Regional & Thematic Reports

The links below provide access to KHRG's full-length reports documenting in detail the situation in particular regions or covering particular thematic issues. These reports are based primarily on detailed testimony by local people, supported by photographic and other evidence. Other types of comprehensive reports can be found on our Photosets and Orders Reports pages. If you wish to search for a particular Regional or Thematic Report, please use our search page.

Below are a set of links to all Regional & Thematic Reports published by Karen Human Rights Group and compiled from information received from KHRG's field researchers. If you wish to search for a particular Regional or Thematic Report, please use our search page.

REGIONAL OR THEMATIC REPORT TITLE	DATE

Growing up under militarisation: Abuse and agency of children in Karen State	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.

Development by Decree: The politics of poverty and control in Karen State	Apr 24th, 2007
In pursuit of domestic submission and international recognition of its legitimacy the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) currently ruling Burma pronounces daily on the manifold military-implemented development programmes initiated across the country which, it argues, are both supported by and beneficial to local communities. Villagers in Karen State, however, consistently reject such claims. Rather, these individuals describe a systematic programme of military expansionism with which the junta aims to establish control over all aspects of civilian life. In the name of development, the regime's agenda in Karen State has involved multifarious infrastructure and regimentation projects that restrict travel and trade and facilitate increased extortion of funds, food, supplies and labour from the civilian population, thereby exacerbating poverty, malnutrition and the overall humanitarian crisis. Given the detrimental consequences of the SPDC's development agenda, villagers in Karen areas have resisted military efforts to control their lives and livelihoods under the rubric of development. In this way these villagers have worked to claim their right to determine for themselves the direction in which they wish their communities to develop. Drawing on over 90 interviews with local villagers in Karen State, SPDC order documents, official SPDC press statements, international media sources, reports by international aid agencies and academic studies this report finds that rather than prosperity, the SPDC's 'development' agenda has instead brought increased military control over civilian lives, undermined villagers' rights and delivered deleterious humanitarian outcomes contradictory to the very rhetoric the junta has used to justify its actions.

Dignity in the Shadow of Oppression: The abuse and agency of Karen women under militarisation	Nov 22nd, 2006
While Burma’s successive regimes have for decades pursued aggressive military operations to take control of Karen areas, there has been far too little international attention paid to the atrocities committed against villagers living therein. The increased media coverage and political interest of recent years has tended towards oversimplified accounts where civilians are depicted as passive victims suffering from the unintended side-effects of the military junta’s ‘anti-insurgency’ campaigns. In this light, external representations of Karen women have fallen back on stereotypes of women in armed conflict which depict nothing but their helplessness and vulnerability. Such portrayals neglect the voices of these women and deny them access to the many fora where their lives are discussed and debated. As a consequence, foreign attempts to engage with the situation of Karen women risk adopting strategies completely at odds with the desires of the very individuals they are seeking to help. Alternatively, recognition of Karen women living under militarisation as not only victims of abuse, but also agents of change, allows for the inclusion of their voices in external decision making fora and the development of more appropriate policies of support. This perspective requires that Karen women not be seen as passive recipients of abuse. Rather, these women are actively resisting the militarisation of their homelands and the abuses committed against them. By implementing their own strategies to avoid and mitigate abuse, Karen women are fighting to keep their dignity despite the systematic military oppression under which they live. These responses are in turn serving to challenge and change traditional gender roles within Karen society. By recognising the agency of these women, their voices may find receptive ears willing to support the strategies they already employ in resisting maltreatment and exploitation. The aim of this report is therefore not solely to increase awareness of the abuse of women in Karen areas but, more importantly, to call attention to their right to speak for themselves and determine how best to respond to such abuse.

One Year On: Continuing abuses in Toungoo District	Nov 17th, 2006
The SPDC offensive against civilian villagers in northern Karen State has continued unabated through the rainy season as SPDC Army soldiers attempt to consolidate their control over the region and depopulate all areas that lie beyond their direct control. Now that the rainy season is drawing to a close and the rice harvest has begun, the SPDC is laying preparations to once again intensify their attacks against the villagers. The district has been flooded with thousands more soldiers, and many new SPDC Army camps have been built and are now fully stocked with food and weapons. There are presently over 3,700 SPDC Army soldiers in Toungoo District forcibly relocating entire villages, destroying food supplies, and shooting anyone who refuses to comply with their demands. Literally thousands of internally displaced persons are living in hiding in the forest where they are hunted and their food supplies are deliberately destroyed by the soldiers. The tactics being employed by the soldiers are calculated to intentionally bring about the demise of the Karen hiding in the forest, and while they continue to resist these abuses, the villagers are rapidly running out of options as the situation continues to deteriorate.

Setting Up the Systems of Repression: The progressive regimentation of civilian life in Dooplaya District	Sep 7th, 2006
While attention has been focused on the SPDC’s violent attacks against villages in northern Karen State, the regime has been implementing a much more systematic campaign of repression in southern Karen State. The SPDC militarily occupied this region nine years ago, and has since been creating its model of society – through extending roads and military control to every corner of the region, establishing and training local controlling authorities, forcing villagers to join SPDC organisations, forced registration of all people and resources, forced double-cropping and other agricultural programmes without the required support, movement restrictions and crippling taxation on trade and mobility, and land reallocation to those complicit with the regime. All of these are part of the process of setting up local control mechanisms to implement the SPDC’s hierarchical vision of society, in which the main purpose of the civilian population is to serve the military and support those in power. In return, local people get nothing except additional work, and violent punishment including torture and killings whenever they are perceived to be uncooperative or disrespectful. Little or nothing is provided for their education or health, while their crops and possessions are systematically looted to keep them poor. Drawing on the SPDC’s own order documents and over a hundred interviews with villagers in the region, this report finds that people in Dooplaya feel worse off than ever before, and that their suffering is not caused by conflict or lack of foreign aid, but by SPDC repression.

Less than Human: Convict Porters in the 2005 - 2006 Northern Karen State Offensive	Aug 22nd, 2006
To support its military attacks on hill villages throughout northern Karen State since November 2005, Burma’s State Peace & Development Council (SPDC) military junta has brought several thousand convicts from prisons across Burma to carry ammunition and supplies and to act as human minesweepers. Many of these men are innocent of any crime, but were imprisoned because they were too poor to bribe police and judges who use their positions to extort money. The corruption continues with their jailers, who send them to the Army as porters if they are unable to pay. The SPDC relies increasingly on convict porters for its major military operations, both as a large-scale and accessible workforce to augment the forced labour of villagers and to legitimise its use of forced labour in the eyes of the international community. However, the use of convict porters in frontline operations is anything but legitimate: treated as property of the soldiers, worked to the point of exhaustion or death, beaten, tortured or murdered whenever they can no longer carry loads, underfed and given no treatment when sick or wounded, their treatment flagrantly violates Burma’s obligations under the Geneva Conventions and the ILO Forced Labour Convention. Right now SPDC troops in northern Karen State are leaving a trail of porters’ bodies behind them, while hundreds are attempting escape. This report is based on KHRG’s interviews with some of those who have escaped, whose stories reveal a system of endemic corruption and horrific brutality. Yet despite the presence of thousands of convict porters SPDC forces continue to recruit villagers for forced labour whenever possible, indicating that Burma’s ever-expanding Army is using convict labour as a supplement rather than an alternative to the forced labour of villagers.

