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SURVIVING IN SHADOW: Widespread Militarization and the Systematic Use of Forced Labour in the Campaign for Control of Thaton District
III. Forced Labour
Forced labour is arguably the most widespread human rights violation being committed in Burma today and it continues to be practiced with alarming frequency by both the SPDC and the DKBA in Thaton District. The cascade effects of forced labour are all-pervasive. Precious few aspects of the villagers' lives are left untouched by the regular demands. Any time that the villagers spend performing forced labour equates to less time tending to their fields and plantations. In performing forced labour, villagers are unable to spend enough time in their fields protecting the crop from wild animals and birds as it ripens or to actually harvest it when the time comes. The harvest suffers as a result and the villagers consequently are unable to get enough food to feed their families [see the 'Food Security' section] . Any surplus that would otherwise have been made is lost, and the money that would have been raised from its sale vanishes along with it. The lack of food in turn leads to problems with the health and wellbeing of the villagers [see the 'Education and Health' section] . Education also suffers as classes are regularly disrupted, with many villagers telling KHRG that they are only able to study for one week out of every three or four due to the demands of forced labour. The regular and varied demands for the payment of 'fees' find their origins in forced labour as well. Many of these fees are extracted from the villagers under the pretence that the money will then be given to those performing the labour. However, none of this money ever is, a fact that the villagers know all too well. It instead ends up in the pockets of the commanding officers [see the 'Fees, Looting, and Extortion' section] . Forced labour is also the cause of a lot of internal displacement. Villagers regularly flee their villages in advance of an approaching military column for fear that they will be taken for forced labour, only returning to the village when the soldiers have left and they feel the threat has moved on. Most of the internal displacement that occurs in Thaton District comes about because of this [also see the 'Flight and Displacement' section] . Furthermore, performing forced labour portering loads or maintaining one of the roads greatly increases the risk of stepping on a landmine [see the 'Landmines' section] . Forced labour is not solely the scourge of able-bodied men, but of all villagers; men, women, children, and the elderly are all expected to work. Villagers have commented however, that the amount of labour being demanded by the SPDC has been reduced over the past couple of years. Portering in particular, is much less rigorous than it used to be and villagers are being taken for much shorter periods [ see 'Portering' ] . Much of the portering is now done by convicts brought in specifically for that purpose [see 'Convict Labour' at the end of this section] . This is not to say that it has stopped; a fact which the testimonies of the villagers shown below attest to. In contrast, some villagers have said that the DKBA has actually increased the amount of forced labour that it is demanding.
Village heads constantly receive orders to send villagers for one form of forced labour or another. SPDC and DKBA officers demand villagers to come to their camps to dig trenches, cut firewood, fetch water, build huts for the soldiers, and perform other menial tasks. Work at the Army camps is usually done on a rotating schedule. Villagers are also required to repair the roads which run through the district and to stand as sentries along those roads when the SPDC sends rations to its camps. The brush and scrub flanking the roads must also be regularly cleared to make it more difficult or the KNLA to mount ambushes against SPDC Army units and vehicles. The village head is also sometimes ordered to send people to work on money-making projects such as rubber plantations or logging for the SPDC as well as the DKBA. Porters are demanded by the Army to carry its rations up to its camps. Military columns out on patrol also demand porters to carry things to the next village. At any one time, a village head may have villagers doing several forms of forced labour for a number of different units operating in the area. Many villagers have told KHRG researchers that the labour is almost constant [see the sections below for greater detail on each of the various different forms of forced labour] .
Only the very young and the very old do not have to go for forced labour. Both men and women are required to report for forced labour. Men have typically gone for most of the forced labour, particularly the more physically demanding forms such as portering for the Army or building bridges. However, the demands are becoming so steep and frequent that other members of the family must also be called upon to do their part. Any given village may face numerous different demands from a number of different nearby Army camps, from both the SPDC and the DKBA. In the case where multiple demands for different units are issued all at once and the men are away meeting one of those demands, the responsibility then falls upon the women to tend to some of the other demands. Similarly, when the men are busy tending to fields and plantations, it are the women who must respond to the demands for forced labour. Traditionally, women have often gone for the less demanding labour at the Army camps such as fetching water or cooking rice. However they are now having to report to help clear the brush from the sides of the roads, as set tha (messengers), and even to porter heavy loads for the military [for recent photographic evidence of this, see 'Women and Forced Labour' in "KHRG Photo Set 2005-A" (KHRG #2005-P1, May 27 2005) ] . Men have regularly fled from their village when forced labour orders have been issued, fearing that they will not be allowed to return home upon the completion of the work, but instead be taken as operations porters for frontline units. Furthermore, they may be accused of being rebels at any time, often with little or no supporting evidence and no recourse to defend themselves against such accusations. They therefore try to avoid any direct contact with the SPDC for fear of being arrested and tortured. This also results in women and children doing much of the forced labour.
Children also have to go sometimes when their parents are already busy attending to some other task or demand. When the adults are performing some other form of forced labour or are occupied in the fields, the children are often all that remain to go for forced labour. While village heads try to arrange it so that children and the elderly do not have to go, some villagers have told KHRG that they have on occasion witnessed children as young as eight performing forced labour. Villagers are often ordered to complete a job within a specified timeframe, and in many cases this is only possible if the entire village goes to work. This includes very young children, a number of whom have not yet even reached puberty, as well as elderly villagers, some aged in their 50's and 60's. This is especially the case when the SPDC orders rations to be carried out to their satellite Army camps or for the brush alongside the roads to be cut. It seems that the SPDC does not care who is sent to perform the labour, so long as it is done. If orders state a preference for adults or able-bodied men to do the work, it is merely out of a desire to get the heavy work done more quickly rather than any sense of morality.
The conditions that the villagers work under vary depending on the type of work that they are ordered to do and who it is that is ordering them to do it. For almost all types, the villagers may be subjected to both verbal and physical abuse by the soldiers. Villagers working at Army camps or standing sentry are usually kept there until their shift is over and another villager comes to replace them. Porters now usually must only accompany the soldiers to the next village where they are released and a new villager is taken to replace them. Much of the longer-term portering is now being performed by convict labour. When villages are ordered to work on a road, whether it be to construct a new one or to see to the maintenance of an existing road, they are generally expected to take responsibility for a certain section and are given a set time at the end of which the work should be completed. The soldiers do not usually accompany the villagers or oversee the work, yet it is understood that if the work is not finished by the deadline, the villagers risk having to do it again and/or being punished. Regardless of the work that they are doing, villagers are almost always expected to bring their own food and whatever tools they need to complete the work. They must also bring along whatever building materials are need for the job. If the work is to last several days, the villagers are sometimes not allowed to return home and must bring enough food and clothes to last the entire time they are there. Villagers who become sick while working are not always allowed to go home to rest. Injured villagers are never given compensation and only rarely given medicine. Villagers have to seek medical attention themselves and pay for it out of their own pockets. Only on very rare occasions are the villagers actually paid for the work that they do, and even then the paltry amount that they are given borders on being laughable [see the sections below for more on the conditions faced for each of the different types of forced labour] .
The SPDC has been taking some precautions to cover up its use of forced labour over the past few years. Throughout this and other KHRG reports, one will constantly encounter the term loh ah pay . This is an ancient Pali word used to describe the voluntary labour performed at a Buddhist monastery or within the village community to attain religious merit. It has since been adopted by the SPDC to refer to forced labour in order to give the appearance that the labour being done by the villagers is actually on a voluntary basis and not under duress at all. This could not be further from the truth. When asked by KHRG researchers if the work was forced or voluntary, all villagers without exception have answered that for each and every time it was in fact forced. Another tactic now used by SPDC Army officers is to summon village heads to meetings and issue their demands for forced labour verbally rather than send signed and stamped written order documents. The documents that many SPDC Army officers are now issuing simply order that the village head comes to a meeting at the Army camp. When written orders are sent to village heads, SPDC Army officers sometimes ask for the orders back once the village heads have read them, thus eliminating the paper trail of evidence of not only the use of forced labour, but also their personal involvement in it. Village heads who have not been able to return the orders have been accused of giving the letters to the KNU or to human rights monitors and fined 5 viss [8 kgs. / 18 lbs.] of chicken or pork. SPDC officers are also either not stamping the orders, or stamping them and not writing in their unit's battalion number, so that the orders cannot be traced back to them. Another dodge is to order village heads or village tract heads to write the orders instead.
