Reports By Year > 2008

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.

Our News Bulletins are available via email, subscribe to the KHRG newsletter list by entering your email address on the KHRG homepage. Topics covered in News Bulletins will generally be documented in more detail in future KHRG reports.

There were 35 reports in 2008. These are listed below.

REPORT TITLE	DATE
SPDC and DKBA extortion and forced labour in Thaton District  [Field report]	Nov 26th, 2008
Militarisation in practice is not always uniform. As the SPDC and DKBA rotate their army units in Thaton District, western Karen State, villagers confront shifting patterns of authority and abuse. While villagers living around the SPDC’s army camp at Yoh Gkla continue to face forced labour, extortion and threats of arbitrary detention and execution, the local SPDC battalion that has been deployed there since July 2008 has patrolled less frequently than its predecessor. This has lead to a weakened ability to enforce movement restrictions on villagers. This report comprises incidents which took place between July and October 2008.
Village Agency: Rural rights and resistance in a militarized Karen State  [Regional or Thematic report]	Nov 25th, 2008
With a disproportionate emphasis on isolated incidents of particularly emotive violent abuses in rural areas and a concurrent neglect of the many ways villagers have sought to resist such abuse, international journalism and advocacy around Burma has often contributed to portrayals of rural villagers as helpless victims passively terrorised by the Burma Army. By marginalising the agency of rural villagers in this way, such portrayals have perpetuated the exclusion of these individuals from the ongoing political processes which affect them. Citing the personal testimonies of over 110 villagers living in Karen State, this report seeks to challenge such portrayals and provide a forum for these individuals to speak for themselves about the context of abuse in which they live and their own efforts to resist this abuse. By highlighting the resistance strategies and political agency of villagers in rural Karen State, this report argues that the voices of these individuals can, and indeed should, be heard and incorporated into the many ongoing political processes that affect them.
Networks of Noncompliance: Grassroots resistance and sovereignty in militarised Burma  [Article or paper]	Nov 10th, 2008
This paper examines state repression and state-society conflict in Burma through the lens of rural and urban resistance strategies. It finds very well developed 'networks of noncompliance' through which civilians evade and undermine state control over their lives, and that SPDC’s brutal tactics represent not control, but a lack of control. Using concrete examples, the paper argues that outside agencies ignore this state-society struggle over sovereignty at their peril: by ignoring the interplay of intervention with local politics and militarisation, claiming a 'humanitarian neutrality' which is impossible in practice, and portraying civilians as helpless pawns, those who intervene and those who document the situation risk undermining the very civilians they wish to help, while facilitating further state repression. It calls for greater honesty and awareness in interventions, combined with greater outside engagement with villagers in their resistance strategies. Only days after this paper was first presented at the Yale University Agrarian Studies Colloquium, some of its cautions about the naïveté of claiming humanitarian neutrality in Burma’s politicised and militarised context were tragically realised, when Cyclone Nargis devastated parts of the country and international aid agencies were forced to confront firsthand the SPDC's raw disdain for its own civilian population. Some gave in and chanelled aid through the Burmese military, much of which never reached the target populations.
Routine forced labour in Pa'an District  [Field report]	Oct 29th, 2008
For those villagers living under the control of SPDC and DKBA forces in Pa'an District, certain forms of forced labour have now become routine. Such 'routine' forced labour includes: cultivation of rainy season and dry season rice crops on fields owned by DKBA officers, maintaining rubber plantations, roadside clearance of forest overgrowth following the rainy season, portering military supplies out to soldiers operating at 'frontline' army camps, collecting, preparing and delivering bamboo and thatch for use in the repair and construction of the region's many army camps, and temporarily serving as camp-based messengers. Combined, these various forms of forced labour significantly cut into crucial time villagers need for their own agricultural and other livelihoods activities. This report looks at cases of forced labour from July to September 2008 and includes a short video of recent forced labour in Pa'an District.
Human minesweeping and forced relocation as SPDC and DKBA step up joint operations in Pa'an District  [News Bulletin]	Oct 20th, 2008
Since the end of September 2008, SPDC and DKBA troops have begun preparing for what KHRG researchers expect to be a renewed offensive against KNU/KNLA-controlled areas in Pa'an District. These activities match a similar increase in joint SPDC-DKBA operations in Dooplaya District further south where these groups have conducted attacks against villagers and KNU/KNLA targets over the past couple of weeks. The SPDC and DKBA soldiers operating in Pa'an District have forced villagers to carry supplies, food and weapons for their combined armies and also to walk in front of their columns as human minesweepers. This report includes the case of two villagers killed by landmines during October while doing such forced labour, as well as the DKBA's forced relocation of villages in T'Moh village tract of Dta Greh township, demands for forced labourers from the relocated communities and the subsequent flight of relocated villagers to KNLA-controlled camps in Pa'an District as a means to escape this abuse; all of which took place in October 2008.
