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PHOTO SET 2005-A: Women
In village communities, women take on many different roles. In the family they are providers, organisers, and caregivers, and in the village they are headwomen, elders, teachers, community caregivers, traders and a host of other roles. Military oppression, rather than making them withdraw into the family, actually makes them more prominent in all of their public roles, while doubling the work they must do to support their own families. As men become more unwilling to confront the military, it becomes women's role to do so, and as men begin to flee their villages, it is women who are left to hold the community together. When entire families and communities are forced to leave their villages to escape SPDC control, women extend their leadership roles to encompass setting up shelter, food security and survival strategies in the forest, and finding new livelihoods. Taking on all of these roles greatly increases the already heavy burden of work carried by women, and also makes them much more vulnerable to military abuses including detention, torture, rape, and murder. Their families and communities depend on them, but in return can provide little to protect their lives, their food security, or their health. The photos in this section demonstrate the many roles taken on by women in Karen villages, their strength in these roles, and their vulnerability. They are divided into four sections: Violence against Women (8.1); Women and Forced Labour (8.2); Women, Livelihoods and Displacement (8.3); and Health (8.4). Each section begins with an explanation of the photos it contains. 8.1 Violence Against WomenIn many Karen villages, women are particularly vulnerable to violence in various ways. One of the main factors is the men's fear of confronting SPDC soldiers, because able-bodied Karen men are often taken as porters or arbitrarily accused of being rebels and tortured. This causes men to avoid forced labour or trips to the Army camp which will make them directly face SPDC soldiers. Instead, women are often sent for these tasks, though they are almost as likely to be detained or physically abused. Village heads are regularly summoned to Army camps, so many villages appoint a woman to this role in the hope that SPDC officers will hesitate to torture her. Sometimes this is effective, and elderly women can sometimes use 'maternal' authority to shame officers into reducing their demands, but many village headwomen are also beaten, tortured and threatened when their village fails to comply with orders (see photo 8-1 ). When SPDC columns come to villages the men often flee to escape forced labour, leaving the women to protect the children, the elderly, and the household belongings (see photos 6-23 to 6-24 in Section 6.1 [ Forced Labour/Portering ], and 2-20 in Section 8.3 [ Women, Livelihoods, and Displacement ]). When they try to stand up to the soldiers, they are often beaten (see photos 8-3 to 8-5 and 7-81 ). When the soldiers see them with children and no men, they are accused of being the wives or mothers of rebels and detained; the woman in photo 2-30 was detained even though it was clear she had remained in the village after others fled simply because she had just given birth. In many of these cases the officers know the woman has no resistance connections, so they release her for ransom (see photo 4-12 ), but if there is any real suspicion she is tortured and told she will be killed if her husband/son doesn't surrender (see photos 4-14 , 4-18 , and 10-102 ). In some cases, women who stay behind when other villagers flee are simply shot dead (see photos 5-64 to 5-66 ), or murdered and left stripped and mutilated as a warning to the village ( photos 5-52 to 5-57 ). In areas where villages have been ordered to relocate, SPDC patrols shoot any villager on sight and do not hesitate if they see a woman or girl. Women and girls are particularly vulnerable to being sighted by patrols because they do much of the work growing and processing rice and cash crops and foraging in the forest (see photos 5-33 to 5-40 and 5-67 to 5-72 ). These activities also make them particularly vulnerable to landmines (see photos 11-19 and 11-46 ). When women go to the Army camp or for forced labour, when they protect their home in the village, or even when they walk to their fields, they are vulnerable not only to beatings and torture, but also to rape. SPDC soldiers, and particularly officers, can rape women with impunity. Perpetrators are almost never punished, and women who try to file complaints are either threatened or offered bribes to keep quiet (see photo 8-2 ). In one case explained below, after an SPDC Corporal raped a woman on her way to do forced labour with her three friends ( photo 8-6 ), the Battalion Commander tried to intimidate all four of them into silence by threatening them with death and sending them as porters with a column of his soldiers. The Corporal, meanwhile, went unpunished.