In May 1999 the SPDC issued Order 1/99, declaring a ban on the use of various forms of forced labour following years of intense pressure from the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The Order was not widely circulated nor implemented as it was claimed to have been, and the use of forced labour continued. In 2000, the lack of any implementation of Order 1/99 led the ILO to invoke Article 33 of its charter for the first time in the organisation's 84 year history, which required the ceasing of all technical cooperation with the SPDC and calling upon all of its member nations and trade unions to review their relations with the Burmese military junta. In an attempt to buy time the SPDC released the 'Supplementary Order to Order 1/99' in late October 2000, widening the terms of the ban and outlining the penalties to be imposed on those who continued to demand forced labour. A few days later, Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt, then Secretary-1 of the SPDC, issued yet another order, the 'Additional Instruction to State and Divisional Peace and Development Councils, November 1 st 2000'. These orders were alleged to have been distributed to every village head in the country, however upon being asked, many village heads claimed that they had never even heard of the documents. It was not until shortly before the ILO High Level Team travelled to Burma in 2001 to investigate the implementation of the ban that the documents were circulated [for English language versions of 'Order 1/99', 'Supplementary Order to Order 1/99', and the 'Additional Instruction' signed by Khin Nyunt, see 'Appendix B: SPDC Orders Banning Forced Labour' in the previously published KHRG report "Forced Labour Orders Since the Ban: a Compendium of SPDC Order Documents Demanding Forced Labour Since November 2000 " (KHRG #2002-01 / February 8, 2002) .] . Villagers interviewed by KHRG researchers maintain that they became hopeful of improvement when the Order was first issued, however they found that the situation largely remained the same with the SPDC and the DKBA both still demanding labour. The drafting of these decrees has done little to cease the use of forced labour in Burma , as it continues to be widely practiced without those responsible being brought to trial. Under continued pressure from the ILO, the past year has seen several instances in central Burma where villagers have successfully brought civil cases against non-military officials for demanding forced labour. However, no military officer in Burma has yet been charged with demanding forced labour. Furthermore, in a clear step backward, following the success of a case brought by villager Daw Su Su Nway, the local judge was replaced with a hardline judge who then heard a spurious counter-case for using 'threatening language' brought against her by corrupt local officials. In October 2005, this judge sentenced Daw Su Su Nway to 20 months in prison, a clear warning from the SPDC to any other villagers in Burma who may be considering taking action under the orders banning forced labour.
Villagers are unable to complain to higher authorities about the use of forced labour because they are afraid of reprisals at the hands of the soldiers who are ordering them to do the labour. Village heads feel that if they complain about an officer's use of forced labour to his Operations Commander or Division Commander, they would have to flee the village because the officer may come to torture or kill them.
Portering
The use of villagers as frontline porters has changed in Thaton District. No longer are villagers taken for weeks or months at a time, as they once were. Villagers have been telling KHRG researchers that since 2002 most of the portering that they are doing is from one village to the next where the porters are released and replaced with villagers from the new village. Throughout 2004 and 2005, SPDC Army columns have generally only been demanding one or two villagers to accompany their columns as guides. Upon arrival at the next village the guides are then changed for another villager who will in turn guide the column to the next village. The guides have also been forced to carry loads, but the use of convict porters has steadily increased over the past several years to the point where now, much of the heavy portering in Thaton District is being done by convicts [see 'Convict Labour' below] .
The term which translates literally as 'emergency porter' is heard quite commonly in Thaton District. This term refers to the ad hoc portering demanded by soldiers upon arriving in any given village. In the past, the villagers were given no advance warning yet could be taken for several days or weeks at a time. The soldiers would arrive in the village and call all of the villagers down from their houses. Villagers who did not respond fast enough and come down immediately upon being called were kicked and beaten [also refer to the 'Killings, Detention, and Torture' section for more on this] . Unlike other forms of portering, the villagers were not able to pay to get out of having to go for emergency portering but had to go regardless. More recently however, the SPDC has only been demanding two or three villagers at a time for 'emergencies' and forcing them to carry their loads to the next village where they are released and other villagers are taken for the same purpose. The villagers are still not given any warning prior to the arrival of the soldiers in their village. The Army simply arrives in a village or comes to a field, takes a couple of villagers, and continues on their way to the next village. One villager told KHRG that the porters are not released if they are unable to find anyone in the next village to replace them and instead must continue to carry their loads until a replacement is found. According to the villager, it can sometimes take two or three days to find a replacement. If porters escape or replacements cannot be found, their load is usually divided among the other porters or the soldiers themselves until more can be caught.
Whenever the SPDC needs to resupply one of its outlying Army camps with food, ammunition, or any other type of military materiel, they issue the order, typically to a number of villages within the area. The villagers are told that the supplies must be sent to a certain camp by a certain time. In previous years, whenever the portering took more than one day to complete, the porters were often bound at night to prevent them from attempting to escape. Now though, villagers are telling KHRG that this is no longer the case. On some occasions the soldiers will post an armed sentry to watch over the porters so that none of them will try to flee, but they are no longer regularly being tied up. Instead, villages are now being fined 20,000 to 30,000 Kyat for each porter that flees. In 2004 and 2005, villagers have often been ordered to carry rations for the SPDC without being accompanied by any soldiers. The villagers would not dare to lose or steal any of the rations for fear of punishment at the hands of the SPDC. Should any items be missing from the baskets upon arriving at their destination, the soldiers blame the villagers and accuse them of giving these to the KNU/KNLA.
The baskets the villagers carry can contain anything from small arms ammunition, to mortar shells, to food. Often the soldiers add more things to the loads that they loot from the villages they pass through along the way. These items may include boots or slippers, fruit, rice, or chickens. The average load that a villager is forced to carry typically falls with in the range of 10 – 20 viss [16-33 kgs. / 36-72 lbs.] . Loads of 30 viss [49 kgs. / 108 lbs.] that are quoted by villagers mark the upper end of the scale. Loads as heavy as this are uncommon.
Food is not usually provided for the porters by either the SPDC or the DKBA. The villagers are normally expected to bring their own food with them. When the villagers are forced to porter loads for any length of time, or for those who were arrested while in their fields or on the paths, what little rice that they were able to take with them soon runs out and they must either beg or go hungry. If this situation becomes extreme then food is provided to the porters, although this is typically done so grudgingly and even then only in sparse portions. Such portions are usually only half the amount that they would otherwise eat, if that. Furthermore, the food is usually only very low grade rice, a thin watery bean curry, and/or poor quality sesame or shrimp paste. Salt and chillies which normally are considered staples in Karen cooking are usually not provided. They are never fed any meat or fish. Meanwhile, the soldiers accompanying the porters dine on food looted from the villages that they have passed though, eating chicken or pork curries. Sometimes they steal the rice that the porters have brought with them, or swap it with their lower quality ration rice, taking the higher grade rice for themselves. It is usually only by begging that the villagers are able to get any more food when theirs runs out. Although, not all villagers have the courage to ask for more food from the soldiers as such requests are usually met with beatings or threats of being beaten for daring to ask for more. One villager from Bilin township told KHRG that when he asked for another scoop of rice on top of the paltry amount that he had been given, he was told that they wouldn't provide him with any rice but would be more than willing to give him a 'bread fist' (a Burmese term equivalent to 'knuckle sandwich').
The treatment of villagers when they are portering depends largely on the unit the villagers are portering for. Some units are known for being particularly brutal, while others are comparatively moderate. Villagers who are unable to carry their loads are commonly yelled at and verbally abused by the soldiers and are sometimes hit or kicked in order to keep them moving. Some of the more violent units beat the porters with sticks and the butts of their rifles. One villager from Thaton township who was unable to carry his load due to illness was punched, kicked, and beaten with a rifle butt, breaking five of his ribs in the process. The beatings continued until he began coughing up blood. Luckily for him one of the soldiers, presumably one of the rank and file, took pity on him and aided in his escape, saying that if he did not flee the other soldiers would only continue to beat him. In the past, such beatings have from time to time not stopped until the porter had been killed. Another villager, "Saw Say Tee" [Interview #57] , from Bilin township said that he was beaten so badly he was no longer able to carry the load that he had been given. Since that time, he has been unable to work any more as a result of the beating that he received. When called upon again to go and porter yet another load, he had to send his wife in his stead. When his wife was unavailable to go, they have had to hire itinerant labourers to go in their place. Many villagers who become too weak to continue carrying are kicked and beaten, as though it were an incentive to get them moving again, presumably in the same way that one whips a horse to make it run faster. The strain of the heavy loads coupled with the lack of food proves to be too much for some and they simply buckle under the weight of their loads, in which case they are doubly beaten by the soldiers and then simply left to die where they lay beside the path. In general, the conditions have improved somewhat, with fewer beatings being given. One plausible explanation for this may lie in ways in which the forced labour, with portering in particular, is being demanded. Most of the portering now being done by villagers in Thaton District is, as was mentioned above, from one village to the next. The periods and distances over which they must carry their loads are not nearly as great as they once were and are generally not long enough to sap their strength in the same way as if they had to carry for days on end. As a result, fewer villagers are being beaten for their inability to carry their loads. That aside, villagers complain that beatings are sometimes still given out and that the conditions of portering, while better, are still difficult and far from being acceptable. Meanwhile, convict porters are still treated as brutally as ever.