The 'everyday politics' of IDP protection in Karen State  [Article or paper]	Oct 20th, 2008
While international humanitarian access in Burma has opened up over the past decade and a half, the ongoing debate regarding the appropriate relationship between politics and humanitarian assistance remains unresolved. This debate has become especially limiting in regards to protection measures for internally displaced persons (IDPs) which are increasingly seen to fall within the mandate of humanitarian agencies. Conventional IDP protection frameworks are biased towards a top-down model of politically-averse intervention which marginalizes local initiatives to resist abuse and hinders local control over protection efforts. Yet such local resistance strategies remain the most effective IDP protection measures currently employed in Karen State and other parts of rural Burma. Addressing the protection needs and underlying humanitarian concerns of displaced and potentially displaced people is thus inseparable from engagement with the 'everyday politics' of rural villagers. The present article seeks to challenge conventional notions of IDP protection that prioritize a form of State-centric 'neutrality' and marginalize the 'everyday politics' through which local villagers continue to resist abuse and claim their rights. (This working paper was presented on the panel 'Migration within and out of Burma' as part of the 2008 International Burma Studies Conference in DeKalb, Illinois in October 2008.)
DKBA soldiers attack Karen village in Thailand  [News Bulletin]	Oct 9th, 2008
After disputes over arbitrary taxation payments and accusations of favouring the KNLA, 40 to 50 soldiers of DKBA Battalion #907 - under brigade commander N'Kaw Mway - attacked the village of Mae Gklaw Kee in Thailand's Umphang District. Troops shelled the village tract leader's house, shot at villagers' houses and then burnt down villagers' crop storage barns. The Batallion subsequently set up a camp in nearby Gklaw Ghaw village. As SPDC and DKBA troops work together in an effort to take control of the area, villagers face increased restrictions, overlapping taxation demands, and the threat of future attacks and land confiscation.
DKBA bans alcohol consumption to justify human rights abuses in Pa'an District  [News Bulletin]	Oct 3rd, 2008
DKBA soldiers in T'Nay Hsah township of Pa'an District have prohibited villagers from drinking alcohol, effectively forbidding several long-standing cultural traditions among the Karen population. Villagers caught drinking have been beaten, punished with forced labour and threatened with conscription into the DKBA. The incidents in this report occurred in August and September 2008.
Villagers' responses to forced labour, torture and other demands in Thaton District  [Field report]	Oct 2nd, 2008
From February to July 2008, SPDC and DKBA forces operating in Thaton District continued to demand forced labour, extort money and threaten villagers as punishment for allegations that villagers had contacted KNU/KNLA personnel. In addition, the destruction wrought by Cyclone Nargis on Thaton's infrastructure and crops has added to the struggles of villagers. Despite such hardships, villagers in these communities continue to test and refine strategies to resist abuse by the SPDC and DKBA. Both local and international humanitarian and development agencies should increase efforts to support these villager-based resistance strategies, enabling villagers to claim their rights.
Forced recruitment by DKBA forces in Pa’an District  [News Bulletin]	Sep 24th, 2008
The DKBA has begun a campaign of conscripting civilians from village tracts in T'Nay Hsah township, Pa’an District, into military service in order to supplement a joint SPDC-DKBA offensive against the KNLA in Dooplaya District. Villagers who do not want or cannot become soldiers for the DKBA are required to hire others to serve in their stead – paying this fee has in many cases required villagers to sell their land and livestock or find work in other villages. Desertion from the DKBA is common and, in an effort to dissuade soldiers from fleeing, the DKBA has begun to harass and fine the families of soldiers that desert. Finally, this current campaign raises questions about the credibility of the SPDC's reported intention to have all ceasefire groups disarm in order to contest the 2010 elections as political parties. This report describes events in Pa’an from June to September 2008.
