the passage below how he had to pay a 200,000 kyatt supporting fee demanded by DKBA battalion no. 908 and No.901, based in Kyon-doo Township:

“As far as we understand,– ‘we’, the civilians, should support ‘them’, the armed groups [who are] working for ‘our’ revolution – as they’re fighting for ‘us’, the civilians. Now, it appears like extortion, because their demands are not balanced with what we have with us to give them. And, we cannot profit from our work; we can just work and get paid for our daily meals; we cannot save more. They asked for a hundred thousand kyat, we can not afford to give them that much. Yet, the Burmese government troops do not ask for that much.”

The heavy taxes of hundreds of thousands of kyat from the breakaway DKBA battalions deeply affect the business owners running the phone services. Moreover, even though rates of service are only 300-400 kyat per minute, business owners said there are very few customers. When fighting erupted in this area, sometimes the government troops also imposed taxes on the phone service providers when they were planning a military operation. In short, phone service providers have been forced to pay fees to both sides of this conflict.

In the second week of April, the government columns of Light Infantry Battalion No.543, under Military Operation Management Command (MOMC) No.5, charged local phone service providers heavy taxes in Ah-sone and Lan-phan villages, when they were doing military operations in Kawkareik and Kyarinnseikkyi Townships.

In late July, a 40-year-old former phone service owner described the impossible situation for business owners like him:

If I wanted to run a phone service, I had to pay taxes to both sides. And, because this was a communication business, if something [bad] happened, I would be accused of providing the information [for the enemy]. That’s by the time Thin-gyan [annual water festival] ended. I had already experienced this when the government LIB No. 543 came to our village. The Burmese soldiers accused me of being an informant for [breakaway] DKBA because I opened a phone service. And they confiscated my phone system. I also had to pay 300,000 kyat to them. That’s after I had already paid 80,000 kyat to DKBA as a monthly tax about 3-4 days prior. Because of this, without thinking about anything, I just shut down the service. I also became in debt.

Fleeing armed conflict and forced relocation

Due to the outbreak of post-election fighting between the government troops and breakaway DKBA brigade 5 and ongoing fighting throughout northern and eastern Karen State along Thailand border, there are thousands of people fleeing their homes to safer places. Hundreds of families have fled their home villages to Mae Tha-war village in Myaing Gyi-guu area, which is in Hlaing-boe Township, close to the Thai-Burma border. However, because there is no humanitarian assistance and there are no job opportunities in the area, the refugees have faced many difficulties.

On August 22nd, HURFOM spoke with Saw Ka Lo-sae, 28, who is a member of the Karen Backpack Health Worker Team. He told HURFOM that medical aid, food supplies, and other assistance are in short supply and that everyone is concerned:

The refugees have many difficulties. Fighting breaks out every day in their home villages in Kawkareik Township and Kyarinnseikkyi Township. And, because of the fighting, they could not work and had to flee to here, the border. Now, according to our list, the villagers from 10 villages, in Hlaing-boe and Par-bon townships have also left their homes. Everyone, including village head, left to come here. This area is called Myaing Gyi-guu. Here, we have accepted over a thousand refugees fleeing from the fighting. For housing, they just have to live in whatever they can. It does not seem like the amount of food supplies and medical assistance was adequate for the number of the refugees. So that’s why we need to get international assistance.

Additionally, because of the fighting in Yaw-po, Tha-wee Ka-lar, Ka Mar-htar, and Pa-nwe Thar-ka-lar villages, thousands of people from these villages, including the village headmen, have fled to Mae Tha-war village, Hlaing-boe Township, close to border. And they have still not been provided with humanitarian assistance.

Also, according to an official from breakaway DKBA brigade No.5, because government Light Infantry Battalion No. 204, under Division No. 11, fired artillery shells into Mae-lar and Mae-seit villages, specifically in Htee Tha Taw-htar village ward, Par-bon Township, on 2nd August, the villagers from those locales have fled to Hlaing-boe Township, Myaing Gyi-guu area.

A Major from the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) Brigade No. 7 expressed his understanding of the hardships villagers taking refuge in Myaing Gyi-guu area were facing . According to him, in order for those refugees to return to their villages and live peacefully, the DKBA and KNLA troops that were active in the villages have withdrawn from the immediate vicinity of the residential areas:

We are not stationing in those villages anymore. We already drew back; otherwise, the cattle and buffaloes would eat up the paddy rice grown in the farms belonging to the villagers. If we kept deploying there, in the villages, the other side [the government’s Border Guard Force (BGF)] would continue firing into the villages. And it would destroy the houses of villagers.

This happened in late July, when the BGF troops and Breakaway DKBA troops were engaged in fighting. The BGF were in an elevated position, firing guns and artillery shells into the villages. Some villagers in the area were wounded and a local school was shut down. It has yet to re-open.

A Major from DKBA reported on 20th August, that BGF troops have forced the villagers from 9 villages to relocate to Myaing Gyi-guu area. Since mid-August until now, residents from the 9 villages – Htee Lar-nae, Tha Moe Yar, Mar Aee, Yaw Po-htar, Buu-say, Tha-wee Ka-lar, Htee-law Thee-htar, Pwe-poe Ka-lar, and Mae Pow Ka-lar – have been instructed by advisors of BGF batallions, Saw Par-nee and Saw Htun Hlaing, to relocate to Myaing Gyi-guu area. Below, are the Major’s words on the situation:

This was the order given by Lt. Par-nee and U Htun Hlaing. It was for the villagers to move out. As the situation is unstable, the villagers are also afraid to live in their homes. Those villages were hit by the artillery shells often. So, that’s why no one can live in there, and the people have moved out of their villages. But, some villagers still keep living in their homes.”

Conclusion
The post-election violence has devastated the lives of many who live in or around the battle zones. Additionally, the ongoing armed conflict has made it both dangerous and difficult for HURFOM’s reporters to get in and document the human rights abuses occurring each day. The human rights abuses, such as those documented in this report, are taking place throughout three townships: Kyon-doo, Kawkareik, and Kyarinnseikkyi. And they are committed by both government troops and battalions of the breakaway DKBA.

The findings of this report show that civilians living in the affected areas have been the victims of extortion by armed groups. They are providing large quantities of rice, money (in the form of taxes and fees, and military supplies. Neither side of the armed conflict has held their soldiers accountable or practices restraint in their demands and ill-treatment of civilians. Their actions have led to extreme hardship for the villagers, who are unable to work and struggle to survive. Finally, many are reluctant or afraid to report the injustices in their villages owing to the climate of fear that has remained since the reigns of previous governments.

Accountability and transparency are the critical deficiencies in these areas where human rights abuses are taking place. If the armed conflict does not cease, it is likely both sides will continue to extort and abuse civilians without restraint.. As such, the lives of local people will always be in extreme danger.

Despite the transition to a supposedly civilian-led government, violence and injustice continue to occur in the country. Consequently, armed conflict and human rights abuse are still prevalent. Therefore, it is a moral imperative for the new civilian government to make changes democratically and to start dialogues with all ethnic groups at once to end the fighting and bring about a stable peace. If they do no act, the people of Burma can only expect more of the same.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Fact finding conducted in this report took place after significant political developments in Burma. On the 31st of January, the newly-instated parliament convened for the first time in the country since the Burmese regime officially dissolved the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). The transfer of State power from the old government to the new was finalized on the 30th of March. Despite these structural changes and the appearance of civilian government, human rights abuses committed by the military regime continue unabated in the Mon ethnic territories of Southern Burma. [Download PDF version here] [High Resolution PDF version 10.8mb]

Beginning in December 2010, Burmese Navy Unit No. 43, under the command of Ka Dike-based government navy regional command head quarters, began to confiscate the rubber plantations and household plots of villagers on Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island, Yebyu Township, Tennaserim Division. Since then, all land on which red signboards were placed by the navy has been confiscated. This report documents the confiscation of over 1,000 acres of land on Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island. However, HURFOM found that Navy Unit No. 43 has surveyed and marked out a total of another 3,000 acres of land to be consficated from the residents of Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island and the easterly neighboring villages across the water in Yebyu Township.

Officials from Navy Unit No. 43 explained that the land seized would be used as a training field for military skills training and constructing army barracks and hostels. Land was confiscated from around 240 rubber plantation owners without compensation, and a decree was issued banning landowners from cultivating or entering their plots. Seizures ranged from four to ten acres and consisted of already-in-production rubber plantations and paddy lands that provided villagers in the area with sustainable incomes and future monetary security. Without means to support themselves. they are unable to feed their families and send their children to school. And in some cases, they are forced from their homes.

According to the United Nations statute on Crimes Against Humanity, “the forcible transfer of a population” constitutes a crime against humanity. By seizing land already owned and cultivated by villagers on Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island and nearby villages in Yebyu Township, the Burmese Government, led by the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has effectively confiscated and forced the former population to evacuate the island and their own land plots. Not only has the Burmese government blatantly disregarded the UN’s statutes on crimes against humanity by robbing its citizens of their livelihoods and forcing them to re-locate, but the government has committed these crimes even after it supported the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

The data gathered by HURFOM field researchers clearly shows that the seizure of land, though informed of beforehand by the placement of red signboards, took no account of the individual owners’ permission. And months later, former landowners have received no compensation. Also, within the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, there is a specified protection of ethnic minorities native to the area. It is evident by the land confiscation conducted on Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island, in which the total population is ethnic Mon, that this protection of ethnic minorities was completely disregarded. Now, many ethnic Mon have been forced off their native land and household plots, and are obliged to make a life elsewhere.

Recommendations

To Mon Political Party: All Mon Region Democracy Party

Though the national elections, which the Burmese government held on November 7, 2010, were deemed fraudulent and unfair by most international bodies, a small number of officials from the ethnic minority parties gained political positions within the new parliament. Amongst these new officials are politicians from the All Mon Regions Democracy Party (AMRDP). The AMRDP ran on the basis of fighting for the rights of the ethnic Mon people in Burma.

According to their pledges, it is recommended that the AMRDP take note of the land confiscation and human rights abuses ongoing in Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island, most of which are directly affecting the Mon population living on the island. As parliamentary members in a government-designated “democracy,” HURFOM implores AMRDP to take issue with these human rights abuses in Yebyu Township and seek change and compensation.

To International Labour Organization in Burma:

Burma has also ratified a convention against the use of forced labor with the International Labor Organization. Many cases of land confiscation in Burma have led to the use of forced labor to cultivate land seized from villagers. HURFOM advises the ILO to pay special attention to the land confiscation abuses ongoing on Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island in order to insure that forced labor does not occur.

To UN Human Rights Special Rapporteur on Myanmar:

Finally, to Tomas Ojea Quintana, the United Nations Special  Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, who finished a tour around Thailand in May 2011 in order to discuss the ongoing abuses conducted by the Burmese government, must insist on a Commission of Inquiry on the violations committed by the Burmese government constituting Crimes Against Humanity. A Commission of Inquiry is a step forward towards making the Burmese government take responsibility for the abuses it inflicts on its citizens as well as pressure the government to change its ways and insure the rights of its citizens by providing them with sustenance, shelter, and the ability to make a living.

SITUATION BRIEF

Beginning in December of 2010, Burmese Navy Unit No. 43 began to place red flags on farmland, rubber plantations, and household plots of villagers on Kywe Thone Nyi MaIsland, Yebyu Township, Tennaserim Division. Since December 2010, the land on which the red flags were placed has been confiscated by the Navy. Navy Unit No. 43 seized land from over on Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island, without compensation, and a decree banning these former landowners to cultivate and enter upon their acreage and plots.

Seizures ranged from four to ten acres and consisted of already-in-production rubber plantations and paddy lands that provided villagers in the area with sustainable incomes and future monetary security. Without means to support themselves. they are unable to feed their families and send their children to school. And in some cases they are forced from their homes.

BACKGROUND OF KYWE THONE NYI MA ISLAND

Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island is four miles wide and nine miles in length.It is divided into eastern and western halves. There are approximately 930 acres of paddy land owned by the residents in the southern, northern and western parts of the island. The rubber plantations, which are situated throughout the northern part of the island and run towards the eastern and western villages, total around 1,400 acres. When data was collected for this report, over 1,000 acres of farmers’ land had been confiscated by the Burmese Navy.

Navy Unit No. 43 has a base in Eastern village of Kywe Thone Nyi Ma on Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island. The unit is commanded by Ka Dike Naval Command, under the Mawrawaddy Naval Region Command Head Quarter based in Mu-pon, Moulmein, the capital of Mon State. Before 2004, the unit based on the island numbered only 10 soldiers; but after 2004, and by the time HURFOM interviewed victims of land confiscation on the island, troop numbers had increased to 40 members. Before 2004, the naval force came to Kywe Thone Nyi Ma temporarily, conducting security patrols, and crossed the frontier for short periods of time. After 2004, the naval force built military a barracks and set up a base on the island. Navy Unit No. 43 is based in the eastern half of the island near the eastern village and is commanded by Colonel Ye Linn Tun and deputy commander Captain Minn Zaw Moe.

This navy unit has marked out a total of 3,000 acres of rubber plantations, farmland, and household plots from the residents of Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island and the easterly neighboring villages of Maw-Gyi, Lae Kyi, Min-Thar, Ye-Ngan-Gyi, and Sinswe villages, laying east of the island, across the water. All are in Yebyu Township. These areas off Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island have not yet been confiscated, but red flags have been placed to indicate future seizure. During the seizure of land on Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island, an official fromNavy Unit No. 43 explained that the land seized would be used as a training field for military skills training.

HURFOM’s field reporters collected information in mid-May 2011 that reveals only eight of the first 300 acres of confiscated land will be used for army barracks and hostels. The acreage seized by the navy is located between the coast and the entire western part of the Ye-Tavoy Railway. This land includes both rubber plants which have been cultivated for ten years and young rubber plants which were newly farmed as an additional investment.

Due to the loss of their rubber plantations, which they had depended heavily on for their families income, many villagers are out of work. Later interviews conducted in June 2011 reveal that at least 32 villagers who’ve had their land confiscated left their homes to search for new jobs in northern and western Ye township, as well as Thailand.

METHODOLOGY

Most of the facts in this land confiscation report are based on field data collections conducted in Kyol-don Nyi-ma Island and neighboring villages areas in which Navy Unit No. 43 began confiscating land in December 2010. In order to collect the evidence, five field researchers in two teams interviewed 41 subjects in six villages; these include thirty-one interviews from Kyol-don Nyi-ma Island (including the eastern and western villages located on the island), four interviews from Min Thar villages, a village located in the eastern part of Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island, two interviews from Maw Gyi village, two interviews from Lae Kyi village and two interviews from Cha Pon village, Yebyu Township, Tenasserim Division.

This report also includes five interviews collected by telephone from farmers who recently lost land and have subsequently fled to Southern Thailand to work as illegal migrant workers.

HURFOM also included information drawn from its extensive database, developed through 16 years of documentation. Gathering data and obtaining direct questions from local farmers on the Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island is intensely difficult and in some cases members from local the Mon Youth Organization assisted with important information that HURFOM felt added to the strength of this report. HURFOM also drew extensively on the knowledge of three local residents who helped with information on individual incidents, background information, and confirmation on facts in the interviews as well as invaluable context and assistance in replying to targeted follow-up questions.

THE START OF LAND CONFISCATION ON KYWE THONE NYI MA ISLAND

In an interview conducted in May with Nai Htun Lin, 45, a former rubber plantation owner in Kyol-don Nyi-ma who now works as a day laborer in Prachuab Khiri Khan Province in Thailand, he tells how he and his wife and four children were forced to leave in April after their land was confiscated:

Before, I mean December 2010, they [the navy] marked the [farm]land and rubber plantations that they wanted to take over. They marked the land and rubber plantations by planting 3 ft-long bamboo poles with small red flags [on the land plots] … One major, and his 15 men, came to mark the length of the land that they wanted to take over. Since then, the land owners who had land marked to be confiscated had been worried about that. Then, on February 2011, they came to replace the bamboo poles [with signs that indicated this was the Burmese Army Land]. The flags were triangle-shaped and colored red. That’s the color of their navy [unit]. We also met some sailors from navy ship No. 224 setting down its anchor near our island.

That time, stationing in our village, the naval Commander Min Zaw, together with his men, came to set up the red flags [at the already marked land]. They said they will take over the land that they marked with planted red flags. According to the marked land, there are 290 acres of rubber plantations and about 30 acres of farmland marked to be confiscated. To give a total figure, it’s estimated that there are more than 300 acres of land belonging to villagers that have been marked to take over. We have not heard anything about compensation from the naval captain for the marked land to be confiscated. But we heard that they are definitely going to confiscate this land.

No one was allowed to enter into [or to pass through] the land marked with planted red flag poles, according to an order defining it as ‘restricted land.’ Because of this, we already considered land confiscated. The order was given right after the Thingyan [Water] festival celebration. Now, it’s been 20 days since I left my village. And, I still have contact with [people in] the village… The land has been taken over, but no one has heard about compensation of the confiscated land yet. Some of the rubber plantation owners, who lost many acres of land, are considering sending a petition letter to Nay Pyi Daw [the Burmese central government]. But, there is one problem in the village: there is no well-educated person who can write a letter and lead a petition. And, in the Buddhist community, the abbot in the village cannot help at all also. He [the abbot] himself, is part of a group who are afraid of doing anything against the naval forces. Now, what we need for justice is that we need the land owners and villagers who can help.

At the moment, the naval base that is stationed in Kywe Thone Nyi Ma is Naval base No. 224¹, which has been in the village for about 8 years. The strength [in numbers] of the naval base No. 224, is 20-40 men/personnel (including the officers). Even though they [the navy troops] gave an explanation that they will construct military barracks and hostels for army families or buildings for the army on the confiscated 300 acres of land, [in reality] we do not know how many barracks and hostels or buildings [with collection rooms for army servants] will be built there yet. Right now, that land is 95% rubber plantations.

Nai Htun Lin’s account is a prime example of the range of effects on the local population and of the problems they face after the land was confiscated by the Navy. Previously he had been able to sustain his family on the rubber plantation acreage that he owned. But after receiving no monetary compensation for the confiscated land, he was forced to leave with his entire family to find a job in Thailand that could support them.

1 : The number 224 refers to the number of the ship that Navy Unit No. 43 uses.

“NEW” GOVERNMENT ACTS LIKE THE FORMER, LEADING TO LOSS OF LIVELIHOODS

Nai Thin, who used to be a member of the New Mon State Party (NMSP)’s Township Officials and now works as an observer of military affairs and human rights cases commented:

As they are still threatening the civilians, I generally think that the policy of the new government and the [former] SPDC is the same². I mean, there is no halt in torturing and threatening. And, if we look at the land confiscation case, they are still confiscating land for the purpose of building bases and doing business for Army families.

During my term of serving in the NMSP, I lived in Kywe Thone Nyi Ma village for about three years. At the time, the rubber plantation owners worked very hard on their plantations, and there were hundreds of acres of rubber plantations. Now, many acres of rubber plantations are included in the confiscation zone, and because they [the rubber plantation owners] lost their plantations, after they had started to benefit from them, we feel sympathy for how their lives are falling apart. …. It’s obvious that the government profits from the investment and work of the plantation owners – the rubber plants have already begun to produce sap and are ready for tapping. They have done this before and now they’ve done it again. Yet, the worst is that for those who lost their way of life and everything – property and belongings – have become migrants and have to start from the beginning.. They have to go abroad and slave there. Obviously, this new government is no different than the former government.”

In Kywe Thone Nyi Ma village, there are two divided wards…Those Mon residents living on the island are heavily dependent on long-term rubber plantations, fruit plantations, farms, and digging minerals. As stated above, the land that the government navy confiscated includes a large part of those two villages and plantations, paddy land, and lead-rich land used for mining.

The island is straight up and down. Now, the rubber plantations that the Navy took over include most of the rubber plantations located in the western and middle parts of the island.. And, as for the farmland taken over by the navy, it is located in between the eastern and western ward . Because the soil where the rubber plantations and farmland are located is very fertile, everything grows well. I arrived on this island about 25 years ago. The rubber plantations that have been taken over were not planted then. Of the confiscated rubber plantations, some rubber plants were planted 15 years ago, some were planted 10 years ago, and some were planted only three years ago.

Rubber plant cultivation is an extensive process. Most farmers go into debt in the early years of beginning their own rubber plantation because rubber plants and land are expensive. The cultivation of rubber trees takes up to seven years before the trees begin to produce rubber and one can start tapping. Once trees start producing, however, the rubber trees become quite profitable. Nai Thin’s comment on the land that held trees that were 10 or 15 years old is meant to emphasize that the land confiscated was highly valuable.

Grandpa Myint, 68, born in Ma-kyi village in Southern Ye Township but is now a resident of Kywe Thone Nyi Ma village, reported on the losses to villagers:

The rubber plantations owners whose plantations were seized have just fallen to pieces. As far as I know, of the rubber plantations, some plantations have numerous rubber plants, while one has 7,000 plants owned by just one owner [which was] confiscated. It is really pitiable. I think that they seize the land not just to construct barracks for their servants, but for their businesses – just like what they have done in other places. Most of the farmland is in the hands of the military servants. If we estimated how many acres included [here alone], it could be 20 – 30 acres…[There is a saying that goes] if the authorities are not good, the lives of the civilians will be affected by starvation.

Nai Htun, another observer of the land confiscation process in Kywe Thone Nyi Ma, explained how military officials deceived the villagers:

Before, there were only bamboo poles set up. But, in the last week of the month, a captain came from the regional naval base, which is the naval base from this island; three clerks from the Land Survey Department in Yebyu Township; and one member from the Township Administration here and they did a land survey. And, they came to do land measurements and survey here over and over again throughout February. Then, navy Commander Min Zaw, with his group, came to re-plant red flag poles at the surveyed land and prepared to take over the land. At first, the Commander Min Zaw gave reasons for the take over, saying it was for village development purposes. That’s when they came to do land surveys in December of last year. According to what they said, they will construct a good bridge linking this island to the main land. They will also use highway land for transportation [they will extend the island road to the mainland].

But, later on, it [what they said] changed; [they took over the land] to construct buildings for government servants. Now, not only were the rubber plantations, but also the farmland, were marked with flags. Still, they did not talk about paying compensation; but we expect they will. We do not expect the price we want, and we think, they will threaten us. Now, five owners of the rubber plantations together with their entire families, have moved to villages in northern Ye township, where their relatives live. That was during the time their land was taken over because they became very frustrated. Having their own land taken over, some families will become unemployed as they depended on their land heavily. Some made investments in orchards and rubber plantations, changing from their previous businesses. For example, before, they had invested in digging minerals business as a private business; but they also had to pay the authorities from this region a lot. Therefore they could not make a profit and subsequently changed their investment from mineral business to rubber plantations. Some of those rubber plantation owners were included among those who got their land seized. For them, it’s just like losing their lives.

