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Soldiers take civilian motorbikes for personal use

HURFOM: Villagers are now forced to share their motorbikes with soldiers, for their daily personal use, with out any compensation.

Since January 2008 villagers from Kyauktalin, Kyaukadin and Alaesakhan, Kalein Aung Sub-township, Tenasserim Division have had to share their motorbikes with Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 282 and 273 for traveling between villages and around the township. Bike owners were instructed to give their keys their village headmen in a daily rotating shift, so that a soldier could use the bikes as needed. While no specific reason was given for the order, villagers are expected to keep the bikes full of gas, and to cover all expenses and damage while soldiers use the bike. Read more

Authorities again seize motorbikes in Tenasserim Division

HURFOM, Yebyu: Authorities are again seizing motorbikes from villagers in the Tenasserim Division and restricting access to licenses through corruption and limiting the area in which a license is useful.

According to a villager from Yapu in Yabyu Township, three semi trucks were seen carrying a cargo of motorbikes out of the village. While it was unknown where the trucks were headed, the witness was convinced the bikes were ones that had recently been sized from villagers.  Read more

Systemic human rights violations along 180-mile gas pipeline in southern Burma, says new report

A 180-mile gas pipeline in southern Burma is responsible for human rights violations that are “systemic, shocking and ongoing,” says the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) in a report released this evening. The 100-page report, titled Laid Waste: Human Rights Along the Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay gas pipeline, details abuses along the entire length of an overland pipeline that traverses nearly half the length of Burma’s southern peninsula. [Media release in PDF Format]

Laid Waste details abuses committed by Burma’s military government as it has sought to construct, maintain and protect the Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay gas pipeline. The report includes details on the confiscation of more than 15,000 acres of land to make room for the pipeline – and support 30 army battalions tasked with protecting it. The intense militarization of the area, which HURFOM describes as “fundamentally due” to the pipeline, is responsible for abuses that range from rape and summary execution to the daily commandeering of motorcycles and chickens. Security efforts for the pipeline, meanwhile, entail conscription of villagers – some as young as 12 – who must work as unpaid forced laborers, maintaining the pipeline, guarding and carrying equipment for soldiers – at all times under threat of violent retribution for accidents or insurgent attacks.

“The abuses described above are the predictable result of deploying large numbers of soldiers and encouraging them to extract what they can from the countryside, without oversight,” says HURFOM. “But abuses along the pipeline are also a deliberate, calculated part of the pipeline security effort.” Highlighting the ongoing nature of these abuses, in the 5 days that have passed since printing the report, HURFOM has documented the execution of one villager and the burning of 36 homes. In both cases, the army committed the abuses less than a mile from the pipeline.

This report is released at a critical juncture. Intense competition for access to Burma’s abundant natural resources continues, with China recently agreeing to purchase gas that will be transported 1,200 miles across Burma. Debate on appropriate response to Burma is renewing, as the international community questions the wisdom of strict sanctions and considers potential for increased humanitarian support. In the foreword to Laid Waste, HURFOM’s director Nai Kasauh Mon welcomes the renewed discussion. But he urges caution and calls on the international community not to lose sight of experiences like those documented in Laid Waste. “Discussion is healthy and appreciated,” says Nai Kasauh Mon. “But there should be no question: projects like the Kanbauk to Myaing Kalay gas pipeline do not benefit the people of our country.”

Further details:

Full PDF copies of Laid Waste can be downloaded at: <http://rehmonnya.org/archives/752>. Information on the 36 burned homes and summary execution mentioned in paragraph 3 can also be found on www.rehmonnya.org.

Hard copies of Laid Waste, as well as print-quality photos for news publication can be obtained by emailing monhumanrights@gmail.com.

Questions or requests for interviews in English, Mon and Burmese should be made by emailing hurfomcontact@yahoo.com or calling +66 (0)81 365 9140.

About HURFOM:

The Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) is a Thailand-based non-governmental human rights organization founded in 1995 by a group of Mon youth, students and community leaders. HURFOM works to monitor the human rights situation in southern Burma, and publishes print and online news, lengthy reports and analysis of ongoing human rights violations. More information can be found at www.rehmonnya.org.

Download full report [PDF, 17.4 MB]

Download report in five parts [PDF]
Part I [2.9 MB] | Part II [3.14 MB] | Part III [3.37 MB] | Part IV [5.15 MB] | Part V [2.96 MB]

Down and out parents are driven to sell children, but concerns about trafficking arise.

WCRP: In April 2009, Ma Mi Aye, who has been struggling economically after a series of family tragedies, had to sell her daughter to another family for 30,000 kyat (28 USD) in, Pa-An Township, Karen State, Read more

Men posing as Thai police rape 12-year-old Burmese migrant worker

WCRP: A twelve-year-old Burmese migrant child was gang raped by five Thai men posing as police in Minburi Sub-district, Bangkok.

Early in the morning, at around 2am on May 2, a group of five men came to the apartment where a Burmese migrant worker family was living. Pretending they were Thai policemen coming to check their work permit cards, they ordered the workers to open the door.  Upon entering they half-heartedly checked work permit cards, ignoring some of the residents, and proceeded to search each room.   Read more

Soldiers shoot two villagers in Yebyu Township; one dead, one hospitalized

HURFOM: Two men form Alaesakhan village, Kaleinaung Sub-Township, Yebyu Township, were shot by Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 282. One died at the scene and the other has been hospitalized for over a month. Read more

Battalion set fire to 36 homes in Yebyu Township

HURFOM, Yebyu Township:
A fifty strong column of soldiers from LIB No. 107, led by Major Khin Mg Chin entered Paukpinkwin village, Yebyu Township on April 17th and set fire to 36 homes. Villagers believe this act was in retaliation for perceived insurgent group support and follows the recent killings of four village officials on April 2nd and 3rd, victims of a power struggle between the battalion and the armed Mon rebel group, Chan Dein.

A young man from Paukpinkwin who witnessed the events said, “ The soldiers separated into two groups of 25. One group entered the village from the north and the other from the south. Then they started to burn the 36 houses near the Ball Ta Moi Monastery. After that they fired their guns and ordered the people inside to get out their houses. People took anything they could and ran way.” Read more

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