Porters have on many occasions been wounded when the unit that they were portering for has been ambushed by the KNLA. On such occasions the porters are rarely given any medical attention. Though there has been relatively little fighting recently, villagers have been wounded or killed by landmines and crossfire. In February 2003, a KNLA unit opened fire on a boat carrying a small SPDC unit and a number of porters. Eight of the soldiers were killed, as were six porters with two more being wounded. The porters that were wounded had to pay for their own medical treatment, and the families of those killed received no compensation whatsoever. Moreover, the porters are generally punished for supposedly knowing that the 'rebels' were in the area and thus by not sharing this information with the soldiers, they were responsible for the attack. These allegations are levelled against the porters following almost every ambush [also see the section dealing with 'Killings, Detention, and Torture' ] . Even in instances where it should be obvious that the porters had no prior knowledge of the whereabouts of the resistance, such as in those occasions where a number of them are wounded or even killed in the ambush, they are still punished. The most common form of punishment are beatings. The porters are kicked, punched, beaten with sticks, or with the butts of the soldiers' rifles. Some of the punishments doled out to the porters, however, are less physical and more psychological. As one villager told KHRG, the soldiers forced the porters to strip naked and run around without any clothes on, pull at one another's ears, and stand and squat repeatedly. 'Frog-squatting' and pulling on one's own earlobes, both of which make one look silly, are traditional forms of humiliation in Burma, and forcing adults to do this while running around naked makes it even more a form of psychological torture. Furthermore, porters are also regularly used as human shields during ambushes. The soldiers stay close to or even hide behind the porters in the hope that the KNLA soldiers will not fire for fear of hitting one of the villagers. This sometimes seems to work with the KNLA being reluctant to open fire in case they accidentally wound or kill any of the porters. This does not prevent every ambush from taking place, and on many occasions porters have been wounded and killed while being held as human shields. One villager from Bilin township told KHRG that in late 2002 he was not only used as a human shield by the soldiers but also as a human minesweeper, being forced to walk in front of the soldiers at gunpoint. If there are any landmines planted on the path, the porters will detonate them while the soldiers walk at a safe distance behind them [also see the 'Landmines' section] .
Villagers who become sick while portering are only provided very basic medical assistance, if any at all. The SPDC and the DKBA are both reluctant to give medical care to any of their porters. When assistance is given, it often amounts to no more than a single tablet of a painkiller such as paracetamol. Sometimes the villagers are released and must make their own way back to their village. Those who have become too weak to move under their own power are simply left behind on the trail to die, or left to the care of people in a village along the way.
Road ProjectsWhile there is not an extensive road network in the parts of the district to the east of the main Rangoon-Martaban road (i.e. in Bilin, Pa'an, and Thaton townships), the SPDC is endeavouring to expand this network so that all areas are easily accessible to its troops. Numerous road building projects have now been under way for the past few years to this end. The SPDC claims that these roads are being built for the benefit of the villagers, often citing 'national development' as the cause. However, these roads have been used primarily to facilitate Army encroachment into areas where SPDC control is weak. The development of new roads is invariably followed by the establishment of new Army camps along those roads, ultimately resulting in the increased militarisation of the area. Army posts placed along the roads then restrict the movement of villagers to the extent that the roads become obstacles to free movement rather than the opposite. To the villagers, new roads mean more forced labour: building and later maintaining the roads, building the camps along the roads, portering supplies to those camps, and standing sentry on the roads. Five roads dominate the region. One road, originating in Martaban, heads north through Thaton and Kyaik Khaw to Bilin and proceeds all the way to Rangoon . This road forks at Bilin to create the second road which continues its northward journey through Bilin township into Papun District where it eventually arrives at Papun town. The third road branches off the Rangoon-Martaban road at Kyaik Khaw, north of Thaton, firstly heading northeast to Wee Raw and then north, roughly following the course of the Donthami River through Lay Kay village and on into Papun District to join the Ka Ma Maung-Papun road at Ka Dtaing Dee. A fourth road links Myaing Galay with Thaton town to the west, while the fifth road branches from this road at Wah Bo Taw, just west of Myaing Galay, heading northwards along the western bank of the Salween River to Ka Ma Maung [see Map 3 of Thaton District for the locations of each of these roads] . While the Rangoon-Martaban road is sealed, the other four roads are all dirt roads which become impassable to vehicles in the wet season. Large sections of the roads wash away in the rainy season or become rutted and potholed, so every year villagers are forced to repair the roads once the rains cease. To do this, the villagers must carry earth and stones to fill any potholes and rebuild sections where the embankment has washed away. The villagers must also clear away any landslides that fall onto the road. Villagers are not paid for this work, nor are they supplied with food, tools, or building materials. The villagers are expected to take their own tools with them and cut any and all of the required building materials from the forest. The SPDC typically orders villagers to repair a specified section of the roads by a particular date. Some villagers have told KHRG that they were responsible for repairing ten miles [16 kms.] of the road. Such sections are usually located close to the village.
The SPDC plans to upgrade these roads from unsealed dry season roads to all season roads by first paving them with stones and later with tar. On April 20 th 2004, Brigadier General Myint Aung, commanding officer of SPDC Military Operations Command (Sa Ka Ka) #9 temporarily based in the Lay Kay Army camp, ordered the upgrade of the old colonial road running from Kyaik Khaw to Lay Kay. In May 2004, each village near the path of this road was ordered to collect 300 kyin of stone which were to be placed neatly beside the road. A kyin is a pile of stone measuring ten feet [3 metres] by ten feet to a depth of one foot [30 cms.] , totalling 100 cubic feet [30.5 cubic metres] per pile. Each village was therefore ordered to collect 30,000 cubic feet [985 cubic metres] of stone. At least 20 separate villages were issued the same order, including Maw Lay, Ka T'Daw Ni, P'Nweh Klah , Noh Nya Thu, La Ko, Ka Meh, Ta Paw, Ler Klaw, Lay Kay, Ee Heh, Kru Si, Noh Aw Lah, Pwa Ghaw, Kyaw Kay Kee, Ta Thu Kee, Noh Law Plaw, Noh Ka Day, Htee Pa Doh Kee, Meh Theh Pwoh, and Ha T'Reh. Each of these villages had to assemble the 300 kyin , amassing a staggering 600,000 cubic feet [19,685 cubic metres] of stone. Some villages were given only two and a half weeks in which to assemble all 300 piles of stone. This unrealistic order required that everyone living in the village - men, women, and children, some as young as four or five years old - had to assist in collecting the stones. Some villages found themselves still collecting the stones two months later. Only a year before, in 2003, many of these same villages were also ordered to collect another 100 kyin of stones for use on the same road. These stones were positioned to form a solid base, over which a second layer, composed of laterite (reddish-coloured clay commonly used in road building that dries rock hard when exposed to air and sun) would be laid. After all of this is completed tar would be poured to seal the road.
Also in April 2004, the DKBA began work on the construction of a road up to Meh Si mountain adjacent to Meh Si village in Bilin township. The DKBA had built a pagoda on the top of the mountain and then began forcing the villagers to construct a road from Ohn Daw (in Papun District) to Meh Si and then on to the pagoda. Order #6 shown below was issued to a village in Bilin township by Lieutenant Colonel Pu Ka Saw Wah, commanding officer of the DKBA Ka Saw Wah ('White Elephant') Battalion (also referred to in this order as Central Security Battalion #4), demanding that the village head send a quota of one person per household for a period of no less than five days to work on the road. The order repeatedly uses the word 'donation' to describe the request for labour. However, when no one arrived on the prescribed date, a second and somewhat more insistent order was sent, explicitly stating that the villagers should come prepared to work on the road, " equipped with mattocks, chopping hoes, machetes, clothes, and supplies for 3 days ". The villagers were required to sleep at the work site and were not allowed to return home until their stints were completed. Some villagers had returned home before their time was finished after running out of clothes and medicine. The DKBA accused them of escaping and ordered them to go back to the work site for an additional 15 days.
According to a Karen township official, the SPDC has also begun to establish San Pya Kyay Ywa , or 'model villages' along the Myaing Galay-Ka Ma Maung car road. All of the villagers living in the villages that have been designated as model villages have to build their homes according to set guidelines determining style and location. Any homes that do not meet the guidelines are dismantled with orders that they should be rebuilt in keeping with the regulations. The SPDC began doing this in 2001. The villages of Noh P'Kway, Htaw Taw, Meh Neh Kay, T'Gaung Poe, Seik Kyaung, Ko Dah Gyi, Weh Pya, Mer Rer, They La Baw, Weh Pya Hta, Su Law Oh, Htee Nya Cha, Meh Kyi Hta, and Ka Ma Maung have all been designated as model villages.
