Enduring Hunger and Repression: Food Scarcity, Internal Displacement, and the Continued Use of Forced Labour in Toungoo District

Top of report | Terms & abbreviations | Table of Contents | The Military Situation | Nyein Chan Yay Villages | Ywa Bone Villages | Landmines | Food Security | Future of the Area | Appendices

Nyein Chan Yay Villages

"Even though they call them 'Nyein Chan Yay' ['Peace Villages'], they [the villagers] can't live in peace."

"Saw Eh Doh" (M, 25), KHRG field researcher (Interview #1, 2/01)

"The civilians who stay under the control of the SPDC have no rights."

"Saw Zaw Oo" (M, 47), forcibly relocated villager from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #103, 3/02)

The SPDC consolidated their control over the plains of the Sittaung River basin in the west of the district in the 1990s and are now determined to extend that control to cover the hills as well. Villages that lie within the areas of SPDC control have been dubbed 'Nyein Chan Yay' ('Peace') villages by the SPDC Army commanders and authorities. This, however, is something of a misnomer; there is very little peace in these villages. The term Nyein Chan Yay refers to an arrangement that has been reached between the local SPDC Army battalions and the village elders, in which the villagers promise to not have any contact with the resistance and to comply with the SPDC's demands in exchange for being exempted from forced relocation or from having their homes burned down. The demands that the Nyein Chan Yay villagers must comply with include being forced to work as forced labour for the SPDC, paying large sums of money through extortion, giving food to SPDC military units without compensation and facing travel restrictions. The concept of the Nyein Chan Yay villages appears to have originated with Kler Lah village, but has since spread to many other villages across the district.

"They [SPDC] forced us to sign [a document], saying that nothing will happen in the village [that the villagers will not help the KNU]. If something should occur in the village they will kill us. The Operations Commander in Kler Lah told us this. "

"Saw Maw Thee" (M, 18), villager from xxxxvillage, Tantabin township (Interview #77, 5/02)

Most of the Nyein Chan Yay villages are located along the road between Toungoo and Kler Lah, the two roads which fork from there to Bu Sah Kee and to Mawchi in Karenni State, the area surrounding Than Daung Gyi, the Maw Nay Pwa area to the south of Klaw Mi Der, and the area around Htee Tha Saw and Thauk Yay Ka in the northeast of the district. Most Nyein Chan Yay villages are located either adjacent or close to SPDC Army camps. Villages that are located much farther afield have been relocated to new locations close to camps or along the car roads where the SPDC may more easily watch over them and exploit them as a ready source of forced labour.

"If they live with the Burmese [soldiers] they have to help the Burmese, but they don't want to. If we look at the people who live in the Nyein Chan Yay areas, [we see that] they have to help in many ways. They have to face many problems in many ways. They have to give money for porters; they have to go for loh ah pay; sometimes, they have to go and carry loads; sometimes they have to go and build the roads; or they have to go and build their Army camps. Sometimes the soldiers who are active in the area demand to eat rice. Some of them also demand salt. Some of them demand pigs and chickens to eat. ... When the Burmese [soldiers] come, they let the women and children stay in the village. The men and the boys of about fourteen or fifteen years old and up have to flee when the Burmese soldiers come, because they are afraid that if they do not run away the Burmese will capture them and force them to carry [a load for them]."

"Saw Eh Doh" (M, 25), KHRG field researcher (Interview #1, 2/01)

Forced Relocation

"They gave us two weeks to leave. We didn't dare to stay in the village anymore. They said that if they saw anyone staying in the village, they would shoot them dead. When they first sent us to the relocation site, I thought that they were going to give us food, and wood and bamboo to build our houses, but when we arrived there they only gave us two or three pieces of bamboo. We thought that they would give us one or two sacks of rice, but they didn't give us [anything]; not even one milk tin of rice. We had to find everything ourselves."

"Saw Pa Heh" (M, 47), internally displaced villager from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #104, 3/02)

The SPDC, and the SLORC before them, has long used the forced relocation of villages as a part of its counter-insurgency strategy. The SPDC believes that distancing the villagers from the KNU/KNLA will cut their lines of supply and thus undermine the resistance. The relocation sites which the villagers are ordered to move to have typically been located close to SPDC Army camps along the few roads that penetrate the hills. Relocating the villagers there allows them to be more easily used as a ready source of forced labour to build and repair the roads, maintain the Army's camps, and to porter supplies to the camps along the roads and into the mountains. This strategy may most clearly be seen by looking at Kler Lah village [see Map 3 of Toungoo District], strategically located at the junction of the two most important roads in the district. With over 300 households, Kler Lah is the largest relocation site in Toungoo District. Villagers from this relocation site are often forced to carry supplies for the SPDC to the outlying military camps in groups of one hundred or more, especially down the road to Bu Sah Kee. They are also often called upon to repair both the Toungoo-Mawchi road and the Kler Lah-Bu Sah Kee road.

Villages are rarely given much notice when they are relocated. Some villagers have told KHRG field researchers that they were given two weeks notice prior to being relocated, while others have claimed that they were forced to move immediately, being given no notice whatsoever. Most of their belongings must be left behind because they are unable to carry them to the relocation sites. Much of what is left behind is later looted or destroyed by SPDC Army patrols who sweep through the area to check for anyone who attempted to remain behind. Any food left behind is commonly eaten by SPDC Army soldiers. Whatever cannot be eaten is usually destroyed or rendered inedible. Rice and paddy is poured out onto the ground or mixed with sand, while livestock is shot and either eaten or left to rot.

"They wrote a letter [ordering their relocation] and they also came to the village. If we didn't go, they would have driven us out. We were afraid, so we went just like that. All of the villagers went. If they hadn't gone, they [SPDC] would have killed them. When they forced us to move, they said to not take our things. We took whatever we could, but the rest of the things that we couldn't take, they came and ate. We couldn't take all of our chickens and pigs; they ate and destroyed the rest of them when they came to the village. After we went there [to the relocation site], they went to our village and took all of our belongings that we left behind. They took our pigs, chickens, pots, everything. When we went back there nothing was left. When we arrived there [at the relocation site], they didn't come and help us with anything. What is more, they came and threatened us. Some people fled to sleep in the jungle and hid in their cardamom plantations. They [SPDC] tried to arrest people."

"Saw Soe Tint" (M, 60), internally displaced villager from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #174, 3/02)

"All of the people had to go. They do not dare to stay and not go [to the relocation site]. We had to go. We had to go, because it is the Army's law. If we did not go, they would have killed us. They only gave us six days [in which to move]. The time was too short. We lost all of our belongings. They took them and ate or destroyed them. Our rice, fishpaste, salt, pots, and many other things in the house; all of them were lost."

"Saw Zaw Oo" (M, 47), forcibly relocated villager from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #103, 3/02)

"When the Burmese [soldiers] drove us to xxxx [relocation site], it was very difficult; it was during the harvest. They said that on the 18 th , all of the villagers must go [to the relocation site]; if they didn't go, they [SPDC] would come and hit them. We couldn't take our belongings; we just had to go like that. When we were staying there, we didn't have enough food to eat. They wouldn't allow us to come back and get our things. They let their soldiers come to our village. They came here and destroyed all of our things."

"Naw Thet Wah" (F, 58), forcibly relocated villager from P– village, Than Daung township (Interview #165, 3/02)

Upon arriving at the relocation site, the villagers are not provided with anything by the SPDC. Not being able to dismantle their homes prior to being relocated, the villagers arrive with no wood or bamboo with which to construct their new homes, a task that they must complete themselves. They must go out and cut the bamboo themselves from the surrounding forests that are already depleted of much of their bamboo due to the large number of people who must build new houses in the relocation sites. In some cases, when the new arrivals to the relocation site have gone out and cut the bamboo to build their homes, tensions have developed between these new arrivals and the original inhabitants of the village as less bamboo is then left for everyone else. As more and more villagers are ordered to move to the already overcrowded relocation sites, the dwindling supplies of bamboo around those sites become further diminished, until such time as there will be no more bamboo growing on the hills around the relocation sites. Those who are unable to acquire enough bamboo will be vulnerable to illness when the monsoon rains pour into their homes [see the 'Health and Education']. One villager commented to a KHRG researcher that at least ten people died within the first year of being relocated to Kler Lah due to poor sanitation at the site.

"We were not happy to stay at the relocation site. It was very difficult for us to stay there. It was very crowded with people; they had to eat, urinate, and shit there. It was too difficult. No one wants to stay there. They would force us to go for loh ah pay; we couldn't stay without going. If we didn't go they would come and threaten us. The people were afraid, so they had to go very often. The Burmese would threaten us, force us to work, and revile us, so we were afraid and fled back to our place and stayed in the jungle."

"Saw Soe Tint" (M, 60), internally displaced villager from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #174, 3/02)

"They [SPDC] didn't look after us. We had to buy everything. They allowed us to build our houses, but we had to cut the wood and the bamboo. This caused problems for the other villagers."

"Naw Da" (F, 43), internally displaced villager from K– village, Than Daung township (Interview #179, 3/02)

"There were a lot of problems. We had to build our house but we didn't have our own wood or bamboo. We had to go and cut other people's wood and bamboo. Some of the villagers understood, but some of the villagers did not understand and said bad things to us. It made us unhappy. When we first arrived there, it was not easy for us. We had to make our house with bamboo and the roof as well. It was very difficult during the raining season. When it was raining and there was also wind, we couldn't sleep. Sometimes we couldn't sleep at night; we had to sit there like that the whole night. We would get sick. During the first year when we went to stay [at the Kler Lah relocation site], about ten people died because they got sick; they were old people and children."

"Saw Doh" (M, 50), internally displaced villager from P– village, Than Daung township (Interview #177, 3/02)

"They allowed us [to build homes], but we had to cut the trees and bamboo of the people in Kler Lah, so the people from Kler Lah hated us. They [SPDC] are the people who have the power, so whatever they do, they do it with power. Even if we dare not to do something, we have to do it."

