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PHOTO SET 2005-A: Food and Livelihoods
In most Karen villages, livelihoods centre around farming. Rice is the predominant crop, grown in irrigated flat fields or on hillsides. Hill farmers do not use 'slash and burn' methods, but a system of rotating fields where fields are used for one or two years, lie fallow for several years and are then cleared for planting again. In some areas cash crops such as betelnut, sugar cane, or cardamom are prevalent. Families augment their primary crops with household vegetable gardens, small fruit plantations, fishing the rivers, and hunting and foraging in the forests. Instead of or in addition to farming, some villagers trade in dry goods, cattle or other commodities, or earn money for transporting or hauling people, timber or goods using elephants, small trucks or bullock carts. Most villages are self-sufficient in some food and goods, and trade through nearby markets for other goods. SPDC rule obstructs these livelihoods, and thus endangers food security, in many different ways. In order to control the civilian population, the regime militarises the countryside. The military sets up camps and checkpoints which demand forced labour, money, food and goods from local people, and restrict their movement between villages (see Sections 7.4 and 7.5 ). Some of their land is destroyed to build roads, Army camps, and forced relocation sites (see Section 7.1 ), and some of it is confiscated to grow food for the Army, or for the Army's joint ventures with business corporations (see Section 7.3 ). The Army expands and extends its control, further restricting the movements and activities of villagers, using them for forced labour, extorting taxes, fees and tolls, and robbing and looting their villages, all with complete impunity (see Sections 7.5 and 7.6 ). People in the villages, starting with those who are poorest in land, money, and livestock, have to change livelihoods or leave the village because they cannot support the time required for forced labour, the money required for extortion, and the loss of their belongings.
Villages in the hills which are more difficult for the Army to control are ordered to move to the Army-controlled areas. Columns are sent out to destroy their villages and food supplies, uproot their crops, destroy the fields, and shoot or capture those who try to evade forced relocation (see Sections 7.1 and 7.2 ). Landmines are laid to prevent people farming the fields or remaining in their villages, and to block the movement of goods between SPDC-controlled areas and those 'in hiding' (see Section 7.4 ). Those who move to SPDC-controlled areas become landless, and must try to survive as paid day labourers. Many choose instead to remain in the hills, but must switch to smaller-scale cash crops or covert rice plantations in order to avoid detection (see Section 7.1 ). They can only trade with SPDC-controlled villages by sneaking into these villages or by cooperating with people there to set up covert 'jungle markets' outside the SPDC-controlled areas (see Section 7.4 ). Livelihoods become changeable and tenuous, food security is virtually nonexistent, and entire villages can be forced into flight by a passing SPDC patrol. Some Karen relief organisations try to help with support for villagers' survival strategies, but this aid is under-resourced and sporadic and can only reach a small percentage of people (see Section 7.7 ). All of these processes are illustrated in the photos below. These are divided into sections on Destruction of Crops and Livelihoods (7.1); Abandoned Fields (7.2); Confiscation of Fields (7.3); Restrictions on Access to Food (7.4); Crop Quotas, Taxation and Extortion (7.5); Looting (7.6); and The Work of Karen Relief 7.1 Destruction of Crops and LivelihoodsIn the process of asserting control over the civilian population, the SPDC Army destroys many of their crops and livelihoods. This is partly done indirectly, by impoverishing people or driving them off their land through the abuses documented in other sections of this report, but it also occurs directly, as SPDC units deliberately destroy crops and food supplies, or destroy farmland in the process of making roads and army camps. In areas which they are trying to bring under control, SPDC forces deliberately and systematically destroy villagers' food supplies and livelihoods in order to force them to move into Army-controlled areas. Army patrols seek out and destroy ricefields, food storage barns and farming implements, and kill any livestock they find (photos 1-20 to 1-21 , 1-33 to 1-40 , 1-41 to 1-43 , 7-17 , 7-24 to 7-25 , and 7-27 to 7-29 ). Prior to growing season they prematurely burn off the undried scrub in the ricefields to make it impossible to plant a full crop ( photos 7-20 to 7-23 ). During the growing season, they uproot and trample rice plants in the fields (photos 7-32 and 7-33 to 7-34 ). During the harvest, they shoot exposed villagers working in the fields (photos 5-23 to 5-25 and 5-33 to 5-40 ). They hunt out and destroy the hiding sites and food supplies of internally displaced villagers (photos 7-35 to 7-36 and 2-31 to 2-36 ), destroy their betelnut and cardamom plantations (photos 7-4 and 7-18 ), and shoot them on sight when they try to carry their produce to market (photos 5-31 to 5-32 and 5-58 to 5-60 ). The livelihoods of villagers living under SPDC control are almost as tenuous as those of the IDPs, due to the impunity that accompanies military power. Villagers are never consulted on road-building or other infrastructure projects or compensated for the damage. Photo 7-15 shows a villager's ricefield destroyed in March 2004 when SPDC troops ploughed a bulldozer right through it to make a road. Ten villagers in Thaton district had their long-standing loh tree plantations cut down for a road in January 2004, and were also forced to build the road themselves ( photo 6-134 ). Soldiers digging earth and stone for road repairs in Papun district destroyed the ricefield dikes and irrigation systems of villagers on two occasions, when they could easily have obtained the materials elsewhere (see photos 7-1 to 7-2 and 7-26 ), and left behind piles of rock in another field that took the farmer a week's work to remove ( photo 7-16 ). Livelihoods can be lost to any whim of a military officer. In July 2003, SPDC Army commanders in Dooplaya District decided that trading boats could be used to supply resistance forces, and set out to destroy all boats on the Atayan River ( photo 7-19 ), while in Thaton District a KNLA officer destroyed the bamboo and cane rafts essential to the livelihood of a family because they had failed to obey one of his orders ( photos 7-30 to 7-31 ). In March 2004, villagers in two areas of Dooplaya District had their fields and irrigation systems destroyed by fires started by SPDC troops to clear scrub from the roadsides, yet they could not dare request compensation (photos 7-5 to 7-8 and 7-9 to 7-14 ). Livestock is frequently lost to landmines, with no compensation ever paid ( photo 11-53 ). Many villagers find themselves forced to switch to livelihoods less vulnerable to the destruction of their land, like paid labour or gathering and selling forest products ( photo 7-3 ), neither of which yield more than hand-to-mouth survival – or as the saying goes in Sgaw Karen, 'work in the morning, eat in the evening.'