Daily demands and exploitation: Life under the control of SPDC and DKBA forces in Pa'an District  [Field report]	Sep 18th, 2008
In SPDC- and DKBA-controlled Pa'an District villagers face regular, and sometimes daily, demands for labour, money, food and other supplies from local military units. With troop rotation ensuring the constant presence of active troops patrolling these areas, villagers are given little respite from the demands which place a constant drain on their time, incomes and food supplies. In addition to forced labour, extortion and arbitrary taxation, looting by soldiers is rife and families face increased and arbitrary fees for their children's education. Such continual exploitation undermines villagers' livelihoods and makes family survival unsustainable, leading many villagers to instead seek more sustainable livelihood opportunities in other areas of Burma or neighbouring Thailand. This report focuses on the situation in Dta Greh township of Pa'an District, detailing incidents which occurred between January and July 2008.
DKBA soldiers burn down Ler Bpoo village, Pa'an District  [News Bulletin]	Aug 29th, 2008
On August 26th, DKBA forces operating under Bo Gk'Do, an officer serving with Maung Chit Thoo of DKBA Special Battalion #999, burnt down the village of Ler Bpoo in eastern Pa'an District. Prior to being burnt down, the village had 50 households and a population of approximately 100 villagers. The former residents initially fled to seek shelter elsewhere. Some villagers went to stay with relatives in neighbouring settlements and others to a Buddhist monastery located in a nearby village. On Wednesday, August 27th, DKBA forces ordered the displaced villagers to return to stay at an open field located near the now burnt-down remains of Ler Bpoo village.
Mortar attacks, landmines and the destruction of schools in Papun District  [Field report]	Aug 22nd, 2008
SPDC abuses against civilians continue in northern Karen State, especially in Lu Thaw township, Papun District. Because these villagers live within non-SPDC-controlled "black areas", the SPDC believes it has justification to attack IDP hiding sites and destroy civilian crops, cattle and property. These attacks, combined with the SPDC and KNLA's continued use of landmines, have caused dozens of injuries and deaths in Papun District alone. Such attacks target the fabric of Karen society, breaking up communities and compromising the educations of Karen youth. In spite of these hardships, the local villagers continue to be resourceful in providing security for their families and education for their children. This report covers events in Papun District from May to July 2008.
Forced labour and extortion in Pa'an District  [Field report]	Aug 8th, 2008
At a time when civilians in Pa’an District are already struggling with rising food prices and unemployment, an increasing number of villagers are being subjected to forced labour and extortion by local SPDC and DKBA forces. This is especially true in eastern Karen State, near the Thoo Mweh (Moei) river, where DKBA commanders are forcing villagers to ignore their own livelihoods in order to help these leaders cultivate their personal rubber plantations. The result of these abuses is a worsening food crisis and constant economic migration to other areas both in Burma and in neighbouring Thailand, places where villagers hope to find more sustainable employment opportunities. This report describes the situation in the Dta Greh and T’Nay Hsah townships of Pa’an District from January to June 2008.
SPDC and DKBA order documents: October 2007 to March 2008  [Orders report]	Aug 6th, 2008
As evidence of ongoing exploitative local governance in rural Burma, this report comprises a collection of 59 translated order documents issued by SPDC and DKBA officers to village heads in Karen State between October 2007 and March 2008. The orders provide tangible confirmation of rural villagers’ consistent testimonies regarding the regular demands for labour, money, food and other supplies to which their communities are subject by local military forces. Amongst other things, these order documents articulate demands for the payment of money and food; fabrication and delivery of building supplies; attendance at meetings; road clearance and construction; portering of military supplies; agricultural labour and the delivery of bullock carts. In almost all cases, such demands are uncompensated and backed by an implicit threat of violence for non-compliance. Almost all demands articulated in the orders presented in this report involve some element of forced labour in their implementation.
Military expansion and exploitation in Nyaunglebin District  [Field report]	Aug 5th, 2008
With the SPDC Army's continued expansion in Nyaunglebin District, local villagers not under military control have had to once again flee into the surrounding forest while troops have forcibly interned other villagers in military-controlled relocation sites. These relocation sites, typically in the plains of western Nyaunglebin, alongside army camps or SPDC-controlled vehicle roads, serve as containment centres from which army personnel appropriate labour, money, food and supplies to support the military's ongoing expansion in the region. Extortion by military officers operating in Nyaunglebin District has included forced 'donations' allegedly collected for distribution to survivors of Cyclone Nargis in the Irrawaddy Delta. This field report looks at the situation in Nyaunglebin up to the end of May 2008.