"Saw Zaw Oo" (M, 47), internally displaced villager from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #103, 3/02)

Many villagers arrive at the relocation sites with little or no food, only to find it very difficult to obtain any more. Having forced the villagers to move into areas where they can keep a close eye on them, the SPDC is reluctant to allow the villagers to return to their villages to tend their fields. Some relocation sites forbid the villagers from returning to their fields at all; while others allow them to return, albeit for brief periods of time and only in the possession of a travel pass, which they must pay for [see the 'Restrictions' section]. In many cases, the villagers are not able to clear a field at the relocation sites either. The overcrowding of the relocations sites usually means that most, if not all of the available arable land has already been taken, leaving no more land to cultivate. In order to then acquire any food, the villagers must buy rice from traders who bring it in from the plains in the west of the district. Villagers often pay for extra rice from the produce of their betel trees, cardamom bushes and other cash crops which they grow in small plots. Without access to their villages, villagers are unable to take care of their plots, harvest them and sell the produce to raise money with which to buy rice. The only other option for the villagers is to work as day labourers for other villagers in the relocation site. This gives them a small amount of money or some rice for the day, but the work is not regular and many families go hungry when no work is available.

"Since we have had to go and stay at the other village [relocation site], our villagers can't live well anymore. We can't cut enough bamboo to build our houses. We have to carry water, but we don't have enough water. We have to cook with firewood, [but they don't have enough firewood]. It causes problems for us. We have to buy rice to eat, but the price of rice is high."

"Saw Htoo Klih" (M, 48), forcibly relocated village head from K– village, Than Daung township (Interview #180, 3/02)

Some villages have been ordered to relocate several times; they relocate and are later allowed to return to the villages, only to be ordered to relocate again. A document obtained by a KHRG field researcher states that on July 27 2001, villagers from Peh Kaw Der, Maw Ko Der, and Der Doh were yet again ordered to relocate to Kler Lah. All three of these villages have been ordered to move numerous times in the past.

The relocation of villages in Toungoo District has not occurred as often in the past few years as in the past. This is in part due to an increase in the SPDC military presence and control. Many villagers, however, continue to flee from the relocation sites back into the forest when the conditions in the sites become intolerable and the rice runs out. When enough villagers have fled and the SPDC decides it is time, there will likely be another round of relocations.

"Including this time, my village has had to move four times. This time is the longest. This time we have stayed [in the relocation site] for over three years already. We could only come back and work in our village. I came back to repair part of my house. Some of the bamboo and the wood has rotted, so I must cut new ones and repair it. "

"Saw Po Htun" (M, 78), internally displaced former village head from P– village, Than Daung township (Interview #175, 3/02)

"We have had to relocate twice. ... The Burmese [soldiers] said that we had to relocate to Kler Lah. ... We all had to leave. ... After one year, we asked them [if they could return to the village] and we came back to stay. When we came back, the SPDC told us not to allow any battles to occur near the village, not to welcome the Karen resistance [KNU], and that if they [SPDC] chase the Karen resistance into our village, or if any battles occur in our village, we will have to relocate. If a battle occurs in xxxx [village], xxxx must relocate. If a battle occurs in Kler Lah, then Kler Lah must relocate. There was the sound of a landmine exploding close to Kler Lah, so Kler Lah was ordered to relocate. But [the villagers from] Kler Lah went to report the news to their Bo Choke [Major General] that the sound was close to xxxx, so xxxx had to relocate instead. Xxxx relocated and went to stay in Kler Lah for two years again. After two years they [SPDC] allowed us to come back and stay in our village. ... We relocated the second time in November 1998."

"Saw K'Baw" (M, 43), villager from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #16, 4/01)

Destruction of Property

"We planted cardamom. They burned them. They are demanding taxes; we don't have the money, but we must still pay it."

"Naw Paw Eh" (F, 22), villager from K– village, Tantabin township (Interview #81, 4/01)

Whenever the SPDC relocates a village, they generally burn it down so that the villagers cannot return and resettle in it.  Dozens of villages across Toungoo District have been destroyed for this reason.  A burned village leaves behind a lot of physical evidence, so rather than burning the villages after relocating its inhabitants, the SPDC now appears to be favouring leaving the jungle to do the work for them.  The bamboo in time rots, which if left untended for long enough, renders the house uninhabitable.  The village then appears as though it has simply been abandoned, leaving no evidence which points to the SPDC.  Some battalions have planted landmines in villages as a deterrent to keep the villagers from returning while the jungle slowly reclaims the village.  The fear of stepping on a mine that may be planted in their village keeps most villagers away.  Other villagers have had their houses destroyed, food eaten and belongings looted even though their village is technically a Nyein Chan Yay village.  At Kaw Thay Der village in Tantabin township, SPDC soldiers of LIB #117 came to the village on January 27 2004.  They destroyed 48 houses in the village and then looted the villagers' food and belongings.  Even the villagers' cats were killed and eaten and their skulls left in the villagers' houses.  The soldiers also shat in the villagers' houses.  When the soldiers left they threatened the villagers to not tell anyone about what they had done.

"They did not give them any time [notice]. They sent seven families each day until they had finished sending everyone. Before they had finished sending all of the villagers, they burned four houses. After they had finished [relocating everyone], they burned it all. All of their belongings were lost. They relocated the villagers and they did not have enough time to look after their houses or [to gather] any of their things. Everything was destroyed."

"Saw Mu Wah" (M, ?), forcibly relocated villager from S– village, Tantabin township (Interview #76, 10/00)

The SPDC is destroying the fields and plantations of the Nyein Chan Yay villagers. Villagers who already find it difficult to find enough time to work in their fields have told KHRG that SPDC troops have come through and burned their fields or torched their cardamom or betelnut plantations. During the betelnut harvest in December 2000, and also in the cardamom harvest in March 2001, soldiers from IB #26 stole some of the harvest from villagers living in Tantabin township so that they could sell the crop at the markets in Toungoo and keep the profits for themselves. Then the soldiers came back and burned the cardamom and betelnut plantations. In March 2004, SPDC troops from IB #124 burned down 10 cardamom plantations in Naw Thay Der and Der Doh villages. The destruction of the plantation s means that the villagers will not be able to buy any rice to make up for shortfalls in their rice harvest caused by not having enough time to work their fields.

"When they [IB #124] came here, they cut and destroyed many plantations belonging to the villagers. In particular, they destroyed many cardamom plantations. There were about twenty people's plantations [which were destroyed]."

"Saw Pee Ghaw" (M, 48), villager from K– village, Than Daung township (Interview #157, 2/02)

"They [IB #26] demanded the villagers' cardamom so that they could sell it in town [Toungoo]. Then they burned the cardamom plantations. When it was the betelnut harvest [December], they demanded the people's betelnut and burned their betelnut plantations."

"Naw Paw Eh" (F, 18), villager from K– village, Tantabin township (Interview #81, 4/01)

In April 2002, IB's #26, #48, #53, and #73 began work on burning back the brush flanking the car road between Pa Leh Wah and Bu Sah K ee [see Map 3] in order to clear a killing zone along its length. Being at the height of summer, the fire rapidly burned out of control, destroying vast tracts of land. A wide swath of destruction was left in the fire's wake. On the southern side of the road, the forest fire continued to burn until it reached the banks of the Yaw Loh River. This area contained many plantations, many of which were destroyed. A KHRG field researcher estimated that over 2,000 acres (810 hectares) of land were destroyed in the blaze. An estimated 250 viss (408 kgs. / 900 lbs.) of cardamom was destroyed in Kaw So Ko village alone. This quantity of cardamom would have been valued at approximately 750,000 Kyat. This estimate is for the cardamom harvest alone; the value of the betelnut, dog fruit, mangosteen, and durian plantations that were also destroyed in the fire were not included in these estimates. The values of the durian and mangosteen harvests would likely have been higher as both of these crops fetch higher prices in the markets than does cardamom. It is difficult to ascertain whether this fire was allowed to burn out of control deliberately, or if it genuinely was an accident. Either way, this provides little consolation to the villagers who lost what was most likely their primary, if not only source of income. Cardamom trees are slow to regenerate and do not bear fruit for up to four years following a fire. No compensation was paid to the villagers for the destroyed plantations. These villagers are now left without any income until such time when whatever surviving trees are able to become productive again. Without the money that the sale of these crops would have brought the villagers, they are left without the cash to buy rice and pay the regular system of fees imposed upon them. On March 13 2004, SPDC soldiers from IB #124 set fire to the forest along the Toungoo-Mawchi road in the area of Klay Soe Kee, Gher Mu Der, Ko Day and Tha Aye Hta villages. Again many of the villagers' plantations were burned and destroyed.

"This year, the army came and burned [the vegetation growing] beside the car road from Pa Leh Wah to Kler Lah, Kaw So Ko, and Bu Sah Kee. There were many plantations that were ruined. The commander who ordered this was Strategic Operations Command #3 Operations Commander Captain Thet Oo. He ordered many battalions to go and burn it. They started on April 4 [2002]. They burn like this every year, but it has not been as bad as this year. Other years there were only a few people [soldiers] who came to burn it, but this year all of the battalions who are under the control of the Operations Command, such as IB #48, IB #53, IB #73, and IB #26 came to burn [beside the road]. The people couldn't put the fire out and a lot of villagers' plantations were burned. There was 250 viss [408 kgs. / 900 lbs.] of cardamom burned in Kaw So Ko village. In that area, the price of cardamom for one viss [1.6 kgs. / 3.6 lbs.] is 3,000 Kyat, so they lost a lot. All of the cardamom that was burned would have been worth 750,000 Kyat. That was only the cardamom; it does not include the durian and mangosteen. Durian and mangosteen are both more expensive than cardamom. I would guess that there were over 2,000 acres [of plantations] which were burned. It was all burned all the way to Bu Sah Kee. The people couldn't stop the fires anymore and it became a forest fire. It burned until it reached the Yaw Loh River."

"Saw Htoo Say" (M, 38), KHRG field researcher (Interview #3, 8/02)

"During summer [March-April 2002], they [SPDC] burned people's plantations. They burned my plantation. It [usually] yields 30 viss [49 kgs. / 108 lbs.] of cardamom. Now it won't be able to yield again for another two or three years."

"Saw Htay Mu" (M, 34), villager from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #66, 7/02)

"This year they destroyed many plantations. They burned cardamom plantations, betelnut plantations, and some plantations of vegetables. They did this in many places. The cardamom plantations that they destroyed won't be able to yield again for another four years. The cardamom farmers are now faced with a food shortage. They have to starve."