Photos #7-1, 7-2: In January 2005, SPDC soldiers from LIB #434 began rebuilding the Ka Ma Maung – Papun vehicle road (see map of Papun district) between Kwih Si and Ma Htaw villages. On January 11 th the soldiers gathered stones from the Tee Mo Pweh river. They also gathered stones from a village irrigation dam used to irrigate five people's ricefields, and removed the stones used to block the flow of irrigation water until ploughing time; as a result, the dam and the water supply were destroyed. The soldiers laid the stones out in the villagers' ricefields, staked out in kyin (one kyin is 100 cubic feet, staked out as ten feet square by one foot deep), as shown in these photos taken on January 13. Later, they drove a truck in over the ricefields, destroying several irrigation control dikes, loaded most of the stones and took them away to the road. They left behind a large number of scrap stones, which the farmers then had to clear from their fields. Though the villagers complained to the officers about all the damage, nothing was done and no compensation was given. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #1-20, 1-21: On November 18 th 2004, SPDC LIB #589 began burning villages in the Yah Aw area of Shwegyin township, Nyaunglebin district (see Section 1, A Short Story in Pictures ). Photo 1-20 was taken on November 23 rd 2004 from the hill fields of one of the villages already burned. Beyond the next ridge the rising smoke is from SPDC LIB #589 troops burning the hill fields and field huts near Khaw Hta village. In the distance, the sound of shots was also audible as SPDC soldiers shot the villagers' pigs and cattle for food. A thin column of smoke is faintly visible in the centre of photo 1-21 ; it is smoke rising from the paddy storage barn of the Christian pastor of K'Hee Day village. LIB #589 soldiers had set it alight, and paddy can smoulder for days. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 1-33, 1-34, 1-35, 1-36, 1-37, 1-38, 1-39, 1-40: SPDC columns appear to have deliberately timed their attack on hill villages in Shwegyin township in November/December 2004 (see Section 1, A Short Story in Pictures ) to interfere with the rice harvest, because they not only burned villages but systematically sought out and destroyed paddy storage barns hidden in the forest and farmfield huts with their piles of harvested paddy, then stayed around the villages to prevent villagers from returning to complete their harvest. Photo 1-33 shows the farmfield hut of Pa T--- from Khaw Hta, burned along with the paddy ( photo 1-34 ) he had already harvested. The remains of B---'s paddy storage barn, with his paddy still smouldering, are shown in photo 1-35 , while photo 1-36 shows the burned patch of ground where his farmfield hut used to be; in the foreground he has piled the only paddy he could salvage from the ashes. Both were burned by a combined column of LIB #587, LIB #589 and IB #57. Saw P--- lost 70 baskets of newly harvested paddy and all of his farming implements when LIB #350 burned his field hut (photos 1-37 and 1-38 ). The burned ground in photo 1-39 used to be the farmfield hut of a Yah Aw villager. Photo 1-40 provides a closeup view of Pa D---'s partial paddy harvest, now little more than a mound of charred and blackened grains. All of these photos were taken between December 6 th and 15 th 2004. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 1-41, 1-42, 1-43: These photos show what remained of teacher L---'s rice after an SPDC column from LIB #587, LIB #589 and IB #57 passed through Khaw Hta area and burned villages and farmfield huts in late November 2004, in mid-harvest season. Photo 1-41 shows his unharvested paddy still in the field, in the process of going to seed or being eaten by insects and animals because he couldn't dare return to harvest it while the column remained in the area. Photo 1-42 shows his farmfield hut, burned by the column on November 23 rd along with most of the paddy he had already harvested. All that could be salvaged has now been piled on the mats in the centre of the photo. The column also found and burned his paddy storage barn, leaving nothing but the ashes shown in photo 1-43 . [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #7-3: Karen villagers in Dweh Loh township, Papun district, gathering cane and transporting it to market to sell. Previously these people were able to live by rice farming and keeping plantations and livestock, but since SPDC troops became more active in their area in 2003 their movements became more restricted and their food and belongings were looted or extorted from them. They could no longer produce enough by farming, so they now have to supplement their income through selling cane. This is hard and time-consuming work, cutting it in thick forest high on the hills, hauling it to the river, then transporting it by raft to market. Gathering one load takes an entire day. They can sell one piece of cane for 150 Kyat, making just enough each day to buy rice. This photo was taken in October 2004. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #7-4: Saw K---, 25, is from L--- village in Than Daung township, Toungoo District. In mid-2004 a column from SPDC IB #92 led by Captain Zaw Zaw Aung destroyed his cardamom plantation, a crucial source of livelihood for villagers in this area. This photo was taken in August 2004. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 7-5, 7-6, 7-7, 7-8: On March 22 nd 2004, soldiers from SPDC IB #283 entered Htee Meh Baw village in Kawkareik township, Dooplaya District to demand food from the villagers. Upon returning to their camp, they set fire to the bush along the roadside, a routine Tatmadaw practice to make it more difficult for resistance forces and internally displaced villagers to hide themselves or cross the road. In the process, they also set fire to all the villagers' banana, betelnut, and peppercorn plantations and hill fields lining the road. Photo 7-8 shows one of the peppercorn plantations that was destroyed. Saw M--- and Naw K--- each lost over 1,000 betelnut trees when their plantations burned, while Saw P--- lost over 2,000 betelnut trees. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 7-9, 7-10, 7-11, 7-12, 7-13, 7-14: On March 4 th 2004, LIB #549 troops (Battalion Commander Thu Ra Myo Tint commanding) burned a 'killing zone' along the flanks of the Kyaikdon to Lay Po Hta car road in Dooplaya District to protect Maung Maung Sein, the visiting commander of Military Operations Command #12, from ambush as he travelled along the road. The fire quickly raged out of control and destroyed many fields and plantations in the area. These photos taken the next day show Pa K--- from P--- village standing in his burned field ( photo 7-9 ) and inspecting his destroyed irrigation works ( photo 7-10 ), and part of Pa Y---'s betelnut plantation ( photo 7-12 ). Photo #7-11 shows the extent of the burned irrigated-paddy fields. Pa K---'s rain-irrigated field which he had just cleared for the year's planting was also burned ( photos 7-13 and 7-14 ). The cut scrub had not had time to dry fully yet, leading to an incomplete burning which will make planting a proper crop impossible when the rains come. The people of several villages were affected by the fires, but no compensation was paid to the villagers for their loss. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #7-15: For the past few years the SPDC has been building a car road between Kaw Pu village in Bu Tho township and T'Ku Der village in Lu Thaw township in Papun District. Soldiers from LIB #379 led by company commander Min Lwin Oo destroyed this ricefield near Meh Yeh Kloh village in Bu Tho township by ploughing their bulldozer right through it to clear a path for the road. No consultations with local villagers are held regarding the road, and no compensation is paid. This photo was taken in March 2004. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #7-16: Since the informal ceasefire with the KNLA began in January 2004, the SPDC has continued its road building programme in Karen State in an attempt to strengthen its control over remote areas. In March 2004, soldiers from LIB #434 were ordered to repair the vehicle road between Kwih Si and Ma Hta villages in Dweh Loh township of Papun District. The soldiers dumped this pile of stone in this flat rice field near K--- village, where it lay untouched three months later when this photo was taken in June 2004. It took the owner of the field an entire week to move the stones to a corner of his field so that he could plough it in readiness for planting. In addition to being ordered to perform forced labour maintaining these roads, the villagers living in their paths often find their fields destroyed with no warning and no consultation. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-134: Over 10 plantations of loh trees (a type of palm used for roofing thatch) belonging to Kya Th'Raw village were destroyed in the construction of this vehicle road in Thaton township, Thaton District. Saw T---, a villager from an adjacent village who was ordered to work on the road, told a KHRG researcher, "The Burmese [soldiers] forced the villagers to build the road. It passed through the villagers' loh plantations, but they didn't dare to complain about it. They didn't receive any payment [compensation]." A number of the stumps of the trees that were cut down can still be seen protruding from the road. This photo was taken in January 2004. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 10-43, 10-44, 10-45, 10-46: Villagers flee K'Leh Loh village in Lu Thaw township, Papun district to escape an approaching column of Light Infantry Division #55 in January 2004. The column entered their village, burned their paddy storage barns, looted their houses, and killed villager Saw Kloh Po Heh. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #7-17: This pile of ash and charred paddy is all that remains of a rice storage barn near the IDP hiding site at K--- in Lu Thaw township, Papun District. Soldiers from SPDC Light Infantry Division #55 burned it on December 30 th 2003 as their forces swept through the area in search of IDPs and their food supplies. This photo was taken in January 2004. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #7-18: These are the chopped-off stalks of betelnut trees, whose fruit is a major cash crop in Karen regions. This plantation belonging to Saw B---, 36, from K--- village in Mone township of Nyaunglebin District was cut down by soldiers from SPDC LIB #20 in August 2003. Betelnut trees can take as long as a decade to become productive and bear fruit. SPDC troops in the area cut them down to cut off hill villagers' access to cash and food in hopes that this will force them to move to SPDC-controlled villages. This photo was taken in November 2003. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #2-12: A villager stands amongst the ashes of his farmfield hut near Klaw Day village in Bu Tho township, Papun District. This hut and another like it were burned by soldiers from Column #2 of SPDC IB #35 in early October 2003. SPDC patrols routinely burn farmfield huts and destroy fields to hamper villagers' access to food. This photo was taken soon afterward. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #7-19: Longtail trading boats like these are a major livelihood of villagers living along the Tha May (Atayan) river in southern Dooplaya district. However, in July 2003 troops from SPDC LIB #586 and LIB #591 came to the villages along the river saying they had orders from higher military authorities to destroy all trading boats because they were used to transport supplies to the KNLA. They managed to destroy six boats altogether in Kyo Kyaw, Meh T'Pwih and K'Lee Lah villages, but were unable to get their hands on any more and gave up. The boat in the foreground of this photo was one of those destroyed, but the owner rebuilt it and now uses it to transport goods for trade again. Villagers regularly suffer from such arbitrary and erratic decrees of SPDC military officers, which are a major factor destabilising their livelihoods. [Photo: KHRG researcher] Warning: these photos may be upsetting to some viewers.
Photos # 5-23, 5-24, 5-25: Saw Pa Kyaw Dah, age 38, from N--- village in Papun District was shot dead by soldiers from SPDC Light Infantry Division #66 on May 29 th 2003. He was working in his hill field planting the paddy seeds for the next harvest when he was spotted and shot on sight. The SPDC is trying to clear villagers out of the hills where he lives, and Army columns often target villagers as they are working in their hill fields where they are far more visible. These photos were taken the day after he was killed. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 7-20, 7-21, 7-22, 7-23: These hill fields were prematurely burned by SPDC soldiers in 2003 to prevent villagers being able to plant a proper crop. Before a hill field can be planted, any brush that has grown since it was last used needs to be cut down, dried, and then burned. The burning is normally conducted in April or May once the cut scrub has sufficiently dried out. Burning prematurely produces an uneven burn, leaving clutter of bushes and small trees which makes a complete planting impossible. Without being able to plant the entire field, the villagers are unable to get enough rice to last them until the next harvest. Photos 7-20 and 7-21 show hill fields in Bilin township, Thaton District, prematurely burned on April 3 rd 2003 by SPDC LIB #11 (Battalion Commander Thein Zaw commanding). Photos 7-22 and 7-23 show hill fields near Ho Kay village, Bu Tho township, Papun District, prematurely burned on March 4 th 2003 by SPDC soldiers from LIB #6 and IB #14 (Battalion Commander Thein Htun commanding). These photos were taken in April 2003. [Photos: KHRG researchers]
Photos #7-24, 7-25: SPDC Army soldiers destroyed this paddy barn near P--- village in Papun District in mid-2003. Almost all of the 50 baskets [1,050 kgs. / 2,300 lbs.] of paddy that were inside the barn were rendered inedible after the soldiers poured it on the ground. The owner of the barn, internally displaced villager Saw T---, was only able to salvage four or five baskets [84-105 kgs. / 184-230 lbs.] of the paddy. Once processed into edible rice, this will only last his family of six for one to two months. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #7-26: These irrigated rice fields near K'Dwee Koh village in Dweh Loh township, Papun District were destroyed by SPDC LIB #434 soldiers who were repairing the nearby Papun to Bilin vehicle road. The soldiers dug earth and stone out of the villagers' fields and the dikes essential to controlling irrigation, then used it to build the road which they rerouted directly through crop fields. They did not consult the villagers or village leaders at all, but villagers did not dare to complain for fear of military retaliation. This photo was taken in March 2003. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 7-27, 7-28, 7-29: This is all that remains of the paddy storage barn belonging to Saw K---, 25, and Naw R---, 45, from Saw Mu Plaw village tract in Papun District. It was burned by SPDC troops on January 4 th 2003, destroying 60 baskets [1,260 kgs. / 2,760 lbs.] of paddy as well as their large ceramic jar, machetes, a spade and a saw. The paddy was still smouldering when these photos were taken a week later. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #7-30, 7-31: Villager T--- from Bilin was stranded upriver on this riverbank in November 2002 because KNLA officer Bper Na Loh had destroyed all of the bamboo and cane rafts which he used to make his livelihood, presumably because he had failed to comply with some KNLA demand. As a result T--- and his family were unable to return downriver to their home or to earn any livelihood, though photo 7-31 shows them making new rafts in the hope of continuing in the future. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #5-31, 5-32: On November 4 th 2002, Saw L---, Saw P---, and Saw Sha Kaw from D--- village in Lu Thaw township, Papun District left their village to sell bamboo that they had cut. They were spotted by soldiers from SPDC IB #19 who opened fire on them, wounding Saw L--- and killing Saw Sha Kaw. Photo 5-31 shows 27 year old Saw L--- receiving medical attention for the gunshot wounds in his shoulder at a KNU clinic in the area. Photo 5-32 is of Saw Sha Kaw's wife and four children. With her children still too small to do much hard work in the hill fields, it will be difficult for her to grow enough food for her family. SPDC forces routinely shoot villagers on sight in this area, because they have never been able to bring it under their full control. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 5-33, 5-34, 5-35, 5-36, 5-37, 5-38, 5-39, 5-40: On October 30 th 2002, a number of villagers from S--- village in northern Lu Thaw township, Papun District, went to harvest the paddy from their hill field at T---. SPDC forces have been trying to depopulate this hill area since 1997 by destroying villages, crops and food supplies and shooting villagers on sight, but thousands of villagers still survive here. At 3:30 pm as the villagers were collecting their harvest, soldiers from LIB #235 crept up on them and opened fire. One of the villagers, 25 year old Saw Ray Bee Wah, was shot dead, and at least five other villagers were injured in the shooting. Photos 5-33 , 5-34 , and 5-35 show Naw L---, 15, who was shot just below her left elbow. Photos 5-36 and 5-37 are of eight-year-old Naw M---, who was shot in the abdomen, the bullet barely missing her kidney. Photos 5-38 and 5-39 show the gunshot wound in the leg of Saw T---, 38. Fortunately for him, the bullet passed right through his leg without hitting the bone. Photo 5-40 shows Saw T---, 20 years old, who was shot in the forearm, having his wound cleaned by a Karen medic. Medics in the area can do little but clean the wounds due to the lack of medicines and clinic facilities. Saw P---, a 32-year-old villager not shown here, was also wounded. The reason so many people were hit is that they must harvest in open hillside fields with no cover, while SPDC troops can creep up in the forest to the very edge of the field without being detected. In these circumstances there is no doubt that they knew they were firing on civilians and children. These photos were taken in November 2002. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #11-53: People are not the only victims of landmines in Karen State. It is quite common for buffaloes, cattle, and elephants to lose their limbs or lives to landmines. On October 29 th 2002, this buffalo owned by Saw M--- from B--- village, Dta Greh township in Pa'an District stepped on an SPDC landmine beside the Moei River, dying later that same day. No compensation was paid to the owner. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #7-32: On October 5 th 2002, still too early to harvest, SPDC soldiers from LIB #366 and LIB #368 pulled out and trampled much of the paddy in this field owned by M---, an internally displaced villager from T--- village in Nyaunglebin District. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #7-33, 7-34: Soldiers from SPDC LIB #368 came to this hill field in Ler Doh township of Nyaunglebin District in late September 2002, and pulled many of the paddy stalks out of the ground in order to deliberately destroy the harvest. The field belongs to Saw P--- of D--- village. SPDC Army soldiers systematically target the fields and food supplies of hill villagers when they are unable to catch the villagers themselves, as part of their ongoing campaign to depopulate the hills of Karen State. These photos were taken in October 2002. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 5-58, 5-59, 5-60: Saw K---, 27 years old from H--- village in Lu Thaw township of Papun District. On July 24 th 2002 he was taking his betelnut to the market in S--- to exchange it for rice along with numerous other villagers. Villagers from hill areas are always at risk of being intercepted, detained and tortured or forced to porter by SPDC troops, so the group of villagers was being escorted by KNLA soldiers. Along the way they were seen by soldiers from SPDC LIB #255, who opened fire on them. During the ensuing skirmish between the SPDC and KNLA soldiers, Saw K--- received bullet and shrapnel wounds to his buttocks and back. Photos 5-59 and 5-60 show him being treated by one of the Karen medics who were accompanying them. There was no medicine to give him aside from painkillers. The medics were not carrying many medicines, and due to the continued SPDC activity in the area, he could not be transported out of the area to a clinic for proper treatment for several days. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #7-35, 7-36: On July 16 th 2002, soldiers from LIB #368 (Battalion Commander Kyaw Win commanding) found the displaced villagers' hiding site at M--- in Dweh Loh township of Papun District. As part of their ongoing efforts to flush IDPs out of the hills, the soldiers burned the homes and destroyed the villagers' food supplies, casting the villagers' paddy onto the ground so as to render it inedible. As it was wet season, much of the paddy had germinated after being soaked in the monsoon rains by the time these photos were taken two weeks later. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 2-31, 2-32, 2-33, 2-34, 2-35, 2-36: A hiding site of internally displaced villagers in Dweh Loh township, Papun District that was destroyed by SPDC soldiers. On July 16 th 2002, soldiers from LIB #368 (battalion commander Kyaw Win commanding) found this site and burned the houses and paddy barns. Most of the houses were burned to the ground and all stores of paddy that were found were cast onto the ground and set alight. Photos 2-34 , 2-35 , and 2-36 show how those grains which survived the fire have germinated. These photos were taken in late July 2002 when the villagers returned to their village to see if any of their food or possessions survived the fires. [Photos: KHRG researcher] 7.2 Abandoned FieldsEven if the SPDC or other military forces fail to destroy productive farmland by design or whim (as discussed above), villagers are often forced to abandon their land due to other factors. For villagers in hill areas, the establishment of an SPDC Army camp or an increase in the frequency of military patrols within a short distance of their field creates a risk that whenever working the field they could suddenly be caught unawares by a patrol and shot or taken as a porter. Rather than face this risk they abandon the land, sometimes even if it has already been planted (see photos 7-37 , 7-39 , 7-43 , and 7-49 ). The establishment of new roads near their fields, which according to the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Rangoon should cause villagers to rejoice, also forces them to abandon their fields because roads mean Army camps, forced labour, extortion and Army patrols (see photos 7-40 to 7-41 , 7-47 to 7-48 , and 10-22 ). In Karen hill areas, villagers can only dare work their fields if they can feel confident that SPDC forces are unlikely to enter the area (see photo 7-38 ). In many areas this is unrealistic, so many villagers switch from rice to cash crops like cardamom which can be grown in smaller quantities without detection (see photo 7-44 ). Photo 7-42 shows fields abandoned by villagers who fled their village after SPDC and KNLA forces had a firefight nearby, because they knew the SPDC would attack or relocate their village as punishment. When forced relocation orders are given, people also have no choice but to leave their fields, whether it is to go to the relocation site or into hiding in the hills (see photos 7-45 to 7-46 ). The longer the villagers are away from their fields the more they degenerate; hill fields are reclaimed by the forest, and the dikes and irrigation systems in flat fields erode, silt up and are destroyed, requiring months or years of gradual work to rebuild.
