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“I am very tired”: Three months of abuses along the Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay gas pipeline in Northern Ye and Southern Thanbyuzayat Township, from August 2009 to October 2009

Introduction:

Much has been written on the human rights abuses leveled by the Burmese Army against the Karen and Mon villagers who live along the gas pipeline that runs through the Mon state from Kanbauk, in  northern Ye Township, to Myaing Kalay, in the Southern Thanbyuzayat Township. In recent months, however, ongoing abuse inflicted by Burmese army battalions against the villagers has intensified.  The presence of Burmese Army battalions in the area has plagued the villagers for more than 15 years. Since 1994, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has deployed 20 army battalions in the area as a means of protecting the Yadana pipeline — the second natural gas pipeline that runs through the area — from rebel attacks. Various armed rebel groups exist in the area, including the KNU, the KNLA, and an unnamed, 30 –strong ragtag Mon splinter group.
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Empty Rice Baskets: An Analysis of the Causes and Implications of the August 2009 Flooding in Mon State

Introduction:

Once known as the ‘rice basket’ of Asia, Burma’s long-standing reputation as a leading rice exporter has dwindled as its economy has collapsed after years of rule by several generations of military juntas. Within the country, the leading role of rice as a food product and commercial cash crop has persisted. Yet despite its significant role in Burmese agriculture, the rice paddy farmers of Mon state, who have long been the backbone of rice production in Burma, are finding it increasingly difficult to continue to provide for their own livelihoods and those of their families.

The threat to paddy farmers is twofold, due to both man-made catastrophes as well as natural disasters. Due to the poor design and management of the Win-pha-non and Kataik dams, farms and villages throughout the area have been flooded as spillways running from the damn have failed. Thanks to excess rainfall, farmers in the 6 divisions of Mon State have lost hundreds of acres of rice paddies due to flooding. However, in addition to the destruction of their cash crops, paddy farmers face further loss of income and property from the abusive economic management practices of the Burmese government’s State Peace and Development Council’s (SPDC) agricultural programs.  Despite flooding, seasonal limitations, and lack of funding, government administrators demand that farmers replant their crops to meet government rice quotas.  While they are provided with no economic support, farmers are still expected to meet the quota or face the seizure of their land, and in some cases, forced manual labor.

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Background

Mon state is well known for its strong agricultural output and favorable climate.  Because of its value as an agricultural region, Mon state is home to 7 dams.  The 2 dams responsible for the widespread flooding that HURFOM has been documenting are the Win-pha-non and the Kataik dams.  Both these dams, according to sources close to the SPDC, were built to contribute to the prevention of flooding and to assist local farmers in the cultivation of rainy season and summer paddy fields.

In August 2009 particularly intense seasonal rains fell. In response, government administrators released excess water from the Win-pha-non and Kataik dams. In addition to widespread flooding from the excessive monsoon rainfall, the release of dam water has proved catastrophic, as water has been spilling over the poorly designed dam’s runoff canals around the area. Read more

Harming the Young: Sexually Abused Children in Burma and the Migrant Communities of Thailand

WCRP:

Introduction

Burma’s military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) is notorious for its oppression of the democratic opposition led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and for human rights violations against ethnic nationalities who participate in liberation movements. In response to these violations and constant suppression, citizens are continually fleeing Burma. Read more

“Our Village Will Not Last:” Analysis of Abuses Conducted Against Civilians in Mon State and Tennaserim Division

INTRODUCTION

It is not easy to make any claim that Burma is a nation free of violence and armed conflict.  However the Burmese military regime, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), often cites the successful brokering of 15 ceasefires with armed insurgent groups, who have been brought ‘back into the legal fold’ throughout the late 80’s and early 90’s, as proof that it has brought peace to Burma. These ceasefires have radically altered the landscape of the civil war in Burma by bringing the direct conflict with most of the ethnic armed groups to a close.  However what has resulted is not peace, but a quieter violence, between smaller insurgent groups that did not sign ceasefires, and the Burmese army.  This supposed peace has been characterized by continued violence and abuse conducted against civilians in parts of Karen State, Mon State, and Tennaserim Division who have been trapped between insurgent groups, and the Burmese policy of total destruction of its opposition. During August, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland-Burma (HURFOM) has focused its concern on the continuing abuses and serious human rights violations in Southern Burma and would like to highlight ongoing rights abuses faced by the local inhabitants and the consequences these have on the livelihoods of these residents.  HURFOM field reporters have been documenting instances of forced relocation, land and property confiscation, arbitrary extortion and sexual violence through the testimonies of these individual victims, since March 2009.