"Naw Hsa Maw" (F, 48), villager from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #67, 7/02)

On April 9 2002, five days after the start of the blaze, the Myawaddy Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC) issued the order document shown below, demanding money and goods to be 'donated' to "the fire refugees in Pya Sakan village". Pya Sakan is located some distance from where local sources state the fire occurred [see Map 3 ] , and no mention is made of any of the villages along the stretch of road between Pa Leh Wah and Bu Sah Kee where the fire actually took place. Pya Sakan is a Nyein Chan Yay village under heavy SPDC control and home to the SPDC-allied 'Peace Group' [refer to 'Peace Groups and the People's Militia' ], but it is unlikely that this marginalised group had any involvement with this order. It is more likely that this order was simply another excuse for extracting money from the already impoverished villagers, with none of it ever being distributed to any of the 69 alleged fire refugees. Myawaddy township, corresponds roughly to south-eastern Pa'an District [see Map 2] , lying approximately 300 kil ometres (180 miles) south-east of Pya Sakan. It is highly improbable that little, if any, of this money was ever even sent to Pya Sakan.

Restrictions

"When we go [to our hill fields], we must get a letter of recommendation. If we don't get a letter of recommendation, they will accuse us of being bad people [helping the resistance]. They say silly things. Whenever we go out to get food, we have to have a letter of recommendation. If we go out without a letter of recommendation when they [SPDC] come here, they will force us to follow them for a very long way [forced to be porters]. They would not release us. We have to get a letter of recommendation. When we are looking for food without a letter of recommendation, they arrest us, they beat us and sometimes they kill us."

"Saw Thay Myo" (M, 48), villager from Y– village, Tantabin township (Interview #80, 4/01)

The SPDC keeps the villagers who live in the Nyein Chan Yay villages in check by enforcing a wide range of authoritarian restrictions upon them. All of these restrictions are imposed by the SPDC in order to make it difficult for the villagers to have any contact with the resistance, regardless of whether they have any intention to do so or not.

Movement into and out of villages in the SPDC controlled areas is heavily regimented. Should Nyein Chan Yay villagers wish to travel outside of their village, they must be in possession of a travel pass, or a 'letter of recommendation'. These passes are issued by the village head who has been given a stamp by the local Army camp. The costs of the letters of recommendation are sometimes set by the local military unit and sometimes by the village head. If the village head sets the cost, then the money is usually used within the village, often to cover costs for things like giving pork to the Army camp. The limits to the amount of time granted for each pass are set by the local military unit. The fees demanded for these letters of recommendation vary widely from village to village. Some villagers have reported paying only 20 Kyat for a letter of recommendation, while others claim to have paid as much as 200 Kyat; though the standard rate for most areas in Toungoo District seems to be around 50 Kyat. A village may find that it enjoys relative freedom one month; only to have those freedoms abolished the next, when the battalions rotate and the new battalion sets its own rules for the letters of recommendation.

Letters of recommendation issued in some villages only authorise the villager to be away from the relocation site during the hours of daylight; a villager is not permitted to leave before 6 a.m. and must return by 6 p.m. the same day. This is a significant problem for those villagers residing in relocation sites whose fields are some distance away from the relocation site. Some of these villagers must walk for two or three hours to and from their fields, leaving only a few hours in which they can tend to their crops. Furthermore, by not being permitted to spend the night in their fields they are unable to watch over their crops and scare away any wild animals. The villagers need to spend much of their time in the fields to protect their crops from wild animals and insects as the paddy ripens. By not being permitted to do so much of their crop is then lost after being eaten or destroyed by the animals.

"We have to get a letter of recommendation. If we don't get a letter of recommendation we don't dare to go out [of the village]. We only dare to go when we get a letter of recommendation."

"Saw Maw Shwe" (M, 39), village head from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #14, 4/01)

"When the villagers go to their betelnut plantations or their hill fields, they have to get a letter of recommendation. If they don't get a letter of recommendation and they [SPDC] see them, they say that they are going to take action [against them]. They can go out at six o'clock in the morning and they have to arrive back at six o'clock in the evening."

"Naw Hser Lay" (F, 52) villager from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #15, 4/01)

Other villagers have spoken of being able to obtain letters of recommendation which allow them to be away from their village for up to one week. Upon expiry, the villagers must return to the village where they can renew the pass and then return to their fields. In mid-2004, SPDC units in the plains of western Tantabin township ordered the villagers in Pyin Gan and Taw Ma Inn villages to get two recommendation letters a week. Each letter cost 200 Kyat. Villages in the Shan See Boh area, also in the plains, were ordered by IB #60 to get one recommendation letter per week at 100 Kyat each. Remaining away from the village after the expiry of the letter of recommendation can lead to serious repercussions; in which case arrests and beatings usually ensue. However, not all Nyein Chan Yay villages are able to obtain a letter of recommendation that allows them to travel outside the confines of their village. Those who find themselves in this situation must either remain in the village without any food or attempt to sneak out. The risks of doing this are high as the penalties of being caught by the SPDC are severe. Villagers without passes may be accused of helping the resistance, arrested and tortured, and sometimes summarily executed. In mid-2004, IB #92 decreed that all the villagers to the north of the Day Loh River were not to cross to the south side of the river. They did not want the villagers to stay in Swa Loh, Bo Daing or Tha Yay Bah villages which have been relocated. The villagers were told that if the soldiers saw any villagers, they would all be shot dead, and if the soldiers saw any boats travelling on the river, they would also shoot the boat drivers dead.

"We have to get a letter of recommendation. We have to get a letter of recommendation for one week. When it is finished after one week, we have to get another letter. They demand fifty Kyat for one letter of recommendation. We have to go back after the letter of recommendation is finished. If we don't get a letter of recommendation, when they see us on the way, they take us back [they are arrested]. They call us back to the village and then we have to go and porter loads to Naw Soe and Bu Sah Kee."

"Saw K'Baw" (M, 43), villager from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #16, 4/01)

"He saw me and asked me about my letter of recommendation. My letter of recommendation was overdue by two days. I was sick and couldn't go back [to the village]. He hit me six times with a cane. He also hit my son."

"Saw Kler Paw" (M, 38), villager from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #98, 3/01)

"I was the village head in the past [in October, 2000] when they came to Y–. I had to go and meet them and they told me, 'The villagers must get a pass if they want to go somewhere. If we see the people travelling without a pass we will treat them as our enemies. If we see them like that, we will kill them.' I told him, 'Sometimes our villagers do not have a pass, but they are really our villagers.' They didn't agree with me."

"Saw Bway Htoo" (M, 32), former village head from Y– village, Tantabin township (Interview #91, 1/02)

"When we stayed at the relocation site, the SPDC didn't give us any rights. They wouldn't allow us to come back and work. The enemy [SPDC] wouldn't allow us to come back home, but we couldn't find any food, so we had to come back secretly. Some people could stay, but we didn't have any food, so we couldn't stay there [within the relocation site] any longer. If the enemies [SPDC] saw us when we fled back [into the jungle], they would have hit us. We had to stay as quietly as we could. They would told us, 'Don't go back [to the village]. If you go back, you will meet the rebels and you might feed them. None of you can go back. If you go back, we will kill all of you'."

"Saw Soe Tint" (M, 60), internally displaced villager from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #174, 3/02)

Villagers living close to Than Daung Gyi must report to IB #124 at the Bayinnaung Army camp in Than Daung Gyi for their letters of recommendation. While these passes allow the villagers to remain away from the village for one week, they stipulate that they are only permitted to take two bowls (2.5 kgs. / 7 lbs.) of rice with them for that period. This small amount of rice would only last a villager for half of that period, forcing the villagers to return to the village at least once during the week so that they can get more rice before returning to the fields. The SPDC believes that should a villager take more rice than this, they are giving it to the KNU/KNLA.

This warning sign written in Burmese was placed beside a path leading to plantations just outside the Kler Lah relocation site. It reads, 'Do not cut the trees. There are landmines.' Since the SPDC installed this sign, many villagers have not dared to travel to their plantations for fear of stepping on one of the mines. [KHRG]

"If we don't have the recommendation card, they will create big problems for us. We have to go and get the recommendation card from Than Daung Gyi. They give us one week, [after that] we have to get a new one. On the recommendation card they only allow us to take two bowls [2.5 kgs. / 7 lbs.] of rice, so we have to go back and buy rice twice a week."

"Saw La Bo" (M, 46), internally displaced villager from xxxx village, Than Daung township Interview #131, 11/02)

The villagers need to go to their fields to tend their crops so that they will have enough food to see them through until the next harvest. By not being allowed to return to their fields and plantations, or by not being able to harvest all of their crops in the brief time that some of them are permitted, many villagers must supplement their rice supply by buying rice from traders who bring rice up from the plains. The shipment of rice from the plains is fundamentally controlled by the SPDC, who can close the roads into the hills and not allow the rice shipments to pass through the many checkpoints along those roads. Through their control of the roads, the SPDC can effectively halt the flow of rice into the hills, which then leaves the villagers, who are dependant upon those deliveries, with almost nothing to eat when their rice runs out. Even when rice is brought up to the markets in the larger villages and towns in the hills, villagers cannot buy the rice unless they have been granted permission to do so. This permission comes in the form of yet another permit that the villagers must buy from the SPDC's authorities. A KHRG field researcher maintains that these rice permits can cost as much as 10,000 Kyat each, depending on the amount of rice that a villager wishes to buy. Some villagers grow cash crops to sell so that they can get enough money to buy more rice or other foodstuffs to supplement their diet, or to pay the various forced labour and extortion fees.

"Now they block us from buying food and rice; they do not allow us to buy it. They do not allow the trucks to come and carry the rice to the hill area [from the plains]."

"Saw Ghee Soe" (M, 35), villager from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #54, 4/02)

"Sometimes when our rice is gone and when we want to buy some more, they block the road and don't allow people [from the plains] to sell their rice. They don't allow us to buy rice because they don't give us permission. We can't buy rice if they don't give us permission."

"Naw Po Ka Bla" (F, 40), villager from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #68, 7/02)

"The villagers who live in Kler Lah have to get a permit to buy rice. They can only buy as much rice as they are allowed. The amount depends on the SPDC; if they like the people, then they will give them a pass, and if they don't like the people, then they won't give them a pass. The passes are very expensive; they cost about 10,000 Kyat. It depends upon the amount of rice that people want to buy. Even if they have a rice permit, when they come back on the path, they have to pay [bribes] at the checkpoints on the way."