In an interview on May 14th, 2001, a relative recounted how Nai Shwe La-yaung lost his plantation, paddy land, and lead mining site:

Nai Shwe La-yaung, a 54-year-old resident of Kywe Thone Nyi Ma village, lost a lot of land, including both rice paddy land, rubber plantation, and lead mining land, which was started [the business] by his mother. When his mother was alive, they had focused on a lead mining project and after his mother passed away, he has been working on paddy land and especially on the rubber plantation. As far as I know, not even including his paddy land and lead mining site, about 2,800 of his rubber plants were seized… He was hit hard.

Nai A-shwe, a 40-year-old rubber plantation owner who owned 600 rubber plants, spoke with a field reporter on May 12th in Cha-Bon village about wanting to report the land confiscation:

The land reportedly confiscated by the Navy, though with promises of compensation, includes the site of the old sea dock, which is in the eastern part of the island; it’s the [old sea dock] associated land and the land currently settled on by the Navy. This 20-acre land will be bought from the particular owners, said the military commanders. Last December, Major Min Zaw from the Navy army said that. The estimated area of land, plantation, and mining site, which has been seized by the army marking with the flags is not less than 300 acres in total. Maybe it’s even more than this amount. We haven’t heard anything related to the land being bought in cash and compensation, which equals the current value. The condition is very worrying. The land could be confiscated without any awareness [without official documents]. As for me, I want to report [this case] at least to the Mon State Chief Administer of the South East Command and the senators of the Mon [political] party. That is all we can try to do, but one person can’t do it alone, reporting in one letter. In unison is good: Pain together, gain together.

Nai A-shwe continued saying that most of the land owners have been looking for justice and people who can help them seek it.

The newly-instated Burmese government purports itself to be a democracy. Yet, in a democracy, there must be transparency in government. The former Burmese government, still ruling in December 2010 and until March 2011, conducted the beginnings of land confiscation on Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island. The land confiscation continued under the rule of the new government. This self-proclaimed “democracy” by the current government has unlawfully seized land owned by citizens and refused to pay any form of compensation. The land seizure has even gone so far as to forbid former land owners and residents to work on their land. With no other available option to support themselves, the villagers have been forced to leave their homes.

Nai Ga-Lae, also known as U Kalar, is a 50-year-old resident of Kywe Thone Nyi Ma village, and a rubber plantation owner of around 7,000 currently producing rubber plants. In terms of profitable plants confiscated, he talked about how he has suffered the most by the confiscation led by navy Major Min Zaw:

Since 13 years ago, with all of my investments and some money received from my parents, I have been working on developing this rubber plantation. There were 7,000 rubber plants in total. They all began producing five years ago. My plantation is located north of the sea dock and adjacent to 20-acres of land which has been designated for a military barracks. All plantations alongside my plantation were included [in the land-confiscation]. All the plantations were marked with the red flags by the Navy and the land-surveying clerks since the second month [February]. Some lost 2,000 plants and some lost nearly 3,000 plants. I am the person who was struck most. There are about 15 people, including me, who lost a large number of acres. The rest, over 30 people, are those who lost about hundred plants. As soon as our land was surveyed, we went to meet with the Navy Lieutenant Colonel and asked for the reason. That was before Songkran [the Theravadan Buddhist New Year]. What they replied was that more roads were needed to be constructed for our village development because all old roads were constructed on the hillside, and the wider roads would be made by repairing [the old roads] or newly constructing. They continued that the road which connects the west and east halves of the village was very narrow and needed to be widened; therefore, “the State needed the land,” yelled the officer. After that, no plantation owner was allowed to work on their plantation. I have been depressed and don’t know how to deal with it. The thing I hoped for I won’t be getting back. I want to appeal to the designated higher officers. Please instruct me how to do so.

Nai Rog, 56, a paddy land owner and Kywe Thone Nyi Ma resident told HURFOM of her plight:

My land was seized for making a military training field for the soldiers of the military government. It is eight acres in total. They said before that they would purchase [the land] but they have seized [it] now. That happened in April [when they confiscated the land]. My land has good soil. Any sort of farmed paddy can produce at least 80 [baskets of paddy]. The primary business of my family is farming. We have 12-acres of land inherited from our grandfather. I gave my younger brother four acres of land and I work on the rest of the eight acres of land. [My land] is precious because it is near the village and free from worry of sea water flowing on it. They [the Navy] show no pity and they make a military training field on such good land. Now the navy unit doesn’t purchase anything. Their commanders didn’t talk about any compensation. Only our villagers have been circulating rumors that we would get compensation or something. In fact, the army unit said nothing. I will hit rock bottom if there is no land. I would have no alternative but to go to Thailand for work if I still wanted to work as hard labor.

2 : State Peace and Development Council, the former Burmese government.

NO RECOURSE, NO COMPENSATION

Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island has seen three village headman since 2004. The first held the position from 2004 to 2009, the second lasted one year from 2009 to 2010 and the third is the current. Nai A-Lay, the Kywe Thone Nyi Ma headman, is 28 years old. He finished his high school education, and after the former village headman, Nai Sein, passed away, Nai A-Lay temporarily accepted the village headman role. In May, he remarked on the land confiscation by the Navy:

The prominent persons and the senior monks of the village elected me as the headman just a few months ago. No one wants to be a village headman – neither do I – but they finally elected me. I can’t work as a permanent one. We generally agreed that I would temporarily work for the village. The land confiscation occurred during my duty as village headman. From the end of the last year to now, the Navy here has been preparing to seize the land on this island (Kywe Thone Nyi Ma village), owned by the rubber plantation and paddy land owners. Now it has all been confiscated. As a village headman, I can help with nothing. I can do nothing except feel embarrassment. A month ago, the prominent people of the village met with the commanders of the Navy [He said that the Navy currently based on Kywe Thone Nyi Ma has its base in Ohnpinkwin village [south of the island on the mainland], Yebyu Township, Tenasserim Division]. Even though they [the prominent people] appealed against the seizures,[the commanders] replied it was done according to the State’s needs. What else can be done? The last thing I knew was that the land owners of the village united to write a letter of appeal. I suggested to them to write the letter only after discussing it with a lawyer in order to protect them from being charged with the so-called acts [‘Electronic Law’]³ because of their appealing letter. That’s all [I can do]. A lot of land of my relatives’ was also included in the land confiscation by the Navy. I am embarrassed because I can’t help them.

During an interview in early May with Nai Own Thaung, who owns four acres of rubber plantation, which includes over 1,500 rubber plants and was seized by the Navy in late April, he explained that he felt frustrated that the senior monks who currently live in the village couldn’t protection them against land-confiscation:

Now, the village abbot is Young Monk Tun Tin. Most of the senior monks, including him, aren’t active [as representatives] like monks in other villages. I want to say that for example, in Ka-la-Goat Island, La-mine Sub-township, Ye Township, there were land confiscations and seizures of houses, like us, and in those villages, the senior monk from Your-Out monastery [a monastery located in the southern part of the island] made a complaint to the authorities and the government army units for his villagers. He stood up for his villagers. For us, we can’t rely on anyone for this land confiscation case. It’s really depressing. Even for making an official appeal letter, the village monks have no network. We have known that the State government has forbade the religious staff to deal with politics. But this case is not a political one – just to convince the government not to seize the land and plantations of their [the monks'] supporters. That’s why we, the villagers, aren’t satisfied with the senior monks. Moreover, our village has lowly educated people. Even though we had some, most of them have already moved to a metropolitan area. We have no educated person, so we can rely on no one when we encounter such a case. It’s our bad fortune that our village has no well-educated person or monk.”

3 : The act he is most likely referring to is the Electronic Transactions Law from 2004, with which the government would be able to charge those who used any type of electronic device such as a computer, printer, etc. to write a petition or letter to the government, in this case about the land confiscation.

IMPACTING THE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS OF THE LOCAL INHABITANTS THROUGH ETHNIC INFILTRATION

Whenever HURFOM field reporters conducted interviews with residents in Kywe Thone Nyi Ma village, the natives usually mentioned that they had set their hopes for the future on these rubber plantations – with which they had spent their lives cultivating. Most residents have been living on their land for generations.

Nai Ha-tay, a 60-year-old resident from the western part of the Kywe Thone Nyi Ma village, who has had to cope with the seizure of five acres of his rubber plantation land explained his predicament:

We are clear that the government naval force took over the rubber plantations for business projects of their own. Given the reason by the Navy Unit No. 43, they will expand their cantonment area and construct more barracks. They just explained that they took the plantations for the construction of the training field for their army. But, the length of the land they seized is too large, how will they build what they said they would? Like other places in Mon State, where they took over, they confiscated the ready-to-use rubber plantations for their families and army budget… Our family has not moved to another place yet. We have some difficulties moving out with the whole family. And, we have six acres of farmland left in the southern village. Since we still have the farm, we have to work hard on it for survival. Yet, my sons are thinking about going to Thailand to work there tapping rubber. As for me, I would like them to go. Unless these army dogs leave from this island, there will be some problems coming up between young men here and them [the Navy troops] or their relatives called to come here along with them. Yes, there have already been some problems. I think, it’s the best to avoid [the Navy and their supporters].

Nai Ha-tay continued talking about the impact on the island after bringing in the navy and other citizens from other areas of Burma onto the mainly ethnic Mon island:

If there is a violation committed on this island, the side that is able to bribe can definitely win [has impunity]. This habit became very common after the naval force moved here. Worse yet, what we are even more dissatisfied about is that if there is a conflict between native residents and Burmese newcomers who were brought in by the naval forces, the Burmese newcomers always find a way to win. If there are any crimes committed, the authorities from the naval force always give the advantage to the Burmese guy’s side over the Mon guy’s side when they sort out the matter. Now, there are 40 households owned by Burmese people alone. And, the number [of the Burmese households] is just going to increase. Now, the naval force wants laborers to work in the rubber plantations that they took over. It seems some more problems will come up.

Increasingly evident in the interviews conducted is the difference in the way that the local residents and ethnic Mon people are treated in comparison with the navy and the ethnic Burman population, which arrived with the influx of the navy buildup. The native residents and some local abbots mentioned that the transfer of the army unit to the area in 2004 caused subsequent problems in the community, noticeably affecting the island’s ethnicity, language, religion, literature, culture and customs.

Nai Pae, a 37-year-old resident of the eastern part of the village on Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island, who is actively involved with Mon literature and culture, explained during his interview in June that the arrival of more outsiders has caused problems:

Before, there was no family that spoke Burmese. After they [Navy Unit No. 43] arrived here in 2004, other ethnicities also arrived. What could we say as they came to settle down here? But, they, the different ethnicities, Burmese people, think that we are dumb and deaf and can’t speak their language; and they also have an attitude that looks down on us, discriminating against us because they feel noble. The native islanders have never admired them because they don’t own any piece of land and are day laborers. Just like that, problems are happening in this community. Now, it’s getting worse. It’s like that more in the village where the naval force communities live. [They are] getting married here and settling down here. It’s fine to live here, but discriminating against the community is the main problem. For those Burmese families living close to the naval force base, they do not have to support any rations for the naval forces and they are not on the lists for tax collection. Also, the Burmese people who support the Navy give information to the naval forces. Because of this, the village once was very peaceful, and has now become a suspicious, unsafe place. Now, taking over the plantations, they will send for more upper Burma people, the Ah-nyar people, to come down here in order to hire them to work on the rubber plantations, scraping rubber trees. If they cannot get along well with the communities in this village, it will definitely cause problems.

Nai Pae continued that after 2006, the tradition of holding cultural celebrations and teaching the native [Mon] language in schools became restricted. Before the arrival of the battalion, Mon language and culture schools opened every summer, teaching Mon language and culture to the people on the island in the hopes of preserving their heritage. When Navy Unit No. 43 arrived on the island they tried to ban the Mon language and culture school, declaring it to be illegal. Then, the Mon Buddhist monks who were supporting Mon literature and culture continuously negotiated with the local communities to keep opening the school [for the summer term]. However, later, the Navy sent an order to local areas explaining that residents in both the eastern village and western village on the island could celebrate their traditions only after receiving permission from the authorities of the naval force and the village administration committee.

One 33-year-old Mon man, who wished to remain anonymous, gave an interview with a HURFOM field reporter on June 28th. He is a native resident of the Kywe Thone Nyi Ma eastern village, but he moved to Ye Township in 2009. He used to be involved in the Mon literature and culture activities committee on the island. In the interview he described the nationality/ethnicity problems:

After the naval force came here, whatever we did, we had to do as they [the Navy] ordered. We still opened a Mon literature training/school for the kids and youths annually, but when we did, we had to get a permit from them. We also had to ask for the permit when holding a school closing ceremony. We couldn’t give any type of speech or say we wanted. The Burmese people gradually became their informers [of the Navy]. What happened later on is that they accused us, the ordinary people, of being in contact with and supporting the rebel groups. The Navy build-up and the land confiscation have worsened tensions between the ethnic groups on the island. Now, they [the Navy] already took over hundreds of acres of rubber plantations. On those seized lands, they will do their business projects and call more Ah-nyar people down here. I know the feelings of the villagers here. It’s true that they won’t keep living here even for a second longer because their land was seized. And, more people will leave the village. With new ethnicities, this island will change. What mainly will change are the language, culture and customs.”

AREA RESTRICTION DURING THE LAND CONFISCATION BY NAVY NO. 43

Across the water, on the Mon State mainland, in Yebyu Township, land confiscation is also rampant. Interviews collected on May 29th in Ohnpinkwin, Yebyu Township show that Navy Unit No. 43 has continued confiscating land from Kywe Thone Nyi Ma and into other areas of Yebyu Township.

Nai A-Nyan, a 34-year-old from Min-Thar village, Yebyu Township, Tenasserim Division confirmed that the rubber plantation there included at least 900,000 plants and was currently under the control of the army:

[The navy] is well known as the Mu-pon Unit. It’s commanded by the Mawrawaddy Navy Command based in Mu-pon region, Moulmein [the capital of Mon State]. A navy unit from that command has been based in our Ohnpinkwin [village] of Yebyu Township for a long time. Colonel Ye Lin Tun of the Ohnpinkwin Navy Unit and his group has continuously been seizing the previously mentioned rubber plantations in the Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island. This time, the rubber plantation owners have hit rock bottom. Some land owners were disappointed and fled to Thailand with their entire families for work. [The land] from the west side of the railway to the coast mostly belongs to Min Thar village’s cultivators. Just their [Min Thar's plantation owners] loss is equal to 70 percent of the seized 3,000-acre land. The rest of the plantation owners are from Maw-Gyi, Lae Kyi, Ye-Ngan-Gyi, and Sinswe [villages]. In fact, the amount they need for the firing range of Ohnpinkwin’s Navy is small. I believe that they have intentionally seized the already-farmed rubber plantations for their [the Navy's] families.

Between January and March of this year, travel restrictions on local people’s comings and goings were imposed by the local army unit, especially for those travelers arriving from far away. Travel restrictions have intensified, along with the addition of fines. Locals interviewed expressed the belief that Navy Unit No. 43 has systematically controlled the region in order to prevent awareness of land confiscation spreading to the media.

On June 14th, Nai Myaing, a resident of west Kyol-don Nyi-ma, who moved to Cha-Pon village, located on the opposite coast of Kywe Thone Nyi Ma, explained the travel restrictions he has had to deal with:

I’m a native of the west part of the island. I farmed on this island for the last three years and then moved to my mother’s native village [Cha-Pon village, Yebyu Township] with my entire family when I couldn’t farm anymore because of a break in the dike. On June 14th, during a visit to my relatives, [I saw that] a sergeant and his four privates of the Navy Unit No. 43 sitting at the check point of the seaport. I hadn’t taken my national ID card because I just travelled around my village. When I came up from the seaport, I found that everyone had been checked for a national ID card and inquired in detail where they would stay, how long they would stay, what they came to do, where they came from, etc. I also found that those who couldn’t speak Burmese fluently were cursed in foul language. When my turn came, I had no ID card so they didn’t allow me to land on the island. [They] ordered [me] to go back. I apologized to them as I am a resident of this village, [but] they didn’t allow me to set foot on the island. I was cursed in foul language and expelled. After that, I gave [them] 2, 000 Kyat, [but they] didn’t accept [it]. I thought [the amount of the money I gave] was little so I gave an additional 2,000 kyat. After that I had to tell the sergeant a detailed address of where I’d stay, the name of my host, a detailed reason for my coming, and the name of the village I came from – even though I am from Cha-Pon village. People from faraway places could be arrested and checked according to my old friend’s [the owner of the house where he, U Myaing, stayed] experience. I realized later that they controlled the area because they feared that the news of the seizure of rubber plantations by the Navy would leak to the public…Every plantation owner living on the island has encountered land confiscation, more or less. Some people had to leave the island because all [of their plantations] were seized.

Referring to a source from the Navy, an old man who used to work as one of the village-appointed officials said the area restriction, controlling of the flow of information, and the restrictions on travel had all been ordered by Ka-Dike Navy Command, which commands Navy Unit No. 43:

I used to be familiar with the soldiers who were members of the village administration. According to them, an order was given that reports about the current land confiscation must not leave this island. [There is] a soldier [whose name he knew but refused to mention] from up-country [upper Burma] who married here. According to him, the Mawrawaddy Navy Command, which is located at the Mu-Pon region, Moulmein directly instructed the Ka-Dike Navy Command to control information [on land confiscation] and to suppress [to kill] those who aren’t satisfied with the land confiscation. Therefore, leaking information can endanger lives. I don’t know who is the highest ranking officer in the Mawrawaddy Navy Command. In Ka-Dike Command, Colonel Ye Linn Tun has the highest rank. He is the one who has carried out the orders from Mawrawaddy. He also is the most responsible person.

It is easy to assume that the wish to control information on land confiscation conducted by the Navy stems from the desire to appear to be a free and fair government. Similar to the November 7, 2010 elections, in which foreign media was not allowed to view the election process, the Burmese government has taken measures to limit the flow of information on abuses committed against the residents living in Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island and villages nearby.

In Min-Thar village, situated across the east bank of Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island, some army units from Tavoy-based Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 375 have encamped on a hill outside Min-Thar village and check all travelers coming by car and train. This information came from Ko Maung Shain, a 33-year-old Tavoyan and local resident, who gave HURFOM the following interview on June 22nd:

They – the Army units – have encamped here with about 25 members in total. At the check-point in this village, about ten members of the military, the militia and the police force, stand guard every day. None of the travelers can escape [from being checked]. When there was no national ID card, if you were lucky, you’d be expelled; and if you were unlucky, you would be arrested and checked. Persons with Mon State and upper Burma national ID cards have thoroughly been checked. Those who speak Burmese fluently have been checked more. They have seized video cameras, phones and photo cameras at once. In this region, the military is the most powerful. During the second month [February], two young grandsons from Rangoon visited their grandmother in Min-Thar village and they brought a good digital camera. The captain of the check-point in the mid-village seized it. When its owner requested him to give it back, [he was] punched in the face.

Every Mon and Tavoyan resident living in the villages of Kywe Thone Nyi Ma village track, Min-Thar village, Maw-Gyi, Lae Gyi, Ye-Ngan Gyi, and Sin-swe villages has to hold a village pass for their particular village when they are leaving or entering their village. There was a statement given in a monthly notice that if one has no pass to enter or leave the particular village, the local military can punish him/her as they wish. These monthly notices are announced at the Village Administration Offices by the local military. An anonymous source described the situation to HURFOM:

If it was in the past, I would accept the conditions of requiring a pass for entering and leaving the village because the region was unstable. But now, no armed group has come to this village. Requiring a pass for entering and leaving the village is a money maker for them[the government military]. It is really embittering that the military men who are from a distant region live in our region and check us – [the residents of this village]. Amongst the government soldiers, there are some half-caste Indians [half Indian, half Burmese]. You will laugh if you see that the Indians are punishing the indigenous people of this country who have no pass for entering and leaving village. [These types of incidents] have really happened in this region [laughing while he spoke]. For a pass to enter and leave the village, everyone has to pay about 2,000 [kyat] per month. A photo of the holder must be included. Thumbs need to be fingerprinted. And then, the signature of the local military officer or governor is included.

EXTORTION

According to Ko Maung Shain, it is on the Kywe Thone Nyi Ma village trail that everyone has to pay a monthly fine for work permission, in addition to the pass for leaving and entering the village in order to scrape the rubber plants. These fees are adding a healthy income to troops’ pockets. Residents have had to pay the fee since the Navy Unit No. 43 seized rubber plantations on the island. The fees were reported on more extensively on June 23rd by Nai Pan Maung, a west Kywe Thone Nyi Ma resident and a five-acre rubber plantation owner:

Both on this island, where the Navy has been based and in Min Thar village of the east island, the rubber plantation owners have to pay a monthly fine to the particular military group fo permission to scrape their rubber plants. This started five years ago. The owners have to pay in unison. There are two types of fines. The plantation owners in both the western group and the eastern group of Kywe Thone Nyi Ma have to pay 100, 000 Kyat for the food costs of the Navy on the island. And then, for the Ka-Dike Command, an additional2500 to 3000 thousand [kyat] per month has to be paid. This occurs every month. [We] have to pay without fail. If there is a missed payment, [the Navy] creates a problem. Therefore, depending on the area of the plantation, the rubber plantation owners have to pay [the fine] in ratio. The owners like me who own five-acre plantation have to pay at least 20,000 kyat every month [and I have been paying the fine] to get permission to scrape the rubber plants up to this year when [the plantation] was seized. After Songkran, the Navy Unit No. 43 had placed a signboard reading, ”Army Land” at my plantation, and after that I didn’t do any rubber scraping. That was last month. Even though the plantations were seized via the new village headman Nai A-Lay, the responsible persons from the Navy had announced that if the designated monthly fine can be paid, the rubber scraping can be made. Therefore, my younger son has re-scraped the rubber plants now by paying 30,000 [kyat] per month. If the heavy rain comes, [scraping rubber] has to be stopped. In conclusion, they have come and managed our own resources using their power. Please ask every plantation owner on Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island. Even relatives of the village headman had to give up [their plantation] to the Navy if they are a plantation owner. Now the land has been seized, so no rubber scraping is done. It is natural that people don’t want to deal with things which are not theirs.