Without Respite: Renewed Attacks on Villages and Internal Displacement in Toungoo District	Jun 13th, 2006
With the annual monsoon rains now falling over Karen State, the SPDC’s military offensive against civilian villagers in northern Karen State would normally be drawing to a close. However, quite the opposite is happening. The resumption of SPDC Army attacks on villages and the increased patrols in Toungoo District shows that the offensive is far from over. Thousands more landmines have been reportedly deployed across Toungoo District to isolate certain parts of the district and restrict villagers’ movements. An analysis of SPDC Army troop movements and tactics suggests that the offensive is now set to expand eastward across the Day Loh River where it can be expected that SPDC units will soon commence shelling and destroying villages. In addition to this, the situation in the southeast of the district has become dire as the villagers are now caught between two advancing columns and have nowhere left to flee. It is likely that dozens more villages will be destroyed and thousands more villagers will be displaced in the coming months.

Surviving in Shadow: Widespread Militarization and the Systematic Use of Forced Labour in the Campaign for Control of Thaton District	Jan 17th, 2006
With much of Thaton District now under SPDC control, the villagers living there are regularly called upon to fulfil the unrelenting array of demands for forced labour, building materials, food, and money. The SPDC and the DKBA alike are using the unpaid and forced labour of villagers in the numerous road construction projects that span the district. Dozens of military camps have been built along these roads, further militarizing the region and bringing with it even greater oppression and an increase in the demands and burdens upon the lives of the civilians. Such frequent demands, combined with widespread movement restrictions has limited the amount of food that the villagers are able to produce, resulting in problems with food security to the point where many villagers are unable to sufficiently feed their families.

Enduring Hunger and Repression: Food Scarcity, Internal Displacement, and the Continued Use of Forced Labour in Toungoo District	Sep 27th, 2004
The SPDC's continued efforts to remove all traces of resistance from the hills of Toungoo District have resulted in a wide range of human rights abuses. In order to gain complete control over the region, the SPDC is continuing with its road construction projects, increasing its military presence and establishing more Army camps across the district. There are now few areas which SPDC Army columns cannot reach. Villagers living under SPDC control are constantly called upon to construct and maintain these roads and to porter supplies and munitions along them to outlying SPDC Army camps. The relentless demands for forced labour, materials, food, and money have resulted in severe food shortages. Many villagers in the district have chosen to live internally displaced hiding in the forest rather than live under the SPDC. Several thousand villagers are now living in hiding. Large numbers of landmines continue to be sown throughout the district, posing a very real threat which will remain in place for years to come. This report can also be viewed or downloaded in PDF format (9.5 Mb, 126 pages [size A4 paper].

Easy Targets: The Persecution of Muslims in Burma	May 31st, 2002
While extensive reporting has been done on the persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State, very little attention has been paid to the persecution suffered by the thousands of Muslim communities which exist in villages and towns throughout Burma. With no political voice or armed group to stand up for them, Muslim communities are forced to endure the denial of all citizenship rights, restrictions on travel, work, and education, prohibitions on practicing Islam, and the systematic destruction of their mosques. This report looks at the systematic way these communities have been persecuted, impoverished and scapegoated by the military regime and by local populations, which culminated in the anti-Muslim riots and massacres of 2001.

A Strategy of Subjugation: The Situation in Ler Mu Lah Township, Tenasserim Division	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	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.

Abuse Under Orders: The SPDC and DKBA Armies through the Eyes of their Soldiers	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.

Convict Porters	Dec 20th, 2000
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.

Peace Villages and Hiding Villages: Roads, Relocations and the Campaign for Control in Toungoo District	Oct 15th, 2000
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.

Exiled At Home: Continued Forced Relocations and Displacement in Shan State	Apr 5th, 2000
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.

Starving Them Out: Forced Relocations, Killings and the Systematic Starvation of Villagers in Dooplaya District	Mar 31st, 2000
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.

Beyond All Endurance: The Breakup of Karen Villages in Southeastern Pa'an District	Dec 20th, 1999
Pa’an district forms a large area in the central heartland of Karen State. Much of the eastern part of the district used to be under at least partial control of the Karen National Union (KNU), but after troops of the State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC) military junta captured the KNU headquarters at Manerplaw in 1995, they progressively exerted increasing control over the entire eastern part of the district.

Interview Annex - Beyond All Endurance: The Breakup of Karen Villages in Southeastern Pa'an District	Dec 20th, 1999
This document is an Annex to the Karen Human Rights Group report "Beyond All Endurance: The Breakup of Karen Villages in Southeastern Pa'an District". It contains the full texts of Interviews #1-45 with villagers in and from the region, which are quoted and referenced in the above-mentioned report.

Caught In The Middle: The Suffering of Karen Villagers in Thaton District	Sep 15th, 1999
This report looks at the human rights situation for Karen villagers living in Thaton District (known in Karen as Doo Tha Htoo), which includes part of northwestern Karen State and northern Mon State.

Continuing Fear and Hunger: Update on the Current Situation in Karenni	May 25th, 1999
Since mid-1996 the State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC) military junta, now renamed as the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC), has forcibly relocated and destroyed over 200 villages covering at least half the geographic area of Karenni (Kayah) State in eastern Burma. At least 20,000-30,000 people have been displaced, forced to move into military-controlled camps where many of them have been starving and dying of disease, or to flee into hiding in the forest where they face similar suffering as well as the possibility of being shot on sight by SLORC/SPDC patrols.

Death Squads and Displacement: Systematic Executions, Village Destruction and the Flight of Villagers in Nyaunglebin District	May 24th, 1999
This report is a detailed analysis of the current human rights situation in Nyaunglebin District (known in Karen as Kler Lweh Htoo), which straddles the border of northern Karen State and Pegu Division in Burma.

False Peace: Increasing SPDC Military Repression in Toungoo District of Northern Karen State	Mar 25th, 1999
This report describes the current situation for rural Karen villagers in Toungoo District (known in Karen as Taw Oo), which is the northernmost region of Karen State in Burma. The western part of the district forms part of the Sittaung River valley in Pegu (Bago) Division, and this region is strongly controlled by the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC) military junta which rules Burma.

DOOPLAYA UNDER THE SPDC: Further Developments in the SPDC Occupation of South-Central Karen State	Nov 23rd, 1998
In early 1997, the State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC) military junta ruling Burma mounted a major offensive against the Karen National Union (KNU) and succeeded in capturing and occupying most of the remainder of Dooplaya District in central Karen State. Since that time the SLORC has changed its name to the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC), but its occupation troops have continued to strengthen their control over the rural Karen villagers who live in the region.