"Saw Ku Lu" (M, 26), KHRG field researcher (Interview #4, 8/03)

Many villagers are limited in the amount of rice that they are allowed to buy. Villagers who go to buy their rice in Than Daung Gyi are only permitted to purchase four bowls (6.3 kgs. / 14 lbs.) of rice at any one time. Some of them have claimed that upon returning to their village, they are then forced to store their rice at the local Army camp who then return it to them in a ration of only two milk tins (390 grams / 14 ozs.) of rice per person per day. Any rice left over at the end of the week is then eaten by the soldiers. This re-rationing of the rice after the villagers have already paid for it results in each person receiving only about half as much rice as is necessary for an adult living in the hills to eat. This amount of rice is not sufficient enough to provide them with adequate calories to satisfy the rigours of life in the hills. This proves to be quite a problem, especially for those villagers who must travel any distance in order to buy rice, as they must repeat the journey again in as little as three or four days as their rice supply runs out. For some villagers it takes an entire day or longer to complete the round trip, so they barely arrive home before having to leave again [see also 'Food Security' ] .

"If we go to buy rice from Than Daung Gyi, they only allow us to take four bowls [6.5 kgs. / 14 lbs.] of rice. When we bring it back to them [to the Army camp], they restrict us; they give us only two milk tins [390 grams / 14 ozs.] of rice [per person] per day. We are the people from the mountains, two milk tins are not enough for us; some people eat four or five milk tins [per day]. They give us only ten [sic: fourteen] milk tins of rice per week; they take the rest of the rice to Kyo Ta Tan Army camp."

"Saw Ler Kee" (M, 35), internally displaced villager from P– village, Than Daung township (Interview #187, 11/02)

Medicines also have restrictions placed upon them. Special permission must be sought before attempting to buy any medications in much the same way as when buying rice. The logic is the same as that for the restrictions on rice: the SPDC believes that any medicine that the villagers buy will be given to the KNU. The prohibitions placed on medications have serious implications on the health of those living in Nyein Chan Yay villages. Many villagers suffering from serious, but treatable, illnesses die because they are unable to purchase the medications to treat themselves [see 'Health and Education' later in this section] . Villagers who are unable to buy medicines must rely on traditional cures made from roots and vegetable found in the forest.

"In our village, the villagers are faced with a problem when they want to buy medicine or rice. We must ask for permission from them [SPDC]. They control us and restrict us in many ways."

"Thra Po Lah" (M, 38), pastor from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #69, 7/02)

"When we want to buy things, we can only buy them if they [SPDC] allow us. If we want to buy a sack of rice, we have to pay them 300 to 400 Kyat and they will then allow us to buy it. Now they do not let us carry medicine. Whatever we carry, we carry only because they have allowed us; especially rice and medicine _ we can't carry them if we don't get permission."

"Saw Ba Aye" (M, 47), pastor from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #55, 4/02)

Prohibitions have also been imposed on the possession of batteries. The majority of villagers buy batteries for use in torchlights or for the few who have small transistor radios. The SPDC has prohibited them from buying batteries because they believe that the villagers may then give them to the KNLA soldiers who will in turn use them in their walkie-talkies or in the detonators of their homemade landmines. Villagers caught carrying batteries have been arrested by SPDC soldiers and beaten.

"We have to buy batteries and use torchlights so we can travel in the night time. When we [started] doing this, they stopped us buying batteries. We don't have any light anymore. We don't even have any kerosene or any candles. The situation isn't good for us. We can only walk in the day time, we can't walk in the night time."

"Saw Y'Gaw Ko" (M, 35), village head from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #132, 12/02)

Karen villagers in the hills have traditionally kept musket-like percussion lock firearms that they have used to protect their crops from wild animals and to hunt small game to supplement their diets. However, the Than Daung Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC) prohibited the villagers from keeping these weapons in 2000. Those villagers who were known to be in possession of these weapons had them confiscated and their names recorded. These weapons have almost no military value whatsoever, but the SPDC seems to think that villages holding these weapons may try to take a shot at the soldiers. Some villagers in other parts of the district have been allowed to retain these weapons if they register them and pay a regular monthly registration fee [see 'Other Fees' in ' Fees, Extortion and Looting' ].

"The Ma Ya Ka [Township Peace and Development Council] chairpersons have declared it illegal to have Tu Mi Thay Na [percussion lock firearms] under the law for keeping weapons. It is part of the culture of the villagers to have Tu Mi Thay Na to shoot wild animals for the protection of their crops. They have ordered each Village Tract Peace and Development Council and Village Peace and Development Council chairperson to carry out this order. They do not allow the village tracts to have Tu Mi Thay Na or gunpowder. Anyone who has them will have action taken against them according to the law. The names of the villagers who have Tu Mi Thay Na or gunpowder were registered and given to the Township Peace and Development Council on July 25, 2000."

Field report from an anonymous Karen villager, Than Daung township (FR2, 7/00)

"They took my two Shay Toe [musket-like percussion lock firearms]; those two guns would have been worth 30,000 Kyat."

"Saw Ti Ki'Daw" (M, 55), internally displaced villager from B– village, Than Daung township (Interview #154, 1/02)

Forced Labour

"The SPDC forced one of the villagers to carry their things. He had to carry their rice, fishpaste, and other things. He had to carry about 30 viss [49 kgs. / 108 lbs.]. They forced him to carry a very heavy load. Even though he couldn't carry it, he had to. As they ate, it became a little lighter, but then they would put more in. When he arrived home he was sick. He fell very hard so he had to go to Taw Oo for treatment. He had to go on January 27 th 2002, and didn't come back until February 9 th . ... Some of the villagers who have to go with the SPDC catch colds and are sick when they come back. There is no medicine and they don't have any money to go and buy medicine. "

"Saw Hser Paw" (M, 25), forcibly relocated village head from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #165, 3/02)

The omnipresent use of forced labour is arguably the most serious human rights violation taking place in Toungoo District. Almost every villager in villages under SPDC control who was interviewed by KHRG stated that they have had to go for forced labour. Villagers who must report for forced labour for the SPDC are unable to spend enough time in their fields and plantations. Villagers who must go as porters or are ordered to clear the brush from alongside the roads are also exposed to the threat of the many landmines planted throughout the region. The fear of having to go for forced labour has resulted in a system wherein large sums of money are extorted from the villagers who hope that by paying the money they will not have to go for the labour. The SPDC claims that the money is given to the porters and other forced labourers, but very little of it ever is [see 'Forced Labour Fees' in the 'Fees, Extortion and Looting' section] .

After years of pressure by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), on May 14th 1999, the SPDC released Order 1/99 banning some types of forced labour throughout the country. Forced labour continued, however, and the SPDC was told by the ILO to put a stop to it or there would be consequences. Due to a lack of progress on the part of the SPDC, in June 2000 the ILO voted to take measures in accordance with Article 33 of its Constitution. This article had never been applied to any country in the ILO's 84-year history. When nothing had changed after a six month grace period, the ILO enacted Article 33 stopping all technical cooperation with the SPDC and asking its member nations, trade unions and employers' organisations to review their relations with the Burmese regime to ensure that nothing they were doing would contribute to the continuation of forced labour. The SPDC then, at the last moment, claimed to have issued 'Supplementary Order to Order 1/99' on October 27 th 2000. This order supposedly imposed a broader ban on forced labour and prescribed punishment for anyone demanding it. The order was followed on November 1 st by a similar, and in some ways stronger, order issued by Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt, Secretary-1 of the SPDC. The SPDC claimed that every township, village tract and village head in the country had been told about the order, and that they could complain to the appropriate authorities if anyone demanded forced labour from them, and that person would be arrested. The ILO followed this up in 2001 by sending a High Level Team (HLT) to investigate whether the SPDC claims were true and whether this had done anything to reduce the amount of forced labour. The HLT determined in its report that while the orders had been distributed widely, they had not gone to every village and that forced labour was still ongoing [copies of the English language versions of the above orders may be found in "SPDC & DKBA Orders to Villages: Set 2003" (KHRG #2003-01, 22/8/2003)] .

Q: Have you ever heard about [Order] 1/99?
A: No, I have never heard [of that].

"Saw Luh Kyi" (M, 34), forcibly relocated village head from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #120, 3/02)

"The SPDC has proclaimed [Order] 1/99, and we showed it to them, but they didn't like this. They just keep using forced labour."

"Saw Pah Baw" (M, 48), village head from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #121, 3/02)

Villagers interviewed by KHRG indicated that forced labour did decrease prior to and during the HLT's visit, but then increased again afterward. Both villagers and KHRG researchers report that forced labour is now somewhat less than it was in past years, but they say that it is still at unacceptable levels [see "Forced Labour Orders Since the Ban: A Compendium of SPDC Order Documents Demanding Forced Labour Since November 2000" (KHRG #2002-01, 8/2/2002), and "SPDC and DKBA Orders to Villages: Set 2003-A" (KHRG #2003-01, 22/8/2003)] . Many village heads have also told KHRG researchers that they have not received a copy of any of the orders, some claim to have not even heard of it. Instead of halting the use of forced labour and punishing people for demanding it, the SPDC has been trying to cover it up. Written orders demanding forced labour are becoming increasingly uncommon. Many SPDC Army officers and authorities instead summon the village heads to meetings and dictate their demands verbally. Some SPDC officers call the villagers to 'discussions' to talk about the forced labour first before simply ordering the villagers to go and do it. Other SPDC officers have summoned villagers to meetings where they force the villagers to sign statements that they are contributing their labour voluntarily. It is understood by the village heads that if they do not sign the statement they are risking having their village relocated or some other retribution from the Army, as well as having to go for the forced labour anyway. For example, on July 15 th 2004, a company commander from IB #73 at Shan See Boh in Tantabin township ordered the villagers from Shan See Boh, Yay Shan, Taw Gone and Zee Pyu Gone to go to a meeting the next day at Shan See Boh. The villagers were ordered at the meeting to build a camp for the soldiers at Tha Ya Wa. The villagers had to build the soldiers' barracks and a warehouse. On the next day, the villagers had to go again to continue building the camp and to make three fences in concentric circles around the camp. They were also ordered to clear the brush from around the camp.