Photo #8-1: Daw M--- is the SPDC village chairperson of her village in Dweh Loh township, Papun district, which means she is the liaison person held responsible for ensuring that the villagers comply with all SPDC demands. Whenever they fail, she is arrested. Villagers therefore appoint women to the post in the hope that they will face less torture than men and that they can exert 'maternal' authority over younger SPDC officers. However, in January 2005 Daw M--- was detained by the DKBA. During her detention they kept her tied to a coconut tree and poked her with a gun barrel. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #8-2: Daw M--- from M--- village in Papun district recounts how SPDC soldier Kyaw Than from LIB #540 raped her 25-year-old daughter Ma K--- on August 21 st 2004. He sneaked up on her when she was bathing alone at a stream, forced her into the trees at knifepoint and raped her. After she came home crying, Daw M--- lodged a complaint with the Army camp commander, but he only offered her 300,000 Kyat to keep quiet. She told him "If I accept your money it would be like I sold my daughter for sex" , and refused the money. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #11-19: Naw K---, age 16, from H--- village in southern Karenni (Kayah) State, was walking her younger siblings across Karenni toward the Thai border so they could attend school in one of the Karenni refugee camps in Thailand in April 2004, but along the way she stepped on a landmine laid by the Karenni Solidarity Organisation (KnSO), a Karenni armed group allied with the SPDC. She was later brought to a KNU clinic in Papun district, where this photo was taken as she was recovering in May 2004. See also photos 11-16 through 11-18 and 11-32 through 11-36 in Section 11, Landmines . [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #4-12: Naw K---, age 41, from H--- village in Bu Tho township, Papun District was arrested and imprisoned by SPDC Army soldiers on August 9 th 2003 because they said they suspected her son of being a KNLA soldier. The soldiers extorted a total of 40,000 Kyat from her before they would release her. This photo was taken in August 2003. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 8-3, 8-4, 8-5: These women and their children from K--- village in Dweh Loh township, Papun district fled their villages in July 2003 after being beaten by SPDC officers. When LIB #598 troops came to their village, deputy battalion commander Thein Zaw punched Naw P--- ( photo 8-3 ) in the head and slapped Naw C--- ( photo 8-4 ) in the face. He hit Naw M--- ( photo 8-5 ) on the head with a piece of wood, then kicked her in the head after she fell. These photos were taken in the forest, where they had fled with their children. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #10-102: Naw M---, 21, is from B--- village in Dweh Loh township, Papun district, which is close to a camp of SPDC LIB #434. Whenever there is fighting in the area, LIB #434 either shells the village with mortars or comes to arrest villagers, so they often have to flee at night. Naw M--- herself is married to a KNLA soldier, and this picture shows her climbing a mountain at night in April 2003 after SPDC soldiers tried to arrest her because there had been fighting not far from the village. If they had captured her they probably would have detained her and her child under threat of death until her husband surrendered. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #4-14: 35-year-old Naw E--- from P--- village in Ler Doh township of Nyaunglebin District was arrested, interrogated and beaten by soldiers from SPDC IB #60 because her husband works with the KNU. She is shown here with her three children, who had to flee with her in order to avoid further repercussions. This photo was taken in February 2003. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #8-6: Naw M---, 20, was one of four women from K--- village forced to cut the brush from beside the Toungoo to Mawchi car road. IB #48 battalion commander Maung Maung Win ordered the women to report to Tha Aye Hta Army camp on December 23 rd 2002, where they were to work for ten days. En route to the army camp at 7 p.m. that day, she saw one of the other women, Naw M---, raped by the driver, Corporal Khin Zaw. On January 6 th 2003 when they should have been released, Maung Maung Win refused to allow them to go, instead ordering them to serve as front line porters. They heard him tell his soldiers, "Take these four women to the front line. If they don't go I will kill them." This photo was taken in April 2003. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #4-18: Naw L---, 31 years old, from P--- village in Bu Tho township of Papun District was almost tortured to death by SPDC Army soldiers on November 2 nd 2002. Soldiers from LIB #1 Column #2 (battalion commander Kyaw Zin Oo commanding) entered her village and detained and tortured her after suspecting her husband of being a KNLA soldier. During her interrogation, the soldiers prevented her from breathing on seven separate occasions by wrapping her head in a soaked tarpaulin. The soldiers then looted her food, clothes, and pots after ordering her to go and wait in a neighbour's house. This photo was taken in November 2002. [Photo: 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 #7-81: On September 17 th 2002, SPDC troops from LIB #3 Column #2 (battalion commander That Htun Aung commanding) entered K--- village in Dweh Loh township of Papun District and proceeded to loot the villagers' belongings. Forty-year-old Naw K--- objected when the soldiers began taking her food and clothing. One of the Non-Commissioned Officers slapped her in the face and hit her with the butt of his rifle. She did not dare to complain again. This photo was taken in October 2002. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 5-52, 5-53, 5-54, 5-55, 5-56, 5-57: On August 28 th 2002 a mobile column of soldiers from SPDC LIB #366, LIB #367, and LIB #368 led by officers Soe Lwin, Myo Aung, and Maung Maung Oo came to M--- village in Ler Doh township of Nyaunglebin District and opened fire indiscriminately at the villagers. No KNLA troops were in the village, and all the villagers tried to flee. Photos 5-52 and 5-53 show Saw W---, 29, who was wounded in the foot. Photos 5-54 and 5-55 show 18-year-old Saw K---, who was wounded in his chest, his back, and his thigh. Photo 5-56 shows the grave of Naw Meh Leh, 29, a widow who was shot dead. Her brother returned to the village to bury her two days later, only to find her naked and that the soldiers had cut off her ears and one of her hands. Photo 5-57 shows her six month old son, Saw N---. His grandmother must now look after him. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #2-30: On August 12 th 2002 a combined column of soldiers from SPDC IB #60, IB #264, and DKBA #777 Brigade shelled and later burned Maw Pu village in Mone township of Nyaunglebin District. Most of the villagers fled as soon as the shelling began, leaving behind all of their belongings. This woman had very recently given birth and was unable to flee along with the rest of the villagers, so she was detained by the soldiers when they entered the village. This photo was taken in late August 2002. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #5-64, 5-65, 5-66: Eastern Lu Thaw township of Papun District is a hill region which the SPDC has been trying to depopulate since 1997 by relocating and destroying villages and shooting villagers on sight. On May 8 th 2002, a combined column of SPDC LIB #366 and LIB #369 entered T--- village without warning and opened fire on the villagers. Photo 5-64 shows Saw M---, 67, who says he was lucky to escape with his life. His son Saw Pleh, however, was shot dead. Naw Y---, age 22 ( photo 5-65 ), lost her mother and her younger sister Yeh Pu Day during the shootings. The next day the column went to D--- village and opened fire on the villagers there. Forty year old villager Saw T--- ( photo 5-66 ) sustained bullet wounds to his arm and abdomen. One of his friends was also killed in the incident. These photos were taken in August 2002. [Photos: KHRG researchers]
Photo #11-46: On July 16 th 2002, 18 year old Naw N--- from T--- village in Dta Greh township of Pa'an District stepped on a DKBA landmine, blowing off the lower portion of her right leg. She was returning home with rice from her paddy field at 8 a.m. when she stepped on the mine near a small bridge at O---. According to a KHRG researcher in the area, the mine was probably planted by troops under Company Commander Pa Kyaw Nyo of DKBA #999 Brigade Special Battalion. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #5-67, 5-68, 5-69, 5-70, 5-71, 5-72: These photos follow on from photos D4 to D7 in KHRG Photo Set 2002A . After being ordered to relocate along with other villages in Kya In township of Dooplaya district in April 2002, a group of villagers from Tee Law Bler tried to flee to Thailand. On April 28 th 2002 soldiers of SPDC IB #78, Battalion Commander Myo Htun Hlaing commanding, found them sleeping in farmfield huts not far from their village, surrounded the huts and opened fire, killing ten and wounding nine more. Six of those killed were children, four of them under the age of ten. All of those who survived the incident later arrived at Noh Po refugee camp in Thailand. Photo 5-67 shows U K---, 44, with his two surviving children, nine-year-old Saw N--- (left) and twelve-year-old Naw K--- (right). Photos 5-68 and 5-69 show the injuries to Saw N---'s arm from the shooting. The bullet penetrated his upper arm, shattering the bone. Photos 5-70 , 5-71 , and 5-72 show Naw K---'s wounds to her right forearm, and the homemade splint she was using. Their father told KHRG researchers: "We fled before the Burmese [soldiers] arrived. I fled with my wife and children to our field hut. We planned to go to Noh Po [refugee camp] in the morning, but before we could, they came and attacked us in the night time. It was about 10:00 or 12:00 [o'clock] when they attacked us. They shot at my hut and my brother's hut. They continued shooting for about five or six minutes. ... Three people in my family died and two were wounded. My wife was wounded but died 12 days later. Ten days after she was wounded she gave birth [the baby did not survive], but two days she later also died. ... I don't know why they wouldn't allow us to leave [to the refugee camp]. Maybe they thought that we would leave our children in Noh Po and would go back to fight them. I think that they are afraid that other people and other countries would learn about them so they didn't allow us to leave." His wife Naw Pee Lee is shown in photos D5 and D6 in KHRG Photo Set 2002A. [Photos: KHRG researcher] 8.2 Women and Forced LabourWhen SPDC officers demand forced labour they usually specify a quota of people based on village size, sometimes a fixed number and sometimes one person from each house. Demands for forced labour are multiple and overlapping, so families usually face several competing demands at the same time, which may include two types of forced labour, preparing their ricefield for planting, harvesting the betelnut, tending the cow, and minding the small children. Forced labour is therefore allocated among family members based on the nature of the work involved and other competing needs, and the responsibility often falls on women. The photos below help to demonstrate that women do at least as much forced labour as men, probably more. When decisions are made on who will do the forced labour, men often avoid any forced labour that involves directly facing SPDC troops, for fear that they will be accused as rebels and tortured or taken as porters, or facing DKBA troops, for fear of forced recruitment to the DKBA. Women therefore do much of the labour delivering materials