UNCERTAINTY, FEAR AND FLIGHT: The Current Human Rights Situation in Eastern Pa’an District	Nov 18th, 1998
Pa’an district forms a large area in the central heartland of Karen State. Much of the northeastern part of the district used to be under at least partial control of the Karen National Union (KNU), but after troops of the State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC) military junta captured the KNU headquarters at Manerplaw in 1995, they progressively exerted increasing control over the entire eastern part of the district.

THE SITUATION AROUND HO MURNG	Jun 13th, 1998
In January 1996 well-known drug warlord Khun Sa officially surrendered to the State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC) military junta ruling Burma, ending his leadership of the Merng Tai Army (MTA). Khun Sa moved to Rangoon, where he is now a successful businessman, and the MTA ceased to exist, though a large portion of it became the Shan United Revolutionary Army (SURA) under commander Yord Serk.

A STRUGGLE JUST TO SURVIVE: Update on the Current Situation in Karenni	Jun 12th, 1998
Since mid-1996 the State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC) military junta, now renamed as the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC), has forcibly relocated and destroyed over 200 villages covering at least half the geographic area of Karenni (Kayah) State in eastern Burma. At least 20,000-30,000 people have been displaced, forced to move into military-controlled camps where many of them have been starving and dying of disease, or to flee into hiding in the forest where they face similar suffering as well as the possibility of being shot on sight by SLORC/SPDC patrols.

STRENGTHENING THE GRIP ON DOOPLAYA: Developments in the SPDC Occupation of Dooplaya District	Jun 10th, 1998
In early 1997, the State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC) military junta ruling Burma mounted a major offensive against the Karen National Union (KNU) and succeeded in capturing and occupying most of the remainder of Dooplaya District in central Karen State. Since that time the SLORC has changed its name to the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC), but its occupation troops have continued to strengthen their control over the rural Karen villagers who live in the region.

Attacks On Karen Refugee Camps: 1998	May 29th, 1998
In March 1998, three Karen refugee camps in Thailand were attacked by heavily armed forces that crossed the border from Burma. Huay Kaloke camp was burned and almost completely destroyed, killing four refugees and wounding many more; 50 houses and a monastery were burned in Maw Ker camp, and 14 were wounded; and Beh Klaw camp was shelled, though the attackers were repelled. The attacks were carried out by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), backed by troops and support of the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC) military junta currently ruling Burma.

Killing The Shan: The Continuing Campaign of Forced Relocation in Shan State	May 23rd, 1998
This report aims to provide a picture of the current situation in central Shan State, where the military junta ruling Burma has forcibly uprooted and destroyed over 1,400 villages and displaced over 300,000 people since 1996. This campaign against civilians is still continuing, and the number of villages destroyed is increasing each month.

Wholesale Destruction: The SLORC/SPDC Campaign to Obliterate All Hill Villages in Papun and Eastern Nyaunglebin Districts	Feb 15th, 1998
Since the beginning of 1996, the State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC) military junta ruling Burma, renamed in November 1997 as the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC), has launched campaigns in many parts of Burma to forcibly move or wipe out all rural villages which are not under the direct physical control of an Army camp. In February/March 1997, SLORC began a campaign to forcibly relocate or obliterate all villages in the hills of Papun District, northern Karen State, and eastern Nyaunglebin District, straddling the border of Karen State and Pegu (Bago) Division.

Clampdown in Southern Dooplaya: Forced relocation and abuses in newly SLORC-occupied area	Sep 18th, 1997
In February 1997, the State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC) military junta ruling Burma mounted a mass military offensive against large areas of Dooplaya District which were strongly or partly controlled by the Karen National Union (KNU). Dooplaya District lies in central Karen State, from Kawkareik and Myawaddy in the north to Three Pagodas Pass in the south. Troops from 6 different Light Infantry Divisions were involved in the offensive, which led to the capture of most KNU-held areas and the flight of over 10,000 civilians to Thailand.

Free-Fire Zones in Southern Tenasserim	Aug 20th, 1997
In September 1996, the State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC) military junta ruling Burma began a campaign of forced relocations and forced-labour road building in the Palauk-Palaw, Mergui and Tenasserim regions in Tenasserim (Taninthari) Division of southern Burma. The campaign, which intensified in January 1997, involved the forced relocation and destruction of at least 60 Karen villages as well as clampdowns on Burman and Mon villages in a region measuring about 140 km. north-south and 20-30 km. east-west.

Abuses and Relocations in Pa'an District	Aug 1st, 1997
The situation in Pa’an District of central Karen State continues to worsen, particularly in the eastern parts of the District close to the Dawna mountains and the Thai border. The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) is conducting guerrilla operations in the Dawna Range, which runs north-south parallel to the Thai border, and penetrating into the plains to the west. As a result, SLORC is terrorizing the Karen villages lying just west of the Dawna Range, and began forcibly relocating some of these villages in November 1996.

Refugees from the SLORC Occupation	May 25th, 1997
In mid-February 1997, SLORC launched two new major offensives against the Karen National Union (KNU). Both were in areas formerly strongly controlled by the KNU: on 12 February they attacked Dooplaya District of central Karen State, known as KNLA (Karen National Liberation Army) 6th Brigade area and which also contained KNU Headquarters area, and on 8 February they began attacking KNU-held areas along the upper Tenasserim and Paw Kloh rivers in Tenasserim Division, also known as KNLA 4th Brigade area.

Relocations in the Gas Pipeline Area	Apr 20th, 1997
In February 1997, 5 villages in Kywe Thone Nyi Ma village tract of Ye Pyu Township, Tenasserim Division were forced to move by SLORC: the villages of Mae Taw, Cha Bone, Chaung Phyar, Mae Yaung and Mae Than Taung. These villages lie just 10-15 km. north of the Yadana gas pipeline being built by SLORC's MOGE oil company, French company Total, and American company Unocal.

Attacks on Karen Refugee Camps	Mar 18th, 1997
This report covers 4 of the main attacks on Karen refugee camps in Thailand which occurred in January 1997: the burning and destruction of Huay Kaloke and Huay Bone refugee camps on the night of 28 January, the armed attack on Beh Klaw refugee camp on the morning of 29 January, and the shelling of Sho Kloh refugee camp on 4 January. These attacks left several people dead and about 10,000 refugees homeless and completely destitute.

SLORC Abuses in Chin State	Mar 15th, 1997
The Chin Human Rights Organisation (CHRO) was formed in 1996 to begin independently documenting the human rights situation in Chin State of northwestern Burma. The information in this report was collected by CHRO and translated and organised partly with the assistance of KHRG. We have reproduced it in this form to help give the events in Chin State as wide exposure as possible.

Attacks on Karen Villages: Far South	Mar 10th, 1997
This report concerns an area in southern Tenasserim Division, about 180 km. (110 mi.) north of Burma’s southernmost point which lies at Kawthaung (Victoria Point). Apart from the Andaman Sea coastline, the area inland is hilly, forested, and not so heavily populated as most parts of the country. The people are Burmans, Muslims, Mons, Karens and Thais - the Thais are not Tai Yai (Shan), they are of the same ethnicity as the Thais of southern Thailand.