"We have heard about [Order] 1/99, and we thought that when they now come to our area they would be better, but it is not like that. Now when they come to stay at the frontline, they force us to work as their commander demands them to."

"Saw Htun Aye" (M, 40), forcibly relocated villager from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #50, 3/02)

"In the past, they said that they would deal with the villagers nicely and that they wouldn't force the villagers [to do things for them]. But they are doing just that and they are forcing the villagers, and demanding porter fees."

"Saw Htoo Kwee" (M, 47), village head from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #13, 4/01)

"We have had to carry their loads all the time, but beginning in 2001 they have reduced how often they demand the porters to carry the loads. Before they demanded 10,000 to 12,000 [Kyat] each month [in porter fees], but from the beginning of July or August, they have reduced it a little."

"Saw Way K'Lu Say" (M, 50), village head from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #38, 1/02)

"Before, it [the amount of forced labour] was worse, but beginning in August or September [2001] it has been reduced a little bit."

"Saw Baw Koh" (M, 30), village head from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #45, 1/02)

"Before, there was IB #92, and then there was IB #73. After that IB #73 left and IB #92 came back again. The first time when they came they were very bad, but later when they came again they reduced it a little because they were restricted. It is a little better because of this restriction. Before they did as they wanted."

"Saw Maw Htoo" (M, 46), village tract head, xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #32, 7/01)

"They are afraid of Order 1/99 regarding forced labour so they use the soft way and say, 'Before we force you, we have to discuss it with you first.' They don't use as much forced labour [now] and before they force us they hold a discussion. It is not possible for us [not to go for portering] because we live in the frontline area so we have to deal with people from the left arm and the right arm [both the SPDC and the KNU]. If we don't help them we will be faced with a problem. They are the armed forces so killing is not difficult for them."

"Saw Bo Kee" (M, 50), village head from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #75, 7/02)

"In 2001 and 2002, the SPDC commanders summoned the village heads to a meeting where they forced the village heads to sign [a document] saying that the SPDC did not force the villagers to do portering and loh ah pay, but really they use forced labour. They did that in case they had to deny it. The village heads are afraid of them so they had to sign it. The SPDC tells the villagers in the Kaw Thay Der area not to say that the SPDC forces them to do labour. The villagers have to say that they are volunteers."

"Saw Ku Lu" (M, 26), KHRG field researcher (Interview #4, 8/03)

Another tactic which the SPDC is using is to redefine the terms used for forced labour. This has been done to put a better 'face' on the forced labour and make it appear better internationally. Successive Burmese regimes have used the state-controlled media to present the labour of the villagers as completely voluntary and performed out of their love for the country. To get this across, the old Pali term, loh ah pay , is often used. This term is normally used when talking about the traditional voluntary labour that villagers perform to gain merit, typically by maintaining the temple or clearing the path to the next village. Burmese regimes, however, have used the term when demanding labour at Army camps and for other short-term forced labour, so this is what it has also come to mean for villagers, although the labour is never voluntary. Long-term or heavier forced labour such as portering or road-building was never referred to as loh ah pay by the villagers, but in the past couple of years SPDC soldiers have been using the term when ordering villagers to go for portering. This has had the effect of confusing the issue and the SPDC hopes making portering sound 'nicer' to foreigners. It is also a way of tricking the villagers to go as porters when they thought that they were going to do easier work in the Army camp.

"Before, we had to go regularly. Five people had to go each month. Sometimes they would demand that eight or nine people go. Now they don't tell us to go and porter anymore. They tell us to go and do loh ah pay. We still have to go for that [portering].  It is not any different, we still have to carry just the same.  It is not any different; they just call it by a different name."

"Saw Doh" (M, 50), forcibly relocated villager from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #177, 3/02)

Portering

"Their [the SPDC's] behaviour is not like ours. They think that they have a lot of power. Whenever they come here, they oppress every vi llage. When they speak to us, their faces are not good. The SPDC has more power than the villagers. They want to oppress the civilians. When they see people, they force them to go to Bu Sah Kee or Naw Soe; they force the people to work. If we do not go, they go and arrest people to go and porter. They arrest the people at midnight. Some of those people have to go for a month. Some of them come back sick, and some of them die. Some of them who are lucky can go back to their village, and some of them who are not lucky die on the way."

"Saw Hser Paw" (M, 25), forcibly relocated village head from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #165, 3/02)

In the mountains of Toungoo District where roads are rare, and the ones that do exist are only usable in the dry season, thousands of porters are used by the SPDC to keep its camps supplied and to carry supplies for its operational columns. Most of the porters are demanded through written orders sent out by officers at Army camps or at meetings organised by SPDC officers. Porters demanded in this way are most often for the specific purpose of carrying rations and other supplies to the various camps along the roads or to camps up in the hills. The monthly or bimonthly rations are brought up as far as the Army camps at Kler Lah, Kaw Thay Der or Than Daung Gyi by truck. The rations are then put into baskets and villagers are forced to carry them to the camps. In the dry season, the trucks may go as far as Bu Sah Kee on the Kler Lah-Bu Sah Kee road or to the border with Karenni State on the Kler Lah-Mawchi road, but villagers are still forced to go with the trucks to load and unload them. In the rainy season the SPDC Army relies almost entirely on villagers carrying its supplies on their backs. Resupplying the camps often requires large numbers of porters. Sometimes as many as one hundred or more villagers are forced to carry supplies down the Bu Sah Kee and Mawchi roads. The frequency at which the villagers are forced to porter loads for the SPDC makes it exceedingly difficult for many of them to tend to the daily needs of their families. While the majority of villages are required to send porters on an average of once a month, there are some villages that must go as often as two or three times a month. Many villagers have spoken of returning from portering one day, only to have to go again on the following day, and yet again a few days after that. There have been cases where villagers have returned home from an extended stint of portering only to find their families, dependant upon them for food, in poor health or in some cases, already dead.

"I have been to carry a load many times. There has not been less than twenty times. I have gone to carry a load everywhere to the east of the Khoh Loh [River]. If they came to a village, they would threaten the villagers and torture the villagers. I have seen them shoot some of the villagers dead, and sometimes if they could arrest people, they would wrap their heads [with a tarpaulin] and torture them by pouring water on them [on their heads]. Some of them [SPDC] would steal or destroy the people's things. If they were injured or if their porters were injured, they would force the people [villagers] to carry the victim and swear at and hit those people with a stick. All of these things stick in my brain. I can never forget about these things. "

"Saw Moo" (M, 60), pastor from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #71, 7/02)

"In the beginning of 2002, the Deputy Battalion Commander of Infantry Battalion #264, Min Thaw, told us [to go and porter] for the first time [that year] on March 10 th 2002. We had to carry our loads to Tha Aye Hta. On the 11 th of March 2002, they told us to go and carry to Tha Aye Hta again. There were eighteen people who had to go and carry. Also on March 12 th 2002, they told us to carry to Tha Aye Hta. There were eleven people who had to carry. On March 14 th 2002, they told us to go and carry to Tha Aye Hta again. They demanded six people from xxxx [village]. On March 15 th 2002, they told us to go and carry to Tha Aye Hta again. [This time] there were twelve people who had to go and carry. Then on April 8 th 2002, they told the xxxx villagers to go and cut the bushes [from beside the road] between Kaw Thay Der and Klay Soe Kee. There were 25 people who had to go."

"Saw Ka Neh" (M, 46), village head from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #61, 4/02)

"We have to go [as porters] two or three times per month. Sometimes they demand five or six people and sometimes two or three people. We always have to go. I had to go and carry in July [2002]. I had to go on the 17 th , on the 19 th , and on the 20 th ."

"Saw Maung" (M, 26), villager from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #135, 12/02)

"I had to go and carry a load on March 12 th , 2002 and again on March 18 th , 2002. I had to carry their rice; it weighed about 15 viss [25 kgs. / 54 lbs.]. We had to carry our own food. There were 175 people who had to go. "

"Saw Eh K aw Htoo" (M, 25), villager from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #74, 7/02)

"On March 18 th 2002, I had to carry a load from Kler Lah to Naw Soe. They forced us to carry their rice. They wanted everybody [from the village] to go, but we only went if we could. In fact, they wanted everyone in the house to go. If there were two people in the house, then those two people had to go; if there were three people in the house, then all three people had to go. After I came back from carrying the load for the SPDC, I saw that my family faced a food problem. They were sick and moaning on the bed."

"Saw Ghee Soe" (M, 35), villager from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #54, 4/02)

"I do not know how many times I have had to carry over the last two years. I have had to carry all year, including during the rainy season."

"Naw Than Wah" (F, 38), villager from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #9, 11/00)

"In 2000 we had to go and carry many times. [In 2001] we had to carry about four or five times. In 2002 we haven't had to go and carry yet. ... Sometimes we had to walk in the dark, so sometimes we laughed and sometimes we cried."

"Naw Si Si Paw" (F, 65), villager from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #99, 1/02)

In Kler Lah village tract (which includes Kler Lah village, a relocation site around it and several villages) there has developed a system wherein porter fees are paid to the village tract authorities to hire people to go for portering and other forced labour in place of the villagers demanded by the Army. The Army issues demands to the Kler Lah Village Tract Peace and Development Council (PDC) every month stipulating how many villagers they need to go for portering and other forms of forced labour. The village tract authorities are then given the task of recruiting villagers for the work. The village tract authorities, however, know that the villagers do not want to go and will be slow in complying, so they pay labour agents in Toungoo town to provide people to fill the demands. The Village Tract PDC then sends out monthly orders to the villages to pay their share of the costs [see Order #22 in Appendix C]. Although no one asks how the labour agents get these people, interviews by KHRG in the past have indicated that while some may be itinerant labourers, others are travellers who have been 'shanghaied' or young men who have been promised jobs and are then handed over to the police or the Army for money. The Village Tract PDC officials are not above inflating the fees to enrich themselves. The village heads then divide the amount of money assigned to them among the households in the village. Villagers who are unable to pay the fees, must go themselves. Other villages outside Kler Lah village tract are not a part of this system, although many of them also try to hire itinerant labourers to go in their place. This allows the villagers to avoid the dangers associated with portering and to spend more time in their fields and hopefully produce more food for their families. The labourers that the villagers hire are commonly Burmese civilians from the larger villages and towns such as Toungoo and Zayatkyi in the west of the district. The price for hiring these labourers, like everything else in Toungoo District, is increasing. The costs associated with this are approaching the point where the villagers will no longer be able to afford hiring itinerant labourers, at which time the villagers must go themselves and porter.

