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Forced Labour
/ Attacks on Villages /
Detention & Torture
Shootings & Killings /
Flight & Displacement
Landmines /
Soldiers /
Children / Food
[Clicking on the sample photos shown in the introduction below will take you to the description of that photo. Clicking on a thumbnail above a photo description will provide an enlargement of the photo. It is recommended that you view this set with your web browser window maximised.]
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Most of the population in the Karen areas practice subsistence agriculture. Farmers have small plots of land on which they grow enough paddy to get them through to the next harvest plus a small surplus. Some people grow rice in flat irrigated fields, but in many areas there is little flat land so rice is grown in rain-watered fields on hillsides using a rotating field system. Most people also have small gardens in which they grow vegetables, sugar cane or fruit trees. Villagers also often forage for roots and wild vegetables in nearby forests. Pigs and chickens are raised by villagers both as food and to sell or barter for other foodstuffs like salt, sugar, monosodium glutamate and others. Cows and buffaloes are rarely eaten as they are too valuable as work animals. Villagers are usually able to store away enough paddy or borrow some from neighbours when their harvests are adversely affected by floods or drought. This system is delicate and having enough to eat is very dependent on having the time and stability to raise a good crop.
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For villagers living in hiding in the mountains and forests this system has almost completely broken down. The nearness of SPDC troops has forced villagers to abandon their fields, sometimes with the crop half harvested (see Photos #I1 and thereafter). They are forced to work small patches of ground, often in rocky or steep areas that would not normally be used for a field. The harvests they get from these fields are often not enough to see them through to the next harvest. Villagers are then forced to travel to SPDC-controlled villages to try and barter or buy more rice. These trips are very dangerous, as the villagers must avoid SPDC soldiers who shoot them on sight in the hills, and must also worry about landmines which may have been placed on the paths. Furthermore, if caught in the SPDC-controlled villages they will be arrested as rebels along with anyone who sells food to them, and if caught carrying food into the hills they will also be accused of supplying the rebels. (see Photos #I35 and I36, E92, F28 through F33).
The SPDC Army is pursuing a campaign to destroy the food supply of the displaced villagers to force them to come down out of the mountains to SPDC-controlled relocation sites. The fields are very visible on the sides of the mountains and SPDC soldiers routinely open fire on the villagers working in them with small arms and rifle grenades. They also trample, uproot or burn any crops that they find in the fields. The soldiers also plant landmines in the fields when they leave to keep the villagers from coming back and continuing to use the fields (see Photos #F14 through F17 and thereafter). Villagers working in the fields are shot on sight. Some villagers have no option but to work their fields at night out of fear of nearby SPDC columns. Part of the process of creating a hill field is that the shrubbery that grew up in the field has to be cut down and dried and then burned. The ashes fertilize the soil as well as provide a protective layer for the seeds when they are planted. For the past few years SPDC units have been burning the fields prematurely. If the cut brush is burned too early before it has thoroughly dried it will not burn evenly and the fields will be only partially useable (see Photos #I10 and thereafter). SPDC columns also seek out the villagers' rice storage barns, steal whatever rice they can carry and then burn or dump on the ground what remains (see Photos #I21 and thereafter).
In the captions below, paddy is the term used to refer to rice off the stalk which has not yet been husked. Villagers dry the paddy and store it in paddy barns before pounding small amounts of it to husk it in preparation for cooking.
