A-53

A-54

Residents of Lah Koh village of Thaton District doing forced labour in October 2007. The villagers are constructing a vehicle road which connects Bpa Nweh Gklah to the SPDC military camp at Lay Kay. On October 29th 2007, SPDC battalion commander Min Naing Oo of LIB #9, LID #44 ordered Lah Koh villagers to construct the section of the vehicle road between Lah Koh and Gkruh See villages. [Photos: KHRG]

A-55

A-56

The residents Gkruh See village, Pa'an township, Thaton District are shown here doing forced labour on October 30th 2007. The villagers are clearing brush and other overgrowth from alongside a vehicle road, as ordered by local SPDC authorities. This type of yearly forced labour (along with road reconstruction) follows the end the rainy season around October. [Photos: KHRG]

A-57

A-58

A-59

Local SPDC officials at Gkaw Thay Der, Tantabin township in Toungoo District issued these travel permission documents to two resident villagers. The documents allow the villagers to leave the confines of their village for only one week in order to work. Anyone caught outside their village confines without such documents risk arrest and execution. [Photo: KHRG]

A-63

These three videos show villagers engaged in forced labour, cutting back forest growth alongside an SPDC vehicle road in the Gkoo Hsay area of Papun District on November 12th 2007. The order for this labour was issued by SPDC LIB #434 commander Aung Htun Lin. This type of forced labour is a seasonal task which local SPDC authorities impose on villagers living across Karen State and other areas of Burma. SPDC authorities require the clearance of wide swaths of land on either side of roadways in order to more easily spot displaced villagers trying to evade military forces. [Videos: KHRG]

A-65

A-66

Villagers, including women and children [A-67] doing forced labour cutting back forest growth alongside a vehicle road in the Gkoo Hsay area, Papun District on November 12th 2007 as ordered by Aung Htun Lin, commander of SPDC LIB #434. November 12th was a Monday and the children shown here were unable to attend classes while they participated in the forced labour. [Photo: KHRG]

A-67

A-68

A-69

A-77

A-78

Residents of Noh Ber Baw and Htaw Gkaw villages in Thaton District doing forced labour. These villagers are constructing a bridge in the area of Noh Ber Baw village on November 15th 2007, as ordered by a camp commander from SPDC Light Infantry Division (LID) #44. For this construction the villagers had to lay down a foundation of braches and logs on top of which they then had to lay a matting of straw. This would then be covered by a more firm base of stone and earth. [Photos: KHRG]

A-79

Shown here on November 15th 2007, residents of Gkroo See village carry out uncompensated forced labour as ordered by local SPDC officials. The villagers are repairing a vehicle road by filling in potholes along the roadway using large stones. They then had to cover the stones with earth and flatten out the road's surface. [Photos: KHRG]

A-80

A-81

A-89

The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA)'s rubber plantation at Dtaw Dt'Lay Koh village in Thaton District as photographed in November 2007. The DKBA forces local villagers to plant young rubber trees, clear weeds and other forest growth in the plantation [A-89], and care for rubber saplings [A-90].

In the photo to the right two residents of Dtaw Dt'Lay Koh village in Thaton District, water trees at the DKBA's nearby rubber plantation on November 19th 2007. The plantation is located in an area between Dtaw Dt'Lay Koh and Noh Peh Moh villages in Pa'an township. For more information on recent DKBA forced labour demands in Thaton District see Oppressed twice over: SPDC and DKBA exploitation and violence against villagers in Thaton District, KHRG, March 2008. [Photo: KHRG]

A-90

A-105

A-106

Residents of Gkwee T'Ma village in the Meh Cho village tract of the Papun District construct a bamboo raft on December 16th 2007 as a means of sending the bamboo poles down the Buh Loh Gklo River to the Burma Army base at Waw Muh. This labour was ordered by Kyaw Zwa Aung, an officer of Burma Army LIB #216, LID #11. He told the villagers that the bamboo poles were for repairing buildings at Wah Muh army base. [Photos: KHRG]

A-107

A-108

A-109

Taken on December 23rd 2007, these photos show a Burma Army camp in the Naw Koh area of Toungoo District. In front of the main building a civilian truck [A-110] can be seen. The local SPDC army unit commandeered this truck to transport supplies from Gkaw Thay Der and Kler Lah to the camp at Naw Koh. [Photos: KHRG]

A-110

A-111

A-112

A-113

Villagers in Thaton District are shown here doing forced labour preparing bamboo stakes for use in construction work at the DKBA camp on Meh See mountain. Corporal Maung Aye Lway of DKBA Brigade #333, Battalion #2 ordered the villagers to do this work on January 8th 2008. At the time, Saw M--- [A-112], was ill but was nevertheless forced to comply with the demand. [Photos: KHRG]

A-123

A-124

A convoy of bullock carts driven by residents of Kwee Lay village are shown here in February 2008 as they deliver thatch shingles to a DKBA camp located in the region of their village. Bo Lweh, commander of DKBA Battalion #3, Brigade #333 was the one who ordered the delivery of thatch. [Photos: KHRG]