Update on Karenni Forced Relocations	Mar 5th, 1997
Between April and July 1996, SLORC ordered at least 182 villages in Karenni (Kayah) State, with an estimated total population of 25-30,000 people, to move to various relocation sites. The primary intention of SLORC was to cut off all possibility of civilian support for the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP); SLORC broke a ceasefire agreement to attack the KNPP in June 1995.

Porter Stories: Central Karen State	Oct 31st, 1996
This report contains the testimony of three Muslim men who suffered and witnessed serious SLORC human rights abuses in central Karen State in mid-1996, including forced portering, forced road labour, executions, torture and looting. It is important to note that all of these occurred in a part of Karen State where there has been very little fighting over the past year, where SLORC claims to have brought "peace".

Interviews from Northern Pa'an District	Aug 4th, 1996
The following interviews are with villagers from Dta Greh Township in Pa'an District of Karen State. (In Burmese, Dta Greh is called Pain Kyone and SLORC considers it to be in Hlaing Bwe township.) The area is 40-50 km. northeast of Pa’an, just west of the Dawna Range and the Thai border. SLORC (Burmese military junta), DKBA (Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, allied to SLORC), and KNU (Karen National Union, fighting SLORC and DKBA) forces all operate in the area, and the villagers are caught in the middle, having their livestock killed and their money extorted from them by all 3 groups.

SLORC & DKBA In Papun District	Aug 3rd, 1996
Some of the interviews in this report are with Karen villagers who fled Papun District in northern Karen State to become refugees in Thailand in April and May 1996, and some are with villagers still living in Papun District, some in their villages and some in hiding. Much of this area used to be partly or completely controlled by the Karen National Union (KNU), until it was captured by SLORC in its major 1995 offensive with the help of DKBA (Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, the rival of KNU).

DKBA / SLORC Cross-Border Attacks	Aug 1st, 1996
Since its inception in December 1994, the ‘Democratic Karen Buddhist Army’ (DKBA) has vowed to destroy all Karen refugee camps and force Karen refugees back to Burma. Since early 1995, the DKBA has been conducting cross-border raids into Thailand to attack and burn Karen refugee camps, kidnap or kill Karen leaders and refugee camp leaders, and loot both refugee camps and Thai villages. The DKBA allied itself with SLORC as soon as it was formed, and SLORC has been supporting them in the aim of terrorising refugees into returning to Burma.

Forced Labour Around Taungoo Town	Jul 28th, 1996
The interviews in this report are with two Karen refugees who recently visited relatives in the plains just east of Taungoo town, in the far north of Karen State. Their accounts focus on the land destruction and forced labour of many villages east of Taungoo for the Pa Thee Chaung (Pa Thee River) hydroelectric dam project, as well as other kinds of forced labour such as standing guard along the roadsides.

Interviews About Shan State	Jul 27th, 1996
The interviews in this report are with people from 2 areas over 300 kilometres apart: Mong Hsat in southeastern Shan State, about 70 km. west of Tachilek and 50 km. north of the Burma-Thai border, and Hsipaw in northwestern Shan State, along the main road from Mandalay to Lashio.

Interviews from the Irrawaddy Delta	Jul 26th, 1996
The following accounts were given in interviews with people from the Irrawaddy Delta region southwest of Rangoon. The area is fertile farmland with a population which is half Karen and half Burman. Out of sight of the rest of the world and with no easy escape for the people who live there, it has seen some of the SLORC's worst human rights abuses, particularly after a failed attempt by the Karen National Union to start an armed Karen uprising there in 1991.

Forced Relocations in Karenni	Jul 15th, 1996
Throughout June and July 1996, the State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC) military junta ruling Burma has conducted a mass forced relocation campaign covering more than half of the geographic area of Karenni and affecting at least 183 villages so far with an estimated total population of 25-30,000.

Forced Relocation in Central Shan State	Jun 25th, 1996
In December 1995 Khun Sa and his Mong Tai Army (MTA) officially surrendered to SLORC. While this was publicized as a victory against the opium and heroin trade, there has been no evidence of any decrease in drug production in newly SLORC-controlled areas. Meanwhile, a common feeling among people in Shan State (many or most of whom never trusted Khun Sa) is that Khun Sa has betrayed the Shan national cause. Because of this, large segments of the MTA have refused to surrender, instead continuing to fight SLORC using guerrilla tactics in various parts of Shan State.

Effects of the Gas Pipeline Project	May 23rd, 1996
In southern Burma's Tenasserim Division, the Yadana Project is continuing. The multi-billion dollar project aims to tap offshore natural gas deposits known as the Yadana Field in the Gulf of Martaban and send the gas by overland pipeline to power plants in Thailand. The partners in the project are SLORC's oil company MOGE (Myanmar Oil & Gas Enterprise), French oil giant TOTAL, American company Unocal, and Thailand's PTTEP. TOTAL is the company actively supervising construction of the 60-km. overland segment of the pipeline from the sea coast to the Thai border. The pipeline is scheduled to go online in 1998.

Forced Labour in Mon Areas	May 22nd, 1996
The accounts below were given by villagers from coastal areas of Mon State and Tenasserim Division in southern Burma, ranging from Kya In Seik Gyi Township in the north to Ye Pyu Township in the south. The main problems they discuss are forced labour on the Ye-Tavoy railway, the Ye-Tavoy motor road and other roads, at army camps and as porters, and the increasing extortion of money from villagers by the ever-increasing number of SLORC troops in the region. Ye Town now has regular curfews; parts of Ye Pyu Township are under martial law because of the gas pipeline project; travel is becoming more difficult as more and more army checkpoints are set up where everyone has to pay in order to pass.

Interviews with SLORC Army Deserters	May 18th, 1996
The following accounts of life in SLORC's Army were given by four deserters who fled to opposition-held territory or to Thailand, one fleeing in Tenasserim Division of southern Burma around New Year of 1996, the other three fleeing Pa'an District, much further north, in March 1996. As they fled two different battalions in two different areas, their treatment and experiences differ somewhat; however, for the most part their stories are similar and reflect the hardship and brutality of life as a rank and file soldier in the SLORC Army.

Forced Labour in the Irrawaddy Delta	May 16th, 1996
The following accounts were given in interviews with people from the Irrawaddy Delta region southwest of Rangoon. The area is fertile farmland with a population which is half Karen and half Burman. Out of sight of the rest of the world and with no easy escape for the people who live there, it has seen some of the SLORC’s worst human rights abuses, particularly after a failed attempt by the Karen National Union to start a Karen uprising there in 1991. Now the region suffers from extensive forced labour on SLORC road-building projects and tourism-related projects such as Bassein Airport and the Nga Saw beach project.

The Situation in Pa'an District	May 15th, 1996
A small but steady flow of refugees from Pa'an District continue to cross the border into Thailand as living conditions in Pa'an District continue to deteriorate. SLORC is increasingly in control there, and the DKBA (Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army, the Karen group allied to SLORC) is present throughout the area but is increasingly functioning only as an adjunct to SLORC; DKBA troops are now even supervising forced labour on road construction, especially on a new 50-km. road from Pa'an to DKBA headquarters at Myaing Gyi Ngu.