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| I1 |
Photo #I1: Empty fields in the Baw Kyoh valley in Papun District. Villagers in the area spend much of their time doing forced labour for the SPDC or finding work to pay all of the fees and extortion money so they no longer have time to work these fields. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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I2 |
Photo #I2: Hill fields in the Baw Kyoh valley. This photo was taken on November 10th 2001 at the beginning of the harvest season, but the SPDC has prohibited the villagers in the area from leaving their villages to harvest the paddy. Unless the villagers are allowed to harvest it, the paddy will be destroyed and the villagers will be without food in the upcoming year. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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I3 |
Photo #I3: Flat fields near xxxx village, Pa’an District. Beyond this field in the distance is the camp of LIB #357. The SPDC and DKBA have confiscated all the flat fields around the camp. The villagers are not allowed to work them anymore and they have become overgrown with weeds and bushes. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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| I4 |
Photo #I4: Flat fields at B--- village, northern Papun District. These fields have been left fallow since the SPDC burned the village in March 1998. The villagers do not yet dare to return to work the fields. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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| I5 |
Photo #I5: Hill fields left behind by K--- and N--- villagers when they fled their village in Papun District. They no longer dared to work their fields out of fear of the SPDC soldiers who had begun operating nearby. The paddy in these fields are already half grown. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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| I6 |
Photo #I6: The flat fields in M--- village, eastern Papun District, lie deserted after villagers fled the area earlier in 2002. The villagers were able to work their fields in 2001, but the SPDC built a camp next to the fields in 2002 and the villagers could no longer work them out of fear of the patrolling soldiers who would shoot them on sight. The fields have become overgrown with grass. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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I7 |
Photo #I7: The hill paddy fields near T--- village, Papun District in July 2002. The villagers here are hiding in the forest near their village since IB #xxx under Battalion Commander T--- came to their area and built their camp a half hour walk away. The soldiers come to the village once or twice a month and the villagers have to flee every time. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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| I8 |
Photo #I8: These hill fields near H--- village in Papun District have been abandoned by the fleeing villagers leaving much of their paddy unharvested. The villagers do not dare to go back and complete the harvest due to the nearness of the SPDC troops. This photo was taken on November 23rd 2001. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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| I9 |
Photo #I9: Flat fields in L--- village, Papun District, that were abandoned partially harvested in November 2001. Note the harvested sheaves of paddy laying on the dikes between the fields. The villagers had to leave quickly and were unable to take the paddy with them. This photo was taken in November 2001. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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| E119 | E120 |
Photos #E119, E120: These photos taken in July 2002 show the car road and abandoned paddy fields around Saw Mu Plaw village in northern Papun District. The SPDC built this road from Mu Theh to Wa Klay Htoo Army camp (Photo #E119). This photo was taken in the rainy season when the road is not usable. The road runs through the fields and the villagers no longer dare to farm their fields so they have abandoned them and fled to stay in the forest. Villagers told a KHRG researcher that 350 fields were abandoned. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
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| F14 | F15 | F16 | F17 |
Photos #F14, F15, F16, F17: DKBA landmines being removed from the flat fields and along a path near xxxx village in Pa'an District during July 2002. The mines are made out of pipe and filled with gunpowder. Photo #F17 shows one of the mines in more detail. A small battery is used to power the detonator. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
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| F18 | F19 |
Photos #F18, F19: Naw P---, a 21 year old married hill field farmer from xxxx village, Thaton District. At 7 o’clock in the morning on June 6th 2001, she stepped on a DKBA landmine while walking to her hill field. Her right leg was blown off and her left leg wounded by the mine. She says her ability to work her field and get enough food for her family is now seriously impaired. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
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| F20 | F21 |
Photos #F20, F21: DKBA and SPDC soldiers planted many landmines around Ker Ghaw village in T’Nay Hsah township of Pa’an District during 2001. On September 15th 2001, Saw Wah Po from Kaw Kli village stepped on one of the landmines and was killed while going to his hill field. He was 16 years old. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
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Warning: These photos are graphic.
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| F23 | F24 | F25 |
Photos #F23, F24, F25: Saw P---, 37 years old from xxxx village, stepped on a landmine laid by IB #53 while going to visit his plantation in Toungoo District. He stepped on the landmine on March 6th 2002 at about 8:15 in the morning. The lower portion of his right leg was blown off by the landmine and his left leg injured. These photos were taken on the same day at yyyy village where he was injured. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
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Warning: These photos are graphic.