"They called for porters, but we did not dare to go. We had to hire [the labourers to go in our place], but they [the villagers] couldn't pay the money. This is a heavy thing [problem] for the village head. We hired the people, but afterwards, they [hired labourers] came back to ask for their money. It is difficult. We don't know what we are going to do in the future."

"Saw Htoo Kwee" (M, 47), village head from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #13, 4/01)

"If we couldn't go [for portering], we would have to hire people. Before, we had to pay 5,000 Kyat, but now we have to pay 7,000 Kyat."

"Saw Hser Moo" (M, 29), internally displaced villager from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #51, 3/02)

"This year, in 2002, the SPDC told us that they weren't going to tell us to go and porter anymore, but they only say that. They still force us to work. They still order us. If we don't go, they say that we must either hire people [to go in their place] or give them money. They demand money from us like that. They said that we have to help them, and if we don't help them, they will not allow us to work in our own place [fields and plantations] anymore."

"Saw No Poh" (M, 49), village head from M– village, Than Daung township (Interview #159, 3/02)

Villagers who must go to carry rations or other supplies to the various Army camps usually have to go for one or two days. Village heads send villagers to go as porters by rotation so that the labour is spread throughout the village. They are usually expected to bring their own food for this period. It is usually men who go as porters, but sometimes when a husband is not free, his wife will have to go. In smaller villages the elderly and children also have to go because there are not enough people to make up the rotation. Women are less likely to be beaten by the soldiers while portering, but there is the serious risk of rape if the portering lasts for longer than a day. When women must go as porters they must also make a decision as to whether to take their children along or to leave them at home where they may go hungry. Some women have been forced to go while being pregnant or to leave children behind who are still breast feeding. Elderly villagers as old as seventy years of age have also been taken as porters by the SPDC.

"They forced us on the 15 th [of July, 2002]. They told everyone to go. There are only nine families and we all had to go. We have to go to Than Daung Gyi and come back; we have to go to Day Loh [Toh] and come back. Even if it is dark we have to go. We can't take a rest; we have to come back and go again. We don't even have time to eat rice. The two oldest people who had to go were both 70 years old. The youngest person was eight years old; the other [one] was nine years old."

"Saw A'Pay Wah" (M, 38), villager from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #129, 7/02)

"Even when you are fifty or sixty years old you must still carry. If we say that we can't carry, the SPDC threatens us. I am old, but they still demand that I must carry a load for them. My health is not so good now."

"Naw Mu Ko" (F, 60), forcibly relocated villager from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #8, 11/00)

Q:"Have you ever seen any pregnant women who had to go and carry a load?"
A:"Yes, I have seen it once. It was in 1999."

"Saw Poh Law" (M, 36), villager from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #42, 1/02)

Children as young as eight, boys and girls, are forced to porter loads for the SPDC, especially along the Bu Sah Kee road. Most children are forced to carry loads of about 10 viss (16 kgs. / 36 lbs.). Some villagers, however, claim that they have seen children as young as 15 years old carry loads up to 20 viss (33 kgs. / 72 lbs.). It can take several days, especially in the rainy season, to walk to Bu Sah Kee. During that time, the children must endure the cold, insects, rain and poor food just as the adults do. Children are also not excepted when the porters are forced to walk in front of the soldiers as human minesweepers. Villagers have told KHRG researchers that they have seen children as young as twelve having to do this. Many SPDC officers do not want children as porters, but this is usually more because a child cannot carry as much as an adult than out of concern for the child's welfare. Most officers have to get somewhere by a certain time and do not care how it is done. When there are not enough able-bodied adults available, then children will do. Some parents are forced to send their children when they are already busy doing other forced labour, or have to spend the time in the fields.

"The youngest people [who were forced to porter] were about twelve or thirteen years old."

"Saw Poh Law" (M, 36), villager from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #42, 1/02)

"My son goes to porter; he is fifteen years old. He has to start at Kler Lah and then go to Naw Soe. He has to carry their rice; it weighs 20 viss [33 kgs. / 72 lbs.]."

"Naw Mu Ha" (F, 46), villager from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #62, 4/02)

"I am thirteen years old. I had to go and carry [a load] to Day Loh Toh. I had to carry a very heavy load. I had to carry one big tin of rice [13 kgs. / 28 lbs.]."

"Saw Peh Yah" (M, 13), villager from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #101, 1/02)

"[The youngest was] about thirteen or fourteen years old. When they forced them to carry [their loads], the children couldn't walk."

"Naw Wee Wee" (F, 51), villager from H– village, Tantabin township (Interview #79, 4/01)

"I had to go and carry a load on March 18 th 2002. They forced us to carry their rice. I had to carry ten viss [16 kgs. / 36 lbs.] of rice. The youngest person who had to carry a load was twelve years old. We began to carry our loads from Kler Lah [and took them] to Naw Soe [Army] camp. It took us three days to go there. We had to take our own food, and we couldn't sleep well because it was cold and the insects were biting us."

"Naw Meh Nay Say" (F, 17), villager from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #63, 4/02)

"On March 12 th 2002 I had to carry rice. They forced everyone in the village. It weighed ten viss [16 kgs. / 36 lbs.]. I had to carry it from Kler Lah to Naw Soe; it took me three days. We couldn't sleep well; the insects were biting us. When we were carrying the loads, the SPDC forced me to walk in the front [of the soldiers] where it is dangerous. I was not happy and I was crying. I have been to carry five times now. "

"Naw Kyi Koh" (F, 12), villager from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #64, 4/02)

"Some [of the porters] were as young as thirteen year old. My daughter is thirteen and she had to go. If there were not enough people, they would have to go and fill the [empty] places."

"Naw Than Wah" (F, 38), villager from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #9, 11/00)

When the SPDC wants porters the villagers have no choice but to send people. The SPDC uses the threat of relocation to guarantee that the villagers will comply [ see Order #3]. Villagers often say that they 'cannot stay without going' to porter, which means that their village will be relocated if they do not go. Other threats imply that the soldiers will come to the village and burn it down or shoot small arms or mortars into the village. Village heads are sent orders containing bullets, chillies or charcoal when demands for porters have gone unanswered. These symbolise that the soldiers will either shoot the villagers, make things 'hot', or burn down the village if the porters are not sent. While this does not happen often, it has happened often enough that villagers know it is a possibility.

"We have to go and porter regularly. They wrote a letter to us, but the people didn't dare to go. Then they wrote another letter and sent it with two chillies [symbolising that the SPDC will 'heat things up' if their demands are not met]. They said that if we didn't go to porter, they would not allow us to stay in xxxx [village] or Kler Lah; they would not allow us to go and buy food in Kler Lah. They told us that we would have to go and stay very far away. They threaten us with many things. They said that they would come and [plant] landmines in the village, around the village, and on the main path. We were very afraid, so we had to go and carry. We had to go and carry 30 sacks of rice. There were over 70 people who had to go and carry them from our village; even the children, women, and old people had to go. ... We have to go and carry two or three times per month. Last month [February, 2002] we had to go on the 19 th or the 20 th . Recently, we also had to go and carry on March 18 th [2002]."

"Saw Pa Thaw" (M, 30), villager from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #114, 3/02)

"We can't stay without going. We live under their control. If we don't go or if they have a problem we are afraid that they will make problems for us. We do not go willingly."

"Saw Dah Dah" (M, 68), forcibly relocated former village head from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #115, 3/02)

"There is no one who is willing to go and carry. We get tired when we have to go and carry. We have to go and carry even though we don't want to, because they overpower us. We can't stay [in the village] without going. We have to give them whatever they want."

"Saw Htun Aye" (M, 40), forcibly relocated villager from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #50, 3/02)

Civilians who own vehicles in some of the bigger villages and towns in Toungoo District, such as Kler Lah, New Than Daung, Than Daung Gyi and Leit Tho act as a taxi service by transporting people and goods along the roads in the area in their 2-ton trucks or pickup trucks. Many of these owners have formed 'vehicle associations' to better organise their services. In the dry season the SPDC often orders these vehicle associations to haul supplies to SPDC Army camps along the roads. The road to Bu Sah Kee is particularly treacherous and several trucks have overturned on the road, killing or injuring the driver and passengers. The SPDC rarely provides compensation for the owner/driver, the passengers, who are often villagers conscripted by the SPDC to load and unload the truck, or for the cost of repairs to the vehicle. On April 10 th and 14 th 2004, the SPDC Operations Commander at Kler Lah ordered the villagers' trucks to carry supplies for the Army to the camps along the Kler Lah-Bu Sah Kee road. On both dates trucks overturned along the way. One villager was injured and two were killed in these accidents. Some vehicle owners have had to haul things for the Army for two or three weeks at a time, during which time the owners received no income from their usual routes. Vehicle owners who do not comply with the demands of the SPDC risk having their driver's license or their vehicle permits taken away, effectively taking their livelihood away from them.

"I drive from xxxx to Kler Lah and Kaw Thay Der. On the way, I would often see trouble; sometimes IB #30 would requisition my car to carry soldiers from Pa Leh Wah to Kler Lah. ... I have had to use my car to carry for them sometimes from Kler Lah to Bu Sah Kee. They would make me take their rations for them. Yesterday I had to carry rations to Pa Leh Wah for them. ... Sometimes they would pay the fare, but most of the time they didn't."

"Saw Tha Say" (M, 59), villager from xxxx (Interview #11, 11/00)

"The Burmese Army from Kler Lah, Kaw Thay Der, 13 Miles camp, and Pya Sakan usually use the villagers' cars. They don't use their own cars. If they need a car, they use the villagers' cars. They demand one car for two weeks or three weeks. During the hot season when they repair the car road, they tell the cars to follow the bulldozer."