which have been demanded by Army camps (see photos 6-217 to 6-219 and 6-224 to 6-225 ). Sometimes this is difficult and dangerous work, such as poling huge hardwood logs down a fast river, and sometimes it involves long tedious marches of over 10 kilometres to the Army camp. Women also do much of the work building and maintaining roads and clearing the scrub from roadsides (see photos 6-105 and 6-106 , 6-107 to 6-110 , 3-2 , 6-165 to 6-167 , 6-172 to 6-174 , and 6-175 to 6-177 ), and even the physically gruelling and dangerous work of portering Army supplies (see photos 6-2 to 6-7 , 6-8 to 6-10 , 6-11 to 6-18 , 6-25 to 6-34 , 6-35 , and 6-44 to 6-46 ). When adults are needed for work in the family field, children must be sent to fill the forced labour quota, whether girls or boys (see photos 9-4 , 9-5 , 9-6 , and 9-7 ; see also other photos in Section 9, Children ). In much of this work, the villagers are vulnerable to landmines (see photos 6-105 and 6-106 ); in a particularly brutal case, photos 11-37 to 11-39 show two girls and a young woman who were among the nine people wounded when SPDC soldiers used them as human minesweepers, ordering them to porter supplies along a road they suspected was mined. Women and girls going for forced labour, especially when they must face the soldiers, are also vulnerable to rape (see photo 8-6 ). Beyond the household level, women also play a key role as village heads. Many villages place women in this role because the villagers believe women are less likely to be tortured than men. The village head has the difficult task of receiving SPDC demands, dividing them among the many families of the village, and answering to SPDC officers when they are not met – which can lead to detention and torture. Photo 6-102 shows a village headwoman discussing the difficulties of this role, while in photo 5-50 another village headwoman shows one of the risks: a bullet sent along with an SPDC order letter, which means the officer is angry and the village head and others could be killed if his demands are not met immediately.
Photos # 6-217, 6-218, 6-219: Villagers from M--- village, Dweh Loh township, Papun district use bamboo to raft hardwood logs down the Bilin river on January 25 th 2005. They were ordered by the DKBA to cut the logs, haul them out of the forest with their elephants, and float them downriver so that DKBA officers can sell them for personal profit. The villagers receive nothing for this. Women pole the rafts downriver, and despite the dangers of the heavy logs rolling over, even women with babies strapped to their backs must go; Karen men are not willing to confront the DKBA for fear that they may be forcibly recruited. [Photos: 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]
Photos # 6-107, 6-108, 6-109, 6-110: Villagers from K--- village in Nyaunglebin District doing forced labour on a vehicle road on October 23 rd 2004, by order of SPDC Camp Commander Khin Maung Kyi at Aung Soe Moe army camp. Photos 6-107 and 6-108 show the villagers digging earth from around their village, which they must carry in baskets to the road, then spread and pack it down on the road surface as shown in photos 6-109 and 6-110 . They are not paid or fed and are provided with no tools or heavy equipment; all work must be done by hand, using nothing more than hoes and machetes. Note that women make up at least half the workforce in the photos. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #3-2: Villagers at Naw Htaw Pwa relocation site in Nyaunglebin District (see photo 3-1 in Section 3 [ Forced Relocation and Restrictions ] ) spread out along the dirt road to do forced labour cutting and clearing scrub from the roadsides on October 12 th 2004, under orders from SPDC Operations Commander Khin Maung Oo. These people were forced to move from their homes in S--- and P--- villages to the relocation site earlier in 2004 and are now regularly used for forced labour. Villagers are forced to clear scrub from roadsides as a security measure to protect SPDC vehicles from ambush. They are provided with no tools and must clear even trees and dense scrub with nothing but machetes. Most of the workers in this photo are women. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #6-112: Naw S--- is a 39 year old mother of five from S--- village in Tantabin township, Toungoo District. When interviewed in September 2004, she said that SPDC IB #73 Commander Aung Kyaw Myint orders people to work on the road and the army camp so often that they no longer have enough time to work for their own welfare. [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]
Photos # 6-222, 6-223: Villagers from K--- village in Dweh Loh township, Papun District trudge through pouring rain and mud in July 2004 carrying shingles of roofing thatch to repair the SPDC Army camp at Meh Way. Saw Soe Aung of LIB #589 demanded five shingles of thatch from each of the 57 houses in the village. One person from each house must go to the camp to deliver their shingles and help with the repairs, rain or shine. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 6-224, 6-225: Village women from T--- village in Dweh Loh township, Papun District sending roofing thatch to the SPDC. On May 29 th 2004, IB #263 replaced IB #38 at the Taung Thon Lon SPDC Army camp. In assuming command of the post, Major Tin Win Naing of IB #263 demanded 200 shingles of thatch from each of a number of nearby villages to repair the camp. Other villages, such as P--- village, were ordered to supply 500 lengths of bamboo. In cases like these, men are afraid to go to the Army camp for fear that they will be detained as suspected rebels or taken as operations porters. Women and girls therefore deliver the materials to the camp, despite facing similar risks themselves. These photos were taken in June 2004. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