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| F37 | F38 |
Photos #F37, F38: Naw N--- is a 15 year old girl from xxxx village in Pa’an District. DKBA #999 Brigade soldiers under yyyy camp commander S--- and commander P--- laid landmines beside the zzzz flat fields. Naw N--- told a KHRG researcher that she had gone to take care of the buffaloes in June 2002 beside the zzzz flat fields. At 10 o’clock in the morning she went to find some vegetables to eat. When she went under a tree by the fields she stepped on the landmine. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
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I10 |
Photo #I10: Hill fields in Papun District that were burned off prematurely by SPDC soldiers in early 2002. The uneven burn leaves the farmer with only small portions of his hill field which are plantable. Hill fields only produce enough rice to enable a family to get by from year to year. Without the full use of the field farmers must stretch their own rice farther and find rice elsewhere to supplement what little they will be able to get from their field. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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| I11 | I12 | I13 | I14 |
Photos #I11, I12, I13, I14: These fields belonging to villagers from K--- village in Thaton District were burned off prematurely by SPDC soldiers of LID #44, LIB #118, Column #1 under Battalion Deputy Commander Saw Leh Soe on March 13th 2002. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
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| I15 | I16 |
Photos #I15, I16: Soldiers from LIB #118, LID #44 came through L--- village, Thaton District, on March 4th 2002 and burned all of the villagers' fields that they saw next to the road. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
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| I17 | I18 | I19 |
Photos #I17, I18, I19: These fields in L--- and H--- villages in Thaton District were burned by SPDC soldiers of LIB #118 on March 14th 2002. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
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I20 |
Photo #I20: The remains of a sugar cane field in eastern Papun District. SPDC soldiers ate or destroyed all the sugar cane when they stayed nearby in early 2002. No compensation was given to the villagers. Crops like sugar cane are grown by the villagers both for their own consumption and to sell or barter for rice or other foodstuffs. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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| B33 | B34 |
Photos #B33, B34: SPDC soldiers of IB #230 led by Battalion Commander Lwin Soe fought with KNLA soldiers beside the Hanthayaw River in Kya In township, Dooplaya District on November 20th 2001. After the fight, the SPDC soldiers burned and destroyed the nearby huts, straw and sugar cane plantations of the villagers. The straw was being kept to feed the cattle in the rainy season. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
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| I21 |
Photo #I21: Photo of Saw P---’s rice barn which was destroyed by SPDC soldiers in Papun District in December 2001. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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| I22 |
Photo #I22: Paddy which has been left behind by H--- villagers fleeing SPDC columns which have come to operate in Papun District. They did not dare to go back and take the paddy out of fear of being shot by the patrolling soldiers. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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| I23 | I24 |
Photos #I23, I24: Paddy which M--- villagers in Papun District had to leave behind when they fled. It was found by SPDC troops, who took some, threw some on the ground (Photo #I23), and piled some on cooking fire pits within the houses to try to burn it (Photo #I24). [Photos: KHRG researcher]
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I25 |
Photo #I25: The remnants of M---’s paddy, burned by soldiers of LIB #361 on February 15th 2002 in Nyaunglebin District. All 70 baskets [1,750 kgs. / 3,850 lbs.] of paddy were destroyed. This will leave M---’s family with very little, if any, food for the year. They will likely have to beg for food from others, buy food from another village or try to flee to a refugee camp in Thailand. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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I26 |
Photo #I26: Naw S--- looks for any paddy that may be saved after SPDC soldiers burned down her paddy barn in M--- village in Papun District in 2002. There were 50 baskets [1,250 kgs. / 2,750 lbs.] of paddy in the barn. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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B68 |
B69 |
Photos #B68, B69: On February 12th 2002, LIB #102, LID #44 entered Toh Nyo village and looted the villagers’ belongings. They took machetes, clothes, pigs, chickens, coconuts and rice and did not pay for anything. The feathers under the tree are what remains of the chickens the soldiers killed and plucked to cook for their meal (Photo #B68). The soldiers slept in the village for a night and the next day went back to Paw Hta (Photo #B69) where they also stole the villagers’ belongings. SPDC soldiers climbed the coconut trees to steal the coconuts, drank the water from the coconuts and threw the rest away. The feathers on the ground are from chickens that they also stole and ate. These photos were taken the following day. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
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E2 |