"Saw Eh Doh" (M, 25), KHRG field researcher (Interview #1, 2/01)

On occasion, the villagers are still forced to porter loads for the SPDC regardless of whether they have paid the fees or not. Regularly paying the fees allows the villagers to avoid the customary monthly portering, however, from time to time the SPDC calls the villagers to perform what they refer to as 'emergency' portering. This is basically ad hoc portering demanded by the SPDC as the situation commands. An example of this would be the villagers being ordered to carry a stated amount of rice to a local SPDC Army camp so as to create a stockpile prior to the commencement of the wet season. On December 20 th 2003, Operations Command #1, Southern Command, Commander Khin Maung Oo at Kler Lah ordered 200 villagers from Kler Lah, 70 from Kaw Soe Koh, 20 from Wa Tho Koh, 15 from Ler Koh, 20 from Maw Pa Der, 20 from Ku Plaw Der, 60 from Peh Kaw Der, 20 from Maw Ko Der, and 20 villagers from Der Doh to carry rations from Kler Lah to Tha Aye Hta and then to Pi Mu Koh. In all, 445 villagers had to porter along the Toungoo-Mawchi road on this occasion. In January 2004, IB #92 ordered villagers from five villages to carry rations from Ker Weh village to Ler Ghee Koh Der Kah village. On another occasion during January, the same battalion rounded up 75 villagers from two other villages and forced them to porter Army rations from Than Daung town to Kler Per Hti village. On April 19 th 2004, SPDC soldiers from LIB #439 ordered 25 men and 65 women from Klaw Mi Der village to carry rations from Pa Leh Wah village to Klaw Mi Der. The next day another 60 villagers from the same village were ordered to carry supplies along the same route.

"They demand 1,200 Kyat each month from each house for the porter fees. They are demanding but we still have to go [and carry their loads]. We have to send the porter fees to Kler Lah. If we do not pay, they said that they would move our village."

"Saw Su Wah Lay" (M, 40), villager from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #28, 7/01)

"It is worse now in 2002, because even though we have to go for loh ah pay, we also have to pay money. When they demand the money they don't say that it is for loh ah pay, they say that it is for the porters. If they can't call us [to go and porter], they just come and arrest us by force."

"Saw Nay Paw Bee" (M, 28), forcibly relocated villager from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #108, 3/02)

The form of portering which villagers fear most is called 'operations portering'. Villagers cannot pay their way out of this form of portering. This type of portering often involves villagers carrying supplies for SPDC soldiers involved in operations in the area. Sometimes the operation may be a simple patrol through the area lasting a day or two and where the soldiers often release the villagers at the next village, or it may be a sweep through an area and taking up to several weeks. Demands for villagers to go for this type of portering happen once a month or so, but may happen at any time. Orders for this type of portering usually go through the village head, but if the Army cannot get enough people this way, or if they need them immediately, they go and capture villagers in the village and in the surrounding fields and plantations. If villagers find out that the Army is coming to take them for this kind of portering, they often flee to avoid having to go. Villagers have been shot for fleeing soldiers ordered to round up the villagers. Villagers who come in reply to a written order are told to bring their own food and have time to prepare, but villagers who are captured in the village or in the fields are usually taken as is, without the opportunity to take any food or change their clothes. Either way, the villagers are often taken for longer than they were originally told, so they run out of rice and must either go hungry or beg for some rotten rice from the soldiers.

"Whenever they are travelling [going to the frontline], they [the porters] have to carry a long way. One time when IB #75 was travelling, they took the porters for two months."

"Saw Keh Su" (M, 50), villager from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #30, 4/02)

"When they forced us, they didn't tell us how many days we had to go for. Sometimes they told us, 'Come with us for a little while', but we had to go for many days until we ran out of food and were starving. They didn't like to give us rice and if they did give any to us, they would give us the rotten rice."

"Naw Paw Eh" (F, 18), villager from K– village, Tantabin township (Interview #81, 4/01)

"They told us that we only had to go for two or three days, so we only took enough food for two or three days. Sometimes we would have to go for more than twenty days. When we didn't have any more food they wouldn't let us come back [to the village]. They didn't give us any food and we had to suffer like that."

"Naw Paw Eh" (F, 18), villager from K– village, Tantabin township (Interview #81, 4/01)

"If they [SPDC] travel for longer, they feed the people [porters] once a day. If the situation [the terrain over which they must carry their loads] is bad, they will let us drink, but if the situation is good, they will not give us a drink. The water is not clean."

"Saw Htoo Klih" (M, 48), forcibly relocated village head from K– village, Than Daung township (Interview #180, 3/02)

The conditions which villagers experience while portering very much depends on the commander of the unit they have to porter for and on the type of portering they are being forced to perform. Some of the more humane commanders may actually look after the porters and see that they are given some food and are not beaten. This is, however, the exception; most commanders do not care what happens to the porters as long as they reach their objective at the right time. Villagers who must carry the monthly rations up to the Army camps often only have to go for a day or two. The soldiers are not under as much pressure to get where they need to go and so the villagers are not forced to move as quick nor are they beaten as often for not being able to keep up. The loads are also often not as heavy as for 'operations porters'. The 'operations porters' must carry heavier loads over much longer distances for longer periods of time. They are often fed very little food and must sleep out in the open with only the clothes on their backs for protection, even in the rainy season. The bamboo or rattan straps dig into their shoulders and the bottoms of the baskets cause open wounds from rubbing against their lower backs. This debilitates the porters who find it more and more difficult to carry their loads. Rather than receive sympathy from the soldiers, they are often beaten with fists and rifle butts, and kicked for not being able to keep up. Because they are on a military operation, the soldiers are more on edge and are often under pressure to get to the right place at the right time, so the porters must walk faster and are rarely given any rest during the day and very little food or water. Villagers who have been forced to porter loads for the SPDC told KHRG researchers that on one occasion soldiers from LIB #439 threatened to inject them with an overdose of methamphetamines should they be unable to carry their loads or if they delayed the column. At night the villagers are allowed to sleep, although they are usually kept together in one place and guarded so that they will not try to escape.

"In the wet season, they forced the villagers to carry their loads in the rain. The women and children also had to go. They didn't give us any rice to eat and sometimes we had to sleep on the road where the insects would bite and sting us. They didn't come and look for us to bring us rice to eat. ... Sometimes we could not eat rice so we were hungry and thirsty and we had many tears."

"Naw Paw Eh" (F, 18), villager from K– village, Tantabin township (Interview #81, 4/01)

"We have to go and carry, and we have to go and sleep in the rain a lot. We can't eat very well; we only have fishpaste to eat, but they [SPDC] still come and demand food from us. "

"Naw Da" (F, 43), forcibly relocated villager from K– village, Than Daung township (Interview #179, 3/02)

"When we go to carry, if we ask for something to eat then they will feed us. If we do not ask, then they will not feed us. Their [the porters] stomachs are in pain and they are hungry. Some of the porters dare to ask them for food, so they feed them, but it is never enough. We cannot eat enough like we eat at home. For water, they cut the bamboo to make a cup and give us one cup each. It is only a small cup."

"Saw Hser Paw" (M, 25), forcibly relocated village head from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #165, 3/02)

"They weren't nice to us. Sometimes they caused us pain. I remember when Major Ngai Htun, Major Thein Htway Aung, and Sergeant Zaw Yeh from IB #26 beat me at Mwee Loh village. I couldn't count how many times. My whole body hurt. They beat us because we couldn't walk [any further]."

"Saw Maung Gyi" (M, 43), villager from P– village, Tantabin township (Interview #94, 4/01)

"They forced me to go with them to Si Kheh Der and then Play Hsa Loh. I have had to go with them many times. I have had to carry a load six or seven times. They didn't pay me. If we got tired and could not walk they would hit us. They punched people and kicked people in the buttocks. We took our own food for three days, but sometimes we have to carry the loads for the whole week. When we have no more food, they give us some, but it is never enough."

"Saw Aung Htwe" (M, 41), villager from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #44, 1/02)

A villager being forced to porter supplies to an outlying SPDC Army camp. [KHRG]

"They hit the people who we hired to go and carry [itinerant labourers]. If they couldn't keep up, they were hit. They [SPDC] would hit their calves with a cane and pound their heads with a G2 [assault rifle] in front of me."

"Saw Htoo Klih" (M, 48), internally displaced villager from K– village, Than Daung township (Interview #180, 3/02)

"I went to carry to Bu Sah Kee. I started from Kaw Thay Der. I had to carry about 15 viss [25 kgs. / 54 lbs.]. I had to take my own food. I took enough for three days, but sometimes it takes six days, so we didn't have enough food and they didn't feed us. We had to stay hungry. If we couldn't climb the mountain, they  kicked our buttocks and hit us with their guns. ... They even forced us to walk in front."

"Saw K'Paw" (M, 46), forcibly relocated villager from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #106, 3/02)

"When I portered to Bu Sah Kee with LIB #439, I was sick on the way so they [SPDC] said to me, 'If you make problems for us on the way, we will inject you with the medicine [methamphetamines] to kill you. We must continue our journey, so we will kill you if we have to wait for you.'"

"Naw Nay Moo" (F, 30), internally displaced villager from P– village, Than Daung township (Interview #146, 11/00)

"If we could not carry the load, they would scold us and call us 'dogs' and 'pigs' and slap our faces and punch people. We could not carry the load, but they forced us to carry the load. Some of the old people could not carry the load, but they had to carry the load. If they could not carry the load, the SPDC slapped the sides of their heads and called them dogs or pigs. Then they forced them to carry [their loads] even though they could not carry [them]. They slapped one of the women in the side of the head. She was seventy years old. Some people had to carry loads that weighed more than 20 viss [32 kgs. / 72 lbs.]. If those people could not carry their loads, they [SPDC] would hit them with the butts of their guns."

"Naw Pu Htoo Po" (F, 18), villager from K– village, Tantabin township (Interview #95, 4/01)

"They didn't feed us; we had to take our own food. If they [SPDC] didn't have any food, they would come and eat our food. We did not dare to say anything when they ate our food. When we didn't have any more food, we would have to go and ask them for some food, but when we would go and ask them, they would hit us."

"Saw Pa Thaw" (M, 30), villager from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #114, 3/02)

The loads in the baskets which villagers are forced to carry vary, but they can include rations for the soldiers, cooking pots, small arms ammunition, mortar shells and medicine. Along the way, soldiers sometimes add their backpacks and boots to the loads. Chickens, rice, vegetables, fruit or whatever else the soldiers loot from villages and fields are also added to the baskets. The loads which the villagers are forced to carry are often very heavy, especially when carried over long distances. In some cases villagers have said that men have been forced to carry weights of up to 30 viss (49 kgs. / 108 lbs.), while the women have been required to carry as much as 20 viss (33 kgs. / 72 lbs.). Loads of this weight, however, are rare, more commonly the average weight that the men are forced to carry is closer to 20 viss (33 kgs. / 72 lbs.). The baskets in which the loads are carried in are usually made of woven bamboo or cane with straps of shaved bamboo or rough burlap.  Villagers often arrive back in their villages with bruises, abrasions and festering open wounds from where the straps dug into their shoulders or where the bottoms of the baskets rubbed against their lower backs.