Villagers are also ordered to build or repair bridges where the roads must cross over any rivers and streams along its route. The villagers are normally ordered to cut and mill the wood to be used in the construction at their own expense. However, on occasion the SPDC does meet at least a small portion of the cost. They may either supply some of the timber or provide the villagers with money to meet the expenses. These instances however are scarce. In many cases, the soldiers instruct the villagers to cut and mill the timber and then build the bridge all at their own expense, and that any costs incurred by the villagers will be later reimbursed by the military. This never happens, and it is the villagers who find themselves out of pocket. One villager from Thaton township told KHRG that the SPDC gave his village only 30,000 Kyat to cover the cost of the bridge that they were ordered to build. The actual cost of the bridge, however, including the milling of the timber, was close to 120,000 Kyat. The balance was met by the villagers. Another villager from Pa'an township told a KHRG researcher that they had spent over 100,000 Kyat on the bridge that they had to build, after an SPDC Army officer had initially told them that they would be reimbursed for all expenses related to the construction of the bridge. The villagers have never been repaid any amount of the money that they spent, and admit that they do not dare to ask for their refund for fear of punishment for being so bold as to ask.
Villagers are also regularly ordered to cut back the scrub and brush growing alongside the roads. This is done to provide wide swathes of open ground, or 'killing zones', flanking the roads and thus make it much more difficult for the KNLA to ambush SPDC Army units that are using the road. It also makes it difficult for anyone attempting to cross the road, whether be a KNLA unit or a group of IDPs, without being detected. Villagers living along the Kyaik Khaw-Lay Kay road have told KHRG that they have been ordered to clear the sides of the road of all vegetation down to ground level within 50 feet [15 metres] of either side of the road. Similar to the orders given when forced to repair a road; the villagers are typically assigned a segment of the road that they are responsible for clearing. This is usually specified as being from their own village to the next. This type of work results in many injuries as the villagers unearth or step on landmines that have been planted on the flanks of the road [also see the 'Landmines' section] . The SPDC, the DKBA, and the KNLA are all guilty of planting landmines alongside the roads, and those stepped on by the villagers may have been planted by any one of these groups. The SPDC does not compensate any villager who does happen to step on a landmine and is wounded, maimed, or killed while cutting back the bushes beside a road. No compensation is paid to the surviving family members of those killed, and anyone who is wounded yet survives must pay for their own medical treatment.
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| In early 2002, soldiers from LID #44 came to replace those from LID #66 who were stationed in the district. The newly arrived soldiers then ordered the villagers to build new Army camps for them. All of the materials needed for the construction had to be supplied by the villagers. The villagers in this photo are carrying roofing thatch for use in the construction of one of those newly established camps. Many villages in Thaton District are ordered to provide the SPDC and/or the DKBA with 1,000 shingles thatch each year. Most of this finds its way into the commercial markets with all of the profits going to the officers. None of this money is ever seen by the villagers who actually do the work. [Photo: KHRG] |
"They forced us to cut small logs, bamboo and thatch to build the camp. They are forcing us a lot. We always have to send these things once a year. We have to send them to Lay Kay Army camp. It takes one hour to walk there. ... There are many different sizes of logs. Sometimes they are two or three handspans [45-70 cms. / 18-27 inches] in circumference. Some of them are 6 cubits, 10 cubits or 12 cubits [2.7, 4.6, 5.5 metres / 9, 15, 18 feet] in length. Sometimes they demand 200 pieces of bamboo and sometimes they demand 50 pieces. Sometimes they demand 400 pieces. They demand 2,000 shingles of thatch. They pay us nothing. We carry them for free."
"Naw Hser Paw" (F, 43), village head from xxxx village, Bilin township (Interview #24, 2/02)
"On the 7 th [May 2004] in the evening, we had to carry two bullock cart loads of wood posts for them [DKBA] to Htee Nya Cha. We had to carry it to their children and wives' houses. When we arrived there, they didn't feed us even a pot of rice. We had to come back and find food to eat at our friends' houses. They paid nothing for them. When they came to force us to do it, we villagers had to gather and collect the fees for the bullock carts. We hired one bullock cart and we went to carry it for them ourselves. We paid 5,000 Kyat for the bullock cart. They didn't pay the hire fees for the bullock cart for us. They didn't listen to us. They just needed it to arrive there."
"Saw Bee Lu Lay" (M, 52), village head from xxxx village, Pa'an township (Interview #95, 5/04)
"Yes, they demand bamboo. When they demand it, they don't only demand 10 pieces, they demand 100 pieces. The size depends on what they need. It is not exact. If they need 15 cubits [6.8 metres / 22.5 feet], they order us to get 15 cubits. They demand 100 pieces. Sometimes they demand 70 or 80 pieces. It is not regular. It depends on what they need. They use it for making fences, building their camp and for warehouses. They don't pay and we have to send it to their camp by bullock cart. The people sell one piece of 'wa klu' bamboo [a species of giant bamboo used for house posts] for 300 Kyat."
"Saw Cho Aung" (M, 49), village head from xxxx village, Bilin township (Interview #64, 7/03)
"Sometimes they demand 500 pieces of bamboo from the whole village. They have also demanded 1,000 pieces. We had to share and divide the amount for each house. Each house has to cut 10 or 20 pieces of bamboo. We then have to carry them to Ah Hoh Wa village. The chairperson there has to continue sending them on to LIB #3."
"Naw Tah Tah" (F, 24), villager from xxxx village, Thaton township (Interview #99, 11/03)
"They demanded everything. They demanded wood, bamboo, timber and thatch. The Burmese were going to build a school at Lay Kay. They ordered the villagers to help them. The villagers had to help with money, wood and bamboo because they demanded it. Thu K'Bee and Paya Raw paid 50,000 Kyat. Our village only had to pay 30,000 Kyat because it is small."
"Saw Dee Kay" (M, 50), refugee from xxxx village, Bilin township (Interview #53, 3/03)
Some villages are told that if they are not able to supply the requested amount, they can send the prevailing market value of the materials instead. However, the amounts that they are ordered to pay are usually significantly higher than the local market rates. In some cases, as is demonstrated by Order #7 shown below, some Army officers specifically tell the villagers to send money rather than the bamboo or thatch. This order, issued to a village in Bilin township in January 2004, clearly informs the villagers not to bother sending the requested 1,000 shingles of thatch, but to send their cost price of 40,000 Kyat instead. In this case, the market price quoted by the officer has been grossly inflated. "Daw Khu Pu" [Interview #56] , a villager from the village that this order was issued to, had told a KHRG researcher on a separate occasion that 1,000 shingles of thatch, depending on the type, would only be worth 20,000 to 30,000 Kyat. This officer is clearly interested only in making more money for himself, particularly as he sent an order identical to this one to a neighbouring village. Ordering the villagers to send money rather than the actual thatch saves the officer and his men the intermediary step of having to sell the thatch. This way they get the money right away.
"We had to pay the Burmese for the roof of their camp. We had to send thatch, but if we couldn't send it to them we could send money."
"Saw Dee Kay" (M, 50), refugee from xxxx village, Bilin township (Interview #53, 3/03)
Stamp: Informing you in a few words. Don't waste time preparing the 1,000 [shingles] of thatch you have to give. [Instead,] When this letter is received, send at once their cost price of (40,000), forty thousand Kyat, quickly. [Sd.] |
| Order #7: This order, issued by the DKBA explicitly informs the village head not to bother preparing the 1,000 shingles of roofing thatch that they were earlier ordered to provide, but to send their (inflated) market price of 40,000 Kyat. |
Thaton District's reputation as a source of thatch for the commercial market has been seen as an opportunity by some officers to demand huge quantities of thatch from the villagers which they then sell for personal profit. Over the past few years, the DKBA has been annually demanding 2,000 shingles of thatch from each village in Pa'an township and some of the villages in Bilin township. The thatch must be sent by bullock cart to the DKBA #333 Brigade headquarters at Ohn Daw (in Papun District). Some villages must resort to buying thatch just to be able to send enough to the DKBA, while others are able to simply send money instead. While some of this thatch was used to repair their camps and the homes of the soldiers' families, much of it would have been sold to raise money for the DKBA. Depending on the particular type of palm used to make the thatch, the local market value for the entire 2,000 shingles would be worth something in the range of 40,000 to 60,000 Kyat. To put this into perspective, this equates to being between roughly four and six months worth of wages for the average villager. The villagers are not compensated for their labour.
"We always have to give thatch once a year to the Ko Per Baw ['Yellow headbands'; slang for the DKBA]. We recently went to give them thatch, but it was not complete. They demanded 1,500 shingles of thatch. We sent only 1,150. I told them, 'Let us rest for a year.' They said, 'Elder sister, we can't let you rest.' I said, 'Pwa! You have said that you came to make peace. You have come and stay here peacefully in the big houses together with your wives and children, but you are still forcing us.' They said, 'We must always force you to do only thatch.' They demanded 2,000 shingles of thatch every year, but this year they reduced it to 1,500. We have to give it to them because we don't have money. We have to send them to Ohn Daw, to Taught Deh Gone."
