Year 2000 KHRG Reports
SPDC & DKBA Orders to Villages: Set 2000-A
Papun, Toungoo, Dooplaya and Pa'an Districts
Released on February 29, 2000 (KHRG #2000-01)
Close to 300 orders for forced labour, extortion of money, food, and materials,
threats to villagers and other demands, the vast majority of them issued and signed by the
SPDC Army and civilian authorities.
Starving Them Out
Forced Relocations, Killings and the Systematic Starvation of Villagers in Dooplaya
District
Released on March 31, 2000 (KHRG #2000-02)
The current situation in SPDC-occupied Dooplaya District of Karen State,
including new campaigns of forced relocation, military confiscation of the entire rice
crop, internal displacement and widespread hunger. The flight of increasing numbers
of villagers to the Thai border, many of whom are being forced back at gunpoint by Thai
troops.
Click here to see the Interview Annex to the
above report.
Exiled At Home
Continued Forced Relocations and Displacement in Shan State
Released on April 5, 2000 (KHRG #2000-03)
An update on the worsening situation for the people of over 1,400 villages which
have been forcibly relocated and destroyed by the SPDC since 1996 in central Shan State;
starvation, forced labour and physical abuse in the relocation sites, the struggle of the
internally displaced hiding in the forests, the hunting and killing of villagers by SPDC
patrols, massacres in Kun Hing township, and the flight to Thailand. Also updates
progress on the foreign-financed Salween Dam project.
KHRG Commentary #2000-C1
Released on April 6, 2000 (KHRG #2000-C1)
Villagers fleeing systematic village relocation and rice confiscation in Dooplaya
District, continuing mass forced relocations and abuses in Shan State, comments on 'drug
eradication aid' and the Salween Dam, plans for forced repatriation of Karen refugees, and
latest ILO initiatives on forced labour.
Information Update #2000-U1
Papun and Nyaunglebin Districts: Villagers Flee as SPDC Troops Resume
Burning and Landmining of Villages
Released on April 25, 2000 (KHRG #2000-U1)
A summary update on the reasons for the flood of refugees fleeing Papun District
of northern Karen State, which has more than tripled in the month of April.
Villagers say they are fleeing SPDC troops who have recently burned and landmined their
villages, particularly in Dweh Loh township southwest of Papun. More are also
fleeing increased SPDC military activity against villagers and forced labour throughout
the district. However, they face inhuman living conditions at refugee camps in
Thailand and the possibility of forced repatriation.
SPDC and DKBA Orders to Villages: Set 2000-B
Pa'an, Dooplaya, Toungoo, Papun and Thaton Districts
Released on October 12, 2000 (KHRG #2000-04)
Over 250 orders dating from mid-1999 through late September 2000, the vast
majority of them from the latter half of that period. Includes restrictions on the
movement of villagers, forced relocation, demands for forced labour, extortion of money,
food, and materials, threats to villagers and other demands, as well as documents related
to rice quotas which farmers are forced to give, education and health. Also contains
one order (#174) which directly shows the
role of a Dutch timber importing company in causing the SPDC to threaten all
non-government controlled timber traders.
Peace Villages and Hiding Villages
Roads, Relocations and the Campaign for Control in Toungoo District
Released on October 15, 2000 (KHRG #2000-05)
Based on interviews and field reports from KHRG field researchers in this
northern Karen district, looks at the phenomenon of 'Peace Villages' under SPDC control
and 'Hiding Villages' in the hills; while the 'Hiding Villages' are being systematically
destroyed and their villagers hunted and captured, the 'Peace Villages' face so many
demands for forced labour and extortion that many of them are fleeing to the hills.
Looks at forced labour road construction and its relation to increasing SPDC
militarisation of the area, and also at the new tourism development project at Than Daung
Gyi which involves large-scale land confiscation and forced labour.
KHRG Commentary #2000-C2
Released on October 17, 2000 (KHRG #2000-C2)
The worsening situation of the internally displaced in all northern Karen
districts, forced labour and convict porters, rice quotas, the desperate situation of
rank-and-file SPDC soldiers, forced repatriation of refugees in Thailand, and the SPDC's
persistence in denying that there is any problem whatsoever.
Convict Porters
The Brutal Abuse of Prisoners on Burma's Frontlines
Released on December 20, 2000 (KHRG #2000-06)
Based on KHRG interviews with prison convicts from all over Burma who have
escaped forced labour for SPDC troops, this report tells the story of their arrest,
sentencing, life in the prisons and the increasing use of convicts as porters by Burma's
military junta. Documents the arbitrary arrest and sentencing of people to long jail
terms for petty offences, the brutal and inhuman conditions in the prisons, and the even
more brutal abuse and killings of convicts who are forced to go into combat situations
with the military - in many cases after their sentences should have expired. This
report also includes an Annex of Interviews.