Attacks, killings and the food crisis in Toungoo District  [Field report]	Aug 1st, 2008
SPDC troops have continued to target internally displaced persons (IDPs) within Toungoo District. Civilians continue be killed or injured by the attacks while many of the survivors flee their homes and take shelter in forest hiding sites. Some who have moved into SPDC forced relocation sites continue to secretly return to their villages to cultivate their crops, constantly risking punishment or execution by troops patrolling the areas. The SPDC’s repeated disruption of regular planting cycles has created a food crisis in Toungoo, further endangering the IDPs living there. This report examines the abuses in Toungoo District from April to June 2008.
Update on the KNU/KNLA-PC: Statements by a deserter and a 'retiree'  [News Bulletin]	Jul 29th, 2008
As the KNU/KNLA-PC approaches the year and a half mark since its founding in early 2007, this news bulletin provides an update on developments of this little-reported-on armed group. Having been founded with an initial troop strength of well under 100 soldiers, current estimates suggest that the group has expanded to about 800 soldiers now divided between seven battalions operating in central and southeastern Pa'an District. While the assassination in January 2008 of Ler Moo, widely seen as the KNU/KNLA-PC's major source of funding, has, challenged the group's ongoing expansion, the interviews presented here suggest that it continues to primarily engage in SPDC-sanctioned logging and timber trading. This bulletin presents the full text of two interviews conducted by KHRG field researchers in June and July 2008 with a former soldier and a former officer of the KNU/KNLA-PC.
Interview with an SPDC deserter  [News Bulletin]	Jul 28th, 2008
This news bulletin comprises a translated interview with a 28-year-old deserter from the Burma Army who spoke to KHRG in July 2008. The content of the interview covers issues of child soldiers, mistreatment of civilians and low-ranking soldiers, and the deployment of army personnel against monks and civilians during the country’s September 2007 protests.
Exploitative governance under SPDC and DKBA authorities in Dooplaya District  [Field report]	Jul 11th, 2008
With largely consolidated control over Dooplaya District in southern Karen State the SPDC and DKBA, as the two dominant military forces, operate under a system of coexistence. The local civilian population, in turn, faces exploitative governance on two fronts as both SPDC and DKBA soldiers seek to extract money, labour, food and other supplies from them. Enforcing heavy movement restrictions on top of persistent exploitative demands, local communities are facing deteriorating livelihood opportunities, increasing poverty, and a constriction of educational and health care opportunities. Persistent human rights abuses thus foster the economic pressures fuelling the continuing migration of rural communities in Dooplaya District to refugee camps in Thailand and towards livelihood opportunities at urban centres in Burma and Thailand. This report examines the situation of abuse in Dooplaya District from January to June 2008.
Attacks, forced labour and restrictions in Toungoo District  [Field report]	Jul 1st, 2008
While the rainy season is now underway in Karen state, Burma Army soldiers are continuing with military operations against civilian communities in Toungoo District. Local villagers in this area have had to leave their homes and agricultural land in order to escape into the jungle and avoid Burma Army attacks. These displaced villagers have, in turn, encountered health problems and food shortages, as medical supplies and services are restricted and regular relocation means any food supplies are limited to what can be carried on the villagers' backs alone. Yet these displaced communities have persisted in their effort to maintain their lives and dignity while on the run; building new shelters in hiding and seeking to address their livelihood and social needs despite constraints. Those remaining under military control, by contrast, face regular demands for forced labour, as well as other forms of extortion and arbitrary 'taxation'. This report examines military attacks, forced labour and movement restrictions and their implications in Toungoo District between March and June 2008.
Burma Army attacks and civilian displacement in northern Papun District  [Field report]	Jun 12th, 2008
Following the deployment of new Burma Army units in the area of Htee Moo Kee village, Lu Thaw township of northern Karen State, Papun District, during the first week of March 2008, at least 1,600 villagers from seven villages were forced to relocate to eight different hiding sites in order to avoid the encroaching army patrols. These displaced communities are now facing heightened food insecurity and an ongoing risk of military attack. This report is based on in-depth interviews with displaced villagers from Lu Thaw township regarding the recent Burma Army operations and the resultant effects on the local communities. It also includes information on the recent military attack on Dtay Muh Der village, Lu Thaw township, Papun District which Burma Army forces conducted during the first week of June 2008 and which led to the further displacement of over 1,000 villagers.
Video: Displaced children in northern Karen State  [Photoset]	May 19th, 2008
In December 2007, Burma Army soldiers operating under Military Operations Command (MOC) #4 conducted a series of attacks against villages in the Th'Ay Kee area of southeastern Toungoo District, northern Karen State. The Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) video presented here includes footage of the initial attack and the following days as children and their families from the Th'Ay Kee area continued to flee on foot in order to evade the Burma Army soldiers who were hunting them down.