"Daw Paw Ghay" (F, 50), village head from xxxx village (Interview #75, 7/03)
"They [DKBA] demand 2,000 shingles of thatch each time. We carry it for them to Ohn Daw or pay money. Last year there was no bullock cart road yet. They ordered us to do it and carry it. We had to go among the mountains. It was very bad and the road was no good, so we paid them 40,000 Kyat. It was for 40,000 Kyat. They said that 100 shingles was 2,000 Kyat. We paid them 40,000 Kyat. They said it was for the roofs of their soldiers' families' houses. ... They don't like it if we don't pay them. They would fine and beat us if we didn't pay them. Here every village pays them. No village dares to stay without paying them."
"Saw Cho Aung" (M, 49), village head from xxxx village, Bilin township (Interview #64, 7/03)
"When the DKBA come they force us to work. They force us to porter and guide them. ... They demand thatch. They demand 2,000 shingles of thatch each time. This year, 100 shingles of thatch is 1,200 Kyat. We have to give it to them every year. If we don't give it, they demand money instead."
"Saw Loh Mu" (M, 45), village head from xxxx village, Pa'an township (Interview #93, 5/04)
"The monk soldiers [DKBA] demanded thatch. They demand it regularly once a year. They demand 1,000 shingles of thatch from our villagers. They demand 1,000 shingles of thatch once a year. They don't pay anything. We have to make it for them for free. ... They told me that if we didn't give it to them, they would put the villagers in jail cells and take action against them."
"Saw Thu Day" (M, 35), village head from xxxx village, Pa'an township (Interview #96, 5/04)
"They demanded thatch. They counted and it depended on the number of houses. There are 40 houses [she had previously said 60 houses] in our village. They demanded 10 shingles from each house. How much thatch would you get from 40 houses? They would get 400 shingles of thatch from 40 houses. They demanded it for free. They didn't pay money. K'haw lah [a type of palm] thatch is 2,000 Kyat for 100 shingles. Loh lah [a different type of palm] thatch is 3,000 Kyat for 100 shingles. They didn't pay us money. We had to do it for free."
"Daw Khu Pu" (F, 50), village head from xxxx village, Bilin township (Interview #56, 11/03)
Stamp: To: 21-2-04 When you receive this letter, you must send 5,000 [shingles] of thatch to yyyy [Army] camp. When this is received, obey and comply at once. [Sd.] |
| Order #8: An order issued by a DKBA #333 Brigade officer for 5,000 shingles of roofing thatch. Orders of this magnitude have become common of the DKBA in recent years. Thaton District is known as a source of thatch for the commercial market in Burma, and many officers from the SPDC and the DKBA have seen this as an opportunity for making money. It is likely that the vast majority, if not all of this thatch would find its way in to those markets to be sold for the profit of the officers. The village head had arranged for his villagers to send 3,000 shingles of thatch in three installments of 1,000 shingles each. They were not paid for their work. |
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Order #9 Stamp: List of the village tract hill toddy thatch quotas: 1. Ah Hoe Wa tract Hill toddy thatch 4,000 [shingles] |
| Order #9: This undated order was issued to villages in early 2005 demanding quotas of roofing thatch from a number of different village tracts. Village tracts in this area typically comprise 5-10 villages. All thatch is demanded without payment and the time spent collecting and weaving the thatch detracts from time that the villagers would otherwise spend trying to raise enough food for their families. |
In areas such as southern Pa'an and Thaton townships where there are many Army camps, villages may face several demands from a number of different camps at the same time. Some villages have to fulfil demands for both the SPDC and the DKBA. The soldiers rarely show any leniency to villages that must comply with several simultaneous orders, demanding only that the materials be delivered to the camp by the due date. One such example, however, occurred on September 8 th 2004, when the village head from xxxx village was summoned to a meeting by IB # xx [see Order #10 reproduced below] . At the meeting, Deputy Battalion Commander aaaa demanded that the village send him a quantity of bamboo. The village head complained that they were already under obligation to supply thatch to the SPDC Army camp at yyyy and would be unable to arrange any villagers to cut the bamboo until they had completed preparing the thatch. In a rare display of compassion, aaaa agreed to allow the villagers to complete the other demand before attending to his.
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| These villagers were ordered to cut and mill this log and others like it into planks for the SPDC in May 2001. They were not paid for their labour. [Photo: KHRG] |
Perhaps reflecting the uneasy alliance existing between the SPDC and the DKBA, in 2004 the DKBA told villagers to prioritise their demands over those given by SPDC units, stating that "This is our area. It does not belong to the Burmese" . Local SPDC Army officers, obviously unhappy with this, replied that the villagers must obey their orders before paying any heed to those issued by the DKBA. An SPDC officer told one village head, "Burma is our country. They don't have a country. ... They don't have any real land" . Following this, the villagers were at a loss as to whose orders should be obeyed, knowing full well that to go one way or the other would likely result in consequences. On a number of occasions, villagers who have not responded to forced labour demands fast enough have been beaten by SPDC Army soldiers [see the 'Killings, Detention, and Torture' section] .
"We took the responsibility to build the school, so they didn't demand it [other forced labour] from our village. Division ordered that xxxx village must build a basic education primary school for self-reliance. They [DKBA] told us not to go to collect the piles of stone and repair the road. They told us not to go to send the thatch, but they [SPDC] wrote us a letter. They informed the DKBA, but the DKBA said [to the villagers], 'You must send it [thatch]. This is our area. It doesn't belong to the Burmese.' The Burmese said, ' Burma is our country. They [DKBA] don't have a country. They changed from KNU to DKBA. They are now taking peace with their weapons. They don't have any real land.' After they said that we didn't know what to do [whose order to obey]. We only know that we still have to send the thatch and bamboo."
"Saw Heh Taw" (M, 51), village head and school teacher from xxxx village, Bilin township (Interview #74, 5/04)
Stamp: To: Subject: Come to meet Regarding the above subject, the yyyy Camp Column Commander wants to meet, so come to meet on 8.9.2004 to arrive at 1000 hours [10 am] , you are informed. [Sd.] 6.9.04 |
| Order #10: An order summoning the village head to attend a meeting at the local Army camp. At the meeting, the deputy battalion commander demanded bamboo. The village head replied to this complaining that they were already working to fulfil orders for thatch from another nearby Army camp and that his villagers would not be able to collect the bamboo until the other demands had been met. Many villages that are located close to numerous different camps may face multiple overlapping or conflicting demands from each of theose camps. |
The villagers are all too aware of the punishments that may await them if they fail to comply with the orders issued. One villager from Pa'an township told KHRG in 2001 that he was beaten with a piece of bamboo as round as a man's fist by a DKBA soldier when his village did not supply the required amount of thatch.
"When they [DKBA] came to our village they came to demand thatch. They demanded 20 thatch shingles from each house. We couldn't get enough thatch when they came to demand it, so we reported to them, but they didn't believe us. ... After they demanded the thatch and we couldn't find enough thatch, they called me down from my house and hit me five times. They beat me with bamboo as big as a fist and 3 pla [137 cms. / 4.5 feet] long. They told me that I said to them that there was no thatch so they were angry and beat me. They told me, 'Later, don't ever say that there is no thatch.' They didn't say anything else and turned back their heads [went on their way]. Then they went to the village head's house."
"Saw Hla Than" (M, 37), villager from xxxx village, Pa'an township (Interview #77, 4/01)
Other Forms of Forced Labour
While portering and work on the roads are for finite periods of time, other forms of forced labour are demanded on a rotational, but more permanent basis. These types of labour include sending villagers as set tha ('messengers') or performing labour at Army camps. Both DKBA and SPDC Army officers tell village heads to have one or several villagers available on call either at the village or at the Army camp to send messages and written order documents for the officers. At the Army camps villagers are ordered to perform menial tasks such as construct fences around the camp, dig trenches, build barracks for the soldiers, fetch water, and cut firewood.
"They always demand 'set tha' ['messengers']. They demand bicycle 'set tha' and foot 'set tha'. One person for bicycle 'set tha' has to stay on standby and one person for foot 'set tha' must always stay on standby also. They force the people to send letters and go tell things. It is always two people per day. Sometimes they force them to send letters. Mostly they force them to send letters and tell things at Lay Kay. Sometimes they force people to go as far as Yoh Klah. If they force people to go to Kyo Wai, they have to go to Kyo Wai."
"Naw Hla Win" (F, ?), refugee from xxxx village, Bilin township (Interview #58, 5/03)
"We had to do everything for their camp; build the huts, cut bamboo and wood. We had to do thatch, bamboo, and even punji stakes. We had to make everything. We couldn't go to do it anymore. We went 5 or 10 or 15 people. It was not regular. If they demanded 20 people, then 20 people had to go."
