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PHOTO SET 2005-A: Forced Labour
Forced labour is probably the most systematic and prevalent abuse committed by the SPDC against villagers throughout Burma. Village heads are ordered to provide labourers for building roads and other infrastructure, portering for the Army, constructing and maintaining Army camps, performing sentry duty at Army camps and along roads, farming for the Army and many other jobs. In addition, villagers must use much of their time filling the constant demands from SPDC Army camps and authorities for large quantities of bamboo, roofing thatch, stones and gravel, logs, planks and other materials. Some of these materials are used for the construction and maintenance of roads, SPDC Army camps and other SPDC projects, while the rest is sold on the market for the personal profit of the Army officers. Villagers are not provided with tools or food to complete the work and are often treated brutally, some dying as a result. The labour takes them away from their livelihood and leaves them very little time to farm their fields or to earn a living. Whatever little money the villagers are able to get must be given to the SPDC to avoid having to go for the labour so they can do their own work. Village heads often receive demands from many different Army camps and SPDC authorities for various kinds of labour at the same time. Many villagers try to strike a balance by paying the 'fees' to avoid some of the labour while still regularly going for other forms of forced labour. To meet all of the demands the entire family must take part, such that children must go for forced labour even if this means pulling them from school, and women must leave infants at home and abandon their other work in order to do forced labour.
On November 1 st 2000, the SPDC claims to have issued an order outlawing the use of forced labour and prescribing punishment for any soldier, officer or official who continues to demand it. A High Level Team (HLT) sent in September 2001 by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) found that although news of the order had been distributed in some areas, its dissemination was limited and forced labour was still widespread. No one was prosecuted for demanding forced labour until 2004, when the first few cases were brought against SPDC civil authorities and resulted in convictions. Thus far only seven such cases have been prosecuted nationwide, a paltry total considering the extent of the abuse. Though this could be considered the first crack in the impunity of civilian SPDC officials to demand forced labour, not a single Army officer or soldier has yet been prosecuted despite the fact that most forced labour demands are issued by the Army. All of the photos in this photo set were taken years after the SPDC order banning forced labour was issued. They show that the order, the ILO's critical reports, and the prosecutions of civilian authorities have not had much of an effect on the ground. Forced labour continues to be systematic, pervasive, and implemented with complete impunity, often for the sole aim of exercising military control over civilians. Another tactic the SPDC is using to avoid international censure while increasing the number of forced labourers available to the Army is to use convicts for forced labour, particularly as porters. This is particularly common in areas like Papun District where SPDC units have difficulty catching enough villagers for their needs. A whole system has developed for sending convicts to transit camps where they are readily available to the Army. Most of the convicts are serving sentences for petty crimes, but to feed the Army demand innocent civilians are sometimes grabbed from the streets simply to be turned into instant 'convicts' without charge or trial. Convict porters are treated particularly brutally so more and more of them are escaping throughout Karen areas, as documented in Section 6.2 (Convict Porters) below.
It is extremely difficult and dangerous to take photos of forced labour, and these here should be seen as a small sampling. For every photo presented here, thousands more could be taken if it were possible to safely do so. The forced labour shown in these photos and described in the captions is consistent with the hundreds of interviews conducted by KHRG researchers during the last three years, and the texts of thousands of SPDC written orders which are sent monthly demanding all forms of forced labour. Some of the interviews can be seen in reports issued by KHRG. The translations of several hundred SPDC orders demanding forced labour can be seen in SPDC and DKBA Orders to Villages: Set 2003-A (KHRG #2003-01, August 2003) and other previous order sets published by KHRG. See also previous KHRG photo sets and regional reports for additional pictures and information on forced labour. The photos below have been divided into the following sections based on the nature of the forced labour: Portering (6.1) ; Convict Porters (6.2) ; Guides, Messengers, and Meetings (6.3) ; Roads (6.4) ; Forced Labour Maintaining Army Camps, Army Farms, and Villages (6.5) ; and Supplying Materials (6.6) . Each section contains a brief introduction to the photos included. 6.1 PorteringSPDC Army units in rural areas still use civilians to carry most of their supplies and ammunition. Roundups of thousands of townspeople from central Burma to carry supplies into the hills are less common now than ten years ago, but they still occur sometimes on a smaller scale (see photos 6-51 to 6-54 ). Instead, SPDC Army units use local villagers from the areas where they operate as porters, while for extended operations they also use convict porters (which are documented in the next section ). Villages face regular demands for people to go as porters for periods of one to several days, sometimes on rotation. Normally they must porter for every SPDC unit in their local area, and possibly also for the DKBA (photos 6-43 and 6-44 to 6-46 ) and the KNLA. SPDC units also grab people along their way and force them to carry loads for indefinite periods (photos 6-23 to 6-24 , 10-107 to 10-113 , 4-19 , 6-47 , and 4-20 to 4-21 ), or use portering as a form of torture or punishment (photos 4-11 and 4-16 to 4-17 ). SPDC columns are almost always accompanied by porters. Another form of portering occurs when villages are ordered to transport rations without escort from one point to another, usually an SPDC Army rations storehouse to a remote Army post (see photos 6-11 to 6-18 , 6-42 , and 6-49 ). If they take too long or if anything goes missing on the way, their entire village is punished. This type of portering is consuming more and more of people's time as the SPDC penetrates remoter areas and establishes new camps, as they are doing in Toungoo district (see 'Peace', or Control? [KHRG #2005-F3, March 2005]). For example, photos 6-25 to 6-34 show a case where 1,000 villagers in Tantabin township were forced to carry supplies to outlying SPDC posts to stockpile enough for the long rainy season. In such cases, one or more people per house are forced to show up regardless of other responsibilities at home or in the fields. Children must often go because their parents need to work to support the family (see photos 6-25 , 9-6 , 11-37 to 11-39 , and 6-44 to 6-46 ). Women often go (see photos 6-2 to 6-7 and 6-25 to 6-34 ) because men don't dare face the soldiers for fear of being arrested as 'rebels'; when SPDC columns come looking for porters men often flee (see photos 6-23 to 6-24 ), leaving the women particularly vulnerable to abuse. Villagers are not paid for portering and must even take their own food (see photos 6-21 to 6-22 ). SPDC forces also order them to use their bullock carts (photos 6-11 to 6-18 and 6-20 ), motor vehicles (photos 6-31 to 6-32 and 6-36 to 6-39 ), and elephants ( photos 7-73 to 7-74 ) to transport Army supplies, logs and materials, without any compensation whatsoever. Portering is extremely dangerous because SPDC troops often use porters to detect landmines, such as the young girls in photos 11-37 to 11-39 and Saw P--- in photo 11-45 . Many porters are also wounded when resistance forces ambush SPDC columns, as in photos 6-10 , 5-29 and 5-51 . Photos 5-14 to 5-19 show a group of villagers who were ambushed by one SPDC unit while portering for another, killing one of them and wounding several others. Moreover, when SPDC forces are ambushed they often blame, and then torture, any porters with them who happen to be from that area (see photos 4-20 to 4-21 ). Porters suffer wounds from carrying heavy loads ( photo 6-47 ) and from beatings, such as the deaf villager in photo 4-19 who was beaten with rifles because he couldn't respond to the soldiers' commands. Porters kept for longer time periods are sometimes killed if they can no longer carry loads (see photos 6-51 to 6-54 ), though this is rare on shorter shifts of local portering. After their ordeal, people often come home only to fall ill for a prolonged period afterward (see photos 6-50 and 10-147 ). To avoid portering, some people try to hire itinerant labourers to go in their place. In some areas this has become so common that 'porter brokers' have set up business, charging high fees to villagers but paying almost nothing to the impoverished labourers desperate enough to porter Army supplies for a living (see photo 6-48 ). Alternatively, villagers pay monthly fees to SPDC officers to be exempted from portering (see photos 6-40 to 6-41 ), though when new officers arrive they often continue to collect these fees but demand porters as well. The combination of porter fees and portering demands from several sources eventually causes many people to flee their villages (see photos 7-73 to 7-74 and 10-107 to 10-113 ).