This interview with Nai Pan Maung clearly shows that not only did the navy wrongfully seize villagers’ land in the area, but further exploited the villagers by charging unfair fines in order to pay for the Navy’s food supplies and other amenities.

A Tavoyan-Karen youth from a village in Yebyu Township, who received a law degree and currently works with rubber trading, opined that the reason for the local military to make strict checks on the locals, to restrict the travel, and to put the navy base directly in the villages is to get regional control and to cut the information flow:

The seizure may be for both their military business and their base extension. Anyhow, they [the Navy] had already broken the international standard of human rights. If they cut the information flow now, the real events can’t reach the media and activists. They aren’t allowing any leak of this sort of information during this time – the starting era of their so-called ‘civilian government’. I think the violations have occurred due to that reason [making an effort to appear like a civilian government that respects the rule of law]. According to human nature, if one has done something wrong, they don’t trust anyone, or their surroundings. These violations prove they [the Navy] already know they have done immoral things [unfairly seized land].

LAND CONFISCATION RESULTS IN FORCED MIGRATION AND A SEARCH FOR NEW LIVELIHOODS

According to a former Village Peace and Development Council (currently known as the Village Administration) staff member ( who served from 2004-2009), after the Burmese government’s naval force No. 43 confiscated the rubber plantations, some villagers fell apart, emotionally and financially. They were unable to keep living in their home areas and were bereft of the means to a living which they had formerly depended. Unable to work on their own land, they could only watch as other villagers worked on their plantantions. This former staff member tells of how, consequently, some of the victims of land confiscation left their home villages to start a new life elsewhere:

Everyone who lives here would see [the signs] and hear [the orders]. It’s very frustrating. We have heard the making clicking sounds with the tongues [a sign of strong displeasure], depression, and sobbing since the beginning of this year. Some rubber plantation owners fell apart when their plantations got taken over right away because they had planned the land to be a long-term business. Most of them were originally working as rubber plantation workers. They are rubber farmers, so what else can they do? After the army set up red-colored signboards, saying, ”Army Land” [or literally Tat-Myay in Burmese] [on the rubber plantations that they confiscated] in late April and May, some of those plantation owners who lost their land began to move out of the village. As far as I know, there have been 32 families which have moved out of both villages, the westerly and easterly village. Nothing was taken along with them [when they left]. Just packed their clothes and then they left the villages. Some of those families are very close to me.

Daw Ma Yee is among the villagers, mentioned above, who lost their land and had to move. She is 45-years-old and had lived in the eastern part of Kyol-don Nyi-ma before moving with her family to a suburban area of Thanbyuzayat Township.

One Mon villager who is 61-years-old, and formerly served as a member of the VPDC from 2004-2009, gave an interview on June 24th⁴ about the fate of villagers who lost their land:

My relative, Nai Han-Sein, lost 6 acres of rubber plantation, from the eastern part of the village. [Afterward] Together with his family, they moved to La-mine Sub-township, Ye Township, and had to rely on what they could find to work and live on. Another family, Nai Kyaw Win and Ma Htwe’s family, moved to the Yebyu Township area, working in another owner’s plantation [for survival]. Just like the other villagers who lost land After the naval forces took over the rubber plantations, the villagers moved away and it seemed very silent and empty [in the village].

According to detailed accounts of certain villagers living in the western area of Kywe Thone Nyi Ma, nine families chose to move to western and northern Ye township, in order to work as day laborers on other owners’ rubber plantations.

Mi Ei Yin, a 44-year-old resident of the western village part of Kywe Thone Nyi Ma island, explained how her family moved to Ye township, settling down there temporarily and working in order to survive:

We chose to work here as we are only capable of working like this. The difference is that we changed from being the employer/owner of a rubber plantation into an employee of a rubber plantation. Now, my husband and I have jobs working at this rubber plantation. The plantation owner is not a stranger, he is our relative. Having to work as an employee, scraping the rubber trees, cutting bushes, and making a route which prevents fire from reaching [the trees]… At the moment, we are thinking about growing some kind of fruit between the rows of rubber trees. …they already started growing pineapple plants. As long as we can work, it is okay for our daily meals. To support our kids [going] to school in this upcoming rainy season, we, wife and husband, have to work harder. Just like this [as you can see]: life restarts at the beginning.

Mi Ei Yin’s husband’s name is Nai Hla-Oo, [estimated to be 45 years old and a former resident of the western village part, Kywe Thone Nyi Ma village ward]. Nai Hla-Oo is only able to understand a little bit of Burmese, yet cannot speak Burmese at all. Nai Hla Oo recalled that because of having difficulty with the language and a low education level, he and his wife were forced to give away their five acres of rubber plantation which lay in the northern part of Kywe Thone Nyi Ma village ward:

We are persons being forced and have no power at all. We cannot speak their language either. And we just left the village like this because it was not only us whose plantations were seized, but others as well. We tell ourserlves that property is just an impermanent thing, and it is not too late: we can start a new life if we can work. After that, we, my wife and I together with three kids, left our home village as other families departed. Regarding the law, if someone is able to help, I still hope to get my plantation back. That’s because we feel deep regret for working very hard [on our plantation] and devoting our investment in it [and losing it].

Some residents currently working and living in a new area, stated that they had not wanted to move out of their home villages, where their families had been living for four decades. But they were forced to leave because they had no other opportunity to work and sustain their families.

Like those who decided to settle down in a new place and restart their life, some left their home villages for Thailand, choosing to work as illegal migrant workers. On June 26th, HURFOM made contact with three families who had recently moved to Thailand after their rubber plantations were confiscated on Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island. The families spoken to ended up in Prachuab Kiri-khan Province, southern Thailand, in the beginning of May this year.

Nai Maung Aye Lin, a 42-year-old former resident of the eastern part of Kywe Thone Nyi Ma village ward, explained that his seven acres of rubber plantation took him 15 years to grow. His parents planted the trees first and then, around five years ago, he began to gain an income from tapping the rubber. He explained, though, that he had been forced to pay the naval force tens of thousands of kyat per month just to be allowed to tap his own rubber trees. After his plantation was taken over, he left his village for northern Thailand, along with two other families in May, to work with his younger brother’s family. In an interview, he told HURFOM he worries about working in Thailand illegally:

Here, everything is okay for me at the moment. When I see the rubber plantations here, I am reminded of my rubber plantation. I still have a feeling of attachment [to working on my rubber plantation]. I am working illegally, but since the Thai government will issue migrant worker cards now [in June], I will do my best to get one –that’s to be able to work legally. Here, as it is not my native place, I have to be careful for everything. No security yet. But, in my mind, it is a time I have to struggle to get out of from the worst time just like in a tale. For me, no late night is later than midnight [Burmese proverb]. Nothing will come true if I keep being frustrated. As much as the time I have, I’m here to work. One thing that is better here is having no army dogs [referring to the naval force from his home village]. We do not have to pay monthly fees either.

Yet, I am just afraid of the Thai police as I have not got any Thai migrant worker card/work permit card. The other two families, Nai Ah-kyaw family and Nai Bal family, which came to Thailand along with our family, are working in another Thai owner’s plantation, which is not really far from here. I hope everything will gradually become okay. I want to get my rubber plantation back if we can manage to do that legally.

Nai Ah-kyaw, 40, and Nai Bal, 46, also have their own hopes for the future. Nai Ah-kyaw commented that he has not been able to forget how his rubber plantation was taken over without him allowing it. He also explained how regretful he feels about the fact that his now 12-year-old trees on his five acres of rubber plantation were tappable. Below he describes his current situation in Thailand:

I feel like I’ve become very weak as I found out that there is nothing left for me after 10 years of working hard [on my rubber plantation].They, a group led by Sergeant Htun Wai came to set up a red-colored signboard, illustrating “Cantonment Area” in late April. At the time, I knew that my land was being taken over by the government. My wife was so regretful and she became very depressed. I got her back, cheering her up by suggesting a new start and we left for Thailand. For my two sons, we had to take them out of school to come with us to Thailand. As we came here with the whole family, we faced many different difficulties getting into Thailand. Now, it is not really okay to settle down; but rather we focus our mind on getting good jobs, and then settling down. We are urged by our employer to get a work permit. We might do that to become legal.

Thailand has over one million registered migrant workers from Burma and even more unregistered workers. Most migrants from Burma have come to Thailand in search of better economic opportunities than they originally had in their hometowns inside Burma. The individuals that were previously interviewed by HURFOM before the land confiscation were indirectly forced to leave their homes with their families due to government policies, which effectively kicked them off of their own land. Without any financial security and means to support themselves, many have been forced to work as daily unskilled labor, living on day-to-day subsistence. And consequently, they are unable to plan for the future.

4 : Note: concerned with rubber plantations confiscation, names of some sources and local places are not unveiled in the report, that’s for the security purposes, but if you want to find out furthermore, you can directly conduct HURFOM.

ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION

According to the United Nations statute on Crimes Against Humanity, “the forcible transfer of a population ”⁵ constitutes a crime against humanity. By seizing land already owned and cultivated by villagers on Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island and nearby villages in Yebyu Township, the Burmese government has effectively confiscated and forced the former population to evacuate the island and their own land plots. A report which analyzed the effects of land confiscation on the citizens of Burma explains that, “when rural households are driven off their lands, or are gradually and continually impoverished, then the ability to improve the family’s condition is denied and the survival of the family is jeopardized.”⁶

Not only has the Burmese government blatantly disregarded the UN’s statutes on crimes against humanity, by robbing its citizens of their livelihoods, but the government has committed these crimes even after it supported the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, which stipulates that, “No relocation shall take place without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples concerned and after agreement on just and fair compensation and, where possible, with the option of return.”⁷ The interviews conducted by HURFOM field reporters clearly show that the seizure of land, though informed of beforehand by the placement of red flags, took no account of the individual owners’ permission. And months later, former landowners have received no compensation. Also, within the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, there is a specified protection clause of ethnic minorities native to the area. It is evident by the land confiscation conducted on Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island, in which the total population is ethnic Mon, that this protection of ethnic minorities was completely disregarded. This is especially clear given that many ethnic Mon have been forced off their land and are obligated to make a life elsewhere.

Burma has also ratified the Conventions on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination of Women (CEDAW) .
⁸ Both conventions prescribe the necessity by the government of insuring the rights of both women and children and therefore forbidding the government to take action against these two groups in ways that impede their rights to shelter and sustenance. Article 27 of the CRC states that “States Parties recognize the right of every child to a standard of living adequate for the child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development .”⁹ By forcing families off their land, the rights of the child and the rights of women have been violated.

RECOMMENDATIONS

To Mon Political Party: All Mon Region Democracy Party

Though the national elections, which the Burmese government held on November 7, 2010 were deemed fraudulent and unfair by most international bodies, a small number of officials from the ethnic minority parties gained political positions within the new parliament. Amongst these new officials are politicians from the All Mon Regions Democracy Party (AMRDP). The AMRDP ran on the basis of fighting for the rights of the ethnic Mon people in Burma. Considering their pledges, it is recommended that the AMRDP take note of the land confiscation and human rights abuses ongoing in Kywe Thone Nyi Ma Island. Most of these problems are directly affecting the Mon population living on the island. As parliamentary members in a government-designated “democracy,” HURFOM implores AMRDP to take issue with these human rights abuses in Yebyu Township and seek change and compensation.

To International Labour Organization in Burma

Burma has also ratified a convention against the use of forced labor with the International Labor Organization. Many cases of land confiscation in Burma lead to the use of forced labor to cultivate the land formerly seized. HURFOM advises the ILO to pay special attention to the land confiscation abuses ongoing on Kywe Thone Nyi MaIsland in order to insure that forced labor does not begin to occur.

To UN Human Rights Special Rapporteur on Myanmar:

Finally, Tomas Ojea Quintana, tthe United Nations Special  Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, who finished a tour around Thailand in May 2011 to discuss the ongoing abuses conducted by the Burmese government, must insist on a Commission of Inquiry on the violations committed by the Burmese government constituting Crimes Against Humanity. A Commission of Inquiry conducted is a step towards making the Burmese government take responsibility for the abuses it inflicts on the citizens of Burma as well as pressure the government to change its ways and insure the rights of its citizens by providing them with sustenance, shelter, and the ability to make a living.

5 : http://www.un.org/icc/crimes.htm#humanity

6 :Hudson-Rodd, Dr. Nancy, Dr. Myo Nyunt, Saw Thamain Tun, and Sein Htay. The Impact of the Confiscation of Land, Labor, Capital Assets and Forced Relocation in Burma by the Military Regime.Http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/docs/land_confiscation1-20.pdf. Online Burma Library, May 2003. Web. 20 July 2011.

7 : The Burma-China Pipelines: Human Rights Violations, Applicable Law, and Revenue Secrecy. Rep. no. Situation Briefer No.1. Earthrights International, Mar. 2011. Web. June 2011. <http://www.earthrights.org/sites/default/files/documents/the-burma-china-pipelines.pdf>.

8 : The Burma-China Pipelines: Human Rights Violations, Applicable Law, and Revenue Secrecy. Rep. no. Situation Briefer No.1. Earthrights International, Mar. 2011. Web. June 2011. <http://www.earthrights.org/sites/default/files/documents/the-burma-china-pipelines.pdf>.

9 :http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/crc.htm

APPENDICES

Appendix -1
Appendix -2
Appendix -3
Appendix -4

LIB Nos. 562 and 563 are known by Dauk Phalan villagers as the Rakhine Battalions. They are commanded by the central Burmese government in Nay-pyi-daw, but more directly commanded by the Military Operation Management Command (MOMC) No. 5. These two battalions were formed to conduct a military offensive against a breakaway faction of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army[2] (DKBA)’s Brigade No. 5 led by Colonel Saw Lah Pwe.  On November 7, 2010, Burma held nationwide elections for the first time in 20 years. The following day, fighting broke out between Saw Lah Pwe’s renegade group, who split with the DKBA after factions of Brigade 5 agreed to become part of the Burmese-run Border Guard Force[3].

Saw Law Pwe is currently the leader of the Kloh Hto Baw command.  He and his command have been  engaged in conflict with the Burmese army since November 8^th, constantly moving throughout the townships of Karen State.  Currently, Saw Law Pwe’s Kloh Hto Baw command and KNU’s Brigade 6 cooperate with each other. More often than not, the presence of a rebel armed group [DKBA or KNU] creates conflict and insecurity for villagers, often leading to violent outbreaks between Burmese battalions and whichever armed group is in the area.

In the last week of December 2010, the Rakhine battalions marched through many villages on their way to Wal-Lay village, Kawkareik Township, Karen State. In this report, HURFOM exposes interviews that document the human rights abuses caused in the villages through which the Rakhine battalions passed. Those interviewed by HURFOM were victims, eyewitnesses, village chairmen, and observers of the current conflict and situation. Some were interviewed for their special knowledge on military affairs in the area, are government appointed, or linked with rebel groups.

The following are accounts of the commission of crimes against humanity catalyzed by fighting between the Burmese troops and ethnic-Karen armed groups.  Accounts reveal village closures (travel and movement restrictions) due to fear of landmines as well as village ambushes in which Burmese troops conducted offensives against ethnic rebel groups. The intense fighting between Burmese battalions against the DKBA and KNU made it impossible for HURFOM’s field reporters to travel near the afflicted areas. Not until April did it become safer for field reporters to collect in-depth interviews in limited areas. Still, the continued presence of both Saw Law Pwe’s command and the KNU creates ongoing conflicts. HURFOM was therefore only able to collect a limited sample of accounts.  Human rights violations are ongoing, yet it is currently impossible to reach the victims of those human rights abuses.

Interviews for this report were collected in Kawkareik Township, Karen State, between April 1^st and April 30^th.

Torture

Dauk Phalan village in Kawkareik Township, Karen State consists of 100 households. The majority of the residents are ethnic Karen and depend on farming for their livelihoods. This village is located in a KNU Brigade 6 area of control. And because the KNU and the Burmese army have been in conflict documented for the last two decades, the area in question is prone to human rights violations committed by Burmese troops against villagers. The Burmese Army considers areas under KNU control to be “free-fire” zones[4].

During the conflict on January 13^th, troops from both battalions separated; while some were engaged in fighting, others searched the village for informers and supporters of the rebel groups.  Villagers accused of being in contact with ethnic Karen armed groups were arrested and beaten by Burmese troops, forced to serve as porters and watch the destruction of their own homes.

The morning of January 13^th, Captain Aung Lin and 20 troops from LIB No. 562 and 563 arrested an ethnic Karen villager in Dauk Phalan by the name of Saw Thein Bal. He was 18 years old and a deaf-mute. Saw Thein Bal was arrested along with his father, Saw Maung Sar, and mother, Ma Kyi Nyut. He and his family were accused of being spies for the KNU. Saw Thein Bal’s parents were detained but not tortured. On April 22^nd, Saw Thein Bal’s older brother asked him, through a family-understood sign language, to explain what happened:

I did not know about the fighting. On that day, I went to my relative’s wedding in Dauk Phalan village with some of my villagers, but none of us knew anything about the fighting. When we were on our way to Dauk Phalan village, suddenly a group of Burmese troops surrounded and tried to arrest us. As it happened immediately, I tried to escape, but because they surrounded me, I could not run away and I was arrested. I was very frightened when I looked at their faces. But, it was hard to interact with them using my legs and hands [trying to sign using body language].  Then, they made me kneel down on the ground, and three soldiers kicked my back and head with their soldier’s boots several times. Having kicked me for five minutes, their leader said to stop [kicking me], and at the time, I noticed my head had begun to bleed. In the beginning it was very painful, but after many times, I didn’t feel much.  Then, I was taken with them. I was aware that they took me by way of Kawkareik town, and when they were marching forth, I had to walk in front of them[5].

Saw Thein Bal proceeded to explain that two days later, on January 15^th, the troops arrived at a military base near Kawkareik Town. There, Saw Thein Bal was asked questions about the KNU. Believing Saw Thein Bal to be feigning ignorance by using his hands and legs to sign, LIB troops beat and kicked him in the back repeatedly:

At that military station, four soldiers who seemed as old as I am, punched me and beat me with sticks.  As far as I remember, they hit my face with a gun barrel, besides swearing at me, and they hit my face hard. Then, they hit my nose and forehead with the gun barrel again and questioned me in Burmese. When I answered using my legs and hands, they replied that they didn’t understand anything. Whenever I answered, they got angry at me.  After that, two other soldiers came over and punched me, and because I couldn’t say anything, I was just beaten up.

Saw Thein Bal’s older brother explained that the Burmese troops did not realize Saw Thein Bal was actually deaf-mute until they arrived in Kawkareik:

They [the army] did not know that he [Saw Thein Bal] can neither speak nor hear and they thought he was pretending not to know anything. After, we, the entire family, found out from sources from the village, that my younger brother was arrested by the Burmese army in Dauk Phalan village and taken to Kawkareik [Town], we headed there. Highly concerned, we tried to find out about him. Because my younger brother is kind of disabled, we, the family, were so worried about him. We finally heard that my younger brother was detained at the military barracks outside of Kawkareik Town, which was after he had been detained 18 days. We found out that my younger brother was arrested by the Burmese troops because they thought he was from the KNU. After finding that out, I hurried to my village, calling on elders in our village and my parents. While I was hurrying to the village, which took half a day, we heard that my brother, Saw Thein Bal was taken over to Kaw-saik village with the army. After knowing that my brother was taken to Kaw-saik, we headed to the temporary front-line base in Kaw-saik. We went to meet the officer of LIB No. 562 at the [military] station in Kaw-saik. Then, we negotiated with the officer, explaining to him that my brother is deaf-mute and he is not from the KNU. They, the army, did not believe what we told them, and finally, we had to negotiate with the village head and as a guarantee [an exchange or unofficial bribe] we gave them 200,000 Kyat[6]. In exchange for my brother, we had to borrow 200,000 Kyat from our relatives. After he was released, we saw that my brother was wounded; with lots of cuts and bruises. Now, after four months, he does not seem to have any cuts or bruises.  Yet, he is still agonized by his experience.

As an act of revenge, Saw Thein Bal told his brother that he now wishes to become part of a rebel group and fight against the Burmese army.  At the moment, Saw Thein Bal is in Lan-pan village, Kawkareik Township, living with his family and working on the farm. Saw Thein Bal’s family is still 200,000 kyat in debt because they have not been able to pay the sum back to their relatives. The family has expressed concern for their present survival.

According to villagers living in Dauk Phalan, Saw Thein Bal’s experience is not uncommon. Since 2004, villagers estimated that there have been 50 cases of torture and no less than five have died by the hands of Burmese troops. The Burmese Army’s paranoia about ethnic armed groups in territories where the Burmese Army is unfamiliar has resulted in numerous human rights abuses against locals. Residents become victims of the Burmese Army’s ignorance solely for living in those villages. In these instances, most acts of torture result during questioning by the Burmese army about rebel groups’ whereabouts.  According to the Lan-pan village chairwoman, who wished to remain anonymous[7], 39,  an estimate of 50 would be low, especially because there is a lack of written documentation on human rights abuses that have been ongoing for decades. She confirmed that whenever the Burmese army goes into battle with other armed groups, civilian torture was always conducted by the Burmese army.

If we made an account of just the villagers who were punched once [by the Burmese Army], it would be countless…Also, some innocent villagers were killed due to the fighting between the Burmese troops and their opponents.  After causing these cases to happen, there has never been any action taken [no justice], and still remaining victims suffer.

Execution

On January 16, 2011, DKBA battalions No. 908, and Unit 4, Battalion No. 18 of KNU’s Brigade No. 6, began to fight with the Burmese LIB No. 563 in Lan-pan village, Kawkereik Township. The fight lasted an hour, and afterwards the Burmese army forcibly entered the house of U Maung Myain, living with his three daughters and one son, Saw Kaw-lar, who is 46 years old. LIB No. 563 arrested Saw Kar-lar, took him to the woods, three miles from Kaw-saik village, tied him up with a rope, gagged his mouth with cloth, stabbed his back with a dagger, and executed him. At that time, one Kaw-saik villager, Saw Gae, who is 32 years old, was serving as a porter for LIB No. 563. He witnessed the execution of Saw Kaw-lar and met with a HURFOM field reporter to give his account:

That was in the afternoon, on January 16, 2011. Tying him up, they, the LIB No. 563, took Saw Kaw-lar over with them. That’s when I was in Kaw-saik village together with the troops, serving as a porter [carrying equipment and materials for the LIB troops]. Together with me, there were 12 other villagers ordered to porter. I would be very upset to keep on talking about this killing of Saw Kaw-lar. I feel very affected because I saw that incident with my eyes. Taken to their base, the troop commander and his fighters, tied Saw Kaw-lar’s hands and to get his mouth closed, they tied it with a red-colored cloth. Then, they forced him to kneel down and they cried out – swearing at him and accusing him of being a KNU supporter. After that, they started stabbing his back, into his lungs, with a dagger. After stabbing him several times, Saw Kaw-lar died right there. It was very scary. Still, I can’t get that picture out of my eyes.  I became very worried right away, by thinking that likewise, we, the porters, will be killed whenever they want to kill. Since that time, I thought, for me, if there was a chance for me to escape from this serving as a porter, I would try.