"Saw Say Tee" (M, 48), refugee from xxxx village, Bilin township (Interview #57, 5/03)
"We had to go and build things. We had to go and build the place where they lived [a barracks]. They built warehouses to store the rice. We had to go and dig trenches. When they ordered us to go, they could force us to do whatever they wanted. If they ordered us to dig a trench, we had to dig a trench. If they ordered us to build their living place, we had to build their living place."
"Saw Lah Say" (M, 41), refugee from xxxx village, Bilin township (Interview #51, 3/03)
"When the villagers had to do 'loh ah pay' [forced labour] for the Burmese they had to build buffalo sheds, pig sties, roof barracks, cut bamboo and cut firewood. We always had to do this."
"Saw Play Kee" (M, 40), refugee from xxxx village, Thaton township (Interview #98, 3/03)
To: 15-5-2004 Mother, tomorrow on 16-5-2004 send set tha [messengers] to arrive at 0600 [o'clock] . With respect, |
| Order #1: An order issued to a village in Bilin township by the VPDC of a neighbouring village on behalf of the local SPDC Army camp commander, demanding that they attend a meeting. At the meeting, the Win Ta Pa camp commander, Captain Kyaw Zin Oo ordered that each village in attendance collect 300 kyin [30, 000 cubic feet / 985 cubic metres] of stone for use in the construction of the Kyaik Khaw-Lay Kay car road. |
Villagers are also forced to stand sentry along the roads, at bridges, and along the natural gas pipeline that runs adjacent to the Martaban-Rangoon car road and railway. The Army orders that the villagers construct sentry huts at regular intervals along the road where they must wait and act as sentries on a rotating schedule. The distances between these huts vary depending on the road and which battalion is charged with protecting it. The sentries are supposed to keep a look out for resistance forces crossing the road or placing landmines on it. Those standing sentry on the pipeline are supposed to report any suspicious activity to prevent it from being sabotaged or blown up. If the villagers see anything they are supposed to report it to the next sentry post until the message relay reaches an Army camp. One villager from Bilin township told KHRG that his village had been ordered to provide three sentries for the pipeline every night for the past year. The sentry huts on the pipeline are located only 200 metres [220 yards] apart. Any villager who falls asleep while on watch is fined, while those who fail to report KNLA movements can be arrested and beaten if the SPDC should learn of it later. Another villager from Pa'an township maintained that he and his fellow villagers even had to sweep the roads clear of leaves. This is done presumably to show the soldiers that there are no landmines planted under them.
"They force us to sentry the gas pipeline. They force us to go to A'Leh Sakan [Army camp]. Three villagers must go as 'set tha' [messengers]. Three villagers have to go and sentry at night. It is close to yyyy village on the Pay T'Ya road. We have to go and stand sentry at the fork of the road at the zzzz pagoda. The xxxx village sentry hut is there."
"Saw Kyaw Thu" (M, 40) village tract head from xxxx village, Bilin township (Interview #69, 11/03)
"When I went to the battalion [camp], the battalion commander told me that we have to report to them if we see the jungle people [KNU]. He said, 'Don't ask them to come and destroy the gas pipeline. If they destroy the gas pipeline, we will order the villagers to repay it. If you see them, tell them and plead with them that if they destroy it, you also will be hurt and destroyed. If you see the jungle people, tell them not to come to destroy it.' He also said, 'The villagers are tired and we are also tired. If they come to destroy it, you will have to stand sentry on it. They have come to cut it off and make it explode so now your villagers will have to stand sentry for it again.' Last year [2002] they stopped us standing sentry for nine months. Now we have to restart standing sentry from the month of Tan Ku [Burmese month corresponding to April] until the current month of Ta Saung Mon [November]. They haven't stopped it yet. Three people have to stand sentry each night. The soldiers stand sentry and the villagers also stand sentry. They [SPDC] stand sentry and they also patrol. When we wait as sentries, we must send the information to Thee Ho Army camp. They are from [LID] #66. They tell them [the sentries], 'Don't fall asleep. If you fall asleep, we will fine you'. They do not allow the villagers to sleep in the night. They stay one furlong [200 metres / 220 yards] away from our place [sentry hut]. If the people [KNLA] come in the night, we must go and report it to them. ... We have had to [stand] sentry on the gas pipeline everyday for almost one year now. The villagers are faced with many problems. "
"Saw Kyaw Thu" (M, 40) village tract head from xxxx village, Bilin township (Interview #69, 11/03)
"We had to go and act as sentries on the road near Ta Paw. It is over the Baw Naw River . We stayed at the side of the road. We had to wait and sleep. We set up a hut and cooked rice and we had to stay like that. They didn't pay us. We had to bring our own food. ... The cars are travelling [on the road] and they are worried that the people [KNLA] will plant the things [landmines]. While we are waiting by the road we have to sweep and clear the road. Sometimes when the leaves fall down we have to sweep them off the road. Five or ten people have to go each time. It is for three days and then another group replaces us."
"Saw Ler Wah" (M, 35), refugee from xxxx village, Pa'an township (Interview #82, 4/02)
Forced Labour on SPDC and DKBA Commercial Projects
The SPDC maintains several money-making ventures in Thaton District, particularly in Thaton and Pa'an townships. Some of these, such as a rubber tyre factory in Thaton and a sugar refinery and alcohol distillery in Bilin, are managed by the military and operated by paid workers. Others, such as the Myaing Galay cement factory in Pa'an township, use unpaid convict labour as at least part of their workforce. These convicts, many of whom are taken from the Won Saung # 2 internment camp located on the opposite bank of the Salween River in Pa'an, are never paid for any of the work that they do [for further details see 'Convict Labour' below as well as the previously published KHRG report, "Convict Porters: The Brutal Abuse of Prisoners on Burma's Frontlines" (KHRG #2000-06, 20/12/2000 ) ] .
In addition to these factories, the SPDC and the DKBA have extensive rubber, fruit, sugarcane, coconut, and cashew plantations as well as a plantation raising various trees with medicinal properties. The SPDC also has rice fields which it uses to grow rice for its soldiers. These fields and plantations are all built on land that was originally confiscated from local villagers. Some of these plantations have been around since the 1960s and 70s, but KHRG researchers report that the SPDC has recently increased the activity. In December 2004, the SPDC confiscated 5,000 acres of farmland belonging to villagers from Bilin township to make way for an immense rubber plantation to be jointly operated by the SPDC and Rangoon-based company, Max Myanmar [also see Photos 7-50 through 7-52 in the 'Food and Livelihoods' section of "KHRG Photo Set 2005-A" (KHRG #2005-P1, 27/5/2005) , for photographs of the plantation] . On December 3 rd 2004, Chief of the Bureau of Special Operations #4 (covering Karen and Mon States , as well as Tenasserim Division) and SPDC member Lieutenant General Maung Bo, together with representatives of Max Myanmar, visited the site and confiscated the land from the villagers who lived there. In May 2005, the General and Max Myanmar representatives, including the company's chairperson, U Zaw Zaw, returned to the plantation to inspect the progress that had been made. The visit was reported in the official New Light of Myanmar newspaper (English version) on May 9 th 2005: "At the briefing hall of Max Myanmar company which is engaged in growing 5000 acres of rubber in Shweyaungpya village in Bilin Township , U Zaw Zaw Chairman of the company [Max Myanmar] briefed Lt-Gen Maung Bo and party on cultivation of rubber. Lt-Gen Maung Bo urged officials concerned to extend cultivation of rubber in the interests of the State, the region and in their own. Next, they inspected rubber plantations by car. According to the rubber growing project of Max Myanmar, 1000 acres will be put under rubber in 2004-2005, 2000 acres in 2005-2006 and the remaining 2000 in 2006-2007." (3) The villagers were not compensated in any way for the loss of their land, yet Max Myanmar is regularly cited in the New Light of Myanmar for making donations to sporting events, local education projects, and for the benefit of the families of SPDC Army soldiers. On February 4 th 2005, the company donated 10 Million Kyat to "Tatmadaw families of regiments and units" in Irrawaddy Division (4) . Moreover, according to The Irrawaddy news magazine, U Zaw Zaw is ranked among Burma 's ten most successful business tycoons; he is a member of the elitist Myanmar Football Federation and is also the president of the Myanmar Tennis Federation (5) , which has been responsible for hosting international tennis tournaments such as the Davis Cup. Aside from its interests in rubber plantations, Max Myanmar also has business interests in the import-export of heavy machinery and road and railroad construction. Though no evidence has been thus far uncovered to confirm it, it is quite possible that Max Myanmar may also be involved in the many road construction projects being undertaken in the district.