Photo #E2: Naw T---, 45 years old, from H--- village, Lu Thaw township, Papun District and her children. The villagers from her village have found it difficult to find enough food to eat because they have had to constantly flee the SPDC Army since 1996. She told KHRG that, “They [SPDC soldiers] don’t only kill the old people and children, they kill everyone. They don’t only oppress H--- village, they oppress all the villages around H--- village. The Burmese don’t only shoot the people holding weapons [KNLA], they treat us the same as the people who hold weapons. They also said we are the strength of the people who hold weapons, so they will destroy all of our Karen people so there won’t be anyone alive anymore.” She could no longer endure the constant hunger and fear of living in the forest, so she started the difficult journey to a refugee camp in mid-2001. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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E3 |
Photo #E3: Saw W---, 50 years old, is the village head of xxxx hiding site, Papun District. He and his villagers fled to an internally displaced villager hiding site after SPDC soldiers burned their village. According to him, the oppression is especially bad in this area because the SPDC says it is the place where the relatives of Bo Mya, the former president of the KNU and current commander of the KNLA, live. Many of the villagers in the area are running out of food and have been forced to eat boiled rice porridge to get through the year. He said that many people had died, most of them children. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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E6 |
Photo #E6: Saw P---, 56 years old, from Ler Mu Plaw village tract in northern Papun District. He was a hill field farmer in B--- village but he can no longer stay there since the SPDC Army set up a camp in his village. He told KHRG researchers that he has had to face a lack of food and illnesses. Sometimes he must eat bamboo shoots and roots because there is nothing else to eat. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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E29 |
Photo #E29: Saw P---, 56 years old, is a hill field farmer from M--- village in Papun District. He had to flee along with the other villagers from his village when SPDC soldiers of LID #33 entered T--- village which was only a half hour away. They had to leave their hill fields behind when they fled and now must face difficulty in finding enough food to eat. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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E33 |
Photo #E33: Saw P--- is a 38 year old married hill field farmer and village head from xxxx village, Papun District. On November 14th 2001, LIB's #xx and xxx came to yyyy where the xxxx villagers were hiding, forcing the villagers to flee. The soldiers ate the villagers’ pigs, chickens and goats, dismantled the villagers’ houses and took many of the villagers’ belongings. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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E58 |
Photo #E58: Saw P---, a 47 year old Karen animist hill field farmer, lived in M--- village, eastern Papun District, until December 20th 2001 when LIB #341 and IB #19 entered the village and burned down his house and rice barn with all of his belongings inside. He fled with his family into the forest and now they do not have any food and must go to ask for it in other villages. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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| E86 | E87 | E88 | E89 |
Photos #E86, E87, E88, E89: Villagers from M--- village in eastern Papun District stay in bamboo shelters in the forest. They were forced to flee their village when SPDC soldiers built their camp nearby. Columns #1 and 2 of a battalion of LID #44 under commanders Win Naing and Aung Kyaw Moe began operating around M--- village on March 1st 2002. The presence of the SPDC soldiers meant that the villagers could no longer work their hill fields so they fled into the forest. They told KHRG researchers that no one stays in the village anymore. The villagers left all of their paddy and rice in the village when they fled and it was destroyed by the soldiers. The soldiers did not burn the village, but they took everything. Note the prosthesis on the man in Photo #E87. Landmines are a constant danger for villagers who often step on them in their fields, in the villages and on paths in the forest. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
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| E90 | E91 |
Photos #E90, E91: Huts built by T--- villagers after SPDC soldiers of LIB #102, LID #44 came to their village and burned it on March 9th 2002. The soldiers burned the villagers’ stored paddy when they burned the houses so the villagers do not have anything to eat. The villagers had to build new huts and find food to eat while still finding time to prepare their hill fields for planting. SPDC troops were still operating in the area so the villagers had to work in fear of being caught in the open in their fields and shot. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
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| I27 |
Photo #I27: SPDC soldiers of LIB #341 stabbed this villager's pot with their bayonets to make it useless. The pots had been left behind by displaced villagers fleeing SPDC soldiers in Papun District in early 2002. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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| I28 | I29 |
Photos #I28, I29: L--- villagers in eastern Papun District hurry to plant their hill fields in the sun because the SPDC Army is operating nearby. Villagers are easy targets while in their fields because they easily stand out and there is no place for them to hide. SPDC soldiers commonly open fire on displaced villagers working in their fields. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