Interviews on the School Situation	May 10th, 1996
The following accounts were given in interviews in early May 1996 with a schoolteacher from Karen State and a student from Mon State. Their names have been changed and some personal details omitted to protect them.

Abuses in Tee Sah Ra Area	Apr 1st, 1996
The information below was sent in as field reports from independent human rights monitors and the newly formed Hsaw Wah Deh human rights reporting group, an independent group of Karens interested in documenting the situation in the villages. This report focusses on the Tee Sah Ra / Ker Ghaw area of Kawkareik Township, north of Myawaddy and about 15 km. west of the border with Thailand. In the area SLORC are working closely with DKBA to clamp down on the civilian population. There is still some presence of Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) in the area, and this report shows the nature and extent of SLORC and DKBA's retaliation against villagers whenever the KNLA attacks them.

Inside the DKBA	Mar 31st, 1996
This report is intended to provide some insight into the current workings of the DKBA (Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army) through interviews with people who are or have been part of the DKBA, people who have been prisoners of the DKBA, and other general information sources such as the 1996 DKBA Calendar. The report consists of 2 parts: a summary of information about the DKBA, followed by related interviews.

Refugees from Pa'an District	Mar 18th, 1996
The refugees in this report are all from the area around Bee T'Ka, north of Kawkareik towards Hlaing Bwe. In this area, SLORC and DKBA are ruling in tandem, with a limited presence of KNLA still in the area. Villagers are finding that now they have to pay fees and provide forced labour for both SLORC and DKBA, and that the DKBA have no qualms about handing over villagers to be tortured or executed by SLORC.

Road Construction in Pa'an District	Mar 16th, 1996
SLORC has been initiating more and more projects nationwide to build hundreds of roads with forced labour, primarily with the idea that more roads mean better military access to the countryside, which in turn means more effective military control over the population. Though in some cases they receive foreign money to build these roads, they prefer to keep the money and order out thousands of villagers to do forced labour for nothing. The same villagers are also forced to pay "fees" for the road construction as though it is for their benefit. Heavy machinery is very rarely used; SLORC prefers to use the manual labour of thousands of villagers.

Forced Relocation in Papun District	Mar 4th, 1996
SLORC has seriously stepped up its campaign to clear the entire rural population out of Papun District and make the entire area a free-fire zone. Since December 1995, orders have been issued to every rural village under SLORC control from Kyauk Nyat in the north to Ka Dtaing Dtee in the south, from the Salween River (the Thai border) in the east to at least 10 km. west of Papun - an area 50-60 km. north to south and 30 km. east to west.

SLORC in Kya-In and Kawkareik Townships	Feb 10th, 1996
This report contains interviews conducted between December 1995 and February 1996 with villagers from the area south of Kawkareik in Karen State. When most of the interviews were conducted, the military situation in the area was relatively quiet; however, by February 1996 many people were beginning to flee the area due to rumours of an impending SLORC offensive. Much of the area lies along SLORC's path should they decide to launch a major offensive against the new Karen National Union headquarters areas of Ta Law Thaw and Lay Po Hta.

The Situation in Northwestern Burma	Jan 30th, 1996
This report contains information about the situation for civilians in Chin State, Arakan State and Sagaing Division of northwestern Burma. Despite the fact that there is little or no fighting in the areas covered by this information, the people in these areas are suffering SLORC human rights abuses which are very similar to those being experienced by villagers and townspeople in war zones at the opposite end of the country. The similarity makes it clear that such abuses are not "isolated occurrences", as some foreign governments and international agencies would have us believe, but systematic SLORC policy.

SLORC / DKBA Activities: Pa'an District	Jan 14th, 1996
The following report was given in an interview with KHRG in early January by a civilian medic and human rights monitor who just returned from Pa’an District. The area he visited, also known as part of KNU 7th Brigade, was until 1995 mainly controlled by the KNU and not much bothered by SLORC; however, SLORC’s extensive offensives throughout 1995 have greatly weakened KNU presence in the area. In the process, SLORC installed the DKBA in the area and the two groups now effectively control it.

The Shelling of Wah Baw Village	Jan 12th, 1996
The Karen calendar is lunar, and Karen New Year generally falls between 15 December and 15 January on the English calendar. This year Karen New Year, the first day of Thalay month of the year 2735, fell on 21 December 1995. Karens throughout Burma, Thailand and other countries celebrated with ceremonies, speeches, giving gifts to elders, music, Don Dance competitions and feasting. It crosses all religious boundaries and is one of the few expressions of Karen identity which is allowed by SLORC.

Conditions North of Myawaddy	Jan 10th, 1996
The following reports were collected by independent Karen civilian human rights monitors who visited the area north of Myawaddy in November and December 1995. This area is under firm SLORC control. The DKBA (Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army, often referred to in this report as "Ko Per Baw" - the "Yellow Headbands") also operates in the area in cooperation with SLORC. The Thai Government claims that now that fighting has died down in this and some other areas, it will soon be time to drive all the refugees back across to villages there.

Story of a Mon Political Prisoner	Jan 9th, 1996
In early 1994, Thai authorities forced about 5,000 Mon refugees across the border into Burma. The refugees, afraid to go into a SLORC-controlled area, settled just across the border and established a refugee camp at Halockhani, where they continued to receive some cross-border aid from foreign aid organizations. On July 21, 1994, the camp was attacked by a large column of SLORC Infantry Battalion #62 troops commanded by Lt. Col. Ohn Myint.

Ye-Tavoy Area Update	Jan 5th, 1996
This report provides an update on some of the conditions existing in the Ye-Tavoy area, with particular focus on the Ye-Tavoy railway construction project.

Myawaddy-Kawkareik Area Update	Aug 6th, 1995
This report can be considered as supplementary to the report "SLORC/DKBA Activities in Kawkareik Township", KHRG #95-23, 10/7/95. The Myawaddy-Kawkareik area is in central Karen State, not far west of the Thai border. The following account of the current situation there was given by a Buddhist Karen officer in the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) in an interview on July 15, 1995.

Conditions in the Irrawaddy Delta	Aug 4th, 1995
The following is from an interview with a 56-year-old man from Myaungmya Town, deep in the Irrawaddy Delta west of Rangoon, who left the Delta in June 1995. The Irrawaddy Delta is populated by a few million people, 50% of them Karen and 50% Burmans. In recent decades it has been sealed off from the outside world more than almost any other area of Burma, and the Tatmadaw (Burmese Army) has been able to get away with any form of repression it likes.

Life as a Criminal Prisoner	Aug 2nd, 1995
Escaped convict "Maung Aung Shwe" (not his real name) arrived in a Mon camp in February 1995 after escaping a forced labour camp on the Ye-Tavoy railway. His story gives some insight into the life and thoughts of a criminal prisoner in Burma. Some names and details of his story have been omitted to protect the people involved.