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| The farmland shown in this photo was confiscated from villagers in Thaton township to make way for the vast 5,000 acre rubber plantation co-operated by the SPDC and Rangoon-based company Max Myanmar. The villagers were not compensated in any way for the confiscation of their farms or the loss of their livelihoods. [Photo: KHRG] |
Villagers in Thaton township face a particularly hard time with land confiscation. Much of the villagers' land is confiscated and destroyed to allow for the plantations. No compensation is given for the land and to add insult to injury, the villagers are then forced to work on these plantations. They have to erect fences around the plantations and take responsibility for their security, protecting them from wild animals and birds and ensuring that resistance forces stay away. Some villagers are ordered by the DKBA to sleep in the plantations overnight during the dry season in case a fire breaks out. If one does start and some of the plantation is damaged, the DKBA fines the villagers the cost of that which was lost. These plantations are not a way of making money for the village, nor are they for development, but rather generate profits only for the SPDC leadership, its corporate cronies, and in some cases the DKBA. Essentially the villagers are working their own land, but solely for the benefit of the SPDC and the DKBA. Many villagers in Thaton township are forced to plant coconut, sunflower, eucalyptus, cashew, teak, and rubber plantations. The vast majority, if not all of the harvests of such plantations are taken by the SPDC and sold to make money for the commanding officers.
A vast 5,000 acre sugarcane plantation also exists in Thaton township, all of it on land which was confiscated without compensation from the local villagers. The villagers were ordered to cut down all the trees and dig out all of the stumps in preparation for sowing the field with the sugarcane, which they were also later ordered to do. Each year at the completion of the harvest, the villagers are also forced to mill the cane and boil down the juice to crystallise it. The villagers have not received payment for any of the work that they have been forced to do.
"We had to go and plant small rubber and cashew trees, teak trees and another one we call 't'ku' [a type of fig]. We always had to go and plant. We planted them in the beginning of the dry season, in Tawthalin, Thadinkyauk and Ta Saung Mone [Burmese months corresponding to September, October, and November respectively]. They planted and poured water on them."
"Saw Play Kee" (M, 40), refugee from xxxx village, Thaton township (Interview #98, 3/03)
"They [DKBA] make plantations growing rubber, cashews and coconuts for oil. The civilians have to make fences. They had to go and cut and clear the grass and bushes every year. Usually Bo Maung Kyi [DKBA #333 Brigade commander] sends his soldiers to force people and they stay near the Khoh Ni Koh and at the foot of the mountains. They stay among the rubber plantations. The villagers from the villages near there always have to cut and clear the grass. When the fence is broken they have to go and repair it for them. They worry that a fire will break out in the dry season, so the villagers have to go and sleep there to watch for them. If a fire burns the plantation, they will fine the villagers for the cost. The SPDC orders them and they only plant it."
"Saw Kaw Thu" (M, 37), Karen township official, Pa'an township (Interview #6, 6/03)
"They stay at A'Leh Sakan. They have an Army camp there. They have a sugarcane plantation there. The Burmese grow it. They grow 5,000 acres of sugarcane. In 2000 they forced the villagers from Shwe Yaung Pya village to come and work in the sugarcane plantation every day. They had to dig out the stumps and plant the sugarcane. The villagers weren't free to work for themselves. When the time to boil the sugarcane comes, 50 villagers from each village have to go and boil it for a day. They do this every day until the sugarcane plantation is finished. They don't give any payment to the villagers."
"Saw Kyaw Thu" (M, 40) village tract head from xxxx village, Bilin township (Interview #69, 11/03)
The DKBA has been heavily involved in logging in the district. In fact, much of the revenue being raised by the DKBA in Thaton District originates from logging. Villagers are ordered to fell the trees, transport them to the saw mills, mill the wood and then send the milled wood to the DKBA. Often nothing is paid for the wood or for the labour. Like the thatch discussed above, some of the wood is used by the DKBA to build houses for their families, but the rest is sold for a profit. KHRG researchers say that this logging has devastated the forests in Bilin township with only saplings and brush left where there used to be trees. The KNU, who has been trying to control widespread logging in the region, has been unable to do anything to stop it. The KNU has prohibited the cutting of pyin g'doh (ironwood), and inn (mahogany) in Pa'an township, but DKBA and SPDC control is so firm in the township that this is almost impossible to enforce. The villagers are caught in the middle of these conflicting interests, unsure whose orders to obey. If they obey the edict laid down by the KNU, they would have problems with the DKBA and the SPDC, not only for their failure to complete the work, but also for supporting the resistance. Conversely, if they were to obey the orders from the DKBA or the SPDC, they may have problems with the KNU. A village head in Pa'an township told a KHRG researcher that the DKBA had announced in 2004 that they would only process the old trees that had fallen down and not cut new ones. Some villagers continued to cut down trees after the DKBA had announced this and those villagers were fined. This however had less to do with any concern for the environment and more to do with access to the timber and the money raised from its sale.
"When we do logging for them [DKBA], we have to use bulls and bullock carts. We have to carry it by bullock carts and keep it around Noh Aw Lah monastery. There are a lot of logs around Noh Aw Lah monastery. They are ordering us to send more and more bullock carts in the village tract. The bullock carts can't haul it all yet. They are waiting there. They will mill it, so they haul it and gather it around the monastery. Noh Aw Lah monastery is destroyed, so they will rebuild it also. They said they would build the monastery, but for each three posts, only one post is for the monastery. We don't know about the other posts. They will use them for something."
"Saw Bee Lu Lay" (M, 52), village head from xxxx village, Pa'an township (Interview #95, 5/04)
"We have to carry logs for them [DKBA]. They are t'law aw [mahogany] and many other types of logs. They said they were building offices and houses for their soldiers. Many of their people demand it. They are #333 DKBA [Brigade]. They have their camp at Ohn Daw."
"Saw Kwee Tha" (M, 56), village head from xxxx village, Pa'an township (Interview #90, 5/04)
"Now there are many people doing logging. Many people are doing logging in 1st Brigade [Thaton District]. They mill the logs at sawmills."
"Saw Lah Say" (M, 41), refugee from xxxx village, Bilin township (Interview #51, 3/03)
"They [DKBA] demanded small logs [like] t'la aw [mahogany] that they can divide [mill]. They came to demand bullock carts to carry them. They ordered the people to carry it to them by bullock cart. When they demanded bullock carts and the villagers didn't obey, they shot their guns into the villages and tortured them. I didn't see that the villagers were paid."
"Saw Kaw Thu" (M, 37), Karen township official, Pa'an township (Interview #6, 6/03)
"T'la aw [mahogany] is the wood of greatest value in the area. The civilians do not have enough food to eat because the country doesn't have peace. At the time when the leaves of the t'la aw trees fall down they collect them, weave them [into shingles] and sell them. This is one way in which they make a living. When they [DKBA] are demanding these, the civilians don't even have roofs for their own houses. They get angry and do as they want when the villagers don't give them thatch to use. This year they demanded 2,000 shingles of thatch from each village. They use it to roof their own houses. They use it for their camps. They use a lot of thatch every year."
"Saw Kaw Thu" (M, 37), Karen township official, Pa'an township (Interview #6, 6/03)
"They [DKBA] said they would only do the old ones [trees] that had fallen down. They wouldn't do the new ones, but there are new ones. There are many trees. They said that they don't cut them down. They said that they would mill all the trees that they had finished cutting down."
"Saw Tah Ler Kee" (M, 61), village head from xxxx village, Pa'an township (Interview #94, 5/04)
"Now they have stopped it. They stopped all of it. There is nothing left either. There is some t'la aw [mahogany] left, but only a few. During the last dry season, some people didn't know whether they could or not, so they cut the trees down. When the Ko Per Baw ['Yellow headbands'; slang for the DKBA] came, they fined them. They fined anyone who came. Nobody is doing it now. There are only a few trees remaining."
"U Lah Paw" (M, 40), villager from xxxx village, Pa'an township (Interview #91, 5/04)
In addition to their logging concessions, the DKBA also has a trucking and transport company which it uses to raise much of its revenue. The DKBA uses its trucks to transport goods to and from central Burma as well as to and from Thailand. Much of the produce from their plantations and the timber produced by their logging interests is transported in this manner.
"Now they [SPDC] are giving them [the DKBA] the opportunity to drive trucks long distances so they are buying and selling goods and carrying the goods up and down. They do it as they like. ... They do logging, plantations, and transportation. They build roads and bridges so the trucks can travel. Really they have to do it themselves, but they always force the civilians to do it."
"Saw Kaw Thu" (M, 37), Karen township official, Pa'an township (Interview #6, 6/03)
Forced Labour Fees
The regular demands for forced labour severely limit the amount of time in which villagers are available to work in their fields or look after their families, so villagers try to avoid performing the labour as often as possible. Certain forms of forced labour like 'emergency portering' [as discussed above under 'Portering' ] are unavoidable, but for most other forms there is a 'fee' that can be paid to avoid having to go for the labour. Villagers speak of having to pay 'porter fees', ' set tha fees', or ' wontan fees'. These refer to the different system of fees payable for each type of labour that is demanded. Some villagers find that they have to pay a number of these fees either to the same or a number of different Army camps. Villagers can also hire other villagers to go in their place. The fees for this may range anywhere from 150 Kyat to 1,000 Kyat per day. The cost of hiring another villager depends both on the type and duration of the forced labour that the hired villager has to perform. The money for these fees is usually paid directly to the people who are hired to perform the labour. In some of the larger centres, some villagers have established themselves as 'porter brokers', taking a commission for finding the labourers to meet the demand.
