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PHOTO SET 2005-A
Over 900 photos taken by KHRG researchers in the field from mid 2002 to early 2005, documenting the human rights situation and responses to it by villagers in Karen areas of Burma. This Photo Set contains a photo essay from Nyaunglebin District as well as sections on Attacks on Villages & Village Destruction; Forced Relocation and Restrictions; Detention and Torture; Shootings and Killings; Forced Labour; Food and Livelihoods; Women; Children; Flight & Displacement; Landmines; and Soldiers. PrefaceThis photo set presents over 900 photos taken by KHRG field researchers between 2002 and 2005 to document the human rights situation in Karen regions of Burma. In these regions, the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC) is trying to extend and consolidate its control over the lives of the civilian population, using its Army, the Tatmadaw Kyi , as its main implementing agent, and forced relocations, destruction of food security, forced labour, torture, arbitrary detention, extrajudicial killings, restrictions on movement and activity, taxation, extortion, and other human rights abuses as its main methods. To the SPDC the main enemy in Karen areas is not the Karen resistance forces, but the Karen civilians who resist state control by fleeing into areas beyond the Army's easy reach, evading forced labour and Army demands, passing information to resistance forces and human rights organisations, and countless other methods of retaining control over their lives without submitting to military repression. The civilians pay a heavy price for this: they, rather than Karen resistance forces, have become the main targets of the Army's wrath, retaliatory strikes, and abuses. This explains why despite the 'informal ceasefire' between the Karen National Union (KNU) and the SPDC since January 2004, human rights abuses against Karen civilians have not decreased. In some areas, such as Toungoo district, repression has increased because the SPDC uses the ceasefire as cover to bring more troops into strongly Karen areas, push new roads and Army camps into the Karen hills, and even to cover the Army's southern flank while it mounts an offensive against villagers in southern Karenni (Kayah State). In Karen regions it is militarization and military control, not armed conflict, that leads to human rights abuses, and there is no ceasefire between the SPDC and Karen civilians in the war for control of their lives and livelihoods. 
The SPDC's main strategy in trying to control the civilian population is to push new roads into remote areas using the forced labour of villagers, to establish Army camps along these roads, and to use these camps as bases for sending columns into the hills and surrounding areas to flush out civilians and force them to move to villages and relocation sites along the Army-controlled roads. Most villagers resist by going into hiding in the hills, so Army columns are sent out to seek out and destroy their villages, crops, food storage barns, and shelters, and to capture or shoot on sight the villagers themselves. Meanwhile, villagers already under SPDC control and those forced out of the hills to relocation sites are used to support increased militarization of the region through forced labour, crop quotas, taxation and extortion. Convicts from prisons throughout Burma are also brought in as forced labour to assist this state-building effort, while central Burma's children and young men are conscripted in thousands to expand the SPDC Army, already 350,000 to 400,000 strong, and militarise the countryside. Villagers' land is confiscated without compensation for Army camps, Army farms, and roads; in one case documented below, 5,000 acres of villagers' land is being confiscated without payment to establish a rubber plantation for the profit of SPDC Lt. Gen. Maung Bo and a company called Max Myanmar (see Section 7.3, Confiscation of Fields ). Se veral hundred thousand Karen villagers are now in hiding from SPDC troops or interned in SPDC-controlled relocation sites, while all of those living under SPDC control face so much forced labour and so many restrictions on their activities that some of them flee to join the internally displaced people (IDPs) in the hills. As the SPDC extends its reach in the hills, some find it impossible to continue their lives and try to reach refugee camps in Thailand. Taken together, the photos presented here try to provide a holistic view of the suffering imposed on villagers in Karen regions, but also to show their resilience and resourcefulness in resisting this suffering despite the immense force deployed against them and the lack of anything but a tiny trickle of outside help. We hope that the viewer will take away an awareness of the scale of human rights abuses being committed and the resulting suffering, but also a recognition of the strength of the villagers and their capacity and right to control their own lives and the political and humanitarian processes which affect them. 