Is the SPDC diverting aid on ethnic grounds?  [KHRG Commentary]	May 14th, 2008
According to recent reports received by KHRG from residents of the Irrawaddy Delta, the SPDC has not only been restricting aid supplies and access by international humanitarian workers, but has also been doing so on the basis of ethnicity. Increasing reports on the military's restrictions and misappropriation of aid supplies necessitate immediate international investigation, as all affected residents of the delta regardless of their ethnicity remain in urgent need humanitarian assistance. The regime's obstructions of humanitarian aid increasingly appear to fall under the criteria of crimes against humanity. In such a case, the responsibility to protect this population falls on the international community
Life inside the Burma Army: SPDC deserter testimonies  [News Bulletin]	May 9th, 2008
The military regime's inability to effectively respond to the humanitarian catastrophe lying in the wake of Cyclone Nargis reflects, along with the regime's traditional neglect of civilian interests, underlying fissures within the country's armed forces. Threats, physical abuse and under nourishment are rife in the Burma Army, according to testimonies provided by recent SPDC deserters. These statements support reports coming out from other sources about the declining morale within Burma's armed forces, and the regime's increasing reliance on forced conscription, including of children, in an attempt to meet unrealistic objectives of military expansion. Tension and violence within the ranks of the Burma Army led one deserter interviewed by KHRG to turn his gun on a senior officer, killing him before fleeing from his army unit.
Forced voting as military regime ploughs forth with referendum despite cyclone devastation  [News Bulletin]	May 8th, 2008
While Cyclone Nargis has wrought massive damage upon large areas of south and southeast Burma, the SPDC remains adamant that it will press ahead with its planned constitutional referendum. Karen State has been identified as an area affected by the cyclone, yet local SPDC authorities are continuing to pressure villagers into voting 'yes' in favour of the military-engineered constitution. Statements by villagers, as quoted at length in this report, regarding military coercion, forced participation in the referendum and obligatory 'yes' votes challenge any claims that this process is at all 'free and fair'.
Growing up under militarisation: Abuse and agency of children in Karen State  [Regional or Thematic report]	Apr 30th, 2008
As the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the military junta currently ruling Burma, works to extend and consolidate its control over all areas of Karen State, local children, their families and communities confront regular, often violent, abuses at the hands of the regime's officers, soldiers and civilian officials. While the increasing international media attention on the human rights situation in Burma has occasionally addressed the plight of children, such reporting has been almost entirely incident-based, and focused on specific, particularly emotive issues, such as child soldiers. Although incident-based reporting is relevant, it misses the far greater problems of structural violence, caused by the oppressive social, economic and political systems commensurate with militarisation, and the combined effects of a variety of abuses, which negatively affect a far larger number of children in Karen State. Furthermore, focusing on specific, emotive issues sensationalises the abuses committed against children and masks the complexities of the situation. In reports on children and armed conflict in Karen State and elsewhere, individual children's agency, efforts to resist abuse and capacity to deal with the situations they live in, as well as the efforts made by their families and communities to provide for and protect them, tend to be marginalised and ignored. Drawing on over 160 interviews with local children, their families and communities, this report seeks to provide a forum for these people to explain in their own words the wider context of abuse and their own responses to attempts at denying children their rights. With additional background provided by official SPDC press statements and order documents, international media sources, reports by international aid agencies, as well as academic studies, this report argues that only by listening to local voices regarding the situation of abuse in which they live and taking as a starting point for advocacy and action local conceptions of rights and violations can external actors avoid the further marginalisation of children living in these areas and begin to build on villagers' own strategies for resisting abuse and claiming their rights.
Just another case of coercion and forced labour? Karen villagers' statements on the 2008 referendum  [News Bulletin]	Apr 24th, 2008
As the SPDC steps up its pre-referendum activities, the regime's officials in Karen State have been forcibly registering local villagers, issuing temporary identification documents and ordering everyone to participate in the May 10th event. Villagers, however, have responded to the whole process with a mixture of skepticism and distrust.
Supporting IDP resistance strategies  [Article or paper]	Apr 23rd, 2008
Whether in hiding or living under military control, displaced villagers of Karen State and other areas of rural Burma have shown themselves to be innovative and courageous in responding to and resisting military abuse. They urgently need increased assistance but it is they who should determine the direction of any such intervention. This article, co-authored by two KHRG staff members, appears in issue number 30 of the journal Forced Migration Review (FMR), issued in April 2008 and is available on both the KHRG and FMR websites.