Conditions in the Gas Pipeline Area	Aug 1st, 1995
The Gulf of Martaban in the Andaman Sea is rich in undersea deposits of natural gas not far off the coastline of southern Burma's Tenasserim Division. Seeing this as a potentially major source of income, SLORC has been keen to exploit this resource as quickly as possible. It has negotiated multi-billion dollar contracts with French oil giant TOTAL, as well as Unocal of the USA and Thailand's PTTEP. Typically, rather than have the gas go to the people of Burma the SLORC plans to pipeline it to energy-hungry Thailand, where it will be used to fuel a new facility being built by EGAT, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand.

Ye-Tavoy Railway Area: An Update	Jul 31st, 1995
This report focusses on conditions for civilians in the Ye-Tavoy railway line area through the 1995 dry season. In order to give a better idea of the lives of people in the area, the report includes not only testimony specific to the forced labour itself, but also other abuses and living conditions experienced by villagers in areas which must provide railway labour. As though the forced labour on the railway itself were not enough to make them flee, they also have to face monthly extortion demands by SLORC troops which far exceed what they can earn, looting, threats, and forced labour as porters and at army camps. The report also includes testimony from two former SLORC soldiers in the area and two prison convicts who were brought to the railway as forced labour.

SLORC / DKBA Activities: Northern Karen Districts	Jul 18th, 1995
This report covers some recent events in Papun (Karen name Mudraw), Thaton, and Nyaunglebin (Karen name Kler Lwe Htoo) Districts in the northern half of Karen State and part of Pegu Division. It focusses on the effects on civilian villagers of the ongoing activities and collaboration of SLORC and DKBA - the 'Democratic Karen Buddhist Army', formed in December 1994 by the monk U Thuzana but primarily operating under the orders of SLORC.

SLORC / DKBA Activities in Kawkareik Township	Jul 10th, 1995
Kawkareik Township lies in central Karen State, west of Myawaddy, and the area covered by this report lies near the Thai border just north of the Pa'an - Myawaddy car road. The Thai National Security Council and the Thai Army are planning to commence forced repatriation of Karen refugees to this area and others in the 1995-96 dry season, and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees office in Bangkok has already indicated that it will most likely cooperate in this "refoulement" operation.

Life as a Village Head	Jul 1st, 1995
The following information on life as a village head was given by a woman who used to be a village headwoman in Kawkareik Township, central Karen State, and is now a refugee in Thailand. We have published it in this form because it is very consistent with information given by village heads throughout the country, from many different regions and from areas where fighting is going on and those where it is not. Note that almost none of what she says has any direct relationship to fighting going on between SLORC and opposition forces.

Murder of a Refugee by SLORC	May 24th, 1995
On May 22, 1995 a meeting of the Thai National Security Council was held in Bangkok. It was chaired by Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai and attended by the NSC, armed forces chiefs, and representatives of the Foreign and Interior ministries and the military Supreme Command. The meeting decided that as the situation in Burma has "almost returned to normal", the Thai Government will begin mass forced repatriation of Karen refugees as soon as SLORC agrees to "accept them back".

New Attacks on Karen Refugee Camps	May 5th, 1995
Since its inception in December 1994, the 'Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army' (DKBA) has tried to get all Karen refugees in Thailand to return to Burma, almost certainly at the prompting of SLORC. If the refugees return, SLORC stands to gain alot of international legitimacy while simultaneously obtaining alot of free labourers for its military 'development' projects. Initially the DKBA tried to use agressive persuasion and threats. Then when that didn't work quickly enough, DKBA and SLORC began attacking the refugee camps, kidnapping or killing camp leaders and religious leaders, shooting refugees and threatening everyone with further attacks.

Porters: SLORC's Salween Offensive	Apr 8th, 1995
Since December 1994, SLORC has been conducting an offensive west of the Salween River in northern Karen State, aiming to secure this entire region adjacent to the Thai border. Fighting began here before the final offensive against Manerplaw and is still continuing, at least sporadically, even now. SLORC troops have now occupied virtually the entire region along the Salween River adjacent to Thailand.

SLORC's Northern Karen Offensive	Mar 29th, 1995
The purpose of this report is not to describe the military details of the fall of Manerplaw and other areas, as these subjects have been covered elsewhere. Instead, this report focusses on the effects on the civilian population of this year's SLORC/DKBA offensive in the Moei and Salween river areas along the Thai/Burma border.

Porters: SLORC's 6th Brigade Offensive	Mar 22nd, 1995
At the beginning of March 1995, after taking Manerplaw and Kawmoora, SLORC began an offensive against the Karen National Union's 6th Brigade area, 50 to 100 km. south of the border town of Myawaddy, where the KNU had set up its new mobile leadership headquarters. Several SLORC Battalions were sent to the area and are now attacking throughout the region. The KNU leadership has already moved on but the attacks continue to intensify, making it clear that this is not just an offensive aimed at the Karen leadership, but at all Karen-controlled areas.

Chemical Shells at Kaw Moo Rah: Supplementary	Mar 20th, 1995
Medical and clothing samples from some of the soldiers exposed to the gas attack at Kaw Moo Rah are still under analysis overseas, and no results have been communicated to us as yet. However, some further pieces of information have been provided by various sources.

SLORC Abuses in Chin State	Mar 15th, 1995
In late 1994, KHRG helped to provide equipment and training to a few Chin individuals who are interested in documenting the human rights situation in Chin State. Since then, we have begun receiving reports and photographs from the area. This report contains the first installment of this information. While the Karen Human Rights Group focuses its activities primarily on Karen areas, we are always eager to document the situation of all peoples and areas of Burma whenever firsthand information is available. We hope we can continue to help the Chin people to disseminate information on their homeland, which is largely ignored by the outside world.

Porters: Manerplaw and Kaw Moo Rah Areas	Feb 25th, 1995
In December 1994, SLORC began a major offensive against Kaw Moo Rah, then in January 1995 it began a major offensive against Karen headquarters at Manerplaw. Both strongholds were overrun, Manerplaw on January 27 and Kaw Moo Rah on February 21. SLORC has claimed that they were not involved in these offensives other than to provide 'logistical support' to the breakaway Karen troops of the 'Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army' (DKBA) whom it claims overran Manerplaw and Kaw Moo Rah all by themselves. However, the porters interviewed in this report say otherwise: they were used by several different SLORC Battalions in the assault, but not one of them saw a single DKBA soldier.

Chemical Shells at Kaw Moo Rah	Feb 24th, 1995
In December 1994, SLORC started a major offensive against the Karen stronghold of Kaw Moo Rah, just north of the Burmese border town of Myawaddy and the Thai town of Mae Sot. Kaw Moo Rah had held out for years against the siege of the Burmese military and frequent heavy offensives, and this year’s offensive was again proving a major failure, with SLORC suffering hundreds of casualties without gaining any ground - because Kaw Moo Rah is a spit of land surrounded on 3 sides by Thai soil, with an open killing ground on the fourth side.

