Surviving in Shadow : Widespread Militarization and the Systematic Use of Forced Labour in the Campaign for Control of Thaton District

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With much of Thaton District now under SPDC control, the villagers living there are regularly called upon to fulfil the unrelenting array of demands for forced labour, building materials, food, and money. The SPDC and the DKBA alike are using the unpaid and forced labour of villagers in the numerous road construction projects that span the district. Dozens of military camps have been built along these roads, further militarizing the region and bringing with it even greater oppression and an increase in the demands and burdens upon the lives of the civilians. Such frequent demands, combined with widespread movement restrictions has limited the amount of food that the villagers are able to produce, resulting in problems with food security to the point where many villagers are unable to sufficiently feed their families.

Top of Report | Terms and Abbreviations | Table of Contents | Introduction and Executive Summary | Forces in the District | Forced Labour | Landmines | Killings, Detention, and Torture | Fees, Looting, and Extortion | Restrictions | Food Security | Education and Health | Flight and Displacement | Future of the Area | Appendices

Villagers from Bilin township performing forced labour for the SPDC in November 2002. Colonel Min Aung Hlaing, commanding officer of Light Infantry Division (LID) # 44, ordered these villagers to cut back the bushes for fifty feet [15 metres] on either side of the Bilin-Papun car road. It took them ten days to complete the work. [Photo: KHRG]

Preface

This report examines the situation faced by Karen villagers in Thaton District (known as Doo Tha Htoo in Karen). The district lies in what is officially the northern part of Mon State and also encompasses part of Karen State to the west of the Salween River . Successive Burmese regimes have had strong control over the parts of the district to the west of the Rangoon-Martaban road for many years. They were also able to gain 'defacto' control over the eastern part of the district following the fall of the former Karen National Union (KNU) stronghold at Manerplaw in 1995. The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) is also strong in the district, particularly in the eastern stretches of Pa'an township. Although diminished in recent years, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the KNU, is still quite active in the district. The villagers in the district have had to contend with all three of these armed groups. The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and DKBA demand forced labour, taxes, and extortion money from the villagers while also severely restricting their movements. While the demands for some forms of forced labour such as portering have declined over the past few years, the villagers continue to be regularly called upon by both the SPDC and the DKBA to expand the ever-increasing network of roads throughout the district, as well to fulfil the frequent orders to supply staggering quantities of building materials. A number of new SPDC and DKBA controlled commercial ventures have also appeared in the district in recent years, to which the villagers are also forced to 'contribute' their labour. In 2000, the SPDC confiscated 5,000 acres of land for use as an immense sugarcane plantation, while more recently in late 2004, the SPDC again confiscated another 5,000 acres of the villagers' farmland, all of which is to become a huge rubber plantation, co-owed and operated by Rangoon-based company Max Myanmar. In addition, the villagers are punished for any perceived support for the KNLA or KNU. All such systems of control greatly impoverish the villagers, to the extent that now many of them struggle just to survive.

Most villagers have few options but to try to live as best they can. SPDC control of the district is too tight for the villagers to live in hiding in the forest and Thailand is too far for most villagers to flee to. The villagers are forced to answer the demands of the SPDC and DKBA, of which there are many, while trying to avoid punishment for any supposed support of the resistance. They have to balance this with trying to find enough time to work in their fields and find enough food to feed their families.

This report provides a detailed analysis of the human rights situation in Thaton District from 2000 to the present. It is based on 216 interviews conducted by KHRG researchers with people in SPDC-controlled villages, in hill villages, in hiding in the forest and with those who have fled to Thailand to become refugees. These interviews are supplemented by SPDC and DKBA order documents selected from the hundreds we have obtained from the area, along with field reports, maps, and photographs taken by KHRG field researchers. All of the interviews were conducted between November 1999 and November 2004. A number of field reports dated up until June 2005 have also been included.

The report begins with an Introduction and Executive Summary. The detailed analysis that follows has been broken down into ten main sections. The villagers tell most of the story in the main sections through direct quotes taken from recorded interviews. The full text of the interviews and the field reports upon which this report is based are available from KHRG upon approved request.