According to Saw Gae, the LIB No. 562 and LIB No. 563 fought against unit 4 of KNU Brigade No. 6, Battalion No. 18 and the breakaway DKBA’s, Battalion No. 908.  LIB No. 562 and LIB. No. 563 included 80 troops and marched to Wal-lay village with 50 porters.

Saw Gae did not personally know Saw Kaw-lar because they lived in neighboring villages. He escaped from forced portering on January 18^th after pretending to go to the bathroom, but instead running away.

I was very sad when I told his wife [who is 38 years old] and his three children about the killing. I can’t imagine how hard life is going to be for her with her three children. Now, Naw Htew Tay seems like she is out of her mind… Not knowing why and how one Burmese soldier did so, she showed me a cut that was made on… her son’s right shoulder.

With Saw Kak’s help, the HURFOM field reporter met with Naw Htew Tay, Saw Kaw-lar’s wife, and was able to interview her for the full story:

Everyone knows that apart from ordinary villagers, my husband did not befriend anyone [any ethnic armed group]. He did not even have contact with any armed groups. So, why did the Burmese troops kill him? That’s not fair. They are the ones who went into the battle but now the person who got killed is my husband. They are the persons who should get killed: not my husband. Now, I have my three kids and have no skills to work.  Now, I do not know what to do as I can not afford sending my three kids to school and there is no rice left at home to cook.

The military’s use of extrajudicial killings not only inflicts fear upon the local villagers, but directly causes families to suffer financially. The loss of her husband, the only skilled worker in the family, turned Naw Htew Tay’s family from surviving to living below subsistence levels.

Relating back to the porters with which Saw Gae had been grouped, Saw Gae, who was also punched during his term as a porter from January 15^th to 18^th, explained that he did not know in what condition the other 12 porters were:

There is one thing that seemed a bit strange. On January 17^th, the day Saw Kaw-lar died, the Burmese LIB No. 563, which was transferred from Rakhine State, met up with LIB No. 562, the battalion using me as a porter, on the way to Wal-lay village. Along with LIB No. 563, there were 50 porters from central Burma, and I found out that these troops are not only using us to serve as porters but also others from central Burma. Now, if I hear that there is an army seen from far away, my back begins to feel cold. Anyone would be frightened if they witnessed what I witnessed. Now, at this present place, I do not dare to live here because there is no safety.

Saw Gae’s observance that many of the porters were from central Burma should be noted. Most documentation involving Burmese civilians being used as carriers or porters takes place near the eastern Burma border and involves the use of ethnic minorities, such as the Karen.

Extortion

Burmese troops from LIB No. 562 and 563, under MOMC No. 5, demanded payment for the cost of army supplies and medical assistance for the troops from residents living around Kawkareik Township. Furthermore, Burmese troops arrested villagers in order to demand money for their return home. The Lan-Pan village chairwoman explained:

As described before, to get Saw Thein Bal released after he was tortured, his family had to pay 200,000 Kyat. That’s the amount of kyat given by only one household. In Lan-pan village, starting in January and still ongoing, the Burmese army has demanded money from villagers many times. For example, at the end of January, to provide medical aid for wounded men and porters, we were ordered to collect money, and totally, we from the whole village had to pay 200,000 kyat. As there are about 100 households in the village, we collected from each household and paid the Burmese Army. And, in the first week of March, Unit No. 3, under the MOMC No. 5, demanded from us, the Lan-pan villagers, 200,000 kyat for their army rations again, since they do not often station in Wal-lay village. That time also we [had to] collect money from each household in our village and pay as they demanded. It is also possible that the Burmese army overcharged villagers from other villages for money, but we do not know about that because we have not been informed. Yet, if we had known about that [other villagers were demanded to pay], we could not help them give money. This is because we have to struggle for our daily meals while the situation in the region is unstable.

Two months later, in early March, residents of Ah-son village, which holds 200 households, were forced to pay 250,000 kyat to LIB No. 562 and LIB No. 563. One Ah-son villager, who is 44 years old, explained:

Our village head, Saw La-nay, who is 48, came to collect money from every household. Some villagers gave 3,000 Kyat, and some gave 2,000 Kyat to him. Collecting from each household, a total of 250,000 Kyat was collected and given to the Burmese troops. We can not refuse giving as they [Burmese troops] demand it.  The village head also said that he could not pay for us like before anymore. We also have to pay by borrowing from others. Our village head said that he came to collect the money to provide for the Burmese army’s rations. They have collected money like that many times: since the DKBA from this region and Burmese troops engaged in the fighting. And, we have to pay just like this.

Not only did Burmese troops demand money for their own rations and medical assistance, lacking proof, these Burmese troops also arbitrarily accused villagers of  being supporters of the KNU and breakaway DKBA and providing these rebel groups with shelter. This was confirmed by Saw Taung Kyi-myain, who is 47 years old, and works as a farmer:

Accusing people of having contact and supporting members of armed groups from the jungle, the Burmese troops also demanded money. They caused a problem with not only a household but also the whole village and then ask for money to fix it. Before the Thingyan water festival [the Burmese new year], in March, the troops, transferred from Rakhine State, came to Ah-son village to collect money. There are seven quarters and 200 households in the village. They collected money as ‘fines’. The charge was to accuse us of supporting armed groups from the jungle while they said that ‘if you, the villagers in this village, support the armed groups from the jungle, you all also have to support us,’ and they demanded 1,000,000 kyat, but after the village head apologized and asked to reduce [the price], the demand decreased to 500,000 Kyat. For that demand, we, our family alone, had to pay 2,500 Kyat, but for those who do not have money to give, the village head, Saw La-nay, had to pay for them. The village head also can not afford [paying the sum]. And the village head has said for a long time that he does not want to serve as village head anymore. … ‘Having to pay on other’s behalf, who wants to be village head?’

Saw Ka-lae, who is 30 years old and resides in Kaw-pain[8] quarter, recounted how the Burmese army demanded money and how those who could not pay would be punished:

Who can live here without paying as they, the Burmese Army, demand? For instance, if we do not give as they ask, as they are bad, they will get angry at that whole family and will accuse them of being supporters of rebel groups and then make problems with them. Yet, even worse, they will burn the village until it turns into ash. If they want, they can do that easily. For them, here is their front-line [of battle]. We all know that they can do whatever they want. So, we cannot do anything, even though we have nothing to feed our kids, for them [the Burmese army], we have to find and give as they demand. This is because we are afraid of them.

Saw Ka-lae shows that severe punishments by Burmese troops cause villagers to succumb to the extortion exacted upon them.

Property Destruction

On the morning of January 16, 2011, during fighting between the Burmese troops from LIB Nos. 562, 563 and 543, KNU, and the breakaway group of the DKBA, villagers’ houses and properties were destroyed and looted by the Burmese troops in Lan-par village, Kawkareik Township, Karen State.

On the morning of Jan.16, 2011, after the Karen armed group withdrew, Sergeant Nay-lin led a group with eight fighters into Lan-par village, Kawkareik Township. Eyewitnesses saw the troops enter the houses of those villagers who had fled the fighting and took useful household materials and other easily portable properties. As for the heavier properties, the troops destroyed them. One Lan-par villager recounted:

When the village becomes a battlefield, there are a lot of houses left behind[9]. Then, the  Burmese troops entered the houses left alone, and picked up every belonging that they found while they also damaged some belongings. I saw them doing that while I was hiding in a paddy-barn. Especially [affected] was my neighbor’s house, Saw Maung Sein’s house, which a Sergeant went into with four men and shot off gunfire.  At the time, I could only hear the sound of gunfire as no one can come out. Later, after they withdrew from the village, we find out that they shot the wooden box of Saw Maung Sein’s wife until it opened and took the 30,000 kyat, which had been saved from selling beans, as well as two army-style warm-coats. Also, they shot the roof of the house, and broke the water-pot, in addition to shooting plates and bowls, kitchen utensils randomly, leaving everything useless.

HURFOM also found out that Lan-par villager, Maung Taing-yee’s pig was shot by the Burmese army and carried away to be eaten by the Burmese troops. Maung Taung-yee, who works as a farmer for a living, recounted:

My pig weighed 40 kg. We only knew that our pig was taken away after the fighting was over when we returned to our home. When we got inside the home, we saw our closet shot while our plates and bowls were damaged. As we are poor, we have nothing, so they can’t take anything, but they took our pig.

Burmese troops also destroyed one Cordless phone, one Receiver, and Sanyo (point & shot) camera belonging to Saw Pan-lay, who is 29 years old, and Mg Taing-yee’s neighbor.  The value of his destroyed property was over 700,000 kyat:

Before, I used to run a local phone service business and I owned a cordless phone, but the cordless phone together with its machine [receiver] and 12 volt battery were shot and damaged. … I stopped working as phone operator as security got worse. And my camera which I used to take photos at donation celebrations and hired at festivals.  But now, it’s also gone.

Saw Ohm Sein, who is a 55 year old farmer reported that the roof of his house was shot as well as his paddy-barn built at the back of the house. Surprisingly, his 50 packages of paddy [uncooked rice] were left untouched.

Destruction of villager’s properties is part of the Burmese government’s Four Cuts Policy. According to the Network for Human Rights Documentation – Burma, this policy was originally instated in the 1970s. The purpose of the Four Cuts policy is to cut off rebel groups access to food, funds, information, and recruitment[10]. Effectively, this policy not only negatively affects rebel groups, but the locals who live in those areas as well.

Conclusion

Due to ongoing conflict, which makes entrance into certain villages and conflict zones basically impossible, HURFOM was only able to collect a small sample of interviews. In fact, the human rights abuses mentioned in this report are occurring throughout Kawkareik Township. According to the United Nations, these human rights violations committed against civilians by the Burmese Army fall within the designation of crimes against humanity: torture, execution, and persecution of a group based on its ethnicity.

Based solely on Burmese troops’ uninformed suspicions, villagers become victims of torture, repeated questioning and detainment, and even execution, with no venue for which the abused can defend themselves. Burmese troops are not held accountable for the actions they take against civilians in ethnic villages and there is no recourse for which the villagers are able to seek justice.

Similarly crippling to locals caught between rebel groups and Burmese Army conflicts is the destruction to locals’ homes and the taxation meant to support the Burmese Army. Yet, the Burmese Army’s methods of taxation and extortion are conducted without transparency, leading many locals to be overcharged, which occurs when there is no documentation system for those who have already paid.

The lack of accountability with which the Burmese government has conducted its affairs for the last twenty years assumably should have changed with the switch to a new government in April 2011. Unfortunately, those who were interviewed three months after the events took place, said, that in April, even after the government changed, abuses continued. This is evident by the fact that military offensives by the Burmese troops are ongoing in Karen State.

Saw Law Pwe, the commander of the Kloh Hto Baw command, is currently living in Palu village, Kawkareik Township and with his presence comes the entry of more Burmese troops into the area. Saw Law Pwe’s continued ability to catalyze military offensives by Burmese troops into the rule of the newly instated government clearly demonstrates that the Burmese government has not changed its tactics toward the ethnic areas near the eastern border.  Ethnic villages continue to be pillaged and villagers continue to be tortured and executed by Burmese troops. In relation to ethnic minority groups living near the eastern Burmese border, the new Burmese government has continued acting discriminatorily, abusively and without accountability.

In April 2010, the New Mon State Party (NMSP) refused the Burmese government’s request for the NMSP to transform into part of the Border Guard Force (BGF), in which it would essentially provide security for the Burmese government. Tensions between both sides rose because of the NMSP’s rejection and the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC – the former Burmese military government) began a recruitment project in local villages, forcing villagers to serve as militiamen and committing a variety of human rights abuses.  During that period, HURFOM conducted interviews with local residents who fled their homes to Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) sites, and documented the commission of crimes against humanity and assorted human rights abuses, on those IDPs, who lived in Ye Township, Mon State, and Ye Pyu Township, Tenasserim Division. Download report as PDF [270KB]

Villages that faced militia recruitment during this period were Alaesakhan village, Hlar-chaung-pyar village, and Ta-nee Tha-kyar village in Ye Pyu Township, and Ma-kyi village, in Ye Township. Villagers in these areas were confronted with execution, extortion, torture, and forced relocation by the Burmese Army [at that time, the SPDC], accused of supporting rebel groups, and used as human shields leading the Burmese army [SPDC]. Consequently, many of these villagers, along with their entire families, were forced to flee their homes, leaving their orchards and other properties behind.

Background:

Located on Burma’s eastern border, there are approximately 15 IDP camps. These camps are situated in Yebyu Township, Southern Ye Township, and Kyainnseikyi Township. The Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC)’s 2010 report, entitled, “Protracted Displacement and Chronic Poverty in Eastern Burma/Myanmar,” documents the effect of Burma’s increased policy of militarization and pressure on villagers living in former ceasefire areas to become part of the Border Guard Forces. Over 8,000 residents from Mon areas [including Ye Township] were reported to have fled from the army’s militarization efforts[1]. The report also estimates that by the end of 2010, there were over 500,000 IDPs living in Burma’s eastern border.

IDP camps, or sites, tend to look like very small villages, living in compounds, or in the middle of the forest. They mostly consist of 20 to 50 families, and because of their unstable situation, are forced to remain mobile, to evade army attacks, or to find more abundant food sources.  Residents in these camps subsist by producing charcoal in the dry season, picking tall grass to make brooms, cutting bamboo for the production of a sticky rice dessert, and some grow hill paddy rice. Most of these jobs barely maintain subsistence levels and many children in the camps suffer from malnourishment.

Wishing to remain anonymous, one field coordinator, working with a Mon relief agency in the IDP areas, reported that IDPs were receiving no medical care. Mon relief agencies had begun to provide last resort medical aid. In Pa-nan-pon village alone, a Mon relief agency supplied aid to 500 IDPs, while in Kyun Pin village, 300 IDPs were given some form of medical assistance.

Speaking with one Mon relief agency, HURFOM discovered that one Pauk-pin-kwin villager and two Alaesakhan villagers were shot and killed after criticizing the SPDC’s militia recruitment project. SPDC troops based in Pauk-pin-kwin village forced villagers to relocate near a railway station, while residents in Khaw Zar sub-township were forced to construct the Village Peace and Development Council’s (VPDC) office and cover all the army’s expenses.

Additionally, villagers were forced to work as unpaid labor and serve sentry duty, and it has been reported that one group of villagers living under travel restrictions, when going out to sea to fish, had their boat shot by SPDC soldiers, and the villagers were forced to swim back to shore.

Unlike refugee camps, most IDPs are mostly forced to fend for themselves. In the past, IDPs received assistance from Mon relief agencies in the forms of cooking necessities such as rice, fish paste, cooking oil and beans. Only in emergency situations are some IDPs provided with limited health care.

The interviews documented in this report were taken by HURFOM field reporters between April 2010 to June 2010. Now, a year later, HURFOM has confirmed that those IDPs interviewed last year have been unable to permanently return home to their villages and are still living in the same situations inside the IDP sites.

Torture, Execution, Forced Labor and Extortion

The fear of arbitrary torture and executions is justified by the experiences of most villagers who have now become IDPs. Reportscollected through villagers from Alaesakhan village, Hlar-Chaung-Pyar and Ta-nee Tha-Kyar village in Yebyu Township as well as Ma-Kyi village in Ye Township documented instances of unwarranted torture and killings; one couple from Ta-nee Tha-kyar village was accused of letting a nearby rebel group gather in their orchard, tortured by the Burmese army, and then fined as a final punishment. Another woman whose nephew was forced to act as a human shield for the Burmese army, also experienced her husband being killed by the Burmese army, and a Ma-kyi villager was tortured for reporting news to the village head given to him by a rebel group.

Daw Yin, Ta-nee Tha-kyar villager, 56, on May 29, 2010 revealed why she and her husband were beaten by the Burmese army, and how much she was charged to pay as a fine:

We live here with only two of us: my husband and me. I moved to this village 5 years ago. Before, we lived in Chaung-Wa village. When we lived in Chaung-wa, the Burmese army did not allow us to stay there, instead we had to return to our home village immediately. Since then, we moved here [to Ta-nee Tha-kyar village].

We still go to work in our orchard. But, last year [2009], the Burmese army called the village headman and asked who the owners of the orchard, in which the rebel group was gathering, were. That orchard was mine but we were at home and did not even know that the rebel group was there. But, because of that, we were beaten and had to pay a 100,000 Kyat fine.

On June 21, 2010, Nai Mon, Alaesakhan villager, 45, explains how he was beaten by the Burmese army, and how he was forced to flee his village with his family:

We, everyone in the family – my wife Mi Nyo, 39, my eldest son Mon Htaw, 25, younger son Min Sin Non, my youngest son Min Win Oo, 1, and my two younger daughters, aged 18 and 12 respectively – moved here to Pa-nan-pon village. In Alaesakhan village, three months ago, there was a recruitment for the militia. When we, a group of friends, criticized that [the recruitment], the village head, Nai Par Dut, who is also the militia leader, told the Burmese army. Then, they, the army, came to beat us – a total of five friends. Of the five, two friends, named Nai Ton Lain and Nai Nyut, had to leave with the army, and no one heard about them. Later, we heard that they were killed. After that, because I had heard that I would be also arrested, we, the entire family, ran here, to Pa-nan-pon village [an IDP site].

Nai Mon was lucky in that the physical abuse inflicted upon him didn’t result in severe injuries or death. Mi Than Nu’s, 34, an Alaesakhan villager, husband was not so fortunate. On June 21, 2010 she gave an account of her husband’s death and her nephew’s arrest to serve as a human shield for the Burmese troops:

Three of us live here. We do not want to go back to my village. We arrived here [the IDP site] three months ago. I heard that they, the Burmese army, shot my husband, Nai Htun Lain, dead. I went to see the army officer, paid him a lot of money to ask him where my husband was. He [first] replied with nothing. [Later], he said that we [the Burmese army] shot him dead because he criticized the militia recruitment and [the Burmese army] did not like that. Now, I live here with two of my kids; my son Min Nyan Htaw, 9, and my daughter, Mi Bon-mon.

Min Than Nu’s troubles did not end with her husband’s death, though. She continued:

Last month, my nephew was arrested to serve as a porter. His name is Mam Pa-lar Htat. The Burmese army blocked the village entrance the day after a Mon armed group attacked the militia office in the village. He went to their orchard to have a look and slept there during the night. In the morning, he came back to the village because he did not know about the blockage of the village entrance. On the way back home, the SPDC army met him and arrested him to serve as a porter for two days. We went to the village head asking about him. After three days passed, he was released. When we asked him, he told us that the SPDC army used me as a human shield, leading them.

Mam Pa-Lar Htat’s experience in being used as not just a porter but also as a human shield is not uncommon. Portering, carrying equipment for the Burmese army, is often coupled with leading the way. The Burmese army cannot be sure of where or when an attack will befall them from rebel groups. Even more so, the Burmese army is afraid of landmines that have been planted by the rebel groups. This fear for their own lives, elicits their unlawful use of villagers to walk ahead and be the first to get hurt if there are landmines.

On May 21, 2010, Nai Lwin, 39, a Hlar-chaung-pyar villager, who works as a farmer and hunter, recounted how he was ordered to be a human shield, along with other villagers, for Burmese troops:

Here, we have to do whatever we are ordered to do. When the Burmese army does not order their men to work but orders the village head to do so, the village head, in turn, orders two villagers per day to work for the army. Those villagers have to guide the Burmese army and are ordered to walk ahead. We have already guided them many times. We drew to see who is going to guide, and for me, at least one time per month, I have to guide the army. If we have to guide after voting, but do not want to go, we have to pay 5,000 Kyat.

The Burmese army uses various methods of intimidation, especially threats, towards villagers in the eastern border areas. Even knowing that there is a rebel group in the vicinity and not exposing them to the Burmese army prompts torture by the Burmese army. Nai Soe Win, a Ma-kyi villager from Ye Township, who is 26 and works as a medic, explained how he was tortured by the Burmese army and how the villagers had to report to the Burmese army if they spotted rebel groups:

I can not define whether it is safe for us or not. In our village, every villager, if they see a rebel group, they have to report about it to the Burmese army. If they do not report right after seeing the rebels, they will get charged. If the rebel groups are having drinks, enjoying themselves in the orchards, those orchard owners will be charged lots of money and will also be persecuted.

I also was tortured like those orchard owners when I was given a letter from a rebel group. That letter said not to travel out of the village since landmines were planted outside the village. The Burmese [SPDC] army found out about this from the village headman. Finding out about that, the Burmese army arrested me and tortured me throughout the night. I was released after being excruciatingly abused at night and then paying them 300,000 Kyat.

Findings from household surveys taken by the TBBC, document that villagers living in close proximity to Burmese army regiments are the most likely to be abused[2]. Villager’s safety is increasingly threatened by Burmese soldiers’ use as human shields, portering, and indefensible torture to assert control over villagers. Looking after their own welfare, villager were forced to flee their homes.

Travel Restrictions and Impacts on Incomes

Villagers often becomes pawns in the conflict between ethnic armed groups and the Burmese army, being abused and used by both sides. Travel restrictions were often mandated by the Burmese army in local villages; closing village entrances, and forbidding villagers to work or travel unless they held a recommendation later from their village headman. The effect of travel restrictions on livelihoods for these villagers became a tipping point between subsisting and starving.

Nai Soe Win described the problems his village faced, like orchard blockages, resulting in an insufficient income for his family:

When [we heard that] there is a group of rebels around here, the Burmese army closed the villages – restricting travel from one village to the other. Consequently, we cannot work and do not get paid either. Yet, for those who are working in Thailand, their family is able to depend on them – receiving money from them.

The majority [of people] residing in this village work on their betel nut plantations while some have boats, relying on the boats for their livings. We can not go to work on our orchards often. This is because the Burmese [SPDC] blocks the way whereas sometimes the rebel groups reopen the ways. Because of the closure, the villagers cannot go to work, which causes inadequate incomes for the villagers. For the food – the rice – we make an order to boatmen to buy [rice] from Ye town, and the fare [of transportation] is 30,000 Kyat. This year, because the closure of orchards happened often, we could not pick our durian to sell and as a result we lost money.