Photo #7-37: Shortly after the internally displaced villagers from T--- village in Tantabin Township of Toungoo District cut and cleared this hill field in early 2004, a small unit of troops from LIB #660 built a temporary outpost just a few minutes' walk away – possibly with the purpose of locating and catching the IDPs who cleared the field. The villagers, however, stayed away once the post was there, and were never able to plant this field. This photo was taken in August 2004, when it was already too late to plant. This illustrates the difficulties and uncertainties IDPs face in growing rice; if an SPDC unit loiters nearby at any time during the crop cycle, the entire crop is lost. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #7-38: Villagers in Tantabin Township of Toungoo District ploughing their flat rice fields in August 2004. Owing to the close proximity of an SPDC Army camp, these villagers can only work in these fields whenever the soldiers are not active. When the soldiers are out of their camp on patrol, the villagers do not dare to work these fields for fear of being seen and arrested. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #7-39: This is the hill field of Saw M---, age 43, from T--- village in Lu Thaw township of Papun District. After using 21 baskets of rice seed to plant this field, he had to flee his village with his family of ten due to increasing SPDC activity in the area. They are now internally displaced at D--- and dare not return to tend the field, so this entire crop will be lost. This photo was taken in October 2003. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #7-40, 7-41: Villagers from Wa Soe and Sho Ser villages, along the Toungoo-Mawchi road route in eastern Toungoo District ( see map ), fled their villages en masse when SPDC forces established a number of new military camps nearby in conjunction with their reconstruction of the Toungoo-Mawchi vehicle road. Shortly after being cleared and planted, these hill fields were abandoned early in growing season because the villagers feared being seen and shot or abused by soldiers moving along the newly reconstructed road. These photos were taken in June 2003. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #7-42: On May 5 th 2003 fighting occurred between KNLA and SPDC soldiers near B--- village, along the Papun - Ka Ma Maung car road in Dweh Loh township of Papun District. The SPDC soldiers blamed the B--- villagers for not preventing the KNLA attack. Though SPDC officers know that villagers are not responsible for such attacks, they routinely retaliate against villagers in order to alienate them from the KNLA. Fearing a violent retaliation, the B--- villagers fled the area, leaving fields like this one cleared but not burned for planting. Without access to their fields, they must now find ways to survive in the forest. By the time this photo was taken in early July 2003, this field should have been burned off and planted. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #7-43: In June 2002 SPDC LIB #5 (Battalion Commander Ko Ko Naing commanding), part of Light Infantry Division #66, built their temporary camp close to this irrigated field near Htee Baw Law village in Dweh Loh township, Papun District. Since that time, the villagers have not dared to return to work this field. This photo was taken in July 2003. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #7-44: Internally displaced women from P--- village in Bu Tho township, Papun District drying their cardamom harvest in January 2003 prior to taking it to market for sale. For IDPs living in hiding to avoid SPDC Army control, growing large fields of rice is too dangerous so they have to grow small-scale cash crops which they can sell to buy rice. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #7-45, 7-46: When these photos were taken in August 2002, these ricefields at L--- village in Lu Thaw Township, Papun District should have been full of growing rice. Instead, they have been abandoned by their owners, who have fled the area to avoid forced relocation by the SPDC. The fields and irrigation channels are now overgrown, a grazing ground for the buffaloes of people who are still willing to risk living in the area. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #7-47, 7-48: In 1997 the SPDC began construction on the Pwa Ghaw to Bu Sah Kee vehicle road to facilitate Army access to the hills between northern Papun and southern Toungoo districts ( see map ). These irrigated rice fields, which lie beside the road, were abandoned shortly thereafter because villagers feared being seen by the SPDC troops operating along the road route. Once construction began, villagers working these fields faced a high chance of being conscripted for forced labour on the road or as porters, or of being detained, beaten or shot at by passing SPDC patrols. The villagers therefore had to flee to areas away from the road route. These photos were taken in July 2002. Photo 7-47 shows a field near Saw Mu Plaw village, and photo 7-48 shows a field at Htoh Law Plaw, both in Lu Thaw township of Papun District. The old rice has seeded itself and grows everywhere, even overtop the irrigation dikes. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #7-49: Hill fields of villagers from Meh Ta Kho Kee village in Dweh Loh township of Papun District. After clearing and planting the fields, the villagers had to abandon the crop when they fled due to increased SPDC activity in the area. This photo was taken in July 2002. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #10-22: A section of the road from Pwa Ghaw to Saw Hta in Papun district ( see map ), which SPDC forces bulldozed through the forest to give them a firmer foothold in the Papun hills. Since its completion in 2000, this road has made life much more difficult for villagers and displaced people in the area. Those with fields near the road route have had to abandon them, and those needing to cross the road to reach fields or food supplies take a risk of being shot on sight by SPDC patrols that frequently move along the road. As a result the entire area near the road has been largely depopulated. There is speculation that this road is also intended to facilitate SPDC militarisation of the Salween River to protect construction of the planned Salween dams. [Photo: KHRG researcher] 7.3 Confiscation of FieldsUnder Burmese law all land officially belongs to the state, and this is implemented quite literally by Army and civil authorities confiscating any land they want for any purpose without compensation. The photos in this section show land which has been confiscated by Army units for an Army camp ( photo 6-194 ), for the establishment of a forced relocation site ( photos 3-10 to 3-12 ), and for Army farms (photos 7-53 and 7-54 ). With Army units in the field now expected to produce some of their own food, many are now confiscating villagers' farms and forcing the same villagers to work the fields for them, without pay and without compensation, as shown in photo 7-53 . The rice fields in photo 7-54 were seized by forcing the entire village to relocate in order to make their fields available for use by an Army camp. Photos 7-50 to 7-52 show a much larger project, where the Army has confiscated a massive area of land without compensation to support a military-corporate joint venture with a Rangoon-based company called 'Max Myanmar'. Five thousand acres of land is to be confiscated and planted with rubber by 2007 ( "Lt-Gen Maung Bo inspects development undertakings in Mon, Kayin States", New Light of Myanmar , May 9 th 2005). All of this land is to be devoted to the profit of the company and the senior military officers involved. The villagers, meanwhile, lose their land and their livelihoods, are paid no compensation, and will probably even be used as forced or bonded labour on the plantation.