"Each man had to carry twenty to thirty viss [33 _ 49 kgs. / 72 _ 108 lbs.]. They would tell the women to carry eighteen to twenty viss [29 - 33 kgs. / 65 - 72 lbs.]."

"Saw Ler Thoo" (M, 30), villager from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #10, 11/00)

"The heaviest loads that I had to carry were seventeen to twenty viss [28 _ 33 kgs. / 61 _ 72 lbs.]."

"Naw Than Wah" (F, 38), villager from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #9, 11/00)

"The SPDC forces us to carry their loads, so we have to carry them. If we don't they will oppress us. We have to carry their rice, bread, cigars, and shrimp paste. Some people have to carry as much as 15 viss [25 kgs. / 54 lbs.]."

"Saw Hser Paw" (M, 25), forcibly relocated village head from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #165, 3/02)

"We had to carry from xxxx [village] to zzzz [village], then to the Klay Loh River, and to yyyy [village]. We had to go for two weeks. Sometimes it weighed 20 viss [32 kgs. / 72 lbs.], and sometimes it weighed over 20 viss, but the usual weight was 18 viss [29 kgs. / 65 lbs.]."

"Saw Pa Thaw" (M, 30), villager from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #114, 3/02)

Many villagers become ill as a direct result of the conditions that they confront while portering. The combination of the lack of food, shelter, and healthcare, along with the beatings dealt out by the soldiers accompanying them, and the sheer exhaustion from hauling such heavy loads all take their toll on the bodies of those subjected to such conditions and makes them very prone to illness. Porters are rarely given medicine by the soldiers when they become ill. The soldiers either claim that there is no medicine, or that the medicine that they have is for use by the soldiers only. The villagers must simply continue on and suffer in silence. The alternative would be to be left behind to fend for themselves in the forest. Some porters have been left behind, alone beside the path when they are too weak to continue on. In their weakened state, many porters die after being left like this. Many villagers arrive back from long periods of portering too exhausted or ill to work their fields for days afterward.

"I couldn't climb the mountain anymore. They [SPDC] told me, 'You can't stop, you have to keep going. If you don't climb the mountain, I will kill you'. [Then] they threatened me with a knife. If the porters can't carry anymore, they [SPDC] don't want to give them medicine. [The soldiers told them], 'If you are going to die, then die; if you are going to live, then live. That is your duty.' They don't release them [the sick porters], they still make them carry. They force them to carry at least one backpack or other things [that they are still able to carry]."

"Saw Heh Kay Law" (M, 32), village secretary from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #134, 12/02)

"Before, there have been some people who have been injured. Some of them got sick and died. There have been one or two women who had little babies who died [because their mothers were forced to go and porter]. I [also] know some of them [villagers] who have had their legs blown off."

"Saw Hser Moo" (M, 29), forcibly relocated villager from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #51, 3/02)

"I can't count anymore. There must have been 100 times. In the past, I followed IB #59. I followed them for nearly one month. I couldn't walk anymore. They didn't feed me and they didn't give me any water to drink. I was sick and I had to try to come back [to the village] on my hands and knees. I had to walk like a cow. When I arrived back home, I was sick and I had to treat myself for three months. "

"Saw Zaw Oo" (M, 47), forcibly relocated villager from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #103, 3/02)

"They didn't look after us. When we would ask them for medicine, they would tell us, 'There is no medicine'. They would say, 'We cannot give it to you.' When we came back, we were only skin and bone. Our clothes looked old [torn and dirty]; it looked like we had come out of the ground."

"Saw Than Htoo" (M, 37), villager from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #116, 3/02)

"When we go to porter, they guard us with their guns, and when we go to the toilet, they guard us with their guns. They don't allow the villagers to take a rest if they get tired. Some people get sick; sometimes they give them medicine and sometimes they don't give them medicine. If the people get really sick, they leave them on the path."

"Saw Htoo Wee" (M, 52), forcibly relocated village head from L– village, Than Daung township (Interview #186, 10/02)

They were afraid that we would step on a landmine ...

"During 2001 when I went to porter, they came and arrested us by force. They came and arrested the whole village by force. There were 23 people who had to go and carry. They took us for the whole week. [We had to carry] about 15 viss [25 kgs. / 54 lbs.]. They said that two men would carry one sack of rice [50 kgs / 110 lbs], but in the end one man had to carry a sack of rice [on his own]. When we went to carry to Bu Sah Kee, we had no rice to eat. Even though we walked in the water, we couldn't drink the water. We carried rice, but we couldn't eat any rice. We walked in the water, but we couldn't drink any. They told us not to walk on the riverbank. They were afraid that we would step on a landmine, so they told us to walk in the water. They only fed us when we arrived at their Army camp, but they didn't feed us enough. When we were walking, we had to walk for the whole day. We couldn't eat, so we couldn't carry anymore [they were too weak to carry any longer]. They would say to us, 'My penis weighs this much, why can't you carry it?' They don't talk to us well. They wanted to hit us with a stick. They wouldn't give any medicine. They would say, 'You are lazy. You are just pretending to be like that.' They wanted to hit us; they accused us [of lying]. One time in the past when I was the village head, I got an injury on my leg [when he was forced to porter to Bu Sah Kee]. When we arrived to Kaw Thay Der I asked permission to take a rest. At the same time a Burmese porter escaped. They [SPDC] said 'This is happening because of you. This time we will be lenient towards you, but if it happens again, we will shoot you dead'. They wanted to hit me with a stick."

"Saw Pa Tray" (M, 52), internally displaced villager from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #111, 3/02)

"There are some people who get sick. Some of them can't suffer anymore and escape; some of them can't walk anymore and they are left behind. "

"Saw Ba Kyu" (M, ?), internally displaced villager from M– village, Than Daung township (Interview #143, 10/00)

SPDC soldiers usually force the porters to walk at intervals between every few soldiers on the paths. One reason for this is because it makes it difficult for the porters to flee. Porters have been shot by the soldiers while trying to flee. The other reason is that because the villagers are interspersed among the soldiers, it makes it difficult for the KNLA to ambush the column without hitting the villagers. Porters have also been forced to walk in front of the soldiers to act as human m inesweepers. Many porters have lost their limbs or their lives from landmines intended for the SPDC soldiers [see 'Landmines']. This is especially true of villagers forced to porter supplies down the Kler Lah-Bu Sah Kee road. This road has been h eavily mined for years. The SPDC knows this, but they continue to send villagers down the road in front of their own troops. Many villagers have been killed or maimed while portering along this road. Porters are often caught in the middle when ambushes occur and some have been cut down in the crossfire. Some porters have been wounded and killed during ambushes by stepping on landmines placed beside the path while seeking cover from the gunfire. Wounded porters are sometimes left behind by the soldiers. The porter's family is almost never offered compensation when he or she dies or is wounded while portering for the SPDC. Some SPDC units have ordered villagers to carry supplies to their camps without soldiers accompanying them. If the villagers do not arrive with the proper loads, they will be accused of giving the missing items to the KNU and probably arrested and beaten as well as fined for the missing items. In this way the soldiers still get the supplies sent, but they do not have to risk being ambushed or stepping on any landmines.

"I have had to carry for IB #59 since 1986. I had to carry from Kler Lah to Bu Sah Kee. We had to carry about 20 viss [33 kgs. / 72 lbs.]. If we were tired we would ask for water and then they would point the barrels of their guns at us. They drove us to walk quickly. If we could not keep up, they would kick us. They didn't treat us well. When we had to go and carry, we didn't have a place to sleep. It would rain and we would not be able to sleep well. The porters who had to go were Karen people. They [SPDC] hit them. They forced us to walk in front. They arrested the villagers in Bu Sah Kee, dug a hole and kept us in the hole. They tortured us in many ways. They tortured us and hit us. We were afraid of them. We had to be afraid of them when we stayed in the village and when we travelled on the paths. Sometimes they took us for a week, sometimes they took us for a month."

"Saw Ti Mi" (M, 30), internally displaced villager from K– village, Than Daung township (Interview #161, 3/02)

"When they come here they force us to go and carry [their loads]. There have been some of the people who have died on the way. There are some of the people who have had their legs blown off.  Some of the people have to face a problem with food. They don't have enough food. Sometimes they force us to go and carry even on Sundays so that we can't worship. They force us to do their work and they bully us. We have to go even though we don't dare to go, and we have to do [it] even though we do not dare to do [it]. Before they have forced me to go and build the road; they forced me to walk in front. We had to go in front and the car would follow us. It was only the villagers who would hit the landmines and only the villagers who would face the problems. One of my brothers went to carry because I couldn't go to carry. He hit a landmine when he went to porter and it blew his leg off."

"Naw Paw Eh" (F, 19), forcibly relocated villager from K– village, Tantabin township (Interview #81, 3/02)

"The people have had to carry for them and the people have had to guide them. They forced people to guide them to P– village. When the fighting occurred, they drove all of the people to the battle. We had to carry their rice and their shells and bullets. When we had to carry the loads for them, they didn't give us food or water. They gave us nothing to eat. Sometimes [we had to go for] two days, and sometimes three days, and sometimes one month."

"Saw Khaw" (M, 45), villager from xxxx village, Tantabin township (Interview #35, 1/02)

"They [IB #124] forced us to carry and I was wounded on January 8 [2002]. I was injured on my calf, my heel, a little bit on my head and on my arm. I can't work anymore; people have to carry me. They sent me [to the hospital] with their own car, but they didn't pay for anything, we had to look after ourselves."

"Saw San Pweh" (M, 45), villager from xxxx village, Than Daung township (Interview #117, 3/02)

"I was injured in March 2001; I forget the date. At that time there were nine people who went to carry. There were eight people who were injured out of those nine people. Among those eight people, one of them died. There is also one person who is still in hospital now. I was wounded on my hand, on my leg, and on my buttocks. The pe