Naw P--- holds up her nine-month-old baby at a hiding site for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Hsaw Htee township, Nyaunglebin District in February 2007. Although her baby suffers from a severe rash covering his entire body, Naw P--- says that she has been unable to access adequate medical treatment. She attempted to treat her child's rash with a herbal remedy available locally, but this proved ineffective. The SPDC uses armed force to block IDP movement, including attempts to access clinics and medical dispensaries and also prohibits humanitarian organisations from assisting these communities. In this way the SPDC has fuelled and manipulated the region's humanitarian crisis to in order to pressure IDP communities to relocate into areas of military control. [Photo: KHRG]

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Cross-border medics operate on 40-year-old Saw Bpyih Gkaw of Yay Gho Lo Der village, Ler Mu Bplaw village tract, northern Papun District on February 28th 2007. Saw Bpyih Gkaw had been cutting down trees and bushes to clear land for rice cultivation near his home when SPDC soldiers patrolling in the areas spotted and fired on him. One of the bullets pierced his chest and exited through his back. [Photos: KHRG]

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A mobile Karen medic shown in photo B-35 gives an injection to a displaced woman in northern Tenasserim Division. While these medics provide invaluable assistance to displaced communities living at hiding sites, their medical supplies are limited to what they are able to carry on their backs. Displaced villagers in hiding are furthermore restricted from accessing medical facilities in SPDC-controlled areas as a result of military-imposed movement restrictions and the prohibitive cost of treatment at these centres. [Photo: KHRG]

The mobile Karen medics shown in the photo B-36 treats the arm and leg of a Karen villager who had been injured in an accident involving a motor boat propeller. [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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A Free Burma Rangers medic treats a displaced woman in Kay Poo village tract, Lu Thaw township, Papun District on May 1st 2007. This woman became seriously ill after fleeing from SPDC soldiers and hiding in the mountainous forests of northern Papun District. Restrictions on movement which the SPDC enforces in Papun District obstruct civilian access to medical supplies and treatment. Displaced villagers therefore rely heavily on support from cross-border medical teams. [Photo: KHRG]

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Displaced children living at a hiding site in Toungoo District study together in January 2007 despite the increasing SPDC military aggression in the area. The maintenance of education for local children serves to provide them with some continuity in their otherwise turbulent lives and also strengthens community bonds and upholds the dignity of local people in the face of the SPDC's efforts to eradicate such non-military-controlled communities. [Photo: KHRG]

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Children from Lu Thaw township, Papun District shown here at the end of March 2007 play with clay 'marbles' which they made themselves. These children and their families have come under increasing pressure from SPDC forces as the Army continues to extend vehicle roads and build new military camps and bases in the Lu Thaw area where they live. [Photo: KHRG]

Villagers from a displaced community in Northern Tenasserim Division built this school using primarily split-bamboo slats and larger bamboo poles as well as thatch shingles. Although they do not have sufficient notebooks, pencils and textbooks for all of the students, teachers from the local community have nevertheless opened the school and conduct regular lessons for the children. As the community members remain in hiding from the SPDC, they must live with the ever present possibility of detection by army patrols and attack and destruction of buildings, food and other supplies. [Photo: KHRG]

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According to local villagers this bridge, shown in May of 2007, connecting Ler K'Kya and Noh Naw Wah villages in Thaton District, was funded in part by the United Nations Development Programme and constructed with the villagers' own labour. The bridge provides a route for local children to travel to a newly built school [photos B-38 and B-39] at Noh Naw Wah during the rainy season when that ravine below would be flooded. However, when the bridge construction was completed, the SPDC announced that it had instead been the military which had provided the funding and labour for the project. [Photo: KHRG]

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This primary school [photos B-38 and B-39] at Noh Naw Wah village as seen in May 2007 was built to serve children from Ler K'Kya and Noh Naw Wah villages in Thaton District. Villagers reported that the financing for the construction of the school was provided in part by the United Nations Development Programme with local villagers doing the actual construction. However, when they had finished building the school, the SPDC made an announcement stating that the military had in fact funded and built the school. Furthermore, while the local villagers requested that the curriculum include the teaching of Karen language, history and culture, the regional SPDC authorities have forbidden any such instruction. The sign on the right states in Burmese "With education develop a modern country." [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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Displaced villagers in Lu Thaw township, Papun District conduct music classes with traditional instruments including the Karen harp and bamboo xylophone in May 2007. Despite their situation of displacement the elder villager conducting the classes teaches his students in order to maintain indigenous music and culture in the face of the SPDC's systematic efforts to undermine the traditional Karen way of life. [Photo: KHRG]

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Growing up under militarisation, children in Karen State are particularly affected by the negative impact of systematic abuses and constraints which threaten their health, education and social support networks. Nevertheless, most children, such as those shown here from Ler Per Her IDP camp [photos C-136 and C-137] and Thay Bo Gklo village [C-138, C-139, C-140, C-141 and C-142] in Pa'an District in August 2007 have demonstrated a strong resilience to the challenges of militarisation; taking on new roles at a young age in support of their families and communities. [Photo: KHRG]

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