Photos # 7-50, 7-51, 7-52: Photos 7-50 and 7-51 taken in February 2005 can be viewed as a panorama from left to right (with some overlap in the centre); click here or on the above thumbnail to see the two photos assembled into a single panorama. Most of the flat land visible is farmland belonging to villagers in Thaton township, Thaton district, but it has now been confiscated without payment to establish a vast 5,000-acre rubber plantation for a Rangoon-based company called Max Myanmar. On December 3 rd 2004, the area was visited by representatives of Max Myanmar along with Lieutenant General Maung Bo, who is an SPDC member, and many of his soldiers. The villagers who had their land confiscated were told that the rubber plantations will be a joint venture between Max Myanmar and the Army. When these photos were taken, much of the land had been cleared in preparation, but no planting had occurred yet. In May 2005 the General visited the plantations with Max Myanmar once again, as reported on May 9 th 2005 by official newspaper New Light of Myanmar (English version): "At the briefing hall of Max Myanmar company which is engaged in growing 5000 acres of rubber in Shweyaungpya village in Bilin Township, U Zaw Zaw Chairman of the company [Max Myanmar] briefed Lt-Gen Maung Bo and party on cultivation of rubber. Lt-Gen Maung Bo urged officials concerned to extend cultivation of rubber in the interests of the State, the region and in their own. Next, they inspected rubber plantations by car. According to the rubber growing project of Max Myanmar, 1000 acres will be put under rubber in 2004-2005, 2000 acres in 2005-2006 and the remaining 2000 in 2006-2007." ("Lt-Gen Maung Bo inspects development undertakings in Mon, Kayin States", New Light of Myanmar , May 9 th 2005). No mention is made in the article of whose land this was. Along with the farmfields which have been confiscated, photo 7-52 shows a closeup of some of the scrubland which has been cleared, and two piles of cut trees which the villagers have gathered for firewood. The villagers always gathered firewood on this land, and told a KHRG researcher they fear that once the rubber is planted they will be kept out and will not have access to firewood or their fields anymore. Ironically, while not paying the villagers anything for their land, Max Myanmar is regularly cited in the New Light of Myanmar for donations to sports events and local education projects; company chairman U Zaw Zaw is also president of the Myanmar Tennis Federation, which organises local and international tennis events. O n February 4 th 2005, the company also donated 10 Million Kyat to "Tatmadaw families of regiments and units" in Irrawaddy Division ("Lt-Gen Khin Maung Than Oversees Development of Ayeyawady Division", New Light of Myanmar , February 5 th 2005). [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #7-53: Officers from SPDC LIB #434 confiscated these irrigated ricefields from Naw S---, 40, of K--- village in Bu Tho township, Papun District. She received no compensation. This photo was taken at ploughing time in July 2004. In the foreground a buffalo can be seen attached to a plough, while in the distance some villagers from W--- village can be seen using their own buffaloes to do forced labour after being ordered to plough the fields for the soldiers. The villagers are also forced to plant, weed, and harvest the fields, but the soldiers take the entire harvest. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 3-10, 3-11, 3-12: Photo 3-10 shows the relocation site in Nyaunglebin District where the people of G--- village (see photos 3-4 through 3-9 ) have been forced to live since February 10 th 2004. It lies along a roadside between two villages in what used to be irrigated ricefields, which flood in rainy season. To place the relocation site, the Army confiscated these ricefields without compensation from Saw H---, 70 ( photo 3-11 ) and Saw K---, 30 ( photo 3-12 ). Both men say that with the relocation site lying on their fields, they can no longer farm and have lost their livelihood. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-194: The outer perimeter of the SPDC Army camp at Htee Yu Thaw village in Kru Tu (Kyone Doh) township, Dooplaya District. This camp was built on the confiscated plantations of Saw P--- and Saw K---, neither of whom were compensated for the loss of their livelihoods. Lying in the foreground are the broken-down dikes of a number of irrigated paddy fields that were also destroyed in the construction of the camp. Every aspect of this camp was constructed using forced labour. The soldiers forced the villagers to build the soldiers' huts, dig the trenches and bunkers, and construct the fence visible in this photo. This is only the outer layer of three concentric rings of fence erected around the camp. Between each ring of fencing are rows of sharpened bamboo spikes planted as additional perimeter defences, all done by forced labour. This photo was taken in May 2003. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #7-54: This photo taken in March 2003 shows some of the rice fields along the Papun – Ka Ma Maung road belonging to Bweh Klah village in Bu Tho township, Papun District. Months before, however, the SPDC Army had forced Bweh Klah village to relocate elsewhere and seized these fields to grow food for themselves. [Photo: KHRG researcher] 7.4 Restrictions on Access to FoodThroughout Karen areas, people live in clustered villages but farm fields and plantations that may be scattered up to several kilometres away, and supplement this by fishing, hunting and foraging in the surrounding forests. They travel to larger villages to sell cash crops and buy necessities like medicines, clothing, and dry goods. By establishing more roads dotted with military posts and checkpoints to control the movement of people and goods, the SPDC is restricting all of these activities. At every military checkpoint and every time they encounter a mobile patrol, villagers face the risk of interrogation, detention, recruitment for forced labour, and extortion of their money and goods. Some villagers find the restrictions and risks too much, and try to move further away from the SPDC presence (see photo 10-24 ). For internally displaced villagers the risks are particularly high. People establish cash crop plantations in hidden locations, or harvest rice quickly and covertly ( photos 7-61 to 7-62 ), sometimes by night or with KNLA guards, to avoid being shot in the fields by SPDC patrols (see Section 5, Shootings and Killings ). IDPs travelling to central villages to buy things must risk capture by SPDC patrols, and if caught in the village they are accused as rebels. Photo 7-63 shows a group returning to the forest with rice they bought in a village, moving covertly and walking along streambeds to avoid leaving tracks that could lead SPDC patrols to the place where they live. SPDC authorities deliberately block medicines and goods from the plains and SPDC-controlled villages from entering the hills, in order to make life untenable for people living outside their control and to prevent supplies reaching resistance forces. Resistance forces have access to other supply lines, however, so the main effect is on villagers. To evade these restrictions, villagers and traders from the plains and SPDC-controlled villages in some areas have cooperated with IDP populations to organise covert and temporary 'jungle markets', sometimes with the protection of resistance forces. A well-hidden site is determined, word spread around, and on that day people from SPDC-controlled areas bring goods to trade with IDPs who bring their cash crops and other belongings in exchange. Photos 7-55 to 7-57 show a 'jungle market' in operation. In some areas these have become a lifeline for IDPs. To prevent them having contact with IDP populations, people living in SPDC-controlled areas are restricted from going into the hills, often using the threat of landmines. Paths into areas not fully controlled by the SPDC are landmined, and sometimes signs are posted to prevent people using them (see photo 11-2 ). This is also done to prevent people in forced relocation sites from returning to farm their fields near their home village. In Thaton District, DKBA forces have prohibited relocated villagers from returning to their home fields and have landmined the paths to enforce this, but even so some villagers take the risk and evade the troops and mines to grow rice (see photo 7-58 ). In many cases, however, the fields lie abandoned and fall into disrepair, as shown by photos 7-59 to 7-60 , so even if people eventually return home extensive work will be required to make the fields workable again.