These photos were taken in Toungoo, Nyaunglebin and Papun districts, which lie in northern Karen State and Pegu Division; Pa'an and Thaton districts in central Karen State; Dooplaya district in southern Karen State; and in Karen refugee camps in Thailand (for maps showing the places, camps, rivers and roads mentioned in the photo descriptions, see the map for the district where the photo was taken in the KHRG Map Room ). They document many different aspects of the human rights situation, and based on their subject matter they have been divided into twelve thematic sections as shown in the Table of Contents below. Each thematic section and subsection begins with an overview and general guide to the photos which follow. The photos are displayed as miniature 'thumbnails' with descriptive captions below them. Clicking on a thumbnail will display the full-sized picture, so it is best to view this photo set with your web browser window maximised to the full screen. For identification, the photos are numbered according to the main section in which they appear; for example, photos related primarily to Section 6 (Forced Labour) are numbered 6-1, 6-2, etc. Within each thematic section the photos are generally presented in reverse chronological order, with the most recent photos shown first. Photos which are relevant to more than one theme are displayed more than once. For example, a photo of children doing forced labour appears in both the Forced Labour section and the Children section, but bears the same number in both places. As another example to illustrate this, Section 8 (Women) contains many photos whose numbers show that they are from other sections such as Forced Labour, Detention and Torture, or Flight and Displacement. This makes the photo set appear repetitive, but is done to facilitate research for people interested only in particular themes. More detailed information on the specific regions and themes mentioned is available in KHRG documentary reports, several of which are referenced in the text. All of the photos in this set were taken by KHRG human rights researchers in the field, as noted in the photo captions. The photos have been selected as a sampling, intended to show as many aspects of the situation as possible. Some details of people and places have been deliberately omitted, blanked out or masked in the photo descriptions or the photos themselves when necessary to protect the villagers involved. Some people may find some of the photos shocking and we have tried to put warning captions with the picture thumbnails when this is likely; however, it has been considered necessary to include such photos to present the situation in its brutal reality. While looking at the photos, please remember that they have been taken under difficult and often dangerous circumstances with low budget equipment, and quality is as incoming. All images and accompanying text are Copyright © KHRG 2005, except where otherwise stated. All rights are reserved. Copies of the photo prints or digital versions scanned at higher resolution can be obtained upon approval from KHRG, by specifying the photo set and photo numbers and paying the costs involved. Organisations may download the images from the KHRG web site and use them for publication on a not-for-profit basis, provided they are properly attributed to KHRG; any publication for commercial purposes requires prior written permission from KHRG. Table of Contents1. A Short Story in Pictures: Village Destruction, Displacement and Survival in Nyaunglebin District 2. Attacks on Villages and Village Destruction 3. Forced Relocation and Restrictions 6. Forced Labour 7. Food and Livelihoods 8. Women 9. Children 10. Flight and Displacement 11. Landmines Appendix 1: KHRG Map of Burma Terms and AbbreviationsMilitary/ Political
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| IDP | Internally Displaced Person; villagers who have become internal refugees |
| Loh ah pay | Voluntary labour to make merit, but commonly used by SPDC for most forms of forced labour |
| Set tha | 'Messenger'; forced labour as errand-runners, messengers, and for some odd jobs |
| Wontan | 'Servant'; used by SPDC officers to denote forced labourers, usually porters |
| Lan pya | 'Guide'; forced labour as a guide, usually to show the soldiers to the next village |
| Ta won kyay | 'Obligation'; a quota charged on crops; usually at a rate of 8 baskets per acre |
| Paddy | Rice grain still in the husk |
| Rice | Rice grain after pounding or milling, with the husk removed and ready to cook |
Measurements and Currency
| Viss | Unit of weight measure; one viss is 1.6 kilograms or 3.6 pounds |
| Kyat tha | 16 grams; 100 kyat tha equals 1 viss |
| Pyi | Volume of uncooked rice equal to 8 small condensed milk tins; about 2 kgs. / 4.4 lbs. |
| Bowl | Volume of uncooked rice same as a pyi |
| Tin | Also 'big tin'; volume of rice or paddy of 8 pyi ; about 17 kgs. / 37 lbs. of husked rice |
| Basket | Volume of rice or paddy equal to 2 big tins ; 25 kgs. or 55 lbs. if rice, less if paddy |
| Taun | Burmese unit of measurement equalling 1.5 feet or ½ metre (one cubit; elbow to fingertip) |
| Twa | Burmese unit of measurement equalling 9 inches or 23 cm (one handspan) |
| Kyat | Burmese currency; US$1 = 6 Kyat at official rate, approximately 1000 Kyat at current market rate |
| Baht | Thai currency; at the time of printing US$1 = approximately 40 Baht |
Honorifics
| Saw | Sgaw Karen prefix for men |
| Naw | Sgaw Karen prefix for women |
| Pa | 'Father'; Karen suffix attached to names to indicate someone's father, also used as a male personal prefix |
| Mo | 'Mother'; Karen suffix attached to names to indicate someone's mother |
| Pati | 'Uncle'; Karen term of respect for male elders of middle age |
| Mugha | 'Aunt'; Karen term of respect for female elders of middle age |
| Pu | 'Grandfather'; Karen personal prefix used for elderly men |
| Pi | 'Grandmother'; Karen personal prefix used for elderly women |
| Thra | 'Teacher'; Karen term used for any teacher, pastor, senior, or respected person |
| U | Burmese honorific prefix for older or respected men |
| Ko/ Maung | Burmese honorific prefix for younger or less respected men |
| Daw | Burmese honorific prefix for married women |
| Ma | Burmese honorific prefix for younger unmarried women |
| All images and reports © Karen Human Rights Group | Top |  |