Reports By Year > 2001

Below are a set of links to all reports published by KHRG matching your search criteria and compiled from information received from KHRG's field researchers. If you wish to search for a particular report, please use our main search page.

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There were 10 reports in 2001. These are listed below.

REPORT TITLE	DATE
A Strategy of Subjugation: The Situation in Ler Mu Lah Township, Tenasserim Division  [Regional or Thematic report]	Dec 21st, 2001
An update on the situation in central Tenasserim Division since the Burmese junta's mass offensive to capture the area in 1997. Unable to gain complete control of the region because of the rugged jungle, harassment by resistance forces and the staunch non-cooperation of the villagers, the SPDC regime has gradually flooded the area with 36 Battalions which have forced many villages into relocation sites where the villagers are used as forced labour to push more military roads into remote areas. Thousands continue to hide in the forests despite being hunted and having their food supplies destroyed by SPDC patrols. They have little choice, though, because if they flee to the Thai border they encounter the Thai Army 9th Division, which continues to force refugees back into Burma at gunpoint.
Flight, Hunger and Survival: Repression and Displacement in the Villages of Papun and Nyaunglebin Districts  [Regional or Thematic report]	Oct 22nd, 2001
This report documents in detail the plight of villagers and the internally displaced in these two northern Karen regions. Since 1997 the SPDC has destroyed or relocated over 200 villages here, forcing tens of thousands of villagers to flee into hiding in the hills where they are now being hunted down and shot on sight by close to 50 SPDC Army battalions. The troops are now systematically destroying crops, food supplies and farmfields to flush the villagers out of the hills, making the situation increasingly desperate. Meanwhile, those living in the SPDC-controlled villages and relocation sites are fleeing to the hills to join the displaced because they can no longer bear the heavy burden of forced labour, extortion, restrictions on their movement and random torture and executions. KHRG's most intensive research effort to date, this report draws on over 300 interviews with people in the villages and forests, thousands of photographs and hundreds of documents assembled by KHRG researchers in the past 2 years.
Playing Games with Political Prisoners; Talks in Rangoon; Forced Labour and the ILO; Look at the people, not the politicians  [KHRG Commentary]	Oct 21st, 2001
As the much-discussed ‘talks’ in Rangoon between the SPDC military junta and the National League for Democracy (NLD) drag into their second year without a single piece of news about their agenda, a single statement, or a single sign of progress, the international community is trying to find more creative ways of pretending that something positive is happening in Burma. The most popular method at the moment is to point to the SPDC’s releases of a few NLD political prisoners. Little notice is taken of the fact that many of them have only been released on completion of their sentences, or were never charged or sentenced at all. But more importantly, is it logical to commend someone for releasing a political prisoner?
Photo Set 2001-A  [Photoset]	Sep 14th, 2001
Over 400 photos from Papun, Nyaunglebin, Toungoo, Thaton, Pa'an and Dooplaya Districts showing many aspects of the situation for villagers over the past year. Contains sections on Forced Labour; Forced Relocations & Restrictions; Attacks on Villages & Village Destruction; Detention & Torture; Shootings & Killings; Flight & Displacement; Landmines; Soldiers; and Children
SPDC & DKBA Orders to Villages: Set 2001-A  [Orders report]	May 18th, 2001
This report presents direct translations of 568 order documents and letters, selected from a total of 735 such documents. They dictate demands for forced labour, money, food and materials, place restrictions on the movements and activities of villagers, and make threats to arrest village elders or destroy the villages of those who fail to obey. Almost all of them were sent from SPDC military units and local SPDC authorities to village elders in Papun, Nyaunglebin, Pa'an, Thaton, Toungoo and Dooplaya Districts, which together cover almost all of Karen State and part of eastern Pegu Division.
Papun and Nyaunglebin Districts, Karen State: Internally displaced villagers cornered by 40 SPDC Battalions; Food shortages, disease, killings and life on the run  [Field report]	Apr 9th, 2001
In the hills of northern Papun District and eastern Nyaunglebin District in northern Karen State (click here to see a map of Karen Districts), the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) military junta began a campaign in 1997 to eliminate resistance activity and gain control by wiping out the small Karen villages which dot the remote hills. Army columns of several hundred troops went from village to village, firing mortar shells into the villages without warning, then shelling the streambeds where they knew villagers would run, and entering the villages to loot and burn all the houses. In 1997/98 close to 200 villages were destroyed this way. The villagers fled into hiding in the hills, while SPDC columns came to hunt them, shoot them on sight and destroy their hidden food supplies and their fields [for details see "Wholesale Destruction" (KHRG, April 1998)]. Since then, many people have remained in hiding in the forests while others have managed to rebuild on the burned ruins of their villages, but they must always flee whenever SPDC troops come near.
Abuse Under Orders: The SPDC and DKBA Armies through the Eyes of their Soldiers  [Regional or Thematic report]	Mar 27th, 2001
Symbolically released on the SPDC's 'Armed Forces Day', this report uses the testimony of former SPDC soldiers to document the deteriorating situation in the ever-expanding Army: the conscription and coercion of 13-17 year old children who now make up as much as 30% of the rank and file, the corruption of the officers and their brutal treatment of their own soldiers, the systematic abuse and exploitation of the civilian population, and the crumbling morale, desertions and suicides. Also looks at the declining relevance of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) as the command structure weakens and units are left to pursue black market businesses to support themselves.
The Talks that Everyone is Talking About; Forced and Convict Labour; A Crumbling Army  [KHRG Commentary]	Mar 23rd, 2001
It seems the whole world is now talking about the ongoing talks between the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) military junta and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, general secretary of the National League for Democracy (NLD). A European Union delegation says it’s the most significant development in over a decade, the newly-appointed United Nations Special Rapporteur on Burma lauds all the ‘progress’ being made, articles are written everywhere speculating on what is being discussed, while some journalists jump the gun and simply make up stories about what is being discussed. Unanimously, they all proclaim that 'national reconciliation' is in the air.
Thaton District: SPDC using violence against villagers to consolidate control  [Field report]	Mar 20th, 2001
In an effort to drive a wedge between the villagers in northeastern Thaton district and the resistance forces of the KNU/KNLA (Karen National Union / Karen National Liberation Army), the SPDC continues to intimidate villagers with violence, threats and military retaliation. Information sent by KHRG field researchers indicates that in Bilin township, east of the Bilin River spanning the border of Mon and Karen States, soldiers are using innocent villagers in a campaign to gain complete control over the villages and defeat KNLA opposition forces. They are capturing and torturing civilians, forcing them to work for the army and committing many kinds of abuses. Interviews by KHRG have documented stories of exploitation and violence in Bilin township, fuelled by ongoing SPDC attempts to gain both military and financial advantage.
Northeastern Pa'an District: Villagers Fleeing Forced Labour Establishing SPDC Army Camps, Building Access Roads and Clearing Landmines  [Field report]	Feb 20th, 2001
Escalating abuses by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) in northeastern Pa’an district, Karen State have forced a stream of families over the border into Thailand. In mid-January of this year, at least 13 families from Hlaing Bwe township fled their village and walked a day and a half across the mountains to cross into Thailand. Currently over 70 Karen villagers are gathered near a Thai Karen village and they have told KHRG that many more may soon arrive.
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