47-year-old Saw N--- [photo C-3], a local resident of Bpoh Loh Hta, holds a DKBA-deployed landmine which KNLA soldiers retrieved from Kuh Thuh Hta village tract, Papun District and subsequently defused. The landmine, shown close up in photos C-1 and C-2 has a wooded casing. Soldiers operating under DKBA Brigade #333 commander Mo Kyo deployed this and other similar landmines throughout the farm fields of Kuh Thuh Hta village tract at the end of 2006. As a consequence local villagers dared not harvest their rice. [Photo: KHRG]

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80-year-old "Grandmother" Ma Aye Noh displays a severe abscess which has formed on the side of her neck. Although her children have recognised the severity of the ailment, they say they have not so far been able to care for her or provide any treatment. Due to their own poverty they must spend all their time in the fields and all cash income to cover basic food staples. [Photo: KHRG]

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The sheer extent of the SPDC's under-funding of health care means that villagers who are already impoverished by military exploitation and restrictions on trade and travel must bear the costs of any treatment and medical supplies so long as they are unable to access independent medical assistance. [Photo: KHRG]

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These photos show an ethnic Burman family which now resides along the Meh Way riverside in Meh Way village tract, Papun District. The family migrated to the area in order to pursue a means of livelihood panning gold on the river and they now live amongst the local Karen community.

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The combined effect of the SPDC's corruption and economic mismanagement has exacerbated the economic factors behind internal migration. The resulting displacement, frequently at the individual or household level, is pervasive across SPDC-controlled areas of Karen State. [Photo: KHRG]

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A displaced family from Khaw Hta village, Papun District takes a rare opportunity to play and rest on January 15th 2007 after having fled from SPDC forces. [Photo: KHRG]

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Villagers from Gklaw Hta prepare a meal in January 2007 amidst temporary shelters constructed at a hiding site in Papun District. Displaced communities such as this one face pervasive food insecurity and rely heavily on locally available plants and animals and also cultivate covert hillside paddy fields where possible. SPDC restrictions on travel and trade and destructions of paddy fields and rice stores lead many displaced families to rely on watered down rice porridge in order to stretch out meagre food supplies. [Photo: KHRG]

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Displaced villagers who fled from Gklaw Hta village constructed these temporary bamboo and thatch huts at a hiding site in Papun District, shown here in January 2007. SPDC forces regularly conduct search and destroy missions targeting displaced villagers living at hiding sites such as this one in order to drive them out of the hills and into military-controlled relocation sites. [Photo: KHRG]

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On February 5th 2007, DKBA forces ordered each household from Wah Mee Day village to provide 50 thatch shingles. As there are 25 households in Wah Mee Day, this makes for a total of 1,250 thatch shingles. These items are labour intensive to produce involving the collection of raw materials from the forest, cutting and binding each individual shingle and then delivering the end product to the designated location. As of February 20th 2007 when these photos were taken, the local villagers had only partially completed the amount ordered. [Photo: KHRG]

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A double-row perimeter fence made of sticks interwoven with split bamboo encloses Taw Lu Koh village, Nyaunglebin District. It is standard SPDC Army practice to force the residents of relocation sites or other military-controlled villages in Karen State to construct a perimeter fence enclosing their village. While the Army claims this protects villagers from bandits, it more typically serves to prevent villagers' efforts to evade military patrols demanding forced labour, money or supplies. [Photos: KHRG]

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Displaced villagers in Papun District shown in February 2007. Despite living a precarious living hiding from SPDC forces in the forest, these communities seek to maintain their regular family structures and daily occupations. One displaced villager prepares a meal on an open fire in photo C-20 which the two young children in photo C-21 are enjoying. Photo C-22 shows another displaced villager constructing the base for a new shelter out of bamboo poles and photos C-23 and C-24 show two others next to their laundry spread and drying on the nearby branches. [Photo: KHRG]

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Diligent young students continue their studies in February 2007 at a displaced hiding site in the forests of Papun District. Photo C-29 shows students seated in front of a blackboard which displaced villagers constructed out of wooden planks. These children and their parents fled their homes following increasing SPDC and DKBA operations around their village. [Photo: KHRG]

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Displaced villagers study Karen and English at a temporary hiding site in the forests of Nyaunglebin District in February 2007. The teacher writes with chalk using the side of large rock outcropping as a blackboard. [Photo: KHRG]

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Noh Ghaw village, Nyaunglebin District as seen on March 1st shortly after being dismantled by local residents whom SPDC personnel forcibly relocated to a military-controlled site. The SPDC orders villagers to dismantle homes and other structures prior to relocating. This may provide some crucial building supplies for new structures at relocation sites but it primarily serves to prevent villagers from attempting to return and reoccupy their homes and land.

In photos C-33 and C-34 the concrete bases are all that remain of villagers' former homes. In photo C-16 one women searches through piles of wooden planks which have been taken off of her home and collected prior to being transported to the relocation site. [Photos: KHRG]

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In photo C-37 and C-38 residents of Kwee Hta Mah village, Meh Cho village tract, Papun District gather together and depart on March 12th 2007 to engage in forced labour portering SPDC Army rations as ordered by Soe Win, commander of SPDC LIB #219. Commander Soe Win's demands for forced labour have not been isolated occurrences. [Photo: KHRG]

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Photos C-39, C-40, C-41 and C-142 show another incident of forced labour for the residents of Kwee Hta Mah villages on February 25th 2007. In this photo the villagers are collecting bamboo poles and binding them together to form a raft which will then float downstream to the LIB #219 camp at Waw Muh as ordered by Soe Win.

This bamboo will then be used to construct buildings at the Waw Mu army camp. For more details on the SPDC's institutionalised and pervasive use for forced labour see Shouldering the Burden of Militarisation: SPDC, DKBA and KPF order documents and forced labour since September 2006. [Photo: KHRG]

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Taken on March 20th 2007, these photographs show the residents of Wah Tho Law village, Meh Way village tract, Papun District as they gather together and prepare to head out for forced labour portering SPDC Army rations. Photo C-43 shows bottles of water, leaf-wrapped parcels of rice and a large watermelon which villagers have assembled to take along during portering. [Photo: KHRG]

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In photo C-47 women carry empty wicker baskets on their backs to be used for carrying the army rations. Not only do SPDC personnel typically not provide any form of remuneration for forced labour, they furthermore provide no food for the duration of the work. Villagers, such as those shown here, must therefore bring along their own provisions. [Photo: KHRG]

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Children from a community of internally displaced villagers in Kyauk Gyi township, Nyaunglebin District take advantage of a rare opportunity to watch a video on a generator-powered television at a hiding site on April 2nd 2007. Displaced communities such as this one must carry all supplies, including this television, on their backs when travelling through the forest. [Photo: KHRG]