A-125

A-126

A-127

In February 2008, Khaw Poe Bpleh villagers travel on foot to deliver 2,000 thatch shingles to the army camp of DKBA officer Bo Lweh. The order for this delivery was issued by Bo Lweh, commander of DKBA Brigade #333, Battalion #3. [Photos: KHRG]

On August 12th 2007, Burma Army LIB #202 deputy commander Thu Rain Win took over command at the SPDC's Htee Hoo Than camp in Dooplaya District. Thoo Rain Win immediately ordered the residents of nearby villages - including Sin Ka, Ku Nee and Tha Main Doh - to construct a vehicle road from Htee Hoo Than to southern Kya-In Seik Gyi. At one section where this road crossed the Mee Htan Yan River, the villagers doing the forced labour constructing the road were required to fell trees and use them to construct a bridge. Photo B-6 shows the bridge in the initial stages of construction on August 12th 2007. Photos B-7 and B-8 show the completed bridge on August 15th 2007. [Photo: KHRG]

B-6

B-7

B-8

B-9

The rubber plantation in Dooplaya District, shown here on August 21st 2007, belongs to Saw Pah Ka, commander of DKBA battalion #906. Saw Pah Ka's soldiers force local villagers in the area to weed the plantation once a year. [Photo: KHRG]

B-22

B-23

B-24

B-25

Villagers in SPDC-controlled Bper Htee area of southern Toungoo District are shown here doing forced labour for the construction of a school in March 2008. The villagers collect the bricks from a stockpile after they've been fired, carry them by basket to the construction site and lay them as foundation and walls for the school. [Photos: KHRG]

B-26

B-27

B-28

B-29

SPDC authorities in Toungoo District ordered that villages under their control, such as Taw Gkoo village show here on April 9th 2008, construct perimeter fences enclosing the entire village. Such fences prevent villagers from easily leaving the village to evade SPDC demands and also make it much easier for SPDC authorities to identify who comes and goes. [Photo: KHRG]

B-31

B-57

This dirt road extends from Gkyeh Gkaw (Thay Zay) village and goes on to connect to Bp'Nweh Gkla, Lay Gkay and Yoh Gkla villages in Thaton District. This photo shows a section of the vehicle road between Lay Gkay and Ler Klaw villages on May 14th 2008. The Burma Army uses the road to send rations out to army camps during the dry season. As the road is not paved, it becomes damaged and washed out in sections during the rainy season. The Burma Army must therefore send rations by boat upriver during this time. As a result of the damage incurred during the rainy season, Burma Army soldiers have annually ordered local villagers to do extensive forced labour to repair the road during the dry season (which begins around November). [Photo: KHRG]

B-65

Naw ---, the head of N--- village, Bilin Township, Thaton District, shown here on May 28th 2008, told KHRG that SPDC and DKBA forces regularly enter her village and demand pigs and chickens from the villagers without providing any compensation. The soldiers also demand 1,000 kyat [approx. US $0.91] from all rice mill owners. [Photos: KHRG]

This group of villagers at D--- village, Dweh Loh Township, Papun District, told KHRG on June 5th 2008 that local SPDC officials demanded 100 thatch shingles from them. However, the villagers were too busy working on their own livelihoods and so decided not to hand over the thatch shingles to the soldiers as demanded. [Photo: KHRG]

B-98

B-117

B-118

The photos B-117 and B-118 show residents of T'Ree Po Gkwee village, Lu Pleh Township, Pa'an District, planting paddy at Gkyaw Bp'Neh Nee in July 2008 as ordered by DKBA officers. These villagers had to sleep two nights in the field while completing the assigned work. [Photos: KHRG]

B-120

30-year-old Saw Gk---, shown here on July 28th 2008, is a villager from Gk--- village, Dta Greh Township, Pa'an District. On July 19th 2008, Burma Army soldiers from LIB #565, under the command of Hlaing Htun, conscripted Saw Gk--- as a porter. The soldiers forced him to carry a basket of rice [20 kg. / 46.1 lb.] to their army camp. The journey took Saw Gk--- the entire morning and he was only able to return to his village at noon. Saw Gk--- told KHRG that he has had to porter for the Burma Army units numerous times. When doing this work in the rainy season, Saw Gk--- regularly takes cooked rice along as he is never sure if he will be able to return to his village should there be heavy rains. Saw Gk--- said that when he has had to carry particularly heavy loads, his waist has become sore but he has not been able to get any kind of medicine from the soldiers. [Photo: KHRG]

B-126

In August 2008, Burma Army Colonel Yeh Htut ordered the residents of Meh Tha Moo village, Pa'an District to collect 500 bamboo slats, six bamboo poles and four wooden poles and to deliver these to his army unit. The villagers of Meh Tha Moo are shown in the photo to the left on August 31st preparing to deliver the specified items. [Photo: KHRG]

The photo to the right shows SPDC-sponsored forced labour as T'Ree Poh Gkwee villagers deliver 350 bamboo slats to the SPDC army camp at Gklaw Gk'Dtih, Pa'an District on August 31st 2008. [Photo: KHRG]

B-144

B-145 [coming soon]

In the video to the left, villagers from Meh T'Moo village and Htee Pah Reh village tract do forced labour by delivering bamboo poles to the Burma Army camp at Gklaw Gk'Dtee on September 1st 2008. [Video: KHRG]