Nai Htay Win, an Alaesakhan villager was also affected by travel restrictions. On April 24, 2010, Nai Htay Win reported:

There are some problems with traveling. The Burmese army has ordered for the Alaesakhan villagers not to travel out-of-and-in the village often. Sometimes, my wife has to request a permission letter from the village head to go to the woods.

Daw Yin, who was beaten along with her husband by the Burmese army, also mentioned the impact of travel restrictions during her May 29, 2010 interview:

The Burmese army does not come to this village often. They only come here when the situation appears to be unstable. We have our legal ID cards, but they are not useful. We can only travel from one village to another if we obtain a recommendation letter from the village head. Also, we have to get recommendation letters from the village head when we go to our orchard for work.

Nai Lwin, who was used as a human shield by the Burmese Army said,

“If we want to travel outside the village, we have to get recommendation letters from our village head.

For our livings, we depend on hunting and we eat what we can find. We have a farm, which produces about one Tin[3] [of rice]. Last year, we got nothing since we were not allowed to travel to the jungle or to sleep outside the village. So, our paddy was eaten and damaged by wild-boars. Now, we just work, cutting bush in other people’s orchard, hired by them. We are paid 3,000 Kyat per day when hired. But we hardly ever get hired to work.

Restrictions to travel highly affect livelihoods of villagers. Whether tending to an orchard, rice paddy, or fishing, most of these undertakings involve travel outside of their village. And, because most of the villagers’ jobs are agricultural, without constant care, their products will decay. The threat of violence in conjunction with being unable to work at their barely subsistence levels were important factors causing villagers to flee to IDP sites.

Livelihoods at the IDP Sites

Having fled from their homes, the villagers were interviewed in IDP sites, and all of them are still, a year later, forced to depend on the IDP sites. But, these IDP sites do not provide a much better option: there is a scarcity of jobs, safety from outsiders is a major concern, and they have little access to medical care.

Individually interviewed, the residents from the IDP area explained that they had to travel to a town nearby for medical treatment when they have an infection or are ill.  Paying for medical care is difficult because of little to no job opportunities. This makes supporting children’s education difficult as well.

Nai Htay Win:

I live here without having anything. For us, whenever we come down with malaria or other infectious diseases, we’ll go to the clinic of Pa-nan-pon village to get medical treatment.

On education, he added:

My children have no education. They had to leave school when I fled here [with them].

According to an interview conducted on June 21, 2010 with Mi Aye Dout, an Alaesakhan villager, 37, who was accused of supporting a rebel group, her entire family fled from her home village, leaving her house, orchard, and other properties behind, while the family is, at the moment, experiencing difficulty providing itself with daily meals and travel back to their native village.

Mi Aye Dout is now residing in an IDP site, worried about her family’s survival after fleeing from home, and leaving their orchard with no one to tend to it:

Having fled here, we have nothing with us. We wanted to sell our orchard, but no one wanted to buy it, so we lost both our orchard and our house, leaving them in the village behind. Now, by selling a small piece of our jewelry, we can survive.

However, if the situation here becomes unstable, we will have to flee again. And, it is very helpful when the medics from the Mon army are around here. If they were not here, we could do nothing – and having nothing [materials] to heal. All of my children went to school when we were in our home village, but now only my daughter goes to school, the Mon school.

IDP sites are a last resort for these villagers. Even as a last resort, all aspects of life for them in these sites are unpredictable; job availability is undependable, medical assistance is lacking, and children’s futures are uncertain, with the majority unable to receive an enduring education.

Fleeing from his home, Nai Mon, who was tortured by the Burmese army, explained the difficulty he faced finding enough rice for daily meals. He also discussed the methods he and his family were forced to use to treat their sick children:

Since we ran away from our village to Pa-nan-pon village, we have lived here by selling what we have and buying food. Now, we can not buy any rice because the Burmese army will confiscate it if they meet us on the way. We can only buy 2-3 Pyi[4] of rice. It is very difficulty for survival. Here, since we do not own any farm or orchard, we can only help other people work. No one will hire you to work.

It is safe for us to live. This is because the Mon army is here. Compared with the safety of living in Alaesakhan village, here is a bit safer than there.

Here, there is no doctor or medic yet. And last month, when my kids got sick, we just gave them the herbs that we could find. Now, I am very thankful to you all [the interviewers who visited along with a Mon relief agency] since you brought medicine for us. And, we re-sent our daughter, Mi Khaing, and son, Min Sin Non, to the school in this village.

Mi Than Nu, who fled to an IDP site after her husband was killed by SPDC troops, described worry at how her family would survive, especially how she would take care of her children if they became sick:

I want to go back to Alaesakhan village since I have my sister-in-law there to borrow some money from and ask for some food from her. I will go back to my village when the woods are reopened.

For survival, we have to borrow from others, and sell what we’ve got for daily meals. Here, there are no jobs. Now, as the Mon armies are here, it is safe for us, I think.

Here, we have a clinic but do not have any doctor or medic yet. Before you all arrived here, we bought some tablets, like paracetamol, and gave them to the kids when they were sick.

In her interview, Daw Yin, echoed the hardships of the other interviewers in terms of trying to find enough daily sustenance:

For living, as is convenient, we borrow from others and then pay them back – just like recycling. Yet, when the Burmese army comes to the village, we have to give them 2,000 Kyat for their own food supplies. In one month, we had to pay the Burmese army 2-3 times.

There is no safety living here: we just have to live with the Burmese army when they come here while we also have to live amicably with the rebel groups when they stop by. We have a medic here, but at the moment, she’s gone back to her village.

Our kids live at the monastery because it is good for them to live there, getting the chance to study and have daily meals.

Requests to leave the village from the village headman were necessary no matter where a villager was traveling. According to the interview with Nai Lwin, he had to request a recommendation letter from the village headman in order to get to the IDP camp.

Nai Lwin, revealed that his entire family depends on his income and that they have access to medical care when needed:

We have a medic, but in Yan-Ku village. If we became seriously ill, we had to take a boat that passed through Kywe-thone-nyi-ma village.

There is a primary school in the village and it has two teachers. But, it closes often, and as a result, the school kids’ study is disrupted. Most of the kids do not go to school, and become dropouts.

For our living, we depend on hunting and we eat what we can find. We have a farm, which produces about 1 Tin. Last year, we collected nothing since we are not allowed to travel to the jungle and sleep outside the village. So, our paddy was eaten and damaged by wild boars. Now, we just work, cutting the undergrowth in other people’s orchards, hired by them. We were paid 3,000 Kyat per day when hired. But, we hardly ever get hired to work.

Forced Labor

Besides Nai Lwin, who was forced to porter and be a human shield for the Burmese Army, the other interviewees did not focus on forced labor in their interviews. Still, staff members from Mon relief agencies working in and around the IDP sites, reported that forced labor is ongoing in villages of Yebyu Township. Pauk-pin-kwin villagers were forced to build fences around the village, to relocate out of the village to the railway station, and to guard the gas pipeline for security purposes. Also, the residents from Khaw Zar sub-township were given direct orders by the Burmese army to construct the office building for the VPDC, where the Burmese army troops would rest. In addition, the Alaesakhan villagers were ordered to go on sentry duty for the gas pipeline successively, while also being forced to build fences.

Conclusion

The percentages of families impacted by military attacks, torture or beatings, arbitrary arrest or detention, forced portering, and military patrols or landmines have increased steadily from 2005 to 2009[5]. IDPs were forced to flee from their villages due to the insufferable crimes against humanity committed against them. By living in an IDP site and not taking the refugee route of leaving Mon State or Tenasserim Division, IDPs are left without resources or contacts, little protection from outside attackers, little or no job opportunities, little or no health care and unstable schooling for IDP children.

In the past TBBC donated emergency assistance in the forms of rice, fish-paste, and cooking oil. Some IDPs received waterproof plastic for temporary roofing on their huts. IDPs used to receive assistance on water and sanitation. The global economic situation has impacted aid funds, and currently, because of that, most IDPs are left to fend for themselves.

According to TBBC’s report, Mon State held 49,050 IDPs and Tenasserim Division held 76,650 IDPs by the end of 2010[6].  Currently, families still live in the IDP areas, though many of the men return home to tend to their orchards, fields, etc. During harvest time, whole families will return home to collect their harvests. Yet, once a harvest is finished, most return to the IDP areas, for the constant fear that their village is not safe from abuse by the Burmese army. IDPs are stuck waiting for the Burmese battalions to leave their home villages.

It will be important to take note of how the proclaimed new government will deal with the IDP population. The new government was instated on April 1, 2011, though a month later, HURFOM reporters can confirm that those IDPs spoken to between April 2010 and June 2010 are still living in IDP sites now in April 2011. The current Burmese government’s assertion that it is a democratic entity has little validity for those IDPs unable to return home. Even with a democratic government, the ongoing civil wars between the ethnic armed groups and the central government’s military will prevent the IDPs from returning to their villages. Only when the Burmese government stops waging war on the ethnic populations, and calls for peace talks to end the civil war, will the IDPs be able to return home and lead stable lives.

Background

The construction of the Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay gas pipeline began in 2000. It is a 180-mile long pipeline meant to supply cement factories and electricity generation projects along Burma’s southern peninsula. Documented in HURFOM’s May 2009 report, Laid Waste: Human Rights along the Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay gas pipeline, construction of the pipeline resulted in the seizure of more than 2,400 acres of land from cultivators, with insufficient or no compensation. This current report also reveals that nine out of the 13 (70%) interviewees for this month – farmers and land or plantation owners – had already lost land during the construction of the pipeline from 2000 to 2001, in addition to losing land for a second time during the current expansion.

According to MOGE, after ten years, the pipeline is in need of refurbishing. Though the Burmese government claims that the remodel of the pipeline and substitution of 20-inch diameter pipes for 30-inch diameter pipes is necessary due to the pipeline’s destruction by various insurgent, ethnic-armed groups, engineers working with MOGE have elaborated that the first construction included low quality pipes and materials and the pipes are in subsequent decay. HURFOM’s report, Laid Waste, also detailed the fact that most pipeline ruptures occurred from leaks in the pipeline and the low-grade pipes[2].

The initiation of the pipeline, in conjunction with the increasing presence of army battalions to guard it, has resulted in numerous human rights abuses for villagers living nearby.[3] Though the repair of the pipes could have the potential of being beneficial to residents[4], the seizure of residents’ lands has limited, and even destroyed, many living near the pipeline’s livelihoods. The army consistently does not take the shape or outline of the resident’s acreage or land into account before bulldozing or excavating right through the middle of their land, either ruining or dissecting it.

Whereas in the past, villagers, land owners, and cultivators did not not receive compensation, certain villagers whose land has been destroyed, declared that this time they would not watch these abuses in silence, but instead, would document the land seizure in detail, and petition the government for compensation.

Interviews

The following interviews were recorded between February 20^th and March 15^th.  Documents were collected from the households of local cultivators in northern Ye, Thanphyuzayart and Mudon Townships. Though HURFOM tried to cover all three regions aforementioned, local security conditions, strict checking of the government toll gates and check points, and the monitoring of the local pro-government groups and their secret informants, the information from most of the impacted local cultivators could not be collected.  However, those interviews that HURFOM was able to conduct were in person and victims were able to explain and summarize the events in detail. The personal information and the names of the regions have been changed for the due security of the interviewees.

As a low-level engineer, working for MOGE, one 28-year old man explained that the Kanbauk-Myaing Kalay gas pipeline is being reinforced because it is 10 years old and decaying from inadequate technology and frequent explosions. This engineer explained that the number of pipeline sections will increase and the pipeline route is being modified and upgraded. On March 3^rd, MOGE began the extension of the pipeline in Mudon and Thanbyuzayat Townships using welding machines, bulldozers, and cranes to carry the pipelines.

Wae-thon-chaung village, Thanbyuzayat Township, Mon State:

In the past, most pipelines were extended along with the railways and roads.  The railways and roads are excessively curved because they were constructed during the Japanese era [World War II].  For example, the route near the Thanphyuzayart exit and the Mudon entrance route are excessively curved.  Now, the MOGE of Naypyidaw are straightening the curved parts of the main route of the pipeline.  Welding technology of the pipeline sections was modernized, so that there is almost no chance for accidental ruptures.  Moreover, the pipelines were ordered to be made with thicker walls and Korea-made steel.  [The steel] can prevent the underground ionization process.  These pipelines can be used longer and an accidental rupture becomes less likely.  It is more secure because 97 percent of the pipeline is underground.

By explaining that MOGE is installing superior quality pipes, this engineer essentially admits that the previous pipeline was made badly.  MOGE never publicly admitting that leaks in the pipes may have resulted from its own construction of the pipes, has led to blame and subsequent taxation of villagers living near these pipes for ruptures and leakages. This taxation has been a very common form of punishment in which villagers were targeted solely for living near the pipeline in that area. Interviews with Sakhangi villagers in Thanpyuzayart Township revealed that 75% of the human rights violations committed against the villagers came in the form of levying taxes [fines] by the local authorities for pipeline leaks.

Min Tint Tun, a resident of a Mon village in northern Ye Township, during an interview in early March, explains how the pipeline, which is situated underneath a pond in his village, has a leak, and gas seeps into the water.

There is a pond near our village. The pipeline passes underneath that pond.  That valley is where Daw Myint Than [aka Daw Mya Than]‘s rubber plantation is situated. Now, the State confiscated the plantation saying it is pipeline land.  When you look at the pond in the valley, you will see bubbles coming out due to a pipeline leak.  There is a terrible gas smell that always comes out [of the pond].  Because of that, no one dares approach it.  The particular authorities always come to supervise [check the leak]. Now [the land] has been re-excavated there.  Daw Mya Than’s rubber plantation has been seized again [first in 2001].  The old area of the pipeline was not used and a new route was made. What is left of Daw Mya Than’s plantation is a long and thin shape.  The rubber trees are still productive so it is really miserable [the rubber tree production was a current form of income for her].  Some trees are left.

Due to the weakness of existing pipes during the extension of the gas pipeline, gas leaks or pipeline ruptures occur on average one time per month. According to Min Tint Tun, ruptures result from the use of low quality parts used by MOGE and that it is the villagers who suffer the most from pipeline ruptures:

We accept that they repair the pipeline and prevent the pipeline from leaking because we are [the ones] who directly suffered from ruptures in the pipeline.  The minimum [repercussion villagers have to face] is having to pay for the leaked gas or being involved in countless [instances of] long-term forced labor.  The worst is to be arrested and tortured.  More than two times the pipeline ruptured near our village.  The authorities forced the villagers to take responsibility for the consequences [of the rupture].  Now, we have accepted that we must repair [the pipeline], but we haven’t accepted that the villagers’ land has been unfairly seized.  As everyone knows, we are really reliant on this land for our living so we are impacted even if one inch of land is lost.  A huge number of rubber trees around our village were destroyed due to the new route of the pipeline. Betel-nut trees were also destroyed. Also, there has been no compensation for the land we lost in 2002.  Now, again, I do not hear anything related to compensation.  It seems that [this project] is a State operated project so no permission is needed from anyone.

Unfortunately, for the villagers living in pipeline areas, this new construction of the pipeline is not just simply the replacing of faulty and rusted pipes with better quality pipes, but also includes the expansion of the pipeline into areas previously untouched by it. These areas may be only a few feet over from the currently standing pipeline, but after the land seizure that took place from 2000 to 2001, villagers had to relocate their fields. These relocated fields of paddy or rubber plantation may have been just a few feet over from the former pipeline. What is seen in many of these interviews, though, is that many of those villagers whose land was seized over a decade ago, are experiencing land seizure of their property for a second time due to the pipeline.

Interviews collected between March 5^th - 8^th revealed that more roads were made for the bulldozers, which ruined the paddy land and plantation.  The land was bulldozed for rerouting the pipeline and cranes were used to carry sections of the pipeline on the newly bulldozed roads. Nai Ah-Nyan, 45, a resident of Kwan-Hlar village of Mudon Township who makes his living from paddy fields explained:

Ours [the land] was ruined because of both the expansion [of the pipeline] and the construction of new roads for their bulldozers.  My paddy mound[5] was destroyed because of the excavation for a new road for their bulldozers. According to their land needs for the pipeline extension, six squares [sections] of my paddy land was taken.  Among these six squares of paddy, three squares were separated into two parts.  Three squares were completely damaged and the others are salvageable. [The construction team] did not ask for permission.   We are the people who are suffering the most trouble from this pipeline.  Ten years ago, we lost our land because of this pipeline.  My parents passed away in disappointment because [the seized land] was the land they inherited from their parents.  They were truly unhappy.  Now, we also can’t escape from the troubles caused by the pipeline.  This land is our rice-pot [sustenance].  I have no [other] plantation and have to rely on this paddy land.  [My land] has been ruined now and it means my rice-pot has been broken.  I don’t want to go to Thailand for work but because of todays’ situation, I must go.

Nai Ah-Nyan continued that his elder brother was included in a group of people who were arrested on suspicions resulting from a 2003 gas pipeline rupture in Kwan-Hlar village, and his family had to pay around 80,000 kyat to guarantee his brother’s escape.

With no belief that he will be compensated for his land, the only other option for Nai Ah-Nyan appears to be leaving his home town and migrating illegally to Thailand for work opportunities. The pipeline construction has been quite successful in pushing ethnic people off of their land and forcing them to relocate either within their home state or traveling illegally to Thailand for work option. Currently, there are over two million migrant workers from Burma working in Thailand.

In the 1960s, the Burmese government began a campaign called the “Four Cuts.” This campaign was designed to put pressure on ethnic minority groups and living in the border areas to weaken the connection between insurgent groups and ethnic villagers. The four cuts pertains to food, funds, intelligence, and recruits. The “Four Cuts” affects locals by forcing them to leave due to land seizure, forced labor, arbitrary taxation, and other forms of punishment that make it impossible for locals to sustain a livelihood in their home areas. Though the “Four Cuts” strategy had officially discontinued for a time, on March 4, 2011, the War Office in Naypyidaw ordered the reinstatement of the “Four Cuts” campaign[6].  The gas pipeline expansion and construction of new roads is one method of ruining villagers livelihoods and forcing locals to move out of their homes.

A document collected on March 5^th, revealed that during the construction of the new pipeline route in Mudon Township, at least seven villages lost between 200 and 400 acres of paddy land or rubber plantation land. As claimed by Nai Tun Nai, a 55-year old farmer from Set-twe village, it is more likely that more land will be ruined. His own paddy land has already been devastated:

About two of my four acres of land were ruined. The team who constructed the pipeline made a line with bulldozers [through it] without asking my permission…a fifteen foot wide [strip] of my two-acre land was all destroyed, though I begged [them not to do so], but they replied that they were acting according to higher officials’ orders.   I already lost two acres of my six acres of land during the land confiscation for the pipeline in 2002.  Now, about two acres of my land has been included [in this confiscation].  What’s worse is that that land is paddy threshing ground[7].  To whom do I have to report?  Like my own land, Ko Thein Tun’s land was also bulldozed.[8] His paddy land is now separated into two parts because the digging was done in the middle [of his land].  Another plantation owner’s [land] has also been ruined.  No compensation was provided [in any of these cases].

Nai Seik Rot, a farmer living in Yaung-daung village, Mudon Township, provides the details of how his 1.8 acres of farmland was destroyed by the government project of reconstructing the Kanbauk-Myaing Kalay gas pipeline.

To repair the pipeline, they, a group of government engineers, came to check out my farm often. That was in November 2010 [when they came to check]. When the time came to install the new pipeline, they did not dig up the old pipeline. Rather, they measured another new route which is 7 ft. from, and parallel to, the old pipeline route. When we asked them what the measurements were for, they replied that it was for the new gas pipeline route. It is estimated that 1.8 acres of my farm is measured for the new route. Because they drive in their excavation machines through my paddy fields. The path leading through paddy fields is one of destruction. My farmland is destroyed when those excavation machines drive through.

Nai Seik Rot added that the installation of the new gas pipeline has included the seizure and subsequent destruction of 48 acres of farmland, belonging to 18 Yaung-daung villagers.  He further explained that 50% of the farmers whose farmland was used for the previous pipeline installation in 2001 has now been destroyed for a second time.

Eyewitnesses explained that not only valuable paddy land, but also the rubber trees on which  locals rely, were lost due to the re-extension of the pipeline.  Three of the interviewees estimated that in Thanphyuzayat Township alone, almost 100 acres of rubber plantation were appropriated for the pipeline expansion.   Rubber cultivators estimated that at least 4,000 rubber trees were lost.  Additionally, most of the rubber cultivators who just lost their land had already been impacted in the 2000-2001 pipeline construction.

An interview in early March with Min Tin Thun [above]‘s fellow villagers, U Kyin Phay, Daw Ma Myo, Nai Kyaing, Daw Ma Than, in Northern Ye Township, documented an additional loss of 80, 66, 120 and 300 rubber trees respectively.  All of these plantation owners individually lost between two and four acres of land due to the order of the Ye Town Peace and Development Council (TPDC) for the first extension of Kanbauk-Myaing Kalay gas pipeline ten years ago. U Kyin Phay, 61, a former school teacher and a resident of northern Ye Township, Mon State:

On one hand, the land we live on is under the rule of law [living in Burma, which is a government that has laws by which it rules]. In everything there should be an explanation of cause and effect.  We should receive protection by the laws set in place.  Now we have to, for a second time, lose our property again due to this pipeline issue.  We know again that we can’t report to anyone.  The person who [oversaw] the digging of the land said that he is just a civil servant and that he has to do as he is instructed so ‘please try to understand’ him.   Currently, we have been planning to report [this case] to the chairman. There is a hierarchy so the highest is the State president.[9] The process is done and the trees are already ruined, but we want to get fair compensation [for this loss] because we rely only on these trees for work.

Unlike the previous quotes by villagers’ whose land has been requisitioned, U Kyin Phay expresses a desire to use the political rights afforded him and make a plea to the recently elected government. His wish to take action is echoed in interviews with villagers from Mudon Township.  According to the information from the field, of the three townships, Mudon Township, in which MOGE is constructing a new route instead of remodeling, is the most impacted by the Kanbauk-Myaing Kalay gas pipeline.  An anonymous observer from Mudon Township explains:

The land was continuously impacted from the Thanbyuzayat exit – Phaung Sein, Kwan-Hlar, Yong-Don, Hnee-Padaw, Set-Twe, Doe-Mar and Kalogtot to Kamawet.  Some areas more so than others. Because they didn’t re-excavate the old pipeline.  They left (the old pipeline) in its original state and made the new pipeline route in a different area.  Therefore, the new paddy land was impacted.  Like us, the villages before Mudon and in Kamawet were also impacted.  To whom do we have to report?