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| I30 | I31 |
Photos #I30, I31: The villagers of M--- village in Papun District must harvest their paddy at night during late November 2001 because of the presence of units of LID #33 about a half hour away. The villagers had to hurry to harvest their paddy before the SPDC soldiers arrived and destroyed it, leaving them with no food for the year. All of the villagers, men, women, children and the elderly worked together in the hill fields all day and all night to finish the harvest. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
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| I32 | I33 |
Photos #I32, I33: Saw T---, a K--- villager, Papun District, examining the remains of his paddy barn after SPDC soldiers burned it down in mid-November 2001. In Photo #I33, Saw T---’s wife, Naw P--- is collecting the rest of their paddy that the SPDC troops did not find. This paddy will have to be stretched further now that their paddy barn has been burned down. A new crop will not be ready for harvesting for another year. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
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I34 |
Photo #I34: This woman in xxxx village, Papun District is putting her rice into tins to hide it the next time SPDC soldiers come to the village. The SPDC entered the village one or two days previously and had taken much of the villagers' rice, clothing and other things. The xxxx villagers face the SPDC but they are afraid of them. The soldiers do whatever they want to the villagers and the villagers do not dare to say anything to them. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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| I35 | I36 |
Photos #I35, I36: Villagers from xxxx, yyyy and zzzz villages in Toungoo District rest on the way while going to get rice. They no longer have any food in their village due to SPDC operations nearby and have to go to other villages to find rice to carry back to eat. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
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E92 |
Photo #E92: This family from K--- village in eastern Papun District does not have any rice or paddy anymore and they can no longer work their hill field because the SPDC troops are operating in the area. They have to go and ask for food from other villages. To do this they have to avoid patrolling SPDC soldiers and hope that they do not step on a landmine. They told a KHRG researcher that they are afraid to go, but they have to do it anyway. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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Warning: These photos are graphic.
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| F28 | F29 | F30 |
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| F31 | F32 | F33 |
Photos #F28, F29, F30, F31, F32, F33: Saw A--- (Photos #F28 and F29), 37 years old, and Saw H--- (Photos #F30 and F31), 14 years old, were going to buy food in xxxx village on March 22nd 2002 with 18 other villagers from yyyy village. At 6:40 in the morning they stepped on landmines at zzzz on a path beside the xxxx River in Toungoo District. The landmines had been laid by SPDC Infantry Battalions #53, 264 and 30. Both men died immediately. These photos were taken on March 23rd 2002. Photo #F33 shows Saw N--- (on the left), a 12 year old, fifth standard student, whose father, Saw A---, was killed by the landmines. Photos #F28 through F31 were taken where the men actually died, while photo #F32 shows the bodies together in preparation for burial. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
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E40 |
Photos #E40: Pots, plates, blankets and used clothing which have been carried in by Karen relief teams to internally displaced villagers from Nyaunglebin District who fled to western Papun District in late 2001. While this assistance helps some of the villagers, there is never enough to provide for all the displaced villagers. Many displaced villagers in more remote areas are simply too far for relief teams to reach. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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I37 |
Photo #I37: A village girl from xxxx village, Papun District puts rice in a basket. On February 12th 2002, LIB #102 took most of her rice when they came to the village, leaving her and her family with very little rice to eat anymore. The xxxx villagers live under the control of the SPDC and have to do whatever the SPDC wants when they come to the village. If they complain to the soldiers they risk being beaten. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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| I38 |
Photo #I38: A young girl from P--- village in eastern Papun District sifts rice in preparation for cooking. SPDC soldiers of LIB #341 and IB #19 entered her village in mid-December 2001 and burned all the houses and paddy barns. The villagers must now go and find paddy to eat in other villages. They must travel in fear of SPDC patrols. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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| I39 |
Photo #I39: M--- villagers in Nyaunglebin District pound paddy in the forest to remove the husks after SPDC soldiers burned their village. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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| I40 |
Photo #I40: Children from K--- village look after the rice pot after fleeing their village in western Papun District. This photo was taken in March 2002. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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| E114 |