Forced labour fees are different from other fees demanded by the SPDC, most of which are little more than simple extortion. Forced labour fees collected by the SPDC are usually bribes paid by the whole village to exempt the village from having to go for a form of forced labour. Once the money is paid by one village, the SPDC officer then orders another village to do the labour. The other village will also probably pay money to get out of the work. This process is repeated from village to village until finally the labour has to be done and the SPDC will declare that no money can be paid for the work and the villagers must come to do it [refer to the 'Fees, Looting, and Extortion' section for further explanation of the other fees exacted from the villagers] .
"When we are not free, we hire people. We hire our friends. If it is 'loh ah pay' [forced labour] for three days, it is about 3,000 or 4,000 Kyat. We can't stay [in our village] without going. If we don't go they will arrest us."
"Saw Pa Aye" (M, 28), villager from xxxx village (Interview #43, 10/02)
"I had to go, but we asked and hired other people. We gave them money. They went instead of us. For me, I couldn't go because I have a small child. We had to go even when it was raining."
"Naw Maw Thee" (F, 20), refugee from xxxx village, Bilin township (Interview #55, 4/03)
Convict Labour
Successive Burmese regimes have long used convicts to supplement villagers as forced labour on infrastructure projects and as porters in major military offensives. In 1996, the SLORC/SPDC institutionalised the use of convict labour with the creation of the Won Saung internment camps. Translating in English as 'carrying service', the Won Saung camps serve as a halfway house to which prisoners are transferred from various prisons around the country to be readily available to frontline battalions for use as convict labourers. KHRG is presently aware of a total of six Won Saung camps located throughout Burma , all of which are positioned close to frontline areas. One of these camps is located at Thaton and two at Pa'an. From the Won Saung , the prisoners are sent out to the frontline battalions. The battalions then take them to carry supplies to their various camps and to perform labour around the camps. The labour performed at the camps is similar to that which the villagers are forced to do; cutting firewood, building fences, digging trenches, carrying water, and so on. Whenever the Army unit goes out on a patrol, the convicts are forced to carry their supplies and ammunition. Only men are taken as convict porters. Political prisoners and those who have lengthy prison terms still ahead of them are never sent as convict porters for fear that they are more likely to attempt to escape. It is usually those who have been arrested for lesser crimes, or often for no crime at all, who are sent as convict porters. In many cases, men have told KHRG that they were arrested without formal charges, sent straight to prison without trial, then almost immediately forwarded on to one of the Won Saung camps without ever having broken the law, apparently just to fill the Army's demands for more forced labourers [For more on the issue of convict porters, see the previously published KHRG report looking specifically at the issue: "Convict Porters : the Brutal Abuse of Prisoners on Burma's Frontlines" (KHRG #2000-06, December 20, 2000) , in addition to "KHRG Photo Set 2005-A"(KHRG #2005-P1, May 27, 2005) which contains close to 50 photographs related directly to convict porters] .
The use of convicts for forced labour has become so pervasive in Thaton District that villagers say they no longer have to go in large groups as operations (frontline) porters. They maintain that this task is reserved for the convicts. The use of convicts as porters is one tactic that the SPDC has employed to try to evade international condemnation for its use of forced labour, particularly by the International Labour Organization (ILO). ILO representatives have confirmed to KHRG that though ILO Convention 29 (which bans forced labour, and to which Burma is a party) allows the use of convict labour under certain circumstances, the ILO views the SPDC's use of convicts for military purposes as forced labour and as violating the SPDC's obligations under Convention 29. Furthermore, the use of convicts as porters in a combat environment, the brutal manner in which they are treated, the lack of medical care afforded to them, and the fact that they can be and often are used as human shields and human minesweepers not only violates the Geneva Conventions but is also in direct contravention of numerous other international humanitarian standards.
"There were about 60 soldiers and there were over 20 porters. They were all from xxxx village. There were also many tens of prisoners. ... There were many prisoners. We always had to follow the prisoners. We saw them last year and again earlier this year. We always carried loads together with them. ... Their clothes are green and their trousers are green [this is unlikely in that once prisoners are taken to be porters, their white prison uniforms are replaced with blue convict porter uniforms]. They always shaved their heads. We saw that they did many things to them. They kicked and stomped on the people who couldn't carry. They killed many of them who couldn't carry. I know that they recently did that to two prisoners. They said that they were sick and died. Maybe they couldn't carry the loads because they were old. We went to bury one of them near their camp. They wrapped him [in a tarpaulin or some cloth] and then we buried him. We didn't dare to open it because the Burmese also went."
"Saw Bo Ghay" (M, 36), refugee from xxxx village, Bilin township (Interview #52, 3/03)
"[The] DKBA is using more forced labour. After Khin Nyunt's declaration that they won't use forced labour anymore [Order #1/99], the SPDC is better but they still use forced labour. [Though] it has gotten better since they started using convict porters."
"Saw Hla Wah" (M, 40), Karen relief worker based in Thaton District (Interview #8, 1/04)
Convicts are treated brutally by the SPDC soldiers. They are generally forced to carry much heavier loads than villagers. Some loads are reported to weigh as much as 30 viss [50 kgs. / 108 lbs.] . They are fed badly, receiving an insufficient amount of food to sustain them. What little they are fed is of poor quality and is sometimes even rotten. They are typically fed low quality rice and a thin bean broth, both in small portions. Almost no medical care is provided for sick convicts. The convicts slowly deteriorate and many become sick from the lack of food coupled with the heavy labour. Convicts who cannot keep up with the column or become too weak to continue to carry their loads are reviled, beaten, and kicked. Some become so ill that they simply cannot continue. The SPDC soldiers then either beat them to death where they lay or leave them there to die.
"The prisoners had to carry loads. Now they call the prisoners the most. They were there before I came [to the refugee camp]. They called a lot of them. They always took them. They hurt them a lot when they couldn't walk. They killed them. I saw it this year. It was during the dry season. They couldn't carry the loads and they were very thin. The prisoners were not strong enough to carry the loads like Karen people. ... I didn't only see it once. Sometimes I saw them kill one prisoner and sometimes I saw them kill two prisoners. I saw them kill only one in the dry season [of 2002-2003]. I also saw it last year. I have seen it every year. It was since they started calling the prisoners. They killed them when they couldn't walk. They left the prisoners who couldn't walk when they were going on the path on the mountain and they died. If they didn't kill them, they left them behind like that because they couldn't walk anymore. They kicked and stomped on them when they couldn't walk, but they still couldn't walk."
"Saw Lah Say" (M, 41), refugee from xxxx village, Bilin township (Interview #51, 3/03)
"They are still forcing us. They force us, but they force the people in blue more. They are prisoners and there are many. They have made mistakes [committed crimes]. They force them to work a lot. They force them the whole day. They beat them like people beat cows and buffaloes. They flee to escape. One day when they fled, they [SPDC soldiers] forced them to come back on four legs [walking bent over using both their hands and feet]. They hit them. They make them hurt a lot. They force them to work the whole day."
"Saw Tha Sein" (M, 35), village head from xxxx village, Bilin township (Interview #60, 6/03)
Many convict porters, fearing that they will be forced to porter loads for the Army until they die either from exhaustion, sickness, the beatings they are subjected to, or from stepping on a landmine realise that their only escape is to attempt to flee. Convict porters seen trying to escape are fired upon by the soldiers and those who are recaptured are severely beaten, sometimes to the point of death, and on occasion beyond it. KHRG has also obtained a number of written SPDC order documents issued to village leaders informing them that some convict porters had escaped and ordered the villagers to capture and return them to the unit. In the event that any of the convicts were captured and returned to the SPDC Army soldiers, they would most likely be severely beaten, possibly to death, in addition to having their prison terms extended indefinitely.
Stamp: To: 24-2-2004 It is known that the village chairperson and some of the villagers have captured the convict servants who have fled from our army. The people who have fled are convicts who violated many kinds of criminal laws and can create many kinds of danger to the villages, so hand [them] over to our army units. [Sd.] |
| Order #1: An order issued to a village in Bilin township by the VPDC of a neighbouring village on behalf of the local SPDC Army camp commander, demanding that they attend a meeting. At the meeting, the Win Ta Pa camp commander, Captain Kyaw Zin Oo ordered that each village in attendance collect 300 kyin [30, 000 cubic feet / 985 cubic metres] of stone for use in the construction of the Kyaik Khaw-Lay Kay car road. |
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