Repeating the desire to report the abuse of land confiscation, Nai Myint Win, a Naypyidaw villager and farmer, who is 40 years old, reflects on the loss of farmland from the pipeline installation in Mudon Township:

I do not think that we can ask [MOGE] to dig out the pipeline, stop this gas pipeline project, and give our farms back to us. They, the government, have never responded to what we request. What is possible for us to hope for is to get fair compensation [for our lost land]. We ought to ask them, the government, for the compensation of our destroyed farmland so we can set up other businesses. There are some of us whose farmland was taken over during both the first installation of gas pipeline and second installation of pipeline while others only had their farmland taken during this second time. Because of the loss of our farmland, it can affect our livelihood, and it would be much better for us if the central government considers giving compensation for our farmland after sending a petition letter with our signatures to them.  Therefore, now we want to approach the All Mon Regions Democracy Party (AMDP)[10] to talk about this.

Though many villagers were united in wishing to make a case for their land loss, they also voiced worry at the repercussions for doing so, such as the possibility of being charged and punished by the government, with the possibility of jail time. Nai Ni, a Ni-pa-daw villager, who currently lives in Sat-twe village, on March 10^th :

If they [send the petition] the government could make things worse; they will charge us with any punishment. And they will charge us because of writing the letter by using a computer – that is what is said under the electronic section[11]. Worse yet, if we signed the petition letter, it will interrupt the government project, and as a result, we will be charged under another punishment or one more section. Consequently, we will not only lose our farmland but also be jailed. That is what we worry most about. For me, I will believe that that happens because of our misfortune or bad-luck rather than saying anything.

In Mudon town, Mon Buddhist monks and educated youths are making an effort to gather together the farmers who lost land and to become organized. A young Mon Buddhist monk who is studying Pali[12] at a monastery in Mudon town, reported that his relatives are also facing many difficulties due to the gas pipeline project. He is hopeful that the new government, which began on April 1, 2011, will help right  some of the wrongs inflicted upon the villagers, such as land seizure:

At the moment, because of this gas pipeline project, everyone is thinking about how to sort this problem in a way that can satisfy them [the farmers], including my relatives. What I’m thinking is that we have to get the list of the amount of farmland that’s been destroyed or taken over, and we can report about this, with the list, to the new government operating in Mon State. Also, since there is our Mon Party – the AMDP – with their help, we can solve this problem. I think, we might be compensated for our farmland. Also, we have got to request [the government] to stop taxing and oppressing us as we have been levied and suppressed by the government for 10 years. To say what is obvious, since this gas pipeline project started, the civilians living along the pipeline have not gotten any electricity access [since the gas pipeline project started in 2000, villagers in that area do not have electricity], nor has anyone even gotten a penny. Rather, everyone has suffered and faced many difficulties.

Analysis & Conclusion

Repeated in all the interviews conducted for this report, is the fact that all interviewees, whether they are cultivators or landowners, have suffered from the reconstruction and expansion of the gas pipeline running from Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay. In fact, villagers living near the pipeline have been suffering since the first construction, which began in 2000. The first construction involved the excavation and placing of roads that very often passed right through paddy fields, rubber plantations, and even people’s homes, destroying many villager’s livelihoods. These violations against the villagers during the first construction never resulted in adequate compensation or, in most cases,  compensation of any kind. Most villagers had to re-setup and replant their paddy or rubber trees in order to sustain a livelihood in their village.

Now, the re-expansion of the pipeline, which includes new roads in some areas, once again does not take into account the areas in which villager’s homes and landholdings are situated. Once more, villagers are subjected to disregard and roads are dug straight through their fields, devastating their crops and sources of income. Most villagers are already living in subsistence levels, so the annihilation of their livelihoods has resulted, for at least one person mentioned in this report, in needing to leave his home village and find work in order to survive.

It is important to note, however, that while villagers received no compensation during the first construction ten years ago, some villagers interviewed in Mudon and Thanphyuzyart Townships stated their desire to seek compensation this time around. Whereas in the past, experiences of the human rights abuses committed by the Burmese government against the villagers had taught villagers not to seek retribution for these crimes, many have become aware of the possibility to help themselves.

There are two possible reasons for why villagers now dare to make a claim for land loss. One is the appearance of Community Based Organizations (CBOs) throughout ethnic villages. Before the pipeline construction, there were only health organizations, but in the past ten years, other organizations such as monk associations, youth associations, literature and culture associations, skill clubs, and farmers associations have materialized throughout the villages. Though many of these associations carry out their purpose in accordance with their title, it is through these CBOs that villagers are able to receive outside information as well. In addition, the National League for Democracy (NLD), the leading democracy party in Burma, which boycotted the November 7^th elections, has also sent lawyers to villages who are capable of working on human rights abuse cases.

A second reason for an unaccustomed boldness amongst villagers may also be a result of the nationwide elections that took place on November 7, 2010 for the first time in 20 years. Though the elections have been dubbed fraudulent by most international powers and also by many inside Burma, the knowledge that a new government is in place and that the ethnic Mon people have representatives in the form of the AMDP, has elicited a way in which villagers can make their claims heard.  Those villagers who announced that they plan on writing a petition for land compensation also mentioned that they now have a political body in Mon State to represent them and their needs.

Even with the implementation of a new government, laws enacted before the new government took effect are still applicable and enforced. This means that if villagers muster up the courage to petition and inform the Mon State government about the land confiscation abuses, it is still highly likely that government officials will use laws such as the Electronic Transactions Law to penalize those villagers who report on the human rights abuses. It is important, therefore, for those CBOs present in the villages to take notice of the land confiscation and abuses committed against villagers living near the gas pipeline. Additionally, it will be crucial to take note of how the new government deals with abuses inflicted upon villagers by government owned companies, if the abuses will decrease or remain the same.

In early January 2011, large steel pipes were delivered to villages along the Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay gas pipeline in southern Burma. The delivery of the pipes marked the first step in a larger process currently undertaken by the Burmese government operated Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), to expand the capacity of the pipeline.

The introduction of this expansion project marks a significant potential point of increase in the ongoing abuses committed by Burmese soldiers against local civilian communities. The proposed pipeline expansion has begun a labor intensive campaign in which residents excavate and extract the current 20” diameter pipes, and in some cases re-direct and dig the pipeline route so that the new 30” diameter pipes can be installed. Additionally, these laborers are used to guard the new pipe segments prior to installation, portions of the pipeline that will be replaced, build bamboo cover for exposed pipes, and re-bury and cover pipes. Civilians along the pipeline, who often live in significant poverty, are nonetheless used to perform a large portion of the labor during this process without compensation of money or food, and no regard for health or the impact that such extended forced labor would have on community livelihoods. Download report as PDF [324KB]

As a result of demands for forced labor, communities that already suffer financial hardship due to economic mismanagement by successive military regimes are now facing an even greater economic burden as they are denied the opportunity to work for much needed daily income. Those pressed into service must not only pay for their own food, construction supplies, and tools, but also are unable to work at other daily wage jobs, for example day labor, rubber tapping, and wood chopping, that residents engage in to survive.

The data collected in this report comes from one months worth of research in the areas of Ye Township and Thanbyuzayat Township. Working with several field reporters, HURFOM has gathered a sample of accounts from residents who have directly experienced forced labor orders. The following accounts address instances of laborers guarding pipe segments or the current pipeline, destroying old protective fences and building new ones, and expanding pipeline ditches. These accounts go on to highlight the negative impact such forced labor has already had on laborers and their families, in particular respect to the refusal of military units to allow residents to buy their way out of the labor duty. Due to the significant security concerns in which reporters operate, the personal details of those interviewed have been removed for the security of the speaker.

History of forced labor

In November 2000, construction on the Kanbuak to Myaing Kalay gas pipeline began just outside the village of Kanbuak, Tenasserim Division, at a gas junction connecting to the Yadana gas pipeline. From this junction the pipeline was built north approximately 180 miles, to a cement processing plant in Myaing Kalay, Karen State. Gas from the pipeline is then later sent on to an electricity turbine near Rangoon. The pipeline is a direct result of foreign investment into the nearby Yadana pipeline. In a contract guaranteeing the Burmese government’s support of foreign investors Total, Unocal (now Chevron), and the Petroleum Authority of Thailand-Exploration & Production (PTT-EP), in building Yadana, the state operated Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) was guaranteed 20% of Yadana’s production.[1] This 20% is the gas that is routed through the Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay gas pipeline.

While construction on the pipeline was underway, in 2002, the International Labor Organization (ILO) signed an agreement of understanding with the Burmese government to allow an ILO Liaison Officer to monitor issues of forced labor in country. Later, to more directly clarify the role of the ILO a supplementary understanding of the ILO powers were granted in 2007 to implement a mechanism by which victims of forced labor would be able to make complaints. However, it is not clear if any of the cases of forced labor that have been successfully reported are from the Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay pipeline area in southern Burma. In recent years, while the ILO has been somewhat successful in assisting in the resolution of some cases of forced labor by civilian employers, and underage or child recruitment of soldiers, reporting on forced labor implemented by military forces remains risky for victims who can be harassed or imprisoned for attempting to make a report.[2]

During the 4 years of construction and the 7 years of operation since, the presence of the Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay gas pipeline and a significant increase in Burmese military battalions, has led to the seizure of over 12,000 acres of land, and the commission of crimes against humanity ranging from theft and torture to rape and even summery execution.[3] A large number of victims of these crimes came directly from the thousands of residents forced to work as laborers for often little to no pay or support. Forced labor practiced at this time covered a wide range of abuses ranging from digging, land clearing, sentry duty, and fence repair. Residents forced to work without compensation were a range of ages, some as old as 70, while others were as young as 12.

Since the pipeline’s completion, forced labor has continued to be a problem that has impacted local communities. Battalions that are based in the area, dependent on a self-reliance policy, have implemented extensive policies of forced labor and extortion or bribery to raise funds.[4] Residents, required by battalions to serve as guards, work to clear the brush, or rebuild fences, have been able to opt out by paying a fee.[5] The taxation from such practices results in the loss of a significant portion of income of local residents over time, as noted in the Network for Human Rights Documentation – Burma’s (ND-Burma’s) report Hidden Impacts.[6] Such taxation arbitrarily undermines the financial ability of local residents for whom small payments, like those extracted to avoid portering, as well the loss of a day’s income, is a significant blow to a family’s livelihood.

Since November 2010, evidence has indicated construction on the Kanbauk to Myain Kalay gas pipeline will resume, with the expansion of the pipeline volume, increasing the diameter of the pipeline from 20” to 30”, the overall thickness of the pipeline wall, and the quality of material used in the pipeline. In Total’s 2010 document ‘Total in Myanmar: a Sustained Commitment’, after explaining the presence of the Kanbauk to Myaingkalay pipeline in relation to the Yadana pipeline, the company highlights, “A new MOGE-operated pipeline carrying gas from the Yadana field to Yangon was inaugurated in 2010 and will double the amount of gas for local consumption.”[7] This would indicate that plans for the expansion of the pipe may have been made well in advance of November 2010, and could bear some relationship to the international oil giant. However, according to one Mon college graduate interviewed in February, who is close with a civil engineer in Ye, constant ruptures of the pipeline, and resulting loss of power for Rangoon and the Myain Kalay cement plant, have prompted the governments’ current project of reinforcing the Kanbauk to Myainkalay pipeline by substituting the old 20” diameter for thicker 30” diameter pipes.

Once the introduction of this pipeline expansion project began, HURFOM began to receive reports on increases in the use of residents in forced labor. Accounts directly recorded by HURFOM’s field reporters indicate that the expansion of forced labor has already negatively impacted residents only after a little more then a month of the projects implementation. Moreover, in the majority of the current cases, techniques to avoid the dangerous and costly labor, such as payment of a bribe have been refused. Denied the ability to negotiate a settlement regarding the army labor demands, villagers face greater risk from income loss, injury and sickness, or possible implication in a rupture of the pipeline.

Ongoing forced labor on the pipeline

Forced labor is used throughout all stages of the construction project along the Kanbuak to Myaing Kalay gas pipeline.  Later residents are used to clear ground around the pipe, dig trenches, straighten the route, and reconstruct and rebuild protective fences along the pipeline route. In the final stages, residents are again used to guard the pipeline and rebury pipes that have been fitted together by engineers from the MOGE.

Prior to construction beginning, residents are used to guard piles of pipes and portions of the pipeline that are due to undergo construction.  While attacks are rare, pipes and pipe segments are potential targets for armed insurgent groups to bomb before they’re replaced and buried. Villagers are held responsible for the security during these guarding demands, and are constantly under the threat that something may occur during their duty. On the 1^st of January 2011, Captain Tin Tun Aung, the officer of Infantry Battalion (IB) No. 62, based in Waekhami village, Thanbyuzayat Township, ordered the Waekhami villagers to guard the pipes piled beside the road from 6 pm to 6 am. If a villager could not serve his turn, he had to find a replacement. According to residents who were ordered to serve, the fee for substituting out of the order is two thousand kyat per night. According to a village headman, Captain Tin Tun Aung stated that he himself will take firm action on those who miss their duty. The pipe segment pile has been placed near Za-myo-pin public rest house between Waekhami and Ywa-thar-aye village. This pile consists of 50 pipes, each of which is about 40 feet long. The pipes in this group will be substituted  near the Kyaung Ywa section of the Kanbuak to Mayaing Kalay pipeline.

Nai La Gon, a Sat Kaw villager, Thanbyuzayat Township, Mon State, describes the current situation in which he must guard the segments of 30” pipes prior to the substitution construction near his village. While opportunities are available to opt out of labor in his village, he is unable to pay the fee and so must serve:

The governmental engineers group started substituting the 30-inch pipelines six month ago.[8] One pile of pipes has about 50 items. We, the villagers, have to guard this [pile]. The army units from Ye and from Thanbyuzayat have to guard [the pipeline] according to their commander’s order. [The commander] claimed that the whole village will be punished if something was wrong so that we have to guard [the pipeline] carefully during our duty. If you were caught sleeping (during your duty), it’s really bad. There could be a punishment [physical or financial].  I [pray] that the pipeline will be in use quickly so that we don’t need to guard the pipeline pile and will be free from this burden. As usual, I have to guard the underground pipeline at least four times per month. I can’t afford [the substitution fee] like others, so I have no alternative but to guard the pipeline.

Another use of forced labor during the preliminary stages of the pipeline substation involves knocking down, and later rebuilding, protective fences around exposed portions of the pipeline. Used partially as camouflage for the pipeline, and partially to provide nominal protection from possible tampering or sabotage, residents must not only perform the labor but cover the costs of the building supplies and use their own tools for the construction process.

Nai Kyauk, a Ba-line-gee resident of northern Ye Township, Mon State, was forced to work on fencing portions of the exposed pipeline. He describes the difficulty of the process and the loss of time and resources villagers experienced while doing the work:

Additional fencing had to be made. The fence made in the previous years was ordered destroyed…The skeletons of the fence and all associated decayed bamboo poles have been destroyed.  One male per household has been called to destroy [the old fence] for four days – from January 10th to 13th.  The soldiers [who came from IB No. 62 by cars to monitor the forced labor] stood guard on the road.  We were in a stream area that the gas pipeline passes through.  Some [villagers] were removing the old pillars [of the fence] and we were carrying the substitute wood and bamboo poles from the village to the workplace.  It took in total eight days to finish all of the work.  We had to work daily without rest.  We had to spend our own money for everything.  Every year, there are at least five instances of forced labor.  This time was the longest one.  We cannot do any of our [regular] jobs.

A Wae-win-kara villager describes the difficulty and loss of work days and money that occurs from being forced to work rebuilding fences along the pipeline:

This [fencing of the pipeline] has been a sort of forced labor since the start of the pipeline.  Now, it has become worse…Unlike in the past, the exposed part [of the pipeline] can’t be covered with loose bamboo poles or betel nut tree leaves.  The army has ordered [us] to make a fence [that is] good and strong…Now, the fencing of the part [of the pipeline] which passes the stream nearby the village has just been finished.  The length [of the fencing] is about fifty feet and all the villagers had to work for five days [to finish it].  [It involves] chopping down bamboo, making bamboo-strips, setting up the pillars [of the fence]; all of the work has to be done with care.  Captain Min Htet of the army unit himself came to monitor the work and ordered us like slaves.  We had to spend our personal money for everything including our food and fence material costs.

Residents face the threat of injury from military pressure to work quickly, lack of rest or recuperation, rigorous manual labor, and retributive punishment by military forces if pipes or the pipeline are damaged during guard duty.  With no access to professional medical care, over exertion, strained muscles, work-related injuries, and wounds caused by beatings or torture all are significantly more dangerous. Such physical exertion requires extended periods of rest, and in cases of more severe injury, a family will face catastrophic difficulties trying to pay for both basic medical treatment and being unable to make an income from that injured member of the family.

The villagers of Kaloh and Hangan villages, which are south of Ye town near Koe-mile village along which the Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay gas pipeline passes through, have been forced to serve as security along the pipeline.  These two villages have relatively more residents and households, therefore each household has to guard the pipeline only one time per month according to a basic rotation system.  Nevertheless, residents still report significant concerns about the potential for a rupture in the pipeline while fulfilling their guarding duty. According to Mehm Atar, 22, of Kaloh village, even labor like standing guarding is exhausting and life threatening:

They [Burmese military] said that we will be punished by death if there is something wrong with the pipeline during our turn, so we don’t dare sleep in the guard-hut.  We have to patrol with a flashlight to inform them if something is special and to be aware in advance of normal [accidental] ruptures or intentional [sabotage] ruptures during our time of duty.  We have to worry till the sun rises.  We lose sleep for the whole night so we can’t work the next day.  Because of that guarding, I had to cancel my work of tapping rubber for two days.

An Anin villager, who wishes to remain anonymous, was beaten severely while filling his duty as a forced porter. He also highlights some of the other abuses that frequently occur to residents due to the presence of the Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay gas pipeline:

If I have to say something regarding the pipeline and railway guard… Some people have hit rock bottom. Some lost their businesses. Even I have been abused by the Burmese soldiers and my head bled due to being struck with the butt of a gun and my teeth were broken from the pounding by the soldiers. Some women have been raped by the pipeline security soldiers. The land and properties of the civilians have repeatedly been confiscated. When will these kinds of violations come to an end? This is the question of everyone here asks.

Aung Lwin, a Burmese private from IB No. 62 near Kyaung Ywa village, through unusual circumstances, expressed regret to a HURFOM field reporter over the physical mistreatment residents in the area experienced:

We feel concerned about [our treatment of] you – Karen people. However, we have no alternative but to obey the higher officials’ order. Please understand us as you can.

One older woman from Kyaung Ywa village, described briefly the feeling of living close to the pipeline:

I feel as if I sit on the fire. I always get in trouble due to the pipeline.

Nai Myaing, 55, a Koe-mile village, southern Ye Township, describes the danger of filling a guarding duty, and the risk if the pipeline ruptures or is damaged:

…If any villager can’t guard [the pipeline], a substitute would be found to do the absentee’s task.  If the pipeline ruptures, the villagers will be in trouble and they have already been warned many times.  If the pipeline rupture occurs during your duty, it will seem like you are going to hell while you are still alive.

No option for escape

Since 2000, some residents have had the opportunity to pay their way out of forced labor demands. Generally ranging between 3000 to 5000 kyat, a worker would be able to skip that day and a substitute would be found. However during this January and February, in an increasing number of villages, residents have been denied the opportunity to pay to avoid orders for forced labor.  According to Nai Myaing, a VPDC member of Koe-Mile village, in most places of southern Ye Township, there are no options for people who are ordered to guard the pipeline.  Hiring a substitute or paying money to the local army authorities has not been allowed and the locals have had to guard the pipeline in person.  Additionally, local authorities have used tactics of intimidation against local residents, making threats that if a pipeline rupture occurs in the guards area during their duty that that person will be heavily punished possibly experiencing arrest, extortion, or worse, beatings and torture.

Min Ah-lon, 24, a Koe-mile resident, described how the commander of Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 299, which operates under the South East Command and is based near his village, has not allowed villagers to hire a substitute to replace their rotation of guard duty, and forced them to guard the pipeline in person:

Now, we have to guard the pipeline in person.  The commander [locally goes by the name ‘Aba’] ordered that [we could] not be replaced with a substitute nor [by] paying money.  We and the captains from [LIB No.] 299 have a weekly meeting. [Orders] To repair the pipeline, to guard the pipeline without fail, and to accept the heavy punishment if a pipeline rupture occurs, have been repeated [frequently].  This means they absolutely don’t want any pipeline ruptures.  It is your own bad luck if the pipeline ruptures during your turn.  We can’t avoid [this situation] and have to live with worry.

According to a resident of Thanbyuzyat Township, the new order that no resident can opt out of labor by paying a fee is unusual, since in the past such opportunities benefited both residents and  soldiers:

It’s strange.  I mean the conditions have become worse.  Five years ago you didn’t need to pay money, just fill your duty for two nights of guarding per month.  After that there were options – guard the pipeline or pay money.  The rich persons or households could bypass their turn by paying money. Yet, the army enjoyed this because they made money.  Now, it’s strange [in our village].  I don’t know about other villages.  In our village, you absolutely have to guard [the pipeline] in person.  Your turn comes one time per week.  You can’t pay.  The captain of Thanbyuzayat IB No.62 said that that was due to an order from the Nay Pyi Daw government.  That is strange. They seem to care so much for the pipeline security so it is sure that they are doing a been doing an important project relating to the pipeline.

Economic impacts

A pressing threat for victims of forced portering is the significant financial impact that result from serving as a porter. Without compensation, workers face a double loss, being taken from possible work that would pay a much needed daily wage, and being expected to provide food costs, or costs for construction materials and tools while working on the pipeline. As noted by residents above, the majority of families survive on day laborer wages. Often, families in the area use 50% to 70% of their income on food alone, relying on the possibility of making an average of only 50,000 kyat per month.[9][10][11]

A source close to the Waekhami village headman recalled how he described his role in taxing villagers who wish to avoid the forced labor orders in the area:

Most of the military officers who have moved to this area for the pipeline security have become rich relying on this pipeline. It seems that the higher officials have intentionally ignored [these cases of forced labor] to make more money for their army families’ welfare…Either the commander or an officer gives a compulsory order to guard [the pipeline, railway or bridge]. And then they say that they would accept a fine for the households who couldn’t provide a guard due to various issues. We, the village headmen, have mainly been responsible to collect the fines and all the fine was given to them [battalion commanders]. The collected fine has been quite big. Even though they are poor, the people earn money by borrowing or pawning [their belongings] to pass their turn [to guard]. If a pipeline rupture occurs during your turn, you will be in trouble.