Photo #10-24: These villagers from B--- village, Bu Tho township, Papun district left their village after SPDC troops set up a camp along the vehicle road nearby in April 2004. With the camp on the road, they said that they can no longer dare travel to town to get food or work farmfields anywhere near the road. In Karen hill areas, roads increase mobility for the Army but decrease it for villagers. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 7-55, 7-56, 7-57: These photos show villagers from Mone township, Nyaunglebin District buying food and dry goods at a secret 'jungle market' where the villagers from the plains and SPDC-controlled villages can sell their goods to villagers and IDPs from the hills. In many areas across Karen State, the SPDC has prohibited trade between those who live in the plains and those who live in the hills, in an attempt to make survival unsustainable for IDPs and resistance forces. Unable to grow enough rice because ricefields are too visible to SPDC patrols, many internally displaced villagers have switched to small-scale forest cash crops like cardamom which they can then sell to buy rice; but they cannot dare enter SPDC-controlled villages to exchange their crops for fear of capture. 'Markets' such as this one are occasional, shifting and temporary and must be established with the utmost secrecy. If SPDC authorities were to find one of these markets, all of the villagers in attendance would be accused of being KNU sympathisers, and would be detained and possibly tortured or summarily executed. In photo 7-57 , a few KNLA soldiers are also buying goods. These photos were taken in October 2003. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #8-7: Civilians from Bilin town in Thaton District gathering rattan cane from the forest. With no work available in the town, these villagers must venture out into the forest to collect cane which they sell in order to buy rice to feed their families. This photo was taken in February 2004. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #7-58: Beginning in late 2003, DKBA #333 Brigade prohibited villagers living in Bilin township, Thaton District from going into the hills outside their villages, and began landmining the hills. This effectively blocked many villagers from farming their hill fields or gathering forest products. However, the people in this photo secretly grew a small plot of rice in the forest away from their village without the DKBA soldiers knowing about it. If they were discovered, they could be shot, detained or fined by the DKBA, but there is no other way to get food to survive. This photo was taken in November 2003. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #7-59, 7-60: In 1997 the SPDC forcibly relocated the villagers from Meh Kaw Law village to the Meh Way relocation site in Dweh Loh township of Papun District. Once they were relocated, the SPDC Army soldiers would not allow the villagers to return home to work these fields, fearing that they would go into hiding in the hills. These photos, taken in December 2002 and June 2003 respectively, demonstrate the progressive degeneration of unused ricefields, as the dikes erode and the fields silt up and become overgrown. These fields would now need major work before being usable again. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #7-61, 7-62: Villagers from M--- village work together to finish harvesting ricefields in Bu Tho township of Papun District even though SPDC soldiers are based nearby at T---. In this area villagers are often shot on sight, so the work must be completed quickly. Villagers are exposed and vulnerable in the fields, and SPDC troops often set ambushes by the fields at harvest time to capture or kill IDPs (as can be seen in Section 5, Shootings and Killings ). These photos were taken in November 2002. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #11-2: This signboard reads in Burmese, "Do not cut the trees; there are landmines" . It is posted beside the path that many villagers from the Kler Lah relocation site in Toungoo District must use to gain access to their plantations. Villagers from the area interviewed by KHRG stated that they no longer dared to return to tend to their plantations after seeing this sign. The planting of landmines on paths known to be frequented by villagers is a common tactic employed by the SPDC in preventing them from returning to their crops. In most cases, however, landmines are deployed with no warning being posted. This photo was taken in August 2002. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #7-63: These internally displaced villagers from M--- village in Dweh Loh township of Papun District are returning to their huts near their home village with rice that they have bought from a nearby village. Many IDPs must resort to growing small cash crops which they can barter or sell for rice, because open ricefields are too vulnerable to SPDC patrols. This photo, taken in July 2002, shows the villagers walking along a streambed so that they will not leave tracks which could be found by SPDC soldiers. [Photo: KHRG researcher] 7.5 Crop Quotas, Taxation and ExtortionWhile forced labour and other demands keep people away from their crops and livelihoods, they must still produce enough not only for themselves but also to pay various forms of quotas and extortion. The SPDC claims to have abolished its nationwide system of demanding crop quotas from every farmer (see photo 7-75), but it remains unconfirmed whether this claim is actually being implemented. Over and above the official quotas, everyone is forced to pay unofficial crop quotas and 'taxes' to support the SPDC and its Army in many ways. Every village is forced to pay many kinds of extortion 'fees' to each SPDC Army unit in the area. These go under names like 'porter fees', 'security fees', 'development fees', etc., but most of them simply go into the pockets of local and higher-level commanders (see photos 6-40 to 6-41). In addition, villages face constant demands from SPDC officers for meat, fruit, alcohol, cheroots, rice, and other goods, for which they are almost never paid (see photos 7-66 to 7-67 and 6-99). Demands are specified in written orders sent to village heads ( photo 6-102), or dictated in meetings which village leaders are forced to attend ( photo 6-103). Military officers and civil authorities also pursue personal money-making ventures, and often force villagers to be their customers: for example, photos 6-190 to 6-191 show a brickmaking venture where an SPDC officer used villagers and his soldiers as free labour, then forced the villagers to buy the bricks. The DKBA uses similar tricks to make money, forcing villagers to buy its calendars and posters at extortionate prices and then fining them even more if they fail to do so ( photo 7-68). The DKBA also demands quotas of conscripts from each village, then demands high bribes from people who want to avoid conscription. The man in photo 12-14 had to sell his cow to get enough money to avoid conscription, even though he is already 49 years old. In addition, every SPDC and DKBA unit based near a road sets up its own checkpoints along the road to extort money from everyone who passes. Villagers and traders moving along the roads run into these checkpoints as often as once every two or three kilometres, and at each one they are forced to pay arbitrary 'taxes' before they and their goods are allowed to pass (see photos 6-192, 7-69 to 7-71, and 7-72). This results in reduced trade and extortionately high prices for goods by the time they reach rural areas.