Photo #6-1: Saw H---, age 51, from K--- village in Dweh Loh township, Papun district. On September 27 th 2004 he and another villager were forced to carry loads weighing over 20 kilograms from M--- army camp to T--- army camp for SPDC LIB #598 (Battalion Commander San Main Tha commanding). The trip took from early morning until noon, and they didn't arrive back at their village until after dark. They received no payment and had to take along their own food. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #6-2, 6-3, 6-4, 6-5, 6-6, 6-7: All of these villagers from Than Daung township in Toungoo District described to KHRG how they had been forced to porter for SPDC Battalions during 2004. Naw S---, age 20 ( photo 6-2 ) and Naw B---, age 38 ( photo 6-3 ) are from different villages, but both had been portering just a few days before they were interviewed in August 2004: Naw S--- for IB #48 and Naw B--- for a combined column of IB #39 and IB #124. Naw B---, age 55 ( photo 6-4 ) was forced to carry a load of Army rice by IB #39 in June 2004 despite her age. Naw L---, 52 ( photo 6-5 ) was with a group of 35 people from her village who were forced to carry Army rations from Than Daung Gyi to an IB #92 outpost by Captain Zaw Zaw Aung in February 2004. This was traumatic for her because in 2000 her daughter was killed in the crossfire while doing an almost identical shift of forced portering for SPDC IB #20, leaving her two children aged 2 and 7 in Naw L---'s care. Thirty-five year old Saw A--- ( photo 6-6 ) had been forced to porter Army supplies twice for IB #48 within the week before he was interviewed in August 2004. When interviewed in June, 19-year-old Saw S--- ( photo 6-7 ) had just finished two shifts of portering in a row for a combined column of IB #39 and IB #124. Forced portering is a regular activity for villagers in hilly Toungoo District, where roads are impassable to vehicles during the June to October rainy season and all Army supplies are transported on foot by porters. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #6-8, 6-9, 6-10: All three of these villagers from H--- village in Tantabin township, Toungoo District were forced to carry loads for SPDC IB #60 during the 2004 planting season. Naw L---, 18 (left) was in a group of 12 villagers who had to porter on May 31. Saw D---, 37 (centre) was taken on July 15. When Saw T---, 49 (right) was taken on July 11, the column was ambushed and one of the other porters died. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #6-11, 6-12, 6-13, 6-14, 6-15, 6-16, 6-17, 6-18: This series of photos shows forced labour transporting rations for SPDC LIB #376 in Thaton district in June 2004. Photos 6-11 and 6-12 show villagers in K--- village setting off with their baskets to pick up the rations from the Army storehouse at T---. From there they have to carry them on their backs to H--- village, where the rations are deposited and stored in the village health clinic. The villagers in H--- must then take the rations from the clinic and load them onto their own bullock carts, as shown in photos 6-13 through 6-15 . They must then haul the loads on their bullock carts to LIB #376 camp at L--- (see photos 6-16 through 6-18 ). They are paid nothing for this work or for the use of their carts. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-19: Villagers from S--- village in Thaton district at an Army rations storage dump in July 2004, pouring out Army ration rice which they are being forced to transport to another Army camp for SPDC LIB #376. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-20: Three villagers in Bilin township of Thaton district using their bullock carts to do forced labour hauling rice in May 2004. They were ordered to transport eighteen sacks [900 kgs. / 1,980 lbs.] of ration rice from Yo Klah Army camp to outposts of SPDC LIB #376. They received no payment for their work or for the use of their carts. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #6-21, 6-22: On March 6 th 2004, villagers from K--- and M--- villages in Dweh Loh township, Papun district grab the packed lunches other villagers have prepared for them and set out for the Army camp, where they have been ordered to porter Army rations for the day by Major Mya Htway of SPDC LIB #440. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #6-23, 6-24: Village men leaving M--- village in Dweh Loh township, Papun district in October 2003 to avoid being taken as porters. They had heard that a column from SPDC IB #57 was on the way to the village. In this district, such columns normally round up any village men they can catch and take them as porters, so these men will not return to the village until certain that the soldiers have left. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #4-11: Saw P--- from M--- village demonstrates how SPDC soldiers tied him and beat him. On October 4 th 2003, a KNLA unit ambushed soldiers from LIB #350 close to his village in Dweh Loh township of Papun District. Sergeant Tin Shwe and four of his soldiers from IB #57 went to his home and called him down from his house, whereupon the soldiers kicked and beat him unconscious. When he regained consciousness, he was taken to Meh Way Army camp, where he was tied up in the position shown in the photo and beaten until he lost consciousness again. The following day, he was forced to serve as a porter for IB #57 as they returned to Shwegyin town in Nyaunglebin District, but managed to escape a couple of days later. He told a KHRG researcher that he does not know if his family was punished for his escape, but does not yet dare to return in case the soldiers are waiting for him. This photo was taken in October 2003. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #5-14, 5-15, 5-16, 5-17, 5-18, 5-19: On June 13 th 2003, 300-400 villagers from the villages surrounding the Kler Lah forced relocation site in Toungoo District were ordered by SPDC Infantry Battalions #124 and #26 to porter rations along the Toungoo to Mawchi vehicle road, from Tha Aye Hta Army camp to the newly formed Army camp at Ler Wah Moo Thwa Koh on the border between Karen and Karenni (Kayah) State (see map ). As they were returning without military escort to Tha Aye Hta to take their second loads, they were ambushed by one of the SPDC's Dam Byan Byaut Kya ['Guerrilla Retaliation'] units at 1 p.m. near Wa Soe village. The villagers dropped their baskets and fled into the surrounding forest. Photo 5-14 , taken two days later, shows 65 of the villagers who escaped and found their way to this IDP hiding site in the forest. A number of villagers were wounded and at least one was killed. As he was fleeing, 25 year old Saw N--- (photos 5-15 and 5-16 ) from D--- village suffered numerous shrapnel wounds to his buttocks. Photos 5-17 and 5-18 show Saw Pu Tu, also from D--- village, who was killed in the incident, laying face down in the forest with the remains of his portering basket still over his shoulders. Photo 5-19 is of Saw Pu Tu's widow, Naw L---, along with their five children. It is unclear why the Dam Byan Byaut Kya would open fire on villagers doing forced labour for the SPDC, but it is a unit which was created to kill villagers and operates with complete impunity (for more on the Dam Byan Byaut Kya in Toungoo District see KHRG's October 2004 report Enduring Hunger and Repression). These photos were taken in June 2003. [Photos: KHRG researcher; the dates stamped on the photos are wrong.]