According to one villager who lives near Waekhami village, compound demands for guarding have undermined his family’s ability to feed themselves as they are taken from their day labor, and pay to avoid labor so that they can work:

We are poor.  We are not rubber plantation or land owners.  We have picked rubber remnants in other people’s rubber plantations and make our livings by selling these.[12] Sometimes it is enough for food but the whole family needs to work.  However, we have to guard the pipeline and railway one time per week due to [the orders of] a captain of IB No. 62 so we can’t work for food on that day.  This process has continued week to week.  Guarding the pipeline at night, paying money [to avoid guarding], and being involved in forced labor has lasted for ten years; [the number of times it has happened], it is uncountable.

Impacts worsen for residents who have been denied the opportunity to pay off their sentry or labor duty ordered by the battalion. Frequently, residents have made use of techniques such as negotiation or bribery in order to overcome dangerous or costly orders placed on them, like forced labor.[13] However, families that had anticipated the possibility of being able to pay off forced labor demands are likely to face greater disruption since a formerly relied on form of resistance is thwarted.

According to a Wae-win-kara villager, the change in rules regarding payment to bypass the forced labor demands have caused problems:

It is difficult because the turn of guarding can’t be passed like before by paying money.  Our work has to be canceled.  The turn of guarding [must be] met three times per month even though our village has more houses than other villages.

A Karen man from Waekhami village describes the impacts that forced guarding have on his family and specifically highlights their importance of his normal daily income in being able to provide even the most basic supplies for his family:

Kyaung-ywa village is a place where the people are living in hand-to-mouth situations. It has over two hundred houses but the houses of land or plantation owners do not number [over] twenty.  It is a really poor village.  In the era of sharply increased commodity prices, they [villagers] have to rely on daily income so they have no interval of non-work time.  In this situation, [demands for] guarding the pipeline and railway have been increased, so rice gruel becomes their food during the days of their duty.  With many children, only rice gruel can be afforded; the rice is not enough [for all the children].  After the next two days, I [will] have to go guard the pipeline.  [The meal for] that day will also be rice gruel.

Conclusion

Since 2000 the use of forced labor in the construction of the Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay gas pipeline has been a key catalyst in the commission of crimes against humanity by Burmese soldiers along the pipeline. Now, as construction has begun again in January 2011, residents around the pipeline, already battered by years of abuse and economic hardship, face continued forced labor demands by Burmese soldiers.

Working without compensation or support, villagers must not only cover the cost of food, construction materials and tools, but also spend the day working in grueling labor conditions, along a notoriously dangerous pipeline, or in guarding pipes or pipeline that, if attacked or damaged, can lead to the torture, imprisonment or execution of the laborer by the supervising battalion. Denied the preferred opportunity to avoid labor demands by paying a fee, communities’ attempts to negotiate their own economic instability are slashed. Such changes in informal policy represent a step back for communities who build their local financial stability around improvised methods to best improve their financial stability.

The use of forced labor in both southern and northern areas of the Kanbuak to Myaing Kalay pipeline reveals a continued ignorance or intentional disregard for the conventions of the ILO working to ban the use of forced labor by Burmese military forces. Though reporting on abuses like those documented here remains dangerous for residents and victims of labor ordered by military forces, the recent renewal of the ILO convention for the 2011 to 2012 year promises an opportunity in which the ILO may be able to assist communities in addressing these abuses. HURFOM hopes that communities and Burmese government forces are able to work effectively with the ILO this year to curtail the potential use of forced labor in projects in resource extraction, industrial development, and construction already in their nascent stages in southern Burma.

[2] According to HURFOM’s field reporters, residents who attempted to contact the ILO about forced labor orders by local battalions, were harassed and threatened by members of village level government, military, and other authorities in southern Burma starting in 2003. Anecdotal progress made on decreasing cases of forced labor amongst civilian employers was noted by the ILO in ‘Developments concerning the question of the observance by the Government of Myanmar of the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29),’ ILO, November 2010.

[3] After construction began on the pipeline, strikes by insurgent forces of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and smaller armed Mon splinter groups, periodically disrupted the construction and later operation of the pipeline. However, the significant militarization that has occurred along the pipeline though cannot be justified by these rare attacks. Instead it is apparent that battalions predominately exist to ensure maintenance and security of the pipeline operation, specifically through the use of civilian labor. For further reading, please see HURFOM’s 2009 report, ‘Laid Waste: human rights along the Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay gas pipeline’.

[4] Begging in 1996 or 1997 a policy of ‘self-reliance’ in which Battalions, facing underfunding and support, were expected to survive of resources and funds taken directly from local communities. Such policies keep communities intentionally under the thumb of local battalions, and battalions dependent on continued division from the local community though extraction of labor, arbitrary taxation, and resources.

[5] HURFOM has released update reports through 2009 and 2010 detailing continued abuses committed by Burmese units against residents along the pipeline. Please see, ‘“I am very tired”: Three months of abuses along the Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay gas pipeline in Northern Ye and Sothern Thanbyuzayat Township, from August 2009 to October 2009,’ HURFOM, 29 October 2009; ‘We all must suffer: Documentation of continued abuses during Kanbuak to Mayingkalay pipeline ruptures,’ HURFOM, 5 July 2010;

[6] Please see, ‘The Hidden Impact of Burma’s Arbitrary & Corrupt Taxation,’ ND-Burma, May 2010.

[7] ‘Total in Myanmar: A sustained commitment,’ Total 2010.

[8] While it is possible that actual substitution of pipes has begun prior to January, HURFOM has not been able to confirm the claim made by Nai La gone.

[9] This is according to Burma’s own Central Statistical Organization (MCSO), “Country Brif Note – Myanmar” (Sic), Inception Seminar/ Workshop on Upgrading Statistical Capabilities on MDG Indicators, Trivendrum, 13-15, December 2004. www.unsiap.or.jp/mdg_project/ Inception/DOCS/CBN_Myanmar_016.doc Accessed 4/1/2009.

[10] According to a joint report released by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP, Impact of the UNDP Human Development Initiative in Myanmar, 1994-2006. UNDP 2006

[11] This is the approximate baseline income of residents in Mon State during 2009. Between two parents and expected income would reach approximately 100,000 kyat per month.

[12] After tapping trees by making cuts, and the latex is collected, trees will continue to bleed, leaving small amounts of residual latex in the cup or in the grooves of the cuts, which can be picked off later.

[13] For further reading on methods of resistance, please see the Karen Human Rights Group’s (KHRG’s) report, ‘Village agency: rural rights and resistance in militarized Karen State’, KHRG, November 2008.

While the sudden conflict that erupted on November 7th between the Burmese State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and splinter Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) forces drew much attention internationally, and concern from Burma’s ASEAN neighbors, the local impacts from the continuation and even expansion, of this conflict have garnered less attention.. For this months report the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) has documented the commission of crimes against humanity and assorted human rights abuses, on local ethnic residents between Kyainnseikyi Township, and Three Pagodas Pass Township, Karen State.

In areas of continued fighting, civilians have suffered from direct exposure to violence, as bystanders to indiscriminate mortar, RPG, and small arms fire, use as forced porters, human shields, human land mine triggers, and physical abuse. Armed groups have also abused civilian communities through theft, extortion, and travel restrictions. Direct exposure to these threats undermines key methods of survival for local communities, who, though capable of addressing normal military presence, face greater threat to safety and live hood with enlarged and aggressive military presence. This uncommon level of disruption must be resolved for communities to ensure their safety and livelihood.Download report as PDF [287KB]

Three HURFOM field reporters who conducted this field research recorded accounts from over thirty victims who have faced these abuses and hardships inflicted by ongoing armed conflict. In certain cases victims omitted personal information due to their security concerns. Additionally as this data was gathered in a live conflict zone, areas that were cut off ongoing action have not been visited. These accounts gathered by HURFOM field reporters give a clear sample of the abuses perpetrated in these areas and others not yet reached by field reporters, as further research efforts continue over the next months.

The Background of the local armed conflicts

On the morning of November 8th, 2010, a day after Burma’s first general election in 20 years, forces from DKBA Brigade No.5, led by Colonel Na Kham Mwe, overran Burmese forces in the Thai-Burma border town of Myawaddy. Having split from the pro-government stance other battalions of the DKBA had taken, Colonel Na Kham Mwe’s Brigade No. 5 is reported to have entered into the surprise conflict due to the Na Kham Mwe’s refusal to transformation his DKBA forced into a government administered border guard forces (BGF)[1].  According to Na Kham Mwe, in a radio-interview, the fight was for fight for justice from the fraudulent election conducted by the military government only days later. By November 8^th, fighting had rapidly spread south down the border from Myawaddy, to Kyainnseikyi and Three Pagodas Township, and the southern part of Dooplaya District. Within the first day of fighting in Three Pagodas Pass (TPP), DKBA forces also over ran portions of TPP town, where Burmese special police office was burned, along with the ministry of forestry building, and other key offices taken over. Though, like Myawaddy, DKBA forces later retreated from TPP for more advantageous defensive positions outside the city, no clear military victory ahs been achieved[2].

The sudden out break of fighting in both towns and outlying areas in the first two weeks, produced numerous waves of refugees fleeing to Thailad with no more then what they could carry. The sudden influx, reaching estimated highs of 20,000 in Mae Sot and 10,000 in Thailand and New Mon State Party (NMSP) controlled territory, raised concerns about health and safety of displaced families[3]. The successful response of international aid groups and CBOs likely had a significant impact in addressing the possible concerns of health and food. However with in weeks, members of the Royal Thai Army began pushing to move refugees back across the border on the premise that the situation had returned to normal. However, continued fighting periodically sent residents of Myawaddy and the southern Dooplaya area to areas where they could seek temporary shelter in Thailand or in territory administered by the NMSP[4].

While the fighting was initially occurred between SPDC and DKBA forces, an informal ceasefire was agreed to between the DKBA and the Karen National Union (KNU), who had otherwise had been engaged in open conflict since the DKBA splintered form the KNU in 1995 and sided with the SPDC[5]. Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) forces appeared to have stepped up ambushes against area SPDC battalions and reinforcements sent in to combat the DKBA uprising.

Fighting continues in the region to this day, having intensified in areas around Kyainnseikyi Township with no clear decisive shift towards a victory for any side. In the face of these ongoing conflicts, accounts that will be detailed below, highlight not only physical danger faced by residents, but the harm the protracted presence of all armed groups has on local economy through farming and trade, and civilian livelihood.

Abuses of Power

The commission of abuses that documented below, includes reports on every armed groups responsible. These accounts detail abuses committed not only by the Burmese army, but also by opposition forces from the DKBA and KNU. While the Burmese army is responsible for the majority of these cases documented, HURFOM is dedicated to is mission of documenting every violation which impacts the lives and possessions of local Karen, Mon, and Burmese civilians; therefore, all the violations have been presented, regardless of the political stance of the violating party.

Injuries and conflict induced violence

Around January 28^th, 2011, fighting occurred between KNLA Battalion No. 16, column no. 2 of the under the command of, Col. Mahm Tin Hlaing, Lt. Col Saw Mahm Shwe, and Cpt. Saw Shwe Win; and Burmese army Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 406, column no.1. When attacked, Burmese army forces were operating near Maezali village by Akaraing stream, between the Apalong, and Myaingtharyar village[6]. Two SPDC soldiers were wounded and three were killed as a result of the ambush. In retribution SPDC soldiers launched shells and RPGs into Myaingtaryar village, wounding two Karen children and an adult at the southern end of the village. The victims are Saw Kyaun Kyunt, 12, his father, Mehm Ka Dar, and Sher Paung, 17. One resident of Myaingtaryar village, who preferred to remain anonymous, described the attacked:

LIB 406 lunched their rockets into the village. The rocket exploded in the south. But two children were wounded. One of them was injured in his hand and his back and another one was hit above his right knee. The Karen abbot in the areas cared for their injuries. After getting a little better, the Abbot sent two of them to the TPP town for continued treatment.

At 7:00 AM on January 27^th, 2011, between Maezali and Apalong villages, a Burmese convoy was attacked by KNLA forces, that resulted in the deaths of two six wheel truck drivers. The victims of the attack were Maung Hla Moe, 42, a secondary driver form Rangoon, and in the second truck, a Thanbyuzayart, driver, whose wife spoke with HURFOM but insisted his name not be use. The 27 truck column had been carrying 40 boxes of RPG-27 ammunition, bags of rice, and canned vegetables and meat, to restock Burmese forces in Chaung Zone village and at LIB No. 273 base outside of TPP town. Under the command of Lt. Col Myo Htun’s LIB No. 402, the trucks had been ordered to drive ahead of the battalion, with the two six-wheel trucks at the very front, to trigger possible ambushes. According to a KNLA source, the first two trucks were hit under the belief they contained Burmese soldiers.

Since fighting has increased in the last two months, drivers and owners of vehicles have been increasingly concerned over the risk of transporting goods for either the Burmese or Karen forces through these conflict zones[7]. Drivers have openly refused to risk their lives, despite pay, and are subsequently forced to pay, as in the documented case, to avoid repercussions by the SPDC forces. The further financial impacts on drivers and transportation industry will be detailed later in this report.

Ko Bone, who is employed driving 10-wheel trucks in TPP, complained about the risk of having to drive trucks during this period, and his reason for refusing government demands to do so:

We can’t decide for ourselves. We have to do anything that the local authorities command, even though we don’t want to. So, now we don’t know they can carry all the military supplies in two ten-wheel trucks. We heard that the military government sent 27 six-wheel trucks of military supplies from Annankwin to Chaung Zone. Although, the local authorities [tried to] hire us to carry the food supplies, I didn’t want to go there. I don’t want to end my life between two groups in an armed conflict. If they forced me – ‘you have to go!’ – so I’d need to go. You know, here we don’t have opportunities to refuse their commands. It’s your fate that you will face the battle or not, in your way.

Portering and Human Shields

During the period of fighting from November 2010 to January 2011, this pervasive abuse has seen a surge in practice, where porters, forced into service, face the additional and deliberate danger of being used as human shields and forced to walk over land mines to clear the way for the advancing Burmese army. In the instances of portering found during this period, HURFOM’s data indicates that porters have been forced to work for periods of over 20 days. During this time they receive neither pay nor food, carrying Burmese army rations, equipment and heavy weaponry such as mortars, RPGs, and shells[8]. Moreover, accounts confirm the Burmese military has used porters to protect reinforcements against attack by DKBA and KNLA forces, and to trigger landmines[9].

From January 2nd to the 20^th, at least 33 villagers from 5 villages were used as porters for military supplies by LIB No. 402’s Columns No.1 and No. 2[10]. Columns No.1 and No. 2 pressed the villagers into service, transporting goods between Anakwin village to Chaung Zone village, Kyainnseikyi Township. Porters, carrying army rations as well as, ammunition, mortars, and shells, were made to walk in front of the column to protect against ambush or unseen land mines. Ba Sam, 35, managed to avoid arrest and escape portering, when soldiers entered Loh Shan village at 9AM on January 2^nd. He identifies at least 3 friends: A Nage Lay, 29, Myint Aye, 33, and Saw War, 30, who were all forced into porting service:

The army is from Column No. 1, LIB No.402, that is what everyone said…At the time [when they came to arrest], I was also in the village. They my friends arrested to serve as porters [had been] working in their crop fields. If I was in our crops field when they came, I would [have been] used as a porter. I was a bit late to go to field as I had something to do. At the time, when I was still at home, I was told that villagers in the fields were arrested to serve as porters. I also know that if they came to our village, they would also arrest every one in the village, so I avoided them by leaving my home by the time they entered the village. They took the arrested villagers to their camp, and they then marched to Kyainnseikyi to meet another column, column No.2. Because I am frightened of being used as porter, I evaded them by staying at my mother-in-law’s home in Yae Lae village for a while. Here in this Yae Lae village is also not peaceful. That is because we can hear that the sound of firing by the Karen rebel group and Burmese army breaks out often. Because of this…for the porters, this is the time when they have to worry for their lives and to recite of chants. And they think of those when they are going step on planted mines, when they will be shot and killed while they are in the battles.

HURFOM has confirmed that according to the residents from Chaung Zone, on January 20th, soldiers from LIB No. 402 based in Three Pagoda Pass Township, released the porters when arrived in Chaung Zone. The released villagers were not only physically exhausted but also were also weak with hunger. Fortunately, all had completed the forced march without injury from attack or land mines, according to a witness of their release from Chuang Zone.

DKBA Corporal, Saw A-1, describes a recent incident in late January in which the Burmese army used people as human shields to walk in front of them and guard against DKBA attack.  He highlights, that besides local residents, Burmese forces have been using prisoners from central Burma as porters, as human shields, and to trigger land mines. In the case he witnessed, the victims used were prisoners serving as labors in the prisons from the Pegu, Matethila, Pa’an, and Innsein prison:

Particularly, the places where the Burmese army temporarily settles down, along this area, has only been for about 6 months. As we have, as rebels, grown in up this area, the “Upper Hand” goes to us. They [the Burmese army] also knows that. Therefore, they used both Karen villagers and Mon villagers from Tha Dein village and Maezali village to serve as porters.  We saw several times when they were advancing, but we could not fire. That is because they, the porters are from the same place as we are, and if we fire, they will get shot and killed. They all are our targets, and if we set fire, the porters will be also shot. In this case, we only can fire if we are ordered to do. If we shoot everyone we see, all will get killed. I [also] saw prisoners from Burma’s prisons, and I saw them when we walked across through Waw-lay village [in January]. Some of the prisoners also get shot and killed when the fighting broke out. Some of them fled to Thai border as it was close by.

According to Nai Kyai, a resident of Tha Dein village, 53, Burmese battalions have made frequent use of Tha Dein residents as porters. The practice has become so common that residents have fled to avoid the continued threat:

The villagers in this Tha Dein village are also often arrested to serve as porters. Once they came [and] they arrested 5 to 6 villagers. It took 1 to 3 days, portering their stuff from Tha Dein village to Chaung Zone village. I also once was arrested to serve as porter carrying their mortars… It was 6 months ago. This is not the same as before as [now] the fighting is ongoing. It is more dangerous for any porter. Especially, the fighting can break out while passing by Mae-pa-ran rubber plantation, near Phayar Gone hill as the Karen rebel groups [are] usually stationed there. If the fighting broke out, we would be shot. Now, because of the arrests [of] porters, I had to leave Tha Dein village for Japan Well village. It has been one month now, but I have not found any job yet.

In other instances, Burmese soldiers have gone to the extreme of arresting village headmen to use as porters and human shields, with the aim of using more high level targets as shields to bolster their own protection. According to what a village ex-secretary, 60, from a village situated on the Than-Phyu-Za-yet to Three Pagoda Pass high way, village heads and secretaries are frequently used as porters. Additionally, if an attack occurs, soldiers use headmen negotiators, or, as indicated here, as hostages. He recalls in one instance how, if the headmen were not killed by DKBA or KNLA bullets, but a Burmese soldier was lost, a commander promised to shoot them:

It is very frightening for the Burmese army to be ambushed while they are in its opposition groups’ upper hand or controlled area. A lot of Burmese soldiers have also been killed as a result of ambushed by its opponent groups. Because of this, they Battalion, operated under Southeast Commend and Sa-Ka-Kha[11], not only arrested ordinary villagers to use as human shields but also demanded…village heads to do [the same]. To give an example, to march from Tha Nyin village to Anankwin village, they, the army, used the Tha Nyin village head or its secretary to serve as porter in order not to get shot. Then, when they march to Thanpayar village, they used Anankwin village head to serve as porter. They ordered the village heads to take any responsibility given by them in turn. Simply, it is justDooplaya like scapegoating [the risk] that if there is firing, they will kill the village head. I still remember, when a Burmese army [soldier] shouted out that if one of their soldiers got shot, one Karen national [would] get shot. That was shouted by a captain when I was ordered to guide the way. It is very dreadful. I am very sad after realizing that we ordinary villagers get killed when they were fighting.

While there is obvious risk for civilians forced to serve as porters, the use of headmen has the potential for significant secondary impacts on local communities. Headmen, often taking significant risk in filling the role, address issues of village organization, administration, and act as  a liaison with local military forces. If a headman serving as a porter were killed, it could potentially impact the security and operation of the home village. According to what the village ex-secretary village heads who have been used as hostages are from the following villages located along the TPZY to TPP highway: Loh Shan village, Rae Bao village, Tha Nyin village, Anankwan village, Thanpayar village, Khon Khan village, Taung Zone village, Lay Po ( named Mar Law village on Burmese army maps), Maezali village, Apalong village, and Myaingtharyar village.

Hostage village

Tha Daine village, which is situated between Kyainnseikyi Township, 13 miles from Three Pagodas Sub-township, and critically situated on the Zami river, has been a major hub of operations for the Burmese military transportation and resupply. Tha Dein is subject to higher then normal militarization, with multiple battalions being based in or moving through the village, and frequent use of local residents as forced porters for the transportation of goods and security of soldiers. As a result areas around Tha Dein have seen frequent skirmishes with DKBA and KNLA forces. As of December, LIB No. 406, under MOMC No.8, and commanded by its second in command, has been holding the community hostage during the evenings. Using a bizarre order of forced movie watching, villagers are gathered together in mass to watch movies, while soldiers stay close enough that civilian casualties would be a risk in a evening attack.