Photo #E114: Naw W---, 10 years old, is a villager from K--- village in eastern Papun District. Her family was forced to flee into the forest after SPDC military operations near their village made it impossible to stay there anymore. Her parents have to go and weed the small hill field they have in the forest, so Naw W--- must stay home and pound the family’s paddy for them to eat. This photo was taken in June 2002. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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| E115 |
Photo #E115: These two children from D--- village in eastern Papun District are no longer able to go to school because their family has had to flee SPDC troops operating in the area. They now have to stay in an internally displaced villager hiding site. Their parents have to go and work in their field, so the children have to take on the responsibility of pounding the rice every evening for their evening meal. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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E124 |
Photo #E124: Naw D---, 10 years old, and her sister Naw S---, 7 years old, pound rice under their house in the xxxx hiding site in northern Papun District. Both of the girls go to school during the day but they must pound paddy afterwards so their family can eat in the evening. SPDC activity in the area has made it difficult for villagers in the area to work their fields and find enough food to eat. Their father has gone to find paddy in another place and their mother must go to weed their small field leaving the children to take care of chores around the house like pounding the paddy. Sometimes these children do not have enough food to eat when they go to school. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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| I41 |
Photo #I41: P--- villagers who where forced to flee when Tactical Operations Command #333, LID #33 destroyed their village in Papun District in November 2001. The villagers ran to stay in the forest and have built small huts to live in. No one stays in their village anymore. Most of their food is gone except for what they can gather from the forest like the chillies and other vegetables on the platform. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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| I42 |
Photo #I42: A family from M--- village, Papun District take a rest and eat in their hill field. They were forced to flee their village in late 2001 and are living in the nearby forest. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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I43 |
Photo #I43: Villagers from H--- village, Papun District, share a meal together. LIB #207 of TOC #442, LID #44 was operating in their area and destroyed the villagers' fields and hidden paddy caches. The villagers do not dare to go back to the area to get their paddy and they no longer have much food. Note the lack of plates and utensils and the single pot of curry which they all must share. This photo was taken in July 2002. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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I44 |
Photo #I44: Villagers have a meager meal in their house in Papun District. SPDC soldiers had recently come and taken their pots, plates and other belongings so they do not have enough plates to eat on anymore. The meal consists only of rice, a thin bean curry and chillies. Most villagers in the area, whether under SPDC control or displaced in the forest, must subsist on an inadequate diet because of the difficulties in finding food or finding the time to work their fields. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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| I45 |
Photo #I45: Villagers from xxxx village, in the plains of Nyaunglebin District, who have come up into the forest to sell goods to villagers from the mountains. The villagers from the plains have arranged a place for villagers from the mountains to come down to buy and sell goods. The trading has to be done secretly in the forest and at night out of fear of SPDC Army patrols. The SPDC has forbidden any assistance going to the villagers hiding in the mountains. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
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I46 |
Photo #I46: Saw P---, 56 years old, is a Karen Buddhist hill field farmer from xxxx village, Papun District. During January 2002, LIB #xxx at yyyy village ordered everyone from his village to carry rice to zzzz because the SPDC was asking for each paddy buying centre to collect 200 baskets of paddy. Paddy buying centres are SPDC facilities for forcibly collecting crop quotas from farmers; the rice then goes to the regime, the Army, and export. Villagers are paid much less than the market value for their paddy. In this case the villagers were paid 350 Kyat by the SPDC although the market price is 500 Kyat for one basket of paddy. The system is also rife with corruption, with paddy buying officials demanding bribes and forcing farmers to hand over more than their quota by claiming their rice is impure. Villagers who cannot meet the quota are forced to buy paddy from other villagers to make up the quota. Villagers are routinely locked up in cells for failure to meet the quota, and are only released when their family has given the full amount. The SPDC has also ordered that each paddy buying centre in the area pay 15,000 Kyat regularly to the Army for porter fees. The porter fees are collected from the surrounding villages. The villagers cannot live in their village if they do not pay them. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
[End of Photo Set]
Forced Labour
/ Attacks on Villages /
Detention & Torture
Shootings & Killings /
Flight & Displacement
Landmines /
Soldiers /
Children / Food
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