Photos #6-25, 6-26, 6-27, 6-28, 6-29, 6-30, 6-31, 6-32, 6-33, 6-34: Villagers in Tantabin township, Toungoo District during two solid weeks of forced labour. On April 1 st 2003, Operations Commander Khin Maung Oo of the SPDC's Southern Command ( Ta Pa Ka ) Strategic Operations Command #3 issued orders for 1,000 villagers from SPDC-controlled villages in the Kler Lah and Kaw Thay Der areas to porter supplies from Kler Lah to Tha Aye Hta Army camp, in order to stockpile enough rations and supplies at Tha Aye Hta in preparation for the coming wet season. Sein Than, commanding officer of IB #75 Company #4 based at Yay Tho Gyi Army camp in Kaw Thay Der, was responsible for rounding up many of the villagers for this labour. It is a six-hour walk from Kler Lah to Tha Aye Hta. For the first two weeks of April, approximately 1,000 villagers had to carry loads in shifts along this route, which is part of the Toungoo – Mawchi vehicle road (see map ). While some villagers carried, others were forced to work clearing the bush along both sides of the road to protect SPDC columns from ambush. These photos taken between April 7 th and 12 th show the villagers travelling up and down the road with loads of Army rations, tools for roadside clearing, and their own food and other supplies. The villagers shown here are from Kler Lah, Kaw Thay Der, Ler Ko, Klay Soe Kee, Wa Tho Ko, and Maw Ko Der villages. Women made up a large portion of the workforce, and there were also children (see photo 6-25 ). They had to bring all their own food and tools, and were paid nothing. The bamboo handles protruding from baskets in photo 6-30 are the handles of their machetes, and in photo 6-25 one man can be seen carrying a two-person saw over his shoulder for clearing trees. Photos of villagers doing clearance work could not be taken because this was done under the watch of SPDC soldiers. The truck in photos 6-31 and 6-32 is owned by 55-year-old villager Saw T--- from K--- village. He was ordered to transport 40 sacks [2000 kg. / 4400 lbs.] of rice from Toungoo town to the Army camp at Tha Aye Hta without payment, not even compensation for the cost of the petrol. In the photos, villagers portering loads are trying to hitch a ride on the truck. Photos 6-33 and 6-34 show a group of villagers bedding down for the night along the roadside, some using their baskets as pillows. [Photos: Tantabin township villagers, assisted by KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-35: On March 12 th 2003 Naw M---, 32, and Naw S---, 28, from K--- village in Tantabin Township of Toungoo District were ordered by SPDC IB #75 to porter rations along the Kler Lah - Bu Sah Kee road to the Maw Ni Dtine Gyi military camp at Naw Soe. This photo shows them setting off with their baskets. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #9-6: Eleven year old Naw P--- was ordered by Company Commander Thant Zin from IB #264 to porter rice for SPDC troops from Pa Leh Wah to Klaw Mi Der SPDC Army camp in Toungoo District on March 8 th 2003. The route goes uphill, from the vehicle road in the valley to the hill outpost (see map ). When rations need to be transported to supply Army outposts, SPDC forces are willing to use children rather than make several trips to transport the supplies themselves. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #6-36, 6-37, 6-38, 6-39: These trucks were ordered to carry SPDC Army supplies from Naw Soe to Bu Sah Kee in Tantabin township, Toungoo District in March 2003. A total of eleven vehicles were requisitioned from Kler Lah, Kaw Thay Der and Kaw Soe Ko villages. None of the owners were paid for the use of their vehicles, nor were they given any petrol. In photos 6-38 and 6-39 , soldiers from IB #26 and IB #48 can be seen riding in the backs of the trucks. [Photos: KHRG researcher; dates printed on the photos are wrong]
Photos #6-40, 6-41: Villagers in T--- village, Lu Thaw township, Papun District gather to hand in their monthly 'porter fees' to the village headman. To avoid regular shifts of forced labour as porters, each house in the village has to pay 1,000 Kyat per month to Htun Neh Lay, commanding officer of SPDC IB #9 Column #1. Every village in the region has to pay similar fees to whatever battalions are nearby. These photos were taken in March 2003. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #11-37, 11-38, 11-39: On January 4 th 2003, SPDC LIB #341 (Kyaw Mya Thaung commanding) ordered villagers from P--- and K--- villages to carry Army supplies from Hsaw Bweh Der to K'Hee Kyo Army camp in Bu Tho township of Papun District. These girls aged 12, 15, and 20 were part of the group, which had to leave Hsaw Bweh Der at 7 a.m. The soldiers who were supposed to accompany the villagers set out for K'Hee Kyo through the forest, but ordered the villagers to walk along the vehicle road, apparently suspecting that the road may be mined. Shortly before arriving at K'Hee Kyo camp one of the villagers hit a tripwire, detonating a claymore mine placed there by the KNLA. Nine of the villagers were wounded. Photo 11-37 shows Naw A---, age 12, who was hit by shrapnel in the shoulder, left arm, left wrist, and under her breast; medics were later unable to remove the shrapnel, and a month later she said it still made her dizzy often. Beside Naw A--- in photo 11-38 is Naw B---, 15 (left), who was wounded in the bladder; both girls are shown in school uniform. Photo 11-39 shows 20 year old Naw M---, who sustained shrapnel wounds to her left thigh. Four others were injured more seriously and were sent to the SPDC hospital in Papun town. The use of villagers as human minesweepers is a common SPDC tactic throughout all areas of Karen State. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 10-107, 10-108, 10-109, 10-110, 10-111, 10-112, 10-113: On January 15 th 2003 SPDC troops from LIB #434 passed through villages in Bwa Der village tract of Bu Tho township, Papun district, on their way to replace another unit posted along the banks of the Salween River. In each village they passed they tried to catch men as porters and looted the villagers' belongings, causing these villagers from Kyi Thi Pu, Tee Doh Kwee Hta, Klaw Ko, Hsaw Weh, Bwa Der, Noh Kee and Th'Ree Hta villages to flee into the forest. They had been in the forest three days when these photos were taken. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-42: Part of a group of villagers from Meh Way A'Htat Su, Kloh Kee, Toh Meh Kee, Khaw Wah, Day Law Pu, Htoh Kaw Saw Kee, and Meh Kaw Loh villages in Dweh Loh township, Papun District portering supplies for the SPDC. When this photo was taken in late December 2002, these villagers had already been carrying supplies to the military camp at Meh Way Hta for LIB #440 on a daily basis for the past three weeks. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-43: Villagers in W---, Dweh Loh township, Papun district gather in preparation to go portering for DKBA forces on December 13 th 2002. They had been given orders that each family must carry one big tin of rice to the DKBA camp at Ku Thu Hta. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #5-29: Saw L--- was wounded in crossfire while doing forced labour as a porter for the SPDC. On November 20 th 2002 the battalion that he was portering for was ambushed by KNLA soldiers in the Meh Pleh Toh area in T'Nay Hsah township of Pa'an District. This photo shows a Karen medic removing cotton swabbing from a large shrapnel wound in his back. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #4-16, 4-17: On November 14 th 2002, Saw K---, 35 years old, from M--- village in Kawkareik township, Dooplaya District, was returning from working in his aunt's betelnut plantation near K--- village when he ran into SPDC Army soldiers from LIB #416, Column #2, led by acting column commander Yeh Naing. The Column detained him and forced him to serve as a porter for several days, during which he was accused of being a KNLA soldier and was bound, beaten, and tortured numerous times. Each night he was tied to a tree, unable to move as the nylon rope was wrapped around his chest, arms, legs, and throat. While tied like this he was kicked, beaten with a rifle butt and a piece of bamboo until they both broke, stabbed with knives, and burned. They cut off pieces of his earlobes and sliced his throat with a knife. He was only released after his village head paid the soldiers a 'fine' of 20,000 Kyat, along with numerous chickens, snacks, and cheroots. These photos were taken shortly after his release in November 2002. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #4-19: This deaf villager, Saw M---, from L--- village in Kawkareik township, Dooplaya District was captured on November 14 th 2002 and taken as a porter by soldiers from LIB #416 Column #2, led by intelligence officer Yeh Naing. The soldiers regularly beat him with their rifles because he was unable to hear their orders. He escaped during a clash between the SPDC Army soldiers and the KNLA. This photo was taken in November 2002. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #6-44, 6-45, 6-46: Villagers from K--- village in Dweh Loh township, Papun District portering rice for the DKBA in November 2002. In areas where the DKBA is active, villagers face forced labour demands from them as well as SPDC forces. Note the young child walking with a small load behind the two women in photos 6-45 and 6-46 . [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-47: Forty-year-old Pa T--- from K--- village in Bu Tho township, Papun District shows the wounds he received while portering for the SPDC. He was captured by SPDC Army soldiers on October 19 th 2002 and forced to porter loads for them until November 2 nd 2002, when he was released. The wounds and bruises on his back are from the rubbing of his heavy bamboo basket. This photo was taken three days after he was released. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #11-45: Saw P--- from T--- village in Nyaunglebin District lost his leg while carrying rice from Mu Theh for the SPDC on October 3 rd 2002. This photo was taken two weeks later as he was receiving medical attention from Karen medics. Villagers seriously wounded while portering for SPDC forces are often left to die rather than being given treatment. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-48: In many cases, villagers who do not dare, or are not available to porter for the SPDC can hire itinerant labourers to go in their place. This is usually arranged through a porter broker in one of the larger villages or towns. The labourers are usually impoverished ethnic Burmans from other parts of the country who have come in search of work. In some areas a system has developed whereby SPDC officers demand a quota of porters from a village head, who instead gathers money from the villagers and pays a porter broker to send the specified number of porters to the SPDC camp (for an example of this, see Forced Labour Orders Since the Ban [KHRG, February 2002], Order #100 ). Standard rates tend to be around 1,000 Kyat per day of portering. This money is paid to the broker, who in turn pays the porters. These seven Burman itinerant labourers were given work by K---, a porter broker in Kler Lah village of Toungoo District. In this case the villagers had to pay the broker 5,000 Kyat for each porter; however, each of these men received only 500 Kyat for their work, while the broker kept the other 90 percent of the money. This photo was taken in November 2002. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-49: Part of a stockpile of rations and supplies for SPDC IB #39 that villagers were ordered to transport by car from Kaw Thay Der to the outlying SPDC Army camps at Naw Soe and Bu Sah Kee in Tantabin township of Toungoo District. This photo was taken in November 2002. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #7-73, 7-74: Saw K--- from Dweh Loh township, Papun District, owns two elephants which he uses to make his living by hauling things. In late 2002, DKBA officers from #777 Brigade ordered him to begin doing forced labour hauling logs for them; however, he was afraid to do this because the KNU had banned logging in his area. If he hauled the logs he would face arrest by the KNU, and if he didn't he would face arrest by the DKBA, so he left his village with his elephants. These photos were taken as he was leaving on November 11 th 2002. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #5-51: Saw M---, 42, from K--- village in Bilin township of Thaton District was wounded while portering for the SPDC. In late 2002 he was forced to accompany SPDC LIB #2 Column 1 (Battalion Commander Aung Zaw Win commanding) and carry a wounded SPDC Army soldier. When KNLA soldiers ambushed the column near Htee Maw Kee village, he was wounded twice in the buttocks and again on his thigh in the firefight. The SPDC soldiers did not provide him with any medical treatment for his wounds. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #4-20, 4-21: As he was fishing on the banks of the N--- on September 17 th 2002, Saw H---, 42, from T--- village in Bilin township, Thaton District was captured by SPDC Army LIB #2, Column #1, led by battalion commander Aung Zaw Win, and forced to porter supplies along with the Column. Shortly afterwards the column was ambushed by KNLA soldiers and he was blamed for the attack. The soldiers beat him with a rifle until it broke in two. They wrapped his head in a soaked cloth so that he couldn't breathe and kicked him about the head. They then tied him to a house post and Captain Lin Htat sliced open his calf and his thigh with a knife. He was later released, given injections, had his wounds bandaged, and was offered 5,000 Kyat by the soldiers – which he refused. These photos were taken in November 2002. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-50: Saw M--- from M--- village in Dweh Loh township of Papun District fell ill and suffered abdominal pain after having to porter for the SPDC. He was ordered to carry supplies by battalion commander Chit Nyo of LIB #365, Column #1. This photo was taken in August 2002. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 6-51, 6-52, 6-53, 6-54: M---, age 30 (photos 6-51 and 6-52 ) was grabbed from the street by SPDC soldiers when on his way to see a movie near his Rangoon home on May 26 th 2002. He was detained together with 200 others who had been similarly rounded up, then sent to be an operations porter for SPDC LIB #9 Column 1 in Papun district. There he met Z---, age 35 (photos 6-53 and 6-54 ), who had been grabbed from the streets of Pegu (Bago) city on May 27 th while buying some fuel near his home. Part of a group of 65 porters rounded up from the towns of Burma and some taken from the prisons (see photos 6-95 and 6-96 ), they were forced to carry loads weighing 20 viss [33 kg. / 72 lb.] or more from Papun town across the mountains to the Da Gway (Dagwin) Army camp at Koh Ni Koh in Lu Thaw township, Papun District, on the bank of the Salween River where it forms the border with Thailand. Normally this would be a 3-4 day walk, but takes longer for a large military column with porters. The porters had to carry loads of food, ammunition, and medicines to supply Da Gway camp, which is inaccessible by road. Near Da Gway, M--- saw LIB #9 Column 1 soldiers shoot dead three porters because they were unable to continue with their loads. Treated like convict porters, M--- and Z--- had to share one mess tin of rice per day with a group of six people. After repeated trips and with no end in sight to the forced labour, M--- and Z--- fled together and escaped on July 21 st 2002. These photos were taken shortly after their escape, and show the wounds on both men from carrying heavy bamboo baskets and the emaciated condition, particularly of M---, caused by lack of adequate food. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #10-147: Saw S--- from K--- village, Dweh Loh township, Papun district was forced to go as a porter for SPDC LIB #2 Column 1 (Major Tin Htun commanding) in 2002. On his return home he was continually sick. His spleen was swollen and he couldn't work. [Photo: KHRG researcher] 6.2 Convict PortersIn recent years the use of convict porters has become a mainstay of SPDC military operations. This has largely taken the place of the urban porter roundups that used to happen in the towns of central Burma until 1997, though it has not decreased the Army's demands for porters from rural villages; instead, the Army uses more porters than ever before. Its demand for convict porters has become so insatiable that the SPDC has established a system of transit camps called Won Saung – literally, 'Carrying Service' (see photos 6-79 and 6-80 to 6-81 ). After being transferred from prison to the Won Saung , which are placed near the Army's major areas of operation, convicts are supposed to be issued the basic needs of a porter (such as slippers and plastic sheet), though these are often withheld. The hundreds of convicts at the camp are then available for immediate mobilisation whenever requests are received from Army units. Only men are included, and political prisoners and those with long sentences still ahead of them are usually not sent as porters for fear that they are more likely to attempt escape; the majority are therefore those serving short sentences, or those with only a few years left of a longer sentence. Many men subjected to this brutal treatment were imprisoned for offences as petty as selling illegal lottery tickets, fighting in a teashop, or playing cards in a funeral parlour (see photos 6-55 to 6-59 ). Worse yet, the demand for convict porters is so great that some men say they were grabbed from the street, sent to prison without charge or trial, and immediately sent on to the Won Saung without having committed any crime. The three men in photo 6-76 were Buddhist monks when this happened to them; see also photo 6-81 . The use of convicts as porters is one way the SPDC has tried to escape international censure for forced labour. It should be noted, however, that convict labour, if not assigned as part of the sentence by a legally constituted court, still constitutes forced labour in violation of International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 29, which Burma has ratified. Moreover, their use as porters in combat situations and the brutal way they are treated violates the Geneva Conventions and other international humanitarian norms. Convict porters are used particularly in protracted military operations, or in areas like Papun district of Karen State where the Army has difficulty controlling villages or catching villagers for portering labour. When not portering, they are also used as labour on roads and Army camps. They often work alongside civilian forced labourers but are treated much more brutally than civilian porters, and are used in intensive military operations for indefinite periods, often extending well past the end of their sentences. Many convict porters say that it appeared they were to be kept as porters until they either died or escaped. They are fed almost nothing – six men are forced to share enough food for one (see photos 6-79 and 6-80 to 6-81 ). They are beaten or killed on the slightest pretext (photos 6-62 to 6-66 , 6-72 to 6-74 , 6-77 to 6-78 , 6-79 , 6-80 to 6-81 , 6-93 , and 6-95 to 6-96 ), and used regularly as human minesweepers (photos 6-79 , 6-80 to 6-81 , and 6-93 ). They are forced to carry even when their shoulders are cut and bleeding from the heavy baskets. Many of those who escape say they witnessed the killing of others simply because they could no longer carry loads (see photos 6-68 to 6-71 , 6-76 , and 6-93 ). Emaciated and dehumanised, their lives considered forfeit, soldiers even call them using 'kaung' , a form of address reserved for animals. Many of them are now escaping throughout Karen areas because they realise they have nothing to lose (see photos 6-55 to 6-59 , 6-80 to 6-81 , and 6-93 ). Some are killed by landmines in the effort (see photos 11-27 to 11-28 and 11-40 to 11-41 ), and many die of weakness, illness or exhaustion even after escaping (see photo 6-75 ). SPDC units make little effort to stop them, knowing replacements are always available from the Won Saung and that the hundreds of escapees create an added burden for the Karen resistance, who must feed them and give them medical treatment with no outside help – because no international organisation is yet willing to help these men. For further background see Convict Porters: The Brutal Abuse of Prisoners on Burma's Frontlines (KHRG #2000-06, December 2000).
Photos # 6-55, 6-56, 6-57, 6-58, 6-59: Just a few of the hundred or more convict porters who have escaped in Papun district since the beginning of 2005. These men were portering for SPDC Light Infantry Battalions #3, #119, and #120. KHRG researchers in the area say that SPDC forces are bringing unprecedented numbers of convict porters with them as they try to extend their foothold in the Papun hills. Most of the men shown here were arrested and imprisoned for petty 'crimes' including illegal border crossing, playing cards in a funeral parlour, causing a car accident, cockfighting, and selling illegal lottery tickets, while the remainder were imprisoned for petty drug offences or murder. Regardless of their original crime or sentence, all of them say they were treated brutally as porters and chose to escape as soon as they could. The number of convict porters now escaping poses a problem, because villagers in Papun district have no food to feed them or medicine to treat them, nor does the KNU. If they return home they will probably be captured. In small numbers, they can be sent across the border to find work illegally in Thailand, but in such large numbers this becomes impossible. No international agency is presently willing to accept responsibility for helping these men. These photos were taken in February 2005. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-60: M--- was a convict porter being forced to work repairing the military access road from Kyauk Kyi to Saw Hta (see map) by SPDC Infantry Battalions #382, 383 and 388 until he escaped at the beginning of January 2005. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-61: Three convict porters who escaped from various SPDC Army columns in Papun district, January 2005. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 6-62, 6-63, 6-64, 6-65, 6-66: Convict porters who escaped from SPDC IB #30 at Plah Ko in northern Papun district, late November 2004. The first two photos show K---, age 23 from Rangoon, and the wound he received when an SPDC soldier hit him on the head with a rifle butt. The remaining photos show N---, age 38 from Irrawaddy Division. His back is scarred from the rubbing of the heavy bamboo basket he carried, and his foot was gashed by a stone when he was running to escape. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-67: Convict porter K---, age 18, was the youngest of nine convict porters who escaped from SPDC LIB #385 on October 17 th 2004 in Papun district. In this photo taken 3 days later, he is still wearing his blue prison uniform. His home is in Pegu Division, but it would be dangerous for him to return there. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 6-68, 6-69, 6-70, 6-71: Escaped convict porter A---, 22, was forced to porter for LIB #540 for five months in Dweh Loh township, Papun District before he finally escaped on July 5 th 2004. While with the battalion, he was forced to carry a sack of rice [50 kgs. / 110 lbs.] on his own. He saw one of the other porters shot dead by one of the soldiers when he became too weak to keep carrying his load. Photo 6-68 shows his emaciated condition brought on by the physical exertion and lack of food. Photos 6-69 through 6-71 show the festering wounds he sustained to his shoulders and back from where the basket that he had to carry rubbed and knocked against him with every step he took. These photos were taken shortly after his escape. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 6-72, 6-73, 6-74: H---, age 39, was a convict porter for SPDC LIB #351 based at Pwa Ghaw, northern Papun district, until he escaped in June 2004. Photo 6-73 shows the wounds on his shoulders from carrying heavy loads, and photo 6-74 shows the spot on his head where he was hit with a rifle butt. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-75: Saw W---, 57, and his wife Naw P---, from K--- village in northern Papun district. These days convict porters who escape from SPDC units frequently arrive in their village. Together they cared for escaped convict porter Kyaw Than, who had escaped from the SPDC IB #384 camp at Maw Pu in mid-2004, but in his weak state he fell ill and died. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-76: Escaped convict porters (left to right) S---, age 20, A---, age 20, and K---, age 18, who were forced to porter loads for the SPDC in Bu Tho township, Papun District. All three of them were Buddhist monks. One evening they were out for a walk when they were stopped and detained by SPDC troops, who then sent them to prison without charge or trial. On arrival at prison they were forcibly disrobed, then sent to Papun district as convict porters. All three of them were forced to porter loads to frontline areas and work on the vehicle road at Kaw Pu for LIB #379. They were not provided with sufficient food and were subjected to regular beatings. They witnessed one of the other porters, Than Nyein, 20, shot dead by one of the soldiers because he had contracted malaria and became too weak to carry a load. When they felt they could no longer endure the treatment, they fled on April 28 th 2004. This photo was taken a couple of days later. It is likely that they were initially arrested for no reason other than to fill the SPDC's growing need for convict porters. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #6-77, 6-78: Escaped SPDC convict porters who served in Lu Thaw township of Papun District. Both of these men were taken out of prison and sent to the frontline to porter for LIB #383 in early February 2004. They escaped along with two others on February 14 th 2004 when they could no longer endure the conditions, which included regular beatings by the soldiers. The wounds that can be seen on their shoulders are from the rubbing of the heavy baskets they had to carry. Photo 6-77 shows W---, 26, from Insein near Rangoon, while photo 6-78 is of A---, 23, from Magwe in central Burma, still wearing his blue prison uniform. These photos were taken shortly after their escape. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-79: U Z---, 46, and U A---, 45, were taken from Pa'an Won Saung ('carrying service') #1 at Myaing Galay near Pa'an to serve as convict porters in Papun District. The Won Saung are prison camps near frontline areas where convicts are interned by the Army so that they are more quickly and easily available when needed by field Army units for convict labour. On September 21 st 2003 they were assigned to LIB #701, whose officers ordered them to walk in front of the soldiers as human minesweepers and forced them each to carry 2,000 rounds of machine-gun ammunition. They were only given one mess tin [600 grams / 1.3 lbs.] of cooked rice – enough for one meal for one person – to feed six of them each day. Whenever they were too weak to continue carrying, they were severely beaten by the soldiers. On October 9 th 2003 they fled the battalion and walked for two days without food until they were discovered by a KNLA patrol. This photo was taken later in October 2003. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #6-80, 6-81: Maung M--- ( photo 6-80 ), 27, from S--- village in Pegu Division and Maung S--- ( photo 6-81 ), 35, from T--- village in Pegu Division ran away from the SPDC Army battalion that they were portering for. Both were being detained in Pa'an Won Saung #1 at Myaing Galay – Maung M--- had served eight months of a two year sentence for stabbing another man during an argument, and Maung S--- had been interned at the Won Saung without charge or trial, probably simply to boost the number of available convict labourers – when they were handed over to LIB #703 in late September 2003. During the month that they were with the battalion, they were forced to carry loads of ammunition and rations weighing up to 35 viss [58 kg. / 125 lb.] , and were ordered to walk in front of the soldiers as human minesweepers. Each day, they were only given one mess tin [600 grams / 1.3 lbs.] of rice with which to feed six men – only enough for one meal for one person. Anyone who was too weak to keep up was punched, kicked and beaten with the butts of the soldiers' rifles. If they were no longer able to continue carrying their load, they were simply left behind to die. No medicine was supplied to anyone who fell ill. Fearing that they would soon die if they remained with the battalion, they fled with two others to KNU-held territory on October 24 th 2003. Both men display the wounds left behind by the rubbing of the heavy baskets that they had to carry. These photos were taken in November 2003. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #11-27, 11-28: K---, age 29 from Pegu Division, was a convict porter with SPDC troops. He fled from the battalion he was portering for along with two companions on October 1 st 2003. When one of the others stepped on a landmine, K--- was wounded and both of his companions were killed. He is shown here having the pieces of shrapnel removed from his shoulder by a Karen medic. This photo was taken in late November 2003, almost two months after the incident. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #6-82, 6-83, 6-84: Three convict porters who escaped from the battalion that they were portering for in Dooplaya District in October 2003. They are T--- ( photo 6-82 ), K--- ( photo 6-83 ), and M--- ( photo 6-84 ). They each display the wounds made by the bamboo baskets that they were ordered to carry. These photos were taken in Dooplaya District shortly after their escape. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #6-85, 6-86: Ko A---, age 23, a convict porter from Irrawaddy Division who was forced to carry loads for SPDC troops in Dooplaya District until he managed to escape in October 2003. The wound on his lower back is from the rubbing of the heavy bamboo portering basket. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #6-87, 6-88: Convict porter H---, 35, escaped with three others on September 25 th 2003 after portering for SPDC LIB #418 (under Light Infantry Division #99) in Papun district for approximately three weeks. He was serving a two-year sentence for assault when he was sent to be a frontline porter. These photos taken shortly after he escaped show a wound to his leg that he received while portering, and the wounds on his back left by the basket that he had to carry. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 6-89, 6-90, 6-91, 6-92: S--- (photos 6-89 and 6-90 ), and H--- (photos 6-91 and 6-92 ), both 35 year old Burmans from Irrawaddy Division who were serving sentences for murder, were taken to Papun district as convict porters for Light Infantry Division #66 but escaped in March 2003 when they could no longer endure the conditions inflicted upon them by the soldiers. They said the soldiers also refused to provide any medical care for their wounds. They are shown here still wearing blue prison uniform. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-93: A---, age 28, a painter from Rangoon, was arrested and imprisoned for selling illegal lottery tickets. He served only three months of his two year sentence in Insein prison before being transferred to Toungoo prison. He remained in Toungoo prison for only one week before being handed over to IB #124 based in Than Daung Gyi in Toungoo District of Karen State as a convict porter. IB #39 then took him as a porter to Kyo Ta Tan in Than Daung township for three months, during which time he was regularly beaten and forced to walk in front of the soldiers as a human minesweeper. Following this, he was reassigned to carry rations such as rice, salt, sugar, and tins of milk for IB #26. He was also forced to build the soldiers' huts with wood, bamboo, and thatch that he had to cut himself. Four of the nine porters working for IB #26 were beaten to death when they were no longer able to continue. Their names were Thein Htun, Tin Hlaing, Ya Goke, and Thein Zaw. Another porter, U Sein Htun, was shot dead by intelligence officer Captain Tin Hla. The surviving porters were forced to bury the bodies. During the time he spent with the soldiers, he was repeatedly kicked, punched, beaten with rifle butts, and once cut with a machete. Fearing that he too would soon die if he remained with the battalion, he fled in the middle of the night on February 17 th 2003. "Of the nine porters, five of them died. They [SPDC] forced them to work, beat them, and killed them. There was no medicine to treat them so they died. One of them was hit in the body until he died. Another was beaten to death with a gun barrel. They would hit me at least 20 times a day. I couldn't bear it anymore so I escaped. It took me for four days [to reach help]. I had no rice to eat. I was starving. The villagers looked after me and fed me." This photo taken in February 2003 shortly after his escape shows his emaciated and malnourished condition. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #11-40, 11-41: These ten convict porters, most of them still in blue prison uniform, escaped from Light Infantry Division #99 in January 2003. As they were fleeing, one of their group was killed after stepping on a landmine near T--- village in Lu Thaw township, Papun District. The others tried carrying their wounded friend to help, but he died before they could find any. His body was left behind as the other surviving convicts continued searching for help. Only after being found by a KNLA patrol were they able to return and retrieve their friend's body for burial. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-94: Maung M---, a 24 year old mechanic from Mandalay, was sentenced to three years imprisonment for using methamphetamines. Before his sentence was finished, he was taken out of jail to be sent to Papun District to serve as an operations porter for an SPDC Army unit. This photo shows the damage done by the heavy bamboo basket that he was forced to carry rubbing against his back. He was able to flee from the unit for which he was portering on September 19 th 2002. This photo was taken a week after he fled, and shows him still wearing blue prison uniform. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #6-95, 6-96: K---, 35, is from Pegu (Bago) town, and was sentenced to 18 months in prison for getting in a fight in a teashop. After two months in Insein prison, he was sent to SPDC LIB #9 Column 1 as an operations porter in October 2001. He was forced to carry heavy loads of rations and military supplies from Papun town to Da Gway (Dagwin) Army camp at Koh Ni Koh in Lu Thaw township, Papun District, on the bank of the Salween River where it forms the border with Thailand. This work went on for months, during which he and the other porters were given very little to eat. At one point when K--- was not able to continue carrying his load, the soldiers beat him over the head with the butt of a rifle and hit him in the face with the barrel. The wound to his head where he was beaten can be seen in photo 6-96 . In June 2002, the convict porters were joined by non-convicts who had been rounded up from the streets of Rangoon and Pegu (see photos 6-51 through 6-54 ). K--- escaped on July 30 th 2002 and reached a Karen village, where these photos were taken shortly afterward. [Photos: KHRG researcher] 6.3 Guides, Messengers, and Meetings
In addition, village heads are frequently summoned to meetings to receive orders for forced labour from local military officers. Attending these meetings is a form of forced labour in itself, because it takes up a great deal of the village head's time. Officers also use these occasions to interrogate and punish village heads. As a result, village heads often ignore calls to meetings, though officers threaten various punishments for this. Photo 4-15 shows a villager who was locked in leg stocks for skipping a meeting, while the village elders in photo 6-103 were threatened with fines if they failed to attend. Photo 5-50 shows a bullet sent along with a summons to a meeting, indicating that the village headwoman or others will be shot if she fails to attend. The text along with photos 6-100 and 6-102 discusses some aspects of how forced labour is assigned to different villages at these meetings.
Photo #6-97: Saw W--- from M--- village in Thaton district spoke to a KHRG researcher just after returning from a shift of set tha forced labour at the nearby camp of SPDC LIB #350 in late February 2005. People from his village and the surrounding villages have to go every day for set tha and other forms of forced labour at the LIB #350 camp. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #5-2: Saw G---, 42, from H--- village in Tantabin Township of Toungoo District was wounded during fighting between the SPDC Army and KNLA soldiers. He had been ordered to serve as a guide by Commander Hlaing Win Tin of SPDC IB #60 Column #1 when a battle occurred on July 1 st 2004 despite the informal KNLA-SPDC ceasefire. He received numerous wounds to his arm, leg, and abdomen as he was trying to escape the fighting. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-98: These villagers from P--- village in Bilin township, Thaton District were forced to act as human shields for SPDC Army soldiers in October 2002. Column Commander Htun Lin Oo of IB #8 Column #1 ordered these 14 villagers to walk among the soldiers as they were out on patrol in October 2002. This is a common tactic used by SPDC Army forces, in the belief that the KNLA may not ambush them if it is likely that many Karen civilians will be wounded or killed. This photo was taken in November 2002. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-99: A villager from M--- village in Bu Tho township of Papun District performing forced labour as a set tha ('messenger') for the local SPDC battalion. Most villages under SPDC control are forced to send one or two villagers each day to each nearby Army camp to do forced labour as set tha . The officers use set tha people to run errands, deliver written SPDC order documents to recipient villages, fetch village leaders or goods demanded from villages, and lead SPDC patrols along pathways. In between these duties they are used for other errands such as fetching water, gathering firewood or standing sentry at SPDC Army camps. This villager is returning home from a nearby SPDC Army camp with a written order from the local officer demanding 10 viss [16 kg. / 36 lb.] of pork and one big tin [12.5 kg. / 28 lb.] of rice from the village. Orders such as these are regularly issued to all villages living under the control of the SPDC across Karen State. This photo was taken in March 2003. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-100: Villagers of M--- village tract in Bu Tho township, Papun District, attending a meeting in mid-February 2003 to discuss SPDC demands for porters, set tha , forced labour, bamboo and thatch. Each village is usually given a quota of porters or building materials that they must provide, based on the size of the village, while some orders are issued to entire village tracts at once. Every SPDC Army camp issues its own orders for all these things to village heads, so villages face constant and overlapping demands. Orders issued to village tract leaders must be divided between villages, and village heads must divide the quotas and labour rotation between households of their village, when possible taking account of the number of people in each household. Coordination meetings like this are therefore sometimes necessary. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #4-15: Saw H---, 50, from H--- village in Dweh Loh township, Papun District was one of several villagers summoned to a meeting with SPDC officials in Shwegyin town. All ten of those who were summoned fled their villages in fear of what may await them at the meeting. Saw H--- was later found and arrested by intelligence officer Corporal H--- from LIB #440 and detained at Meh Way army camp. The soldiers locked his legs in a set of mediaeval-style stocks while they interrogated him. When he was released two hours later, the order to report to the meeting was reiterated, along with a warning: "You were told to go to Shwegyin but you didn't go, so we needed to arrest you. Nothing will happen to you when you go. We don't know why you have to go, but when you do; if they ask you about loh ah pay [forced labour], you must tell them that we pay you for it and that we feed you." This photo was taken in December 2002. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-101: Saw W--- and Saw K--- from M--- village in Dweh Loh township of Papun District running errands for the camp commander of K--- Army camp of SPDC LIB #350. They had to report to the camp that morning for their turn doing forced labour as set tha ('messengers'). This photo was taken in December 2002. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-102: Naw P--- is a village head in Dweh Loh township of Papun District. She explained to a KHRG researcher how both the SPDC and the DKBA issue her village with order documents in which they state their demands. Her village must regularly provide the soldiers with food, building materials, extortion money, and villagers for forced labour. If they fail to comply, she and the entire village are punished. She is shown here holding some of those written orders sent to her village by the SPDC. Even these order documents are delivered by villagers doing forced labour as set tha . This photo was taken in December 2002. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-103: The village head of K--- in Papun district and a group of his villagers head for a meeting with SPDC officials in Papun town on October 29 th 2002. They had been ordered to attend this meeting and threatened with a cash fine if they failed to appear. The officials also demanded a chicken, which one of the villagers is carrying in the photo. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #5-50: This order document, sent to the village headwoman of L--- village in Kya In Township, Dooplaya District on October 23 rd 2002, is ordering her to attend a meeting the next day at the request of Column Commander T--- of LIB # xxx Column 2. Accompanying the letter was a 5.56 mm bullet from an Burmese Army MA-1 assault rifle as a very clear threat that if she did not attend, they would shoot the villagers. [Photo: KHRG researcher] 6.4 Roads
Instead of facilitating movement for villagers in the area, these roads make it more difficult. The military camps and checkpoints are used to restrict the movement of villagers, to extort money and to catch porters. Plantations are destroyed to make way for the road and the Army camps (see photo 6-134 ), and people with fields near the road often abandon them, fearing that if sighted by patrols along the road they may be shot or captured for forced labour. The road itself becomes a barrier to movement, difficult and dangerous to cross particularly for internally displaced villagers seeking to evade SPDC troops (see Section 10, Flight and Displacement ). The increased military presence in the area creates more forced labour and extortion, particularly related to the roads themselves. Forced labour on roads is one of the major burdens on rural villagers. All SPDC road projects use forced labour, and many of them are entirely built using forced labour. Villagers are forced to dig and haul earth from their own land, build embankments and lay road surfaces, and dig drainage ditches. Most of the roads are dirt-surfaced and badly engineered, so they wash away every rainy season and villagers have to rebuild them annually (photos 6-113 , 6-132 , 6-136 , 6-149 to 6-151 , and 6-164 ). Many projects now involve laying stone roadbeds, so villagers are forced to gather thousands of cubic metres of stone and assemble it into measured piles called kyin for inspection to ensure that they have gathered their quota. Photos 6-123 to 6-130 show the stages of work in gathering stone into kyin , a process also shown in photos 6-115 to 6-118 , 6-119 to 6-122 , and 6-135 . Photos 6-153 to 6-156 show how villagers must then spread the stone and lay the roadbed themselves. Villagers are also forced to provide all the labour to build and maintain road bridges (see photos 6-131 and 6-153 to 6-159 ), and to provide all the timber and other materials for the bridges at their own expense ( photos 6-160 to 6-161 ). In the past few years, one of the most prevalent forms of forced labour demanded of villagers is 'clearing the scrub along the roadside'. To protect themselves from ambush and to make it even more difficult to move along or cross a road without the knowledge of the Army, military officers order people in villages near the road to clear all the trees, bushes, long grass and weeds within a specified distance of the road – creating a bare swathe of ground 10 to 50 metres wide flanking the road on both sides. This is extremely time-consuming and labour-intensive and must be repeated regularly (see photos 3-2 , 6-141 to 6-143 , 6-25 to 6-34 , 6-146 to 6-148 , 6-165 to 6-167 , and 6-172 to 6-174 ). It is also extremely dangerous, as there are sometimes landmines in the roadside scrub (see photos 6-105 to 6-106 ). In some cases, SPDC units also force villagers to do this work along footpaths used by their patrols (see photo 6-140 ). Road work is intensive and can go on for weeks or months at a time. The SPDC usually demands at least one person from each house in every nearby village, often totalling to thousands of people, for days or weeks at a time without rest (see photos 6-25 to 6-34 and 6-152 ). Most families cannot spare so much time away from other work, so children are often sent to fill the quota (see photos 6-115 to 6-118 , 6-119 to 6-122 , 9-4 , 9-5 , 6-168 to 6-171 , and 9-7 ). People have to provide their own food and tools (see photo 6-152 ) and are almost never paid. Photos 9-4 and 9-5 show a rare case where people were paid 100 Kyat per day, less than 1/3 of the normal rate for day labour in the area. Even so, paid labour obtained under threat or duress is still forced labour under ILO Convention 29, which Burma has ratified. Much of the work is done without direct military supervision, on the understanding that the village will be attacked or forcibly relocated if the work is not done to the Army's satisfaction by the deadline. When soldiers are involved in supervising, women are sometimes raped (see photo 8-6 ). In some cases, convict porters are also forced to work on roads (photos 6-60 and 6-76 ), as are SPDC child soldiers ( photo 12-9 ). In many areas road labour has become such a burden that people have fled their villages, while in other cases they have chosen to ignore the demand for forced labour, knowing that from that time onward they must always flee their village whenever SPDC troops come because they are now considered as 'enemy' (see photos 6-138 to 6-139 ). Those remaining in their villages and performing the labour must somehow find time for it alongside all the other military demands they face, while still producing enough food to survive; which has severe implications for food security, health and education. In spite of this, villagers find ways to retain their dignity, their character, and their will to resist, as demonstrated by the sense of humour of the villagers in photo 6-130 .
Photo #6-104: The dirt road partly visible crossing from left to right is the Kler Lah – Bu Sah Kee vehicle road (see map ) used by the SPDC to supply Army camps in southern Toungoo district. In rainy season the road becomes impassable and villagers in the area are forced to porter supplies along it. When this photo was taken in January 2005, area villagers were being forced by SPDC IB #73 (Lwin Oo commanding) to cut clear all the grass and scrub along both sides of the road to protect military convoys against ambush. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #6-105, 6-106: Naw P---, 20 (left) and Naw M---, 21 (right), two villagers from K--- village in Than Daung township, Toungoo district, who were among those forced to cut scrub along the sides of the road for SPDC LIB #439 Column 1 (Battalion Commander Aung Htay Win commanding) on December 23 rd 2004. While they were clearing the scrub, one of the other villagers stepped on a landmine. [Photos: KHRG researcher] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