To implement the practice, six owners of video equipment and loud speakers form Tha Dein, have been forced to provide the village with free video-shows in rotation.  The six owners have to use their own generators and cover the cost of gasoline and video-CD fees themselves.  Though normally a recreational activity that is an opportunity for the video equipment owners to make extra income, in this case villagers have been forced to attend the video showings, and owners cannot charge fees. One resident who has been ordered to deliver free video-shows notes that soldiers are mixed in with the crowd, and that the battalions second commander has threatened that if villagers do not attend their homes will be burnt down:

The second commander ordered us together – six video hall owners in the [battalion] camp on January 2.  And then he us to put on a free video-show of two stories per night in rotation using our own gasoline…We all made an effort to plead [with him] to cancel the order.  We hadn’t shown video-shows since this region became unstable.  The villagers haven’t wanted to see a video-show in such an unstable period…When the six of us tried to explain [the situation], he [the second commander] pulled out his gun and threatened us, saying that if we didn’t follow his order, we would know how cruel he could be. We could say nothing and fearfully provided the village with a video-show of two stories per night on a rotation as he instructed…I have to use my own engine and spend my personal money on renting video-CDs from Three Pagodas Pass.  A lot of their soldiers have been positioned in the crowd.  My engine has be fueled by four and a half liters of gasoline.  A liter of gas cost thirty Baht.  Hiring video (CDs) has also cost me at least three hundred Baht.  I don’t really understand why [they] have forced us – at gun point – to provide video-shows when we can do nothing for a living because of the unstable situation.  [We have had to offer the shows] till today.  Later, the audiences have also been forced to see [the video-show].  They [the villagers] have come [to the video-show] because they have been threatened that if they didn’t come to the show, their houses would be set on fire.  We all are in the same condition of suffering from fear.

No explanation has been given for the forced video shows, though a local military expert from the NMSP has highlighted at least several possible reasons for the forced gatherings. During the current conflict period, government army units have frequently suffered from ambushes and guerrilla warfare by the Karen armed forces. Most of those attacks have occurred at dusk or during the night. It appears likely that, in order to mitigate the likelihood of these attacks, LIB No. 406 has grouped civilians in mass to ensure protection against nighttime assault. Amongst the village population that attends, soldiers are gathered, and would be difficult to hit without civilian casualties.

The gathering serves an additional purpose as the required presence of the crowd makes selecting villagers for portering goods an easier task for Burmese soldiers. In previous cases when Burmese troops arrive in Tha Dein, communities flee to the jungle to avoid abuse and force portering. Nai Ron, 48, who makes his living as a plantation worker near Tha Dein village, gave his opinion supporting the observation that the LIB No. 406 is making use of the video shows as a make shift human shield. He also highlights that attendant villagers are periodically picked off to be used as porters:

The Burmese army has really been afraid of night.  Before reaching this Tha Dein village, when they based in the  Phayar Gone hill beyond Chaung Zone, they suffered from frequent night-attacks of Captain A1′s DKBA army units.  In order to avoid similar attacks, they have positioned [themselves] amongst us – the civilians – so that the Karen forces don’t attack, thinking of the civilians. Moreover, since the nightly video-show has been implemented, portering has frequently occurred.  There was a secret forced portering after the video-show.  At night of January 8th, Anyi – a youth nearby my house – had to carry the rations to Chaung Zone together with an army unit.  He could come village after the three-day long trek.  After coming back from the video-show, he [was forced] into portering without being noticed by anyone.

Miscommunication and beatings

One result of the increased militarization of Kyainnseikyi and TPP, has been instances of racially denigrating verbal abuse, assault and torture against local Karen civilians. In the southern part of Dooplaya District, which is predominantly ethnic Karen, instances have been reported where SPDC soldiers will question or order Karen civilians in Burmese, but due to their inability to understand or speak Burmese, SPDC soldiers conclude they are being deliberately disobedient, and will insult and beat the civilian. This practice has occurred often over the last 10 years, but has now appeared more frequently since fighting began in November[12].

On December 15th, one such case occurred in which a resident was unable to respond about the possible location of DKBA land mines, because he neither fully understood the question, nor was able to respond in Burmese. As a result the victim was severely beaten, and is unable to eat due to a cracked jaw. He has been unable to travel to hospital for treatment, but is receiving traditional medical treatment from a local doctor in the village.

Pho Thar, 67, a Reh Phaw resident, is the father of Ta Ma Lar, 22, who was beaten by the SPDC army units during an encounter with them on a road near their village. Soldiers from LIB No. 405, military column No. 2, are believed to be responsible for the assault. LIB No. 405 has been active around Reh Phaw, TaNyin, and Anankwin since December.

In the middle of the previous month my son came back from the farm.  The oil had run out and he went to the house in Reh Phaw village to get oil.  I also asked him to purchase some medicine.  At the middle of his trip, he encountered a military column of about thirty Burmese soldiers.  He [Ta Ma Lar] said that the leader of the column asked him a question which could be interpreted as “Do you know where are the mines set by the DKBA?”.  He can’t speak Burmese fluently…The Burmese accent of my son, Ta Ma Lar, does not make any sense for the Burman.  He says the he knew [what] the question had [meant].  He knew [the words] ‘DKBA’ and ‘mine’ were included [in the question].  However, he didn’t know where the mines were set, so he couldn’t answer.  He shook his hand and head so that the two Burmese soldiers lost their temper and punched his face so that his nasal bone was broken and his chin was also split.  He can’t chew the rice well now.

Theft

Since the November conflict began, residents around Kyainnseikyi and TPP have been subjected to a variety of economic abuses, that include extortion and outright theft of property. The Burmese army by default operates under a policy of self-reliance in open conflict zones, a process that entails systematic theft and extortion of goods[13]. The stealing and extorting of both goods and money from local residents severs a duel role; the first being the support of local battalions, and the second, an act of attrition that undermines local support for the KNLA and DKBA forces. These economic abuses have had a significant impact on local residents, who make their livelihoods off of paddy farming, breeding of livestock, and the cultivation of fruits and vegetables. For villagers dependent on farms, plantations’, and livestock, or subsistence living, the loss of crops and income, to theft and extortion, severely harm livelihoods already pushed to the limit.

On January 12^th, 2010, at 2:00 pm, a cattle-cart owned by Ko Aye, a Maezali village resident of Kyainnseikyi Township, and his brother, was stopped by the three soldiers from LIB No. 566. According to Ko Aye, the solders seized three bags of Taung Yar-rice[14] and three chickens from the cart.  Although the instance was reported to the Maezali village headman, the headman recommended that Ko Aye to give up his complaints, noting that, he, himself, had been tortured by the local army unity. Ko Aye describes the circumstances of how he was robbed by Burmese soldiers:

We can’t afford rice here.  We had to pound the paddy which was cultivated and winnowed on the hill-side. On that day, I had pounded eight baskets of paddy and got two and a half baskets of rice[15].. And then I poured the rice into three bags and carried them onto my cart.  I caught a cock and two hens from the hill-side plantation to make food for home and to crossbreed.  When I encountered them [the soldiers] at Zee Phyu Gone, they forcefully drew [the chickens and the rice bags] down.  They gave back nothing even though I pleaded with them.  They carried [the chickens and the rice bags] to the top hill of Zee Phyu Gone, saying to each other that they had good luck since [they were] lacking rations.  I and my brother didn’t want to allow that robbery but we could do nothing.  We would die first [before we could complain] if they shot us because of our complaint.  When we arrived in the village, we reported [our case] to the village headman, but he counseled us to give up because even he had experienced torture [by the soldiers].

Ko Aye, described being upset now, since he has no supply with which to feed his family. Since the theft, he was forced to borrow rice from his neighbors to keep his family and children fed, as a result of the theft.

On the evening of December 24th, 2011, the Apalong based LIB No. 373 seized over twenty chickens and over thirty kilograms of pumpkins from Kyuh Ba Lu, 33, a Karen resident of Apalong village, and his two friends. According to Kyuh Ba Lu’s wife, Naw ……, a 28-year-old Apalon resident, Kyaw Ba Lu attempted to negotiate to decrease amount being taken but instead the soldiers rejected his effort and kicked hit in the chest, saying he was too talkative:

For [our] Christmas ceremony, he [KyuhBa Lu] and his friends – Saw…… and Saw …….. went to the farmland to purchase chickens and pumpkins.  The total cost wasn’t small: it was about sixty thousand [kyat].  The Burmese soldiers stopped them on their way home, and robbed their purchases.  One kicked him in his chest with his [combat] boot so that he has a boot-like black mark on his chest…We had to celebrate [the Christmas ceremony] with the food we had already had.  He has assumed that things not going according to plan was his fault so that he daren’t meet the[other] villagers.  However, the villagers have understood his [situation].  Everyone has felt terrible about the way that the theft happened.

On December 5th, Naw Akyi, a Taung Zon resident of Kyainnseikyi Township, described loosing her squash crop to Burmese soldiers. Soldiers, based in Ananquin village, came to her home and took all the squash that she had been growing, saying they would pay money for them, but later. Before leaving though, they asked her which she wanted to see next, money or a gun, which she took as a threat, and let them go without asking further for payment:

They demanded [our vegetables] showing us their guns so that we had to give these to them.  We can stand the starvation after giving them away, but [if we didn't give them] we could possibly die.

Extortion

On January 7th, 2011, a wood trader, U Htun Hla, who lives in Three Pagoda Town, was logging trees in the Dooplaya District jungles when he and his logging crew were arrested by soldiers form the KNLA. According to the soldiers, the KNU Forest Department had restricted access to logging in the area to reduce the number of possible sources from which the Burmese military could rob for supplies or money. However, U Htun Hla had paid 200,000 baht[16] to the NMSP for a logging permit that would give him the right to work in the area. Despite his permit, he was held by soldiers of the KNLA, who, accusing him of working with the SPDC, demanded he pay 1 million Baht and 300,000 Kyat to get back his truck and to release his logging team. Not having the money during his arrest, U Htun Hla struck a bargen, allowing for their release, but still requiring him to pay the amount. HURFOM attempted to contact the KNU forest department in Dooplaya District, for a comment but no response was given. Since his arrest, U Htun Hla has reported feeling overwhelmed and depressed by the amount the KNU is charging him for his illegal arrest and describes how he was arrested, how the arrest has impacted his view of the current situation, and the financial burden he now faces:

I signed with the NMSP for logging in the areas. We had an agreement to log 30 tons in a season. This time is the ‘Arbitrary taxation in Pa’an Township burdens phone operators to near breaking point,’ HURFOM, 1 February 2010 third times I’ve [been] logging in the area. The KNU accused me that we are against their rules because they banned logging of trees while the threat of [cooperation with SPDC soldiers] is in the area. So, the confiscated our truck, bulldozer and detained our workers on January 7th. I was explaining to them but they did not listen to my explanation. Finally they ask me to pay 1 million Thai Baht. It’s very huge amount of money. And then they said they would put me in jail for three years. I had to pay them 300,000 kyat to not be in jail. Now I already pay them 500,000 baht and I promised them to pay another 500,000 baht in coming year. I singed on a paper and I got released from them. I would like to say that I am afraid of all the armed groups who have power in the areas. This situation put my life under a struggling for my livelihood.

Military commanders from both sides have extracted money from local residents, but as the demands come randomly, and with out transparency, many residents believe the extorted fees just go towards the personal use by military commanders. Since both sides extort fees with no discernable structure, residents face unpredictable and potentially significant financial losses, with both groups demanding similar payments and unpredictable intervals[17]. Ko Htwe, who lives in quarter No. 2, Three Pagodas Pas town, and operates a small business, describes how and SPDC commander collected fees from local business owners:

We loose the opportunity to run our business freely. There is a lot of extortion money we have to pay to the authorities in the area. Lead by the MOMC No. 8 Lt. Col. Thein Zaw and LIB No. 283 forced the traders who run their business in TPP areas to pay 1,500 Baht to celebrate opening ceremony of religious hall and the induction of novice monks . Sometimes they [take our money] by showing us one reason, [such as the] opening of a [new] building and [then] come and collect our money.

Mi Ni Way, 50, a shopkeeper from around TPP, also described how the commander from MOMC No. 8 have forced residents to pay arbitrary extortion costs, and laments the impact the extortion and fighting has had on business:

The economic situation is terrible in this area nowadays. But the local authorities are still collecting money. On January 17th, they collected at least 500 to 1,500 baht. Some of the more popular traders had to send money to their base office. I am surprised that during fighting with rebel arms groups, the local military still has time for collecting money for the residents. I just worry that if we do not pay, that it will be difficult to get permission to trade or open shops in the future. Trading is terrible this year.

As noted earlier, truck owners have faced an increased possibility of injury or death when transporting goods since November 8^th. Ko Htwe, a truck owner from TPP, describes a occurrence in January when truck drivers flatly refused to transport Burmese army supplies, for fear for their lives, and were forced to pay 2,200 baht to the Burmese battalion, a piece:

On January 26th, at 9 AM, Tactical commander colonel Thein Zaw and LIB no. 283 Lieutenant Colonel Mya Htun Aye commended the Land Transportation Association in Three pagoda town to carry military supplies from Three Pagodas to Taung Zon military base. No one dares to go there because they know if we carry the food supply, the KNU could shoot us. TPP Land Transportation Association secretary U Pan Nywe said he would not be responsible for that. First, the military asked to get 20 pick-up trucks. Later they said they needed 50 pick-up trucks to carry supplies for a 6 month period. The Land Transportation Association secretary says he was not responsible for that again. After that the Tactical commander colonel Thein Zaw forced to collect 2,200 baht for each pick up truck owners. There are over 100 pick-up trucks registered in the Land Transportation Association in TPP. Because of the danger of carrying the military supplies, most of truck owners paied 2,200 baht instead of carrying the military supplies. By getting money from the truck owners, the military rented two of ten-wheel trucks to carry the military supplies to Anankwin on January 28th. They paid 60,000 baht for each truck. This year is terrible for the truck owners like us. They [KNU and SPDC] were threatening us on each side. I don’t know how to get an income from this year.

Travel Restrictions

Since fighting began in early November, the area around Kyainnseikyi Township has seen increasing use of travel restrictions by Karen and Burmese forces. Restrictions, ordered by both sides, are intended to restrict access to resources and supplies, control troop movement, and reinforcements. However these bans on travel have predominantly impacted residents who also are cut off from cultivation and day laborer, local and regional trade, logging, and medical access. Such impacts severely undermine the function of daily life, leaving civilian populations without support, trapped between assorted armed groups Accounts from some of these communities below, detail the wide ranging impacts to daily life.

According to an Apalong villager, LIB No. 373, under Sa Ka Kha No. 5, which had just been begun its tour of duty in the area, issued travel restrictions against travel out of Ah Pa-long village. The villager describes how, as a result,  cultivators and day laborers have been denied access to the fields in which they grow crops:

[The] Burmese army [is] restricting travel and going to work in our crop fields. The Karen units also close the roads. This directly affects our jobs as we can not travel to work. As a result, we face big problems for our daily meals…and we are afraid of traveling out there as the Burmese army said, ‘knows that you are dead if you travel at curfew time.’ We are allowed to go to Three Pagoda Pass for shopping on foot from here. But we are very concerned that while traveling to TPP, we will be arrested to serve as porters. [So] we are [even] afraid of travel there. We face a very [great] difficulty.

One of the larger impacts has been the KNLA closure of the main road connecting inland Burma to the border. As a result the prices of pepper, onions, tamarind, rice and other dried products has risen sharply. Many of these products, though basic and relatively inexpensive, make up the staple diet of residents in the area. In particular, day laborers who often live hand to mouth, face significant problems adjusting to the price hike.

Mi Ma Lay, 36, a TPP town resident, says that prices have grown significantly since travel restrictions were put in place and that it is difficult to find work:

The prices rose only a bit when the fighting broke out in November, but now they are raised sharply. We have to cook without including onions as it is too expensive to buy them. Now the price of onions is 40 Baht per kg and garlic costs 100 Baht per kg, while before closing the road, onions cost 12 Baht per kg and garlic cost 40 Baht [per kg]. Besides, the prices of cooking ingredients such as pepper and ripe tamarind have increased one time more. The price of [a] package of rice [has] also raised. As the fighting is ongoing, we can hardly find jobs. The raising price affects not only us but also everyone in this town. If the road reopens the prices will fall, but if the road stays closed, we will definitely become hungry.

In response to concerns issued by TPP residents, a communications officer from the KNU told HURFOM that though damaging, travel restrictions are a deliberate military tactic designed to destroy the SPDC ability to fight:

We closed the roads, as the policy of closing the roads is to cause the SPDC army to loose their rations. Now, they have almost run out of the rations at their battalions. So that is why we closed the roads. If they are out of the rations, it will affect their military operation.  And [then] there will be no more long-term difficulty for our people. We just see it like this and we will reopen [the roads later]. This is a military operation and policy where [we] cause one side [to] weaken and the other side to strengthen.

However, multiple interviewees have commented to HURFOM that armed groups based in the area should consider the lives of the people and should not undertake polices that will directly impact crops, trade, and livelihoods of residents. A monk, 40, living at a Karen monastery in TPP describes the impacts of the road closure since January 20^th, in causing price increases and difficulties for the livelihoods of the TPP community:

Whether [it is the] regional based army ( or constabulary ?) or rebel armed groups, they all depend on us, civilians. For example, the armed groups like KNU and DKBA are dependent on collected taxes and support from civilians, [so] they can keep marching toward their goal, the rebellion.  If the civilians are hungry, how can they, the civilian, support them? They [armed groups] should think about this. So, I just want to suggest to the KNU that they should take their responsibilities and consider while they are also causing the civilian become hunger.

Conclusion

Currently, fighting in and around Kyainnseikyi Township appears to have reached an impasse. While SPDC forces have retaken TPP and reinforced troops against KNLA and DKBA forces, the tense stand off continues with periodic fighting, but little clear resolution to the conflict. Evidence collected by HURFOM researchers indicates that this drawn out fighting in Kyainnseikyi is extremely destructive to both the physical health and safety of residents, as well as farming, trade, and their livelihoods. Rather the improving the lives of residents, these open conflicts do nothing to empower local communities; instead through a combination of deliberate military tactics, Kyainnseikyi residents suffer the impacts of this conflict on all fronts.

Open conflict kills and maims residents, and use of forced porters as human shields and land mine triggers, is a clear and blatant crime against humanity. The presence of Burmese battalions in larger numbers leads to misunderstandings, and subsequently, abuse of local residents. Indirectly, conflict destroys local economies and security of residents through theft of supplies, livestock, crops, and the extortion of excessive fees. These coupled with widespread travel restrictions from both Burmese and Karen forces dangerously undermines residents’ ability to provide form themselves, and damages their long-term ability to ensure their survival and continued livelihood.

HURFOM strongly believes that a resolution to the fighting, and a return to more normal circumstances under which communities can again live, work, and travel relatively unhindered, is the best solution to improving peoples lives in TPP and Kyainnseikyi. Both sides bear responsibility for the current suffering of local communities, and must recognize the impacts that these military polices have on local residents. Moreover the continued conflict in Kyainnseikyi Township is so close to the Thai/Burma border, that to avoid future, potentially longer term refugee crisis such as those seen during early November, it is in the interests of border based groups and the Royal Thai government, to work with all local armed groups to resolve the current conflict.

[2] ‘Government Troops Secure Myawaddy,’ Irrawaddy, 13 November 2010; ‘Artillery Fire Continues at Three Pagodas Pass,’ Irrawaddy, 11 November 2010; ‘Further fighting at TPP, residents flee Burma for Thailand,’ Independent Mon News Agency (IMNA), 9 November 2010; ‘6 Injured from fighting between DKBA and Burmese Troops,’ IMNA, 9 November 2010; ‘Fighting Breaks Out Between Burmese Army and DKBA in Three Pagodas Pass,’ IMNA, 27 January 2011.

[3] ‘Thousands flee from Three Pagoda Pass Town, support and basic supplies a concern,’ HURFOM, 9 November 2010; ‘9 year old girl killed during fighting at Three Pagodas Pass,’ HURFOM, 9 November 2010.

[4] ‘Remaining TPP residents leave for the Thai side,’ IMNA, 10 November 2010; ‘TPP refugees commanded to return home,’ IMNA, 11 November 2010; ‘Civilians at risk from continued SPDC-DKBA conflict in Dooplaya District,’ KHRG, 14 November 2010; ‘Arrest, looting and flight: Conflict continues to impact civilians in Dooplaya District,’ KHRG,  25 November, 2010; ‘Villager injured, community flees: Conflict continues to impact civilians in Dooplaya District,’ KHRG, 28 November 2010; ‘Resumption of Fighting Sparks Further Exodus,’ Irrawaddy, 15 November 2010; ‘Clashes Force More Karen Refugees Into Thailand,’ Irrawaddy, 7 December 2010.

[5] ‘Fighting Moves Karen Groups into Loose Alliance,’ Burma News International (BNI), 11 November 2010.

[6] The area described between Maezali, Apalong, and Myaingtharyar, has been one of the most frequently contested since fighting began. The instance described is one that is common, as brief but destructive exchanges occur daily.

[7] ‘MOMC No. 8 Forces Vehicle Owners in Three Pagoda Pass to Transport Military Supplies and Weapons,’ IMNA, 24 January 2011.

[8] ‘Villagers from NMSP territory taken as porters by SPDC during continued conflict,’ HURFOM, 19 November 2010; Villagers flee to avoid fighting and portering: Conflict continues to impact civilians in Dooplaya District,’ KHRG, 4 December 2010; ‘Protection concerns expressed by civilians amidst conflict in Dooplaya and Pa’an districts,’ KHRG, 17 November 2010; ‘ Human rights abuses and obstacles to protection: Conditions for civilians amidst ongoing conflict in Dooplaya and Pa’an districts,’ KHRG, 21 January 2010; ‘Villagers Forced to Porter Military Supplies near Three Pagodas Pass,’ IMNA, 3 February 2011.

[9] ‘SPDC Battalion uses forced porters as human shield against land mines and further attack,’ HURFOM,  24 August 2010; ‘Junta Troops Using Prisoners as Human Minesweepers,’ Irrawaddy, 12 January 2010.

[10] 20 Lot-shan villagers,  4 Tha-Nyin villagers, 3 Than-pa-yar villagers, 3 Ku-kan villagers,  and 3 Mar-law villagers, Kyainnseikyi Township

[11] “Sa Ka Kah” is the Burmese term for the Military Operations Management Command (MOMC) No. 8.

[12] For further reading please see, ‘SPDC battalions demand construction supplies, non-Burmese speaker tortured,’ HURFOM, 24 September 2010.

[13] ‘Arbitrary taxation in Pa’an Township burdens phone operators to near breaking point,’ HURFOM, 1 February 2010; or for more extensive reading on arbitrary taxation, please see the Network for Human Rights Documentation – Burma’s 2010 report, ‘The Hidden Impact of Burma’s Arbitrary and Corrupt Taxation.’

[14] Rice is divided in to there categories’, with Taung Yar being the highest quality and best for human consumption.

[15] One basket of rice is approximately 30 kg of rice.

[16] 200,000 Baht is the approximate price of 30 tons of wood.

[17] ‘Arbitrary taxation in Pa’an Township burdens phone operators to near breaking point,’ HURFOM, 1 February 2010.