Reports By Year > 1997

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

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There were 19 reports in 1997. These are listed below.

REPORT TITLE	DATE
Photo Set 97-B  [Photoset]	Sep 22nd, 1997
This document gives descriptions for Photo Set 97-B, which focuses on SLORC’s campaign of village destruction in Papun District (for further details see "Wholesale Destruction: The SLORC / SPDC Campaign to Obliterate All Hill Villages in Papun and Eastern Nyaunglebin Districts", KHRG #98-01, to be released shortly.). Photos #48 and 49 concern the stories of former SLORC soldiers and an escaped porter, also to be documented in an upcoming KHRG report.
Karen Human Rights Group Commentary  [KHRG Commentary]	Sep 20th, 1997
The 1997 rainy season is most of the way over. Usually rainy season is a time when military activity decreases due to the difficulty of travelling and operating, when villagers don’t have to do quite as much forced labour for the Army and can try to concentrate on the crucial task of growing the rice crop which will feed their family for the next year. However, as each year passes the rainy season is providing less and less respite for the villagers. First the SLORC Army, which used to withdraw from remote areas in rainy season, began staying there year round. Now they have gone beyond this, and over the past few years several regional offensives have been launched in rainy season.
Clampdown in Southern Dooplaya: Forced relocation and abuses in newly SLORC-occupied area  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
SLORC Orders to Villages: Set 97-B, Central Karen State  [Orders report]	Sep 14th, 1997
Following are the direct translations of some written orders sent from SLORC Army units to Karen villages in Pa’an District of central Karen State, southeastern Burma. They include demands for villagers to do forced labour as porters, at Army camps and on the Pata - Daw Lan road, demands for food, extortion money, bullock carts and building materials, demands for villagers to provide their rice quotas to the Army and threats against those who fail to comply, and orders issued to villages by the DKBA (Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, which is allied with SLORC) demanding supplies.
Free-Fire Zones in Southern Tenasserim  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Summary of Forced Labour in Burma  [Article or paper]	Aug 7th, 1997
These notes are intended to provide a brief summary of the systematic use of forced labour by the State Law & Order Restoration Council (SLORC) military junta ruling Burma. For further details and supporting evidence, we suggest that the Commission refer to the other reports already submitted by the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG). These supporting documents include written/typed order documents sent to villages by SLORC military units and administrative bodies demanding that villages provide forced labour under threat of retribution should they fail.
Abuses and Relocations in Pa'an District  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Karen Human Rights Group Commentary  [KHRG Commentary]	Jul 28th, 1997
For millions of people throughout Burma, this has been the worst year in recent memory. Bolstered by foreign investment, its acceptance into ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and an increasing confidence in its own invincibility, the SLORC (State Law & Order Restoration Council) military junta has increased its repression in every quarter and is no longer even attempting to hide its brutal nature. This year has seen new and stronger attacks on the National League for Democracy and other political opposition throughout the country...
Destruction of All Hill Villages in Papun District  [Field report]	Jun 25th, 1997
Since the beginning of 1996, SLORC 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 obliterate all villages in the hills of Papun District, northern Karen State. The initial wave of village destruction was carried out through March 1997, but since the beginning of June 1997 SLORC patrols have stepped up their efforts to destroy all signs of habitation and food supplies wherever villagers had managed to rebuild. KHRG has compiled and confirmed a list of 68 villages which have been completely burned and destroyed and 4 more which have been partially burned. These are all Karen villages, averaging about 15 households (population 100) per village. This list is by no means complete, and right now SLORC patrols continue to burn villages in the area.
Refugees from the SLORC Occupation  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Photo Set 97-A  [Photoset]	May 15th, 1997
This document gives descriptions for Photo Set 97-A, including Dooplaya District before the current offensive, Karenni forced relocations, attacks on Karen and Karenni refugee camps in Thailand, free-fire zones in Tenasserim Division, attacks on Karen villages in the far south, refugees from the current Dooplaya and Tenasserim offensives, and some others.
Relocations in the Gas Pipeline Area  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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 Orders to Villages: SET 97-A, Chin State  [Orders report]	Mar 16th, 1997
Following are the direct translations of some written orders sent from SLORC Army units to Chin villages in Chin State, northwestern Burma. Copies of these orders were provided to KHRG by the Chin Human Rights Organisation, which is now actively documenting the human rights situation in Chin State.
SLORC Abuses in Chin State  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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  [Regional or Thematic report]	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.
Karenni (Kayah) State: Update on Relocations  [Field report]	Feb 12th, 1997
Between April and July 1996, SLORC ordered at least 183 villages in Karenni 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 had broken a ceasefire agreement to attack the KNPP in June 1995. The villages affected cover at least half the entire geographic area of Karenni. Some villages were marched at gunpoint to relocation sites without warning, but most were issued written orders to move within just 7 days or be 'considered as enemies', i.e. shot on sight without question.
Tenasserim Division: Forced Relocation and Forced Labour  [Field report]	Feb 9th, 1997
SLORC's campaign of forced relocations and forced-labour road building in the Palauk-Palaw, Mergui and Tenasserim regions, which began in September 1996, is now being accelerated. [Note: Mergui is known in Burmese as Meik and in Karen as Blih; Tenasserim is known is Burmese as Taninthari. Both are towns in southern Tenasserim Division. Mergui is on the Andaman Sea coast about 200 km. south of Tavoy, and Tenasserim is on the southern Tenasserim River, 50 km. south of Mergui and 20 km. inland. Palauk and Palaw are smaller towns on the Tavoy-Mergui road, 100 and 140 km. south of Tavoy respectively].
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