Escaped Porters: Kaw Moo Rah Battle	Feb 4th, 1995
In December 1994, SLORC troops resumed their heavy offensive on the Karen border stronghold of Kaw Moo Rah, sometimes known as Wan Kha, just north of Myawaddy and the Thai town of Mae Sot. SLORC has held Kaw Moo Rah under siege, with regular offensives and heavy shelling, for years now. The SLORC Army regularly uses human waves of teenage conscripts, often drugged and sometimes armed only with hand grenades, to try to take Kaw Moo Rah. As a result, SLORC casualty figures have been massive, but Kaw Moo Rah still holds.

Myawaddy-Kawkareik Area Reports	Jan 15th, 1995
The following testimonies and information have been gathered by our human rights monitors from civilian villagers in the area between Myawaddy, opposite the Thai border town of Mae Sot, and Kawkareik, about 40 km. to the west in Karen State. Some of the people interviewed are now in refugee camps in Thailand. The Myawaddy-Kawkareik road, though not much more than a dirt track in many places, is a key SLORC transport route between Moulmein and the Thai border.

SLORC Shootings & Arrests of Refugees	Jan 14th, 1995
There are currently over 60,000 Karen refugees registered in refugee camps in Thailand. These camps are scattered along the Burma border for hundreds of kilometres, from Kanchanaburi in the south to the Mae Hong Son area in the north. None of these refugees or camps are officially recognized by either the Thai government or the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. They only receive strict rations of rice, salt and fishpaste, little or no clothing or educational aid and extremely limited medical assistance, all of which comes from overseas agencies and is tightly restricted by the Thai Ministry of the Interior.

Recent Incidents in Thaton District	Sep 30th, 1994
The following account of some recent events in Thaton District was brought in by one of our independent human rights monitors in the area. Where noted, some details have been omitted to protect the people involved. Please use this report in any way which may help the people of Burma.

Interview with an IDC Deportee	Sep 27th, 1994
Thailand’s Immigration Detention Centres (IDC's) have become internationally notorious for squalid conditions and robbery, rape, and beatings by Thai police guards. They are built like high-security prisons: concrete cells, heavy bars, and armed guards. But the people in these cells are not dangerous criminals - they are mostly economic and political refugees from neighbouring countries and as, the following account shows, young children.

SLORC Officers Talk about Forced Labour & Refugees	Sep 25th, 1994
Following is the translation of part of a conversation between 3 SLORC Lieutenant-Colonels which was recorded in a city in southern Burma in mid-1994. It is reproduced here because of the insight it gives into the mentality of senior SLORC officers.

Last Minute Update on the Situation of Refugees at Halockhani	Sep 13th, 1994
This is an update to information contained in the KHRG report "SLORC's Attack on Halockhani Refugee Camp", 30/8/94, which reported that four to six thousand Mon refugees had fled a Burmese Army attack on their camp at Halockhani, just on the Burma side of the border, where they had been forcibly repatriated by Thai authorities at the beginning of 1994.

SLORC Victims in Nyaunglebin District	Sep 1st, 1994
The following testimonies were given by civilian villagers in Nyaunglebin District (Karen name Kler Lwe Htoo District) arid 2 porters from west of the Pegu Yoma in Pegu Division. Their names have been changed and some details deliberately omitted to protect them, but all names and details in their stories are real. This report may freely be used in any way which may help the peoples of Burma.

SLORC's Attack on Halockhani Refugee Camp	Aug 30th, 1994
On July 21, 1994 SLORC troops from Infantry Battalion 62 shocked the world by attacking a Mon refugee camp at Halockhani. Worst of all for SLORC, it happened just as its representatives were going to attend the annual Foreign Ministers’ meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Bangkok for the first time. This report attempts to describe the attack through the eyes of some of its victims.

Testimony of a Karen Political Prisoner	Aug 25th, 1994
The following account was given by a Karen political prisoner who was released from Bassein Prison in the Irrawaddy Delta in June 1994. He was not arrested in the Delta and it is unclear why they sent him there, but most of the political prisoners in that prison are Karen church and community leaders who were arrested after an armed Karen uprising failed in the Delta in October 1991.

SLORC in Southern Shan State	Aug 20th, 1994
In December 1993, SLORC launched its first-ever major offensive against the territory of the Mong Ta Army (MTA) led by Khun Sa, who is generally referred to internationally as a 'drug warlord'. The SLORC has put a lot of effort into publicizing this internationally as a military offensive to eradicate narcotics, and has even asked the U.S. for military assistance.

Testimony of SLORC Army Defectors	Aug 7th, 1994
On June 6, 1994 a group of 11 Burmese Army privates stationed alone on Hill 1653 in the hills north of Papun shot their two Lance Corporals and a Warrant Officer and fled to Karen-controlled territory together with their weapons. Their stories, which follow in, their own words, explain why they did it and also paint a picture of life for the hundreds of thousands of rank-and-file soldiers in the Burma Army.

Refugees at Klay Muh Hta	Jun 24th, 1994
Since the beginning of 1994, it has been no secret that Thai authorities want to repatriate all Karen refugees as soon as possible as part of their "constructive engagement" deal with SLORC. From Shan State in the north to Ranong in the far south, the Thai government and army have been actively involved in handing refugees of several nationalities back to SLORC or intimidating them back across the border.

Comments by SLORC Army Defectors	Jun 20th, 1994
The following comments were made recently in independent interviews with defectors from the SLORC Army in Mergui/Tavoy District, in the Tenasserim Division of southern Burma. Some of them defected earlier this year, while others defected over a year ago. However, all of their comments still apply because as the SLORC Army continues to rapidly expand, conditions continue to deteriorate for both civilians and rank-and-file soldiers.

Continuing SLORC Actions in Karen State	May 26th, 1994
The following stories were told in interviews with villagers extending from February through May 1994. Most of them are from Pa'an Township, Thaton District in western Karen State, but they are from many different villages scattered throughout that Township area. Their village names have been omitted because most of them are still in these villages, and most of the area is still firmly controlled by SLORC. For this reason, their names have also been changed, though except where otherwise noted all names appearing in their stories are real.

More SLORC Abuses: Thaton & Pa'an Districts	Apr 23rd, 1994
The following accounts were given in interviews in late March and early April 1994. As several of the interviews were conducted in villages well inside Burma, the names of those interviewed have been changed and the names of their villages omitted for their protection. All names in their stories are real, though some have been omitted. Despite all the SLORC's international propaganda, nothing has improved for these people.

The Ye-Tavoy Railway	Apr 13th, 1994
In November 1993, the SLORC began construction on the Ye-Tavoy railway in Burma's far south, between the towns of Ye in southern Mon State and Tavoy in Tenasserim (Taninthari) Division. The railway is approximately 110 miles long, and as usual with all of the SLORC's "regional development projects", every inch of it is being built at gunpoint, entirely by the enforced slave labour of villagers. Estimates are that over 20,000 people have already been enslaved on a rotating shift basis from hundreds of villages between Ye and Tavoy, as well as from the two towns themselves and other villages far beyond the reach of the railway.