Notes on the Text

All names of people interviewed for this report have been changed and some details omitted where necessary to protect them from retaliation. False names are shown in double quotes; all other names are real. Where names have needed to be censored within quotes, they have been replaced by a string of letters, ie: 'aaaa', 'bbbb', etc.; in the same manner village names have been replaced with 'yyyy', 'zzzz', etc. Wherever a villager refers to a village that has been censored to 'xxxx', it may be implied that they are referring to their own village; all other strings may be taken to refer to villages other than their own. The captions under the quotes in the report include the interviewee's (changed) name, gender, age and village (although many of these have also been ommitted), and a reference to the interview number. These numbers can be used to find the full text of the interview in the interview annex.

The text often refers to villages, village tracts, and townships. The SPDC has local administrations, called Peace and Development Councils (PDCs), at the village, village tract, township, and state levels. A village tract is a group of 5-25 villages centred on a large village. A township is a much larger area administered from a central town. The Karen National Union (KNU) previously organised Thaton (Doo Tha Htoo in Karen) District into five townships: Kyaikto, Bilin, Thaton, Pa'an and Paung, although this has now been reduced to four with the omission of Paung township. The official townships and village tracts used by the SPDC do not correspond to the KNU townships and village tracts: for example, Kyaikto township is listed as being in Mon State on SPDC maps. In this report we use the townships and village tracts as defined by the KNU because these are used by the villagers.

The villagers often refer to 'loh ah pay' in the interviews. This Pali term is used for a traditional Burmese form of voluntary labour for the community, but the SPDC uses the term when calling for many forms of forced labour. For the villagers, the term has come to mean most forms of forced labour. 'Set tha' means forced labour as a messenger at an SPDC Army camp. Other Karen, Burmese and Pali terms are explained where they occur in the text. Some of the more common terms can be found in the list of 'Terms and Abbreviations' below. Villagers often refer to the KNU/KNLA as 'Kawthoolei' (the name of the Karen homeland), the DKBA as 'Ko Per Baw' ('Yellow Headbands'), and the SPDC Army soldiers and officials as 'the Burmese' or 'the enemy' (the latter is a habit they have picked up from the local KNLA). SPDC Army soldiers often accuse the villagers of being 'Nga Pway' ('Ringworm'); this is derogatory SPDC slang for the KNLA. Villagers, particularly those in the hills, do not keep track of dates and ages, and as a result sometimes different people give different dates for an event or different ages for the people involved. Whenever possible KHRG has attempted to establish and indicate the most accurate dates and ages. Villagers sometimes mention 'last year'; this often means the time before the latest (June-October) rainy season, rather than the previous calendar year. All numeric dates are in dd/mm/yy format.

Terms and Abbreviations

Military/ Political

Village Terms

Measurements and Currency

Honorifics

Table of Contents

Preface

Notes on the Text

Terms and Abbreviations

I. Introduction and Executive Summary

II. Forces in the District
The SPDC
The Tha Ka Sa Pa
The Pyitthu Sit
The DKBA
The KNU and KNLA

III. Forced Labour
Portering
Road Projects
Demands for Building Materials
Other Forms of Forced Labour
Forced Labour on SPDC and DKBA Commercial Projects
Forced Labour Fees
Convict Labour

IV. Landmines

V. Killings, Detention, and Torture

VI. Fees, Looting, and Extortion

VII. Restrictions

VIII. Food Security

IX. Education and Health
Education
Health

X. Flight and Displacement

XI. Future of the Area

Appendices
Appendix A: Endnotes
Appendix B: Index of Interviews and Field Reports
Appendix C: SPDC Military Units in Thaton District, 2001-2005
Appendix D: Villagers Killed by SPDC and DKBA Soldiers and Landmines
Appendix E: Villagers Wounded by SPDC and DKBA Soldiers and Landmines

Highlighted Quote
The testimony of "U Maung Shwe"

Top of Report | Terms and Abbreviations | Table of Contents | Introduction and Executive Summary | Forces in the District | Forced Labour | Landmines | Killings, Detention, and Torture | Fees, Looting, and Extortion | Restrictions | Food Security | Education and Health | Flight and Displacement | Future of the Area | Appendices

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