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The Coming Crisis of Brigade No. 6: Analysis of the Current Abuses Committed Against the Karen Population

Introduction:

At the end of February 2009, the Karen Democratic Buddhist Army (DKBA) and State Peace Development Council (SPDC) joined forces in preparation for a campaign against the Karen National Union (KNU) territory to rout and destroy the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). The ensuing campaign has changing the face of regional politics, long dominated by the presence of the KNU and its armed wing the KNLA.  With the loss of KNU Brigade No. 7, the KNU has been placed in an endgame position, preparing to defend the hart of its territory, Brigade No. 6, heavily populated with ethnic Karen. The fallout from Brigade No. 7’s defeat produced a tide of refuges who fled to locations along the Thai-Burma border, and the UNHCR administered refugee camps. They arrived bearing reports of abuses committed by SPDC and DKBA forces.  As the joint SPDC and DKBA force positions itself to carry out their assault on Brigade No. 6, HURFOM focuses this months report on the on going human rights abuses in the southern Brigade No. 6 area, that will form a crisis broader and more terrible then that seen with the fall of Brigade No. 7.
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A road runs through it: Accounts of abuse during strand road construction in Thanbyuzayat

INTRODUCTION

Along the coast of western Thanbyuzayat Township lies one of Burma’s most beautiful beaches.  Besides the natural beauty of the coastline, the region is home to hundreds of farmers who are the heart of the local economy, cultivating long-term crops of rubber and fruit trees. However the strand road construction project, begun in January 2009, has been devastating to the structure of the local economy, costing local villagers an estimated 15 billion kyat (US$15 million) in damage to farms, and the project has precipitated hundreds of human rights abuses. Download report as PDF [ 1.61MB]
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“I Will Never Go Back:” Human Rights Abuses in Mon State and Tenasserim Division

The fighting has been taking place in these regions for almost five decades already. Now, I am getting into my 55th year, and people are still engaged in serious fighting since I was young. There is no way to count the number of people who have been murdered between the authorities’ forces and various rebels groups.

Nai Nyan, 55, resident of Paukpinkwin village.

Introduction

The Burmese military government has continued to face resistance from insurgent forces in the area of Sothern Mon State and Northern Tenasserim division. Violence has continued in the area despite a ceasefire signed in 1995 with the regional Mon ethnic leadership, the New Mon State Party (NMSP). In a 4 square mile area around Pukpinkwin village, Burmese army militarization has led to widespread human rights abuses such as seizure and destruction of civilian property, forced porter services and arbitrary execution. After the last 10 years of these abuses, HURFOM researchers have found that the region’s estimated 800 houses have dwindled, with only 150 to 170 still remaining. HURFOM’s research indicates that between January and March 2009 an estimated 70 to 80 families have fled to the Kyone Bine village in Tavoy district alone. These 4 square miles have been severely depopulated as human rights abuses have made the region increasingly uninhabitable. Read more

Power through gun barrels: Abuses related to the DKBA offensive in Dooplaya District

I. Summary

Since early October 2008, the current military junta and its ally, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) have been mounting a major military offensive to crush the Karen National Union (KNU) and its armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). During 1997 and 1998, most of Dooplaya district in central Karen State has been occupied and captured by the joint military offensives of the Burmese Army and DKBA troops. Since then, the military regime has changed its name from the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) to the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). However, the oppression has not stopped and instead the occupation troops have continued to extend their control over the Karen villages which have been supporting the KNLA/KNU troops.

After the end of the rainy season last year, the DKBA boosted its military offensive and operations in Pa-an, Kawkareik and northeast Kyainnseikyi Townships with the support of SPDC military columns under the command of Light Infantry Battalions (LIBs) No. 545 and No 204. According to the records of HURFOM, armed clashes between the KNLA/KNU and DKBA (combined with the Burmese Army) occurred on least 46 occasions between January 1st and February 28th, 2009 in KNLA Brigade No. 6 and KNLA General Headquarters battalions areas which are situated in the Kawkareik and Pa-an Districts. Among them, at least 5 armed clashes involved only DKBA troops. Because of these ongoing armed clashes between the KNLA/KNU, DKBA and SPDC battalions, many ethnic Karen villagers have faced insecurity in their own villages and some have fled to safer areas. All armed forces involved in this ongoing armed conflict have been increasingly using landmines to restrict each other’s movements. To effectively launch military offensives and protect themselves, the DKBA forces have been using some villagers as human minesweepers. In this monthly report, HURFOM documents abuses in Kawkareik, Kyainnseikyi and Win Ye Townships in Dooplaya District from January to March 2009.
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Economic predation: taxation, extortion and commandeering in Mon State

I. Introduction

The economic situation on Burma’s southern peninsula is demonstrative of the often spoke truisms about the interconnectedness of the globalized world economy. Though Burma’s foreign trade is limited by government mismanagement and international sanctions, it is still reliant on and impacted by changes in the international financial environment. Today in Mon State, the reduction in the international demand for rubber has lead to a plummet in the value of rubber. Similarly, a bumper paddy croup in Southeast Asia following last year’s international rice shortages has paddy at a fraction of its normal value. The precipitous decline in price of Mon State’s primary agricultural products is being matched by a decline in remittances as migrant workers earn less in now-struggling neighboring countries Thailand and Malaysia.
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Living on a one-way ticket: self-reliance in the Mon resettlement sites

I. Introduction

The primary armed group fighting in the name of Mon people agreed to a cease-fire in 1995. Though this ended armed hostilities between the group and Burma’s State Peace and Development (SPDC) government, human rights abuses committed against residents of Burma’s southern peninsula continue. This abuse, combined with a weak economic situation directly related to army abuses, has resulted in the movement of thousands of people whose homes are unsafe and/or economically untenable. Many of these people have, as one academic has said, “found their backs to Thailand” and have ended up in resettlement sites along the Thai-Burma border.
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