Human Rights in Northern Karenni (Kayah) State	Apr 10th, 1994
The following account describing the situation in northern Karenni (Kayah) State and the southern tip of Shan State northwest of Loikaw was given by Khon Mar Ko Pan, who is Kayan and was elected as a Member of Parliament in the 1990 elections representing the DOKNU (Democratic Organisation for Kayan National Unity) Party. He was a delegate to SLORC's National Convention when it began in January 1993, but after one month he decided that the National Convention was just "a fraud which has been arranged by the SLORC only to perpetuate their inhuman, illegal and dictatorial rule in Burma", and left for the Revolutionary Areas.

SLORC Abuses in Hlaing Bwe Area	Mar 16th, 1994
The following account of some of the SLORC's severe mistreatment of villagers in the Hlaing Bwe Township area of Pa'an District in Karen State was given by an ethnic Burman trader who travels the area buying and selling goods. As such, he gets a very good view of the systematic human rights abuses being conducted in the whole area by SLORC troops. His name has been changed and his full address not given in order to protect him from SLORC.

Is the SLORC Using Bacteriological Warfare?	Mar 15th, 1994
On August 12, 1993 in the middle of the night, villagers in a large part of the Donthami and Yunzalin river watersheds (between the Bilin and Salween Rivers, in Thaton and Mudraw [Papun] districts) heard SLORC planes fly low over their areas. The planes dropped dozens, maybe scores (the number is unknown) of strange devices consisting of a 2-metre parachute with a "white box" and one or two balloons hanging underneath. The next morning the villagers started finding the devices in forests and fields. SLORC troops in the area never tried to recover the devices.

"Union Solidarity Development Association": Letters to the BBC	Mar 7th, 1994
The "Union Solidarity Development Association" (USDA) is a new organization formed by SLORC to gain legitimacy and mass support. The SLORC seems to be in quite a hurry to get as many members into this organization as possible, and to this end large USDA rallies have been held throughout Burma through January and February.

SLORC Activities in Toungoo District	Feb 23rd, 1994
The following information was provided by villagers from Ye Da Shi Township, Toungoo District, Pegu Division, and was gathered by the National League for Democracy - Liberated Area (NLD-LA), Information and Research Department. This testimony is from the report of an NLD representative who just returned from the area.

SLORC Activities in Nyaunglebin District	Feb 22nd, 1994
The following information was provided by Karen and Burmese villagers from Nyaunglebin District, Pegu Division, and was gathered by the National League for Democracy - Liberated Area (NLD-LA), Information and Research Department. Rather than listing recent incidents of SLORC murders, rape, torture and extortion, this report focusses on some of the SLORC's political and economic activities in the area at the present time.

New Refugees from Karen Areas	Feb 17th, 1994
The following testimonies were given on February 10, 1994 by refugees who arrived at the Thai border throughout January 1994. They show that for all its propaganda about "peace talks", the SLORC has not abated its systematic human rights atrocities against Karen civilians in any way. As some of the villagers note, if anything the atrocities are only getting even worse and more systematic.

Ongoing SLORC Looting in Karen Villages	Dec 28th, 1993
The following accounts were given by Karen villagers in a village which has just been looted by SLORC troops in Thaton District. The name of the village is omitted to protect it against being burned down by SLORC troops. The villagers' descriptions show the extent of the systematic looting being conducted by SLORC throughout the country, and the soldiers' utter disregard for human life. Many of the things taken, such as children's clothes, cucumber seeds and a baby's cradle, would be useless to the soldiers and are obviously being taken just to be destroyed or sold for money.

SLORC Murders in Mergui/Tavoy District	Dec 17th, 1993
The following testimony was given by a Karen Christian man from Thay Nyaw Chee village in Tavoy District, in southern Burma’s Tenasserim Division, where the population is mainly Karen, Tavoyan, and Mon. His name and personal details are omitted to protect his family. Please feel free to use this information in any way which may help stop such actions by the SLORC in the future.

Murder, Rape & Extortion in Kyauk Kyi	Dec 8th, 1993
The following information was provided by villagers from Kyauk Kyi Township, Pegu Division, and was gathered by the National League for Democracy - Liberated Area (NLD-LA). It is simply a list of known cases of murder, rape and extortion in Kyauk Kyi Township in the period September to October, 1993. Even though it only covers one township in one short time period, it is still probably not complete, but only consists of the cases which were reported by villagers. It shows that even while the SLORC makes propaganda about "peace", it continues to murder and abuse Karen and Burmese civilians even in areas like Kyauk Kyi, where there is no fighting going on.

Letters from the Irrawaddy Delta	Dec 6th, 1993
Southwest of Rangoon lies the Irrawaddy Delta, perhaps Burma's most fertile and productive rice-producing region. It is large, flat and well-irrigated, and its population is about 50% Karen and 50% Burman. Karen resistance forces operated there in the early days of the Revolution, but there have been no Karen forces there since the 1960's. In 1991, small numbers of Karen soldiers once again infiltrated the Delta, and were preparing to lead the Karen population there in a mass uprising against the brutal SLORC military dictatorship.

Current Conditions in Insein Prison	Dec 5th, 1993
The following testimony was given by a Karen farmer who spent 3 years as a political prisoner in the SLORC's notorious Insein Prison near Rangoon. He was released in October 1993, and describes the current conditions for political and other prisoners in Insein Prison. Note especially his comments on the SLORC's much-publicized release of political prisoners, and on what happens when a foreigner is allowed to visit the prison to see the conditions. Such visits are becoming more common; the SLORC recently allowed UN Special Rapporteur on Burma Professor Yozo Yokota to go to the prison, and is also including Insein Prison visits in the all-expense-paid holidays it is now offering to U.S. Congressmen and Senators to come and see how wonderful life is in Burma under the SLORC.

SLORC Activities at Harvest Time	Nov 16th, 1993
The following account was given by a Karen schoolteacher from Mudraw (Papun) District in northern Karen State. His name has been changed. In the area where he lives, the Karen National Union controls most of the forest and valleys, while the SLORC army is positioned on several strategic hilltops, resulting in a situation where SLORC troops often look down on villages, fields and forests which they do not control. Their troop strength in the area is currently not enough for a major attack, so they focus on trying to destroy life for the villagers, as in other parts of the country. Karen troop strength in the area is also spread thinly; none of the villages which are being attacked are military positions.

Incidents Reported from Karen Villages	Nov 15th, 1993
The following incidents and descriptions of the general situation were related by several Karen women and one Karen man, from villages scattered throughout Karen areas from Kyauk Kyi Township in the far northern lowlands to the area of Three Pagodas Pass in the south. Their stories include both the current situation and reports of incidents which have happened in their villages over the last one to four years; in their view, nothing has improved over that time, and many things have become worse. The SLORC's pattern of repression and brutality in Karen areas is only becoming more systematic and entrenched, and as these women point out, their villages have suffered so much abuse that they cannot even relate it all anymore. It is now almost impossible to find a family in their areas which has not directly suffered at the hands of SLORC.

Porte

Karen Human Rights Group

Burma human rights abuses

Human rights abuses in Burma

Internal displacement in Burma

scorched earth attacks on villages

genocide Pyinmana Salween dams

Chin Rakhine Arakanese

SLORC, State Law and Order Restoration Council baw baw frogs

Regional & Thematic Reports