Photos #7-64, 7-65: These villagers from the western plains of Tantabin Township in Toungoo District are transplanting paddy seedlings from the seedbed to the open field in July 2004. Though it looks idyllic, villagers in this area live under heavy SPDC control, and consistently complain that they are kept away from their fields so much by SPDC forced labour and extortion demands that they have difficulty producing a full crop. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-192: On April 21 st 2004, DKBA Ka Hsaw Wah ('White Elephant') Battalion Company #5 (Lieutenant Htoh Lweh commanding) ordered six villages in Dweh Loh township, Papun District each to send five villagers to build them a new Army post on the Papun - Ka Ma Maung car road not far from Ma Htaw village. The villages that were ordered to provide labour were Khaw Klah, Tha Ma Kyu Law, Ta Hu Law, Noh Pa Doh, Th'Waw Ko Law and Ma Htaw villages. Each household in these villages was also ordered to provide 50 lengths of bamboo and 15 shingles of roofing thatch for construction. The DKBA planned to use the new post as a checkpoint to exact tolls from every civilian vehicle passing along the road. They now demand 1,000 Kyat from each car/truck, 500 Kyat from each bullock cart, and 200 Kyat per motorcycle. SPDC and DKBA Army vehicles are, of course, exempted. It took 30 villagers three days to complete the work, yet not one of them received any form of recompense. This photo shows some of the piles of prepared bamboo and thatch which had been delivered to the site prior to the construction of the buildings in April 2004. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 6-190, 6-191: A brick baking business controlled by LIB #376 (Major Aye Lwin commanding) in Pa'an township of Thaton District. Between March 1 st and 20 th 2004, Major Aye Lwin ordered the villagers of K--- village to bring enough loads of firewood to fire the brick kilns (some of the leftover firewood is visible in photo 6-190), and used his own soldiers as labour to bake the bricks for his personal profit. Not only were the villagers forced to work without pay but, adding insult to injury, they were forced to buy the bricks afterward at 15 Kyat per brick. These photos were taken in May 2004. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #12-14: In early 2004, DKBA #999 Brigade special battalion in T'Nay Hsah township of Pa'an District demanded three men per village for forced conscription as soldiers in the DKBA. Those selected who did not wish to become soldiers were required to pay a 30,000 Kyat fee for failure to perform their 'duty'. Saw P---, 49, from K--- village had to sell one of his cows in order to raise the necessary funds to avoid conscription. This photo was taken in May 2004. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 7-66, 7-67: Villagers in Dweh Loh township of Papun District delivering food and materials demanded by Deputy Battalion Commander Thein Zaw of LIB #598 in July 2003. This time the officer's demands included rice, cooking oil, and other goods. Such demands are filled by sharing them out among each family in the village: either each person supplies a small amount from their own supplies, or the village leaders collect money from each household to buy the goods from one of the villagers or on the market. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #7-68: The DKBA produced this poster and forced every household under their jurisdiction within T'Nay Hsah township of Pa'an District to purchase a copy of it for 1,000 Kyat each. The poster reads: 'Number (999) [Brigade] Special Commando Battalion, Shwe Ko Ko, Myawaddy [township] ; Karen New Year Commemoration'. One villager who was forced to buy a copy told KHRG, "We had to buy it. After we bought it, we had to hang it in the house. [DKBA #999 Brigade Special Battalion commander, Colonel] Maung Chit Thu said he would go around and check. If he didn't see the picture, the owner [of the house] would have to pay 5,000 Kyat because they did not buy one and hang it up." This photo was taken in March 2003. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 7-69, 7-70, 7-71: A timber mill worked by villagers from K--- village in Lu Thaw township of Papun District. The logs are milled in the forest and are later transported by bullock cart almost the full length of the district for sale, to Ka Ma Maung in southern Dweh Loh township where they sell the finished timber planks. They must pass through seven checkpoints manned by SPDC or DKBA soldiers along the way, each of which extorts a toll before allowing them to pass. These photos were taken in March 2003. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
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]
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 #6-102: 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 #7-72: U N---, a 73 year old fruit farmer from a town in Nyaunglebin District, is forced to pay tolls at each of the four SPDC Army checkpoints he passes through while taking his produce to market. At each checkpoint, the soldiers exact a toll of one Kyat for every two limes and three Kyat for every piece of bamboo that he is carrying. The checkpoints are manned by soldiers from IB #57, LIB #349, LIB #350, and LIB #440. This photo was taken in July 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 #7-75: For this rice field near H--- village in T'Nay Hsah township of Pa'an District, the farmer must pay an annual crop quota of ten baskets [250 kgs. / 550 lbs.] of paddy per acre. This amounts to a significant portion of the harvest. Even if the villagers suffer a bad harvest due to adverse weather conditions, insect infestation, fire, or for any other reason, the SPDC authorities do not lower the quota; if the harvest is insufficient, villagers are expected to buy rice on the open market and hand it over. In addition, when the quota collection officials come around, they are expected to feed and fête them. This photo was taken in November 2002. In 2004 the SPDC claimed that it would scrap the crop quota system nationwide, but KHRG has not yet received any evidence of whether this has been done for the late 2004 crop. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
7.6 LootingSPDC Army units are free to loot anything in rural areas with complete impunity. Villages in Karen areas have become accustomed to having their food supplies and belongings looted and their livestock stolen by every SPDC patrol that passes by (see photos 7-78 , 10-77 , 7-80 , and 7-81 ). This does not mean they accept it without protest, and sometimes they succeed in shaming the soldiers and driving them away; SPDC deserters have told KHRG in interviews that they are often stealing to survive because their officers steal their rations, and they are actually ashamed of what they are doing (see Abuse Under Orders: The SPDC and DKBA Armies Through the Eyes of their Soldiers [KHRG #2001-01, March 2001]). But challenging them is risky, because they sometimes respond by beating villagers ( photo 7-81 ) or threatening them at gunpoint. If villagers flee before the troops arrive, the looting is more intensive, sometimes continuing for days if the troops remain in the village (see photos 7-79 and 7-82 to 7-84 ). In photo 2-14 , the troops even stole the roofs of villagers' houses to use the thatch at their camp. It is also normal for SPDC patrols to rob civilians they meet along their way of any cash and valuables. The villager in photo 7-77 was beaten and robbed of his watch when he met an SPDC column, and photos 5-3 to 5-5 show the shallow graves of four men who were robbed of 100,000 Kyat in cash and then beaten to death.
Photos #7-76, 7-77: Both of these men from northern Papun district were robbed at gunpoint by SPDC Column Commander Zaw Min of LIB #598 Column 2 based at Gkay Gkaw army camp. Saw M--- ( photo 7-76 ) says that in February 2005 Zaw Min stole his pigs and goats from his village. Saw K--- ( photo 7-77 ) met Zaw Min's column along a path on December 28 th 2004. Without saying anything, Zaw Min fired three gunshots into the ground at Saw K---'s feet, punched him twice in the face, and then stole his watch. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #7-78: Saw R---, 58, from H--- village in Tantabin township, Toungoo District, described how on July 9 th 2004 a column from SPDC IB #60 led by Column Commander Hlaing Win Tint and Camp Commander Yin Soe looted his belongings including several gold rings and earrings, and destroyed his supply of fishpaste. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 5-3, 5-4, 5-5: On December 20 th 2003, soldiers of SPDC IB #264 Column 1 (Column Commander Tin Maung Shwe commanding) led by officer Chit Hlaing encountered a group of four villagers from Toungoo District along their way. They detained all four men, looted their belongings and robbed the 100,000 Kyat in cash the four were carrying with them. They then tied the heads of the four men with cloth and beat all four of them to death with a stick. The victims were Saw Day Day, 30, and Saw Win Ni from Ma La Gone village; Saw Ni K'Ler, 20, from Peh Kaw Der village; and Saw Ba Aung, 30, from K'Thaw Kee village. They then buried all four men in a shallow hole together along with the cloth and the stick used to kill them. A KHRG researcher found and partially exhumed the grave in February 2004. Lying among the remains of the victims and their clothing, photo 5-3 displays the red bloodied cloth that was used to tie one of their heads before beating them with the stick. The stick used to beat them to death, still marked with the blood of the victims, appears in the foreground of photo 5-5 . [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #10-77: Village secretary Saw P---, 32, from B--- village in Than Daung township, Toungoo district, was a leader in his SPDC-co | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