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 #9-4: On March 15 th 2003, SPDC LIB #434 commander Khin Maung Myint ordered the villagers of B--- village in Dweh Loh township, Papun District to repair the Papun – Ka Ma Maung car road. Many of the adults were busy preparing hill fields for planting season and were not free to go, so they sent their children to go in their place. Twelve-year-old Naw M--- was one of those who had to perform forced labour in her parents' stead. Villagers who had no children had to either go themselves or hire labourers to go in their place. However, at 1,000 Kyat per day for each labourer, this is beyond the means of most villagers. Those who went were forced to supply their own tools and food and were only paid 100 Kyat per day, less than a third of the lowest rate for day labour in Burma. Even so, it is rare for SPDC authorities to pay anything whatsoever for forced labour. Even if it is paid, labour compelled under duress is still considered forced labour and is a violation of international conventions (e.g. ILO Convention 29). [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #9-5: Naw T---, a 12 year old villager from K--- village in Dweh Loh township, Papun District displays the 100 Kyat note that she was paid by SPDC authorities after performing forced labour rebuilding a road for them in March 2003. In many villages the SPDC demands that each household must supply one worker to report for forced labour, with no exemptions on any grounds. With her father dead and her mother bedridden, Naw T---'s older brother must tend to their hill field while she fills their family's quota for forced labour. The 100 Kyat that she was paid per day amounted to a paltry total of 2,000 Kyat (about US$2 at market rates) at the end of the 20 day work period that she was required to complete. This amount of money is only enough to purchase one big tin [12.5 kgs. / 28 lbs.] of rice, which would only feed their family of three for about one week. The fact that the authorities paid the money directly to Naw T--- demonstrates that they have full knowledge that children are doing the forced labour. [Photo: 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 # 6-251, 6-252, 6-253: These villagers from H--- village in Lu Thaw township, Papun District were ordered to supply building materials to Htun Neh Lay, commanding officer of SPDC IB #19 Column #1. Photo 6-253 shows the stacks of roofing thatch assembled in the village before the villagers carried them to the camp. These photos were taken in March 2003. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #8-6: Naw M---, 20, was one of four women from K--- village forced to cut the brush from beside the Toungoo to Mawchi car road. IB #48 battalion commander Maung Maung Win ordered the women to report to Tha Aye Hta Army camp on December 23 rd 2002, where they were to work for ten days. En route to the army camp at 7 p.m. that day, she saw one of the other women, Naw M---, raped by the driver, Corporal Khin Zaw. On January 6 th 2003 when they should have been released, Maung Maung Win refused to allow them to go, instead ordering them to serve as front line porters. They heard him tell his soldiers, "Take these four women to the front line. If they don't go I will kill them." This photo was taken in April 2003. [Photo: 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 #6-165, 6-166, 6-167: Villagers from Bilin township in Thaton District doing forced labour cutting back the scrub from beside the Bilin – Papun vehicle road. SPDC Army soldiers from Light Infantry Division #44 (Min Aung Hlaing commanding) ordered these villagers to clear all trees, bushes and plants within 50 feet [15 metres] of either side of the road in order to protect their troops from ambush while travelling along the road. The villagers were given from November 20 th to November 30 th 2002 to complete the work. While those with machetes cut and cleared the grass and small scrub, teams with two-person handsaws ( photo 6-167 ) cut down small and large trees. These same villagers were forced to build and maintain this road and to construct the Doh Ler Tay Bridge. They have never received any compensation for any of the labour that they have been ordered to perform. [Photos: 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 #9-7: When villagers in M--- village of Bu Tho township, Papun district were ordered by the local SPDC Army to clear the scrub along the sides of the nearby vehicle road in October 2002, twelve-year-old Naw K--- was the youngest in the group doing the forced labour. SPDC authorities frequently take children for forced labour, or they demand one person per household and the children must go because the parents need to work every day to feed the family. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 6-172, 6-173, 6-174: Villagers from L--- village in Dweh Loh township of Papun District doing forced labour for the SPDC in October 2002. Captain Moe Zaw of IB #51 ordered the villagers to clear the bush from the side of the Ka Ma Maung – Papun car road. The SPDC regularly orders the villagers to create wide 'killing zones' along the flanks of the car roads so that it is more difficult for the KNLA to ambush any SPDC columns moving along the road. Early each morning for three consecutive days, the villagers had to walk the eleven kilometres (seven miles) from their village to the road in order to work ( photo 6-172 ). After a full day's hard work clearing thorny scrub in the heat of the sun (photos 6-173 and 6-174 ) they set out for the long walk home at 5 p.m. rather than sleep out in the open beside the road, where they would be susceptible to malaria, snakes and other hazards. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 6-175, 6-176, 6-177: Villagers from P--- village in Dweh Loh township, Papun District ordered to perform loh ah pay for the SPDC. On October 29 th and again on October 30 th 2002, they were ordered to cut back the scrub from beside the Ka Ma Maung-Papun car road. In order to complete the work in the allotted time, they had to start at 7:30 am each day, continuing until late in the afternoon. The villagers were not paid for the work nor were they provided with food, and each villager was expected to supply their own tools. Every year they are forced to perform this type of work when they need to be in their ricefields. [Photos: 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 #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] 8.3 Women, Livelihoods and DisplacementThis section contains photos related to the role of women in livelihoods and survival, particularly during displacement. As SPDC demands and oppression make traditional livelihoods untenable (see Section 7, Food and Livelihoods ), women are usually the first in the family to find alternative ways to supplement family food security. They do this by organising new additional livelihoods, even though these can double their workload (see photos 10-134 to 10-138 and 8-7 ), and by finding ways to evade SPDC and DKBA restrictions on movement (see photo 7-58 ). Women's important role in holding the village community together becomes especially important when village populations become displaced. As SPDC militarisation increases in their home area, the men of the village often leave for short or long periods to escape forced labour or detention, leaving women to care for the children, the elderly, the household and its belongings, and continue producing food for the family. The men either return from time to time to replenish their food supply, or the women must send food out to them. Photo 2-20 shows one such case, where many of the village men were already being detained under torture in retaliation for a KNLA attack, so the remaining village men had to flee the village. Sometimes the added burden on women becomes permanent when their husbands or grown children are killed by SPDC or DKBA forces (see photos 10-146 , 5-12 , 5-13 , 5-20 to 5-22 , 4-13 , 5-31 and 5-32 , 5-41 , 5-45 to 5-47 , 5-48 and 5-49 , 5-73 , and 5-76 ). Elderly women with no family members left to care for them sometimes find themselves left behind in the need for rapid movement, having to fend for themselves (see photo 10-61 ). When entire families and villages become displaced, women usually take the lead in organising what to take along on their flight (see photos 10-82 and 10-83 and 10-118 ), and in many cases must transport their entire family because their husbands had already fled earlier (see photos 10-123 to 10-128 and 10-159 ). In the forest, they take the lead in finding and preparing materials for shelters, organising the food supply (see photos 1-7 to 1-12 , 10-140 , 10-141 , and 10-142 ), arranging help for the sick and disabled, and setting up rudimentary schools in the forest (see photos 10-7 to 10-11 ). They also take on new livelihoods adapted to a mobile life in hiding, like processing forest products and growing cardamom (see photos 7-44 and 10-134 to 10-138 ). They cooperate with women in SPDC-controlled villages, who are also seeking additional ways to support their families and evade movement restrictions, to establish covert 'jungle markets' where villagers in hiding and those in SPDC-controlled villages can exchange forest products and produce for needed dry goods, clothing and medicines (see photos 7-55 to 7-57 ). KNLA assistance is often sought to protect these ventures and to keep villagers in hiding informed of SPDC Army movements (see photo 10-47 to 10-56 ). As many photos below show, however, women do all this while subject to repeated and sometimes brutal blows: the death of a husband or child, severe illness, the destruction of a crop close to harvest time, or the discovery and burning of a rice storage barn can suddenly destroy everything, and force them to start yet again.
Photos # 10-134, 10-135, 10-136, 10-137, 10-138: These villagers in Thaton township of Thaton District left their villages to escape excessive demands for forced labour, money and goods from SPDC and DKBA forces in their area, and now live in the forest where these photos were taken in February 2005. To survive they make and sell roofing thatch. The girl in photo 10-135 has just set down a large basket used to gather leaves for thatch-making. The woman in photo 10-134 is shaving bamboo to make sticks for frames and ties to weave the shingles together, which is being done by the woman in photo 10-136 . In most of the photos, piles of leaves and completed thatch shingles can be seen surrounding the villagers. Each day they must make hundreds of these shingles just to make enough to buy daily rice. It is also a dangerous living; if found living here in the forest by an SPDC or DKBA patrol, they would be rounded up and taken to an Army camp for an indefinite time doing forced labour. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 1-7, 1-8, 1-9, 1-10, 1-11, 1-12: Several days after the November 18 th 2004 burning of Klaw Lu village in Nyaunglebin District (see photos 1-1 through 1-3 ), the SPDC LIB #589 column was still in the area so the villagers remained hidden, cooking rice only at night so smoke from cookfires would not give them away. Photos 1-7 and 1-8 show some of the children settling in for the night. Photo 1-9 shows 60-year-old Pi K--- and her husband. They have no children and were unable to carry rice themselves while fleeing, so they had no food and had to share that of others. In photo 1-10 , a Christian pastor who was visiting the area when the villages were invaded gathers the Christian villagers in the forest for a worship service. Naw P---, 46 ( photo 1-11 ), fell sick in the forest and was cared for by other villagers. Naw D---, age 75 ( photo 1-12 ), is blind; when the villagers fled one of her sons (shown here) carried her while the other carried food. All of these photos were taken on November 20 th and 21 st 2004, within three days of the arrival of the SPDC column in the area. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos # 10-7, 10-8, 10-9, 10-10, 10-11: Internally displaced villagers in eastern Toungoo District, September 2004. These people fled villages near the Toungoo-Mawchi vehicle road near the Karen/Kayah State border due to the heavy SPDC military presence along the road. Naw M---, age 31 ( photo 10-8 ) lost her husband when he was arrested and killed by SPDC IB #26. Naw S---, age 19 ( photo 10-9 ), fled after troops from Light Infantry Division 55 burned her village. The photos show the area in the forest where they now stay in makeshift shelters. Photos 10-10 and 10-11 show the makeshift primary school they have established for their children in a nearby farmfield hut. Establishing makeshift schools is often one of the first priorities of displaced villagers because it maintains a sense of dignity, community and continuity. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #10-21: Naw S---, 40, and her 9 year old son Saw B--- are from S--- village in the hills of Tantabin township, Toungoo District, but due to SPDC militarisation around their village they now live in hiding in the forest in this simple hut. This photo was taken in August 2004. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #10-23: When this photo was taken in June 2004, these women and children from S--- village in Than Daung township, Toungoo District, had just fled into the forest to escape SPDC troops. Here they have gathered in the rudiments of one of the first shelters they are building. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #9-17: Naw H--- is an IDP living in hiding in the forests of Tantabin township of Toungoo District. Her mother died when she was only two months old, so her grandmother now takes care of her. This photo was taken in June 2004. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #10-139: Naw P---, an internally displaced villager in Kyauk Kyi township, Nyaunglebin District, is shown here arriving at her rice storage barn at T--- village on May 12 th 2004 only to find it already destroyed by SPDC LIB #388. Displaced villagers keep rice in hidden storage barns and periodically return to get food supplies, but SPDC columns systematically hunt out and destroy these storage sites. [Photo: 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 #10-140: Naw T--- from T--- village, Tantabin township, Toungoo District, puts together a meal in the forest for her children after fleeing her village in February 2004 to escape abuses by LIB #117, which controls her area. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #10-30, 10-31: Karen villagers in Than Daung township, Toungoo District, fleeing on January 24 th 2004 after SPDC Light Infantry Division #55 troops had burned their village at Htee Hsa Per. They had to grab whatever they could and run as the troops entered the village. See also photos 10-32 through 10-34 in Section 10 . [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photos #10-47, 10-48, 10-49, 10-50, 10-51, 10-52, 10-53, 10-54, 10-55, 10-56: Villagers throughout Lu Thaw township of Papun district fled their villages as mobile SPDC columns sought to catch them in their villages in January 2004. The people of K--- village fled on January 8 th (photos 10-47 and 10-48 ); from L---, M---, and T--- villages also on January 8 th (photos 10-49 through 10-51 ); from P--- village, on January 11 th ( photo 10-52 ); from K--- village on January 18 th ( photo 10-53 ); and from H--- village on January 18 th (photos 10-54 and 10-55 ). Photo 10-56 shows some of the displaced villagers who have gathered at one hiding site arriving to meet with local KNLA officers to get information on SPDC movements and to request medicine for the sick. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #10-61: Naw K---, age 95 (left), and Naw L---, age 80 (right), are both from K--- village in Lu Thaw township, Papun District. They cannot walk well anymore, so the villagers left them hidden in the ricefields before fleeing themselves higher into the forests in January 2004. Left alone like this, the two women say they have trouble cooking for themselves. This photo shows them in their hiding place on January 17 th 2004. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #10-39: A mother with a newborn infant takes a rest while fleeing into the forest with other villagers on January 16 th 2004. She is from K--- village in Tantabin township, Toungoo District. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #10-141: A mother feeds her baby some rice porridge in the forest after fleeing her village in Tantabin township, Toungoo District, in January 2004 due to SPDC military activity. Thin rice porridge is not only a food for babies, it is also a way that IDPs make their meagre rice supplies last longer. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #10-76: A family from T--- village in northern Papun District staying in their hillfield hut on December 24 th 2003, in the hope that they will not be found there by SPDC Light Infantry Division #55. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photos #10-82, 10-83: In photo 10-82 , villagers in H--- village, Bu Tho township, Papun District prepare their belongings before fleeing into the forest as a group on hearing that an SPDC Army column is approaching the area of their village. Later that day, photo 10-83 shows a woman from the village walking her baby at their forest hiding site, where they will remain until the column moves on. These photos were taken in November 2003. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #10-146: When her husband fell ill and died for lack of medicine, Naw P--- was left alone to care for her 4 children, aged 3, 6, 8, and 10 when this photo was taken in October 2003. They were living as internally displaced people because they no longer dared stay in their village in Lu Thaw township, Papun District. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #5-12: Heavily pregnant Naw L---, 27, from T--- village in Bilin township of Thaton District became a widow and single mother when her husband was shot dead by DKBA soldiers from #333 Brigade, 2 nd Special Battalion Company 1, led by Saw Bu Ghay. Her husband was on his way to worship at 10 a.m. on August 17 th 2003 with a group accompanied by a KNLA escort when they encountered DKBA soldiers at Wa Klay Kyo. He was shot six times; once in the face, once in the chest, once in the armpit, once in his leg, and twice in his back. She told KHRG, "I have no husband anymore, so how can I work for food? My child is small, I can't work. I get angry with them [DKBA] when I think about my husband." This photo was taken in January 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 # 7-55, 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 #5-13: At 10 p.m. on August 9 th 2003, soldiers from SPDC LIB #434 (Battalion Commander San Aung commanding) captured a number of internally displaced villagers from K--- village in Dweh Loh township, Papun District. They accused the villagers of being KNU sympathisers and then executed some of them. This photo shows the widows of three of the men executed: from left to right, 24 year old Naw B--- who is eight months pregnant, Naw M---, 32, also heavily pregnant, and 23 year old Naw E---. Along with being displaced, they now have to provide for their children alone. This photo was taken in September 2003. [Photo: KHRG researcher] Warning: these images may disturb some viewers
Photos #5-20, 5-21, 5-22: Saw Pa La Day, 50, from T--- village in Bu Tho township of Papun District was shot dead on sight by soldiers from SPDC Light Infantry Division #66 on May 30, 2003. His wife, Naw T--- ( Photo 5-22 , which has been damaged), must now raise their three young children alone. The SPDC has been trying to depopulate the hills of Bu Tho township since 1997 by burning villages and shooting villagers on sight. These photos were taken in June 2003. [Photos: KHRG researcher]
Photo #4-13: Naw N--- is a 33-year-old widow from W--- village in Bu Tho township of Papun District. On May 5 th 2003, soldiers from LIB #434 led by Myo Myint Hlaing were ambushed by KNLA soldiers not far from her village. The soldiers then entered the village and arrested Naw N---'s husband, 41 year old Pa M---, and accused him of complicity in the attack. Arbitrarily arresting local fighting-age male villagers in retaliation for ambushes is a routine SPDC Army procedure. During his interrogation at the SPDC Army camp nearby, Pa M--- was kicked, strangled, hung, stabbed in the legs with knives, and beaten to death. Their eldest daughter, 13 year old Ma M---, had to drop out of school in order to find work to help her mother raise money to support the family. This photo was taken in July 2003. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #2-20: At 11 p.m. on March 27 th 2003, a bomb exploded in the vehicle garage at the camp of SPDC LIB #434 in Bu Tho township, Papun District, destroying the garage and two vehicles. The Battalion responded by shelling the nearby villages without warning. Most of the women, children and elderly villagers ran into the bunkers they have dug beneath their houses for use in situations like these. Adolescent and adult men, however, were afraid to be caught in the village by SPDC troops and accused of planting the bomb, so most of them fled into the forest, including this group from S--- village. This photo was taken on April 2 nd 2003, when the men were still afraid to return to their village. The women must therefore care for the children and elderly in the village and possibly also send food to the men in hiding. If troops come to the village, they must face them even though they may be accused as 'wives of rebels' because their men are missing. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #10-104: Naw B---, age 75, left her village in Bu Tho township, Papun District and was living upriver from her village when this photo was taken in February 2003. She said SPDC soldiers were based 2 hours' walk from her village, and that despite her age and her blindness she feared they would arrest or abuse her. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #10-114: Women villagers in Lu Thaw township, Papun District, head along the Pwoh Loh river in January 2003 to distance themselves from SPDC troops who had become active in their area. [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]
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]
Photo #7-80: Naw M--- from T--- village in Dweh Loh township, Papun District, drying her paddy in January 2003. A few months earlier, soldiers from LIB #104 led by Column Commander Zaw Mine stole her chickens, ducks, and a large quantity of her paddy. She hopes the same will not happen to this new harvest. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #10-118: This villager from T--- village in Than Daung township, Toungoo District has just received word of an advancing SPDC Army column heading in her direction, so she is gathering what few possessions she can carry as she prepares to flee into the forest. Her village to the east of the Day Loh River is labelled by the SPDC a Ywa Bone ('hiding') village, meaning it is not under direct SPDC control. If Ywa Bone villagers are seen by SPDC soldiers they can be arrested, tortured, and killed without any reason. This photo was taken in November 2002. [Photo: KHRG researcher]
Photo #5-30: After her husband was shot dead on sight by SPDC troops in November 2002, this woman and her child from D--- village in Papun District moved to stay with another family in M--- village, where this picture was taken. [Photo: 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 opene | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