SPDC spies and the campaign to control Toungoo District  [Field report]	Mar 31st, 2008
According to reports from KHRG field researchers working in the forested mountains of Toungoo District, local SPDC forces have recently begun utilising spies operating under the guise of escaped convict porters to locate civilian hiding sites. These individuals have reportedly utilised their cover to gain information on the location of displaced hiding sites, farm fields and food storage containers. This information has, in turn, allowed for the rapid deployment of SPDC patrols to target particular displaced communities in military attacks. Alongside this strategy, the SPDC has maintained heavy movement restrictions and imposed persistent forced labour in those areas already under its control. This report examines the human rights situation in Toungoo District up to March 2008.
Oppressed twice over: SPDC and DKBA exploitation and violence against villagers in Thaton District  [Field report]	Mar 20th, 2008
Throughout Thaton District the SPDC has persistently worked to expand and entrench military control not only by increasing its own troops, but also by heavily relying on the DKBA as a local proxy force. Both groups exploit the civilian population to support their respective military hierarchies and local villagers thus face a double burden on their lives. This report looks at various forms and specific incidents of forced labour, extortion, violence and other abuse against villagers in Thaton District which SPDC and DKBA personnel have perpetrated up to February 2008.
Village-level decision making in responding to forced relocation: A case from Papun District  [Field report]	Mar 7th, 2008
As part of its campaign of militarisation in Northern Karen State the SPDC has had as a principle strategy the forcible relocation of villagers from areas outside of its control to relocation sites close to Army camps or vehicle roads where civilian control can be firmly established. Over the years, villagers in Papun District and across Karen State have come to learn well that SPDC control means regular abuse and exploitation and, therefore, have sought to avoid such control wherever possible. This report presents one recent example from January to February 2008 of the courageous and varied response strategies villagers use to resist forced relocation and abuse and evade control by SPDC soldiers. Interestingly, this case also hints at some internal dissent and corruption within the SPDC ranks.
Militarisation, violence and exploitation in Toungoo District  [Field report]	Feb 15th, 2008
While the SPDC leadership proposes dates for a constitutional referendum and eventual multiparty elections it nonetheless continues without the slightest hesitation the violent subjugation of villagers in northern Karen State. The area of Toungoo District is now saturated with SPDC troops and the local civilian population living under military control as well as those living in hiding are facing constricting options for their lives. The SPDC has continued to increase the military build-up of the area deploying more troops, building new camps and bases and constructing and upgrading vehicle roads to facilitate troop deployment and the stocking of army camps. In this context attacks on villages, arbitrary detentions, killings, forced labour and extortion have continued consistent with the regime's policy of civilian subjugation and in opposition to its claims of a potential return to civilian rule through the current constitution-vetting process.
SPDC soldiers arrest and kill villagers on allegations of contacting KNU/KNLA  [News Bulletin]	Jan 16th, 2008
Using sweeping powers to confine civilians without charge, SPDC forces operating in Dooplaya District in southern Karen State have detained, tortured and in some cases killed villagers. The grounds for these actions have been alleged contact with the KNU, which the SPDC deems an illegal organisation. As the SPDC seeks to arbitrarily and violently utilise the civilian population to locate KNU personnel, many civilians have responded by fleeing to Thailand in the hopes of finding sanctuary. This report includes testimonies from four villagers who fled from Kawkareik Township, Dooplaya District following such persecution by SPDC personnel.
Attacks, killings and increased militarisation in Nyaunglebin District  [Field report]	Jan 11th, 2008
With the dry season in northern Karen State well under way, the SPDC continues to intensify its militarisation of the area. In Nyaunglebin District this intensification has come in the form of an increased troop build-up with the regime deploying new military units, establishing new camps and bases and attacking displaced civilian communities in hiding. Maintaining a shoot-on-sight policy SPDC soldiers operating in Nyaunglebin have shot and killed or otherwise severely injured displaced villagers and destroyed rice storage barns and civilian rice supplies across the district. In those areas more firmly under SPDC control, soldiers have ordered villagers to labour building army camps, porter mortar shells and army rations and repair SPDC-controlled vehicle roads in support of the region’s growing military presence. This report looks at the human rights situation in Nyaunglebin District from October to December 2007.
Search